#toxic father-son relationship of the century!!

[maedhrus]

"Although perhaps, we shall never be [...] intimate friends [...], still I would not wish a better." (x)

[masha-nikita]

The Archetypes of Red Rose, White Rose

I need to balance my brain out due to sudden onset of depression. It is the result. Rommel is probably the only general who, even if you draw him from the back, he's still recognizable- flowers, a camera, and love for beauty. Rommel has a Venus-Mercury conjunct with a direct Neptune influence; he is going to appreciate artistic expressions.

In fact, this colored-doodle with an unintentional Mucha vibe has the energy of his wife Lucy in mind. According to some sources, Rommel wrote home to Lucy daily, as it was reported to be his mental crutch- I imagine it to be transcendental emotional support, not unlike my own experience, my own relationship with our Tumblr community here. Whether you guys interact with me directly or not, you keep me alive. My sincere thanks to you.

Lucy was a formal dancer in Danzig with a decent middle-class background, her father seemed to be a land owner- Lucy being able to do art, probably added to his admiration for her- fellow artists, angelic companionship.

I suppose he did need emotional supports, and a lot of it-- Rommel is the only high commander with whom Kessering "the smiling Albert" did not get along-- which is a feat. After all, Kessering was very renowned for his exceedingly cordial and diplomatic temperament. The same could be said of von Rundstedt, the calm, gentlemanly, old Prussian field marshal. These two could put up with some bad BS from any one else, except Rommel. He was too intense, too mentally off-balance, too difficult to deal with for his colleagues.

There are a few things I noticed from Rommel's biography (including the Trail of the Fox, 2005), that allow me to make some observations. His love for Lucy appears to be non-sexual. They had their only son 12 years after marriage. That is a pretty long time, not customary with a Scorpio man who has a 8th house Mars (who is supposed to have at least above average sex drive).

As a matter of fact, Rommel had a daughter with Walburga Stemmer before his marriage with Lucy was finalized. At that point Rommel’s family felt the need to step in and strong-armed him back with his fiancée-- one reason being to prevent the young lieutenant from the pitfalls of sex and alcohol. In my humble opinion, the subtext here might be Lucy would not lead him astray in that regard, therefore his conservative family would rather have him marrying Lucy.

A side note, Stemmer family still holds a collection of hopelessly romantic letters from Rommel. Did Rommel write comparable letters to Lucy at that point in time? A bit hard to tell.

I could not recall which article comments that Rommel was "hen-pecked' in the household, but Lucy was dominant at home, that part had been very true.

Ouch, I don't know, some aspects of this living environment must've been toxic to Rommel no matter how much some folks wants to romanticize it. It is horrible to be in a friend group where there's a mean girl boss who takes pride in ruling over her husband and turning any girl who crosses her into a persona-non-grata. But I digress. Back to my title.

Nevertheless, for me, Lucy being archetypal White Rose still holds water as a concept.

The Red Rose- White Rose archetypes originated from the same-titled short novel by Zhang Ailing, one of the 20th century's greatest female writers. She depicts love's tragedies as Chin dynasty fell apart and China marched into an era of post-colonialism, world war II, civil wars and partisan conflicts-- and eventually, modernity.

White rose is your ideal wife, the guardian of your family's social standing. She is angelic, she seems docile, she reminds you that you are from a place of honor and integrity, not of seedy backgrounds and carnal desires. White rose kills love by loving you, by being stable, by calming you down whenever you freak out. Very slowly, she castrates you, she brings you home to domesticate you.

The Red Rose symbolizes those dark desires, a black hole that sucks you in to have sex with you, a fragrant bed, a sex dungeon you do not have the will power to claw yourself out of. Red rose loves you by conquering you, destroying you and everything you represent and cherish with triumphant strides. Very quickly Red rose tears you down, burns all your bridges, until you are beyond recognition, until you are flesh, blood, fire and desire, a literal mess.

It is implied in Ailing's novel that men invariably choose the White Rose, because they are human, all too human. Marrying her, he regrets it; not marrying her, he regrets it even more. Such is love's tragedy in the face of humanity, and tragedy is the only inevitability in Ailing's universe. That's why I pull Lucy in as a faint through-line in my Montgomery x Rommel fanfics... not that I am going to write any more, I don't think so.

And yes, Red Rose is synonymous with Bernard Montgomery, in my fandom brain's humble opinion.

I know I am weird.

[autumnmobile12]

Ambush Sim:  Touya and Hawks’ Relationship

I don’t want to call it complicated; how I write them is they’re both relatively straightforward with each other, but there is a distinct divide in how Hawks views Endeavor the hero vs how Touya views Enji his father.  That's not a part of their dynamic they can ignore, so this is the only way I can write this ship with any sense that it's a healthy one:

Hawks doesn’t know the full story and is also aware he can’t just pry it out of Touya, but he can tell with the father-son interactions that something is wrong and he has the understanding that whatever is causing Touya’s animosity is probably warranted. (He has heard the rumors other Pros share about Endeavor, has uneasily discounted them for lack of evidence and the fact none of the family members ever came forward, and has since come to the conclusion this stance may be naïvely optimistic.)  The same is true of Touya knowing Hawks has a reason to admire the hero but not knowing exactly what that reason is.  He has three main reasons for keeping silent about what his father did:

It is rooted in the years he’s already spent keeping silent in order to avoid the fallout should their family’s story go public.

It is also a matter of compassion.  He is not vindictive enough in this AU to completely ruin Hawks’ perception of his childhood hero, and this also a stance he took with his piano students.  True, there is the debate on whether or not it is honorable or even healthy to withhold that kind of information, especially when the likely response to finding that out is, ‘Wow, I wish you’d told me sooner.’  But this is the razor line everyone in this family walks in regards to their patriarch.

He's made this compromise with his sister; he figures he can do it with his partner.

So the result is Touya and Hawks have an unspoken and very temporary compromise of shelving the Endeavor issue.

They both know this is eventually going to be a discussion that can’t be avoided.

...

One thing I've noticed while writing, though, is their relationship very closely resembles these two:

And I'm pretty sure that's subconscious, but it's the personalities that match up for me.

Shinra is a more comedic character, but he's the character type you don't know to take seriously until they do something extreme and worth your undivided attention. Shinra will be joking and laughing with Celty in one scene, the next he'll be threatening a guy with a scalpel.

In the same manner, Hawks is similar. Trickster/goofball one moment, legitimately threatening the next.

Celty is also a bit of a silly character when you get down to it. In spite of being a serious and levelheaded fairy creature who's calling is to retrieve the souls of the dead and dying...she's clumsy, she misplaces things, she gets flustered, she's afraid of aliens to the point cheesy 80s sci-fi horror films scare her, and she's a terrible liar. What makes her comparable to Touya, however, is the theme of chasing something seemingly unattainable. Celty is a headless horsewoman whose head was stolen from her and she lost centuries of memories with it.

She could survive without her head, but she couldn't live without it.

And then there's Touya chasing after his father's recognition, surviving without it, and slowly learning to live without it in the Ambush Sim AU.

So in spite of the toxic elements of their relationship (and there are a few,) the way Shinra and Celty come together and balance out the bad with the good where it otherwise shouldn't happen...is adorable in all the wrong and right ways.

These two in the Ambush Sim AU are very slow-burn.

Hawks makes the slow-burn a writing requirement because of the demisexual headcanon I gave him. Putting it in the simplest terms, demisexuality is primarily needing an emotional connection first and foremost, and then there’s Touya who’s determined to keep everything emotional locked down due to past trauma. So the thought process is, 'That's a major incompatibility hurdle. Is that even gonna work?'

It's definitely one of the more challenging ship dynamics I've worked with, but after playing with the Trepha ship in the Castlevania fandom for the past couple years, I think I've got a good grasp of how to do it without it coming off as unnatural or toxic. In any case, it is an interesting ship to explore and I hope to do more with it in this AU because Touya and Hawks are very much black cat and golden retriever energy and I love that.

...

“So did you want me to cook or are you good with airport food?”

“Are you kidding me,”  Hawks laughed as he followed him.  “With how I was eating in America, I feel like I should fast for a week.  So many carbs.”

“I hear they have a good cultural variety.”

“Oh yeah, my first day there, I had barbeque pirozhki for lunch.  I don’t quite know what that is, but it was delicious.”

“I’ll find you a recipe then.”

“Really?”  He beamed at his turned back.  “You’re the best, you know that?”

“Yeah, yeah.”  Touya pulled out his phone.  “How do you spell that?

[stickthroughthephases]

A while ago "Toxic TikTok boymoms" came on my YouTube feed and obviously, I watched several videos by various YouTubers showcasing the weird dynamics that mothers with sons have and the lowkey conditional love they give to their daughters.

It weirdly got me thinking about Bi-Han and his relationship with his father (ok I'm always thinking about it to some degree, sue me). What if their father knew he was weak (old man himself), in a way that he knew that he could not do more for the clan since they've already spent centuries just being Earthrealm butlers protectors for Liu Kang. Perhaps his wife was the more ambitious one but he knew that it was not possible. For that reason, if maybe the heir was a girl there would be a better chance his daughter wouldn't follow his wife's ambitious view of being more than simply protectors because you know, she would be her "father's daughter". Much to his dismay, he had a boy who despite trying, could not bond with, whilst Bi-Han and his mother became super duper close. He hoped for another girl when his wife fell pregnant with Kuai Liang, but something was different this time, maybe it was his eyes that resembled his wife (he loved his wife but like he had other issues) or baby Kuai's cute little smile, thus he grew to love Kuai Liang, as opposed to Bi-Han :(.

To beat out the ambition of Bi-Han, he simply trained him harder and drilled in his head his duty to Earthrealm. An interesting headcanon is that Bi-Han's father just didn't like him, did anyone ever consider that? He tried his best to be loved by and seek his father's approval but even in his dying breath, he denied Bi-Han that love. What if in his final moments, he proclaimed his true wishes, wishing that Kuai Liang was the older and Grandmaster? What if he taunted him that Tomáš was better than him despite not being born a Lin Kuei? What if Bi-Han did try to save him but in the end he could not, simply because this man would never love him? Considering we know nothing yet besides two sort of conflicting ideas of who their father was to the brothers, who is to say their father didn't just simply make a 180-degree change following the years he had his second son, additionally, it could explain why he felt so compelled to take in Tomáš instead of just sending him to Liu Kang at the Wu Shi Academy or raised with Raiden or Kung Lao. I'm here to give Bi-Han a depressing backstory and justify him letting his dad die -*send tweet*.

If Bi-Han simply let his dad die to become Grandmaster, that storyline would be far more reasonable if he was the second son, he would have a motive because contrary to popular belief, I refuse to believe that this man is just a psychopath who holds no remorse for his actions. I also don't like the angle that Sektor poisoned him but I mean if take into account the previous timeline Sektor, maybe it's possible (WE ALWAYS have to consider previous timelines ok, nothing exists in a vacuum, even if its a new timeline) but that could have been possible without any gender change or romantic relationship hints.

Honestly, if by some miracle, NRS decides to show us a flashback in the games of their father's death, I hope there is SOME argument and fighting rather than watching Bi-Han stand over his father's dying body. I don't care if this is just a fighting game, if you made it and put effort into creating characters why not give them complex and fledged out backstories and archs, if you don't care why bother with the comics, movies and other media surrounding the characters.

[acourtofthought]

I know the Lucien and Jesminda relationship is always described as a big and unconditional love story but I think it was most likely a severe case of young Lucien being a dumb bitch. No matter how toxic the Vanserra family is, he was definitely a spoiled and pampered high lord son to a certain degree. He slept around and then met someone who teased him and probably gave him attitude and he fell head over heels, but daddy I love her. And he convinced himself that she was his mate because young love is often very exaggerated us against the world type of stuff. Then she was killed and he had spent the rest of his life consumed by guilt for being a dumb romantic prince

"Did you think it was mere hatred that prompted my brothers to do their best to break and kill me?" "It would explain why his father and brothers detest him so much - why they have tormented him his entire life." I think I'm missing where you're getting "spoiled and pampered" from. While a HL's son might be afforded certain luxuries such as excellent food and clothing, having to look over your shoulders at all times to avoid being bullied or worse is definitely going effect a person. Yes, he mingled with females but I'm definitely not getting the impression that anyone pampered him. It's written that he chose to mingle with those who were not of the nobility of the Autumn Court, that he was willing to leave behind his title for Jesminda which means he did not care for that sort of lifestyle. If Lucien were spoiled and pampered his personality would have reflected it and those who are used to being spoiled and pampered are not so quick to walk away from it because they feel they deserve to be treated as such. I'm sure he appreciated how different Jesminda was compared to the females that were in the noble house of the Autumn Court, that she was not fixated on marrying someone for power or overly concerned with the frivolous gossip as those in court are typically written as engaging in. I'm sure he loved her wild and free spirit when he'd grown up surrounded by expected formality and structure. And yes, I'm sure that he was somewhat guilty of over exaggerating young love as most people who are new to love are, however that doesn't mean what he felt for her wasn't authentic. It doesn't mean that the loss of her, of what he believed to be true love, wasn't absolutely devastating to him. He's centuries old and if he'd never felt for anyone (until the new emotions brought about by Elain came into play) what he felt for Jesminda in all that time than I don't think we can say the love he had for her wasn't real. Does that mean he would have loved Jesminda in the same way had he met her when he was centuries old rather than as a youth? Maybe not, Lucien is someone different than who he once was and might want different things for himself even outside of love than what he did back then.. But I don't think it's a "But Daddy I love Her" situation. I think it was as real / healthy as any young could be, probably similar to the Celeana / Sam setup.

[faithandfairies]

Positions of Power

So, Interview with the Vampire famously examines the questions

What happens if one decides not to love or choose someone in a position of power who wants to be loved and chosen?

When the person in the position of power can then wield said power to decide the fate of the person that doesn't love or choose them as well as the fate of those that person does love? To hurt, destroy, help or save said person?

And it does this through all of its relationships although it's most obvious through the relationships between Louis and Lestat and Louis and Armand.

And it starts immediately with Louis the pimp. You see, Louis starts out in positions of power in all of his relationships. Or so it seems.

Lestat actually names them all starting with:

1.The stern landlord=the pimp/building and business owner

He is in a position of power as the pimp that governs his girls. We see this starting with ms. Bricktop Williams when she insults the alderman and Louis doesn't actually punish her for it. He also doesn't punish the girl who yells at his brother. He does punish his brother for making him look "weak" on Liberty street, therefore threatening his position of power. One wrong move in how he governs his girls or his brother could lead to him losing this position.

2.The deferential businessman

Louis has made it as a black man. As a successful black businessman he has made himself a place among the white businessmen but his position is precarious. It requires him to defer to them in order to keep that position. And once he stops doing that, once he stops "knowing his place" by having a white same sex life partner in plain view, who is richer than all of the other businessmen combined and then makes power grabs for businesses he shouldn't want ownership of, he eventually loses this precarious position of power he once held.

3. The loyal son

Louis is also in a position of power at home. He's the successful businessman keeping his family's heads above water and bringing them honor by taking care of them as a loyal son should. He controls the money for the family. He takes care of the family financially. He owns their ancestral home because his father left it to him. He even mentions to Daniel I believe that he's not just the eldest son, but the favored son. The caveat to him maintaining this position isn't what his business entails as in having a respectable business, but his loyalty to the family, to his mother. It initially seems like he's allowing for it to look like his mother is in control by having her take credit for financial purchases of his. But later it turns out to be the other way around, his mother was always in control. Because the moment he fails to fulfill his father's dying wish "to properly take care of Paul" and then also follows it up by moving in with Lestat and barely coming home, he loses the position of the loyal son and it is his mother that takes this position from him directly and gives it to Levi. And it no longer matters that the house belongs to him or that he was the one financially providing for his family.

Enter Lestat.

Who is fascinated by this man who has managed to crawl his way up to the top of the food chain in his world in spite of his race and initial financial state making it seemingly impossible.

Lestat is also at the top of the food chain in his world. In his world, he is in THE position of power and there's very little above him. Especially since he's apparently the only vampire in New Orleans at that time.

In relation to Lestat, Louis wields almost no power. Louis' is a black human. And Lestat is a white sadistic, manipulative vampire, a predator, with an endless supply of funds and to Louis largely unknown ancient powers he's been honing for over a century and no qualms about using his toxic traits against Louis. Louis' power lies in the fact that Lestat is in love with him but even that has its limits. The caveat is that Louis has to love him, choose him in turn. And Louis does, initially. When the power imbalance between them isn't known to Louis he chooses Lestat. He loves Lestat. As his friend. As his confidante. As his lover. For a brief moment Louis chooses to live in the fantasy where he and Lestat can choose each other without there being far-reaching repercussions for him within the society he lives in. Where he can be a black, gay human without it having major unwanted consequences for his businesses, his family and his life as a whole. And then he literally wakes up to the realization that he can't go back on that choice. And that he maybe never really had one. Once Lestat lays eyes on him, once Lestat loves him and chooses him it's game over. Lestat's inherently predatory nature means Louis' time is running out because Lestat's self-control is reaching its breaking point. Louis' only choice then becomes whether he wants nine unlimited lives or just one cut very short by Lestat.

When Louis rejects Lestat at his brother's funeral and then condemns him in the church, Lestat shows up believing himself an angered god ready and justified to dole out judgment on humanity. Reacting to Louis' actions by revealing the sinister side to his powers and clearly revealing the power imbalance. He reveals the breadth of his power in all of its terrifying glory and likens it in words to godly power through which fates of life and death can be decided depending on who is deserving of mercy or not. Showing Louis exactly what can become of him and those he loves if he chooses to (further) anger Lestat.

This, the power imbalance, continues on throughout their relationship. Louis' power comes from the fact that Lestat loves him which he uses to manipulate him and get what he wants out of the relationship. Lestat continues to manipulate Louis as well and continues to hold the power imbalance over his head by displaying said power in big and small ways to try to keep Louis in line within the relationship. Early on I think Lestat also realizes he can use sex to manipulate Louis. Offering it to Louis to distract from the power imbalance, presenting himself as more vulnerable to Louis, making him and Lestat closer to equals which is honestly what they both crave but can never truly achieve. Lestat also tries offering sex to others once Louis no longer has the energy and later the willingness to have it with Lestat, hoping to get Louis to bend to his will (and indulge) when it comes to his appetites. Hoping to restore their sex life and intimacy through it. Which is the one manipulation that doesn't really work. Which means eventually their relationship doesn't work since it hinges on them having similar appetites, human, the blood, each other.

In the meantime Louis tries to hold on to his positions of power in the human world even more so since he holds almost no power in his and Lestat's vampire world. Then he loses those positions of power.

Enter Claudia.

An eternal child, initially as innocent as they come, and physically the weakest vampire among the three of them.

And suddenly Louis is no longer the one with the least power in his and Lestat's vampire world. In becoming Claudia's parents, suddenly he and Lestat are equals. But also, as far as race, culture, history and humanity goes, Lestat is outnumbered. Suddenly Louis is in a position of power not only as the parent who has the most knowledge about Claudia's background having been human and a black human from New Orleans at that fairly recently himself, but to Claudia he's also the favored parent. Lestat allows it and everything is right with the world. Except that it's not. And over time that becomes abundantly clear again.

As a parent, Lestat initially softens more but eventually becomes even more the predator. He tries to regain some of the power he's lost by cultivating the vampire, the predator, within Claudia and Claudia is the eager and prodigious student. Except she isn't just a predator or a vampire, she is now a teenager with teenage human tendencies, wants and needs. Except she's not human. Incapable of and eventually not allowed to indulge in those human tendencies for fear of the human world she desperately wants to be a part of discovering and destroying Louis' and Lestat's little vampire world.

This is when Claudia becomes aware of power. That she has it, much more than the average human, but can't control it and as an eternal child realizing that it pales in comparison to that of her fathers and she will never be able to wield it in the same way that they do. The power she possesses is practically useless to her. Where Lestat was able to wield his love and vampiric power to get what he wanted from Louis initially and Louis was able to wield his power of both his own love for Lestat and Lestat's love for him to get what he wanted, she cannot do the same. Her vampire powers continue to fail her, her love for her parents and their love for her isn't enough for them to give her what she wants and needs to feel fulfilled and she has no love of her own and seemingly very likely never will.

She exists to fulfill Lestat's and Louis' wants and needs, as their daughter, to even out the power imbalance between them in order to improve their relationship with each other. She is not allowed to have wants or needs of her own. This is eventually enforced by Lestat any time she chooses to forget it. Although initially when he thinks she's done her part he allows her to leave, until the 7 year drought makes him realize that in order for Louis' and his relationship to somewhat continue to work and Louis to not peace out permanently from vampiric life and life with Lestat Claudia needs to keep inhabiting the role she has been. Also her leaving again and traveling to Europe of all places could also expose them all to Lestat's actual coven leader, Armand. Lestat's power does not extend to Europe and he knows very well what Armand does to those who disobey the great laws. Her chasing after what she wants could mean death for all of them and Lestat knows this.

And for Claudia to get what she wants from life she needs either

a love of her own

a different role that gives her useful power of her own and/or

for one of her parents to love her enough for it to make a difference.

Claudia, ambitious as she is, goes for all of the above.

Commence the power struggle.

Claudia decides that she already has a love of her own in Louis, the parent that even in her 7-year absence, chose the memory of her over a very there and present Lestat. So Claudia returns. Commence the power struggle. It becomes a game to Claudia, one she thinks she's already won even before it starts. She just needs to tweak the companionship a bit. Instead of simply being his daughter, she'll be Louis' Grace, his Lestat. She won't sleep with him of course, but she'll be all that he needs by loving him better than Lestat or Grace ever did, by being more devoted to him than either of them ever were. And luckily for her, with Grace recently out of the picture that position has just opened up. And Claudia is certain of having what Lestat doesn't know he has and certainly hasn't felt he has in a long time. Louis' love. Given that, all Claudia needs to do is convince Louis to leave Lestat.

Only it was never a game. And if it was, Lestat was never just a player, but the gamemaker. Something that Claudia never realized until she did and Louis had forgotten until Lestat made him remember. In doing so though, by exhibiting his power in all its terrifying glory again in order to keep everyone in line he crosses lines he drew up himself in order to keep Louis with him and preserve the authenticity of as well as reduce the power imbalance in the relationship as much as possible.

Lines such as:

No eating black people or if yes, no letting Louis know about this

Physically hurting Louis and his family members is off limits

No limiting Louis in his human hobbies

No forcing Louis to have sex even if sex is desired

Because the one thing Louis can still do is choose to walk away regardless if Lestat then decides to kill him for it. Either way it will mean Louis is lost to him which is the one thing Lestat doesn't want.

Commence the reset.

In Lestat acting out and treating Louis like a rag doll for trying to protect and potentially choose Claudia, the power imbalance between him and Lestat once again becomes glaringly obvious and in such a way that there's no going back to the way things were. There's no sense in pretending. The illusion of Louis having a choice has shattered. The inherent "Choose me and love me or die." that was barely concealed subtext when Louis became a vampire is now undisputed text. And has turned into "Hesitate to choose me and die." seeing as Lestat didn't even wait for Louis to choose this time.

Lestat almost kills Louis and there's really no coming back from it. Lestat then tries to regain the power and Louis initially by trying to create the illusion of completely giving away the power to Louis. But it doesn't work. Acting powerless doesn't actually make him so as evidenced by past events. The only thing that might constitute a reset is Lestat dying at their hands.

For Claudia it's a continuance of her original plan but instead of just leaving Lestat behind she now decides to completely take him off the board.

Once again it's a power struggle. But I think what changes here is that Lestat no longer really wants the power. He makes half-hearted swipes for the power but his heart just isn't in it. He just wants Louis and whatever will make Louis want him again in return. And Lestat's starting to realize all the power in the world is not going to get him Louis back. Technically Louis has all the power but Louis doesn't really want it either. Louis hands the power over to Claudia. And Lestat grudgingly allows it even though it also irritates and low-key terrifies him. He trusts Louis. He does not trust the mini version of his own sadistic self he raised in his image that is Claudia to wield any kind of power over him.

But the one thing he does trust is that he can outsmart Claudia. Until she wins a game. And then Lestat doesn't know what to think. For the first time Claudia holds the power but only because both her parents are allowing it. And not because it has anything to do with her. No. But because they're trying to find their way back to each other and all their power play has done for them so far is destroy them and alienate them from each other.

With the power in Claudia's hands, without their power struggle between them, Louis becomes numb and retreats into himself and Lestat becomes increasingly antsy and paranoid. Claudia realizes that her parents are like a bottle the top is about to pop off and if that happens there will be another power grab from one of her parents, most likely Lestat. So she tells Louis to pretty much go back to the start. To rekindle the love. With Louis' focus on restoring the love he and Lestat initially had between each other at the very beginning and Louis' heart blown open to Lestat and showing and sharing that love in all the ways between them I think for the first time since their initial courtship Louis and Lestat settle into peace.

And Claudia becomes the odd one out. And even with all the power it is at that point in time useless to her. Both her parents are lost to her, too focused on each other, belonging to each other once again, with her once again stuck in the role of the daughter simply bearing witness to their love for each other, with no love or lover of her own. Even though having fulfilled her role in their lives by removing the power play completely between them by advising Louis to simply allow himself to love Lestat without reservations and pushing him to take her advice. And Lestat following Louis' lead. With Lestat having what he actually wants, which is all of Louis, he becomes less of a threat, which is the goal. And with Louis having all of Lestat, Louis I think realizes this is what he always wanted. For Lestat to not be a threat to them sure, but not because he was dead or incapacitated but because he was completely in love with Louis with no room for anything else.

And so when it's time to eliminate the power source, Louis takes back the power from Claudia forcefully and chooses a reset instead. A reboot.

[forestdeath1]

According to you Sirius was Walburga's favourite son and they had quite a lovable normal mother son relationship before all the rebel drama.

And in the books he kept Buckbeak in his mother's bedroom and spend hours locked inside that room.

But it is canon he later in life hated her.

What do you think was going through his mind all those times? Was he hating it? Or was he trying to find atleast one good memory with her? Or he didn't even care?

(Also I like to think Sirius looked uncannily similar to his mother. So much so that if he was a woman anybody could have sold him as Walburga herself.)

He wasn't trying to FIND good memories with her. He was trying to FORGET the good memories with her. Poor Sirius argued with Kreacher as if he was arguing with his mother, they were so heavily dependent on each other in their toxicity. Terribly complex and unhealthy relationships.

I think Sirius always deep down couldn't fully understand whether leaving his family was the right thing to do, and whether staying would have changed anything. He hates Grimmauld Place 12 not just because it was a bad place for him; he hates it because it's a living reminder of everything lost - his family, his childhood, his brother, father, and mother, the Blacks. He doesn't want to regret it, so he prefers to think only ill of them. He constantly convinces himself of how much he hates them. But Sirius himself approaches the tapestry and starts conversations about them all. He's always drawn there.

Yes, he will never forgive their blood purism and fanaticism. He ran away to be with James, with Dumbledore, to stand against everything his family had done for centuries, but deep down he knew he left his family, and it was an unhealing wound he tried to mend by trying to be even more useful in the fight against evil, trying to be needed and valuable, constantly reminding himself of who the Blacks really were and what Sirius was fighting against and why he ran away.

Sirius was also so attached to James because James replaced everything for him - literally his entire family. But James couldn't fully heal his wound; he was with Lily. Sirius was always lonely. Without roots, without clan, without a past. A blank slate, on which nothing appeared except for an endless and very deep feeling of loneliness and attempts to become important, valuable, and needed to someone. The only one who somewhat filled this void for him was James. Then Harry.

But Sirius always felt he wasn't worthy enough of all these good people because he was a Black, and the Blacks were one of the reasons why all these good people were dying. He wanted to draw a line between himself and the Blacks, to distance himself as much as possible from them, to not feel all that guilt and shame. This is very similar to feelings towards one's homeland, if your country starts an aggressive war or becomes a dictatorship (this is very well described in the diaries of Germans who fled during fascism or defectors from the USSR). You love your country, but you hate it and want to dissociate from it as much as possible, want to forget that you are of that nation, but that country, that homeland - it's forever in you, in your soul, in your blood, and you'll never get rid of it. This country raised you, it's where you belonged, and in a new one - you're forever a stranger. And no matter how much you're ashamed of it, hate it, your heart will always beat harder when your country is mentioned somewhere.

Don't get me wrong, the feeling of unworthiness wasn't his evident trait, it's very much a deep-seated belief that activated in the toughest situations. The way Sirius sheepishly offers Harry to live with him... it breaks my heart every time.

Sirius is one of the strongest and most tragic figures in the entire series, with one of the most complex fates and characters. Few in the entire series can compare with him in strength of character (there are only three characters who are as strong a character as he is). Fanon Sirius doesn't carry a drop of the tragedy and complexity of character that canon Sirius does. Canon Sirius has so much depth, pain, passion, love, loneliness, that I still discover something new about him every time I reread the books.

As for him resembling Walburga in terms of appearance - I don't know. I always imagined him as a male version of Bella. But perhaps he really does resemble Walburga.

[red-velvet-0w0]

Okokok

This coupon is redeemable at any time for an oc rant, a worldbuilding rant, or both! Or anything else relevant to your stories!

OKAY!

so basicaly:

the story takes place in the town of Watchton Massechusets, which is just an ordinary town with nothing strange or suspisious going on and no cults whatsoever.

Suddenly, one day, the world gets stuck in a time loop with 5 teenagers being the only ones (or at least the only ones at first) who can remember anything from the previous iterations of the time loop, and have to work together to try and figure out why they are in a time loop and how to get out of it

now to be more specific, the rules of the time loop make it so that even those 5 can barely remember anything from previous loops, only really able to remember overall information about their situation, such as the fact that they are in a time loop, how each of their abilities work, and what their relationship is to other people, but cannot remember specifics of what happened previous loops. however, they each also have a special ability allowing them to remember a bit more of what happened before called a Memorabilia

the characters are:

(in order)

Amelia Augur: lesbian genderfluid cottagecore artist with an interest in the supernatural and a pet raven named Ray who can remember everything from every loop but is a bird and therefore can only do so much to help

Jane Hare: transfem lesbian writer trapped in an abusive relationship with the god of mirrors (its complicated) who wakes up every morning with a limerick explaining what happened the previous day in cryptic and poetic wording

Ida Vidya: aromantic pansexual reporter who needs to know everything to the point of having a death wish, who has a special disposable camera which keeps 10 pictures she takes in a day into the next loop

Jack Edmund-Kang: bisexual jock son of the mayor with a dead mom, a dad he wishes was dead, and serious self esteem issues, whos body doesnt get reset between days, meaning he can grow muscle and learn muscle memory, but also keeps all the scars hes ever gotten. he can also remember all the blood hes ever seen in any loop

Blake Payne: gay emo transmasc/enby drummer with mommy issues, a knife, and the ability to remember things based off of sound.

As they start investigating though, they soon realize that there are other forces they need to watch out for, just about all of whom want to kill them

Special Agent Booker, CIA: a secret agent sent every morning by the US government with all of the resources and manpower she could ever need to figure out why everything is weird, though her investigations are always cut short by the fact that none of it carries over between days, though she still manages to make for an obstacle when she and the kids are trying to investigate the same thing

Mayor Kang: Jacks father and the mayor of the town, who is secretly a centuries old cult leader with a mission to guard a magic artifact called the Pentagramic Pocketwatch, that he was hoping to use to revive his dead wife, only for it to to get stolen, and him to assume it was stolen by his son, directing the cult to try and hunt down and kill them to try and get it back

The Day: Minor god of Days. dies every night and is born every morning. Was actualy the one who stole the pocketwatch in order to save itself from having to die over and over again, but that isnt revealed till the finale of the fourth arc

The Mask: Minor god of Manipulation and Lies. Wants the Pentagramic Pocketwatch for itself so it can become more powerful, and is ready to lie, cheat, and manipulate its way to the top. its by far one of the physicaly weakest characters, but makes up for it by being smart enough to have others fight its battles for it

The Beast: Minor god of the Hunt. wants to steal the pocketwatch to become more powerful, and is ready to kill as many people as it has to to get what it wants. also has some weird toxic old man yaoi going on with the mayor

The Reflection: Minor god of Mirrors and Self-Perception who manages to just be the worst person ever. Decided to effectively traumatize Jane and force her to work for it/be in a relationship with it just for shits a giggles and so that later it can consume her and steal her face

(anyways i might actualy need to leave for school soon so ill keep this brief)

the story has 5 different arcs, which basicaly boil down to

"Oh no were in a time loop! What are the rules of this time loop actually?"

"Okay so now that we know how the time loops works, lets try and figure out whats going on-HOLY SHIT IS THAT A CULT?!" *gets murdered* "HOLY SHIT IS THAT A MIRROR?!" *gets murdered* "HOLY SHIT IS THAT A WEIRD BEAR?!" *gets murdered*

"Oh shit you mean gods and magic are real?"

"well if everybody thinks we stole the pocketwatch, and we didnt do it, we should probably try and figure out who did."

"Well now that we know that The Day was the one who stole the pocketwatch, we should probably try and get our hands on it before and of the other people do."

[venusssus]

I can't even think of Hans coming back "home", even tho it literally happened at the end of Frozen 1. It breaks my heart to think what his "family" did to him after he returned. And I heard people say that his dad was unlucky to have such a son. His dad is not his dad. It is only a man who was supposed to be his father but failed terribly at being a parent and decided to raise his sons in toxic masculinity. I hate when people say he only wanted to take over Arendelle to be better than his brothers and seen by his father. Like…obviously. Obviously that is what he needed his whole life but all he got was this ;

Eating food leftovers.

I can feel his anxiety on this picture, from my own experience from kindergarten and my toxic relationships. It is not funny at all. Being bullied verbally and physically, especially by your own family for 20 years is literally living in hell. It wasn't the 21st century when you can call the police or go see a therapist. He was born in the 1800's when treating kids like this was nothing at all because King matters the most and the power he has so and no one from the outside of the castle will never know because Mr King Westergaard sweeps shit under the rug.--

I hate hate hate jokes or comments of hans’ haters aka people with lack of empathy saying Hans was selfish and narcisistic and all he ever wanted was the crown. No, he only wanted to be his Dad's son.

Not a monster, just a kid

[asexualbuthorny]

I’m a background character but the villain’s mine pt.4

CW: abuse, mentions of starvation, toxic relationships, Mendella is very scared and nervous, reader is a simp, kneeling, begging, future smut

 To say that you were sweating would have been the understatement of the goddamn century. You honestly could fill a pool with the amount of moisture on you. Why were you so moist? Excellent question. It’s nothing big. It’s just that... YOUR LITERAL DREAM PERSON IS COMING TO YOUR HOUSE TO DISCUSS POSSIBLE MARRIAGE AND YOU WANTED THIS TO SUCCEED SO YOU COULD HOLD THEIR HAND AND MAYBE KISS. “My lord you should relax a little. How do you expect things to go smoothly with lord de Gregorian if you can’t say a word to him” Ilsith sighed as you sat on the sofa in you study. “Yeah relax. Easy for you to say. It’s not like the most perfect person in the world is coming- I mean he’s like a freaking god and next to him I look like a dirty ripped peace of cloth-” you complained as you tried not to pass out. While you were having a borderline panic attack you didn’t notice Camilla coming in with the guest of the fucking century. “...My lord, your guest has arrived...” . Fuck. Shit. Ok ok ok okokokokokokokokok. You can do this. “Ah lord de Gregorian, my apologies for not greeting you at the door. I lost track of time. Ilsith, Camilla, if you would.”. The pair quickly rushed out of the room to bring in tea and snacks for you and your “guest”. ‘I really hope he likes them’ you thought as you gazed at the treasure of this god forsaken kingdom. His golden hair and fur, his beautiful blue eyes, his sleek and elegant ears and tail. Truly Mendella de Gregorian was gods greatest achievement. “Oh where are my manners? Please, take a seat lord de-” “Just Mendella is fine. And thank you”. God his voice ‘hhhhnnnggggg’. You both sat down as drinks and treats were set down in front of you. “Well then. I know you don’t like to dawdle lord Mendella so let’s just get straight to business”....

      When (Name) wrote back agreeing to meet up for discussion of possible marriage Mendella almost passed out from the immense relief he felt. If he didn’t do something stupid and mess up he would finally be free and safe (as free and safe as he could get really). Once he informed his father of the news the man was obviously surprised that anyone would take his son. Afterall he wasn’t young and he was already engaged before but either way Lionas was a man of his word (when he wanted to be) so he let Mendella go meet the other lord. The father didn’t have many hopes and was honestly expecting his son to come back not having gained anything....

     When Mendella arrived at (Names) estate he was pleasantly surprised at the simplicity and borderline coziness of the place. It wasn’t too grandiose or overdecorated like his own home. Although the lord himself not coming to greet a distinguished guest soured Mendellas mood a little. Despite the ignoring of etiquette the omega wasn’t overly offended since he felt he had no right to feel that way considering his position. He stood around for a bit before a maid, smelling like an omega, came and after apologizing for the delay led him to where he would be meeting his hopefully future husband. The room he had been led to was simple but rather charming. The person who was, for all intents ad purposes, his savior sat on a comfortable looking couch looking like he was going to die. ‘Understandable. He’s meeting with me after all’. Shaking off the thought Mendella fully stepped into the room as the butler announced his arrival. Then the strangest thing happened... as soon as (Name) cast his eyes upon Mendella his ears perked up and his tail began to sway softly. The first words out oh the mans mouth were an apology for forgetting manners and an invitation to sit as he sent his butler and maid off to god knows where. They sat in silence for a while and Mendella took the time to fully take in the person before him. (Name) looked just as he was in the picture although, and Mendella was incredibly embarrassed to admit, he was way more charming. The lords ears were shorter and wider than his own and his tail was shorter but a lot more muscular. ‘He could probably crush someone with that’ Mendella thought with a barely noticeable gulp. His further thoughts were interrupted as tea and snacks were set down. The tea smelled great and the treats looked wonderful but a certain fear gripped at Mendellas heart. What if he thinks I’m a fatty? What if this is a test? Is this a test? Once again the omegas overthinking was interrupted by (Name) wanting to get right to business....

    You would be lying if you said that Mendella didn’t look scared right now. Was it something you said? Something you did? Just then you noticed him glancing at the snacks Ilsith had brought out. Damn. He didn’t like them! You were such an idiot! Shit you haven’t even started and you’re already messing up. Nice going dumbass. Your mental beating yourself came to an end as Mendella handed you a paper. “The marriage contract. Read it and from there we can adjust if you find something disagreeable”. The sun itself said as you started scanning the contract. The hell?!? This was literally mostly benefitting you! Isn’t Mendella supposed to get something from you as well? Well besides sharing your house and riches (literal dream come true btw). Your brows furrowed in confusion and before you knew what was happening Mendella threw himself in front of you on his knees with desperate tears in his eyes and fear on his perfect face. “Please! Please! You’re my only hope! I’ll-I’ll do anything! I’ll be anything you want! I can learn what you like just please give me a chance! I beg of you let me prove to you that marrying me is worth it!”. With that said he grabbed at the front of your pants and started trying to unbutton them. ‘AYO!!!???’....

   He fucked up...HE FUCKED IT ALL UP! The moment a frown appeared on your face Mendella knew he was failing. HE NEEDED YOU! You were his only hope! He had really hoped he wouldn’t have to this but if he could succeed in at least seducing you he could stay even if he was just a bed warmer to you Mendella needed you to agree to marry him. He couldn’t come back home with failure he couldn’t handle what would happen next. So he dove for your pants. Mendella knew what alphas liked...he had learned when he got engaged to the crown prince. He could do this. He could just float away until it was over....

   “Hey!-Hey stop! Wh-what are you doing!?”. You were not prepared for this outcome. In fact you were prepared for everything except this. As the frightened omega was clawing at your pants you saw his eyes get glossier and glossier as his sobbing quieted to hitched breaths and his hands got weaker and weaker. When he resorted to shoving his face into your crotch you finally gathered enough braincells to end this. “ENOUGH! Lord de Gregorian control yourself!” You grabbed Mendella by the shoulders and pushed him away from yourself. You kneeled on the ground to be on his level and started thinking of possible ways to calm him down. ‘Think asshole think! What calms distressed omegas down?’ Acting on impulse you grabbed the softly thrashing man and hugged him close. Mendella immediately burried his head into your shoulder and took several breaths of your scent. With that his struggling came to a stop. You decided to try something and started purring while softly stroking Mendellas ears as your own tail softly wraped itself around the two of you. “Are you okay lord Mendella?” you asked quietly and the omega tensed again. ‘Shit’ you thought as you held him a little tighter. “Please please I beg...” Mendella whispered against your neck as his tears wet your shirt. “Shhhhh it’s okay it’s okay” you tried to soothe. “Please don’t be angry. We can make the contract more in your favor just please don’t reject me yet” the omega pleaded again. ‘Wait...was this all because of the contract’. Realization hits you like a train. His previous fear and nervousness. He thought you were going to reject him when he saw you being confused! You were the fool of the century! “I wasn’t planning to reject you my lord. It’s just that-” “That what?” he interrupted you. That was good, he wasn’t as scared anymore. “It’s just that the contract was ONLY in my favor and I got a little confused is all”. Mendella pushed himself away from your hold, you already missing the contact, his eyes were wide and ears stood at attention. “You weren’t going to reject me? Truly?” “Yes. I agree to your proposal and ask you to marry me so please do me the honor of a lifetime and become my husband”. Mendella stared at you with wide eyes for a moment before clearing his throat and wiping his eyes with his sleeve coming back to his usual self. “Very well lord (Lastname). I accept.” “Please just call me (Name)”. Mendella lightly blushed at your words before turning his head to the side and starting to get up from the floor. After he was standing steady you got up as well and the two of you went over to the table to sign the marriage document. “And with this our agreement is final. I suppose I’ll be seeing you soon future husband.” you said as you tried to smile reassuringly at Mendella who was staring at the piece of paper like it was gold. “A-ah. Yes yes we will. I will plan out all the other details so you can sit back and just let me handle the rest” he said while putting the papers away. “I will be returning to my home now. Thank you for your cooperation I will make sure this marriage is worth your time” “Haha~ yeah.....” .....

    Ilsith stood beside you as the both of you watched Mendellas carriage leave your territory. He looked over at you and froze...literal hearts and flowers floated around you as a dreamy and lovestruck look took over your face. ‘Our lord is really deep in it now’.....

[pitasmare]

recently saw a tiktok about toji n megumi…and good god. ppl in the comment section were willing to die in the trenches to convince others that toji had at no point sold megumi (which is so easily fact-checked it hurts) and that he was a great father. girl, we did not read or watch the same series. and mind you, this is not coming from anti-toji angle at all.

i don't understand glazing over the turmoil present in the text. it's what makes their father-son relationship so interesting and compelling. the tragedy of it all! how grief and trauma molded their relationship - or actually, lack thereof. and yet, even then, megumi was still toji's last thought as he was dying. the softness in his voice when he said "i'm glad" after coming to the conclusion that gojo had intervened in the toji-naobito agreement and had allowed megumi to stay a fushiguro!

and how delusional do you have to be to claim fushiguro toji is a good father?? bro??? toji loved megumi, sure. but his approach to his son, post his wife's passing, was hands-off: extreme edition. megumi himself says he hasn't seen his father in years and toji asks "who's that" in response to shiu asking about his son. all the "caretaking" choices he made for megumi (like arranging a future sale with the zenin, leaving him with his then partner, mamamiki) resulted in son's well-being and rearing being out of his hands. telling gojo that particular info but leaving it up to him what do with megumi's fate, is another wild example of his claim to absentee father of the century.

and i think it's easy to understand why. it's not out of malice, toji's treatment by his clan left him thinking that he was worthless and also, deeply unstable. all those traits resurfaced again during his grief. so, with an example of childrearing like that, zero positive influences in his own parenting (mamamiki isn't winning any mother of the year awards either. althought, idk if that would have changed anything) this was probably his way of trying to provide megumi w/ a better life by taking his presence out of the equation. the same happens when it comes to the sale. in his head, toji probably believes he is providing better odds for megumi by selling him back to their ancestral clan (even though, i'm sure toji knew he wouldn't be exempt from hardships - the zenin clan's still toxic even if you are an asset).

obviously, there here is also selfishness, lack of motivation, and a whole cocktail of other negative bullshit, in all of that. out of sight, out of mind (so out of mind he forgot to who the name megumi fucking pertained to. and, adding to the cherry on top, HE was the one who named his son). also, i cannot stress this enough,,,,he was going to financially benefit from SELLING his son. which is, and i cannot believe i have to say this so, bad! that, cancels every and any possible good (even if misguided) intention in leaving megumi in the zenin's care! he's a flawed fuck! he's another cog in the great old generational trauma of the zen'in clan! fushiguro toji is objectively not a god person or father! however that's part of what makes him, him. and as a consequence, what makes him such an interesting character. it's why their little father-son (unbeknownst to megumi) moment hits so hard. the baggage has to exist in order for that little moment to hold so much meaning.

in sum, i love all is well au’s as much as the next person, but why reduce such an interesting relationship, when discussing actual canon, to something with so little complexity? why viciously sanitize it? i want to see that energy in fics! in aus! but like. time and place ❤️

[acacia-may]

Could I have 13 for the ask game please?

Thank you so much, Greta! 💐 I'd love to answer this question from the writing excerpt ask game for you. Apologies in advance for the ramblings 😅

13. A excerpt of my writing that helped me understand a character better

(Warnings: Discussions of childhood trauma and abuse. Black Clover spoilers)

I write a lot of character studies, but the scene that immediately came to mind when I saw your ask was the flashback sequence I wrote in "Breaking the Cycle" depicting the first time that Langris presented with and ever used his magic.

This whole story was actually written because a friend of mine irl had been asking me some genuine questions about why/how I thought Langris was abused. Emotional and psychological abuse is often extremely subtle, and we spend so little time in Langris's POV in the canon that there is some reading the lines that must be done on the part of the reader/watcher to really see and understand that he's also a victim of House Vaude, just in a different way than Finral. Writing that story and especially that flashback scene was kind of my attempt at showing what I think it was like for Langris to grow up in that very toxic environment.

While he didn't suffer the same kind of abuse as Finral, he suffered in his own way. I think that depriving a child of unconditional love (whether that be by flat-out rejecting them like Finral or making them "earn" love like Langris) is one of the most horrible things a parent can do to their child--it causes lasting problems that stick with someone long into adulthood, like an empty space in their heart that they'll constantly be trying to fill. Finral tries to fill it with flirting/validation from romantic relationships and Langris tries to fill it with achievements, but it's a similar wound for both of them.

It was very painful but really interesting to try to get into Langris' head and really see House Vaude from his eyes. I think it gave me a much deeper understanding of his character and everything that he had gone through.

This is a very long portion of that flashback sequence, but I had trouble cutting it down beyond this. I've put it under the cut because of the warnings for heavy subject matter, childhood trauma and abuse, and spoilers for Black Clover

“The Noble House of Vaude has produced the premiere spatial mages of the Clover Kingdom for centuries,” their father continued, towering over Finral intimidatingly and glaring at him with a look that lingered ominously like a heavy, dark cloud before a thunderstorm. Langris swallowed hard and something twisted in his stomach. “This worthless excuse for magic is an embarrassment to this family.” 

Turning away abruptly with a sharp wince, Langris shut his eyes. He swallowed hard as he felt his mother’s hand on his shoulder. When he turned to look at her, her face said what it always did: you have to do better. He knew this—had known it ever since Finral had presented with a magic power that only brought their parents shame, frustration, and disappointment—the only problem was he didn’t know if he could. He stayed awake at night hiding under the covers and trying to make the type of portals that his parents wanted but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t use magic of any kind. He wasn’t sure which would be worse: having magic like Finral’s or having no magic at all. He didn’t want to find out.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry…” Finral apologized again. His shoulders were trembling as his wavering voice grew softer, smaller. Langris’ hands began to shake as he watched the tears well up in his brother’s eyes. “I…I just don’t want to hurt anybody…”

“Useless coward! You’re a disgrace to this House,” bellowed their father. He huffed. “The humiliation—one son with such worthless magic and another who hasn’t shown any ability at all…” Feeling his father’s attention falling on him, Langris shuddered and recoiled. His insides were twisting, and he was torn between desperately wanting to run away and hide and being unable to move.

“Langris is still very young,” intervened his mother. “I’m sure he’ll present with a very powerful magic any day now.” Langris stared down at the ground under the weight of his mother’s tightened grip and pointed stare which warned louder than any words: you had better.

Langris’ toes curled up tightly in his shoes. He felt like he was going to be sick.

Finral turned to look at him with teary eyes, but he tried to smile at him slightly. “Let me try again…” he said wiping his eyes and taking a step nearer to Langris, stepping in between him and their parents, before trying to make another portal. It shined and shimmered in front of him before flickering and disintegrating. Langris had always thought it was remarkable that his brother could make something like that, when all Langris could ever do was stare at his empty hands desperately willing the appearance of portals that never came. Their parents, however, were always unimpressed.

“Pathetic,” scoffed their mother.

Their father frowned irately before shaking his head. “They’re getting even worse. Utterly worthless. You don’t deserve to call yourself a Vaude.”

Finral hunched over—seemingly curling into himself, and his eyes welled with tears again as he choked out a barely audible apology. “I’m sorry…”

“You incompetent good-for-nothing!” Their father glared at him. “And now you’re crying?” he scoffed in incredulous disdain at the tears that streamed down Finral’s cheeks. “As if it isn’t your fault that you’re wielding such ineffectual magic, you blubbering idiot.”

Finral sniffled and tried to wipe his eyes apologizing profusely, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry…I’m trying…I just can’t—” Whack. Langris flinched at the horrible slapping sound of his father’s hand striking Finral’s face and his brother’s painful whimpering.

“I told you to stop your whining and excuses!” their father thundered. Langris clinched his trembling hands into fists. His chest felt tight and heavy. Stop it. Make it stop. He desperately pleaded internally to someone…anyone…as tears poured down Finral’s face and he frantically and hopelessly tried to wipe them away as their father raised his hand again.

Langris’ heart beat faster and faster and his stomach warped and coiled into knots—a weight building up inside him too heavy for him to bear. His knees buckled, and he un-clinched his fists. Stop it. Stop! St…

Crash. Boom. Thud. A bright burst of blue collided with the nearby gazebo sending pieces of wooden debris flying. The world seemed to stop as the roof caved in and the structure collapsed on itself.

“Woah…” whispered Finral with wide eyes, but their parents were stunned into silence. Tears prickled in Langris’s eyes, and his heart was pounding so rapidly he was sure it was going to beat out of his chest. His whole body trembled as his father turned towards him, and he shut his eyes tightly flinching in anticipation of his father’s rage.

“That is spatial magic worthy of House Vaude,” said his father. His head reeling, Langris opened one eye in blinking disbelief.

“What wonderful power, Langris!” his mother exclaimed placing a hand on his head.

Langris blinked at them. Was this it? Was this the magic his parents so desperately wanted—the magic that somehow he possessed? It almost seemed too good to be true.

“I…the gazebo…” Langris began quietly and apologetically still completely bewildered by his parents’ reaction.

“We’ll have the servants clean it up,” answered his father dismissively before he turned his attention away from Langris to his brother. “Finral,” he began, and Finral looked up almost hopeful but his face fell immediately as his father said, “You would do well to wield your magic like Langris. You wouldn’t want the shame of being shown up by your younger brother again, would you?”

[dolokhoded]

Who do you think is the female w&p character that Tolstoy treats the worst (aka for which he deserves to be brought back to life just so he can be killed again)?

honestly i think they all have horrible fates. i can't really compare them to each other because they're so different and they all want different things etcetcetc but they all have terrible lives. i can tell you who i think was shown more kindness, though, and i think it's marya b. her getting married to nikolai was out of nowhere but she seemed much happier at the end of the book than at the start of it and that's what matters, she runs her own home, she's not depended on her abusive father anymore, she raises her brother's child as her own which i think is nice, she has a much healthier relationship with her faith, there are still some weird things abt the epilogue but overall i think marya levelled up. her life wasn't perfect but by the end of the book i was happy for her.

everyone else was absolutely fucked over. helene was abused and misunderstood and forced into boxes and incredibly toxic dynamics her entire life, until she died a just as sudden and 'dramatic' death with little to no explanation just so she could be out of the way and pierre could remarry. natasha lost her entire personality, became bitter and sad and bland just to pop out a few babies, and completely stopped singing after finding her 'true purpose' in marriage, while her singing is what was used as a metaphor for her happiness for the entire book. sonya constantly lived in the shadow of her family with no life of her own and ended up being a babysitter for her cousins and their spouses. lise was robbed of her life and her friends to be isolated with her husband's toxic family without anyone ever considering her own happiness, ended up dying from something that could easily be avoided if she had been provided proper medical care (even in 19th century standards), didn't get to ever return to her friends or raise her son who she seemed so excited about and was completely written out of the narrative, not even being mentioned in the epilogue as the woman who literally birthed nikolushka, while he only ever cared for his father. vera was mocked and ignored by her entire family for no good reason, was never taken seriously by anyone and even when she finally met someone who cared about her and got married and managed to leave that house tolstoy had to come in a bunch of chapters later to remind us that btw vera never finds happiness because she's so unlikable and she and her husband hate each other, then is completely alienated from the rest of her family by the end of the book. i could go on these women were all having a fucking terrible time. i don't see their situations as comparable, so i can't tell you which had it worst. i can tell you who i'm the most emotionally invested it, and therefore seems worse to me, but i couldn't tell you which is worse. i wouldn't want to be in any of their places equally.

tldr we should bring tolstoy back to life just so i can kill him with my bare hands

[moistvonlipwig]

Seeing as you reblogged it again: TV show of your choice for the gen relationships ask game

ok i will do *spins wheel* once upon a time !

My favorite parent-child relationship: Regina & Henry my beloveds.....she loves that kid so much and he loves her back <333 OUAT is literally the story of THEM!!!

My favorite sibling relationship: Okay but [Wish] Hook perpetuating the cycle of abandonment his father started by killing said father and orphaning and abandoning Liam II mere days/weeks before wising up and choosing to stay with baby Alice......Brennan doomed the fuck out of all his sons and then Killian doomed the fuck out of his baby brother because Liam II just wasn't quite enough for him to change. And then Liam II grew up to be just as angry and vengeful as he was. The cycle repeats!!!

My favorite family relationship (other): Regina and Snow's relationship is so incredibly difficult and complex and deep. They know each other better than anyone else does and yet there are parts of each other they still cannot hope to grasp. And there's still so much love there despite everything. I'm obsessed with them.

My favorite friendship between two people: The Wish Hook & Regina friendship that is sprinkled throughout S7 in brief moments and implications haunts my brain. But in terms of friendships that were actually fleshed out in canon, I do enjoy Regina and Emma's relationship despite my problems with Emma as a character. Oh and I also like Regina's friendship with Archie. He's a terrible therapist but he's not a bad friend.

My favorite friendship between a group: Regina and her BFFs the Charmings who are all, to a one, obsessed with her and would kill for her, even though she has tried to kill most of them before on multiple separate occasions. Snow and David and Emma said that's my bestie Regina right there, attempted murder is nothing in the face of our bestieship, and they were so real for that. And you know Baby Neal will almost certainly feel the same. I also really like the S7 squad, I thought that was such a fun oddball group.

My favorite mentorship: The Rumple & Regina relationship and then the Rumple & Alice relationship as a reflection of that relationship are so......like he abused Regina for decades and molded her into a weapon out of spite for his enemy/ex-lover i.e. her mother but he did care about her deep down and she eventually was able to name what he did to her but she still loved him and wanted him to do better but also she still hated him and wanted revenge against him because how could she not. And then years later he stumbles upon the daughter of his other greatest enemy and he almost uses her to free himself of his evil impulses, which she is destined to do so it's basically a fate-approved solution, but he stops himself and says no, that's not fair to her, I need to stop imprisoning teenage girls in metaphorical towers. Like......the layers to that!!!

My favorite rivalry: [Wish] Hook & Rumple spent centuries doing the "recognition of the self through the other (derogatory)" thing and they were so iconic for that, although to be fair they were even more iconic for finally letting it go in favor of "recognition of the self through the other (affectionate)."

My favorite hatred/antipathy: Whatever Snow and Cora had going on was so toxic and complex and full of hate. Juicy as hell. <3

My favorite potential relationship between characters who never talk in canon: Okay I guess Regina & Marian TECHNICALLY talked once before Regina ordered her execution but can you imagine if Marian had actually come back to life through time travel shenanigans instead of it being secretly Zelena all along and she and Regina got to have real conversations and develop a real friendship.......that would be so good. 😔 OUAT S1-6 give a fuck about women of color challenge

[ga-yuu]

Hello, sorry for such a dumb ask (I'm new here and I swear I'm following you), but could you please explain Ibuki and Kurama's relationship with each other? I don't really get it especially since you said that they were father and son. Really sorry if I'm bothering you with such a stupid question

Kurama and Ibuki are father and son, not biologically ofc. Ibuki, one night, was casually walking in snowy plains and found something buried in the snow. He went to see what it was and it was a Tengu child. When Ibuki tried picking him up, the child attacked him with a weak wind blade while fighting for his life. Seeing this, Ibuki thought the boy is interesting and would make a good toy for him. That's why, he decide to adopt him and raise him, so he can later break his heart. Also, the name 'Kurama' was given to him by Ibuki because he was found at Mt. Kurama. That's it! It was Ibuki's reason to adopt him.

Their relationship was very abusive. Ibuki did physically abused Kurama many times. We saw a glimpse of this in Ibuki's diary where he tied Kurama's wings and threw him down the cliff. There is also this other scene in Kurama and Ibuki's chronicles where Ibuki and Kurama 'train' and Ibuki beats him up with his great sword until he realized that if he beats him anymore, Kurama would actually die. The happened when Kurama was still a child. So yeah....If you thought Ibuki was a good person because he's a male lead....I suggest you change your mind, because he's not.

Now I'm not justifying Ibuki's behaviour. There is no justification for abuse, but Ibuki's behaviour makes sense because in this game, the demons are said to not understand parental love or love in general. In the demon world, it is pretty common for demon parents to kill their own children. So even if Ibuki kills Kurama, it would make sense. But to be honest, demons can feel love. They just cannot define it. If you ask Ibuki and Kurama ---- 'What is love? or What is a friend or girlfriend/spouse?' They would just say "Girlfriend/spouse is someone you kiss and have sex with while with a friend, you don't do that. And children are just by-products from having sex.' That will be their definition. They find it hard to define it, but they can indeed feel it.

Ibuki says Akihito and Yasuchika are nothing more than his favorite toys to pass time. But still, he would be the first one rushing to rescue them when he hears they are in danger. He would even stay besides them when they are sick, trying to take care of them. This subtle feelings shows that Ibuki does have a heart and not a complete sociopath.

Same goes for Kurama. Although Kurama is much more oblivious than Ibuki, because Ibuki didn't teach him anything besides drinking and fighting, Kurama can feel love too. For example, the best example, Kurama loves his own son. He cares about his wellbeing and he wants his son to grow and be strong and be independent, so he can survive the harsh world because his son is a half demon and half human. Although Kurama says that he is doing this only because his son looks like Yoshino, we can still sense that's not the only reason why he's doing this much for his son.

Ibuki and Kurama's relationship is abusive and toxic, yes! But I can't say for sure that they both don't have feelings for each other. The reason why Kurama stayed with Ibuki for centuries before he eventually left was only because Kurama admired Ibuki's strength. Ibuki on the other hand might have thought Kurama nothing but a toy at first but he seemed like he started to like Kurama after seeing how strong his heart is.

I feel like we'll get to know how they actually feel for each other in the upcoming sequel.

[karlcain-123]

In 1997. 27 year ago 20th century the 1900s. (1997 ). Digital camera's and picture video mobile phone handsets weren't i invented then where not around and STDs like Aids were scarce not around much in Wigan. So I had a narrow escape , I survived their Evil Goodbye ha ha haIM NO CHARITY CASE , I don't. Want any of all your money give it to charity's instead , THE NSPCC or THE TERENCE HIGGINS TRUST , I have survived all these years all by my self , I don't need no pity or help from no one. , I am self sufficient I am INDEPENDENT I AM STRONG , , I will survive you ,I will SURVIVE YOU ALL , I am celibacy CHASTISEMENT. I am 100% no STDs. I am UNAVAILABLE , IN THE NAME OF THE LORD MY GOD HEAVENLY HOLY FATHER SON AND HOLY GHOST , YOU ARE UGALY INSIDE AND OUT. , when god looks at a man or a woman , he doesn't look at the physical bodys looks the physic he looks at the spirits inside the man or woman , if you are a nasty piece of work VULGAR , UNCLEAN SPIRIT who uses BAD UNCLEAN swear WORDS NASTY ATTITUDE'S TO OTHERS insulting or Rude to others. He looks to see if you have a pure heart righteous or wickedness heart he looks to see if you have evil intentions false pretences. Or are good hearted kind to others nice polite helping others , GOD DOESNT LOVE ONE MAN OR WOMAN MORE THAN another , HE LOVES THEM ALL THE SAME A RICH MAN OR A POOR MAN THEY ARE ALL EQUAL IN THE EYES OF THE LORD OUR GOD HEAVENLY FATHER AMEN. Be WARNED YOU WILL BE JUDGED KARMA IS COMING SOON. AMEN . KCAINI AM 100%. INDEPENDENT. I SUPPORT MY SELF , I do my own cleaning my own laundry prepare my own meals wash and shower all by myself. , , FAR AWAY FROM HERE. , I do not need support I am 100% INDEPENDENT And I support my self in December this year 2023 I will be 50 years old. , those enemies of mine are Dirty nasty jealousy toxic and bogus corrupted and CROOKED ,And they are having sexual relationships with Underworld gangsters , I prayer A CURSE OF GOD ON ALL OF THEM ( WITHERED FIG TREES ). MOUNTAIN GILBOA. AMEN KCAIN GOOD BYE. I AM HEALTHIER THAN ALL OF THEM. , I HAVE NO STDS. AMEN. THEY ARE THE SCUM OF THE EARTH ABUSED ALL THERE TRUST POWER AND POSITIONS IN THE WICKED SYSTEM OF THINGS . AMEN my guardian Angels my faith which I possess will never let evil men or evil women like that any where near me again to physicaly or phycologicaly abuse or hurt me ever Again. HALLALLULLYA AMEN. KCAINI HAVE DECIDED TO STAY PUT HERE ,TODAY IS DAY 5 NO WORDS PHYSICAL SOUND WAVES. , I FEEL GOOD SPIRIT'S 👍 , I AM STRONG 💪 SPIRITUALY STRONGER THAN BEFORE IN GOD MY CREATOR , I AM WINNING , THE EVIL 😈 IN THE BACK GROUND OF MY LIFE IS MY ENEMY'S. I WILL BE REIMBURSED BY GOD MY HEAVENLY FATHER FOR EVERY THING I HAVE SUFFERED , BOGUS CORRUPTIED INDIVIDUAL'S ALWAYS GET FOUND OUT. ( SACKED ) DISEMPLOYED THEN PUT BEHIND BAR'S JAILED THEM SELVE'S. , NO WORDS PHYSICAL SOUND EVER AGAIN. I AM IN SURVIVAL MODE I AM AT WAR THEOLOGY I LOVE ❤️ YOU LORD OUR GOD FATHER SON HOLY GHOST 🙏 AMEN 🙏 🙌 PRAISE GOD THANK YOU HALLALLUYA AMEN THANK YOU JESUS FOR SAVING ME AGAIN .AMEN .KCAIN 27TH MAY .