#tts rambles

[aikya-kat-44]

Varian makes such a freaking good villain because he is everything that a hero should be. He is innocent looking and young, he wants to help the world, he is kind and compassionate and awkward and more than anything just wants to make his dad proud. He almost seems like the tragic hero in his alchemy, valiantly pursuing a noble cause yet doomed to fail. He even gets his own Disney princess song a la "legendary" or "part of your world" in "I will make you proud". But he is abandoned and left to face a major trauma with no support and no help and no knowledge or ability to deal with it. He has no choice but to resort to villainy, not of his own wants but of a deep desperation.

He is what Rapunzel could have become had Eugene remained dead. He is what Elsa did almost become after she was cast out of Arendelle. He is exactly what any true hero could have become had they had no help, no hope, no light in their darkest hour.

He is a reminder of the danger that lurks in all of us. He is a reminder to us to treat people with compassion regardless of what they've done. He is a reminder that sometimes good people do terrible things because they had no other options, because they were hurt and in pain and they need to be guided back to the light instead of immediately being punished. He is a reminder that people can change, that they deserve second chances. And he is a reminder that anyone, even the most "good" people, can fall into the trap of darkness and despair and need to be fished out.

[panickingpagan]

Lots of people are migrating from TikTok to tumblr, word of advice:

DO NOT FUCKING CENSOR YOUR TAGS/TRIGGER WARNINGS!!!!!!!!

Blocked Tags only apply to that specific tag

If someone is triggered by something and blocks the tag (ex: #death) but you censor it (ex: #de@th or #💀) then it’s useless and will show up on that person’s dash

There are way too many variations for it to be even slightly reasonable for the person effected to block all of them

Make it easy for everyone and don’t be a dick

Tag your shit properly, doesn’t matter if it makes you uncomfortable to type, say death, say murder, say rape, etc etc

[gilmorenights]

I’ve always imagined there being an episode of VAT7K where team radical hears of this fortune teller and spends the episode seeking her out and when they get to her she reveals in a dramatic way that someone is going to betray the team (a lot like The Oracle in the Pjo musical) and that ends the episode.

So next episode we see team radical is on edge and suspecting each other to be the traitor of the group. Obviously it’s Hugo, but he freaks out and just kind of fires back every time someone says something about him (“How do we know Nuru won’t steal the totems for herself once we complete the quest? I bet Varian has something to hide”) and he does it in a way that just kind of fans the flames.

Varian is the only one not acting like this because he is CONVINCED the traitor is him. At this point in their journey, his past as The Alchemist is still hidden and he intended on keeping it that way until this whole debacle. Now he has to watch his whole team fall apart and accuse each other of betraying the team all the while knowing he’s the one who betrayed them.

The last straw is when they’re sitting around the campfire and someone accuses Yong. That’s when he finally snaps and is like “It’s me, okay? I’m the traitor!” Then there’s this whole dramatic lament he does about his past and how he’s a terrible person for not telling them and he understands if they don’t want to help him anymore. Nuru and Yong are understandably shocked, but Hugo? Hugo just sits there quietly, trying to figure out what that weird feeling in his chest is. It almost feels like guilt, but no. That can’t be. Hugo doesn’t feel guilt. If anything, he should feel relieved that his secret is safe.

Eventually, Nuru takes Varian’s hand and smiles softly at him. She tells him he’s not a traitor for keeping this from them, for trying to hide something he isn’t proud of. She says everyone in the group betrayed each other by turning on and accusing one another the way they did. They’re all traitors to each other, and they should all learn to do better.

This is the turning point where I believe Team Radical officially becomes a real team. Before this they were just a group of kids with their own interests in mind, but now they’re a unit. There’s a new, unspoken level of trust and unity between them and it shows in the way they handle the rest of their journey. I think this is also the point of the show where Hugo starts doubting his mission just a bit. It’s not enough to make him want to back out (yet), but it is when the first seed of doubt is planted in his mind.

Sorry for the ramble I’ve just had this idea for so long and had to get it out somewhere 😭

[immadatdisney2]

Silly Varigo doodles

Ill share more if requested <3

[radio-zephyr]

orv spoilers (?) ahead-its a small moment

i think genuinely one of the moments in the novel that really stuck to me, was a quiet small moment between kdj, when kdj was talking to lgy about his sponsor and he raises his hand- and lgy flinches. So kdj holds his hand until he stops trembling.

like that moment is just SO TENDER and quietly devastating. Because kdj loves lgy. But he also sees himself in lgy. And he can't love that reflection of himself.

Yet he still does love lgy sm, and when he raises his hand and realizes lgy's fear, he just holds his hand in silent comfort.. and just sits there with him. until he's able to calm down again, kdj just sits with him.

[pansy-picnics]

I dont think quirin rlly has any animals on his farm cuz like hes a crop farmer and not a rancher but i do think they have a little flock of chickens and i need this to be a more widespread hc so bad. Not really any huge reason as to why i just like chickens and i think the idea of varian being a chicken dad is rlly cute. They all HATE hugo btw. He is Terrified of them

People are always asking them like. What about the raccoon??? aren’t you scared of him eating them??? and varians like. Ruddiger would die if i didnt give him apple slices every day. he doesn’t even technically live here he can go wherever he wants but the most he does in terms of finding his own food is eating a few bugs sometimes. I don’t think he remembers how to hunt or forage at all

[chocobje]

If I had a nickel for everytime I got my artstyle compared to a very popular DW artist I'd be rich lol

[candy8448]

Do you have a recs for fics based on the Apprentice arc?

Ooohohoho yesss, you've come to the right person. I have quite a lot of fics to rec (ive been obsessively consuming and hyperfixating like mad on the apprentice arc in particular):

(Also i consider haunted to be part of the overall apprentice arc so there are a few fics based on and set after that episode)

First you can look at the tag "dick grayson as slade wilson's apprentice" on ao3 and there are hundreds of fics, with every dynamic and characters you could want, these are just my favorites ive read (put very very vaguely in an order going down from my most favorites):

Never Alone

My favorite, its a masterpiece, its amazing! After haunted robin continues to have hallucinations and its a finished longfic that gives a really good look into robin's mental illness and how he is still only a human. I made a whole post about this fic and how its perfect in every way, i have not binged a longfic this long in forever but i did this one in a single reading session because i was completely and utterly gripped

More coherent and detailed but completely spoiler free rambles about what makes this fic so good here i cannot stress enough how this is a must read if you like the arc. I like, really really want you to read this one

The voice and gears of sunset

Oneshot set right after robin is rescued from slade in the apprentice arc. It hits so hard and hurts. Robin's recovery and him trying to connect again with the titans after what he had gone through, the titans being there to help every step of the way. The ending melts my heart

Emotional motion sickness

Oneshot set many years later when the batfam is fully formed and robin is nightwing. A good fic with dick and damian's brotherly relationship and discovering new ways to cope. There is an encounter with slade and that scene fills me with so much undescribable emotion

The fight and the war

Oneshot with the batfam. After an encounter with slade, dick is interogated with his family about the way he responded to slade's commands in the battle and how it could have gotten him killed. Dick is forced to admit what happened back when he was with the titans in the apprentice arc. Very good protective batsiblings in a different way to the other fics

Bedeviled

Oneshot set right after haunted. The spores have a lingering effect and robin presses an emergency distress signal to batman who is there for him

To pick at a scab

Years later with the batfam dick comes to the batcave and his younger brothers have some questions about a sound recording from his time with slade. Dick is thrown into a vivid flashback and the batfam break him out of it and help him talk through it. Oneshot

Just the same

Robin deals with stockholm syndrome and cant help but compare how similar or even better slade is than batman. The titans are there to help him figure things out. Oneshot.

Reforming Nightwing

Unfinished longfic. The titans never find iut about the nanobots and dick is forced to be slade's apprentice for 9 years. After Slade is killed and dick is able to excape, he goes to bludhaven where he picks up a new civillian name and the new identity nightwing. Meanwhile tim and steph want to figure out who this new "nightwing" and what his connection is to the villian "renegade"

Do you think batman will give me partial custody?

Oneshot. After the apprentice arc, robin returns to gotham. Unable to figure out how he feels about the situation he goes to his parents' graves where he encounters harely who helps him start a conversation with him about the abuse they both faced

The apprentice

Unfinished longfic where the titans dont discover the nanobots and robin has to continue being slade's apprentice. He spends his time figuring out how to get a message to the titans or to batman or to anyone without slade knowing

Next to my robin and some matchsticks

Oneshot set after apprentice part 2 where the titans patch up robin's wounds and talk about some scars he has, some from his time before the titans and some from slade

Update: since making tthis post, any good fic with the slade and dick dynamic that i read snd liked i have put in this collection

Update update: here are my thoughts on this fic i also found

[antiquepearlss]

I’m thinking about how Varian likely had no friends before he met Rapunzel which led to him latching onto her and his relationship with her being slightly one sidedly codependent, which made her betrayal all the more painful. I’m thinking about how after he is redeemed he latched onto her even more because she’s practically his savior and his only friend. He only wants to be around her, he places his self worth on her feelings of him, he overthinks every interaction, he is devastated when she doesn’t give him attention, and he is heartbroken when he realizes he’s not her closest friend, when she is his.

[unlikelyapricot-art]

redraw of the pjsk card 'one who laughs at the world' but make it mira and change themed >:333

monochrome under the cut and some rambling in the tags <333

[janevolturi]

the big wedding in breaking dawn that's inevitable atp in eclipse kinda gets on my nerves. i understand from an author standpoint that you want your characters to have this grand and beautiful wedding, where bella realizes that this is what she wanted all along and it's beautiful! but making it so they "appease alice" is just SO TIRING.

like it seems like that's always the excuse for bella to do anything remotely fun, god forbid the girl enjoys herself. i would even accept that bella wanted to do a ceremony her parents could witness as a "last time they see their daughter" thing and then it spirals out of control inviting the entire town as "evidence" lmao. like anxious overkill would be kinda fun and would make bella more active in the wedding planning than just "alice loves parties and dresses so we're doing this for her"

[scrimblescromble]

I headcannon that Rapunzel has wanted posters of Eugene, Varian, and Cassandra in her bedroom. Partly for light-hearted reasons (funny), but also so that she will never forget to keep on top of the legal system, justice, and her relationship and promises to people.

[itsybitsybatsyspider]

i feel like i don't see this be mentioned a lot, but practice your joy.

practice your sense of whimsy and goofiness. let yourself be cheesy and silly and ridiculous. Enjoy mundane things and practice seeing wonder in the world. Practice your imagination. And allow yourself to have fun and find comfort and happiness in the small things. It makes life so much more joyous.

im not saying it's easy, sometimes it's the opposite. But that's what the practice is for. It'll make it easier.

[gilmorenights]

Okay so I know he's out Vat7k exclusive but he is in team radical so what are your Varian headcanons??

YAYYY VARIAN MY BELOVED

Used to love when it snowed because it meant he got to go sledding with his dad, but then he developed an intense fear/hatred of snow because of the events during queen for a day

First reaction was to not trust Nuru because of how much she reminds him of Rapunzel. Even though the two of them had mostly mended things at that point, there was still a part of him deep down that blamed Raps and expected Nuru to betray the rest of the team for her kingdom

Had to put up a sign declaring his lab an “anti-Eugene” zone due to how often Eugene just barges in without warning. When it didn’t work, Varian changed it to say “Anti-Horace” just to piss him off

Keira and Catalina were his first friends that were actually around his age

Calls Hugo “pretty boy” as an insult (backfires cuz Hugo thinks they’re flirting)

Thrives in warm/hot weather but the moment the temperature drops, Varian refuses to go outside and wears thick clothing until it’s spring/summer again

He’s a snob about produce due to his dad being a farmer, and it’s a nightmare to go food shopping with him. What’s supposed to take an hour at most turns into an entire afternoon wasted at the market because the tomatoes are too soft or the apples aren’t the right color or the celery doesn’t snap right. Hugo, who grew up eating whatever he could get his hands on, has to physically restrain himself from strangling Varian

He had freckles everywhere

Exchanges letters with Rapunzel throughout his journey as a way of mending their relationship further (they both still feel super guilty about everything that happened and blame themselves) so no matter how far Varian travels, he’ll always have someone from home to guide him

Doodles Team Radical in the margins of his journal when he’s bored (caught himself making a very detailed sketch of Hugo’s face and was ashamed of himself for days)

Inconsistent sleep schedule due to nightmares, which often leads to him sitting outside by the campfire late at night. Because of this, he and Hugo are alone together a lot of the time because Hugo is usually the last of the team to go to bed

Insane sweet tooth, genuinely can’t get through the day without consuming something sweet

First to see Hugo with his hair down and was a flustered mess about it for hours after

Hugo was the first one he told about his past as the Alchemist

Has the Saporian emblem on his body somewhere (either tattooed or branded idk) because everyone in that group has it as a way to pledge their loyalty

Slight country accent that surfaces only when he’s really fired up (you can pry this hc from my cold dead hands cuz I think it’s so funny that he becomes a cowboy when he’s angry)

“Accidentally” leaves goo traps in the castle halls where he knows Nigel and/or Frederick will be walking

Forgets to eat all the time. People will remind him, but he’ll just wave it off and forget until someone shoves a ham sandwich in his face and threatens to reorganize his beaker drawer

Despises coffee and makes fun of Eugene for drinking an “old man” drink, but he will drink it if he’s pulling an all nighter and is desperate for something to keep him awake

Realized he was bisexual at some point during the journey. I feel like he wouldn’t care about romance after becoming royal engineer and getting over his crush on Cassandra, so it wouldn’t really occur to him that he likes both guys and girls until he’s on the road with too much time to think

Tries to emulate his dad when taking charge of the group cuz even away from home, he looks up to his dad

Wrist scars from the handcuffs during his prison era, whether they’re prominent or barely visible

Left-handed. Why? I dunno, it just makes sense to me

Hot chocolate snob. He’ll drink almost all kinds of hot chocolate, but he has a preference for the high quality stuff they keep in the castle and can tell the difference between different kinds (judges people who make it with water instead of milk)

When he’s in a particularly sour mood, he’ll shut off all the hot water in Corona just to be petty (usually does it when Frederick pisses him off)

Yong called him his brother once and he didn’t stop crying for an hour

Made fun of Hugo for not knowing how to swim until Varian has to save him from drowning in the water trial

Gets offended when people call Ruddiger fat or say he’s overweight (he’s basically a bowling ball that waddles around the castle but Varian isn’t ready for that conversation yet)

Refuses to let people take care of him when he’s sick because they “have better things to do”

Hugo is the only one he will voluntarily share a lab space with. Anyone else and he’d rather throw himself out a window

I have so much more but this is definitely long enough jansosiwbsoishwnsksoaisj I love him

Thank you for the ask <333

[immadatdisney2]

Stupid doodle I'm too scared to color

(Her shirt says what the fuck btw, didn't realize how light that was lol. Also, Nuru I am so sorry I did you so dirty my girl I PROMISE I will get better at drawing you one day)

So yeah. They're stupid and silly and gay and Nuru is dying in the corner (also give me drawing requests + poses you'd like me to VAT7Kafi because I'm bored and I PROMISE I'll always get them done at some point lol)

-ImMadAtDisney <3

[marietheran-archived]

what is it with all the books set in the so-called dark ages that are all like "our beautiful pagan beliefs that hOnOR WOmeN are being supplanted by MisOgYnIStIc Christianity, how terrible!". Like, who told those guys that ancient pagans (or vikings or whatever) honored women? truly, a case of wishful thinking, it seems to me