#whether it was the best decision or not

[quietstime]

♟

[weareallgonnaliveforawhile]

Damian has favorites

Damian absolutely has favorite siblings, he actually goes out of his way to rank them using a method that lets their rank change depending on several different factors.

The first time Dick saw the list he left Gotham for a week to cry because he wasn't even on it and thought Damian was somehow disowning him until Barbara dragged him back to Gotham and made them actually communicate (terrifying, I know.) (It turned out it was just as simple as Dick was that much of a dad to Damian that it genuinely didn't occur to him to lump him in with his siblings)

As of current, the list goes;

Duke

Stephanie

Cass

Jason

Tim

Jarro

The placement of Jason, Cass, Tim and Jarro changes based on what they've done for him that week, how often he's seen them, if they've upset Father or Richard, any failings vigilante-wise, and mainly the idea of 'If they saw this ranking, would I be embarrassed about it?'.

Duke and Steph are permanently in the top two spots, with their spots only swapping depending on how much Damian has seen and talked to them that day.

Patroled with Duke but Steph took him out for milkshakes and to annoy Bruce? Number one spot goes to her.

Duke takes him out for a ride on his motorcycle during his lunch period at school? Number one spot goes to him.

It's very notable that the list dictates his behavior to his siblings. Whoever's in the top spot? He'll let them carry him as if he's a fucked up cat with barely a complaint if they want to. They earned that. Five and below? He is actively pouring sand into their beds.

Steph is vaguely aware of the list but honestly thinks she's near the bottom or something. Tim is hyper-aware of it but doesn't know what the criteria are and keeps getting really competitive trying to get into the top 2 at least once, and he keeps failing miserably.

[childofthestone]

rook and solas...narrative foils? rook? a narrative foil? to SOLAS? rook? to solas? ROOK? ROOK????

[somegrumpynerd]

Actually it turns out I had more thoughts about that post that I forgot about lol

Would Nightmare actually give up his boys? Yes and no

If it was just a black and white situation of they're miserable, they don't wanna be here, they have somewhere better to be, then yes. He would leave them out to wherever they needed to be despite his own feelings and very quickly realise afterwards just how much he'd gotten used to the noise and company. I think he would get a little clingy with Dream about it, which I'm sure Dream would find very weird after everything but not unwelcome, he did miss his brother after all.

(If he couldn't attach himself to Dream's side for whatever reason, I think he might just sit in his castle and go insane. Or maybe he'd just spend all day at Ccino's trying really hard to project that he just likes the atmosphere and isn't lonely as hell)

But the thing is, most of them don't have somewhere better to be. Horror has his au, and Nightmare would keep up the supply of food even if Horror said he wanted to quit at this point, so he would understandably let him return home. Killer, Dust and Cross effectively don't have aus anymore though, and they tend to get into self-destructive habits when they're left to their own devices. (Obviously bringing Color and Epic into the mix to make sure Killer and Cross are taken care of eases matters, but Dust doesn't really have any friends outside their group he could go stay with - that Nightmare knows about at least).

The flipside of this is that his boys may not necessarily want to be given up. I think if Nightmare got really in his head about this he could easily end up convinced this is the right thing to do without ever asking them if it's what they want, with potentially terrible results. He's established such a pattern of always returning to find Killer when they get seperated, that if he never showed up Killer might just keep sitting there and waiting for him greyfriar's bobby style, refusing to leave because he's certain his boss is coming back.

[nicorobinphd]

stg, being an enjoyer of jane twdg is like being forced into an expert-level course on the way misogyny manifests in video game spaces.

god forbid a woman be complex or difficult or provably mischaracterized (see tags) at the end of her arc to service the culmination of a man’s storyline.

[ficsinhistory]

Team Sonic is currently at a ratio of 2:1 because Sonic and Knuckles are "shoot first, ask questions later" kinda guys, but with Amy joining the team, Tails will no longer be the only Rational One™

Hello Anon ✨

You're absolutely right. Sonic and Knuckles are indeed more of a team that "hits first and asks questions later". So much so that in the conflict with Shadow, Tails was the only one who didn't think of attacking without a plan. And with Amy joining the group, I believe that she will at least support him in his plans beforehand, especially since I theorise that Amy's chaos powers will manifest as temporal manipulation and the ability to see the past and future, powers that are more strategic than brute force like Sonic, Shadow and Knuckles.

However, I also believe that Amy will have her own distinct position. She is less impulsive and prone to planning, clearly devised the best way to save Sonic in the post-credits, but we have to remember that canonically… Amy is completely unhiged.

She has her emotions on edge, loves adventure to escape her mundane life and wields a giant hammer that requires insane brute force. She is as strong as Knuckles and as prone to throwing herself into chaos and fighting as Sonic, but her strategic streak (and dare say prone to tech because that hammer was totally robotic) make her more similar to Tails.

And here comes another theory of mine: while Amy has her own personality, she has traits that open to friendship with the three boys on Team Sonic while maintaining her unique traits: empathy, unconditional love, and most importantly, iron persistence and an incorruptible morale of hope and kindness.

[blackknight-100]

I'm absolutely obsessed with how mythology portrays parent-child relationships, especially when at least one divine party is involved. I've talked about Karna and Arjuna's relationship with their fathers, and how it might tie up to their characters and situations, and the Mahabharata as a whole, but they're not the only ones! Speaking exclusively about father-son dynamics in this post, and we have a lot of them!

You have Yudhisthira, whose father Yama/Dharma shows up in his son's mortal life twice (iirc), gives him a 20 min quiz each time and then tells him that no son, we don't allow dogs in heaven (which, how dare, but we all have that one parent). This is so in line with Yudhisthira's arc, poor man that he is, having to spend his whole life finding answers to questions about righteousness and honour, losing his friends, brothers, wife and children in the process.

Rama-Dasharatha and Ganesha-Shiva are pretty straightforward - there's plenty of mutual love and respect despite the horrors ™️ , but then there is Rama and Luv-Kush. If you're counting the Uttar Kand, then these boys literally saw their mother die because there father could not stop questioning her honour. That has to mess with your head. There's no way it's a happily ever after story.

Another man who interests me greatly is Yayati. Like sir... what were you doing. Who grows old and thinks, "You know what would be great? Me borrowing my son's youth" and then curses them when they refuse? What were you thinking. What were your kids thinking. I need to take your heads apart with a scalpel, this is so incredibly insane. A father should give to his children - the only thing this man "gave" was to spare Puru from his curse.

You have Bhishma and Shantanu, another wild story. I understand that Bhishma chose to give up his birthright to make Shantanu happy, but can you actually tell me Shantanu wasn't at least somewhat interested in the plan? Shantanu is Bhishma's father, it's his job to stop him from doing things like this. I feel like pulling my hair out everytime I think of this. You can tell that Bhishma was afraid for his father's well-being when he made this decision, and that so... unfair.

On the other end of the spectrum are Krishna and Vasudeva, who are wholesome to the point of despair. Vasudeva giving up his everything just to get his boy out of prison?? Waiting years and years for him, but never lamenting or cursing Krishna for not coming fast enough??? That's peak fatherhood (Shantanu take lessons). And Krishna honours that sacrifice!! He comes from idyllic Vrindavan, slays the tormentor of his parents and rips the bars of their prison!!! And that old married couple trapped within those dank, dreary walls, with no one except the other for company, watches their godly son turn up to free them and show them the sky for the first time in more than a decade - the thought of it brings me to tears. Possibly the only part I like about the change from baby!Krishna to adult!Krishna is his reunion with Vasudeva and Devaki!

Oh, and last but not least, our favourite problematic pair: Jamadagni and sons. I'm slightly terrified by how Jamadagni was like "kill your mother for me she's sinful >:(" and when four sons refused, he actually killed them. HIS OWN SONS! Admittedly, in some versions he asks Parashuram to do the killing but like... those are his brothers. Who probably swaddled him and rocked him and fed him and played with him. And all this is presumably happening right in front of Renuka. And then Parashuram has to kill his mother as well, unless he wants to be a heap of ashes.

(In some versions, including the one I've always heard as a child, Parashuram is said to be "aware of" his father's immense power, which just seems to me a really polite way to say that Parashuram knew disobeying his father had consequences ™️ that weren't always right or rational)

Worse, after the killing is done, Jamadagni is so pleased he offers Parashuram a boon, presumably with the remains of the rest of his family still nearby, and when Parashuram asks for his mother and brother to be revived, Jamadagni is all like "ooh actually I got really angry, I think I'm going to renounce rage forever. Dw btw your brothers and mother forgot you killed them you're welcome <3"

Sir??? This is what you got out of the whole issue???? No wonder Parashuram killed a whole bunch of kings, this couldn't have been healthy.

[anonumber123]

in light of recent events...

[pomegranate]

so anxious I could pop like one of those cherry tomatoes Denethor eats disgustingly

[hwestalas]

Here's a drawing that I did of Beleg, best friend in the Silmarillion, chilling in a tree on a summer's day with the little birdies (not shown)!

(If anyone wishes to dispute this, I can only point you to the line that broke my heart: "Thus ended Beleg Strongbow, truest of friends..." Tolkien himself said that in the Silmarillion! So there.)

(LIES. I can also admit that reasonable arguments could be made for the Best Friend Ever status of several other Silm characters)

(Notice that I very carefully said "in the Silmarillion," not "in the Tolkien legendarium." The historographer would not have been familiar with Samwise Gamgee.)

(Good thing - I have no idea which one is a better friend.)

(And who cares? I like good friends better than competition!)

(Oh, wait that quote said "truest" not "best." My logic resembles Swiss cheese.)

Fun/heartrending fact: On Holy Saturday a couple years ago, I thought I'd get in the mourning mood by reading the longest and saddest chapter in the Silmarillion... for the first time. Thus I first learned of Beleg and his shocking non-sequitur death. I cry over books all the time (okay, so only when they're sad or otherwise moving) but this was the only time I feared I would faint or throw up because of something in a book.

Anyway, this is my only fan art of him so far (no doubt there will be more, as he is now not only my second-favorite character in the Tolkien legendarium, but #2-3 of fictional characters from anywhere), and it's happy because he's such a happy guy, and I want to be happy thinking about him. :)

[yashley]

you ever think about how a choice that wasn’t even really a choice for fearne, but her being the only one with the ability to perform the ritual that made it her* choice as everyone around her buckled to try to help her out of that situation and the ramifications of that choice that she had scarred her so deeply that now she is terrified of making another mistake that will dramatically affect the people around her who she loves, and then when another situation followed, she was led into a situation that she did not want to be a part of, but under the veil of friendship reluctantly assisted and it blew up literally once again, took that overwhelming burden of guilt and while her friends stood by and once more let her be alone in her guilt and scarred her further.

now it feels like she can’t make any choice for herself, she can’t make any move because that will ultimately inevitably lead to her making a mistake and all of her precious friends will look down at her in disappointment and that there is not a single friend amongst them who has the emotional wherewithal to what’s happening with how fearne has changed and how she is shutting in on herself and how she is slowly imploding breaking at the seams because she’s being lost in the sea of guilt and no one else notices and no one else sees that she feels like she can’t do anything anymore from the smallest carefree little action that has no plot repercussions to a character centered decision that is integral to her own character arc that has been in the works for her character since the campaign’s conception

now she can’t even say anything, and if fearne does have an idea to do something. She quietly mutters it, and if they hear her they hear her enough to respond that ehhh that's not a good plan and that’s not gonna work and we’re not gonna do that. We’re gonna do this and fearne being fearne, trusting in her friends and doubting herself to the point of despair will nod her head that they were right and then we go on with our day until the next moment happens where she wants to think of something, she wants to do something, and it’s dismissed as the silly dumb fearne not thinking, that She has her own thoughts and feelings, and drives and desires but because she is drowning in doubt and drowning in guilt, She freezes up and doesn’t move and everyone around her just pushes her on, and even in the moment where she is faced with the situation that she is terrified of undertaking, and she is terrified of becoming a Nightmare version of herself her friends push her forward, her friends dust off her shoulders say your doubt is misplaced, and don’t worry about it and you need to do this, it should be you. This is for you.

They just completely dismiss and ignore her when she actually does speak up so what does that do? that means that she remains silent. She doubts herself more. She even more will only make a decision if it’s signed off by all these fucking people around her who claim to be her friends. she can’t even move without frantically looking to people around her for confirmation that that’s a good idea she’s not gonna fuck up. Everything about her that was supposed to be free and fun and sweet has just rendered her into a character who feels like they have as much agency as characters who would be absent for the majority of the campaign.

shes been so chained up by doubt and so chained up by guilt and hesitation and fear that she just is a person who affirms everyone else’s desires and ideas because what she wants will inevitably end up being horrible and everyone will hate her for it and they’ll leave

and it’s like if they deem fearne even capable enough to be the vessel she will leap at the chance to be useful and to be told her path and it’s like. fearne was ruidusborn first. how has this campaign done such a disservice to her character that the only thing fearne is certain of is that she doesn’t really matter. she’s a ruidusborn and holds a primordial titan of fire inside her, and she still believes she doesn’t really count are you kidding me

[blackjackkent]

All right, no more putting it off. Time for Mizora's visit.

Somewhat amusingly, the scene starts out with Wyll and Rakha just sort of standing awkwardly near each other and Wyll has the goofiest smile on his face which is not really apropos to the situation, but it's still kind of cute to think that maybe he just looks like that sometimes when he looks at her, even in bad situations:

(Rakha, of course, is completely distracted from the cute smile and looks preoccupied as hell, which is apropos.)

Whatever Wyll might have in mind to say at this moment, however, is interrupted by the sudden opening of a hell-portal, for the second time, in the middle of their camp:

Mizora does not waste time in greetings, but lifts a hand flaring with hellfire in her palm.

"Sorores surge. Testis esto pacti mei!" she cries.

More portals burst open around the camp, disgorging forth a handful of other devils - women in silk dresses with wide, leathery wings and bright, glowing eyes.

"Come, sisters!" Mizora cries. "Be my testament! Notum sit in Baator!"

Around the camp, echoes of the words roll back from the mouths of the assembled devils. Mizora smiles in satisfaction.

"Holy hells," Wyll whispers unsteadily.

Every muscle in Rakha's body is drawn tight, every sense on alert. She feels acutely aware of the number of strangers in the camp at present, their malicious intent, and Mizora at their head. The beast in her head growls like a beaten dog backed into a corner; it wants to rip and rend and tear at these interlopers into their territory, and at Mizora most of all, who has called that frightened and weary look into Wyll's face.

But she holds herself back with every ounce of control she possesses, because to attack Mizora would be to doom Wyll. The pact is not yet broken. When it is... when Wyll is finally free... she and Mizora will have a final reckoning, and it will not go well for the devil. But until then... she waits, and watches Wyll out of the corner of her eye, ready to act as he sees fit.

"Just what are you up to?" she asks, very carefully, as if afraid to jar herself loose from her own control.

"I come to bargain," Mizora says with a casual smirk. "The Hells demand witness."

"Enough, Mizora," Wyll snaps. "Where is my father? How do I save him?"

Mizora's smirk deepens, utterly untroubled by Wyll's anger. "How else?" she purrs. "We bargain. Sisters...?"

She gestures with one hand, and the summoned devils begin to intone a chant in Infernal. In her other hand, Rakha watches the Weave give a shuddering jerk as if ripped apart by gripping hands, and from within the wound in the fabric comes forth an enormous piece of parchment inscribed with glowing letters.

She can see the magic dancing on its surface, over every word. It doesn't take much effort for her to guess what this is, even before Mizora explains it.

"Your contract, Wyll," the cambion says, mocking laughter in each word. "Signed in blood, forged in fire, bound in bone - but not unbreakable."

Then break it! Rakha wants to scream, to demand, to rip Wyll away from Mizora's control for good. She can already guess where this conversation is heading, and the dark certainty of it makes her tremble with rage.

But she says nothing. She waits. She waits... and the hammer falls.

"But no contract is ended without sacrifice, Wyll. The cost must be paid."

Fire bursts up around her, around all the devils in the camp, sending weird flickering shadows across the scene, lighting Mizora's face ominously from below. She raises her hands and her voice booms out across them, raising the hair on the back of Rakha's neck.

"WYLL RAVENGARD!" she booms. "A choice is before you! Option one - I show you the way to your father. I guarantee him no harm except that from you and your allies. And you pledge your soul to me and the archdevil Zariel in a pact eternal. Option two - I break your pact, and you are freed from your duty. Your father dies by his enemy's hand, and Baldur's Gate loses its greatest champion."

She smiles; her eyes glow like burning coals in the hellfire light. "Name your sacrifice!"

"Bloody Zariel!" Rakha hears Karlach shout from beyond the fire. "I won't let her take Wyll!"

"SILENCE, KARLACH!" Mizora barks.

Wyll's shoulders have hunched up as if defending him from a physical blow. "Mizora, you arsehole--" he growls.

"CHOOSE!" she snaps, and laughs.

Rakha's blood runs cold. I knew it, she thinks bitterly.

Kill her... growls the beast. Take the choice away and punish her for giving it. Rip out her guts and see what a devil looks like from the inside...

But she can't. She can't... because that would destroy Wyll... and yet the choice is impossible.

(A/N: I'm still salty as hell that you can't let Wyll make this choice on his own. It's the only companion decision that you can't leave to the companion themselves. I think, however, we can safely guess what his choice would be, if the option were given.)

Well, not impossible. Were it Rakha's choice alone, she would break the pact without hesitation. Wyll needs to be free. What did Ravengard do for him besides turn him out into the cold when Wyll needed him most? Wyll has trusted and loved Rakha in spite of the monster inside of her, but Ravengard did not have the strength to do the same. He does not deserve Rakha's pity, and Wyll deserves far better than either of them.

Besides... she is all too familiar with being trapped in the service of a power inside her head that she doesn't control. Hers is baked into her very blood and flesh, but Wyll, at least, has the possibility of freeing himself from his.

"The half-life of a mind-addled slave is worse than death," Astarion said, when she told him of Bhaal's taint in her blood. And she knows he was right.

The trouble is, of course, that Wyll will not see it this way. She knows all too well that he sees his father as a hero, a man to be emulated in all things. He will want to sacrifice everything to save his father, even if his father would not do the same for him.

It isn't fair! she thinks, petulant, angry, as if her rage could somehow change the truth of the situation.

There is one final thought, though, that seals things for her beyond anything else. You pledge your soul to me, Mizora said, and to the Archdevil Zariel in a pact eternal. That could mean anything - but there is the possibility that it means that once Ravengard is free, Mizora will take Wyll to the Hells. And he would be gone from her, and she would never see him again, and she would be alone with her own father's voice keening for blood in her head.

And she is not sure, without Wyll, if she can resist it.

"Break the pact, Wyll," she mutters. Shame floods her, knowing that it is selfish fear as much as love or hope that drives the words. "You deserve your freedom."

Wyll flinches, his expression twisting with agonizing pain. "You damned wretch," he snarls-- and perhaps he means Mizora, but perhaps he means Rakha, too, and the possibility stabs deep into her heart. But the words are spoken, and they can't be taken back.

His shoulders slump and his eyes close. "Do it," he mutters. "Break the pact."

Mizora tips her head to the side, visibly surprised, but her brutal smile doesn't shift. "Fiat ita," she intones, echoed by the devils surrounding them.

The Weave swirls around them in a burst of ripping, tearing energy, sloughing around Wyll's body, snapping the bonds tying him to Mizora by his hands, his eyes, his hips. The glowing contract flares up in a burst of fire, burning away into nothingness and leaving behind a singed mark in the magical fabric.

One by one, the witness devils disappear back through the portals that brought them, until only Mizora stands before them, still wreathed in the fading fire.

"Didn't think you had it in you," she says brightly, dusting her hands off with a conversational attitude, deliberately ignoring the anguish on Wyll's face as he sinks to his knees. "Seems my boy's all grown up."

She steps forward, close enough to give him a smart tap on the shoulder. "And don't go fussing about your father," she says coolly. "You made your choice; you knew the terms."

Drawing herself up to her full height, she meets Rakha's eyes and smirks. She's certainly fully aware of the fury in the half-orc's eyes - but it doesn't concern her any more than Wyll's agony does. "You know what..." she says, with mock-thoughtfulness, tapping a fingertip against her jaw. "I think I'll stick around." She snickers. "Not for the greater good, you understand... just for the entertainment."

-----

The flames fade. Mizora turns and walks away, her wings folding around her as she moves to a position at the edge of camp, casually settling herself against a tree. She catches a baleful glance from Aylin as she passes the aasimar, and grins, waggling her fingers in a playful wave.

Rakha sags, weary and angry, her eyes narrowed. She waits for Wyll to say something, anything... but he doesn't speak. He just sits on his knees in the dirt for a long, long time, then climbs to his feet and slowly trudges away towards his tent.

[agathabridgerton]

only mystra would go "yes i am the source of all of your problems and am the reason you couldn't reach your full potential <3 but now you're free of me so you can do that now <3 i'm so smart and nice and am definitely a good-aligned goddess!!"

[kiqilinn]

milgram?

MILGRAM GOD. MILGRAMMMMM

[kaiba-fangirl]

Oh dear 😳

Well, I've looked, and-

*pops back over to Yu-Gi-Oh*

Ahhh... I don't know how we made it through the growing pains, but we did. Hopefully other fandoms will someday, too.

[poetryqueer]

planning document must be going well I just said the words “explaining the endurance of Platonism could be the life I’m living” to myself. Alone. At 2:30am. Because yeah. Could be.