#would he feel justified in his father’s sacrifice? in his own?

[jattendschaton]

Do you think Adrien sees himself in this new image he has of his father—in the way Chat Noir always sacrifices himself for Ladybug and the greater good, and now he believes his father has done the same? Giving his life so that Ladybug can live, so that Monarch would be destroyed?

[ninchen1909]

The wrong groom II

Pairing: Ivar the boneless x female reader

Word count: ~ 2.700

Warnings: Animal sacrifice, the family abandon the reader

 The words of King Ragnar still echo in your ears, an unknown joy rises in you when you realize that your request has been heard and that you would soon be the wife of Prince Ivar. However, this feeling of happiness is short-lived, a glance at your father shows you that he appears to be anything but happy about your decision. He sits on his throne, a frown lingering on his face, fingers digging deeply into the uneven wood of the armrests, while the corners of his mouth twitch suspiciously. The coldness in his voice makes you wince as he addresses the word to King Ragnar.

"I wish to speak with my daughter in private."

Not a single emotion can be read on his face as he fixes you with his gaze, yet the tone of his voice tells you all you need to know. He is angry. Incredibly angry.

"As you wish. In the meantime, I will seek out my sons to inform them of the changes."

Ragnar gives you a warm, reassuring smile before nodding briefly to your father while making his way out of the throne room, your eyes following his every proud move of his. Only when the heavy wooden doors fall shut and the whole hall is filled with an almost disturbing silence, you turn to your father. He is still sitting on his throne, deep wrinkles cover his forehead and make him look even older.

"Father..."

"Silence!"

Immediately you swallow your words. Never before has your father spoken to you like this, never before has he sounded so disappointed and angry at any of your actions. Your eyes turn towards the floor, but the soft crunching sound of the wooden throne lets you know that your father has risen from it. Just a few seconds later, you can hear his footsteps approaching you. This causes you to lift your head and look at him with feigned confidence. His normally warm brown eyes are filled with a coldness you never thought possible, his whole face contorted into a hard mask.

For a brief moment, you simply look into each other's eyes, and shortly after that , all you can hear is the slapping of skin on skin. Bewildered, you look at your father, one of your hands finding its way to your now reddened. stinging cheek. Never before has your father raised his hand against you. Not ever, until this moment. Tears well up in your eyes, whether for pain or anger you can't tell yourself at this moment. The shock lingering deeply in your bones.

"You ungrateful little brat. How dare you?"

You wince, his frigid tone feeling like a whip is striking down on your skin.

"How dare you embarrass me like this in front of King Ragnar? How can you doubt my decision in front of him?"

Your hands begin to tremble as you remove them from your cheek, yet you try to justify your decision.

"But father, all that mattered was that I marry one of the princes, and that I do."

"You doubted my decision, and you did so in front of the most powerful Northman we have ever dealt with. How can he now believe that I can command our army, and be a fearless reder, when not even my own daughter listens to me and respects me."

"But father, I respect you."

"Don't you ever dare say that again when your actions clearly speak to the contrary. Your mother was right from the beginning, I should not have been so lenient with you. I should have been more strict, more firm."

A brief silence falls over you as your father seems to search for the right words.

"I will tell King Ragnar that you will leave my kingdom this very day."

Your heart begins to pound furiously, one of your hands reaching for the cross pendant around your neck.

"But what about the wedding?"

"You will not marry this prince in the presence of my god. Sigurd I could still have coped with. But not this bloodthirsty cripple. If you want to marry him, marry him before his war-obsessed gods."

"But father..."

But before you can finish your sentence, your father has turned his back on you.

"Go pack your things, I'll let you know when you sail."

Tears well up in your eyes, in a last desperate attempt you reach out your hand to your father, wanting to put it on his shoulders. But as soon as it comes to rest there, he shakes it off in a jerky movement and moves even further away from you in quick steps.

With a heavy heart, you climb the stone stairs to your room, your vision blurred by your tears, but you realize that there is no time to lose if the ship is to leave for Kattegat tonight.

You have already stowed most of your possessions in cloth bags, when all at once the door to your room crashes against the stone wall behind it with a loud noise. Abruptly you turn towards the door.

"(y/n), tell me is it true what my father told me? You want to marry me instead of Sigurd?"

A silent nod from you is all Ivar gets in response. A beaming smile spreads across his otherwise serious face as he approaches you with the help of his crutches. With each step he takes toward you, his smile seems to grow even wider, so that when he finally stands before you, his entire face lights up. This changes, however, when he sees the tears in your eyes. Lovingly, he brushes the remaining traces of tears from your cheek.

"What happened?"

The concern is clear in his eyes.

"My father has decided that I am a disgrace to the family because of my decision to prefer to marry you instead of Sigurd, so I will sail with you to Kattegat as early as tonight."

After your words, the concern in his gaze turns to anger.

"You are not a disgrace just for sharing your desire. I for one am proud of you, and I am honored that I may soon call myself your husband and we will build a life together. You're as strong as Freya and just as beautiful."

His words cause a slight smile to appear on your lips, yet sadness at your father's reaction and words prevails at this moment.

"Thank you Ivar. But I can't really be happy about it right now."

"Of course my love, but believe me, the day will come when you can."

"I hope so..."

Ivar leans his crutch against your bed before pulling you against him in a careful motion, your head immediately burying itself in the crook of his neck as your fingers dig into the soft fabric of his shirt. You feel him press a gentle kiss to the top of your head before resting his chin on the crown of your head.

"Do you want me to help you with anything?"

"No thanks, I'd rather be alone for the last while."

"As you wish my princes, I'll help my brothers get the ships ready."

With a quick kiss on your cheek, he disappears from your chamber. Again, a stifling silence spreads through your chamber, yet this is exactly what you need at the moment.

 Your heart breaks when, you realize that none of your family has come to say goodbye to you, when you find yourself standing in front of the Northmen's ships, a few hours later.

None of them thought it necessary to bid you farewell. With your head drooping, you stride towards the large wooden ship and a short time later, you no longer feel the solid ground of the earth beneath you, but the damp wooden planks of the ship, which is swung back and forth by the waves in slight movements. A gentle arm tightens you  against a firm chest, the sudden warmth making you tremble.

"All will be well, my love."

Ivar presses a kiss to the top of your head as his arm wraps around your stomach a little tighter, giving you reassurance as the boat starts to move in steady motions. With tears in your eyes, you watch as your home becomes smaller and smaller the further you move away from it, as you put more and more distance between you and the people you thought would always love you. But they are your past and Ivar is your future. With these thoughts you tear your gaze away and turn in your fiancé's arms to look up at him. His blue eyes seem even bluer due to the water that surrounds you, a slight smile is on his lips, yet you can clearly see the concern in his eyes. You notice the puzzled looks of the other Northmen upon you as he thoughtfully brushes a loose strand of hair behind your ear, but you don't really pay attention.

"Yes. Yes it will my love."

You intertwine your hands in his neck and pull his face down to you a little to press a tender kiss to his soft lips. All while King Ragnar watches the both of you with fond eyes.

  Life in Kattegat is a marked change from your previous life, but you try to come to terms with it as best you can. The pain of your family's rejection  still deep inside you, but you try not to let it show. In a few days you will be a princess of the Vikings, so it is time to act like one.

Closely embraced by Ivar's strong arms, you lie next to him on your bed, a matter that would have been unimaginable in your previous life. The furs on the bed give you warmth, the closeness to each other security. You run your index finger over the drawings on his now so familiar bare chest. A light laugh escapes you.

"Why are you laughing dearest?"

His warm voice snaps out of your thoughts, a small smile adorning his lips.

"I was just thinking about how I reacted the first time you undressed in front of me."

The memory of that, elicits a hearty laugh from Ivar as well.

"I've never seen anyone press their hands to their eyes as fast and hard as you did at this moment. And all because of a naked man."

"You are the first man I have ever seen naked, I was just surprised."

"I still don't understand what your God has against people seeing each other naked before they  get married and even after that."

"That way, you're not tempted to perform intercourse before marriage."

Not long ago, all of this made sense to you, but ever since you caught a glimpse of Ivar's muscular body, you've begun to doubt it. Yet, in all this time, he has accepted your desire to wait until your wedding night to do so.

Your answer to his question elicits only an incomprehensible snort before he presses a kiss to your nose and pulls you a little closer to his warm chest.

A comfortable silence spreads in your chamber, which you break only a few minutes later.

"How exactly will our wedding go?"

As always when you ask a question about the Northmen's ways, a breathtaking smile creeps onto his lips.

"We will meet under a large wooden arch in which the writings of the gods are carved, to give us blessing. There, the volva will already be waiting for us to confirm our marriage."

"Volva?"

"A volva is a sorceress, Freya herself gave her these gifts, to help us, the gods often speak to us through them. There are also men who practice magic, the Seidmadr. But women are more skilled and powerful at using these abilities, which is why we prefer a Volva to a Seidmadr."

With a short nod you indicate to Ivar that you have perceived his words. After a brief kiss on the top of your head, he continues.

"Before the actual ceremony begins, we make offerings to our gods. Thus, one sacrifices a goat for Thor, a pig for Freya and a horse for Freyr. The animals are bled and later the meat is eaten at the feast. This is how we make sure the union is in the favor of the gods."

Your stomach turns at the thought of having to watch animals being slaughtered, but you try not to let it show.

"Then the man hands the woman an axe or a sword to show her that he will protect her until the gods call them to Valhalla. The woman does this only if she is a Shieldmaiden, which is not the case in our wedding. Then we testify our love before the gods and ask them for their protection and favor. Afterwards we have a great feast, with food and drink and music."

Your voice is quiet as you address the next question to Ivar.

"And what is expected of us on our wedding night?"

Ivar immediately notices that you are having a hard time asking this question, so is especially happy that you are doing it.

"Nothing is expected of us my love. If you want to consummate the marriage we will, if you don't feel ready we will wait."

Relief spreads through your body as you hear Ivar's words. The pressure disappears from your shoulders as you realize that he is ready to take on everything at your pace. With each day you spend with Ivar, you can understand less why so many people are afraid of him.

"Thank you."

Your eyes meet his, light blue orbs beaming lovingly at you.

"For you always."

A few days later, the time has come. Wrapped in a simple, white, floor-length dress, you stand in your shared room while one of the servants stands on her tiptoes to place a crown of white, yellow and purple wildflowers on your head. Anticipation and excitement mix together in the pit of your stomach as you spin around once, watching the dress sway with your movement. The shy voice of a servant snaps you out of your movement.

"It's time princess."

You give her a smiling nod before grabbing the fabric of the dress with your hands to lift it slightly off the ground. Accompanied by your maids, you make your way to the said place.

Even from afar you can see the crowd, all of Kattegat has come together to witness the wedding of their youngest prince, with the unknown princess from a distant land. Immediately you can feel their eyes on you, some of them still reflecting a certain wariness towards you and your God, others giving you a warm smile. The children give you looks of admiration as you walk past them. But the gaze that is most important to you, beams at you full of dignity and love, his eyes gliding over your form again and again, taking in every detail of your shape.

"You are beautiful, my love."

Are the first words you hear when you finally stand next to him. You notice your cheeks heating up, yet you hold his gaze.

"Thank you, dearest."

The ceremony proceeds just as Ivar had explained it to you, the sacrificial animals are brought up to you. Your stomach turns as they are offered as sacrifices to the gods and their blood is collected in an iron bowl. While words in a language not yet known to you are directed heavenward. Nevertheless, you bravely keep your eyes on the events before you, proving to the last doubters that you have it in you to be a true Viking. Afterwards, Ivar hands you his battle axe and with this gesture promises to protect and honor you until the end of his life.

Finally, the Volva takes the bowl with the animal blood in her hand and sinks her fingers into it, before she spreads the blood on Ivar and you. You feel the blood run over your face in warm, thick streams. Afterwards, you and Ivar seal your love with a long, passionate kiss. The gods and the people of Kattegat are thus witnesses to a long and happy marriage, of a union that will last even in Vallahlla.

[jeannereames]

This is something entirely random that I’ve been thinking of a lot, but what do you believe Hephaestion would think if Alexander had kids of his own while he was alive? Or even what he thought of his marriage? This probably isn’t something you have evidence for based on historical fact, obviously, save accounts of their bond and general characters. This is more asking for your personal opinions/beliefs. Or just on the characters themselves in your books.

I know he probably expected him to take wives and have heirs eventually, realistically. But if he truly loved Alexander that deeply, to the point they were thought two halves of the same whole, I always wondered what he may feel about it in those situations, or even how he’d interact with the children/Roxana or his other wives in general.

I dunno, it’s just something that’s always interested me. I know I would probably not be able to take it well, personally, so it’s always made me wonder if Hephaestion did.

Hephaistion, Alexander’s Wives, and Romantic Jealousy

Honestly, I’m of the opinion that Hephaistion may have been one of those who encouraged Alexander to marry Roxana (in order to get the hell out of Baktria).

The issue of Hephaistion’s putative jealousy which movie- and documentary-makers return to again and again, creating (to my mind unrealistic) love triangles, owes to some pretty vast differences between Now and Then, regarding marriage and love.

The Greeks got jealous. We have LOTS of evidence of such jealousy in everything from lyric poetry to curse tablets and love philtres. Furthermore, there was nothing remotely like concepts of “When they go low, we go high.” No, when they went low, you were expected to go lower.

Once more, I repeat the ancient maxim for GOOD men and women: Help your friends and hurt your enemies.

Hephaistion absolutely subscribed to that—both the historical man and my character. The historical man apparently made life difficult for Eumenes, at least. And he participated in the torture of Philotas (whether or not one thinks it justified). Near the end of his life, a high-ranking Macedonian official was so fearful of him (and Alexander), he begged his brother, a Seer, to sacrifice and read the omens—and for Hephaistion first. He feared him more.

He was not a man to cross. But notice who he had quarrels with: his equals (or close enough). If there’s any truth to a quarrel with Olympias (I’m dubious for reasons I’ll go into in the monograph), it involved her influence over Alexander versus his own.

Upper-class men and women in ancient Greece, and Macedonia, simply lived very separated lives. Returning to those curse tablets, the bulk of them that involve rivals involve rivals of the same sex. Women curse other women their husbands may be involved with. Men curse other men who they believe/fear their love interest (not always a wife) might favor. If we’re often unsure WHO these people are relative to each other, as we typically have only names, I’ve just not seen much cross-gender cursing, as least not about love. Now, there are literally tens of thousands of these, so I’m sure there are some, but it doesn’t seem to be common.

And I think the reason it’s not OWES to that very gender-segregated nature of Greek life. Women are threatened by other women—not by men. And men are certainly not threatened by women. These are two different spheres. When we do hear men complaining about another man’s obsession with so-and-so hetaira, it’s the SON (or father) who’s worried their love-drunk relative will squander all his money on her.

This is why Hephaistion as jealous of a “mere woman,” even a wife, strikes me as anachronistic—especially by that point in their lives. Maybe in the first flush, he could be jealous, and I do have him initially jealous of Kampaspe in Dancing with the Lion: Rise. But not only does he get over it, he winds up friends with her! (She’ll continue to be important throughout the series, in fact.) He simply needed to know she wasn’t going to replace him.

A wife isn’t going to replace him, especially not a wife married for diplomatic purposes, which is ALL Alexander’s wives, and even mistresses (including Barsine and arguably, Statiera). It would be the same thing with heirs. Hephaistion sure can’t give any to Alexander, so of course he needs Alexander’s wife to do that.

I think, if anything, Hephaistion would have wanted to be involved in helping raise Alexander’s sons/children…just as Alexander apparently intended to be involved with Hephaistion’s. That’s reportedly why he married Hephaistion to Drypetis, the younger sister of his own bride, Statiera (the younger): so their children would be cousins.

For elite classes, there are just a LOT more people involved in raising children than a nuclear family. Alexander’s (and Hephaistion’s) children would have had nurses, attendants, tutors, etc. There wouldn’t have been any expectation that Alexander would “settle down” with his wife and spend all his time with them, like a Macedonian Father Knows Best. Hee.

Hephaistion’s REAL rivals for Alexander’s affections would be competing Hetairoi who might want to muscle in and usurp his influence, or younger teen boys who caught Alexander’s eye, especially if he seemed to be getting too close to one. Pretty Euxinippos was more of a threat (and maybe why he was packed off with the Scythians as an ambassador, at least for a while) than Roxane.

As I’ve said many times, Hollywood really is missing out with Hephaistion when they have him fuming over Roxane (or Bagoas). SO, so much more mileage could be made of the rivalries AROUND Alexander among his top men. The whole Philotas-hatred thing…it’s *juicy*. Eumenes as a bit of a dick at the court, and Leonnatos’s meat-headed arrogance. Perdikkas and Ptolemy sassing at each other. Krateros and Hephaistion. Kassandros like a little weasel back in Macedon. Kleitos cussing at everyone for getting too Persian. There’s the fun stuff!

But that’s mostly not romantic. It’s still about love though: affection.

[phantomonabudget]

We need to talk, Pham. Stop shaming Christine Daaé.

I have seen this behavior consistently for the 30+ years I have been a Phan. What's worse is that I see A LOT of it from grown women. I see posts calling her foolish for leaving Erik. Slut shaming her or calling her a gold digger. Calling her stupid, weak, or unworthy because a "real woman" (presumably the women posting these absurd notions 🙄) would have loved him better and been worthy of his awesome talent and capacity for love. 😳🤮

It's disturbing, disheartening, and disgusting. And it needs to stop.

First off, none of these characters are real, so perhaps let's take things a little less seriously in general. It's a fictional story. I get it: we all love it, and probably love the Phantom's character. That's fine....I've made a 20+ year career dressing as the dude, for crying out loud. 🤣 Maybe we all identify with Erik/The Phantom to some degree. Regardless of the version of the story, if the actors or authors do their job well, we *should* feel pity and compassion for him. But feeling compassion and completely ignoring the character's dangerous and abusive behavior are two very different things. It has the potential for some severe consequences in the real world.

By shaming Christine for leaving Erik at the end, you are potentially telling young people that staying in abusive relationships is the right thing. You make them think that if their significant other is talented, misunderstood, been abused themselves etc, then they should stay and love them into a healthy relationship. That if they just love their abusive SO harder, sacrifice themselves a little more or for a little longer, or keep putting that person's needs above their own, that the relationship will suddenly become this wonderful, euphoric experience. It won't. As a survivor of longtime abusive myself, I can tell you from experience: it doesn't happen that way.

Celebrate healthy relationships and enforcing healthy boundaries. Stop shaming Christine for fighting for and winning her life and saving the man she loves.

And please stop calling this a romance. It's the antithesis of romance.

I am sick of members of this Phandom completely ignoring Erik/The Phantom's behavior to justify their blind adoration. Erik is an abusive and dangerous character, and extremely toxic. He lies to and manipulates Christine using her trauma from her deceased father. He kidnaps her, multiple times. Threatens her and her colleagues. He extorts hundreds of thousands from the business managers. He endangers dozens of people with the chandelier crash, and effectively holds hundreds hostage for months or years at a time with his reign of terror at the Opera.

Then there are the murders. Several of them. Probably been at that for awhile so we can assume it's far more than the two we see in the show. We don't know his actual body count, but we do know he's adept and comfortable taking human life.

And yet, I see some mature phans out here completely ignoring all those things and still shaming Christine for leaving him. Why? Because he's "sexy" (author's note: PLEASE go re-read Leroux. Please). And he's talented. And has so much love to give. And is misunderstood. And society was terrible to him...so it's all fine. 😳🤮 She should have just stayed and loved him like he deserves to be loved. 🙄

Recently I saw a post shaming Christine and the justification was that Raoul was so much worse. He isn't. Is he a perfect character? No, not at all. Does he make mistakes and try to use Christine? In some versions, yes. Does he run around extorting, manipulating, threatening, and killing others? Also no.

Pleasw don't ever use LND!Raoul's character assassination as some kind of justification, because he's still the most sane, normal human being in that show, and Erik is still 1,000 times worse than Raoul in LND. Also, using LND as justification for anything makes for a very weak and uninformed argument.

"Hurt people hurt people." Ever heard that phrase? Abused people sometimes abuse others, especially if they haven't done the work to heal themselves. Their previous abuse does NOT entitle them to abuse others. That is always a deliberate choice and those choices have consequences. The dangerous, disgusting rhetoric I see in the Phantom community basically excuses toxic behavior because Erik was previously abused and nothing is his fault. That is simply not true. Those that abused me were previously abused. Didn't make my abuse hurt any less. And I made the choice to do the work so that the abuse stopped with me. Previous trauma is a reason for the behavior, but it is NEVER, ever an excuse.

And don't let the fact the dude can sing or that he's a snappy dresser blind you to his toxicity.

We can all enjoy the Phantom character's complexity and love him, while still acknowledging his flaws and holding him accountable for his deeply inappropriate choices.

We talk a lot more these days about trauma, toxicity, and self care. And yet, as a community, we still shame the character of Christine Daaé for doing the healthy, correct thing. The ONLY thing. And in doing so, we set a disturbing precedent for our young or vulnerable Phans who now might think that staying in toxic relationships in the real world is okay.

Please do better, Phandom.

[marvelstars]

Compassion as unlimited love

Obi-Wan and Yoda believed there was no turning back from the Darkside, that´s why Obi-Wan didn´t deny the fact he meant to kill Anakin when Padme asked him and why Padme wanted to take Anakin away from everything and why Obi-Wan kept himself hidden on Padme´s ship instead of going with her to try to bring Anakin back to his senses together.

His mission was to kill Anakin as punishment for his betrayal on the Jedi Order and his attack on the Jedi Temple. Acording to Yoda Obi-Wan´s mission was to "take Anakin out of his misery" because "Darth Vader had consumed him" that´s the Old Jedi Order approach to sith, to kill them because once you fall to the darkside it will forever dominate your destiny and in Anakin´s case as one of their own and member of their Jedi lineage, this was personal, so there was also revenge involved. Obi-Wan left Anakin to die burning alive because he wanted him to suffer and he was sure that was going to be enough to kill him, at no point he expected him to survive.

This is also why Yoda and Obi-Wan keep Luke in the dark about Anakin´s familiar connection to him, they were not sure how to approach the fact they were bassically telling Luke he had to commit patricide to defeat the Sith, it wasn´t something they liked but they thought it had to be done. They were suprised by the fact Vader told Luke the truth because they saw him as a being of complete darkness, inhuman, twisted, evil more machine than man and so unable to feel a connection or a wish for his Son to be with him.

But he survived because Darth Sidious rescued him. Sidious had his own attachment to Anakin, he saw him as something that belonged to him. He also still believed he was the chosen one, in the sense his power could help him keep the force in darkness and support his rule this way.

When Luke told Obi-Wan he could not kill his own father out of moral principle and that there may be a way back from the darkside, Obi-Wan answered him that then "The Emperor has already won" "You were our last hope" this means that Obi-Wan expected Luke to either kill his father or be killed by him because there was no going back from the darkside.

The definition of Compassion as "unlimited love" is Anakin´s personal take to the Jedi principle of "compassion at the center of their jedi life philosophy" in answer to Padme´s question "Are you allowed to love, I thought the Jedi were not allowed to love?" but this wasn´t a generalized view in the old Jedi Order, this was Anakin´s personal take on it.

This is also why when Luke stopped himself from killing Vader, Luke rejects both the darkside the Emperor and his offer of power represents and also rejects killing his father out of a sense of justice as "the ends justifies the means" or to defeat the Sith that he exclaims "I am a Jedi like my father before me"

Vader comes back from the darkside because Luke forced him to remember what he used to believe, his real self, how he once believed in compassion as unlimited love, he believed if he helped enough he could solve the problems of the galaxy, he remembered how much he loved his Son, his family, Padme and Obi-Wan so he decided to sacrifice his life defeating his master, because he was reponsible, personally responsible of the sith becoming as powerful as they did in the Empire even if he also loved the Emperor and he did this out of compassion for his Son knowing this would bring an end to the Sith and the Empire.

Shmi and Anakin with their "the biggest problem in the universe is that nobody helps each other" and showing how helping made the galaxy better, they definitely made a difference for Naboo.

Anakin´s definition of compassion as unlimited love that he practiced during the clone wars is a theme of SW, Padme and Luke are the characters who embody the principle of "compassion as unlimited love" in relation to their compassion for Anakin after he fell to the darkside, is a love that can bring people back from the darkness which the old Jedi Order thought was impossible. When Obi-Wan choose to teach Anakin how to become a force Ghost was to show him he forgave him. In the Star Wars Saga it´s the story biggest message and why the story is about the Skywalker family.

[dukeofdelirium]

This has to quite possibly be the dumbest Anti-Aang I’ve seen on Tumblr. “Aang didn’t go out of his way for anyone”. Like that’s objectively wrong, factually incorrect. Like saying The Earth is flat, you can think it all you want, but it ain’t true. I ask you, I genuinely ask you, how can someone call themselves a fan of this show when they completely misinterpret it and hate the main character this much? This person’s crazy.

Aang never went out of his way for anyone? My god, if this take were true, Zuko would have been dead at the end of season one. Everyone aside from Aang was fine with the idea of allowing Zuko to freeze to death, leaving him to die. Aang was the one that saved him.

Holy shit, the first thing Aang ever offered to do with no expectation of anything in return was to offer Sokka and Katara a ride home before they died themselves stranded in the tundra. He then offered to take Katara to the other side of the world to fulfill her dreams. When he was banished from her village, he left without protest and even said he didn’t want to come between Katara and her family. Even when he was sad to leave because he had just made a first friend in who knows how long (seeing as we know he was ostracized at the temple), he still left.

He then came back not to break the banishment but to save their lives. He offered himself up, LITERALLY sacrificed himself for them, with no expectation of anything in return.

Aang is an extremely compassionate, good natured person. He is the most “altruistic” character in the show, followed only by Katara who comes nearly as close (one of the reasons they are so good together).

He singlehandedly put the fires out on Kyoshi Island that ZUKO SETS, he protects the NWT from invasion in every possible way he can and singlehandedly wipes out their fleet when he gives himself over to the ocean spirit, he demands they search for Bumi NOT because he needs a teacher but because bumi is his FRIEND! He saves everyone in the cave by making sure they don’t get fucking crushed with its collapse, he is willing to sacrifice himself and force himself into the Avatar State to win the war because he is that guilt ridden even when the AS is extremely painful and traumatizing to him, he stops this only when it affects Katara because he loves her, he offers to let Toph run away with them not because he wants to use her as a teacher but because he listened to her life story and wishes to help her feel free, he fucking dies for Katara and sacrificed his own love for her to save her life

he tries to shoulder every burden he feels on his own as a means to protect the other characters

he supports Sokka when he voices insecurities, he is welcoming and friendly to Hakoda and even inquires about how Katara is feeling when he meets Hakoda, he sobs during the eclipse invasion because Katara and Sokka have to be separated from their father again and Aang blames himself for this defeat and is grief stricken because he is so upset they are losing their dad again (and he thinks it’s his fault)

Why the actual fuck would Katara ever “choose” Zuko over Aang?

Katara was never deeply tied to Zuko. She always saw him as an enemy trying to take away the boy she loved. This is why she threatened to fucking kill him.

Zuko helped his sister murder Aang right in front of Katara’s eyes. It was canonically the darkest period of her life.

Katara’s anger and hatred toward Zuko is 100% justified. Of course, Zuko is a self absorbed ass, so he claims her anger isn’t justified and that she’s just projecting. Her anger toward him specifically had far more to do with what he did to Aang and far less to do with what the Fire nation and Zuko’s family did to her mother. Even still, she’s right to be angry about her mother’s murder too, and Zuko’s piece of shit family is responsible.

Why the fuck would Katara magically drop to her knees and suck Zuko’s dick? He’s literally a colonizer for over 2/3 of the show. He didn’t just have a passive role, he was an active player in the war and invaded the NWT with the FN as a means to capture Aang and take him back to his daddy, where Aang would have undoubtedly been tortured mercilessly and kept on the brink of death. He assaulted Katara during this and knocked her unconscious, he taunted her with shitty words and undermined her bending ability and threw some racial/classist remarks as well as some misogynistic ones her way.

When he eventually did get his shit together and join the group, he just used her mother’s death against her and Sokka because that’s all he ever did in regards to Katara and Sokka’s mother. He learned how she died, then had Sokka divulge trauma to then use said trauma to try and force Katara to forgive him by persuading her to go on a suicide mission of revenge and bloodlust. He also literally mocked Aang’s culture and genocided people to his face, when his family committed the genocide. Oh, and he also mocked Aang’s forgiveness despite begging on his damn hands and knees for that very forgiveness like 3 episodes prior.

And then at the end of the episode, Zuko states himself that he legit doesn’t understand Katara or what she needs in life. Cuz of course he doesn’t. He isn’t a survivor of genocide, he hasn’t suffered ethnic cleansing, he isn’t oppressed. For fucks sake, his mother isn’t even dead and he gets reunited with her a few years after the canon shows timeline. Everything Zuko loses, he has returned to him. His honor, his right to the throne, his mother.

But tell me again how Katara and Aang are a bad match when they are the only two who will ever truly understand the other

[bonefall]

I will cry (in a good way) if the theme of the arc is “the love was there. it didnt change anything. it didnt save anyone. there were just too many forces against it. but it still matters that the love was there”

I REALLY hope that I can do something like that. Again, BB really tries to stay in line with where canon goes and follow it while fixing its themes, but like...

With all the fixes I've done for TBC and below, where the last arc left off on Shadowsight giving up something he'd always wanted (his lightning-based connection to StarClan, blasting it back at Ashfur to hold him down) and the sacrifice of Bristlefrost to knock the holy beast out of heaven... something feels really cool about being able to follow that up with an arc that's very melancholic and painful.

Heartstar doing something DRASTIC to try and stop another Clan from falling apart, compelled to get more violent to keep her claws over it, driven by the fear of The Kin repeating itself and the fury of her dead child

Dovewing watching her sister take power in ThunderClan, knowing things are going to get VERY frustrating

Ivypool herself vowing she's not going to use this new status for personal gain... but then she kinda Does, unable to put down a DESPERATION to reconnect to a sister who doesn't want to see her

I kinda hope I can also find a way to explore Bumblestripe's feelings here, too. He JUSt had a whole journey in Ferncloud's Parting, and he comes back and LOOK! A perfect opportunity to justify how much you HATE Heartstar and Dovewing and all of ShadowClan! It would be SO easy to let your heart grow bitter again, wouldn't it? What will you decide, Bumblestripe?

Lightleap struggling with her failure to enter the Dark Forest, feelings of uselessness and helplessness, losing her best friend

Berryheart herself radicalizing a portion of ShadowClan, as Heartstar tries to prevent another Clan from falling apart, her own is pulling at its stitches.

Squirrelflight having saved Bramblestar from the Dark Forest, NO CAT LEFT BEHIND, only for him to show his true colors AGAIN and try to get into petty drama with her, her sympathy evaporating in an instant

Just. Everything with Sparkpelt and her kids. She ISN'T Firekin in BB-- she chose the names Finch and Flame WITH and FOR her mate Larksong.

Nightheart having a new name foisted on him and making himself believe it was a choice-- and then Bramblestar is dethroned, Sunbeam is telling him how much she loves his family, there's a new journey for glory in front of him, and... there's so many things to think about that he just doesn't.

And then he comes home to find they're OUT of chances to give him. And he's traveled far and is able to FINALLY internalize... he blew it. Didn't recognize or appreciate what he had, when he had it

Bramblestar isn't the big strong cool grandpa leader he thought he was, he's a disgraced elder, and he has to wonder... how much of this HATE for his family was Nightheart's own? How much was the Impostor? How much was Bramblestar? How much was his own inability to self-reflect?

Frostpaw's entire family turning on itself

Finding out that Curlfeather was behind the plot that killed her own father, Reedwhisker.

That Podlight, her funny sillyman uncle, was ALSO in on this the whole time, plus her dear friend Splashtail.

Still just a kid, left to agonize over how much of it was LOVE and how much of it was MANIPULATION. Where one ended and where the other began.

The love is there. The love was always there-- even when you didn't know it. It was strong, and it was beautiful, but it's NOT a fix-all. It isn't the hero that will save you. It isn't the medicine to fix you. It isn't the shield that will protect you. Love is mortal.

And when it dies, it dies in pieces. Like a fire in its ashes and its embers. The same love in one heart will burn forever, and for others, its cinders are quickly doused.

A painful arc, of betrayals, broken promises, last chances blown to rubble, and good intentions paving the way to hell.

[nikosdaydreams]

I actually feel for Alicent and her kids. Don't get me wrong, because the Greens did horrible and inexcusable things, but if you do think about it from a fraction of her perspective it makes sense.

If Aegon doesn't sit that throne, then it means she survived at least four pregnancies, years of an unhappy and borderline abusive marriage, losing the love and trust of her closest friend, being used as a pawn of her father - all for nothing.

She will have gone through a lifetime of loss, heartbreak and trauma and none of it will have mattered in the end.

And it still stays a theme throughout the Dance, the sacrifices Alicent had made to put Aegon on the Iron Throne:

She lost Viserys. Of course, he was horrid to her and her children, but he was still her husband, and her King, who she had looked after in his ailing years. Regardless of how he had treated her, there would have been some element of grief - considering she had been the one caring for him.

She lost Jaehaerys. Her son's heir, her daughter's baby, right in front of her very eyes, murdered cruelly. And in the wake of her grandson's murder, came Aegon's rage and drunkeness and Helaena's madness - the things that led to their downfall.

She lost Maelor. She must have felt even a whisper of responsibility towards him, having become his de facto carer. To lose not one, but two grandsons, in such a violent and brutal manner, would be a heavy weight on Alicent's heart.

She lost Helaena. Her only daughter. She could see herself in Helaena, and she must’ve wondered - had she subjected her daughter to the same fate as her own? After so much suffering and torture and trauma of watching Jaehaerys die and hearing of the death of Maelor, still a young child, the child she had named. Meant that her beloved, sweet Helaena, no matter how quick her death, would have died in agony.

She lost Aemond. The boy who wished for a dragon, the boy who hugged her as he bled from his empty eye socket, the boy who calmed her by saying that in losing an eye he had gained a dragon. Was no more. She would have known about his rampages in the Riverlands, surely, but losing one's own child is still a harsh blow to any mother.

She lost Daeron. Her youngest child, who won vengeance for his nephew, and fought alongside his kin, her son, only sixteen when he died.

She lost Rhaenyra. Once her best friend, then her stepdaughter, then her enemy. No matter how long it had been or what they had done to one another, I still wonder if Alicent felt a pang of grief after Aegon had ordered his half-sister killed by Sunfyre.

All this death, all this suffering, all this bloodshed, just to put her eldest son, her last standing child, firmly on the Iron Throne, so that she can justify the years of suffering she endured at the hands of her father and Viserys.

And then he just. dies. Poisoned by his own men. He had only managed a two year reign.

And all that suffering.

All that sacrifice.

All the loss that she endured to make him King.

Was all for nothing.

Her final child. Her last son. The man she had given everything to keep in power. Poisoned like a rat.

And all Alicent had left

was her traumatised, orphaned granddaughter Jaehaera

and her own grief, madness, and self-pity.

This was all she had to show for the years of suffering she endured.

No wonder she died so alone, sat in her chambers, wanting nothing more than to see her sons and her sweet Helaena one last time.

[adamaramma]

I see so many people shit on Yuri Briar a lot, so lets talk about it

First of all, I just want to say, yes.

The way he acts is weird. Especially toward his sister. I'm not saying his actions are ok, I'm just trying to explain why.

We know (anime + manga) that when Yor was young, she had to take care of Yuri all by herself because both of their parents passed away. Yor is 7 years older than Yuri, and although we have zero clue of how old they both are in the flashbacks or when Yor started her job, I'm going to assume they she was in her early teens since it's a very popular belief.

So based on that, Yuri must have been at least 6 years old when Yor started caring for him. She had to sacrifice everything for him, and basically acted as a mother to him, cooking food, buying things for him, working an intense job, and much more. And that's on top of being an older sister and dealing with her own problems.

It's no wonder Yuri is so attached to her even as they both grew up. Yor is technically both a mother and an older protective sister all in one to Yuri. He has always wanted to grow up to take care of her and to basically repay her for everything she has sacrificed for him. He wants to make the world a better place for HER. This is why he is attached to Yor. Maybe a bit too excessively though.

To Yuri, Yor getting married is kinda the same sort of situation as a child watching their single mother get married to a guy they barely know. It's weird, and of course, they'd be hostile toward that man. It would probably feel as if he's stealing their mother away from them. It is weirder in Yuri's case because we're talking about his sister, but it does make more sense when explained like this.

I also feel like Yuri never really had the chance to grow up/ mature, because he never had a parent/ father figure in his life to teach him how to behave or act.

Anyway, that's basically how I feel about Yuri. Hopefully Endo-sensei can make his character more interesting in later chapters because right now, he's super annoying tbh.

TL;DR: Yuri's actions can be justified because Yor took care of him nearly his whole life and he's super attached to her because of that

[mikami]

"Did Light love his family?" Anon - Catch-All Answer

Since these are six asks that are all about in the same vein, I am gonna just put the responses into one post for organization's sake.

Light begs his father to kill Mello because he wants his father's death to have been good for something. Nothing pains him more than the idea of having let this happen without it even accomplishing his goal.

Light is the physical manifestation of the lost cost fallacy: he needs to keep going because he sacrificed too much to stop and allow those sacrifices to be rendered meaningless.

And Light rationalizes. It's one of his most prominent character traits: instead of acknowledging his own emotions, he tries to filter his thoughts into nothing but emotionless pragmatism.

This is consistently portrayed through the 'hidden eyes' visual key - Light is excellent at lying to himself, in his own thoughts, which is why Obata gave us this clever way of seeing when this is happening even as Light's own internal monologue doesn't reflect it.

I have an incomplete list of these instances here, especially as pertaining to his family.

Ultimately, if we disagree that Light rationalizes his feelings rather than allowing himself to fully feel them, then none of my arguments are ever going to make sense to you and vice versa.

As a short addendum, here's Ohba's own words on this chapter (HTR13 p.80): "Even if there was acting involved in Light's tearful performance, I don't believe the tears are 100% an act." (も し月の涙に演技入っていたとしても、100%演技の涙では到底ないと思います。)

Soichiro already made the eye deal, which is an absolutely horrifying sacrifice to have made. Light wanted it to be as useful as it could possibly be, in order to justify the magnitude of the price.

I hate to say it, but you're really gonna have to take this one up with Ohba himself. On Page 65 of HTR13, he literally says that he picked Sayu as a kidnapping victim because Light loves his family and wouldn't kill her. (Unlike Misa, whom he would have just killed in this scenario rather than letting the plot progress.)

The panel you are thinking of is this one, where he is panicking, but you're not putting it into perspective.

In a previous chapter (62) Ide was about to inform the whole police force that Sayu Yagami was kidnapped. Soichiro was about to agree to this.

If Light had let this happen, he could have killed Sayu without narrowing down the suspect pool at all. They already know that Kira has ties to the police. He would have removed the leverage the mafia had held against them and gotten off entirely scott-free.

He does decidedly NOT do that. It's LIGHT personally who stops Ide from giving him the perfect alibi. EVEN RYUK CALLS OUT HOW ODD THAT WAS AS A MOVE.

And sure, Light says 'oh yeah, now nobody will suspect us!!' but nobody was really suspecting them to begin with.

This is what I mean - Light never allows himself to just feel things, he always rationalizes himself to justify his actions to himself.

His father dying. Dude.

.... literally why would he? Like, even if they don't accept Kira they also pose absolutely no threat to Kira.

I've covered all of this above, but I am including the ask to say that yes, I've seen it. The core issue here is that we disagree on Light's relationship to himself - you take his internal monologue at face value, while I think there is ample evidence that Light manipulates himself most of all. (As made completely manifest in the Yotsuba-Arc where he literally mindwipes himself into an incredibly emotionally and physically painful experience just to use himself as a pawn.)

[almacambiondaughterofsaleos]

Stolas Should Stop Forgetting He's A Father In His Obsession To Find Romance

I notice one thing after his affair with Blitzo Stolas has time and again put aside the needs of his daughter to fulfill his own grand romance fantasy. Despite the narrative trying to plead with us he's a good father who just makes mistakes, he's shown he's really has more and more forgotten his daughter at times in his quest to feel self-satisfaction. The narrative tries to pant it as him deserving a chance to find happiness after sacrificing his own by staying in a toxic marriage to give his daughter a normal life. However, he easily throws away that normal life for his romantic obsession showing what he really wants. The minute he got a chance to have a chance of selfish satisfaction he took it without any mind to how it would affect his daughter because the so-called sacrifice he made was just to give him pity and sympathy so we don't condemn him for cheating.

Again despite saying he's sacrifice much of his happiness so that Octavia could have a functional family. He still sacrificed Octavia's happiness so that he could have his fantasy with Blitzo and is not regretful even taking his boytoy over on a family trip then blatantly flirting with him in front of her. And again he caused so much harm to her by dragging her into a deteriorating marriage and now a messy divorce which he is shown willing to focus more on fighting with her mother (even blatantly insulting her in front of his daughter) , while breaking a promise they made since she was a kid. Even when he's worried she is lost, he still gets distracted by Blitzo and it takes freaking Loona to find her. Again the man has made a big thing about giving that girl a happy life, while a the same time ignorant he's destroyed it.

Even though Stolas says he wants to feel loved and be someone's someone, it really shows me at heart he really has take his status as father for granted and trivialized the familial bond between him and his daughter. He needs to stop being an immature love sick teenager and be there for a child whose home life he's wrecked in his quest for self-fulfillment. Even though Stolitz is endgame, if it wasn't he wrecked his home life for nothing and no the Stela is the devil excuse is bs because it was made to justify Blitzo being the one for him. Ultimately, he would have sacrificed his daughter's home life for his selfishness. That again goes against portraying as the so-called good dad when a good dad wouldn't bring down their child's home life. He's waiting so eager to find his knight that he's forgetting the little princess who should be the center of his world. And that's pretty sad to a dad who previously did that and now thinks he can walk away from those duties because he thinks he's earned a reward for his "sacrifices".

Stolas just seems to be one of those parents who did well as a parent when they were younger, but now that they are teens they neglect them thinking that they are older and they don't need guidance which will never be true. A child will always need a guiding parent, but when a parent is immature like Stolas they will feel like they are being led blind due to how unreliable and self-centered they are. It also shows how lazy Stolas is because he seems to think that his daughter can do okay being by herself while he can go frolic at will with his boy toy when in reality it does affect her. He's pouring so much focus onto Blitzo it cuts into actually spending genuine time with her and being there for her. These days he's not fully with her and is just pouring his energy into getting his dream imp while she can be lucky to barely get a mention in his radar.

[dballzposting]

Mr Satan's championship belt is supposed to be a symbol of courage and strength, of loyal leadership. But instead he uses it as a shield.

Videl has spent her life watching him hide behind it, flaunt it, tie it on right before leaving the house, wear it over his robe when he's feeling vulnerable and in hangover recovery. He brings it with him into the bathroom sometimes. For support.

He uses it as a conversation-ender, to always have the last word; he uses it to answer questions, he uses it as the ends and the means. He summons it as a get-out-of-jail-free-card instead of being accountable.

What impression does that give? It is like talking to a brick wall. What sort of father did Videl grow up with?

If she were honest with herself, I think that within herself she would find a lot of resentment. Her name precedes her, thanks to him, but she delivers her reputation in plain clothes. Unlike her father, her name isn't a costume; it's the name that she is trying to make for herself.

Mr Satan pretends to be the person who he thinks he is; Videl is trying to be the person who she wants to be. She is trying to have some real weight in the world.

I think that exuding that PRESENCE is especially important for her given the lifelong ways that A.) people tend to think they know her before she even gets to speak for herself, and B.) her father has always silenced her.

Don't think that he doesn't silence her; yes, he loves her, yes, he allows her a seeming freedom; but yes, her eyes are sharp, and NO, he does not let her tongue match. NO, he can't have his daughter seeing the dirt on his belt. It's crucial to him that everyone thinks that he's the best, and he will readily sacrifice emotional intimacy to maintain this facade.

That belt is a shield. To Videl, it's been various symbols over her years. It's her family's legacy, it's what she loves about her father. It's what you can achieve if you commit yourself to the stars. It's a goalpost; it's an expectation. It's also his God-given crown. It's proof of his superiority, it's why she can't win an argument against him; it's what's always shining over her and keeping her down. It's a false idol. It's what she needs to rise up against.

It perpetually captures her reflection. And it'll have that on her until she quits looking at it.

It was supposed to be a symbol of strength; but looking at her father in the eyes, she must see his cowardice. The Majin Buu Armageddon ultimately served to break everything down to its essential truths, and afterwards, her father couldn't keep secrets from her anymore. But even if none of that happened, she would have figured him out. She already had some low opinions of him that she expressed when training with Gohan; but she was still under his roof and under the habit to speak well of him otherwise. But habits break! Her spirit would have writhed and roared, eventually! I've no doubt! The cogs were already turning. She just needed an inkling. A clue to follow. Something so that she could JUSTIFY TO HERSELF these doubts she had of her father.

The Golden Warrior was that. The Great Saiyaman was that. He was a personal adversary, because she was the local superhero around these parts; but he was also proof beyond herself that a real hero hits the streets. On some level, she was already building a case against her father by virtue of her coming into her own; but when you're used to being silenced, you're used to not acknowledging yourself as proof. So this other hero was external proof of these budding suspicions about the true state of the world; and she latched onto his trail QUICK.

Videl is inquisitive, and ruthless at that. I imagine that this is nature AND nurture, as she is partly fueled by her lifelong feelings of deep indignance stemming from her father's tendency to embellish and to give false facts. Kids notice! They care very much about how things work, and they notice when things don't add up. To a practical and grounded person like Videl, growing up having to listen to a fantastical and immature man like Mr Satan must have been INFURIATING.

But she's not really allowed to be mad, is she? Again, with an immature and self-concerned parent, she's in the habit of suppression.

But it's in there. The anger. The indignance. The betrayal.

That's why she wears plain clothes, that's why she gives plain facts, that's why she fights on her own merit. She knows the truth but doesn't know she knows it. She looks at Mr Satan with skepticism but doesn't feel it in her own eyes. She stands next to him dutifully and doesn't feel her fists clench. She's 17, she's getting there! She'll figure it out! She's building a case and a place for herself in the world.

And she doesn't need that damn belt to do it. As she grows she feels the title of Champion melt into empty words. She starts to smell the smoke and count the mirrors.

He's just a coward. What kind of man makes a habit out of delegitimizing others' (potentially very viable) techniques, citing trickery? What kind of man only shines when on screen?

What kind of man is afraid of his daughter's questions? What kind of father can't handle his daughter?

What kind of man makes a shield out of a victory and silences any illumination that isn't the limelight?

Her father is all image and no man!

At some other point I'll make a post about how Gohan is the functional opposite of this and how that's a thrilling relief for her to see. Well maybe I don't need to make the post we can all see it...

Videl is so "Leach" by Bones UK

[stsgluver]

ADORE YOU TODOROKI TOUYA

synopsis. touya struggles to differentiate himself from his father.

wc. 2.01k

tags. slight angst, slight fluff, non-quirk!au, not proofread

the first thirteen years of touya’s life were not happy and joyful and full of memories that every young child should be able to reflect on with peace and nostalgia. they were filled with harsh slaps that left nasty purple bruises, extensive scoldings for minor mistakes and the constant hope that his dad would be too drunk when he came home to even remember that there were five other occupants.

he had been forced to mature faster than other kids his age, often meaning that he had little to no friends as he could never understand or find common ground among his peers. not that he had the time for friends. most days it was him picking up and dropping shoto off at the local nursery whilst fuyumi ensured natsuo made it to school on time. 

enji was smart enough to keep the bruises on his children hidden but never spared rei the same mercy. so often times, after checking off the completion of homeworks, and making a simple dinner from the ingredients still left in the otherwise barren kitchen, touya found himself sifting through the dwindling contents of the house’s first aid kit to cover up any of the newer injuries on his mother.

she cried almost every time, apologising over and over, and promising it wouldn’t be this forever. touya would give her a kiss on the forehead and a tight-lipped smile as he nodded, his hopes of that peace for them dwindling after each altercation with enji. but he was getting older and he was getting angrier and that terrified him because however justified he may have been to feel such rage, it made him question how different he and his father truly were.

fuyumi was different, she coped by trying to understand and do better as if there was any resemblance of a traditional family left to fight for. touya couldn’t comprehend such naivety and hated the way his sister’s hopes would shatter each time he’d crush it with a cruel remark about their piece of shit for a dad. and yet he equally longed for such an empathy towards someone who’d brought them so much suffering because maybe that’s how he’d be able to separate himself and his father as two different coins and not two different sides of one.

it wasn’t till touya turneed thirteen that rei had finally got the courage and means to leave enji. for as long as he could remember, his mum had been working night shifts at the local 24/7 convenience shop, leaving for her shift after enji had fallen asleep and returning before he’d woken up. it wasn’t out of the ordinary for her to return, cash in hand, asking him or fuyumi to hide it in their drawers so their dad couldn’t find it and gamble it away.

despite the physical struggle they’d suffered all their lives with enji, he left the family with little to no resistance – even going as far as to sign away his parental rights for all four of his children. not that that meant anything, he’d checked out of being a dad on day one and touya had been forced to take on that paternal role for his younger siblings.

the transition from their four bedroom house to a two bedroom apartment hadn’t been easy. food was scarce and touya’s heart broke as he watched his mum sacrifice meal after meal and having her own room so that natsuo and touya could share one and fuyumi and shoto could share the other. they had found some peace, but the scars that enji had left them with was as clear as day in the shadow of bruises that still lingered on their skin and mind.

that rage was still there.

touya hated his father, hated what he’d become and what he’d done to their family and he swears if he ever saw that man again he’d–

“found you.”

touya coughs, shaking his head of the thoughts as he splashes cool water over his face. he doesn’t look up as you push the door to the bathroom open slightly more, slipping into the small space to close the distance between the two of you.

“was worried,” you murmur, reaching up to take your boyfriend’s face in your hands as you force him to actually look at you. “you came out here twenty minutes ago. thought you got lost,” there’s a hint of a smile playing at the corner of your lips but touya can’t amuse your gentle teasing right now.

“you can’t get lost in a house with half a dozen rooms and one corridor,” he mutters back, gently pushing your hands away from him as he reaches into the drawer above the sink. there’s an undertone of venom in his voice and it takes everything in you not to feel personally offended by the rejection because you know its not you he is rejecting. they say time heals wounds and yet here he is, five years free and he still feels like that same kid who was pushed down the stairs for not walking fast enough. the same kid who couldn’t protect his own mum and siblings.

you watch as he pulls out a familiar tube that’s almost empty, the one he uses to try and reduce the appearance of his scars. it's curled up from where he's tried to get every last drop of the cream. as if though this his holy grail that could rid him of any trace of enji.

“you’re beautiful yknow that?” you tuck an overgrown strand of his hair behind his pierced ear, clearing the are on his cheak where a thin white line runs across from the corner of his lip. you mean it too. you've always thought he was beautiful, telling him on an almost daily basis just to see the faint blush that starts on his cheeks and fades to the tips of his ears. even the dark black hair was beginning to grow on you (natsuo and shoto had thought it would be funny to swap out his usual shampoo for black hair dye).

he hums, if it's gratefulness for the compliment or the moving of his hair you’re not too sure. maybe both. maybe he just wants you to leave him alone.

“i can do it for you,” you offer when he struggles to get any of the cream out. the tube should've been thrown out four late night breakdowns ago.

touya huffs, leaning against the sink with the tube in his grip, avoiding your eyes as he nods his head in the direction of the door. “go back to bed. i’ll be there in five," his voice is rough and evident with a lack of sleep and you want to grab the closest blanket and coddle him till all the negative thoughts are forgotten by the blissful comfort of cotton.

when his gaze does meet yours you don't miss the redness in his eyes and the tears that stained his skin. he clears his throat, "you've got an early lecture. you need to sleep."

"how am i supposed to sleep without my boyfriend?" you retort and he looks at you unimpressed, like you shouldn't be looking at him as if though he's the center of your universe (which he is) and risk being late to your eight am lecture that you always complain about needing extra beauty sleep for.

you press a gentle peck to the side of his face and take the tube out of his hands, not letting him respond to your rhetorical question. he’s too tired to argue and you refuse to leave him by himself when he’s like this. the hatred touya has for his father still has this tightening choke-hold on him and it manifests in a disliking for any part of him that overlaps with his recollection of that man: his piercing blue eyes, the (former) bright red streaks in his white hair, that rage.

“i’d never hurt you.” touya’s voice is barely above a whisper and your heart breaks at the tears that are welling up in the corner of his eyes, visible even under the flickering bathroom light. “i’m not him.”

“i know that baby,” you promise with another peck, this time against his chapped lips. you squeeze on the tube and get a small drop onto your finger, holding it up for him to see, “you sure you still need this?”

“please,” he nods and your heart breaks a little to see how quiet he can be on nights like these. ones where every time he closes his eyes he's plagued with memories of what used to be to the point where the scar that can hardly be seen by anyone else against his pale complexion, becomes this nasty, ugly, raw gash to him that he’s stuck with. stuck with forever as a permanent taunt that he can never escape his father.

a silence falls between the two of you as you dab the cream into his skin, touya’s eyes watching you intently looking for any sign of disgust as you brush his cheek gently.

“all done,” you smile half-heartedly as you take a step back, screwing the lid back onto the tube for it to be put away. you knew what you were signing up for when you got involved with touya. you’d been volunteering at your aunt’s nursery since before you could remember and you’d seen touya often with his youngest brother. the staff had often gossiped about the state of his family’s affairs and you’d taken it upon yourself to sneaking a few extra treats from the pantry to slip into shoto’s bag, making him promise to share it among his siblings.

touya takes the tube from your hands and returns it to its position in the drawer, gently closing the door. that silence settles again as you both stare at one another, touya’s gaze full of pain and yours wishing you could reach out and kiss him and erase every memory that hurts him. he'd let you try.

he’s the first to break it.

“c’mon,” he murmurs, intertwining his hand with your smaller one as he leads you back to his room. it's the first bit of contact he's initiated as of yet and you don’t hesitate to follow.

you’re the one who pushes back the covers and gestures for him to climb into his double bed first before sliding in after him. within seconds he’s pulled you tightly into him, his hair tickling your chin as his head rests against your chest. one hand wraps around him and you use the other to caress his head as you let him rest. you don’t want to think about the hours and hours of sleep he’s probably missed.

“i love you so so much,” you tell him softly, sifting your hand gently through his black locks, “don’t know what i’d do without you.” you mean every word and touya wants to scoff because how can you need him… but there’s this sincerity in your voice that even he can’t ignore. 

he tilts his head up and you catch a glimpse of those deep blue eyes that contrast against the darkness of the night that envelopes the room. “never leave me.”

“i could never, baby,” the hand that was drawing small circles on the back of his shoulders cups his cheek, “i promise i won’t.” for the first time since he’d been awoken by his past that night, touya finally feels some sort of relief from the tension that had taken over his body.

“i adore you,” touya breathes, knocking his nose against yours lightly as he leans in for a kiss. not just a peck – an actual kiss that personifies just how much he does adore you, his lifeline, his one source of relief in a world that’s shown him no mercy. you mimic his passion, wanting him to know just how much he means to you and how deeply you love him.

[acertifiedwitch]

I feel like people just took severus personality and gave it regulus

This one is interesting, because I can see why people think that even though it is essentially not true exactly! Their characters build up on very similar foundation which (obviously) makes them have similar traits. Among those are:

- betraying Voldemort for someone they love (Kreacher for Reggie and Lily for Snape)

-> therefore betraying a cause they once believed in and changing their worldview because their eyes were opened due to their loved ones getting hurt

- Growing up in an abusive household making them shut off the rest of the world / causing them to grow up in prejudice (Pureblood Racists for Reg and an abusive Muggle father for Snape)

- Loosing the only person they had that wasn’t morally screwed over (Sirius for Reg and Lily for Snape) due to their own actions which they have done because of self preservation and in the process self destructing

- They are both extremely loyal to the people that matter to them

These events have shaped these characters individually in different yet similar ways. But they are fundamentally very different characters with different flaws and strength.

- Snape for example is a selfish character (based on all canon)

-> he acts out against Voldemort, not to stop him, but to save Lily and Lily alone, because he’s in love with her. In fact he explicitly states that he would be 100% fine with Harry and James dying if that meant Lily would be save

-> he bullies Harry due to his resentment for James even though he swore to protect him (I know he went after Quirrell that doesn’t justify his bullying)

-> he acts selfish towards his house Slytherin and puts them above Gryffindors at all times which is just unfair simply because the people that antagonized him 20 YEARS ago were in that house (and I’m a Slytherin myself so)

-> while he is loyal to Dumbledore he does a lot of thinks simply for self preservation (I could make a list but I’m lazy rn lmao)

One the other hand Regulus is the opposite

He is a people pleaser and would always put the people he loves first (based on non-fandom information we have about him)

-> He does everything to please his parents so that they are happy

-> he joins all possible extracurriculars to please teachers

-> he joins Voldemort because („he was to soft“ - Sirius ) he was soft and gave in easily to please the people around him (-> his cousins and parents as well as class mates all joined the same cause therefore he wanted to please them)

-> he betrays Voldemort because his family (Kreacher) was threatened and he wanted to take Voldemort down for that (unlike Snape)

-> he didn’t tell ANYBODY about his sacrifice and the information he had to protect his family (he didn’t want them to die knowing that he betrayed their cause and keep them save with them not knowing) he didn’t even tell SIRIUS as to not endanger him

He hardly acts out of personal motivation which is a great part of that character.

I am NOT saying both of them don’t break that scheme - on the contrary. Both Snape and Regulus have done things that don’t fit it, but almost all of the time they do.

Another part about them is that they are both geniuses - BUT I’m different areas:

Snape in Potions and Spell Making (Halfblood Prince)

And Regulus in Quidditch and Dark Arts because it is not to be undervalued that he found out the Horcrux information in MONTHS for which even DUMBLEDORE took YEARS.

=> No people have NOT „given Snapes personality to Regulus“ instead the two are just very similar characters, they may have been good friends even who knows

Also this is based on canonical information and not the fandom versions of both Snape and Regulus which are hardly similar AT ALL and just simply different characters but that would take veeeery long to talk about. Everyone who knows their fanon versions even a little probably knows already either way.

(Side Note: Also Canonically Snape was a Loser and Regulus was a Jock lmao)

[ronenrubinsteinthinker]

Showrunner Explains TK And Carlos' Marital Conflict In 9-1-1: Lone Star Season 5: "I Didn't Want To Sugarcoat It"

Rashad Raisani explains why the fan-favorite pairing needed a major conflict

The thing I've been searching for is to tell TK and Carlos as a true marriage story and all marriages have conflict in them. That's just human nature, and I didn't want to sugarcoat it. It seems to me that there's an appetite to have these guys just having this sort of blessed, frictionless existence and giving them some peace, but I just feel like the way to make their relationship truly rich is to see them engage with conflict like people have in their real lives and then to find a way to overcome it, to compromise, to sacrifice To me, that makes their relationship all the more beautiful. So we were looking for potential conflict points between their relationship that felt both organic, but also showed that at no point did these guys ever stop loving each other. The thing about life is it finds a way to create fissures between people even when they love each other. And so for us, the thing that always felt like a fissure point, even going back to season 4, was that TK has always had this paternal drive. He wants to be a dad. It's a very big part of what he wants his identity to be And Carlos has always had, due to his own background and how he grew up with his own father, some trepidation about it and made no secret of it to TK in season 4. He said, "Hey, this is going to be an issue for me, and you have to just make peace with it or let me go." And TK made peace with it and said, "Okay, I'm not going to push it." But then what, of course, we wanted to do, was to create a circumstance where TK could still be true to the promise that he had made Carlos about not pushing it, but yet create a new dynamic that would force TK to revisit that subject of becoming a parent That's where the idea of Jonah suddenly becoming this loose football that somebody needed to protect or somebody needed to claim. And TK, I think, is justified completely in saying, "I know we talked about that we would forego being parents for a while until you're ready, but we have to do it now. This kid needs us." And then on the other hand, we wanted to juxtapose that with the moment that made it the worst for Carlos And to me, that was right as he's on the cusp of solving his dad's murder. When he is the least emotionally available to have that conversation so that, hopefully, the audience can see both guys' points of view in this conflict and maybe even be, hopefully, torn about whose side they're even on. To me, that's the sign of a juicy and real conflict if you're thinking, "Boy, I kind of agree with both of them on this." And so we just wanted to put them both in a vice like that where there, really, wasn't a good solution for them and force them to have some tough decisions to make

Although circumstances have changed, Carlos' feelings about fatherhood have not. The Texas Ranger is even less inclined to expand their family, as he can't devote proper time to a child while preoccupied with Gabriel's murder case. Regardless of whether the married couple is ready for parenthood, Jonah must be adopted to stay in his brother's life, putting Carlos and TK at a true crossroads

Article x

[nanomooselet]

Little but Fierce V

Now, say what you want about Meryl (and I am. And have. And will. At terrifying length) but she doesn't lack for conviction. She may be lacking survival instinct, and sometimes the common sense God gave an eggplant. But never conviction.

She's a scold. But I'll say this about her lectures: there's truth to them, and people feel compelled to justify themselves hearing it.

How can you be so heartless?! Who does this to someone who saved their town twice? It's unthinkable!/How can you be so cruel? You would sacrifice the man who saved your town twice? It's heartless!

How totally lame. It's not an act of kindness. You're just running away from pain./It's lame, not an act of kindness. You just don't want to get hurt. Running away isn't some brave thing to do.

Meryl's got a knack for putting her finger right on the conclusion that others are reluctant to come to about what they're doing - what she's not good at is understanding why they're doing it anyway. Meryl's never had to surrender anything in order to survive. She doesn't know anything about compromise, nor about bending the rules, nor is she aware that one obvious motive can conceal another hidden one. She simply sees a fault and she wants it corrected on demand. And no, crying won't help.

Rosa doesn't want to hand Vash over - she does care about him. But in her mind, a choice between him and her child is no choice at all, and they hang on such a slender thread of resources as it is that they're forced to maximise what they've got however they can. I imagine something similar was what separated Rosa from her husband. Vash completely understands it himself, because it's what Rem believed: her own life or those aboard the fleet? No choice at all.

Similar Vash fleeing the Nebraskas, which both Meryl and the father conclude is cowardice - he's a cream puff, a loser, a weakling who can't fight. Vash is none of those things. He's drawing them away from the town, ensuring there won't be unnecessary casualties and distracting them from, say, stealing the Plant. It doesn't quite work, but it does give them time to reconsider what they're doing and ultimately they change their course. Which, to her credit, Meryl comes to be impressed by, in a... Meryl sort of way.

What a weirdo...

But both Rosa and Vash are fundamentally pragmatists. They understand doing what you have to in order to survive, whatever it takes, because they've both been in circumstances that make those demands a matter of life and death.

Sheltered Meryl, without knowing it, sees a logic that neither one would naturally consider: one that is uncompromising.

It doesn't matter that Rosa is only betraying Vash for the sake of her people - she's still betraying Vash, who has only ever helped her out, and that will demand a reckoning. Similarly Vash trying to misdirect the Nebraskas. They hurt plenty of people and cause a huge mess (and eat up time, which Vash could use to escape what he's really running from…) while he tries to convince them to stand down. If he'd faced them then and there, the town might have been better off.

Because that's the kind of world No Man's Land is. It's one great big double-bind. Either be judged as you dirty your hands and break your principles, or face the judgement of the elements, which do not forgive.

Meryl's perspective is strict, but it's uncomfortably hard to argue against the conclusions she comes to. And both Rosa and Vash know it.

It's interesting that Roberto actually speaks up the second time, though, telling her to cut it out. At the end of ep 2 he's the one who grows annoyed enough with Vash to be the first to ask him "Whose side are you on?" I wonder what made him change his mind?

Part I

Part II

Part III

Part IV

Part VI

Part VII

Part VIII