#yea this turned out... long

[titles-and-pretense]

All of this, so much, and sometimes I really feel like the writers didn't know what to do with their own world- and character building.

I mean everyone knows that any character apart from Clive (and I love Clive dearly, don't get me wrong) doesn't get the attention they deserve (oh Jill, you poor thing). This is a rare game where I'd actually say it needed to be longer. Or they could have put less attention on basic side quests, but I digress. (this is getting long, so rest under the cut:)

Joshua is so inextricably linked to Clive, that it really is a shame we did not get to learn more of him. Not of his history mind, though I'd really like to know why he didn't show himself to Clive for about 8 years after the Undying told him he was alive and probably Ifrit. I am also upset that we only learn that the poor boy spent 5 years in a coma from a book sold separately from the game. But what we really don't know, is his state of mind. And as second most important character in the game, this is inexcusable, to be honest.

As you so rightly pointed out, him choosing the name Margrace carries vast significance and gives us a big of insight into how he feels about his lost duchy and throne. But we don't get to see him mourn, we don't get even a mention of the former future archduke's feelings about Rosaria. We see Clive mourning his homeland and helping the people there, Sir Wade foremost among them, which makes Joshua's silence feel almost cold to the player. Does he not care about his people?

Of course, Joshua sees the bigger picture. He knows that to bring peace to all of Valisthea, he needs to look at the bigger picture and find out more about Ultima. But it still is a cold move to make without even an acknowledgment of the crimes being committed in Rosaria. This lends credit to the headcanons of Joshua being almost frighteningly similar to his mother, but this is also not explored in any way.

Clive has this scene with Anabella, wherein he, selflessly, because Clive at his core is selfless, accuses her of not doing enough for Joshua, of putting immense pressure on him at a very young age. "Every waking moment of his was spent trying to live up to the burden that you and the duchy foisted on him", to loosely quote. Do we see that? In the tutorial, or later scenes? Barely. And a character who has been put under immense pressure, who is pretty much only ever seen as a symbol, not for who he really is, would be fascinating to explore here.

I mean, Joshua spent years recuperating from a horrible, traumatic event, raised by a cult who worship his Eikon, but not really him (at least that's my impression from them calling him "Keeper of the Flame of the Phoenix"). He sends them on dangerous missions, often resulting in deaths among the Undying. And I know he tried to talk them out of it, but it's Clive who gets to be outraged, it's Clive who gets to change their minds, not Joshua. Imagine we got to see a Joshua who struggles under the weight of his tasks. Imagine a Joshua who gets to be seen for who he is at the Hideaway and thrives for the first time. Imagine a Joshua who finally breaks down and cries to his brother about the responsibility he bears.

But no, we see none of that. We see Joshua, hard focused on his tasks at all times, throwing himself into battle and sacrificing himself easily. And yes, that is also not a sign of a healthy mind. But he is so nondescript, I mean, even as he lays dying in Clive's arms he only thinks of cheering his brother up and giving him strength and we don't get to explore the parallels of both his AND Clive's lack of self-worth?

One last thing before I end this for now, because I fear this has turned out very all over the place, but for a man who saw his father decapitated in front of him, which drove him to lose control of the Phoenix and wreak havoc on his own people, Joshua is oddly unaffected by his mother killing herself in front of him. But I suppose giving him a moment to really take that in would have been too much to ask.

PS: your mention of Dion being Crown Prince being strange got me thinking, and my theory is, that Bahamut isn't kept in one family line as strictly as Phoenix is, so he can pop up all over Sanbreque. Sylvestre used Dion's Awakening to get himself the throne and then of course, after claiming it in Bahamut's name, had to name Dion Crown Prince to keep up appearances. I doubt he ever intended to give Dion the throne, as Dion is a bastard and clearly not of one mind with his father a lot of the time. That's why Sylvestre makes Olivier emperor so early.

Thinking about Margrace as Joshua's name post-Phoenix Gate.

Mar-grace.

In FFXVI the Undying choose their own names (Cyril explains this in-game), and many of them have names drawn from Final Fantasy XII, including their leader 'Margrace' himself, from Al-Cid Margrace. The page for Al-Cid notes that Margrace is likely an alternate form of the title 'margrave', an old title for military commanders on the border.

That aside. This is the name chosen (by the boy himself?) for the boy who should have rightfully been known henceforth as 'Your Grace', 'His Grace'.

Grace (style of address), from the Oxford English Dictionary:

With a possessive adjective: a title of respect, esp. for a person of royal or noble rank. Frequently (in 'your Grace') as a form of address. Now archaic or historical. Formerly (in England until the reign of Henry VIII and in Scotland until 1707) used for a monarch or prince; now replaced by Majesty or Highness. Even so, "Majesty" for the sovereign of England was not used exclusively; it arbitrarily alternated with both "Highness" and "Grace", even in official documents, until "Majesty" finally became the official style to the exclusion of others (source).

Grace (other meanings):

1. Divine favour, benevolence, or providence bringing about worldly benefit or advantage. 2. A person's lot, destiny, or fate; luck, fortune. 3. The quality of being pleasing; attractiveness, charm; esp. (in later use) refined elegance of manner, expression, form, or movement, esp. regarded as natural or effortless; gracefulness.

Whatever the etymology of margrave, the name Margrace in-game is probably meant to call to mind the meaning of 'mar' as in damaged, spoiled, ruined. All the grace that ever belonged to his family, his home, his birthright—marred, of course.

Mar+Grace, the last heir of the oldest unbroken ruling dynasty in the Twins at the time of the opening events of the game**.

The living ghost, carrying the desecrated corpse of his legacy in his new name. Introducing himself by his humiliation: "Hello, I am Margrace", "Hello, I am the ruined dignity of my house." "Call me Margrace", "Call me the wreckage of one fallen from divine favour." "My name is Margrace", "My name is blemished fortunes and diminished nobility".

It's appropriately brutal and dramatic for such a character, especially since the game is frustratingly silent on how Joshua personally feels about the loss of his duchy which is a rant for next time.

**Footnotes:

In the Year 860 (Prologue year/Phoenix Gate), Rosaria is about 260 years old (est. Y600). Older, if you count from the time of the Rose Alliance (est. Y550). The Rosfields have been on the Rosarian throne since the inception of the duchy in Y600, and prior to that House Rosfield was already known to be the chief of/the preeminent house of the Seven High Houses that united to found the duchy. House Rosfield has held ruling power for 260-310 years at a minimum.

For reference, England's longest-reigning dynasty was the Plantagenets, who held on for 300+ years. Rosfields aren't doing half bad!

Veldemarke would have been older had it not been overthrown by Barnabas; therefore Waloed is the youngest nation state at the time of the prologue (only 17 years old). Also we do not know much about the governance of Veldemarke, although as a 'kingdom' it was likely some type of monarchy.

Sanbreque was formed 100 years after Rosaria, and at any rate is not actually a hereditary monarchy. The Holy Emperor is voted into office by his fellow Cardinals, likely the five who form the Council of Elders. We are also explicitly told that Sylvestre 'won his throne' in 865; there is no indication either way that his predecessor emperor was a Lesage. The wording suggests the throne is not Sylvestre's by lineage or birthright. How this is supposed to relate to the concept of Sanbreque having a 'crown prince' (Dion) is unclear and contradictory, since an emperor by election should probably not have the authority to unilaterally decide on the succession of the throne, and his issue—legitimate or no—should not automatically be in the line of succession.

Dhalmekia is a republic with elected officials.

The Iron Kingdom apparently has a royal family, but nothing else is known apart from it being impotent and sidelined by their state religion.

The Northern Tribes likely do have hereditary rule, and Jill is referred to as a princess, but once again little is known.

Ergo—and I am ceaseless in this propaganda—Clive and Joshua are really, properly posh! Absolutely baffling that Anabella would allow anyone to put down the pedigree of her sons when they are so blue-blooded precisely because she is! For someone with such entrenched ideas of blood purity she should not stand for it, no matter how she feels about her eldest.

[0vergrowngraveyard]

random wip wednesday thing! sonic and vanilla having a deep conversation post frontiers edition

”I just…” Sonic stared down at his hands helplessly before he sighed, “I just thought that maybe I’ve been in his life long enough to…I don’t know, reverse any damage they may have caused. I mean, he barely remembers anything about his life before he met me so…”

Vanilla hummed as she considered the hedgehog in front of her and his words, “Well, I don’t know much about this particular subject, but I do know how important it is for young children to receive parental affection and care. It's a very formative time for them and that neglect can have devastating effects on the child later on in life.”

She paused for a brief moment before continuing, “When I was pregnant with Cream, I remember speaking to a few mothers to get some insight and listen to other’s experiences. One of their stories always stuck out to me.” Something about her gaze turned sad, her grip on her mug tightening, “One of the ladies told me about how she didn’t receive much affection when she was younger and how she was using her experience with that as a motivator to be the best mom she possibly could. I remember her mentioning that it almost felt like a piece of her was missing and she was angry for a long time.”

Sonic eyes widened as she went on, “I wouldn’t be surprised if the absence of his parents is starting to weigh on Tails. And, while you’ve been a wonderful guardian for him, I don’t think there’s much that can truly fill in the gap that they left behind.”

Vanilla’s words hung like a weight over Sonic that threatened to fall and break him into a million pieces any second. Had Tails really been struggling with something like that? The kit never told him about anything of the sort and never seemed to even think about his parents. Hell, most days Sonic forgot that Tails hadn’t always been with him. That his last name didn’t just come from nowhere and there are people out there who are biologically related to the kit.

He’d forget that there was a time his little brother wasn’t in his life.

That no one was, really.

Something else suddenly started to enter his mind, something that forced its way in and took over like a parasite. Any thoughts about his little brother were buried in an instant and Sonic felt himself tense. One single question bounced around his skull, trying to escape its confines and make itself known to the rabbit sitting across from him.

If that’s how that lady and Tails felt, then…

“Why don’t I feel like that?”

[paintingskyblutf2]

happy halloween!

and happy scream fortress! make sure to complete your contracts before it ends!

[perilegs]

@transkovsky tagged me to this :3c

Rules: go here and make a poll with your top 10 most listened-to artists (long term!) and let your followers choose:

tagging: i cant remember who here uses spotify so if you see this consider yourself tagged bc im interested in my mutuals music tastes :3c

[cricketandclover]

i've had this blog for about 5 years if not more. my relationship to panic is very complex because getting back into them then made me who i am today. i have a tattoo of the symbols behind my ear. meeting ryan ross as an adult was one of the most important full circle things to happen in my life so far. i think i will always care

[smokestarrules]

41 ghost/living person au ava x beatrice

[AO3 Link]

...

Beatrice waking up is one of the most beautiful things Ava’s ever seen in her life. 

She’s always thought this—privately at first, in an attempt to not bother her with the levels of Ava’s adoration and then overtly, later, when she learned that Beatrice wouldn’t get it either way—and it’s never been more clear to her before now. As a rule, Beatrice is almost never relaxed, but she can’t help it when she sleeps. 

Ava lets herself stare without fear. Beatrice has always had a way of drawing her attention—look at me, Ava had thought even in those early days, living anew and burning with a desire to know and to be known, look at me—and here’s the thing: Beatrice has always been a creature of habit (pun totally intended). She wakes up at six in the morning every day, no matter what; her alarm blares, but Ava’d bet that even if it didn’t go off she’d still get up right on time anyway. Her alarm blares, she sits up. Rubs her eyes once, twice, and then swings herself out of bed. 

Just like that. 

She opens one of the curtains just a sliver and allows the rising sun to shine inside the small room, turning the room from a dim gray to something far nicer, tinging the pillows a soft orange that, in turn, flickers across Beatrice’s hair, caressing her in such a way that makes Ava’s fingers itch, eager to touch. 

Her highlights are growing out, have nearly been swallowed by natural dark locks, but it hadn't been the blonde that made Ava fall for her (though it hadn’t hurt). She’s stunning even now, especially now—will always be, probably. 

Beatrice makes sunlight look damn-near dreary, and Ava’s mouth dries as she watches. 

“You’re so pretty, Bea,” she croaks, unable to keep it all inside. Now there’s no reason to. 

“You try to keep yourself hidden from the entire world,” Ava goes on, rocking back on the bed. She watches as Beatrice putters silently around the room, blinking the sleep from her eyes. “And you did, really—you did such a good job of that. But you’re so gorgeous, like, holy fuck. I’ve never seen eyes like yours. You should wear your hair down more often, but your bun looks good, too. Bea, do you want me to talk about your freckles again?”

Beatrice doesn’t respond to her, of course. She never does. 

Not that Ava can blame her, really. 

(Ava’d found out pretty quickly that Beatrice couldn’t see her. Couldn’t hear her, feel her. Couldn’t perceive her in any way.

No one could. 

She got over it pretty quickly—if you count having a couple panic attacks getting over it—and she’s mostly okay now. By the time she’d appeared here, in the middle of Beatrice’s bedroom as she was sleeping, it’d already been four days since she went through the Ark. She doesn’t know why she’s like this, doesn’t know if she’d ever ended up meeting Reya; she doesn’t even have any memory of being healed, though she must have been. Unless she’s dead, and this is, like, some weird sort of limbo. 

But she’s died before, and it wasn’t like this.) 

All in all, she thinks, delighting in the casual ripple of shoulder muscles from beneath Beatrice’s shirt, this is a way better deal than last time. 

She doesn’t watch Beatrice change, of course. She has some shame. But she takes what she can get; it’s the little things, the way Beatrice walks around in the (supposed) privacy of her own room with a short-sleeved shirt on. She’ll always pull on an extra layer before she leaves, Ava’s learned, but the flex of her biceps even for this limited time is nothing short of holy. 

Once Beatrice is properly dressed, her bun fixed—though it hadn’t been mussed in the first place—her boots tightly laced, she heads out of her room, into the long hallways of Cat’s Cradle.

Ava smiles, bounces on her feet, and follows her out the door. 

(As far as Ava knows, the Halo’s very much fine and still in her back. She can feel it at times, though it never goes off quite as powerfully as she remembers. She can still phase—though there’s really no point to it anymore—she can still fly, can still heal—which was an absolute bitch to test, by the way—and maybe this all points to her not being dead, but in the end, it doesn’t really matter.)

Because she’s a creature of habit (it doesn’t get any less funny), Beatrice stops by the dining hall first. Breakfast is essential, she’d said in Switzerland, and Ava’s never one to turn down any food. She’d always enjoy those lazy mornings—though lazy is never something she could call Beatrice—and the early meals with her. 

It’d be nice to eat again. She misses food more than she misses a lot of things. Well—that’s not really true. She misses a lot of things, really; food, the need to sleep, talking with Camila, the way Beatrice would touch her shoulder when she was being just the slightest bit annoying. 

“I love you,” she says while Beatrice eats, because it’s all she can do. “I miss you. Thank you for being here. I’m sorry for stalking you, heh, but I feel like you’d be okay with it. I love you.”

I love you. I love you. I love you. 

After breakfast, Beatrice heads out to the training grounds. She doesn’t have all that much to do in Cat’s Cradle nowadays, and Ava’s seen her duties lessen and lessen over the days, from performing most of the new recruits’ training to now just overseeing it. She thinks, sometimes, that Beatrice will snap one day and just leave this all behind. She kind of hopes she will. 

It’s weird—complicated, really. She wants Beatrice to live so badly, to discover who she is without the towering, suffocating walls of the OCS boxing her in. That’s always what Ava’s wanted for her. 

But she desperately doesn’t want Beatrice to be alone. 

At least she’s not alone here, is the thing. Ava would follow her anywhere, but Beatrice wouldn’t know it. At least here she still has a few—has Camila, has Mother Superion, has Dora, even, who’s not very close but who’s here. 

(And Ava’s seen her grieve, too; those are always the worst nights. Beatrice grieves her so plainly that sometimes Ava wishes she’d just be forgotten entirely, if only to spare her the pain.

She never wishes that for very long. She’s selfish like that.)

“Bea?”

After training—during which Beatrice stood and watched the recruits and Ava sat and watched her—Camila finds her in the hallway, a sad smile already forming on her face. 

“Camila,” Beatrice says. She always sounds so tired when she speaks, now, and Ava’s heart clenches in her chest. I love you, she thinks, desperate for Beatrice to hear. “Did you need anything?”

“No, it’s not that.” Camila looks a bit skittish. “I just wanted to give you something.” She holds something out—something that Ava can’t see—and Beatrice inhales steadily. Too steadily. Ava wonders if Camila notices or not. “It took a little while to shape it, but it’s yours.”

Ava comes closer, unable to bite back the curiosity. She doesn’t like being too close, now, doesn’t like the way her skin slides through everyone else’s without even trying, but she can’t help it. Sometimes there’s a pull she just can’t fight. Beatrice is still staring at whatever it is, doing her keep-calm breaths. 

Ah. Ava understands the moment she spots the thing in Camila’s hand. A piece of Divinium—nearly black, with how dull it is—attached to a simple cord and clasp. A necklace. 

“For you,” Camila says finally, placing the stone in Beatrice’s hand. “So that you’ll know.” 

Beatrice doesn’t say a word when she takes it from her, cradling the piece of Divinium between her fingers as if it’s liable to bite her. She doesn’t react, really, just closes her fist around it and meets Camila’s eyes with a look that Ava can’t see from her angle. 

Whatever it is Camila seems to understand, and without another word spoken, Beatrice turns heads back to her room. Ava follows after her, because what else can she do? “I love you,” she says as they walk. “Even if you don’t know it, I’m here. I love you.” 

She hopes Beatrice doesn’t cry. That’s the worst of it, not being able to comfort her. She doesn’t often cry, but that only makes it that much more gut-wrenching when she does.

Beatrice doesn’t cry, but she does spend a few minutes sitting and staring down at the necklace. She doesn’t say anything aloud, but it’s in the way her hands twitch, how her leg jumps up and down on the bed. Time passes slowly, and Ava watches from the corner. 

“I love you,” Ava says, chin trembling because she can’t not say it, because there’s not much more for her to do these days than just tell Beatrice how much she means to her in the hopes that one day she’ll understand. There are tears forming in her eyes and she doesn’t even care because it’s not like there’s anyone here to notice it, anyway. “I love you so much. I wish I could talk to you right now. I miss you, but I’m glad it’s me rather than you. I love you.”

I love you, she says, right as Beatrice slips the necklace over her head. 

And that’s when she swears Beatrice looks directly at her. Beatrice’s eyes go dark and desperate, and Ava thinks that she is going to cry, actually, when she realizes that the Divinium hanging high on her chest is no longer dull and dark, that Beatrice’s face is flecked with shining blue. Beatrice stares through her, mouth dropping open. 

Ava’s heart jumps with the thought of danger. If Beatrice is attacked here, when Ava can’t do anything—

She spins around, but there’s nothing there. 

And that’s when Ava realizes, half a second before it becomes obvious. Realizes because she knows Beatrice, has known her long before she was cursed to follow her around forever. She turns back around, meets her gaze—look at me, she’s always thought, look at me—and stares. 

Because Beatrice isn’t looking at something behind her, or above. Beatrice is looking at her. 

“Ava?”

[keeps-ache]

i have a new hobby!! i listen to my playlist and say things like 'oh this goes hard' 'it just can't miss' 'it's so good, you have no idea' to my brother who cannot listen to it bc i am wearing headphones lmaoo

[thsc-confessions]

"I'm worried about controversial stuff coming up about this ship opinion situation, but here we go-"

"I dislike Toppat Henry x Charles/ Henry x Toppat Charles, especially that second one. The artwork I see of it (especially Toppat Charles x Henry, not so much on the other option) leans into toxic relationships for me and I dislike it heavily."

"As much as I love Henrles (tied with Polythreat for me), that situation of "Enemies to lovers" is the one type of Henrles ship that just.. turns me the wrong way unfortunately.." submitted by anon

[existencebringsonlypain]

alright, so if we do end up fighting Kris in the last chapter of Deltarune, we will most certainly win. For we are the player, and we have the power of saving and loading. Debatably, Kris has this too, but either way the end result is the same- This will be a fight of iteration and endurance.

I hypothesize that this fight will have two (or three, depending on how you look at it) endings: You persist, or you relent. Persistence would likely look like a LOT of grinding, figuring out which actions in what order will allow you to "win" and take control back over Kris. And relenting, or perhaps convincing them to relent, would look like A: fleeing or mercy, or B: the same thing as persistence, but choosing to pursue mercy. The third option would be death, and subsequently giving up.

Now, we must remember that Deltarune is a 2018 video game developed by American indie developer Toby Fox. Deltarune originally came from Toby's fever dream portraying the ending of a video game. So there's every chance that rather than having the option to either fight to achieve mercy or simply give up and die, you can only die. That IS the only way to free the game from the player. Any other way, and you'd still be in control.

This option also would align with Toby's "there is only one ending"- The ending is persistence, and taking over Kris again. The other "endings" are just death.

This alone makes me inclined to believe that that's exactly how it's gonna go. The only thing that makes me doubt this is how Deltarune is a commercial venture, and that's a pretty unsatisfying "ending". But I could absolutely see Toby doing it anyway.

For we are the player. And if we fight for it, we WILL win. But winning means making Kris suffer, and the only way to avoid that is to no longer fight.

[sualne]

since we're talking about it, watching the first episode was so funny hearing ciel talking with a higher pitch acting cute i thought "oh, the boy is good at pretending isnt he! ...AH. AHHHHHH"

[ayyponine]

Same venue. Same-ish crowd. Opposing seasons. Contrasting vibes.

[justxaxstrayxkid]

Small and low quality Mizuchi ft smol baby Yato

It's been a while. I miss these posts :(

[vanibear]

skitters around like a beast. Hii ❤️ok im going 2 go ramble in the tags now👍

[tealeves]

Part 2 - Pluvie's casual adventurer outfit, plus a super cute glam meant for someone of a more modest sensibility (you can take the Elezen out of the church but you can't take the church out of the Elezen). Included are what I imagine Pluvie's hands to look like (vis a vis the spaekona's wrist torques and my favorite rings) post-shb through the ew patches.

[axreliono]

trying to add a scene into an old chap bc a specific plot thread has been bothering me for a while now but ITS SO HARD TO CHANGE SOMETHING THATS ALREADY PUBLISHED WITHOUT ENTIRELY REWRITING. my editing style is quite literally "if sucks, rewrite from scratch" which isnt useful rn. pain and suffering for ten thousand years

[inkyminx]

Made this cause I've seen this meme going around a lot and I thought it would be fun to try it out.

Template ~ @gibbarts

The duo shot.