#you're your father's son

[megaclubdiolis]

ep26 // ep29 // ep32

The brighter the light, the darker the shadow.

[dootznbootz]

Thinking about how Telemachus has heard "You are just like your father" by so many people for most of his life. How different yet refreshing it is to hear said father tell him warmly "You're so much like your mother".

[pixelpaladin24]

[renegadesstuff]

you're an idiot I'm your idiot

[gayofthefae]

Repeating again that Jonathan Byers checked their father's car trunk Will's body with 0 reservation in his body. Nothing in him was against the idea of Will being in there and no relationship with his father caused him pain to think it.

Do you ever think that maybe Jonathan wanted to check out there himself because he knew Hopper thought if Will was at Lonnie's it would be because he ran away but Jonathan wanted to make sure whoever went out to check checked the places a murdered kids' body would be?

And now I'm thinking about from watch 1 I knew Will would never go to Lonnie's voluntarily and I could tell that Jonathan did too. That "Will might hide to stay with Lonnie if the cops come" was not his real excuse.

Do you know what kidnappers do when they cops corner them? Shoot the hostage.

It's reminiscent to me of how Henry informed El that her siblings were going to kill her that night and Brenner had turned off the cameras in order to let them.

Jonathan Byers believed a little too quickly and easily that his father had kidnapped and murdered Will. Those kids are not okay.

[blackknight-100]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[aeligsido]

there's this idea that magical people in general live longer than Muggles, which I choose to take as a "they age more slowly". So, say, a woman could get a child maybe up to her sixties. Very late, risky pregnancy, but can happen by mistake, right? Or as a miracle, maybe.

What I mean is that Euphemia and Fleamont could have been in their late fifties or early sixties when they got James. Which adds the very funny bonus that they would have gone to school with Sirius' grandfather (rather than his parents like I see sometimes in the fandom).

I just think it would be a bit hilarious is all.

[palaceoftears]

S3! Mahidevran sultan + The burden of love and duty

I'm ready to burn in hell to keep you safe.

Orla Gartland / Anne Carson / Japanese Breakfast / Benjamin Alire Sáenz / Margaret Atwood / Sarah Kinsley

[illarian-rambling]

A short ramble about the two main Illari wedding cultures because I'll do anything but actually write :D

Ok so, when it comes to religion, the world of Illaros is pretty split between the Illarian half and the Mordunyan half. The Illarian church began with the humans of Janaz, but spread to encompass the elven nations of Skysheer and Nabafyr later on. The Dwarven Alliance, which was never conquered by humans, held onto its Mordun faith. Why does religion matter when it comes to weddings? Because any 'binding of family' (weddings, adoptions, even business ventures) are very important in the Illarian holy texts, so proper Illarian weddings are one of the few things that actually got really forced onto the Nabafyrians and Skysheerians by way of the Republic government (big player in banking and business of all kinds) not recognizing people as married if they hadn't done it the 'right way.' Family is also a huge component of dwarven culture in general, so you already know their religion is gonna standardize it. Anyways, that's how we got to two main wedding cultures, with two subcultures for the surviving Nabafyrian and Skysheerian traditions.

Your run-of-the-mill Illarian wedding with no elven influences is a surprisingly simple affair. There's no engagement, for one. Partners usually decide together that they want to get married and give their social circle a few months' notice for planning. Springing a sudden 'Will you marry me?' would be seen as a really strange move in Illarian culture. Blue is traditionally a Big Event color, so lots of brides wear blue dresses, but this isn't a requirement, and many opt for other hues. Really, the only thing that makes it an Illarian wedding is that it's performed by a priest of Samara, goddess of family and the cooking fire.

The most important event of a human wedding is actually a cultural practice, not a religious one. When humans get married, they exchange gifts. This is a call-back to nobles exchanging dowries, but the custom ended up catching on with the common folk and turned into something more intimate. The humans of Illaros don't use rings to signify their love, but instead exchange gifts with their partner. A wedding gift is often the nicest thing a person will ever own. It's often completely customized - a painter might get a set of brushes made by a master craftsman, a lover of birds might get a set of runic binoculars, a farmer might get a steam-powered plow, a frequent traveler might get a pair of magically sealed boots, so on and so forth. These gifts are meant to be a purest expression of understanding and insight. It's not unheard of for someone to leave at the altar because of a bad wedding gift, or to spend a fortune trying to get the best one. Usually, a wedding gift is made well enough to last throughout a person's life.

The other thing is surnames. This one's pretty easy, though. Traditionally, the partner of lower station takes on the partner of higher station's name - 'marrying up' is the common term. In the modern era, though, this gets flexible.

Another minor tradition, smaller than the gift, is bride-talk. The first person at a wedding who offers the bride a drink is supposedly wanting advice for how to find a good match. Single cousins will sometimes compete for the chance, as it's also a good way to signal that you're 'on the market,' so to speak.

On the elven subset of Illarian wedding culture, there is no gift exchange, since that's not a religious tradition. Really, the only requirement for an Illarian wedding is the presence of a priest, so Nabafyrians and Skysheerians still tend to do things largely their own way.

Nabafyrians, of course, have to involve weapons. Usually, Nabafyrian families each have their own branch of martial art and an accompanying crest. When you marry into a family, you're allowed to learn their martial art. You may also engrave their crest onto your weapon. A smith is usually present at weddings to do this. It's up to the married couple to decide who is joining whose family, but they usually follow the human example and marry up.

Skysheerians are different in that marriage is solely a right of the nobility. Serfs can live together, share names, and have civil ceremonies, but they aren't 'married' in the eyes of the law. When nobles get married, it's far more of a business deal. Land and titles are exchanged, promises are made, and dowries are paid. Marriage for love isn't a thing, however, it's not frowned upon in the slightest to have consorts. You can go to a banquet with your husband, only to leave in a different man's carriage and no one will mind. You're binding your families, not your hearts, so who cares if you love someone else? Just so long as you're willing to legitimize any bastards, everyone's happy.

Now we get to the really different one: dwarven marriage. First off, just like how in our current irl society, alloromantic heterosexuality is seen as a 'default,' in dwarven society, that default is actually aromantic heterosexuality. Your first loyalty is expected to be to your clan. 'Falling in love' is seen as a deviant urge. With that out of the way, how does marriage work then?

A dwarven marriage, like a Skysheerian one, is a contract between two families, or clans, in this case. Except, for dwarves, a child is the express goal of marriage. Two clans will negotiate a match between two people who can have kids together. During the duration of the marriage, the father will join the mother's clan until any kid they have makes it to adulthood, after which he will leave to rejoin his original clan. The father's clan, in exchange for losing a member for eighteen years and not getting a kid out of it, will receive a massive sum of money called a hand-price. The hand-price is thought to be equivalent to the work that child will do for the mother's clan over their lifetime. So mom's clan gets a kid, dad's clan gets cash. Hand-prices generally sit at a set value, but sometimes, if someone assumes the kid isn't gonna contribute much, the mother's clan will ask for a partial refund. This is common fare for insults among dwarven children.

In places like Unity, where dwarven culture mixes with others, things are a little looser. Sometimes, a father will stay with his wife and child even after the child hits legal adulthood. Marriage not for the sake of reproduction is also increasingly common. In that case, a hand-price will be negotiated for the clan one partner is leaving, putting a monetary number on what they might contribute to the clan they're joining. Even in Unity, though, marriage always entails someone leaving their clan. Being married to someone in another clan while remaining in your own would be seen as a gross splitting of loyalties and might well end up with both partners being disowned.

Why do all of these cultures place such a strong emphasis on marriage being between two families, not two individuals? I'm not sure. Probably because they all exist together in an area of land roughly the size of Europe - there's gonna be some general vibe sharing.

Anyways this has been (looks directly into the camera) an Illarian ramble

[charlesemersonwinchesteriii]

imagine you're some random sailor on the expedition just trying to survive not paying close attention to everyone's interpersonal relationships so you only realize bridglar are romantically involved when Peglar collapses and Bridgens freaks out and cradles his head and picks him up bridal style. real old friends senior dog sanctuary suddenly posting "I just want to get dicked down again" type moment.

[mooneln0ne]

Don't I deserve to live too?

[crypticpaw]

More art for chapter 7 of my fic! :3

Hellcat cousin duo for the win! They were so much fun to write!

[yakny]

I will never know if...! If you saving me was a part of this selfish grander scheme of yours... or just one small moment of mercy from you. It doesn't matter to me anymore. None, and I mean none, of what you tell me will ever come to pacify my doubts and fears again. It all won't ever come back, and neither will I, Pops.

[cyndaquillt]

I'm on the chapter where they captured the leader of the bandit group Chang Geng had his first memories with and Gu Yun is close to finding out everything and it's viscerally driving in the point of how helpless Gu Yun feels that he could not do anything for Chang Geng back then because he was also a child.

When Chang Geng was a baby, Gu Yun was about 7 and couldn't possibly have done anything to save him. When they found Chang Geng at 12 yo, Gu Yun would've been roughly 19 and it's illogical to expect a socially awkward ptsd ridden 19 yo to immediately grasp that Chang Geng may have been running away from an abusive parent, especially when both Xiu Niang and Chang Geng were hellbent on hiding it so well. Of course Gu Yun has regrets. Whether you are old or young, naive or perceptive, you are still you and the people you love are still the people you wanna save and you couldn't do it. You couldn't be there and when you were there, you didn't get what was happening.

And at this point it comes full circle when you realize that Chang Geng feels EXACTLY the same. Him wishing he was born 10 years before his time, him trying to grow up faster and become capable soon so that he could be of use to Gu Yun, all of those are Chang Geng's fight against time and his own youth. Gu Yun wished he wasn't a child when Chang Geng needed rescuing just like Chang Geng wishes he wasn't a child when Gu Yun needs/needed support

[aroaceleovaldez]

I really like the idea that for the first few months of them hanging out post-HoO, Will had no idea Nico had stayed at CHB before. He was under the impression that Nico was more or less new to camp, since he had been a rogue demigod, and that he had just been an ally of CHB up until that point who had been to the camp but had never been a camper. The entire time Will just assumed he was the senior camper between the two of them, not knowing Nico had actually joined camp almost a whole two years prior to him and was instead returning.

Nico eventually realizes Will’s misconception and tries to explain it, but Will thinks Nico is messing with him until Nico explains the crack in the dining pavilion (which no one at camp besides Percy knows the origins of, save for maybe Annabeth, Grover, and Chiron) was from him the night he ran away (and maybe also shows Will his camp beads to further prove he’s not making it up, depending on if you believe he has one from BoTL or not). Will then gets to have the fun little journey of recontextualizing everything he knows about Nico.

[thelovers-thedreamers-and-me]

the downside to being a sitcom neighbour sort of person is that when rough things happen and emotionally fuck u up a lil bit, it also sounds completely made up