#IT’S ABOUT THE DEVOTION

[tiredalwayss]

Beyond Evil: from distrust to devotion

[zandotherthings]

“Church” by Fall Out Boy is a Paladin-coded song

Discuss.

[nyikondlovu]

Was rewatching Left Behind (1x07) and as much credit as I give Bella for Ellie’s gay pining, I gotta give 10s to Storm for her Riley.

Riley pretends to be this cool gal who’s unflappable and isn’t fazed by anything until it comes to Ellie.

She’s nonchalant about disappearing until she sees Ellie’s black eye, then she’s pissed and protective and only after Ellie says she dealt with Bethany, she goes back to cool mysterious girl mode.

She’s all blasé about the carousel until she sees Ellie’s little smile and all of a sudden SHE’S shy and staring at her like she can’t believe she’s real.

She is all about impressing Ellie when they arrive at the arcade then they start playing MK 2 and Ellie allows her to be a kid so she’s loud and jokes with Ellie and even celebrates Ellie kicking her ass then snaps back when Ellie realizes she missed her shot to kiss Riley and retreats so Riley tries to salvage the night by saying she has a gift for Ellie.

Then they read the pun book and you see Riley revert to a teenager because yeah, this is something she and Ellie share. Something they both love and she’s giggling unabashedly…until Ellie finds the bombs and now she’s having to start being real about her leaving and disappointing Ellie.

She goes to the Halloween store and sits there because she’s sad she hurt Ellie. She’s sitting with the fourth wonder at the fifth wonder and we see an expansion on her sadness. She’s leaving and her last conversation with the only person who matters to her (Storm’s words) ended harshly, with venomous words and tears.

Then Ellie comes back and finally Riley let’s all her walls down because holy fuck she nearly lost Ellie more than physically. So, she decides to tell Ellie that while she’s not sure about the FireFly mission, she is sure she needs something or someone who needs her. Then Ellie confesses that Riley mattered to Ellie, the first we truly see outside of playful moments (“I’ll be your best friend again” “again? You’re already my best friend Ellie.”) and Riley is no longer showing this +1 wonder because she wants to be cool, it’s because she wants to make Ellie happy. Whether she looks like a dork dancing on a glass counter with a creepy clown mask on…as long as it makes Ellie laugh, she doesn’t care anymore.

And then the moment when Ellie does the one thing Riley wanted happens: she asks her to stay. And you just see the instant release of tension by Storm when she realizes she truly does matter to someone so of course she’s staying. Of course she’s not gonna want Ellie to apologize for kissing her and of course she reacts to kissing her best friend and first love by giggling uncontrollably and averting her eyes for a second.

They get bit and finally she shows that she’s just a scared kid. She’s doomed herself, she’s doomed ELLIE and she’s just cost them the potential relationship and life they could’ve had. Storm plays Riley as a child who is truly broken. Then she puts herself together again to try and raise Ellie’s spirits because at least they’re in this together and without even saying it, she loves Ellie.

Storm played Riley with such nuance. She’s different from the constantly playful and unserious Riley from the dlc and issue 1-3 of the comic and takes on the same energy as the last page of issue four Riley: she’s hardened. She’s closed off. She has trauma. She keeps a secret until Ellie puts the pieces together herself (why she got Winston to take Ellie on a ride on Princess in the comics)

But she also loves puns and games and music and giggling with her best friend and teasing her and being quippy with her. She wants to show Ellie the beauty of the fucked up world they live in. She’s a quiet optimist to Ellie’s loud pessimist.

Bella played 1x07 Ellie as openly hopelessly and thinks it’s never gonna happen in love with Riley. Storm played her as as in love but holding back because what if Ellie does like her back…she might lose her. And she almost does. Then Ellie loses her.

TL:DR, I need Storm and Bella in a romcom asap because I give 10s where 10s are due and they ate best friends to lovers THE FUCK UP!

[volstruckerz]

one of the most compelling things in media to me are Codependent Relationships and how fucking human and crazy and tragic they are but also!! i’m obsessed how they evolve when they meet new people they find themselves caring about and i especially treasure those small moments when they realize that it’s not just them against the world anymore and that they are surrounded by love but more importantly that the one person they care about more than anyone else in the world is loved, even if it’s not just by them anymore and that they find themselves. okay with that. happy, even. thinking about the peace and healing that comes with that. and that even though a family might grow, that first relationship and bond will always be something else. something undefinably More. something something you are still my heart but now i find myself with the courage to open it.

[ultimablades]

Sorry for being a broken record, but Sanson and Guydelot really love each other a lot Huh

[readytospock]

geyser by mitski is so spock coded

[fictifile]

[warriornona]

Sometimes I think about how Pal and Cam are Roy and Riza without the history of war crimes

[possamble]

hiii everybody are you normal about Falin showing Laios the same little spell that Marcille showed her? are you normal about Falin remembering it fondly enough that it was one of the first things she showed her brother while trying to teach him magic?

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

i vote that next year instead of reading Dracula we do a Jeeves & Wooster Book Club. those two never got the rabid tumblr shipping fandom they deserved (disqualified for the sheer technicality of being published a century too soon). we must correct this injustice

[lotus-pear]

mourning black and the death of ideals

[tiredalwayss]

The first time he calls you holy, you laugh it back so hard your sides hurt…

…You will ruin him and he will thank you; he will say please.

Ashe Vernon — Profane

[starry-bi-sky]

don't you want to be a cult leader? - danyal al ghul au

this is mostly a joke post but i thought it was funny and had to share so--

his first mistake was, obviously, inheriting his father's inability to see an injustice and stand still. -- actually, danyal's first mistake was his lair being so big. a mountainous island with a large temple in the center resembling his old home in Nanda Parbat? With sprawling foliage and rivers and streams and waterfalls galore? What was he going to do with all that space? Let it go to waste? He had plants there! Native trees of the ghost zone growing from the soil! He couldn't let it all be left unchecked!

So naturally after helping a fellow teenage assassin ghost -- who he later learns is named Akihiko, -- from Walker of all people, he sent them over to hang low at his lair until it was safe enough for them to wander around the Zone. Walker couldn't get through Danyal's astrofield if his life depended on it, and trust him -- he's tried. Danny was clearing out debris from his stupid transport vans for weeks.

Honestly it wasn't so bad, he and Aki really quickly became fast friends and Danny loves having a sparring partner close to his level again -- he hasn't had this much fun fighting since he left the League. Aki was very dedicated and levelheaded, the both of them clicked really well because of it.

Nonono, the real trouble began after Danyal met some long-passed League members and allowed them to come join his island as well. Apparently they had made a few enemies of the zone, and maybe Danyal still felt some loyalty to the League. He couldn't just let them be left to rot. Their zealotry could be overlooked so long as they kept it contained and helped him take care of his island.

And it.. snowballs from there? He meets a teen squire aptly calling himself Ambroise -- whether that was his living name or not is yet to be seen -- who died during feudal france, who is just about as dramatic and passionate as every french stereotype makes them out to be. He calls Danyal "my moon and great muse" -- which is both flattering and little uncomfortable, but Danyal's grown up in the League as the Grandson of the Demon Head, he is used to mild worship. he passes it off as nothing more, nothing less. -- and while his energy is overwhelming on the worst of days, he helps Danny draw out of his shell more in ways that Sam and Tucker still struggle with.

Him and Aki butt heads a lot, but the two seem to hold the other in at least some positive regard, so Danny doesn't worry too much about them fighting while he's gone. It only becomes a mild issue when Aki also begins calling Danny "my moon". It's a little sweet, so Danyal brushes it off.

Then he takes in a troupe of ghosts some time after he defeats Pariah Dark and they begin calling him "great one" just as the yetis do in the far frozen. This is where he meets the twins -- a pair of sibling ghosts who call themselves Trixie and Missy (short for Trick and Mislead) -- who aren't quite as passionate as Ambroise but more energetic than Aki. Eventually they also start calling Danyal "my moon" and attach themselves to his hip, even within the living. They like to hide in his shadow and cause trouble for the rest of the students. He makes sure they don't hurt anyone.

He's pretty sure Aki is jealous, same with Ambroise, but he can't be too certain other than the fact that they become much more lingering (re: clingy) whenever he visits the island.. Something he's trying to do much more often these days due to the increasing amount of people living there now. Since when did he become so popular?

Then there's Pēnelópeia from the Greater Athens, who ran away from home and joined his Island after he ran into her while she was being chased by Skulker -- and he's pretty sure the reason was because of her chimeric appearance. Her strange eyes and mismatched wings and lion's tail and talons. She assimilates into his friend group very easily, she gets along well with Ambroise and Trixie and Danny usually finds the three of them climbing the trees to pluck the most fruit from the top. They can fly and he knows it, but they prefer to climb.

Then finally there's silent poet Akkara who comes from ancient mesopotamia, who gets along most with Aki -- which is no surprise there considering their similar personality dispositions. he watches Aki and Danyal fight each other and leaves comments on this or that that he notices. He writes Danyal poems on clay tablets and leaves them by his room.

They're one big mismatched group of outcasts, and Danny's got the other ghosts on his island to tend to, because they're living on his island and he wants to be hospitable even if he struggles with that. But he spends the most of his time with them.

Sam and Tucker are making fun of him. Tucker jokingly tells him 'careful Danny, at this rate you're gonna start a cult'. Danny really wishes he had taken that joke more seriously.

He just. keeps. collecting people. Wayward souls lost in the zone, looking for shelter or refuge from something or other -- whether that be another hostile ghost, or a past afterlife, or just a purpose. Danyal finds them, he takes them in, offers them a place on his island until they are ready to leave. Many seldom do. He's not complaining -- he has the space, and it feels like it's only ever growing.

His close friends, his "inner circle" as he's heard the others call them, keep insistently calling him "my moon". He starts calling them his stars, because then it only feels fair. They're his stars, this is his constellation. It becomes a thing; little star halos begin forming behind their heads, picking them out from the rest. He loves them so much, it's hard to place. Sam and Tucker are also his stars, but they reside in the living realm, they're his tie to Life. Meanwhile, his friends here know what it's like to be dead, and sometimes its nice to relate.

Those living on his island keep calling him "Great One" and he's beginning to notice zealotry in their care for his island. He really, deeply appreciates it. His close friends gain nicknames -- as his stars, it's only natural for him to pick them out from the cluster in the skies. Akihiko, his Sirius and bright star. Trix and Missy, Castor and Pollux, the twins and troublemakers. Ambroise, his zealous Antares and close friend. Penelopeia, chimeric and loyal Vega. And Akkara, his Arcturus and strength.

It's ridiculous how long it takes for him to notice; he is, of course, a deadly trained assassin. He is meant to be observant -- and normally he is! But somehow this becomes a blind spot. One that becomes too big to be dealt with by the time he realizes it.

He should've noticed when Aki, his Sirius, stood beside him one day while Danyal looked over his island and saw the sprawling spirits carrying on about their afterlife and bowing to him as they saw him, and said: "I looked down into the depths when I met you; I couldn't measure it." They aren't one for flowing prose, it took him so off guard he was silent for over a minute before he finally spoke.

Danyal should've recognized devotion for what it is, and yet he didn't. He should've recognized it when Antares began spouting praises about him, crowing about his radiance and resplendence to the heavens. He just brushed it off as Ambroise being Ambroise. He should've recognized it when Trix and Missy nearly broke Dash's leg after he knocked Danyal's books out of his hands, he excused it as them being protective. Of them coming from times where such violence may have been customary -- after all, that's what he used to be like. What he was still like, sometimes, when his emotions nearly got the better of him.

He should've noticed it when the people living on his island followed his word like gospel, looked at him like he hung the stars in the sky. When his friends gifted him a shawl with the moon phases delicately embroidered into it, with silver, shimmering thread and moving stars lovingly stitched into it. Their constellations seen clear as day in the dark fabric. When he found small shrines dedicated to him -- but they lacked any image of him beyond stones carved to look like moons, so he ignored it. When the religious imagery began popping up.

He really, really should've noticed it when a bunch of cultists accidentally summoned Antares, and Antares had turned to him when he arrived and called them heretics. But he was so centered on the fact that they had kidnapped one of his stars, that he hadn't paid much attention to what Ambroise had said.

Sages say that faith is blind, they should also say faith in you is even blinder.

It really only hits him one afternoon while he's sitting in Sam's room studying with Tucker, Missy and Trixie lounging at his feet, Aki sat on his right, Penelopeia braiding his hair, Ambroise draped against him, and Akkara lurking over him. Its one of the rare few times they're all in one room together.

It hits him like a bolt of lightning. He looks up from his textbook. "Oh Ancients," he says in no amounting shock. Everyone looks up to him.

"I've become my grandfather."

[ahotknife]

the stooges / the dream thieves by maggie stiefvater / phoebe bridgers / how to be a dog by andrew kane / sleepycorvid / mitski / margaret atwood / ethel cain

[radishearts]

Girls who don’t draw for like a week and have to relearn their artstyle it’s me Im girls this happens every few months 😔🙏

Anyways EVO/lifers crew bc I love them and. And. I watched Solarocks ‘Watcher, Tell me So I say.’ PMV (DEF RECCO. REALLY COOL).

[liloinkoink]

one thing i think people get wrong about Martyn in the life series is he really isn’t loyal

like yeah, we all know him as the Hand, following the Red King as far as their shared grave, but that is… truly the outlier and not the norm with him

i mean, let’s take a brief look at other seasons. i can’t speak to Secret Life, as it came out when i was incredibly busy and i haven’t yet had time to watch it, but what about the others?

he won Limited Life because he’s a chronic traitor! he betrayed Scott, his ally for the whole season, so that he could win, and said he’d been planning it / wanting to do it the whole session. spent a whole season protecting and helping Scott, and laughed in his face to betray as soon as he saw a shot to do so

Double Life was a whole mess of Martyn and weird loyalties. just one example: he spent all of the first session hanging out with Pearl in favor of even looking for either of their soulmates, with no regard for how he’d been putting his soulmate in danger. when their soulmates dumped them due to being ignored all session and stormed off, he dumped Pearl just because. one session in and he’s betrayed both his soulmate and his day one alliance!

Last Life he teamed with the Southlanders and then made the Shadow Alliance in secret, so he was on two teams and never truly committed to either. he tried to kill Grian basically immediately when he got boogeyman, for example, and in the final fight he tried to lure Ren to himself by offering to team and then tried to blow Ren up

of course, i’m simplifying and ignoring a lot. he doesn’t earn the loyal reputation for nothing. he does a lot of things to help his teammates, like giving a life to Ren in Last Life, trying all season to win Cleo over for all of Double Life, or working to protect Scott for all of Limited Life. it’s not like Martyn doesn’t play the part of a loyal friend well, but, well.

the thing about Martyn is that he’s selfish. he’s basically always going to prioritize his own survival over anything else. he’s never going to roll over and die, especially not for another person. he’s good at looking loyal, because having allies will help you survive, and he knows making outright enemies is a bad idea. he knows he can’t make it obvious he’s a traitor, because then he’ll certainly be killed. but, when it comes down to the wire, he will generally bail at the last minute to save his own skin rather than protecting the people around him. when his loyalty is tested, nine times out of ten, he will not only fail, but do so completely without remorse

it doesnt take a lot to become Martyn’s ally, and once you’ve got a foot in the door, he will take his allegiances seriously (at least, to a point). but it takes effort to really earn Martyn’s trust. and, even when it looks like you have, there’s no guarantee he won’t yank the rug out from under you if he decides having you alive is more detrimental to his survival than seeing you dead

and yes, you can especially see all of this in Third Life. Martyn was absolutely not instantly ride or die for Ren—for a lot of the earlier episodes, he won’t say he’s on Ren’s team or that he lives at Ren’s base, and often tells other players he’s simply Ren’s employee rather than teammate and that he’s wandering or homeless. he trusts Ren so little due to Ren’s inability to keep a secret or stand up for himself that even Ren acknowledges in the third session that Martyn is probably going to leave him and find someone else. Martyn’s loyalty had to be earned, and it very nearly wasn’t. if Ren had taken a session more to grow a spine, Martyn probably would have left

but Ren became an ally that Martyn could rely on, who could stand up for himself and keep secrets. it became more beneficial to Martyn’s survival to have Ren around, so he stayed with Ren for the rest of the season, and committed hard to their kingdom. Ren earns Martyn’s trust by becoming a more dependable ally, and because of that, Ren earns Martyn’s loyalty…. probably

(half related, bc i want it in the post and i don’t know where to put it: after the execution, two sessions after Ren officially earns Martyn’s loyalty, Ren admits to being genuinely convinced Martyn was going to take him out of the series as soon as Ren gave him the chance!)

because yes, even here, even after Ren earns his trust and Ren trusts Martyn to execute him and they become King and Hand, Martyn was okay with killing Ren to save himself. Martyn has said he was going to betray Ren in the final session of Third Life. his entire plan was that when he and Ren hit the final 5, he was going to kill Ren. end Red Winter, usher in Red Spring. even the most loyal version of Martyn was a traitor!

now, you can decide for yourself if you believe he could have actually gone through with this—he and Ren were 6th and 7th out of the game, after all. maybe he wouldn’t have been able to steel himself. maybe his loyalty would have, for once, been too strong to kill Ren.

but it’s very possible that even the most loyal version of Martyn—the version of Martyn who has created this “loyal” image of Martyn in fanon—was only loyal because he died too soon to show his true colors