#and getting closer to my siblings

[clingylilhoneybee]

Life finally feels like it’s falling into place 🥰

[egophiliac]

redesigning my headcanon for Sebek's parents, based on important new information (SCALES)

(you can't see it but they're both wearing crocs)

[ew-selfish-art]

Dp x Dc AU: Bruce has a 'if you can't beat them, join them' mentality about the tabloids claiming he adopts too many kids- Developing foster homes that are paid for through the Wayne inheritance, personally vetted by the Bats, they're the leaders in the space for child health outcomes and family placement. Insert Danny.

---

Bruce has too much wealth, too many rumors and not enough reach into the abhorrent foster homes around Gotham to improve them. Tim ends up being the one to suggest it- He's the one who buys up their real estate for their safe houses after all- and Bruce is more than ready to pull the metaphorical trigger to get new clean welcoming spaces, Bat-background checked fosters and a new era of adoption in Gotham underway.

He's lobbied the state and the federal government for reforms of course, but this is a project he can micromanage. He spends time with every kid that comes through, talks with all the families that want to adopt and makes sure that these miniature homes are provided only the very best. Alfred personally hires all the staff, and with Barbara more than happy to help relocate the unhoused children she spots while they patrol, the project is a glowing success.

Occasionally, spots in their houses fill up, and those are the weeks were Cass takes on the Cowl of Batman- Bruce Wayne will personally invite a child in need to his home. He always has one of his kids present (they rotate on a pre-determined schedule) and he does his best to try and get them to understand that they deserve the world, have all the potential that anyone else has and can achieve a bright future. That he will personally aid them in their ambitions.

PR goes crazy for it of course, but Bruce and all of his children know its genuine. Almost too genuine, because a betting pool 'WILL THEY BE ADOPTED' regularly circulates between the siblings and the entire JL when someone spends time at the manor. And not just the black-haired, Blue-eyed kids get picked as favored outcomes- but obviously the running joke gets passed around.

It's a Thursday night when Bruce gets the call that the houses have once again filled up, and that there is a child in need of a home. The social worker (he knows her as Marsha and he has flowers planned to be sent on her birthday next week, like he does for all of his employees) (Say micromanaged one more time) explains that the kid is a bit cagey but has opened up with some humor. She explains that he has a few strange... mannerisms. She's not sure what to make of him, a non-gothamite for sure but something is, well, distinctly 'not from around here' about his energy.

Danny arrives at the house, meets Duke and Alfred, and by the time Bruce meets him at the dinner table it seems as though Marsha had it all wrong. This kid was laughing, he was teasing, he was totally playing along like he'd gone through nothing. Bruce is glad he's in high spirits but its just so... so different from all the other children he's taken in.

Bruce re-focuses on the conversation when Duke mentions something flashing, and its the first time that Danny goes quiet. Entirely still.

"...you noticed that?" Danny quietly asks, a bit of disbelief in his tone.

"You don't have a flashlight on or something do you? It was super bright whatever it is that you had in your hand a second ago?" Duke tries to sound chill but he's looking very much not chill. Bruce saw nothing, and that puts him further on edge.

"Look... I uh, I've been though... I've been through a lot lately. And the last lab I was in kind of, messed with me. I'm normally much better at dealing with it all, I promise." Danny sounds nervous, and the room seems to chill.

"Ah shoot, sorry." Danny notices something and frantically apologizes.

"Sorry for what Danny? You've done nothing wrong but I am worried about you- You said you were in a lab?" Bruce is desperately trying to calm him down while not slipping into Batman interrogation mode.

"Uh, yeah, like a lot of labs. It should get warmer in a second, its just cause I startled, I promise."

"You're a meta." Duke speaks softly and with hope in his voice- Danny is looking between them with wide eyes filled with fear.

"I mean I don't technically have the gene-"

"Danny, have you told any of your case workers where you were? Do any authorities know what you've been through?" Bruce needs to know, desperately, that who ever gave this young boy super powers is brought to justice. Danny goes quiet.

"I'm really sorry." He says softly, but he doesn't leave them.

Duke and Bruce try to ask a few more questions but the silence that meets them declares the conversation over, even with Duke admitting he himself is a meta. Danny didn't even look up from his plate. They watch a movie after dinner, and Danny seems to get back to the smile-y happy guy he had been before dinner.

Each of the bat-fam have their own interactions with Danny- And even if they're getting along amazingly, Danny won't open up. He doesn't open up to his provided therapist. Doesn't talk to Alfred. No one knows what's up.

So when Marsha calls Bruce back explaining they now have a spot for Danny and he can move out of the Manor... Bruce replies that he'd like to get started on Adoption paperwork, so long as Danny is fine with it.

---

Turns out, Danny is fine with it. he's both the newest Wayne and their newest case. (And godamnit, his new family is going to avenge him. If only he'd let them try.)

Danny figures out that Duke= Signal early on because of that dinner, and if he's going to keep his parents out of jail, he needs to be as close to the investigation as possible. He knows that he shouldn't protect the Fentons, but he feels the upset in his core at the thought of letting them befall any harm. He has to protect them. Has to protect Jazz and her hiding spot as a mole within their lab. Has to.

Even if it meant lying to his new family who loves him, and who he loves in equal return. Even if it means lying to The Bats.

---

Tabloids go crazy about the black-haired blue-eyed thing of course, but no poll was ever taken by the batfam or the JL who know the whole story.

[monotone-artist]

hello please click images for better quality oh my god tumblr whyy

[id in alt]

maria shows shadow how to play dress-up (she's always wanted to do it with someone else)

thank u @fly-sky-high-09 for the request, i had a lot of fun with this hehe

[ameamedraws]

The siblings ever ‼️

[dasistmeinpferd]

charia + little sisters

[nerdie-faerie]

TVDu was all 'family is really important to the Mikaelsons, they have a whole saying about it' only to turn around and be like oh yeah that only applies to three of the siblings though !?! what!!?! how dare you!!

[suffocatorx]

Aemond and guilt

I desperately need Aemond to get some reasonable agency and motives for his actions in season two.

In Fire and Blood he is basically a horrible person who says and does so many horrible things for no other reason than just because he can (which is especially evident in his actions in Riverlands). While this kind of portrayal is fine in books, principally ones like F&B, which show the story from the point of view of kind of historians, where we only know what characters did and not why they did it. It doesn't really work in the format of the show, where we are much closer to the characters, we observe them intimately since they were very young and therefore we understand much better their thought processes and the reasons for their actions.

So if Aemond's actions during the Dance are remain the same in the show (and we kind of know they will be since in all interviews there is this talk of unhinged Aemond), we as the audience need to know the reasoning behind them. And what I would love it to be is guilt.

We already know he in a way feels bad for Luke's death, at least in the moment it happened since it was entirely what he wanted. But this may come to pass, especially considering Aegon's reaction and how he praised it (Aemond can also just push down these feelings and try not to show them to appear strong and nonchalant, like it didn't affect him at all).

And so what other kind of guilt could push him to carry out all those horrible things? It must be something that hits much closer to home - guilt over something that happened to someone he actually cared about. And that could only be Helaena and her children. He killed Luke and the ones who suffered the consequences of that act are not Aemond but his sister, niece and nephews - arguably the most innocent people in the whole dance.

Let's look quite objectively at Aemond's and Helaena's relationship, with no subtext or anything but only through the lens of a sibling relationship. It's not out of reach to claim that they may have the best relationship between Alicent's and even Rhaenyra's children. We know that Aegon has bullied Aemond since he was young and in turn, Aemond depises his older brother because he believes he is more worthy of the first son place. Daeron basically doesn't exist in the show and even diregarding all that he was sent to Oldtown ages ago so their relationship is probably not the strongest one. When it comes to Jace and Luke, we know that Aemond also despises them because they made fun of him and later took his eye. So there is no familial love there.

But there is no reason to believe that Helaena was anything but nice to Aemond when they were growing up, and frankly, their whole life. I also find it hard to believe that Helaena could be mean to literally anyone. From the literally only two scenes they either share or ones in which they talk about each other, there seems to be no bad feelings between them. On Driftmark, Aemond defends Helaena against Ageon's cruel remarks, and then years later, during Aegon's coronation, Helaena all but hides behind Aemond. Again, nothing suggests that they don't at least tolerate each other and since we know Aemond has a soft spot for women in his family, mainly his mother, we can assume this is the same in the case of his only sister. The same must extend towards Helaena's children, since I don't really think Aemond would have any problems with his young niece and nephews.

Establishing all of that, what I would really love to see in season two is Aemond literally crumbling under the guilt of the awful fate he condemned Helaena and her children to. Not only was the "son for a son" his fault, but its consequences were suffered by completely innocent souls. Blood and Cheese was such a horrific event and to be frank, quite disproportionate to what it was avenging. B&C hurt Helaena, threatened to SA her daughter, forced her to make an impossible choice all to kill a completely blameless 6 year old in a truly gruesome manner. Not to mention that Helaena herself was overcome with guilt over choosing Maelor to die and couldn't look at him for the rest of her life.

Then, from what we know from interviews and leaks, it turns out that B&C were actually supposed to target Aemond himself, only he wasn't in his room at that time and instead he was probably in a brothel. Like, could you imagine your sister having to go through all of that, your nephew killed all because you were not where you were supposed to be? If only he wasn't galavanting somewhere, he could have at least stood a chance against B&C if they did indeed find him in his room.

What I need with burning passion in season two is Aemond on his knees, completely distraught, begging for Helaena's forgivness while she looks silently straight through him. Whether it be because, just like in the books, she effectively mentally checked out from all the trauma or what would be even better because she blames him and for the first time in their lives regards him with nothing but loathing.

And so we finally come to the crux of this whole think-piece I guess. All the horrible things that Aemond does are because he feels so imaginably guilty. And in his mind, the only way to make up for the trauma he caused his sister, nephews and niece is to kill Daemon. Of course, that isn't what Helaena wants, she is probably so sick of the violence, and Daemon's death will not in any way bring back her boy, but Aemond is blinded by it and this is what makes him so unhinged. He thinks that killing Daemon who orchestrated Blood and Cheese and maybe even cutting off his head and brining it to Helaena will absolve him of his guilt and sins. Will earn him the forgiveness of the only person who was ever truly nice to him without any ulterior motive. And he falls into this spiral of violence and the need for revenge and absolution, carrying out more and more horrific acts.

What is all the more heartbreaking is that, in the end, it's all for nothing. Aemond dies trying to unsuccessfully kill Daemon. Helaena can't deal with the pain that her little brother caused her anymore and kills herself.

There is no absolution for either of them.

[welcometogrouchland]

Also what if I said the show taking time to show that Luz and Hunter aren't unhealthily dependent on one another post time skip the way they were in thanks to them (but still close seen in Luz's patches on her clothes or Hunter taking time off work to go to Luz's bday) actually plays in to the cycle of sibling betrayal motif w/ the Clawthornes and Wittebanes????

[nomowyrm]

It’s all about hope and fear.

I didn’t leave the church because I was Smart and Logicked my way out. That’s not how you get in and it’s not how you escape either.

I left because I was lucky enough that I turned 20 and didn’t have a calling, hadn’t gone on a mission, didn’t have any friends in the church, and I had a number of friends outside the church, who were nice to me despite my sometimes annoying faith. I left because I knew my parents would still love and accept me even if I did, and for that I am also exceptionally lucky.

I was no longer emotionally involved in the church, no longer attached by friendship or responsibility, and I had clear examples that happiness was possible outside of the church, by people who had never even heard of Mormonism.

I left because my fear of staying outweighed my fear of leaving.

I’m not one to talk about fear a lot as a motivator, and I don’t mean for this to be a depressing look at humanity as “driven solely by fear”. I could rephrase, and say that my *hope* of leaving outweighed my fear of leaving.

But I’m choosing fear because it feels appropriate for the issue. I didn’t want to think about life outside of the church because of fear. I didn’t want to consider an afterlife that wasn’t the Mormon Standard because of fear. Everything on my shelf was put there and suppressed because of fear.

Fear of disappointing those close to me. Fear of eternal damnation if I strayed from the path. Fear of being hurt, or hurting others. Fear that if I thought too long about the flaws in the church and myself, I would become a sinner, an outcast, an apostate. Fear that the life I’ve lived for years and years—my entire life!—is actually a lie.

Fear that if I left I would never be happy again.

Because that’s what we’re taught! That those outside the church aren’t really happy, they’re just sort of… ‘happy’. And that every step away from the path was risking my eternal salvation forever.

Our brains want to protect us! When we see something counter to our beliefs, it tells us to stop, turn back, avoid at all costs. We get that feeling in our stomachs, the ‘lack of the spirit’, and all the thoughts are shut down because we sense danger.

And really, there’s only two ways out of that.

The most painful, but unfortunately very common for many exmormons, the fear of staying has to grow and grow until it’s larger than the fear of staying. Abuse, shunning, addiction, being overworked and used. Eventually, we have to make the choice of staying in a situation that we know might kill us, or make the jump into the unknown and hope there’s something out there to catch us. Like jumping from a burning building, unable to see through the smoke and yet knowing that anything is better than staying near the blaze.

The other option is less painful, but the church actively works to make it impossible. Instead of increasing the fear of staying, you have to reduce the fear of leaving.

Making friends outside the church, meeting people who are happy without the gospel, finding those with nuanced ideas on your principles. Creating a community, a landing pad to aim for when you jump for safety.

The church doesn’t want this, of course. But I want that for my loved ones still stuck in that great and spacious burning building, so I’m going to do my best to build them a soft place to fall.

[brokendreamscreation-moved]

Who's your favorite brother?

“My favorite brother? Oh golly, that does not seem fair. I love all my brothers! To pick one over another, that would be cruel. As though to deem one more favored and desired. I couldn’t possibly do that to them.”

(It’s currently a tie between Feitan @radiiosugars and Yavaltol @abyssalthreads xD)

[b00m-b0mb]

Something really funny that's occurred to me is the way Joe talks about Maccie is like she's some catastrophic event that happened to their family "I can't believe she's been here that long." / "Everything's been different since she was born" / "Everything changed." / "She changed everything."

And it's just rlly funny to me. I want to up the dramaticness of his words at some point. And anyway, he's talking to the Samurai/Ronin for the first time and I'm wondering the impression he's getting lmao

Joe is certainly expressive to me, but only when he's given the chance. And I think w Ronin, he just started letting a lot of stuff out bc thus guy is gonna go on his way anyways.. but then he's like wait!!! Actually let me go?? For a little? (Platonic yearning so bad)

Ronin like 》^. "I suppose.. Alright, curious karate man, I'll accompany you a little longer."

Or something I'm messing around UGH

[arleniansdoodles]

"Time has passed since the days I trained you. We were family. At least, that's what I believed."

I wanted to draw some more pre-Sifu art of Yang and child!MC, since I've done so much of the MC with Sean XDD Each painting here corresponds to each sentence in that quote (yep that's how picky I can get about my work lololl). The last painting is also how I imagine their last moment together went before Yang disappeared (not that he knew he'd be leaving for good ^^;;)

Anyways, I love these two and I wish there was more in-game lore about their shared history ... But coming up with theories and headcanons to fill in the gaps makes it all the more fun! XDD

[saiwola]

@arcxnumvitae

It’s okay, Cyprus. Iomhar can flirt with you too.

".... No."

Oh ... he's interested in her brother. Okay, that makes more sense.

[thanatos-nightshade]

Im so sorry i played Our Life: beginnings and always and not only has it sucker punched me with bittersweet feelings of life and change and relationships but its also thrown me into brain rot hell of it. Im sorry if ocean boy cove floods your feed get it? Its a pun

[xxxemilyg1996]

"Ah man, my dad's dead" me, just now remembering that my father is in fact, actually dead and has been for almost 3 years