#because he's a dead man either way

[devilfic]

me going into marvel's spider-man 2 expecting to be unwell levels of horny for venom, only to come out of it attracted to harry osborn:

[bonefall]

My birthday was a couple days ago, and I got to see my bio dad for the first time in a while. He surprised me with the fact that I have a little half-sister, whom I've never met and who was adopted about two years back. So, I wondered if any situations in BB mimic this or have a theme of "secret siblings" or "secret family"? Sorry if this is a weird ask; this blog is honestly just such a cool little place and I love the way you approach the subject matter and take the flawed misogynistic foundation of the WC books and make them so much better (JUSTICE FOR BUMBLE!!!). I've also learned a lot about healthy and unhealthy relationships here and am really glad for your deep dives on Squilf and Bramble. Thanks, Bones!

Not weird at all! I really like exploring all the little nooks and crannies of complicated familial dynamics. I think one of the untapped strengths of WC (that the writers seem to be unaware of) is how their MASSIVE cast allows them to present all sorts of unique dynamics. So I like to pick up on it, since they don't.

For secret siblings...

I'm pretty heavily leaning towards Ambermoon being adopted by Wildfur, as a surrogacy. Something feels correct about it. Especially since Icecloud is getting retooled into a post-Battle of the True Eclipse birth, and a major supporting character in AVoS-era stories as a friend of Alderheart.

Thinking about it, I should zoom in and expand this. Maybe have Icecloud, somehow, acquire forbidden knowledge that would invalidate the Queen’s Rights and he (transman) struggles with if he's going to use it to expose his parents as an excuse to help Ambermoon.

(Especially since Ambermoon and Icecloud are basically nothing alike. Amber is independent, bold, and vain. Ice is jessie pinkman big-hearted, disorganized, and deceptively meek if you look past his "chill" demeanor)

But that's wip-- there's also Breezepelt and the Three, who are going to have an actual friendship. In particular I can't unsee Breeze and Lion having a deep one. I know I commit the Cardinal Sin of borderline himbo-ifying Lionblaze in BB, but I can't help it.

Hollyleaf ended up nabbing a bunch of his most violent roles to make her villainous descent smoother narratively, so BB!Lionblaze's story ends up being more focused on Ashfur's abuse, comic relief with cats in other Clans (something that the very serious Jay and Holly have a hard time providing), and the emotional fallout of the big reveal and Bramblestar's turn on them. Breezepelt slots neatly into that.

They were friends. Lionblaze's whole life came down around the reveal, everyone looking at him and his siblings differently, like they're suddenly something terrible. Why can't we find a silver lining, Breezepelt? Why can't we call ourselves brothers if the whole world is going to do it anyway? So much is changing, but THIS doesn't have to, we will take their weapon and turn it to armor, my ally, my friend, my brother.

(and when Breezepelt is lashing out at the three because of the Dark Forest's influence, Lionblaze is there, taking the blows and trying not to give in to the impulse to send him flying with a single paw)

There's also Harespring and Kestrelflight of WindClan and Owlclaw of ShadowClan. All of them are from a single litter between Whitewater and Mudclaw. She was going to raise the three of them alone as ShadowClan cats, but when the sire was smote, Whitewater felt they were cursed.

She was able to give the oldest two to their bio-uncle, Torear, but the weather was so bad that day and the runt was so sickly and small that it surely would have killed him. I don't think Owlclaw ever finds out why his mother always treated him with suspicion, but it did mess him up horribly.

Over in BB!DOTC, Thunder Storm is getting more half-siblings earlier. Clear Sky and Falling Feather had two daughters-- Pale Sky and Tiger Sky.

I want to explore the way that the various stages of Clear Sky's life acted on his kids. How any little curiosity Thunder Storm had about the life he might have had if he wasn't abandoned is crushed by seeing kittens who weren't. How Clear's favoritism of his oldest child set the trio against each other from the start. How this idea of "love" is toxic yet intoxicating.

It feels good to be the golden child. The power it gives you over his sycophants is satisfying. To know you, and you alone, have what someone else craves. Problem is, that's conditional, and it's cruel.

What Thunder Storm learns from his time with his biodad is that Clear Sky is not his father at all. He's taught him exactly what he DOESN'T want to be. There may be similarities-- in temperament, in physical prowess (though BB!Thunder is three-legged, he's still ripped), in taste and senses. But Thunder Storm's father is Shaded Flower.

(BB!Gray Wing died in the first book, rescuing Shaded Flower from being trampled by a horse. Xey're a patron of wisdom, Shaded Moss is taking the role of fatherhood to Thunder)

His sister is Rainswept Flower. His mom is Bright Storm. If there was a bond he could have had with Tiger Sky and Pale Sky, it dies simply and cruelly on the knife they used to cut each other out.

Pale might have wanted to mend it, she was the gentler one. But she dies in the First Battle along with her mother. Tiger Sky is too stubborn to accept any help, should Thunderstar offer it, and Thunderstar isn't in the business of begging for others to like him.

Naturally I'm lowkey obsessed with them lmao. I need to make a BB!DOTC overviewww

[carrotkicks]

If you go with the theory that Dazai came from a super rich family and changed his identity once he was no longer with them, what if Bruce had met Dazai before he was Dazai?

Lol the whole "rich old-money Tsushima family" theory is very beloved to me, though im not sure how true it will end up. I have this inkling that Dazai's backstory is Not as dramatic as other's characters, but also at the same time!

Theory that Dazai was a rich kid with his parents having been tied in some way to the mafia (just like the Wayne family!) and then they suddenly die and at somepoint he is put under the care of Mori who's a trusted personal doctor of the family (and runs an underground clinic JUST like Leslie Thompkins, the Wayne's trusted doctor who runs an underground clinic on Park Row), and gosh thinking abt this potential backstory, dont you think about how if Alfred wasn't around, and Leslie was more of a control freak, she and kid Bruce would have marched up to Carmine Falcone's bedroom, slit his throat, and taken over the biggest organized crime family in Gotham. Oh. That's a cool batman au wait.

Ahh well anyways. Bruce meeting kid Dazai sometime during his misc. time going around the world and learning different fighting techniques and kid Daz or Shuuji or whatever being the. troubled. kid he is gets absolutley facinated by Bruce's quest for justice or whatever.

[butwhatifidothis]

What gets me about GW defenders saying that "Claude siding with Edelgard shows how far he's willing to go to get what he wants, he'll use anyone to further his goals" is that, even if that were accurate to his character... that's not what he does in GW. At all.

Which one of Claude's goals are ever progressed once he sides with Edelgard? And how does siding with Edelgard, specifically, accomplish said goal?

Maybe... killing Rhea? But all of the reasons he says he wants her gone in this game are either completely unproven or blatantly incorrect - there's no proof of the Church forcing arranged marriages, Crests do not force obligations onto those that have them (which Claude himself literally proves), and the Church is helping Dimitri restore Duscur - a foreign nation - meaning they are actively willing to help fulfill Claude's main goal that he came to the officer's academy to achieve.

And... that's it! That is the only possible thing that even POTENTIALLY helps Claude's dreams, and taking a five-second look at it shows that it actually does nothing at all to help anything. But in the meantime? Claude weakens Faerghus through agitating Sreng and invading it himself, forcing Dimitri to fight a three front war; he actively helps Edelgard get herself out of a messy situation, even though not helping her and letting her die would have actually helped him and would have actually been him using her like people keep saying he's trying to do; he and Holst even admit that by the end of the war Edelgard is going to make a vassal state of Leicester after taking the lion's share of Faerghus' territory for themselves, which Leicester can't do anything about because of Adrestia's far stronger military. He is the one saying that! He is the one pointing out that that is going to happen! And yet he just keeps going anyway!

He is the one getting used. Very blatantly, and very extensively. Claude walked himself into a trap and lied to himself into thinking he's the one with the upper hand, which somehow managed to convince a large portion of the fanbase too. There's no gray morality here, there's no cunning being showcased, Claude is just an evil stupid tool

[the-acid-pear]

You know now that I've officially finished all of the Dialtown routes I have to say Theoroar is probably one of my favorite antagonists if only because he is probably the biggest threat among the introduced antagonists, and I'm ambivalent in whether you'd put him higher or lower than Mingus because she ate lead so I lost respect tbh.

But I mean two things when I call him a big threat; first of all: he IS dangerous. Theo is a remarkably smart son of a bitch who you'd be fair to underestimate because everyone in this town is a fucking idiot or insane but he's merely an eccentric man very aware of what he's doing and how to do it, also equipped with a charged rifle that he's, good enough at using (aside from his hand to hand combat skills); but again, because of the fact that he IS smart, Theo is remarkably well at getting away from situations without losing in any way that could actually personally affect him, giving him a relative control of the situation at most if not all moments.

I think these things come really to shine in chapter 3 not only because he gets a mayor antagonistic role but also because you have the other goons to compare him to; out of everyone there he's not only the single one to get a job and have a reward granted (and also 1) be able to nerf little billy even if by explicit Mingus orders 2) own a loaded weapon) but by the end of his encounter the theme that played when you defeated all 3 previous henchmen that sounded like this goofy almost humillating circus melody doesn't play, instead replaced by his theme as HE decides to stop and "defeat" himself.

To put it in few words: Theoroar is plainly amaizing because he manages to be a physical competent threat while also a smart and level headed man which grants him the ability to be a comically terrifying karma houdini

Or, in even lesser words:

[tragedykery]

[ID: text from a day of fallen night, reading, “‘Farfetched as it sounds, yes. [start highlight.] He was seen in the haithwood, performing a ritual, dressed as if to mock a sanctarian. [end highlight.] His followers, who fled before they could”. the text cuts off there. /end ID]

I know this is such a trivial detail but it’s genuinely been haunting me since I read this part. the clothing of a follower of the original religion of inysca, seeming to mimic that of a sanctarian of the six virtues? “mocking,” through a secret ritual that is not meant to be seen, especially not by those that are supposedly being mocked?

I think it’s the other way around. that the sanctarian robes are based on “heathen” ones. I don’t know if was deliberate or not, whether galian chose it because it was familiar to his people, to ease the (forced) conversion, or just because it was familiar to him. but most likely, the sanctarian robes are a remnant of the original religion of inysca, still visible in the six virtues, and it probably isn’t the only one. how ironic, then, that heathens are persecuted in the name of virtudom, even as their religion lives on the other. that what they now deem “heresy” stands at the very foundations of their own religion.

[lab-gr0wn-lambs]

Oh jesus wait! Only now that something might finally be starting with Carol and Daryl did I suddenly think.. what if Daryl was aroace tho. and now I'm just-

[nostalgia-tblr]

nah sorry i've thought about it and odin's "raise lauffey's only biological son as my own = he inherits when laffey dies = jotunheim is mine now/it's free real estate" plan just wouldn't work. it's a shit plan.

sure you can say your younger son is now the king of jotunheim but how are gonna get anyone there to accept that? even if he is now king by the letter of their law, how do you make that population accept his authority? the authority of someone who was raised by their enemy and who must be assumed to be loyal to that enemy. to borrow a phrase "you and whose army?" all you have there is a claim to that kingdom, you still need to make it happen.

whereas "found a baby, it's mine now, keeping forever with no expectation of this ever actually getting me anything else i just heart my new blue son (if ur offerin a 'free jotunheim with purchase' deal i wont say no tho obvs)" doesn't rely on outside events or anyone else's actions and so... it just makes more sense.

what i'm sayin is... i'm sure "ooooh this could be useful, i shall keep it" was a factor in odin's initial adopt-the-baby decision but i don't think it's at all reasonable for him to think it would actually work when the time came to deploy the plan and so no i don't think odin did just keep loki around for imperialism reasons, i think by the time that film is set he must have long since given up on that (other than a vague "well if it happens it happens" at the back of his head) and he really does just love his kid and hasn't told him where he actually came from in case it made him sad.

[inkykeiji]

listening to russian rap as i read my russian novel and daydream about my russian anime man

[multeasers]

[ b52 ]  how would they describe themselves in as few words as possible? @/Toji 🤭

🐝  *  ―  𝑪𝑶𝑪𝑲𝑻𝑨𝑰𝑳 𝑸𝑼𝑰𝒁. ( send one or multiple of these to learn a little more about my muse(s). )

He's the type of guy you'd have to press to do it, and if you manage to not annoy the ever living hell out of him in the process, he'd likely describe himself as a man too tired for anything, but still does shit anyway . If you do annoy him, though, he'll likely just give one-word answers : Diligent . Stubborn . Prideful . That sorta thing .

If you managed to get the real answer out of him, though, he'd describe himself as too fucked up . He's a man too fucked up who fucked up too much . He's desperate . He's remorseful . But he's also wholly selfish, and knows that what he wants he'll probably never get because of that, and of course much more . Again, he's a man who fucked up a lot .

If you really enforce limiting his words, though, and were still getting a legitimate answer, he'd just describe himself as sorry .

[todayisafridaynight]

lit cannot stress how much fuckability masato lost after becoming aoki like emo death is real and its so so tragic

[thepalelfe]

btw i finally got to ascend astarion on this playthrough and he’s so fuckin goofy

[devilbrakers]

OC DUALITY

was tagged by @morvaris​ to take this uquiz for my ocs >:) thank you nico this was super fun!!

tagging: @numbaoneflaya @time-is-a-lake @aartyom @nuclearstorms @girlbosselrond @druidgroves @malefiicarum @swordcoasts  @aldcaldos @sufferthorn @steelport @calenhads @lavinet​ and anyone else who’d like to join in !!

you and the hat man

oh boy you're fighting demons aren't you? it's like you're in a constant staring competition with something that's always in the peripheral. what the fuck. (at least, that's how people who don't know you would react). at this point you've probably gotten pretty familiar with the hat man. he's a reliable kind of guy. keeps to himself, sure, but you can trust him to be there. maybe a haunting isn't too bad if it's never left your side. you can only imagine what it will be like when he's not there any more.

god-hungry scientist and their abominable child

you stitched something together inside of yourself and gave it life with light from the sky and now it won't die and you can't kill it because part of you loves it and you're not quite right in the head or the person you used to be but at the end of the day it's simply a beast of sadness. you crave the mercy you didn't get from your creators and so i'm telling you please forgive yourself. please hold the monster by the hand.

moon curse of the werewolf

you have found yourself hungered or sickened or ambitious to the point of emotional carnage. you are fine, until you're not, and then you could rip someone in your way apart with your bared teeth by complete accident, and later claw at yourself in fits of pain trying to apologize. do you look at the moon that blessed you in her name, at her marred beauty and baneful eyes, and wish she could just crush that loving-hateful heart of yours before it crushes itself? every bite you take out of flesh is a response to the threads of silver bullets in you that haven't healed. the duality is that the human inside is howling too, gnashing, and without the wolf pelt, everyone can ignore it and turn away. at some point, you got tired of the moon being your only witness. now the wolf is there to make sure others know that you are hurt, and deserving of humanity, of attention to wounds. because that wolf loves you; all of you; and knows when you are hurt better than yourself.

[ghoul-haunted]

this is about antony, but actually whatever thoughts I had about crassus being narratively weird in roman history have been taken up several notches

[steelycunt]

aus where r/s have a kid are a little strange to me sorry. because well s okay i sort of get it but r? what about that man makes you think he would a) want a child b) be a good father to one. be real

[cielsosinfel]

(copying over a ridic long twitter thread where I rambled nonsensically about Rolan post-Lorroakan fight, don't mind me. I have even more thoughts since I read through the Dialogue Parser and saw how his behavior changes if either Cal or Lia, OR BOTH, die that has me even more gdkghkhkh ok i guess i rambled about that in the tags, anyway, i'll copy those bluesky posts over later)

didn't make it to HoH but I did beat Lorroakan finally (I just had to change Lae'zel to battlemaster and give her goading strike and she carried me the whole way lmao) and ROLAN... ROLAN.... ROLAAAAAAAAAAN... i am 100% satisfied with how his story concludes

I'm still kinda surprised how much a fairly minor side character, whose death in the game has negligible impact on anything, stil got to me so bad... the way you can tell from the first scene that he's deeply insecure + deeply stressed over responsibility for his siblings' safety

(instead of trusting his siblings to be able to watch out for themselves as much as him). And he covers it all up with really embarrassing self-aggrandizement, just so conceited, gets mad at TavDurge for showing him up in a way that makes him look weak and incapable.

THE WAY HES AN ANGRY ABUSIVE DRUNK IN ACT 2 AND EVEN when you rescue Cal and Lia he's still so angry and yelling, and Lia is too. i get the impression Lia was the one who always looked out for Cal and Rolan as kids so she has her own issues with needing to be the Strong one

and Rolan is chafing over being the weak adopted brother and has developed even WORSE issues over being the Strong one, and neither can concede ground on who has is the most responsible sibling, and the dynamic is all fucked up and Cal is the only one trying to find some balance

neither of them ever learned they can express they were terrified for the other's sake, and terrified of being too weak to look out for the other, without wrapping it up in protective anger and finger-pointing. it's just ;________;

it really hit hard when he actually apologizes for the way he acted while horrifically drunk in act 2 lol... but then if you stand around him and Lia are still arguing. they really just need to hug it out. cal sitting off to the side desperately wishing they'd hug it out

anyway the fact Rolan is so conceited and assured of his own power and greatness and ability to handle Everything On His Own, that he desperately convinces himself his new master beating him for no good reason constantly has a meaning, he just has to survive to prove himself...

and survive to provide for his siblings (who can't even live with him because lorroakan is that much of a dick???), and is just, a shadow of how he was in act 2, angry and aggressive and ready to take on an army himself for cal and lia's sake, just gets to me sooooooo bad. god.

I just think about what kind of mental gymnastics he must be doing since he got to the Tower, feeling so angry but needing to square everything happening with the image he built up of this guy he HERO WORSHIPPED FOR YEARS, trying to just focus on the needs of his siblings... ugh

And then how it hits all of his insecurities with weakness, of being the one who rescues and protects others instead of needing the rescuing and protecting. Surviving near-certain-death twice only to end up stuck in an abusive apprenticeship. god how stupid must he have felt

(and when i say that i mean that with all the empathy and sympathy in the world, mind). anyway i'm rambling. i really love rolan. i really love how happy he is in the convo after defeating lorroakan, how he SMILES and seems so excited to finally have cal and lia LIVE WITH HIM