#dark mentor

[agentrouka-blog]

I doubt George intended this to be a parallel, but what Falia did to her half sisters reminds me of what Joffrey did to Sansa in the throne room when he had her stripped.

In both scenarios, you have bastards (one aware of their status, the other in the dark) using their new position to cruelly humiliate a captive (sansa/the Hewett girls) and believing they are justified. I'm going to sidetrack and say I understand Falias resentment towards her half sister's and Joffrey should be worried about Robb winning these battles, but the way they reacted is inexcusable. In the end both characters meet a horrible, painful end when they had thought they had won. Joffrey thought the war was won, he ended up dying in his mother's arms at his wedding. Falia thought Euron was going to give her the world, and instead... well.

Falia... I want to feel bad for her, but also...

A pretty, buxom girl of seventeen or eighteen years was in his lap, barefoot and disheveled, her arms around his neck.(...)   "Good ladies," he called out to his highborn serving women, "Falia is concerned for your fine gowns. She would not have them stained with grease and wine and dirty groping fingers, since I have promised that she may choose her own clothes from your wardrobes after the feast. So you had best disrobe."  (AFFC, The Reaver)

She is older than Jon, but has all the petty spite of a young Cersei. And she is so utterly stupid. In that way, you could say she mirrors Joffrey.

But really, she mirrors anyone who uses disproportionate retribution, who arrogantly assumes that they - out of everyone - are special enough to wield a viciously violent power over others to make up for what they may have suffered in the past. 

Being stripped isn't all that happens to Falia's sisters that evening, unfortunately. Not only does rape enter the picture (I'm not going to quote that part from AFFC, The Reaver), but later so does the murder of the entire family.

So whatever unfairness she felt she experienced from her father, who is forced to watch the proceedings bound and gagged, or her sisters, it is absurdly worse than they had ever treated her.

Ironically, as a mere servant girl she could have escaped some of the cruel fate that befell her family, but by insisting on joining their enemy to lord over them, she ends up with the same and worse. 

They dragged him up more steps, down a torchlit gallery, and into a bleak stone hall where a dozen bodies were hanging from the rafters, turning and swaying. (...) "Who are these dead?" Aeron commanded. (...) "The lord that held this castle, with his kin." (TWOW, The Forsaken)

Lord Hewett and his family are all murdered. By that time, Falia has become a victim herself, tongue cut out, and she joins Aeron being bound to the prow of the Silence.

She's very young, so I won't go so far as to say she deserves any of what happens to her, but her stupity and hypocrisy are absolutely highlighted:

"My sisters used to make me wait on them at table, but Euron made them serve the whole hall naked! Why should he do that, except for love of me?" She put a hand on her belly and smoothed down the fabric of her gown. "I'm going to give him sons. So many sons…" "He has sons." "Baseborn boys and mongrels, Euron says. My sons will come before them, he has sworn, sworn by your own Drowned God!"

She is angry because she was treated as lower status compared to her trueborn half-siblings, but in the very next breath she dismisses Euron's "baseborn" children and "mongrels" and rejoices in her future children's superior status.

She is no better than them, inside. She is worse.

In the end, what she thought would be her source of power, Euron, turns against her.  She thought she would finally receive all she was due. Instead, it consumes her. Euron is not making her his wife. She is naked when she is bound to the prow, stripped of those fine gowns she got, her child means nothing, her life means nothing but what it might buy Euron. 

Cersei suffered the fate of her late grandfather’s mistress after she tried to weaponize the misogyny of their society and the Faith against Margaery.

Same with Dany. First it was Drogo, then it was the dragons: she believes she is in control of them and they will gain her what she longs for, but she cannot control the destruction that is inherent in what they represent. It ends up consuming her. She becomes what she hated.

I can’t help but also feel reminded of the dark mentor relationships of the Starkling children Arya and Bran and Sansa. They need to reject what their mentor offers because it can never give them what they are looking for. It can only destroy them and turn them into monsters. 

[picnic-at-dreaming-rock]

realising what I actually need from Suzanne Collins is just a multi-volume panem history book

[flamingpudding]

Fictober23 Prompt: 8 - "Give me that, before anything happens."

Fandom: DPxDC

Rating: G

Warnings: -

"Don't touch that." Constantine said without even looking up from the book he was reading through for research. Phantom had joined the Justice League dark only recently and was still in that sort of mentor - glorified babysitting - state. It was just his luck that he lost in the stick draw and had now to 'mentor' the who-knows-how-old-he-truly-is Ghost King.

He should have stuck this job to Zatanna. The 'kid' was curious as a cat and apparently wanted to touch every good damn artifact in the House of Mysteries that Constantine had ever gotten his hands on.

"Don't touch that either." The Brite muttered without looking up, he was so close in figuring out the actual meaning of the curse placed on a good damn church bell that causes everyone who hears it to fall asleep at midnight sharp and wake up at 8 AM later like nothing happened. Behind his back Phantom stuck his tongue out at the man before reaching out to poke the artifact that caught his eye anyway. However the House of Mysteries had other ideas as it reconstructed itself at the right moment and put the artifact further away from Phantom.

The Ghost King pouted, crossing his arms and floated over to where Constantine was pouring over a curse seal. Phantom hummed as he looked over the Brites shoulder grinning. "Oh I didn't know you could use ghost speech for curses!"

"Say what now mate?!" John's head snapped to the side to stare at Phantom who was now floating over his shoulder. "It's in ghost speech? What even is that?"

The Ghost King had the nerve to give him an unimpressed stare that really made the Brite need a smoke, but he had given Zatanna his good damn word not to smoke around the 'kid', so that was a no.

"Ghost speech. The language of the Infinite Realms also known as the Ghost Zone, After Life, Hell, Home of the Damned, and so on and so on." Constantines eye twitched as the Ghost boy shrugged. He let out a suffering sigh and pushed his copie of the curse seal over to Phantom.

"What does it say?" The other blinked for a moment before turning his eyes to the photo. A scratching static white noise filled the Brite's ears and he yelped in pain, covering his ears. The noise instantly stopped and Contantine glared at the Ghost King who sheepishly scratched the back of his neck. "Sorry, I will say it again in English."

Constantine only grumbled something inaudible before motioning for the other to continue.

"You idiots don't sleep enough. Go and get at least eight hours of sleep. If you don't sleep by midnight I will be the one to make you sleep."

"The hell?"

"That's what's written there."

"Don't tell me we have another good damn Sandman problem on our hands." John gripped with one hand at his hair, he really hoped that wasn't it because dear good he did not want to get Batman or one of the other Not Dark heros involved.

"Nah, he goes by Nocturne, he never liked that name some philosophers came up with. But this does go against the agreement I had with him."

Was this how Batman felt when his Robins went against his orders? Or how the mentors of the Yonge Justice feel when the teens sass back? Because Constantine was sticking this ancient kid of a Ghost King onto Zatanna the next change he got.

"You know how to lift that curse then?" Instead of going further into a rabbit hole, Constantine decided it was easier to just find out if the Ghost King can lift a good damn curse he had been working on solving for days now instead of finding out who the hell Nocturne was now.

"Of course I know." Phantom answered easily, floating on his back around the room like he was going with the flow of water. Glowing green eyes going along the shelves where various books and artifacts were thrown on, in no particular order.

"Great. Let's go and fix this then." The man muttered, getting up from his chair and grabbing his coat. "I need a bottle of whiskey after this and a good damn smoke…"

Phantom just followed behind the man ready for his second official job with the Justice League Dark. He grinned happily of finally getting some outside action only to come to a sudden halt as the Brite man whirled around glaring at the Ghost King only inches from his the other.

"Phantom?"

"Yes?" The 'kid' answered nervously.

"Give me that, before anything happens. How often did I tell you NOT to touch anything of the artifacts? Do you even know what that thing does!"

Reluctantly like a reprimanded child the Ghost King handed over a golden plate with a glowing green crystal embedded into it, Constantine remembered it being the leftover part of a demon they had banished. The man narrowed his eyes. "The other one too."

"Fine…" Phantom handed over a crystal zepter, John had picked up from an ancient tomb. "Didn't think you noticed me picking them up, since you didn't say anything before I even touched them."

"Mate, you are forgetting who currently owns this house."

[radiance1]

[That one au but mixed with my Teddy Bear au where Danny got his accident at like 5-10 but because he was with his Teddy Bear on hand he kinda turned into that Teddy Bear basically.

A mix up of these two specifically where he's Ghost King and Pariah took it upon himself to be his kinda Mentor.]

So Pariah and Trigon meet each other at some point, with Trigon half-heartedly insulting him because he lost his status as king, but Pariah willingly gave it up so he literally could not give more than 0 shits.

So then they Pariah decided that his successor-to-be should get to know Trigon's daughter, and Trigon was like: Are you sure? Because she would probably infect them with that 'Morally good' shit.

Pariah waves it off, because his successor-to-be is already morally good and hasn't even enslaved a race or destroyed a planet yet.

Trigon:

Pariah:

Trigon: Are you okay?

Pariah: What do you think.

Trigon pats him on the back awkwardly, because no tyrant should have to go through that.

So then one Teddy Bear Danny, adorned in his star cloak, a misty ice crown with an ever-shifting constellation hovering over it, and a ring around his stubby limb, appeared in the DC universe and told to go and find the daughter of Trigon, who he would hopefully be able to make an alliance within the best-case scenario.

Which Danny is a bit confused about because he doesn't know who Trigon or his daughter is, but he's at least willing to try! Also, he might get side-tracked in exploring here and there.

[the-bar-sinister]

My absolute favorite kind of mentor and protege relationship is when the mentor absolutely cares about their protege and wants them to succeed

--but they are passing on lessons that are just so, so incredibly toxic and harmful, fully believing them to be the key to success.

[toadbun]

Bunch of Dan doodles from when I rewatched TUE

[kingonggearts]

oh, what a waste

[ikiprian]

Wanna share ur epic cool WIPS?

-Winion✌🏽

OH BOY, DO I!!! MISMENTOR AU BE UPON THEE

“Hey, Mr. Fenton,” Tim says. He makes some snap judgments based on Fenton’s personality and previous interactions he’s seen him have with students, then holds out the blanket, expression aiming for appropriately sheepish as opposed to dead guilty, which will be more fitting a role when he gets to English late. “Sorry I passed out back there. I promise it won’t happen again, I was just up late and then I couldn’t fall asleep and, y’know, my brother’s dog--”

“Oh absolutely, you’re not in trouble or anything. Don’t worry about it,” Fenton says. He opens the largest drawer in his massive desk to tuck the blanket away-- Tim spots at least two hoodies, a massive first aid kit, a box of granola, stress balls, fidget toys-- and shuts it. “But I do wanna ask if everything’s okay. This is, if I’m counting right, the third time in three weeks you’ve fallen asleep.”

Tim freezes. Yikes.

“I didn’t wanna say anything the other times,” Fenton continues, “but it is a pattern, now, and I wanna make sure you’re getting everything you need.”

“I am,” Tim’s quick to say. I am, I’m just also moonlighting as a vigilante and have three cases to juggle ATM. I am, I’m just also trying to organize my teen superhero team into a potential reunification party. I am, I’m just also filling my time chasing some new meta kid around Gotham to make sure he’s not a villain. He takes a breath.

A dozen pre-planned, civilian-friendly excuses shuffle in his head, and he picks the one that makes the most sense. “I just-- y’know. I’m having trouble adjusting to academic life again, I think. I took that break studying abroad, and then I worked full time, and I had all that freedom, and now…”

Fenton nods. “Oh, yeah. I remember being a teenager.” God, Tim loves it when people reinforce his excuses for him. “Well, if you ever need anything, let me know, okay? And try to prioritize sleep in your schedule. Here, let me show you a trick…”

Fenton opens his phone, his comically large fingers tapping away at the tiny screen, and pulls up a little website. In some ways, his brick-shithouse build is intimidating. Tim’s surprised he’s found a career in the classroom, and not as a bouncer at a nightclub.

[veinsfullofstars]

⚔️ How ‘bout a li'l training montage? 🏹

(ID: Kirby series fanart of Shadow Kirby honing his battle skills with various different Copy Abilities, feat. Dark Meta Knight and Shadow Dedede. More detailed descriptions below the cut. END ID.)

Part 1 | Part 2 (here!)

So I keep thinking about how Shadow Kirby is confirmed in canon to be just as powerful and capable as regular Kirby, so long as he can push past his own reluctance and fears. Then I started thinking about the unique color palette he has for the Fighters games, if that could be a sort of visual indicator of him reaching that full potential. Then I started thinking about who was around to teach him these skills, and the differences in their techniques, and how SD’s treatment of SK might be vastly different from DMK, and how that affects the relationship that DMK & SD might have, and how it all ties in to the sociopolitical climate of the Mirror World as a whole, and oh stars dammit am I making another AU again???

On an unrelated note, screw the Mirror World for giving everyone in it just the most annoying color palettes to shade. Grays on grays on grays and sometimes red but mostly grays. I am languishing in render hell and ready to move on to the next one thank you. Too many headcanons - not enough time or hands or energy.

UPDATE 03/01/24: Changed SK's eyes to purple instead of blue, and changed DMK's cape from gray to dark red.

Started 11/7/23, finished 11/16/23. NOTE: This was originally posted on my deleted account on 11/16/23.

---

Image descriptions

Top left: SK in Ninja gear, facing left, looking focused and holding out his katana, imitating DMK standing beside him in a similar pose with his own sword.

Top middle: SK in Archer gear, leaping up to fire an arrow from his bow.

Top right: SK in Bomb gear - also sporting his darker swirl coloration from Kirby Fighters - winking and sticking his tongue out as he tosses a bomb towards the viewer.

Middle: SK - in Wrestler gear with KF colors - delivering a strong leaping kick to a wooden training dummy, while DMK & SD observe in the background. SD stands with arms crossed and eyes narrowed, his mouth pulled into a sinister, calculating grin. DMK stands at his side, wrapped in his cape with eyes hidden in the shadows of his mask, a pensive ellipsis over his head.

Bottom left: SK facedown on the floor with a cross of bandages on his head, exhausted from training. DMK’s hand awkwardly comes in from off-screen, placing a bottle of Energy Drink beside him.

Bottom right: SK powering up into his KF form, fists clenched, eyes squeezed shut, mouth open in a roar, an aura of purple-black flame flickering around him.)

[jack-spilledink]

I want an old, wise professor or stranger to notice that dead spark in my eyes and draw me under their wing, and say,

“Show me your poems.”

[agentrouka-blog]

How do you think that Ary@'s escape from the Braavos is going to play out in the books cuz I really doubt that they wil just simply let her go to Westeros since they are basicly the Death cult mafia

I know!

It's probably going to mirror the escapes of Sansa and Bran from their dark mentors. Something abrupt and dangerous.

Perhaps Jon can offer a blueprint. His stint with the wildlings was sealed with a "human sacrifice" - Qhorin Halfhand died at his hand - and so did Arya kill a merchant for the Faceless Men, Sansa falsely testified against Marillion and Bran ate a suspiciously bloody paste and witnessed a past human sacrifice before the Winterfell heart tree.

When Jon escaped the wildlings, he refused to murder an innocent to prove himself, and it would have doomed him if he had not received unexpected outside help from Summer and the old man's horse.

I imagine Arya, Sansa and Bran will fail to fulfill an obligation or request placed on them. Potentially, a specific second kill, or something else in conflict with their mentor's goals.

Like Jon, they may receive unexpected help, escape to a temporary reprieve, and eventually end up using their mentor's teachings against them to foil their plans and succeed in bringing about a much better outcome. 

It’s hard to say who this unexpected outside help for Arya would be. She has made some friends in Braavos as “Cat”, especially the ladies of the Happy Port, and we have seen her develop her warging powers, which she has kept carefully secret. It is a cat who helps her figure out that the kindly man had been the one attacking her with a stick, and she managed to hit back. A similar trick might be enough to buy her the time to run, and seek shelter with any number of her friends around the Ragman’s Harbor.

The “sorry sway-backed horse” that helped Jon escape, that is “blown” by the time he makes it to Mole’s Town, could be mirrored in a bedraggled elderly ship with which Arya might leave Braavos behind, perhaps in danger of sinking by the time they make it to Westeros. 

[artaintfartwarriors]

[your-friendly-neighborhood-moose]

sketch dump feat. the Greatest Psychic of the 21st Century, and the Great Teacher Onizuka

they're almost the same guy in diff. genres

[cookie-run-haven]

It's frustrating when you see a popular ship as friends.....anyway caramel arrow and dark choco best friends forever

[quibbs126]

You know personally, I think that Caramel Arrow should be given the title of future ruler of the Dark Cacao Kingdom instead of Dark Choco

Because I mean, despite Dark Choco likely being fully redeemed by the end of the story and taken back in by his father, I feel like he shouldn’t get his status as crown prince back. He did attack the kingdom twice, even if the first time was against his will. This way there are still some consequences

Also Caramel Arrow getting to be Queen would be cool, and she’s probably earned it

Maybe Dark Choco could be her royal advisor or something, or just someone she trusts

[cosmobrain00]

au where will doesn't escape the UD until s3/s4 n henry essentially becomes a fucked up mentor toward him n unlocks the powers will never knew he had n it causes even more problems can i get an amen