#don't be too harsh lol

[ryangravytrain]

WIP WEDNESDAY!

Thank you @hckyrcl for tagging me (last wednesday rip) here's a little little snippet of my next fic that I'm real excited to write!! I'm going to tag @zepuckinghockey and anyone else who wants to join in!

It was actually pretty easy to stay on top of ones heat suppressants in the NHL. The team doctors monitored Omegas vitals and kept a chart of what suppressants one was on, when their last heat was, and if they spent it alone or not. So, in theory, there should be a zero percent chance that an omega goes into heat early or unexpectedly. Vince Dunn was always an exception to the rules it seemed.

[shinynewmemories]

Listen to me Suzanne Collins did not have to give Katniss and Peeta a history before the games. She did NOT have to do that. She could have just had their story begin when Peeta's name was called. She could have had them be total strangers until the moment of the reaping.

Like: "And the boy tribute is... Peeta Mellark!" Katniss: Who's that? Or she could have made them vaguely familiar with each other! Peeta's name is called and Katniss just thinks, Oh, I know that name! He's in my class, actually. Poor boy... Anyway!

Either way, SC could have written the rest of the story exactly the same! I think many authors would have done that! Because if Peeta's purpose in the book was to be Gale's competition, to be one of the 3 corners of a love triangle, THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN THE WAY TO DO IT!! But that's NOT how she did it because that's NOT what Peeta is.

And who is he? To Katniss, Peeta's someone who saved her and her family and received nothing in return except a beating. Peeta's someone she has had her eye on but has never worked up the courage to talk to. Peeta's someone she associates with kindness and hope. And all this before the start of the events of the book! Just because WE, the READERS, met Gale before Peeta and immediately felt a connection with him does NOT mean that was Katniss's experience! And that's what SC is trying to tell us!

To dismiss Katniss and Peeta's past as unimportant or inconsequential compared to whatever Katniss and Gale have in the present is to fundamentally misunderstand Katniss as a character and, as a result, condemn oneself to never fully understand the choices she makes in the future.

Suzanne Collins wrote it that way on purpose because she had something to say. And no one will ever be able to convince me that something wasn't "It was always going to be Peeta".

[johnslittlespoon]

hahaaa heyyy hiii heyy this clip alone has sent me down a spiral of thinking about these two shotgunning weed (or even just cigs) out in a field off base during the summer on a day off. i'm fine

[yurki-posts]

The Nopony

(I made the eye wrong on the upper right aaaghhhhh)

[potionwine]

Thinking about Margrace as Joshua's name post-Phoenix Gate.

Mar-grace.

In FFXVI the Undying choose their own names (Cyril explains this in-game), and many of them have names drawn from Final Fantasy XII, including their leader 'Margrace' himself, from Al-Cid Margrace. The page for Al-Cid notes that Margrace is likely an alternate form of the title 'margrave', an old title for military commanders on the border.

That aside. This is the name chosen (by the boy himself?) for the boy who should have rightfully been known henceforth as 'Your Grace', 'His Grace'.

Grace (style of address), from the Oxford English Dictionary:

With a possessive adjective: a title of respect, esp. for a person of royal or noble rank. Frequently (in 'your Grace') as a form of address. Now archaic or historical. Formerly (in England until the reign of Henry VIII and in Scotland until 1707) used for a monarch or prince; now replaced by Majesty or Highness. Even so, "Majesty" for the sovereign of England was not used exclusively; it arbitrarily alternated with both "Highness" and "Grace", even in official documents, until "Majesty" finally became the official style to the exclusion of others (source).

Grace (other meanings):

1. Divine favour, benevolence, or providence bringing about worldly benefit or advantage. 2. A person's lot, destiny, or fate; luck, fortune. 3. The quality of being pleasing; attractiveness, charm; esp. (in later use) refined elegance of manner, expression, form, or movement, esp. regarded as natural or effortless; gracefulness.

Whatever the etymology of margrave, the name Margrace in-game is probably meant to call to mind the meaning of 'mar' as in damaged, spoiled, ruined. All the grace that ever belonged to his family, his home, his birthright—marred, of course.

Mar+Grace, the last heir of the oldest unbroken ruling dynasty in the Twins at the time of the opening events of the game**.

The living ghost, carrying the desecrated corpse of his legacy in his new name. Introducing himself by his humiliation: "Hello, I am Margrace", "Hello, I am the ruined dignity of my house." "Call me Margrace", "Call me the wreckage of one fallen from divine favour." "My name is Margrace", "My name is blemished fortunes and diminished nobility".

It's appropriately brutal and dramatic for such a character, especially since the game is frustratingly silent on how Joshua personally feels about the loss of his duchy which is a rant for next time.

**Footnotes:

In the Year 860 (Prologue year/Phoenix Gate), Rosaria is about 260 years old (est. Y600). Older, if you count from the time of the Rose Alliance (est. Y550). The Rosfields have been on the Rosarian throne since the inception of the duchy in Y600, and prior to that House Rosfield was already known to be the chief of/the preeminent house of the Seven High Houses that united to found the duchy. House Rosfield has held ruling power for 260-310 years at a minimum.

For reference, England's longest-reigning dynasty was the Plantagenets, who held on for 300+ years. Rosfields aren't doing half bad!

Veldemarke would have been older had it not been overthrown by Barnabas; therefore Waloed is the youngest nation state at the time of the prologue (only 17 years old). Also we do not know much about the governance of Veldemarke, although as a 'kingdom' it was likely some type of monarchy.

Sanbreque was formed 100 years after Rosaria, and at any rate is not actually a hereditary monarchy. The Holy Emperor is voted into office by his fellow Cardinals, likely the five who form the Council of Elders. We are also explicitly told that Sylvestre 'won his throne' in 865; there is no indication either way that his predecessor emperor was a Lesage. The wording suggests the throne is not Sylvestre's by lineage or birthright. How this is supposed to relate to the concept of Sanbreque having a 'crown prince' (Dion) is unclear and contradictory, since an emperor by election should probably not have the authority to unilaterally decide on the succession of the throne, and his issue—legitimate or no—should not automatically be in the line of succession.

Dhalmekia is a republic with elected officials.

The Iron Kingdom apparently has a royal family, but nothing else is known apart from it being impotent and sidelined by their state religion.

The Northern Tribes likely do have hereditary rule, and Jill is referred to as a princess, but once again little is known.

Ergo—and I am ceaseless in this propaganda—Clive and Joshua are really, properly posh! Absolutely baffling that Anabella would allow anyone to put down the pedigree of her sons when they are so blue-blooded precisely because she is! For someone with such entrenched ideas of blood purity she should not stand for it, no matter how she feels about her eldest.

[softpine]

i hope all of you guys are normal about sex work and if you're not i don't really care about your opinion, just don't make it my problem 🫶🏻

[cyellolemon]

Haunted by that day

[giantkillerjack]

Uh-oh! You are like, SOOO awkward!!

You're so awkward that it is occasionally mildly uncomfortable for people!

You're so awkward that sometimes people are confused by you and then there are awkward silences!

You're so awkward ...... that ultimately no one is harmed!!

Oh damn!!! What a vile crime you have committed! What an unforgivable thing it is to make a fellow human briefly confused!

Why, if *I* were ever briefly confused and kind of uncomfortable as a result, I'd be devastated.... by the absolute net zero change in my happiness and health! - From which I might never recover!! Yes indeed! No punishment can ever be enough for you!!

So you better absolutely hate yourself for it.

Better be SO MEAN to yourself about every single missed social cue so you don't forget your horrible crime! Meaner than you'd ever dream of being to someone else for the same thing! This is YOUR responsibility!

You need to show the world that you KNOW you are bad by punishing yourself constantly! After all, think of all the people who BENEFIT from you punishing yourself! - No, really! Think about it! Think about who benefits from your pain.

Think of alllllll the definitely-good people that your definitely-necessary self-torment definitely helps! I mean, you can't just cut off their definitely-life-sustaining supply of your suffering, right?? Sure, everyone else has a breaking point, but you're probably the only person in human history who doesn't, right? Best not to question it probably. Sure, it's a symptom that billions of people with trauma have had, but who knows? You could be a one-in-seven-billion exception. Anything's possible!

Instead, better just accept that idea that bullies carry like guns in holsters - the idea that people who have trouble with social cues deserve to suffer. Better carry on the burden they placed on you until you drop. Aid the cause of the callous by enforcing shame and suffering upon yourself extra hard; try your best to do their work for them. They're very busy.

Better not recognize that you need patience and kindness to heal from your trauma. Better not find out that it was trauma rather than personal weakness filling your head with self-hating thoughts. Better not find out it wasn't your fault.

Better not find out that awkwardness is not inherently harmful or unkind, and, in fact, the people who act like it is *are the ones enacting harm and being cruel.*

Better not get righteously angry when you realize just how much unnecessary damage this has done to you. After all, if you get mad, you might realize you deserve better. You might even feel brave enough to DEMAND better! You might build boundaries that keep you safe! You might make other people think they deserve to feel safe too! And we obviously can't be having that, so...

Better not show yourself even a little kindness a little bit at a time.

Better not make a habit out of it after all that practice.

Better not get confident.

Especially if you can't first wipe out every trace of awkward. (And you probably never will. Because people who experience absolute social certainty at all times tend to be insufferable assholes that enforce the status quo. And you just don't have the stock portfolio for that.)

Better not be confident and awkward because then you might confuse and delight people

- you might accidentally end up making other people feel less shame for their social difficulties

- you might make isolated, traumatized, and shy people feel like they deserve to be included in social situations

- you might even make them feel they can be themselves around you

- you might start loving the effect you have on a room

- you might enjoy conversations more

- you might forgive yourself and bounce back from shame more easily and frequently

- you might come to enjoy some of those moments of harmless confusion you cause because NOBODY expects the Confident Awkward, and that can genuinely be an advantage in social situations

- you might stop apologizing so much.

- you might find that socializing is like a video game: it requires practice but also a safe space for it to be fun and positive.

Or if you can't become assertive and confident, better not remain awkward and shy and quiet, and then love and forgive yourself anyway!

Why, it would be carnage!!

In either scenario, you run the risk of finding out that it's not your fault that safe spaces full of kind people can be really hard to find, create, and nurture. You could end up building a skillset that helps you do those things if you're not careful!

If you start giving yourself even the tiniest amount of grace at a time, you will find that you've accessed a gateway drug with extreme long-term side effects:

- You might realize that it was never your fault that it took so long to like yourself.

- You might realize that you were always worth talking to, even when you didn't like yourself and communication felt impossibly difficult.

- You might realize that you'll still be worth talking to even if communication becomes harder as you age and/or experience disability.

- You might come to know that you deserve to be heard even on bad days when words come slow and blurry.

You might discover that you were always deserving of kindness, first and foremost from yourself.

So. As you can see, it's FAR too much of a risk to start granting your awkward self free pardons for your many heinous and harmless crimes. Better to just leave it there.

[esteebarnes94]

Art Style #3 Practice

I have three art styles that I'm working on. There's my main (the more anime-ish style), my second/cartoon one (as seen in my Enid fanart; the one with the round heads and big eyes/pupils), and my very-inspired-by-Strawberry-Shortcake one (as you will see). The third is my least developed, but I'm liking how it's coming out so far.

As always, no reposting, editing, tracing, claiming, or using my art (in general), or using my artworks for any program, NFT, or AI. Nor do I permit using the designs of any of my original designs or characters for any purpose other than fanart of them.

I've started adding finishing dates on my artwork, since it's not like I can write it on the back.

This girl is supposed to be from the '90s (you know, jean overalls, high ponytail, all that), but I don't have a name for her yet. She's really just a design so I can practice. But in my head I've nicknamed her Ponyheart or just Pony for short. Because of the ponytails and the heart motifs, y'know? Maybe I'll come up with a name for her someday.

The strawberry background is a nod to my inspiration for this style, and also because I just like drawing strawberries. Clip Studio Paint was being a massive pain for me when I tried to use the align tool, so I just ending up doing the rows down by hand.

Shading was an...Attempt. Let me know if you have any polite tips! Sometimes I'm open to help/constructive criticism, but sometimes I'd rather just be able to doodle without worrying about getting it, "right." But in this case, I'd like some advice! Just be nice. :]

[snoozy-red-panda]

We're a thousand miles apart, but you know I love you

(Everything changes, but you)

You know every single day I'll be thinking about you

Take That - Everything Changes (Live in Berlin)

[crossingalaxies]

hot take apparently but to me it’s tiring and boring and frankly a baffling way to approach tv or any other media to engage with fictional characters only to ‘judge’ them. like you can’t just let them make whatever mistakes they’re making or be as flawed and fucked up as they want without judging if they have behaved well enough for whatever standard you hold them up to and how they should correct their behaviour moving forward. are you watching a fictional show or filling up an employee evaluation sheet???

‘this character should have done this’ ‘that character should not have done that’ okay???? who cares. it would be supremely boring, not to mention unrealistic, if fictional characters only behaved in the most adequate perfectly reasonable way possible. so they fucked up? so they fucked up again and again and didn’t learn their lesson the first time? okay??? that’s life???

‘but we didn’t see this character learn from their mistakes and grow’. you ARE seeing it, it’s a process, not something that happens after ONE time they were confronted with their mistakes, especially if said mistakes are tied to one of their cardinal flaws rooted in the very essence of the character itself. it’s so much more interesting and rewarding to me as a viewer, not to mention easier for me to get attached to characters who are complete and utter messes, characters who stumble and fall, even when they should know better, characters who don’t immediately learn from their mistakes, who fail again and again, but keep trying to be better, and still through it all, they are loved, because they are deserving of it no matter what they think.

‘but this conversation should have happened sooner’ okay well it didn’t. people make dumb choices all the time, they act irresponsibly and unreasonably all the time, no matter how mature or level-headed they might be.

‘but this relationship doesn’t feel healthy’ okay here’s the thing: ‘healthy relationship’ has become just another buzzword that tiktok users throw around without understanding at all what it means. ‘healthy relationship’ doesn’t mean two people need to be on the same page about everything, it doesn’t mean mistakes are made once, dealt with and never made again; a healthy relationship isn’t based on 100% compatibility or perfect communication at all times and perfect solutions to every problem. it’s based on mutual respect and love and the willingness to make compromises, and to keep trying to understand each other better and choose each other every day. if there is a failure of communication or a disagreement or an inability to come to a perfect soultion for whatever issue, that in itself doesn’t make a relationship unhealthy. and honestly even if it did, so what? it’s fictional, it adds flavour! (not to mention expecting humans to always be perfectly emotionally healthy is... well not realistic, to say the least).

‘but they should learn to communicate better before they get married’ marriage isn’t some kind of prize that only perfectly functional couples are worthy of, some final achievement for the perfect relationship. relationships are changing and growing all the time, they don’t have to reach a perfect final level of ‘healthy’ before they can be awarded the prize of marriage. relationships keep evolving and couples keep learning more about each other all the time, during marriage just like before. the idea that a relationship is doomed unless it reaches its final form of perfection before marriage is crazy.

and on a final note, HOW do you watch a fictional couple that disagrees on having children work out not necessarily a final solution, but a compromise, with one of them admitting they have issues to deal with and trauma to process, and the other realizing that the kids issue is not a dealbreaker because ultimately what they want most is their partner, and come away thinking ‘well that’s not a very good relationship’?????

[superbattrash]

saw your rbed the soft prompts post so if you ever felt like writing anything with (17. fixing the other persons clothes absentmindedly or like tucking their hair behind their ear U KNOW WHAT I MEAN THAT SOFT STUFF) or (38. anything else that makes you SOFT) for superbat or anyone bc i love your writing :DDDD

I don't know what happened here, it got longer than what I was going for, oopsie. Thank you for prompting me something soft and sweet, dear anon! (if anyone else wants to send me a soft prompt (no promises but this was fun), here's the list)

--

“You’re going to mess that up if you keep picking at it,” Bruce says. His voice is gentle, but it makes Clark flinch anyway. Since when did Bruce get out of the shower? And how is he already dressed? It’s taken Clark like seventeen minutes just picking out his outfit. And that’s even after Bruce has already laid it out for him on the bed. 

“Huh?” is Clark’s very intelligent reply.

“Your tie.” Bruce gestures towards the crumbled fabric in Clark’s hands.

“Oh,” Clark breathes and lets go. It’s all crooked but at least he didn’t pull it apart. Yet.

“You don’t have to be nervous,” Bruce tells him as he reaches out to fix the tie. He works efficiently at pulling it apart and tying a new knot. A fancy one, no doubt.

“I’m not,” Clark argues weakly. A blind man would be able to tell that he’s 90 percent nerves at this point. He might even be shaking a little bit.

“You’re a bad liar.”

“Well, you’re-” Clark starts and then sighs, because who is he kidding? “Yeah, no, you lie just fine.”

“That I do,” Bruce agrees easily. He pats Clark’s chest affectionately before taking a step back. “With you on top preferably.”

“Bruce,” Clark groans.

“What?”

“Stop being mean.” Stop teasing me, stop making me more nervous than I already am, Clark wants to say, but words are a little hard when he isn’t even sure he’s blinked in the last ten minutes. People blink. Clark has never had an issue blinking, why is he not blinking? He blinks twice just for good measure.

Bruce looks at him funny. “I’m never mean,” he says, thankfully not commenting on the weird face tic Clark is doing.

“You’re mean at least half the time.”

“That is not true, you idiot.”

“Don’t call me an idiot,” Clark pouts.

“Fine,” Bruce concedes. Too easily. “That’s not true, sweetheart.”

“Don’t call me that either,” Clark says with less confidence. Bruce only ever calls him sweetheart when he’s being overly affectionate. Which isn’t often. And it makes Clark weak in the knees every single time.

“Why not? You love it when I call you sweetheart,” Bruce teases.

“Exactly. I don’t need jelly legs right before we go out there.” It’s just his luck that Bruce decided to hold their damn engagement party at the manor. Why would he do that? He never lets people this close to the cave. Or his home, even.

“Stop panicking,” Bruce tells him with a smile. “Superman doesn’t get jelly legs.”

“Clark does though.”

“How very human of him.”

“Stop making fun of me,” Clark whines. He doesn’t mean it, obviously, because he’s stopped shaking. And he hasn’t forgotten to blink since Bruce started teasing him.

“I’m not. I’m helping distract you.”

“You’re doing a shitty job.”

“Language, Clark, there might be kids out there,” Bruce says with a chuckle. Like he doesn’t know exactly who is in his house and when they got here and the most likely time they’ll leave.

“God, I hope not,” Clark says, even though he could technically just take a listen. He doesn’t though because he doesn’t want to start panicking again.

“Ready?” Bruce asks as he holds out his hand.

“Not in the least,” Clark says but takes Bruce’s hand, nonetheless. He’ll probably never be ready, but he would go anywhere as long as Bruce is there.

“I’m right here with you.”

“It’s the only reason I haven’t run away yet.”

It’s not that Clark doesn’t want to make their relationship public; he very much does. But making it public for him means telling his parents and friends. Meeting Bruce’s kids, introducing himself officially to Alfred. They’ve already done that though and there’s only one thing left. Telling Bruce Wayne’s world about them. It’s terrifying in a way that no superpowered villain has ever been to Clark. He’d rather go a round or two with Darkseid than smile at cameras and answer strangers’ questions about his and Bruce’s love life for an entire evening. Okay, so maybe he’s exaggerating a tiny bit, but he’s nervous, it’s not his fault his mind works faster than the average human’s.

It still works slower than Bruce’s though, because of course nobody can think quite as far ahead as Batman. Which is probably why Bruce is trying to get a rise out of him - it’s awfully hard being nervous about a party when you’re arguing with your boyfriend. Fiancé. And that word still sends a chill down Clark’s spine. He can’t believe Bruce asked before he got the chance to, the sneaky bastard.

Clark knows he has nothing to worry about. Bruce has more than enough experience for the both of them. He brushes off the more inappropriate questions like a pro; gives just enough of a smirk to get away with not answering. He makes sure to keep Clark close, jumps in when Clark panics and splutters a stupid - or too honest - answer to the many inquiries.

Bruce is… scarily good at this. Clark just follows his lead. It’s something he’s both used to and unfamiliar with. Following, that is, not following Bruce. He really would follow Bruce to the edge of the universe if he asked. 

A few hours in Clark tugs at his tie; he’s tired but it’s not in a bad way. Despite the comments and questions from virtual strangers, he’s having a good time. Mostly because Bruce sticks to his side through it all. Ma and pa are here as well, and Bruce makes sure they spend time with them and Clark enjoys watching all of Bruce’s little bats trying to impress his parents. Like they aren’t already completely sold on having a handful of grandbabies. 

“So, how did you really meet?” A woman – Wendy, Clark thinks? – asks, and before Clark can put his foot in his mouth (he really is a bad liar), Bruce swoops in with a practiced story that’s more or less true. 

“Through work,” he says and then turns to smile softly at Clark. His eyes land on Clark’s chest and he reaches out and straightens his collar, never once faltering in the conversation. He does it like it’s second nature, like he’s not even aware how intimate a gesture it is. 

Clark finds himself relaxing and grinning like the fool in love he is. 

By the end of the night Clark feels like he’s talked to every single citizen in Gotham, even though he knows that can’t be right. There’s only a couple of hundred people here but it feels like thousands. He’s about ready to fall into bed. Bruce looks like he’s getting there as well, running a hand through his hair more and more, pulling at his own tie. 

When Bruce downs his third glass of champagne, the product in his hair has all but vanished. His bangs are falling in his face, and he’s never looked more beautiful. 

Clark brushes the stubborn strand of hair out of Bruce’s eyes, just because he can. Because he’s allowed to do so. Because he said yes when Bruce asked if he wanted to marry him. As if there was ever any other answer. 

[sskk-manifesto]

MITCHELL AKUTAGAWA EPISODE!!!!!!!!!!

[cacophonylily]

I regret befriending Merrill. Girl, leave that creepy eluvian alone.

[tempests-bards-and-birds]

Yesss @ your tags on the Childe post. I want to add that even if someone is shaped by trauma/an extreme upbringing, as he very well may have been, unless someone is insane or having an episode of something their actions are still them. It makes his behaviour more sympathetic but (or rather AND) he still has agency over his actions.

I feel like ~the discourse~ can be terrible at handling this sort of character because it can suck at acknowledging the uglier side of mental illness and neurodivergence- the way that hurt people hurt people- with nuance in general. So he has to be sorted into Traumatised(TM) and therefore forgivable or Irredeemable(TM) and can't be sympathised with at all.

yeah! childe is, pretty obviously, traumatised (and as you said may or may not have had an extreme upbringing we don't really know yet iirc but it could be implied), but i feel like that makes it even more important to acknowledge that, as you said, his actions are still his, because i feel like people have this tendency to look at a character and then either decide that everything they ever do even slightly wrong is completely justified and forgivable because they're traumatised or label them as an irredeemable monster and disregard the aspect of it that stems from the fact that they themselves have been deeply hurt because that means that they can't continue to view that character as having absolutely no humanity anymore.

as you mentioned, i think the main issue with the discourse is that people seem to have such a hard time reconciling the fact that someone can be shaped by trauma and their upbringing and still be aware of their actions and the consequences of those actions, and then because of that they end up sliding to one of the two extremes with their interpretation of the character and like. they can be traumatised and shaped by that trauma and still have their actions be Them. they're not being controlled by some Ghost Trauma Force or anything lol (unless as you said they are insane or having an episode of something but that's a different topic) they are Choosing to do those things and therefore have accountability for those actions; this also means, however, that it would be literally impossible for every action they take to come from a place of pure evil - people can, in fact, exist in shades of grey in terms of morality (shocking, i know)

[randomnameless]

If i may provide a lukewarm defense of Jeralt's initial reaction to Byleth, i don't recall there being any proof that Sitri lacked a heartbeat or struggled with showing her emotions to the same extent as Byleth does at the start of 3H; i don't find it unreasonable for him to be much more worried about a newborn baby being completely emotionless and not having a heartbeat than about a grown woman being introverted and stoic most of the time but still perfectly capable of showing emotions, along with having a functioning heart.

The defense ends here btw; him raising Byleth as a mercenary since they were a kid and stunting their emotional growth is pretty indefensible, especially when he could have tried to secure a more stable and peaceful job anywhere else in Fódlan, and the games not realizing how much of a neglectful father he was is a pretty big flaw with his writing.

No problems anon!

To be honest, yeah, it could have been just as you said, a difference Jerry noted between bby!Billy and the Citrus he know...

Sothis guesses Billy's lack of, uh, ability to "emote" came from her, because she was asleep (but then Citrus also had difficulties to emotes and yet managed to emote when she was a grown up).

Aelfie mentions Citrus had a hard time showing her emotions, but she smiled a lot in front of Jerry - is it because "twu luf" made her emote, but given how Aelfie knew her since a long time (they were both kids together?) I don't think it's retcon tied to "twu luf" but more something like, while growing up or interacting with "the world" she emoted more and more.

Still, it's kind of strange, Aelfie tells Billy Citrus had difficulties to emote but emoted with Jerry, and yet, we're supposed to believe Jerry didn't know Citrus had difficulties to emote?

Or wasn't interested in how she acted/behaved/felt when she was with other people than with him?

Because if Jerry knew Citrus only "emoted" with him, would he be so surprised about their kid not "emoting" easily? Jerry never met Citrus as a bby, would it be so strange to think Citrus might have started as Billy, and managed to "emote" better as she grew up? But if he indeed never noticed, as Aelfie did, that she had difficulties to, uh, "show emotions" then indeed, discovering Billy had this "specialness" to them would have been surprising - but in a way, only because he never noticed the same "specialness" in his wife, aka Billy's mom.

However, I'm always a bit puzzled at what is "reasonable" or not in a world like Fodlan, I know the fandom loves to project a lot of irl issues - hopefully we have the in-game doctor/nurse who said it's weird af that bby!billy had no hearbeat - but Jerry, as far as he knows, is a guy who is over 300 years old who got a major crest "after birth", something that is not supposed to be possible. Jury's also out on whether Jerry knew about the cardinal business or not.

So is the only reason Billy's "not normal" because Rhea did something to them, or because, as far as Jerry knows, Jerry isn't "normal" himself?

Jerry knows Rhea isn't "normal" either, since she's most likely older than him and didn't age (unlike him!), and yet he was, per his own words, still pretty chummy with her - but when bby!Billy isn't "normal", it's suddenly super frightening?

I can buy Jerry being afraid and going a bit out of rails after Citrus's death, but the "omg not normal" used as an excuse to run away from the Monastery when he knows Rhea and himself aren't "normal" either and yet pretty much alright really felt... imo forced.

(and the games don't want to tell us if Citrus' ears were pointy or not, or if she had a heartbeat too, we only know Rhea used the crest stone as her "heart" so we're not even sure if Citrus had a normal "human" heart or not...)