#dude killed his own foster brother

[reflection-s-of-stars]

👀 i'd love to hear about tha aurora modern au!

[ID in alt text]

@anthonynotgreen @djpuppy @falst @jewishdainix and anyone else who wanted to hear about my modern AU: here it is! All image descriptions will be in alt text :)

Name: Kendal Fairblade

He/him, probably a cis dude but who knows for sure, aroace

18, college freshman (first year of college)

Architecture major

Roommates with Alinua

Erin’s study buddy

Childhood friends with Dainix

Prized possession is his dad’s old car, which is bright blue and in horrible shape. Designated driver of the squad

Absolute god at arcade games (skee-ball etc.)

Blue eyed stare™️

The only member of the squad with (diagnosed) autism

Name: Alinua Parra

She/they/it, agender girl, ace lesbian

19, college freshman

Biology major (specializing in botany)

Roommates with Kendal

Erin’s study buddy

Falst’s former foster sister

Has so many plants and somehow finds time to keep all of them alive. Would kill for them probably

Bees love her also. Particularly her hair

The nicest person you’ll ever meet. She’s full of rage also

Claims she has her shit together but will see a butch and go weak in the knees

Name: Erin Ruunaser

He/him, transmasc, bi + aro

19, college sophomore (second year of college)

Pre-med, physics minor

Study buddies with Kendal and Alinua

Tess’s adoptive younger brother

His dad, Galen, owns the university he goes to. This is a fact that does not make him friends easily

Thinks he’s better than coffee drinkers but is addicted to chai

Usually dresses like he’s on his way to an interview, with the exception of finals week, during which he wears exclusively a Les Mis sweatshirt

Always sick but never misses class

Name: Falst. Falst what? Just Falst, thanks.

He/him but don’t ask about his gender, gay

18, works at a mechanic shop

Former foster siblings with Alinua

Other than her nobody knows anything about him

Exclusively wears jeans that are way too big on him

Has a stray cat that hangs around him. It does not have a name but it always gets fed somehow

Will growl at you. It absolutely doesn’t mean he doesn’t like you

Thinks redheads are hot

Name: Tess Ruunaser

She/her, butch lesbian

21, “professional wanderer and student of life” (unemployed)

Erin’s adoptive big sister

Ran away from home at sixteen and hasn’t seen her adoptive family since then (she and Erin do text though)

Girl magnet but can’t keep a relationship to save her life

Has lived in eight countries and will make it your problem. “This is pretty good, but in Greece…”

A match for Kendal at skee-ball. Their confrontations are epic

“Knows a guy” for everything

Name: Dainix Cruces

He/him, trans man, gay

19, taking a gap year and planning to go to culinary school

Childhood friends with Kendal

Has the best hair in the squad (it’s a ginger thing 😌)

Has a different story every time you ask about his eye

Best cook in the squad but everything he makes has So Much Goddamn Paprika

Literally has anything you could possibly need in his pockets

Thinks short people are hot

That’s the gang! LMK if you have questions about backstories, other characters, ETC

[simsandchesscrossover]

More in-depth descriptions of the kids for my kidswap below the cut!

NOTES ON CHANGES (KIDS)

At the start of the story, JOHN has recently been abandoned by his brother, who has given up on training him to save the world. He now resides in a foster care facility. In the first act, he has a rather violent breakdown as a result, and decides to express any and every emotion he pleases. This results in a unique typing style where he often forgets to add punctuation and emoticons to his texts and adds them on later.

Contrary to Rose’s passive-agressive battles with her mother, JADE is frequntly and plainly aggressive. She lives in the woods outside her house and refuses to go inside unless pre-planned and mutually agreed upon- as she puts it, she and her mother have their own territories, and their relationship relies on them staying out of each other’s way. This mindset means that she is exceptionally frustrated when her mother is sober and tries to convince her to come back, saying that “children aren’t supposed to live out in the woods” and “it’s dangerous”. Can’t she see Jade is being the bigger person here?

On the subject of ROSE, she is both more secure and far more paranoid. Actually interacting with other children, the majority of whom found her pretentious and strange, has made her overly defensive, and she has taken refuge in what she views as her areas of superiority. Given her father’s more balanced approach to parenting, she doesn’t believe everything he does is an attack, but when she encounters something odd enough that it seems like one, she spirals.

DAVE deals with his enviroment perhaps the worst out of any of the children. He doesn’t cope well with what he phrases as “living on this bumfuck island with my grandpa until he shot himself because taking care of me was just that bad i guess”. On top of that, he’s constantly hounded (ha!) by a dog-like creature that he used to think was the one that killed his grandfather. Now, he isn’t sure if it’s even real or some sort of grief-induced hallucination. This has made him exceptionally anxious, and although he tries to hide it, his very limited social skills aren’t up to the task.

The Alpha session is a bit more complicated. JANE was raised on a series of recordings from her brother, all intended for a boy named Dirk. Given that she was entirely alone, she had no reason to think that that wasn’t her. Rose gets a vision of the changes to the timeline just in time to send out one final message explaining the truth. A key component of Jane’s worldview is that she deeply resents Dave for that and not being there, and is completely aware that it’s irrational. Conciously or not, she rebels against his post-ironic movie star lifestyle by leaning into suburbia. She sews dapper suits out of t-shirts and practices comedy. Once she discovers that she is not, in fact, Dirk, her idea of mild-mannered perfection shifts slightly. It’s undeniable that this house wasn’t made for her, but some aspect of being a “cool dude” still calls to her more than her new matronly ways… (it’s the transgender)

JAKE CROCKER is the heir to the Crocker corporation, and he’s also a media darling. Despite his father’s attempts to keep him out of the public eye (mainly due to the assassination attempts), the PR department has taken their chance, and his celebrity status is sure to make the population of Earth unwilling to resist their new Empress. Besides, Jake’s got his crackshot aim, a dashing smile, and two-inch-thick bulletproof windows, through which he can wave to his adoring populace before going about his business. What could go wrong?

ROXY spends her days chatting online and experimenting in her grandmother’s laboratory. She may be the only human left on her island, but she’s far from the only creature! Her beloved Gcat is always by her side, at least when he’s hungry. The rest of the island’s animals are wild, but the ones she makes love her. They barely try to eat her even a quarter of the time. But mostly, she wants to figure out a way to get off the island- just for a quick vacay!- and explore the world, meeting all the people and seeing all the sights.

Roxy-DIRK-Lalonde-Strider- whatever his name is now, it doesn’t matter- is wrong. There was some great cosmic error, and he came to this city of carapacians instead of a single apartment in the middle of the sea. He’s always known he didn’t belong here, but he assumed it was just some innate, destructive quality of his. Ever since the day he killed his own pet cat (in an unfortunate robotics accident), he’s known he was a monster. He’s done his best to counteract that, helping the carapacians in any way he could, but it isn’t enough. Everything in this home reminds him of his mistakes, and he makes no effort to change that.

[bending-sickle]

h'okay so i am rewatching dawn of the planet of the apes (2014) and just have like, this one rant about a detonating interaction:

okay so the humans have trespassed a second time and asked to be allowed to work on the hydroelectric plant, which is no innocent little exercise

Dreyfus: [That] power... is not just about keeping the lights on. It's about giving us the tools to reconnect to the rest of the world. To find out who else is out there so that we can start to rebuild and reclaim the world we lost.

and koba reiterates his "this is a bad fucking idea, Caesar, giving them power will bite us in the ass, we should go to war"

and like, he's not even being paranoid either because:

Dreyfus: I'm gonna take some men up to Fort Point. I'm gonna go through the armory. I'm gonna see what's still working. Three days. You're not back in three days we're going up there, and we're gonna kill every last one of them.

so while caesar is letting the humans do their Human Work (and ooooh, when koba snaps back with his scars as evidence of Human Work), koba is off seeing the arsenal being readied.

which means he both misses seeing:

alvarez carver endanger caesar's newborn

carver smuggle in a gun and threaten apes with it

apes helping pull humans out of the rubble of their own making

ellie saving cornelia's life with medicine

but like. he's just been to the city and seen the humans getting ready to destroy them all, so he's a little distressed when he finds caesar with the humans at the hydro:

Koba: Just came from the city. Humans very dangerous! Where is Caesar? Blue Eyes: With the humans... Foster: Yo, Alex. This relay's busted. See if there's another one. Yeah. Koba: [enters] Caesar. [pushes Alex aside; Alex falls] Alex: Hey! Koba: [snarls at Alex] Malcolm: [getting between the two] No! No, no, no, don't! No! No! No! Maurice: [stands in Koba's way]

[which, idk man, if a super angry ape on a mission shoves me aside i would not utter an annoyed dude wtf "hey!" at him]

Koba: [cont.] Where Caesar? Want Caesar. Caesar! Caesar: [shows himself] Koba: Humans attack your sons. You let them stay! Put apes in danger! Caesar love humans more than apes! More than your sons.

and like okay the last dig must've stung but the first bit? valid as fuck. and what does caesar do? absolutely whales on him. i'm talking ketamine ape levels. doesn't say anything at all, just screams and goes right for it. he beats the shit out of koba and has his hands around koba's throat.

you know, the ape who just a few days ago had said:

Koba: For years I was a prisoner in their lab. They cut me. Tortured me. You freed me. I would do anything you ask.

and he clearly has every intent of killing his right-hand arm man. his silly rabbit ape and friend:

Caesar: [making a visible effort to stop himself] Ape not kill ape.

all for *checks notes* barging in and saying "yo dude wtf"

and then what happens?

Koba: Forgive me.

and it's like...wtf for, my guy? for taking a beating and attempted-murder in front of friend and foe? for going "dude wtf are you doing with the enemy who is literally right this second raiding their arsenal to come kill us all?"

and then caesar's like "oh koba only learned hate from humans, he's all dark and twisted and evil" like my brother on a different evolutionary tree, consider your actions for one second

* why in the fuck was an infant taken on this outing with enemies, far away from its mother or any sort of safety? i don't fucking know. i thought caesar was smart.

[stellocchia]

I got inspired to make a 2012TMNT Spiderverse AU by a Rise AU my friend @alwerakoo made, so here we go. It will be a bit disjointed because it's copy pasted from Discord.

This was born fron the idea that all of them lost one of their brothers as their origin story. Aside from Leo who is our Miles Morales pretty much.

Leo got bit by a radioactive spider only very very recently. My man almost immediately gets dragged into the life by the old Spiderman (the Splinter of this Au) only to see him get murdered almost immediately by the Shredder (pretty much the King Pin of this universe).

In his universe Splinter wasn't their dad. Leo and his brothers are just sort of living on their own. They're supposed to be in the foster system, but Donnie managed to find them a place on their own thanks to the help of his bestie April. Officially, they're under the legal charge of April's dad, but he can't really afford to support them so they're making do on their own.

They can afford it a bit thanks to Donnie's scholarship, a bit thanks to Mikey's job as a cook at a pizza shop, and a bit thanks to Raph's job at the car repair job (he mostly does the car paint job). Leo always felt kinda like the useless one, and getting bit was about the worst and the best thing that could happen to him. Because now he has even more pressure on him to succeed, but at least he can help people in his own way.

---

In the spidey!Raph universe he was bitten when he was out on a walk with Leo. Leo was also the only one that knew. Being twins they were always the closest. And, honestly, Leo took it far more seriously than Raph. At least at the beginning. You probably can see where I'm going with this.

Leo was kidnapped by a criminal to use him as leverage against Raph. In the struggle that ensued Raph wasn't able to save Leo. So now he pretty much shut himself off from the rest of his family to try and protect them.

---

In the Spider!Donnie universe, Donnie was actually the one who made the spider that bit him. He was helping a professor at the University he got to attend earlier with his project and it backfired.

Btw, it later turned out that the professor was Baxter Stockman. Because I like to keep some parts of the show and he's making mutagen for Shredder in this one too. Because it just makes sense.

Of course, accidentally working for a supervillain doesn't end well. And Mikey ends up getting caught in the crossfire. He goes to try and find Donnie and finds him being strapped to a chair by Baxter who is studying him. Mikey manages to free him, but he gets stabbed by Shredder who came in at that point.

---

In the spider!Mikey universe he was delivering pizza at Baxter's lab when he got bitten. Because even evil scientists need to eat.

He did not figure out anything was wrong until a few weeks later because his fingers are always sticky anyway and he thought the Spidey senses were just Raph's paranoia rubbing off on him.

Until he gets to meet one of his idols, Chris Bradford (secretly the villain Rahzar). Raph didn't fucking trust the intentions of the dude so he followed them. And he was right, because the dude just wanted to get the spider they think was stolen by Mikey back from him. Raph catches onto it and bursts in to get his brother back. Only to, you know, get stabbed because he's a normal civilian and not a fucking super human. Mikey manages to swing them out of there with his spider webs (because he actually produces his own) but Raph dies in the hospital. So Mikey is stuck with the guilt of having gotten his brother killed (not really, but Raph warned him not to go and he did anyway so he still feels guilty about his death) and powers he has no clue what to do with and way too many responsibilities.

---

Some more fun facts about this AU:

Mikey is the only one of the spidey!brothers that can produce his own spiderwebs biologically. The others had to create their own or, in Raph's case, steal a prototype Donnie made and act as if nothing happened.

Leo has special healing hands powers on top of the typical Spidey powers. Both because canon and because he's the Miles of this universe so he gets extra powers.

Raph is the one who has been Spiderman the longest. Leo has been dead for years now. They were in middle school when he got bitten.

In every universe aside from the Spidey Leo universe, Splinter is their dad. But in the Spidey Donnie universe they're very very distant. Splinter was a very strict dad there and both the Leo and the Raph of that universe pretty much ignored their younger siblings to try and chase his approval (in Leo's case) or get attention from him by misbehaving (in Raph's) which is why Mikey was the only one who noticed that Donnie hadn't come back the day he got bit.

Splinter is a great dad in both the Spidey Mikey and Spidey Raph universe. In the Mikey universe he actually knows about Mikey being Spiderman and trains him so he can be as safe as possible. In Raph's universe he tries his best to care for them, but Raph is shutting him out. Splinter tried giving him space at the start because he thought he just needed time to grieve, but after years he's just desperately trying to get him to a psychologist.

---

During the actual movie plot kinda thing spidey!Raph would have Peter B's role from the first movie with spidey!Leo. Both because he's the one with the most experience and generally more disillusioned. But also because that's his dearest brother he fucking lost, so he's already attached from the get go.

And being around Spidey!Leo is what makes him finally reconnect with his family.

Also thinking to maybe make Raph university aged because the idea of him having already moved out and having cut contact only to show up back in front of his family's house under the rain crying after the movie like "Dad I'm home" and having Splinter hug him so tight they can barely breathe but neither cares is just hhhhhhhhhh.

---

Also, I wanted to talk about who knows my boys secret identity in their universes.

In the Spidey!Raph one obviously Leo knew before dying. Mikey and Splinter are completely oblivious. Donnie doesn't know for certain, but he does suspect that one of his family members is Spiderman, which is why he keeps making spider themed gadgets and "forgetting about them" in corners of his room. He never tried to figure out who it actually was though.

In the Spidey!Mikey universe literally everyone knows. The only one who didn't have a chance to learn about it was Raph who died before he could. Splinter was the first one to learn about his powers when Mikey called him from the hospital where he brought Raph in the middle of a mental breakdown while ugly sobbing. The others know too though, as Splinter is training them as well so they won't have another death in the family, because Raph's loss left them all pretty fucking messed up.

In the Spidey!Donnie universe no one from his family knows. Donnie went no contact with the rest of his family after Mikey's death, he felt like they never cared anyway. (They did, but love isn't always enough to keep a relationship going). He also dropped out of university after the whole "incident" with Baxter and made himself a little apartment in the sewers which he uses as his headquarters. At the very least though, he did get to meet April and Casey, and both of them know and help him. Casey is properly his sidekick and works on the field alongside him, while April is basically their person in the chair. There is no love triangle here, they're all in a poly relationship, but Casey and Donnie still keep up the banter they have in canon. Chosen family for the purple boy!

---

I have also thought about what costumes they would wear (and borrowed ideas from actual canon Spiderman costumes I could find), so here they are:

Raph wears something like this:

Big ass hoodie over the all red suit from one of his exes (probably Slash, let's be real). Plenty of pockets in it to stash all the random gadgets Donnie creates and then promptly "forgets" about in a dark corner of his room.

It's comfy and practical.

Also, he wears normal ass jeans underneath. He looks a bit like Peter B. because it fits him.

Mikey gets this cool ass design:

Offers way more protection than Raphs as it's a proper combat suit. It was designed by his dad based on old combat uniforms he studied. He also wanted to make it completely black so that Mikey could blend into the night perfectly, but Mikey was not willing to compromise his sunshine aesthetic quite that much!

The headwear is a proper helmet from a motorbike that Mikey painted on. It hurts like a bitch when he headbutts you.

Donnie gets something like this, but with the spider glowing bright purple instead:

Fully designed by him. Hypertechnologic. There is an AI system inside. It works similarly to one of the suits Peter used in the movies, the one Mr. Stark designed.

He's silent as fuck and can dim the glowing of the spider how much he wants. Nobody ever sees him coming. He also has methallic spider legs that can pop up from the back. And plenty of vials of chemicals he worked on hanging from a belt. Everything either made by him on his own, or with April's help.

Leo at the start only has a hoodie, some goggles and a normal ass medical face mask. There is nothing to indicate that he's part of the Spidey brand. The only Spidey thing he gets are the web shooters he inherits from dead Splinter.

But later on he gets something more classic with the red and blue motif. But he takes the comfy approach Raph went for (that is his mentor after all) which includes the oversized hoodie. Basically something like this:

Also, his suit is a two piece. The top part with the mask and hoodie (they're all in one) and the bottom part with some tight blue gym pants that he got his actual Raph (the one from his dimension) to decorate for him.

---

Lastly, here's the ages for all the boys in every universe:

s!Leo universe:

Donnie is 19 (just started uni)

Raph is 18

Mikey is 15

Leo is 14 (I need more youngest Leo in my life)

.

s!Donnie universe:

Leo is 22

Raph is 21

Donnie is 20 (has been Spiderman for 2 years)

Mikey was 16 when he died, would be 18 now

.

s!Mikey universe:

Raph was 17 when he died (would be 18 now)

Mikey 17 (has been Spiderman for 1 year)

Donnie and Leo are 14

.

s!Raph universe:

Raph is 24 (has been Spiderman for 11 years)

Leo was 13 when he died, would be 24 now as well

Mikey is 22

Donnie is 19

[bisexualfagdyke]

omggg I literally went to their Instagram and they said in comment if they were in love with their own sibling they'd 100% have sex with them 😭

it's vile but there's also something morbidly ironic about proshippers always being like "oh it's just fictional!" and then they always turn out to say shit like this

WHATTTHEFUCK😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 my jaw DROPPED TO THE FLOOR .great heavens. "It's just fiction" WELL NOT ANYMORE? The fucking irony dude.

It's also like, just bcuz You would uhhh apparently have sex with your sibling (???????????? Cant believe I just said that cuz literally What...😭😭😭 how is this real bro) ...leave Andrew & Aaron fucking OUT OF THIS? Andrew, the victim of rape whose fucking rapist (WHO WAS HIS FOSTER BROTHER) literally said he would want Andrew and Aaron to engage in incest and Andrew absolutely freaked out over this and tried to protect Aaron at all costs and pushed Aaron away because of this? "It's 100% consensual"... you are literally still messing with and romanticising a characters sexual abuse trauma ? This is not a time for projection of ur incest kink/desires You WEIRDOOOOOOOO

Andrew Minyard and Aaron Minyard I am so sorry for the heinous revolting freaks that have gotten their hands on you. Me and the twinyards would kill these guys with hammers I can tell you that much /ref

[deathnumber382]

HATCHETFIELD IDEA

I literally just mentioned this in a comment section of AO3 and now it's going here.

◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

I had a dream where Hatchetfield was kinda at war with each other. See, the Lords in Black were bickering. And by the Lords, I mean Wiggly and Pokey.

Ha, ha! Please. You got blown up by a bombie-wom. Twice!

Really? It was once, when I was in a human form. The other time, all it did was kill the leading man. And you can't talk, either! Your puppet got shot in the head and all of a sudden you don't have power!

Oh, yes, I need power over all the fucking corpses of Hatchetfield. At least I killed Hannah.

Fuck off—

You get the gist.

Anyways, the fight escalates, 'till Pokey says something about having better humans. And Wiggly sees an opportunity to play a little game. He gathers his other brothers, and declares a game.

They take a timeline. One they haven't quite stained yet. Not in a big way, anyways. And they make their teams. In all of Hatchetfield, different people are connected to different Lords, whether they know it or not. Those people are apart of their God's team. They get to choose two captains, a base and a 'Heart' of the base.

The captains are two because if one goes down, there is another to continue it on. Two captains also allows them to split their people into groups of two. They are the leaders of the troop and the mouthpieces of their Lords. Although, they can also be 'false suns,' as dream me called them. Basically, they can pretend to speak for their God, but be doing something for their own interests.

The bases are their camp. Their home, their rest place, whatever. It's where they rest and where their 'Heart' is. The Heart had an item of their God hidden there. If that item is captured by the other team, they (and their Lord!) loses and joins the capturer's team. It goes until there's one left standing.

What's the prize, though?

Bragging rights and you can do anything to one of the losers' timlines.

That got everyone's attention. Everyone's!

A competition? Without me?

Everyone's.

Webby overheard and couldn't pass up the opportunity to help. If she beats her brothers, that means she can change the course of 5 timelines! 5!

Bickering ensued, but in the end, they allowed Webby to play. On one condition added by Blinky.

If you lose, we get a free 'Kill Hannah Free' card for any timeline of our choosing.

Reluctanlty, Webby agreed.

So the games began. They chose their captains, their bases, and their hearts. No-one knew anyone's choices.

Here's how it went down;

Ex: (CAPONE & CAPTWO • Base/Heart • Lord)

Paul Matthews & Henry Hidgens • The Starlight Theater/Center Stage • Pokotho

Bill Woodward & The Barker (initials B.L) • Watcher World/The EyeStrain • Bliklotep

Theodore Spankoffski & Barry Swift • CCRP Building/Ted's Office • T'noy Karakis

Roman Monroe & Grace Chasity • PorkChop/The Kitchen • Nibblenephim

Wilbur Cross & Linda Monroe • Lakeside Mall/ Toy Zone • Wiggog Y'Wrath

Hannah Foster & Rosary Remington • Pamela Foster's Home/ Hannah's Room • Webb?¿?¿?

◆◆◆◆◇◆◆◆◆◆◆◆

Dudes.

[litcest]

Auge and Telephus

Oh, this a long one. Telephus is a super popular character in Greek Myths, being the son of Heracles and best buddies with Achilles (I think Patroclus would be jealous). His whole life story is quite interesting, but I want to talk about the bit in which he almost marries his mother, a là Oedipus style.

The oldest account of her is in Hesiod's Catalogue of Women, from c. 6th century BC, where she was raised by Teuthras in Mysia and later she is seduced by Heracles, which results in the birth Telephus. No more information on her is given.

We have mentions that around the 6th-5th century BC, a dude named Hecataeus wrote about her and Heracles. We know that because Pausanias mentions him in his Description of Greece from c. 110-180 CE. This is basically a game of telephone: Pausanias says that Hecataeus said that Auge lived in Tegea, where she had an affair with Heracles and got pregnant. Her dad, Aleus found this out and locked Auge and her child in a chest, which he threw into the sea. The chest arrived in Mysia, where the king, Teuthras, married her.

The next account of her I could find of her comes from Pseudo-Apollodorus Bibliotheca, from the 1st century CE. Here, it's said that Heracles raped Auge, who was a priestess of Athena, and that, when Aleus discovered his daughter had given birth, he left the child to die in Mount Parthenius (which failed, as the child was taken care by shepherds who found him) and sold Auge to Teuthras, who made her his wife. Later in the book, Apollodorus says that Telephus, Auge's son, found her in Mysia and became the prince.

In the book IV, chapter 33 from Diodorus Siculus Bibliotheca historica, which dates to 60-30 BC, Auge is once again said to have been raped and afterwards her father sent her to be drowned, but she gives birth to Telephus in secret and the man who was supposed to drown her takes pity on her and decides to gift her to Teuthras as a wife. The child was found and brought to King Corythus, who raises him as his own. When grown, Telephus desires to find his mother and, after learning her location through the Oracle of Delphi, sails to Mysia, where he marries Teuthras' daughter and becomes princes.

In Hyginus Fabulae, from 1 CE, Auge gives birth to Heracles' son in secret in Mount Parthenius and left baby. The child, Telephus, is then raised by shepherds along Atalanta's (the girl who runs, you know?) child, Parthenopaeus. Auge runs to Mysia, where King Teuthras adopts her as a daughter, since he had no children, which is a very different take from the previous ones, in which she became his wife.

It is within Fabulae that we finally get the Oedipus-style incest I mentioned before. You see, Teuthras had an enemy, Idas, and he offered his daughter's hand in marriage to the hero who managed to kill him. Telephus, along with his foster brother, Parthenopaeus, were in Mysia following the Oracle's advice to help Telephus find his birth mom and decide to take King Teuthras up on his offer. However, Auge wants nothing to do with this marriage and plans to kill Telephus.

The king fulfilled his promise, and gave him his kingdom and Auge as wife, unaware of the relationship. Since she [faithful to Hercules] wished no mortal to violate her body, she intended to kill Telephus, not realizing he was her son.

But before Auge can kill her new husband, a serpent sent by the gods stopped her. Telephus then is about to kill her for having tried to kill him when she begs Heracles (here called Hercules because it's a Roman text) for help and this causes Telephus to realize she's his mother. IDK how, but it does. Anyway, they go back to their home country happily ever after as mother and son, at least until Telephus goes to fight in the Trojan War side to side with his buddy Achilles.

This almost marriage between mother and son seem to be a later addiction to the myth of Telephus, as (at least from what I could find) it only appears in a Roman text. A later Roman dude, Aelian, blames the "tragic dramatists and their predecessors, the inventors of fables" for the invention of the incest in Telephus story. Indeed, there are lost plays about Auge and Telephus, and they may be from where this part of the myth originated, in a attempt to remake the success of Oedipus. But we may never know.

[kjtoons]

AU CONCEPT TIME- (Ninjago Crystallised and LMK Season 3 Spoilers Below the Cut)

Okay so I had this idea for a sort of fix-it AU for Crystallized that also involves a Lego Monkie Kid Crossover as well as a Morro redemption arch, bear with me here- So basically when Lloyd goes golden Oni in the battle for the first time, instead of getting scared and shaking it off, he gets scared and the overlord takes advantage of this and decides to possess him. Meanwhile, the four ninja aren’t able to free their creation elements in time and end up getting corrupted in their dragon forms. Basically everything that can go wrong goes wrong, and Ninjago falls and is basically decimated by these five- Anyways you can tell this is me really wanting complicated character development through a villain arch, continuing- Now I’m not sure how this happens yet (I have a vague idea that MK’s world is the departed realm but I’m not sure how to explain that yet) but I’m thinking when Morro dies in the water that second time he’s reincarnated in the world of LMK as Mei’s older brother. They’re practically glued to the hip until Mei meets MK and the gang and they start growing apart. Morro doesn’t really show signs of having dragon powers and is struggling with feeling useless since his sister’s out here being a badass while he’s stuck with just doing nothing but skateboarding and gaming. He does end up going with the gang to help find the Samadhi fire, but is in Tang’s position where he can’t contribute much but helps where he can. At the end of this during that scene where they’re all eating on top of that cliff (Mountain? can’t remember exactly) he corners Monkey King and asks what he’s supposed to be. The Monkey King simply says his destiny lies elsewhere and doesn’t elaborate- Anyways because Morro was constantly feeling useless after Mei started growing distant with him he start practicing martial arts to fight the feeling, and he’s gotten pretty good at it. He’s out on his family’s mansion’s big porch one day, practicing, when he accidentally discovers that he can control the wind. He’s shocked, thinking this is some kind of dragon power, and tells his parents. His parents are confused since this isn’t a power you can get from being descended from dragons. Now Morro’s confused as well, wondering where the heck this came from. Then all hell breaks loose with the arrival of a new golden demon and his four winged servants. Outside of the idea of MK’s realm being the departed realm, I don’t really have much a reason for why they end up here, but my current reasoning is that the overlord is basically fostering Lloyd’s anger to keep his form up by sending them to the departed realm to basically torture his enemies. Mei, MK, Red Son, and the rest of the crew are struggling to get a leg up on fighting him, since he’s proving to have an otherworldly power to spread darkness that they can’t combat. Then golden guy spots Morro randomly during the battle and goes ballistic, hellbent on killing him. MK, Red Son, Mei and the rest of the gang come to his rescue and get the hell out of there since they’re not winning this one. That’s all I really have figured out right now for this AU, but I do plan on them finding a way for MK and co to get to Ninjago at one point and meet those that are still alive that weren’t decimated by golden dude, as well as Morro gradually gaining his memories from his past life back throughout the story. Also saving the four core ninja from their corruption somehow. I still have the idea to separate these into seperate AUs since I seriously think Lloyd and the other four ninja could’ve been absolutely freaking amazing villains for Ninjago: United and provided such interesting character archs because they’re corrupted and such. I also would just want to write my own version of a Morro redemption somehow because I love this angsty ghost boy so much and thrown it in there with this whole thing. Also, just a seperate AU where oni lloyd attacks MK’s realm somehow. Idk if they’ll stay together, idk it they’ll be seperate, we’ll see- Anyways thanks for reading my word vomit hopefully it wasn’t too indecipherable. I just wanted to get it down somewhere.

[anonymous-dentist]

A reminder of my Percy Jackson au:

Child of Athena Quackity.

His dad was a politician, and he was so upset about a literal baby showing up on his doorstep that he tried having the kid drowned. But a duck pushed the baby back to shore, and Papa Quackity took it as a sign from God and decided to keep the kid. (Maybe this duck was Athena, who knows?)

He’s got an ex boyfriend that he dumped in Vegas on his way east. This scares him immensely and he’s vowed not to cross the Mississippi ever again.

His favorite sibling is Tubbo, and sometimes they even get along.

Child of Ares Sapnap.

So his actual mom died in childbirth, but her half-brother, Bad, took him in immediately. Bad is a Hades kid and knew about camp from the start, and he sent Sapnap off to camp at the ripe old age of six to live year-round when he started causing a few too many problems with other kids (and teachers) at school. After getting to camp, Sapnap accidentally gained the favor of Hestia, and she blessed him. He’s so cool.

He has two best friends that he’s basically glued to, but they went off on a quest with freaking Punz instead of him because he got stuck with his own quest of retrieving the Apple of Discord. Stupid Punz. Fuck you.

His least favorite sibling is Punz. They’re best friends.

Child of Janus Karl.

So Karl’s a Rome Kid, except he never actually made it into the Roman camp. The wolf in charge of that, Lupa, didn’t think he was strong enough, and so he was basically stuck in the wilderness by himself until some very confused hikers picked him up and brought him back to civilization. He spent a couple of years in and out of foster homes before giving up and deciding to become a superhero. Instead, he became a thief, and he may have stolen from the wrong goddess and gotten himself cursed. Whoops.

He has a weapon that he stole off a dead dude in Montana. It’s a golden stick that turns into a hefty spear when in the right hands. Unfortunately, Karl is useless with actual weapons, so he just smacks people with his stick until they get annoyed and leave him alone, or until he can use his demigod abilities to swoop in for the kill.

He has no siblings that he knows. He’s always been alone, and he’s very sad about that.

[babythegod]

Remember when I was 16 and my cousins kept getting pregnant so you woke me up out of my sleep to accuse me of being with child, beat me with a broom then called the police on me &I wasn’t even sexually active. I had to cover my black eye with make-up during thanksgiving festivities or when we actually still lived with Monterra &you hit me with a pool stick before school (for getting “smart”) so I tried to stab a knife into my wrist vein (where my ankh tattoo is now because I was sick of looking at the scar) or when nobody gaf after lil bro busted my lip wide open cause I said he “acts like our dad” or when I lost my cat and you lied and told him I was trying to assault you so he came into my room and abused me as you watched proudly from the doorway. Fun times 😻

Kinda an excerpt : from my upcoming book :

The Calling.

“I still cry for that teenager that was left with an ultimatum that would unknowingly change the trajectory of her entire life and leave me scarred and traumatized for years. When I told my dad “NO!” I didn’t want to live with him as he threw my mom out of our family home , I didn’t realize at the time that I was choosing death. I meant NO ! I want all of this to end now. NO! can we fix it ? NO ! Let’s press rewind …My innocence was killed that night &I lost everything I ever knew to be true. I had always felt the absence of love but then safety vanished as well. No one ever asked me if I was ok . No one. Not once. I began to look for home in all the wrong people and places. Both of my parents swear they did “their best” with me but the way my brothers were and still are treated , I know that’s not valid. I was denied child support my entire teenage years while everyone else received lavish new clothing &designer shoes , I would get berated if I ever tried any piece of my moms wardrobe on. I remember hearing “YOUR DAD GIVES ME $600 A MONTH, ALL FOR FAT” an innumerable amount of times. So I would walk to this bootleg cd/dvd/ women’s apparel store called “Hot Girls” every single day after school begging the owner to let me work there. It’s lowkey so funny cause it was right across from the police station and he was pirating his ass off 😹😹😹 He finally agreed and I made $5 an hour , from 4-8 , when I got off the bus I would go straight there &all day Saturday. He was closed on Sundays. $70 -$120 cash under the table every week is what helped me survive. Now that I think back , Seven was really the only father figure I had as a teen. He was a skinny weird little dude from Hollygrove. We would always fuss cause I was a product of my circumstances and he was Dwayne PONCHO Eli, I still don’t really know why people called him Seven but he always told me “you’re not country like most Kenner people, you’re different 😹” I am so thankful for him because I could’ve got lost in the streets like most abandoned young ladies do. I worked there until I was 18 &was able to find real employment. “

The main reasons I can never bond with my father still to this day; 1. Our relationship was never fostered. 2. While working at my job I purchased a white pair of shorts , that were too tight and skimpy , I admit. But I just thought they were fly at the time. I couldn’t have imagined that Instead of buying your daughter new clothes you’d rather wish rape upon her , vocally in front of our entire family in my grandparents house. No one even batted an eye. No one addressed his cruelty. My dad must be a wizard because his evil wish eventually came true in 2015/2016, my senior year in college I was assaulted in my own apartment. I went into denial, dropped out with only 6 credits left. I honestly believe; Sire &the Holy Spirit saved my life. I would not know love if it wasn’t for Christ.

The things I am still struggling to forgive, but can never forget.

The hate u give little infants fucks everyone …

[deepest-dope]

So i bought it in the end. still going to pine for Bo though. this is going to be more of an RP of a preexisting OC though because Tabitha looks a lot like my mental image of him, which is actually what convinced me. you dont want to see this you can blacklist the tag #Cave gets Isekai’d more detail under the cut

So! basically im playing the game as my own oc Cave who is originally a courier six oc for fallout new vegas with his backstory tweeked to fit the modern non apocalyptic setting. yeah i just love him and rotating in my head like in a microwave putting my blorbo in situations and such and this seemed like real fun ordeal to put him through.

Basics of Scarlet Hollow Cave’s backstory which ive tried to keep as close to his original as possible: He has a pretty okay life up until Vivian gets too sick to care for him anymore at which point he ends up in foster care, going into the custody of at least one fucked up cult(what im replacing the legion with) which he successfully escapes, is moved into the custody of the old man who cares for him as best he can in spite of his other son showing himself to have a huge chip on his shoulder about it, handing down his old trenchcoat to cave, which he still wears every day, until his health starts failing him too leading to the son having to take over, and unfortunately abusing cave, and indirectly kickstarting his substance abuse issues, for a while before eventually trying to kill him, as in canon.

the major difference is when cave’s foster brother stabs him 3 times, instead of cave barely surviving out in the desert and biding his time to eventually go back and get revenge against him, he gets to go to a hospital, get removed from the home before being put under one of my other ocs Dave’s custody. Dave is an all around great dude and his 3 kids, 2 of whom are adopted, all like Cave. Dave gets him therapy, provides a support network in his new foster siblings, helps him deal with and eventually kick most of his addictions and all in all leaves him overall healthier in scarlet hollow universe. He gets Dave’s essentially undivided attention for the years up until tabitha invites him to the funeral because his other 3 are adults and mostly out of the house. Dave is planning to ask Cave if he’d like to be adopted when he gets back.

so Cave Scarlet is actually more hinged then courier six cave, along with being in better shape overall because not only is he not as heavily malnourished but Dave would take him to the gym with him to bond and help him work off his anxiety. so Cave Scarlet starts Scarlet Hollow at the level of strength Courier Cave ends New Vegas in. Cave Scarlet also has significantly less scars then him but otherwise he keeps the albinism, anisocoria, and general personal issues as og cave. Caveman Scarlet is unfortunately not his legal name, his siblings talked him out of changing it, but he does not answer to his real one at all and tends to insist on everyone using the nickname his friend Violet gave him, Cave or Caveman. in Scarlet Hollow he never gets the chance to forget his deadname like in vegas but he does change it to a more masculine one as a placeholder. so his legal name is Julian Scarlet and he gets the vast majority of his clothes from his foster family’s closets when they arent looking, and still wears his hand me down trenchcoat basically everyday. not being starved through most of his childhood didnt make him any taller though, hes still a 5′3 short king even though hes overall thicker. nor is he any better at taking care of his hair, it remains stringy and in his face. his 2 traits are powerful build and booksmart.

thats all thats set in stone for now, but im gonna work out more as i actually play the game

[skyllion-uwu]

for the oc alphabet soup ask : b and s :3

B: Bailey! She's one of the main characters from my time loop story, introduced as a 7 year old that was the only survivor of her hometown being destroyed. In the first loop Jaxon tries to get her to travel with xim but she's like "I don't know you, I'm waiting for mom and dad" even after xe tries telling her that everyone else is gone. Eventually some government officials find her and she becomes a foster kid. Robin houses her and for the first few loops that same deal plays out until she starts subconsciously remembering who Jaxon is and travels with xim.

After breaking the loop, she gets adopted by Jaxon, Robin, and Holmes and then she has her own story where she's 17 and doesn't remember much about the time loops and she starts her own monster hunting podcast with her best friend Adrienne and faer brother Etienne. That story is mostly a monster of the week thing but there's character progression and a light plot, like she keeps having weird dreams that are actually events from the time loops, but everything's probably completely okay. Right?

Extra fun facts: She has dyslexia; she loves science and hops around between different subjects-- when she's 7 she's really into geology and specifically volcanology and when she's 17 she's into zoology and cryptozoology, but other types of science she's been interested in include food science, astronomy, and botany; she's the only survivor because she was at a sleep away camp and the bus stop was outside of town limits, so she's basically the equivalent of that meme where the dude walks in with the pizza smiling and sees everything is on fire

S: I've actually got three OCs that start with an S: Shiko, Sun King, and Sky! I'll do Shiko since he was the first one I thought of (if anyone's curious about the others just ask for another S). He's the main character of my reverse isekai story (I used to call it a parody but it's not really that anymore) where he used to be the hero that came to Phitania (the magic world). He doesn't remember anything about Earth and almost comes to believe he IS from Phitania, but anyways after he defeated the demon lord, he became an assassin for the Sun King and killed off "bad people" to prevent another demon lord from rising.

He gets killed by a rebel and he thinks that's the end EXCEPT he gets reincarnated back on Earth. He's told by a mysterious voice that if he sends 1000 people to Phitania, he can return there too and have his old life back. How is he supposed to send people? Well, he has a sentient truck that he has to work with, and by committing vehicular manslaughter together, uhh something something magic will send that person to the other world! He starts out really grumpy because he hates working with others, but they eventually start to bond. There's also a mysterious woman who keeps trying to sabotage their efforts, claiming that Shiko's being fooled by the Sun King. Also he discovers that yeah, he is from Earth originally, he has a sister, he's simply a pawn in a much bigger war and everything he's been doing has been for the benefit of the enemy, and he's not cis. Fun times!

Extra fun facts: His traveling party when he was a hero mostly consisted of women but it's not really a harem because nobody had any romantic interest in him; he has a pendant I always forget to draw on him but he can't take it off so he hides it under his shirt or cloak (which I also forget to draw him in); he and the truck eventually get in a queerplatonic relationship with each other

[wolfism]

I watched The Devil in Ohio on Netflix. Sadly, the experience was rather disappointing for me. I hoped it would go differently in its narrative. It has a lot going for it, the soundtrack is awesome, so are the visuals, but I found some of the choices they made poor.

I can't really confidently comment on the portrayal of the cult, but it felt half-assed and underwhelming to me. I've definitely seen better in films and series.

It actually reminded me of Ghost Wars in its flaws. The actions and reactions of the characters weren't always plausible or organic to me (like that dude from that center who pulls a weird face when Mae says her thanks? What was that about? Or Isaac for that matter, even before Mae and Jules were friends for a hot second. Like they just had an instant dislike for her when Mae hadn't to our knowledge behaved strangely to them).

I can definitely can get behind Suzanne's and Mae's characterization (Alex too, really, but he was in the end just a good cop without much else going for him), but not so much for the rest of the cast.

I can understand some of the concerns the characters have in regards to Mae, especially when we find out what the cult is capable of and that they approached Suzanne and her family for fostering Mae. It was not a good call of Suzanne to bring Mae into their home the way she did. Sure, Mae didn't let the hostility scare her, but she clearly is a very traumatized girl who probably needs a whole lot of therapy which I think Suzanne couldn't provide entirely.

It triggered her own trauma which she hadn't addressed apparently very well herself. Mae and her were imprinting on each other a lot. I also do see that Mae behaved sometimes manipulative or dangerously, I feel like the narrative wants to frame it like she is actually a bad guy, especially considering the end? But I feel like it's due to the way she grew up in that cult and her deep desire to stay with the family or at least Suzanne. And that's kind of fucked up and to be honest, while I think the way they portrayed it was poor, I understand the dad's decision that his children shouldn't be around their mom or Mae for now (he flips a little when it comes to pointing fingers, in the end saying it was his fault too because he didn't reign Suzanne in better or whatever and was definitely blaming a teenager at one point). Don't get me wrong, I hated how they handled that conflict within the family. But while the kids were douchebags (well, Jules and Helen were, Dani was initially friendly, but then grew cautious) to Mae, I can buy into teenagers having a hard time dealing with a very traumatized person and it's fine if the dad decides he would rather have his kids not around that. They surely told him off-screen what they had experienced. The fact that Mae's brother approached Jules was definitely a big fucking thing (who later on looked forward to killing Suzanne). I just think it sucks that in their eyes Mae was responsible for it all and I also don't think the kids were ever in serious danger in Mae's presence (though again, her life experience led her to do questionable things and I think it's fair to say that she did some of them selfishly, but the narrative should have discussed that better, especially considering the ending. Also did I miss the part where Suzanne made sure Mae was going to therapy??) But, it was dangerous for them in association. I hated how they framed the victim Mae here. Same in some ways with Suzanne. The fact that her family was commenting on the whole situation, along the lines of, 'hopefully mom gets her shit together.' Was Suzanne going overboard with a dangerous cult and acted recklessly at times? For sure. But it isn't like Mom just doing something silly and annoying. Like??? Should have phrased that way differently. Besides, the fucking cult is to blame here for being that way and not Mae and Suzanne (who initially didn't know the extent and just wanted to help a young person in a hard situation). I'm definitely torn on this.

I just think the execution was bad. Some of the conflicts felt far-fetched and half-cooked. I don't mind an open, bittersweet or unhappy ending at all, but this one felt weird.

And what is the final message of the series? Like many Netflix productions, funnily enough, I feel like this show didn't know exactly what it wanted to be?

I don't think I liked it.

[ladystoneboobs]

just thinking about how cat reminded ned he knew robert as a man, but not a king, and advised robb to treat theon as a hostage, not a friend, but she couldn’t take her own advice about thinking politically without bias from a shared childhood when it came to believing littlefinger. about how a close bond with a foster brother which ends tragically through trust betrayed is something robb stark had in common with both his parents. i mean, we know fostering was a very common practice in westeros, but did anyone do it as angsty and tragic as these people?

outwardly, one might think theon/robb was more like ned/robert, both being two dudes enjoying a bromance. however, while theon did have some qualities shared with robert like enjoying wine and womanizing (and i imagine robert also tried to be a rowdy bad influence on his younger, more honorable stark bro similarly to theon urging robb to kill jaime lannister and trying to regale him with tales of his sexcapades), i’d say in other ways theon’s position was vastly different because robert and ned were equals as guests of jon arryn. (equals both as high-ranking nobles, and both being wards, neither jon arryn’s actual son.) robert, if anything, would have had the higher status as he was a lord in his own right while ned was a second son unexpected to inherit, and even before robert was king being a cousin of the royal family would still mean something. 

but petyr baelish, otoh, even if not a hostage like theon, was of such a lower noble status than his host family at riverrun that nobody could be unaware of the difference, just as everyone remembered that theon came from an enemy family. this outsider status eventually led to feelings of rejection and resentment for both men which partly caused their betrayals of their foster families and attempts to supplant them. petyr helped start a civil war to avenge his thwarted love for catelyn and hoster tully’s scorning him as a suitor for either daughter, but also for his own self-advancement, ending up rewarded by the lannister regime with hoster tully’s title as lord paramount of the trident, a gift tyrion noticed he particularly savored. theon took the starks’ home by force and trickery, in a doomed attempt to hold winterfell for his own permanently. there the similarity ends, as theon never had littlefinger’s level of bitterness towards the starks, admitting his love for them after his betrayal, amid all his grief and regret. and even when he was trying to steal winterfell, he was still, in a twisted way, trying not just to replace the starks but prove himself like them, a worthy lord like ned, even as he was murdering ned’s people.

it’s this element of unrequited love or, at least, incompatible wishes that really unites catelyn/petyr, ned/robert, and robb/theon. robert, petyr, and theon all had some reason for dissatisfaction with their families of birth which made them even more inclined to be attached to their respective foster siblings. theon thought that robb was more a brother to him than either of his bullying greyjoy brothers, and even if ned wasn’t really a surrogate father, theon still cared about his ways more than his own father’s. theon remembers as a boy wishing to marry sansa so ned would accept him as a son, recognizing this to be a child’s fancy, but at 19 he tried to unite the families by making his father allies with robb, a plan which proved to also be at odds with the reality of his family circumstances. littlefinger was an only child born to a father of new blood, low rank, and meager holdings, making him ready to be awed and attracted by the tullys at rivverrun. infatuated with catelyn (who had rejected him at least once), and knowing that he too would never be wanted as a son-in-law by his foster father, he challenged brandon stark to a duel for her hand. this near-fatal event was born of romantic desperation and an idea as delusional as some of theon’s plans, considering his size and skill compared to his rival. robert was never close to either of his brothers, and especially not the one close to him in age, stannis. he repeatedly claimed, from his first scenes at winterfell to his last on his death bed, that ned was the only man he could trust, including his brothers. he further believed that he and ned were meant to rule together, and that they should be joined by blood and ties of marriage as well as affection. ned shared neither of these beliefs. despite all his own feelings of robert being “more than a brother” and joy at finally seeing him again, his own home and real family is proven to be what he valued most. he was happy living far away from robert for all those years, only seeing him during the greyjoy rebellion, wanting neither the handship nor the joffrey/sansa match. though he once lamely defended robert to lyanna, it doesn’t seem he really thought that match was very good either, pointing out that robert didn’t know lyanna as he did. lyanna herself did not return robert’s feelings at all. this lack of knowledge of the real lyanna and robert’s idea that her loss could be made up for by his sharing grandkids with ned through sansa/joffrey, suggest that part of his fixation on lyanna was just because she was ned’s sister, not unlike theon wanting to marry sansa because she was ned’s daughter and robb’s sister. (and ofc littlefinger is also using sansa to make up for his lost first love, grooming her as a replacement for catelyn, even while married to cat’s sister as his consolation prize tully wife.)

if the doomed desires link all three of these fostering cases, it’s the nature of the betrayals and their effects that distinguish them. robert did not intend to harm ned or any other stark and their relationship can be seen as a mutual betrayal. robert exploited ned’s friendship by dragging him unwillingly to court with the selfish aim of ned doing all his work for him, only to betray ned’s hopes for him as king by refusing to listen to his counsel anyway and still insisting on the murder of the last targs. and though ned’s loyalty to robert led to his doom, he thrice betrayed his duty as hand after learning the truth about cersei’s kids. first, by warning her, then keeping silent at robert’s deathbed, and lastly, choosing to permanently keep the secret by falsely admitting joffrey’s claim in an attempt to protect sansa. (that last act was another proof of ned’s ultimate loyalty on top of secretly raising lyanna’s son by rhaegar throughout robert’s reign.) though ned’s actions wouldn’t have happened without robert’s willingness to murder kids, his death causes ned to be forgiving and blame himself for both their fates. littlefinger’s betrayal is the most premeditated and heinous, he twice lied to catelyn to foment conflict with the lannisters, led her husband to arrest and execution, and the war he helped engineer ultimately cost cat’s life as well (even if that part was not his design), then he moved on to groom cat’s daughter, murder her sister, and poison lysa’s only child. but his lies to catelyn, and ned’s death after his promise of help, do not alter her opinion of him. even when doubting tyrion’s guilt she does not suspect the source of the accusation, refusing to follow her considerations to realize that if tyrion were innocent it meant littefinger was a liar because of what that would mean for her. theon set out intending to help robb by an alliance between their families but his father refused and he was forced to follow balon instead. however, the invasion of the north was ordered by balon, but the capture of winterfell was theon’s own choice. and his lies made it even more personally painful to robb by murdering two boys to pass off as bran and rickon for the sake of his own pride. robb was devastated by the loss of his home, the murder of his people, and the presumed deaths of his little brothers most of all. 

this is what sets theon/robb out as most tragic of all imo, a double inheritance of unfortunate foster brothers making the pain that much stronger in the next generation. unlike his father robb could not still love his foster brother the same way during his final days, and unlike his mother he not only had the painful knowledge of his betrayal but was made to believe the betrayal even worse by theon’s own lies and the boltons blaming him for the sack of winterfell. all of this came because robb sent theon to make an alliance which they both genuinely wanted and could have helped them win the war together. in that early-wof5k time, they were more in sync than ned and robert in king’s landing or catelyn and petyr during her betrothal to brandon, but it was a still an impossible dream fated to burst and only bring ruin.

[allforthe-gay]

Do you mind if I ask your top 10 favorite characters (can be male or female) from all of the media that you loved (can be anime/manga, books, movies or tv series)? And why do you love them? Thanks....

oh my gods thank you so much for asking i could go on and on about these characters tbh ✨

Laurent of Vere (Captive Prince trilogy): okay i admit he's an asshole but like in the best way. he's so outspoken and not afraid to say what he thinks to the point of cruelty and good at swordfighting and dude i wanna be like that. also he is very fucking smart. his mind is like a maze that not many people would be able to figure out. or something. his words are like weapons. and he's stoic but at some specific times you see him being expressive (sometimes against his will) like when he blushes at something Damen says or actually smiles or laughs and it just warms my fucking heart i love him so much tbh

Nico di Angelo (PJO): he helped me get over my homophobia when i was a kid. this dude has literally gone through so much with his sister dying and dealing with the feelings he had for Percy and the hate he felt he was supposed to have for him and the internalized homophobia and wondering what other people would think about him being gay and also he's powerful as fuck he has a sword made from Stygian Iron he absolutely SLAYED in the last battle against Kronos he's gay he can teleport and he has trauma and survivor's guilt and he wears his fucking avian jacket everywhere and never brushes his hair and survived fucking TARTARUS on his own dude no he's fucking amazing and deserves all the love in the world

Adam Parrish (the Raven Cycle): he is the smartest person alive probably. he survived his stupid abusive fucking father and works really hard in school and in life because he believes you have to do that to get somewhere in life and he wants to fucking get somewhere. he cares so much about his friends and is not disaster bisexual representation no that boy is organized as fuck. we should all feel lucky that he exists we as a community as a fucking planet do not deserve him <3 also he sacrificed himself to a sentient forest to save everyone i think so that was pretty badass ngl

Ronan Lynch: this dude can literally bring shit out of his dreams. he swears a lot and cares so deeply about his friends it's so fucking beautiful. he dreamed the sentient forest his bf Adam sacrificed himself to. he looks dangerous as fuck and can be when he wants to but also he's just a huge softie. he's gay and he used to fist fight his older brother and he can dream things that don't make logical sense into existence. he is just,,,,, this amazing fucking character and right now it's hard to put it all into words but bottomline: i'm happy he exists

Andrew Minyard (All for the Game): he has been through so. much. this man keeps knives in the fucking leather band thingies on his arms which he wears to cover the scars he has from all the self harm that he inflicted because he was fucking r*ped when he was seven (for the first time, anyway) by his older foster brother (fuck Drake Spear, the bastard). he cares so much about some people but doesn't show it in very obvious ways, mostly. i mean he killed his mom because she was abusing his twin brother and if that isn't love then love doesn't exist. i'm so happy he survived all that shit. he survived and has found a family in the Foxes and a boyfriend in Neil Josten who he loves very much and hdjdjfjskxkdkd

Neil Josten: was on the run for like eight years with his mom from his crazy ass father who wanted to murder them. even after his mother died after bleeding out from a wound his father inflicted and he burned her body along with their car and buried her bones he lasted a full day without puking his guts out, and then he kept going. so many would've just given up at that point, understandably i think. but he didn't. and then he became a Fox and was playing Exy and failed his attempts to not get attached to his teammates he grew to care about them all so much especially Andrew who he is in love with and whose boundaries he respects like he has literally actively put himself in harm's way so many times just so nothing will happen to his family and Andrew. he cares so much i love him.

Blitzø (Helluva Boss): literally just a guy. well i mean an imp one of the denizens of Hell who decided to open up his own assassin company thingy where you'd pay him and he'd go to the human world with the help of the grimoire his sorta fuckbuddy ish crush Stolas lends him and with his employees to kill the person you want them to kill. so yeah that's pretty badass. yknow, in a weird, twisted way. he's also foul-mouthed as fuck which is always fun to see :) but what made me kinda connect to his character is the dude's estimate for his own self worth is basically non-existent he pushes away anyone who cares about him and puts up the facade of an annoying asshole (which he kinda is naturally) to not deal with his feelings sometimes. i relate

Wylan Van Eck (Six of Crows): his dad is a fucking asshole who wanted him killed because he can't read. who the fuck does that literally wtf. but he escaped and joined the Crows [Kaz, Inej, Jesper (who is his boyfriend), Nina, and Matthias (dead)] who are all just kids who are fighting to survive in this horrible ass world. also they want money to buy stuff which, same. but Wylan has so many strengths like he can create bombs he's a flautist he's good at the sciency stuff and music and is smart as fuck and he's such a pure person like. i love him so much <3

Will Byers (Stranger Things): this guy cares so much about his friends and family and will do anything to help make sure they're okay. he's in love with his best friend and he thinks he's a mistake which he is NOT. he is a fucking GIFT to mankind we should all feel lucky he exists because we do not fucking deserve him. it broke my heart to see him being pushed aside and forgotten but in season five he better get all he deserves and more. literally i love him so much and i love when he's a little rude and rolls his eyes and that one time he asked Jonathan “is that why you don't have any friends ?” with the most innocent fucking face ever like he is the best. i love him. #will byers supremacy

Angel Dust (Hazbin hotel): okay i watched this at like 3am today and can i just say: AMAZING. like his character is just so publicly flamboyant and i love that for him. i mean i guess it's literal Hell and no one gives a shit but he's there and he's a sex worker and dude does not give a fuck about what other people think. he cares about specific people and his best friend is Cherri Bomb and they did the music video thing together where we find out he was (still is, i guess) sexually abused by this bitch Valentino who we should all hate. fuck him seriously why are people so horrible. he cries and resorts to the sex and drugs as a way to numb the pain. fuck. he even died from a drug overdose. i hope when we get the hazbin hotel series he's like okay and stuff because i love him so much for and it hurts that that shit happened to him.

so yeah this is my list not necessarily in this order😅 thanks again for asking i appreciate it <3

[mayihavethisdanse]

“What is this, the Dark Ages?”

Or, Arthurian themes and allusions in the Brotherhood of Steel mythos as seen in Fallout 4. (But that’s a lot of words.)

Yep. We're doing this. 

First, some obligatory caveats: there is no single Arthurian canon, just 1500 years of assorted fanfic based on the whims of whoever was writing at the time. For this extremely highbrow Tumblr meta, I have ignored most of it and drawn on my favorites. Also Wikipedia.

Also, I am not an expert in Arthurian literature (or Fallout lore, come to that), and I preemptively beg the pardon of anyone who is.

Finally, in no way am I claiming that all these parallels and thematic echoes are deliberate or even significant. In fact, I'd break it down into:

Clearly deliberate allusions, whether in or out of universe;

Probably coincidence, but could be someone deliberately capitalizing on a coincidental similarity;

Almost certainly coincidence, but fun to speculate about; annnnd

Blatant Monty Python references. (Because of course there are.)

I'll start with the big one.

Arthur Maxson, boy king and unifier

(source)

So across all the retellings and variations of King Arthur’s life story, there are a few consistent elements, particularly in his early life and rise to power. Some of these threads are echoed in the Fallout universe, specifically (and unsurprisingly) in the person of Arthur Maxson.

Both the legendary King Arthur and Arthur Maxson were born with a claim to power lying in their ancestry, both were fostered away from their families, and both proved themselves in combat at a young age. 

King Arthur united the warring kingdoms of Britain into a single entity, making them stronger against outsiders and receiving general admiration and acclaim. Arthur Maxson united the divided factions of the BoS after the events of Fallout 3 and is held in similarly high regard by his men.

The name Prydwen is a reference to the ship of the original King Arthur. Presumably, Arthur Maxson (or someone in the BoS who anticipated his promotion) christened the airship in a deliberate homage to the Arthurian myth.

King Arthur is associated with his legendary sword. I think it’s notable that Maxson’s legend is associated with a bladed weapon, too. ("He killed a DEATHCLAW with a COMBAT KNIFE!”)

Probably coincidence, but fun: the historical emperor Magnus Maximus, who pops up a lot in early Arthurian legend, was known in Welsh as... Macsen. (⌐■_■)

Round Table, but make it dieselpunk

(Continued under the cut.)

Moving away from obvious allusions and into some looser parallels:

Like the Round Table, the Brotherhood is an exclusive knightly order with its leader being the one able to open it up to his chosen few.

Like the Round Table, the BoS sees itself as defending human civilization against forces of chaos. (I’ll touch on their tech-hoarding tendencies when I get to the Grail stuff.) This idea of civilization in the face of chaos goes back to the BoS’s founding, even though the level of isolationism we see in most of the Fallout franchise is not exactly what founder Roger Maxson had in mind: “Notably, Maxson's ultimate intention was to establish the Brotherhood as an organization that works closely with people outside of the Brotherhood, as guardians of civilizations, not its gatekeepers.” (source) In a lot of ways, Arthur Maxson represents a return to his ancestor’s original ideals.

Renegade knights? Internal politics? Traitors within? We gotchu.

In both the medieval legends and in all chapters of the BoS we’ve seen, there’s a big focus on bloodlines (ew). Ironically, it’s probably Arthur Maxson’s unquestionable ancestry that allows him to be more progressive than either of his East Coast predecessors when it comes to boosting Brotherhood numbers by recruitment (even though you can still see a clear division between “born Brotherhood” and recruited soldiers, but that’s a topic for another day). Maxson sees himself as an Elder who "cares for the people"—however misguided and patronizing that attitude might be—and whatever else you might say about the guy, you can't say he doesn't believe he has a duty. Which brings us to…

Know Your Enemy: Danse as Gawain

Before I start this section, an acknowledgement of authorial bias:

Gawain, as portrayed in the Middle English poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, is my very favorite of King Arthur’s knights. (Other stories aren't always as flattering, but like I said at the outset: I'm sticking to the ones I like.)

That poem is my very favorite piece of medieval Arthurian literature. In this section, I'll refer to the modern English translation by Simon Armitage.

...that’s it, I have no other biases to disclose. 

What? 👀

(Art: Clive Hicks-Jenkins)

All right. So in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, you’ve got this himbo loyal knight of Arthur’s who finds himself caught up in... you know what, let me just paste in the Wikipedia summary. (The Toast, RIP, also did a pretty entertaining and more-or-less accurate recap.)

It describes how Sir Gawain, a knight of King Arthur's Round Table, accepts a challenge from a mysterious "Green Knight" who dares any knight to strike him with his axe if he will take a return blow in a year and a day. Gawain accepts and beheads him with his blow, at which the Green Knight stands up, picks up his head and reminds Gawain of the appointed time. In his struggles to keep his bargain, Gawain demonstrates chivalry and loyalty until his honour is called into question by a test involving the lord and the lady of the castle where he is a guest.

Don’t worry too much about the plot details, though; for this post, I’m more interested in the thematic parallels. The Green Knight story is full of contrasts: order vs. chaos, civilization vs. wilderness, mortal man vs. Other... but let’s start with Gawain himself. 

Some stuff to know about Gawain:

He was "as good as the purest gold, devoid of vices but virtuous and loyal". Gawain took his principles more seriously even than the rest of Arthur’s knights, not out of pride but out of humility: "I would rather drop dead than default from duty," he says. 

He’s faithful and honorable and never even tempted to betray an oath, even when offered every variety of seduction and riches, except for a single moment of weakness in a desperate desire not to be executed for random shit by powerful forces for reasons he doesn't understand.  

Even though he doesn’t really understand why he needs to die, he sticks to his oath. Gawain's one weakness is a moment of desperate, private, human desire for survival. He'll submit to the headsman’s axe if he has to, but he'd still rather live. 

Above all, Gawain is the ideal of a human man: he might be the bravest and loyal man there is, but he’s still fundamentally human.

You can probably see where I'm going with this.

A few more fun facts about Gawain that resonate with Paladin Danse’s story:

He’s got a bunch of really shitty brothers. (No comment.)

Gawain (SPOILERS!) doesn't actually end up beheaded, but he does willingly kneel for his execution and gets a cut on the throat as a reminder of his sin. And, uh, Danse can also get his throat cut! It doesn’t end as nicely but it’s, you know, a thing that can happen.

Gawain might be a really good guy, and he tries really hard to be one, but in the end he’s nothing more than that: there’s nothing supernatural about him, he has no special powers beyond his own principles and devotion. He’s just a dude doing his Best. 

Wait, why not Danselot?

Oh, that guy? Here’s the thing.

Lancelot personifies the continental ideals of courtly love that became popular in the High Middle Ages. Central to his story is the prioritization of personal relationships and romantic feelings in a way that you don’t really see in Gawain's, at least in the Green Knight tale. (Later stories hook Gawain up with an extremely delightful lady, but even that is a different flavor of romance than Lancelot's and has more to do with Gawain honoring his word and his egalitarian treatment of women (hell yeah). In the poem, Gawain is impressed by Bertilak's wife but resists her temptation; in fact, the biggest risk is not that he'll yield to her advances but that he'll be discourteous to her, i.e., violate his principles and cause dishonor to his king and his host.)

Lancelot is driven by passions over principles in a way that Gawain never really is (at least in the stories I’m talking about; later writers have committed character assassination to various degrees). Yes, you could argue that both Gawain and Lancelot betray their oaths, but Lancelot’s betrayal is never, um, blind. He knows what he’s doing and makes a deliberate choice to prioritize his love for the queen over his love for the king. It doesn’t make him a bad guy—he too is an ideal knight with one fatal flaw—but his character isn’t as comparable to Paladin Danse. 

Yeah, Gawain is (in most stories) a prince and a kinsman of Arthur’s, but he’s ultimately a native boy who doesn’t break the mold of a Knight of the Round Table. Likewise, Danse is portrayed as competent and valuable to the BoS, but not exceptional or breaking the mold of what a BoS soldier should be: he simply represents the ideal. Meanwhile, Lancelot is a foreign prince who was marked from childhood as special and fancy, and his storyline goes alllll over the place. (Much like this post.)

For example, Lancelot goes to absolutely absurd extremes to prove his devotion for no other reason than to prove it. (“I’ll do any useless humiliating thing you want. I’ll betray every oath except the one I made to you. That’s what love is!”) Gawain would never. Danse would never.

Ultimately, Gawain's tests are of his character and not of his love. And like Gawain, Danse’s devotion is to service and his principles, not to another person—even Arthur Maxson.

All that said, there are some similarities: both are beloved by Arthur, both are held up as the ideal of what a knight should be. And even if their fatal flaws are different, both make the point that no matter how good and brave and loyal they might be, no human being can be perfect. 

(Except Galahad. Who is, as a result, very boring.) 

I’ll conclude this section with a quote from someone else’s take on the Greek Knight poem:

I like Gawain. He’s not perfect, but he’s trying his best which is all any of us can do. He’s not like the other knights in the Arthurian legends who occasionally ‘accidentally’ kill women on their little adventures and then feel hard done by when they have to deal with the consequences of that. Gawain holds himself to a high standard – higher, it seems, than Arthur and his knights hold him to considering how hard they laugh when Gawain tells them how bad he feels about the whole thing.

I think Gawain is very relatable in this story. We all want to be better than we actually are.

And that, more than anything else, is Danse.

The Grail myth

What’s that? Lost relics of power? Better send some large armed men after ‘em!

The parallels to the BoS’s tech-hoarding ways are obvious enough that the games themselves lampshade them (albeit by way of Monty Python). But it also ties into the larger themes of “purity” versus “corruption” and the BoS’s self-image as a bastion between civilization and chaos. (See Maxson's line in response to the Sole Survivor’s quip about the Dark Ages: “Judging from the state of the world, it wouldn't be a stretch to say we're living in that era again.”)

But the ultimate futility of the Grail mission is also worthy of note. The BoS might want the power of prewar tech on their side, but they’re no more to be trusted with it than any other group of human beings. No matter how they try, the “corruption” of humanity can’t be overcome as long as they’re striving to harness power for their own ends. You can only achieve power by surrendering control of it.

The death of Arthur

The nature of gameplay being what it is, it's not guaranteed that the Arthur figure will be fatally betrayed, bringing Camelot down with him—but it's not unlikely, either.

Awkward.

Some final spitballing:

Outside the Brotherhood, there are some fun parallels of the Arthur myth with the rest of Fallout 4. Betrayal by one’s own son, for example.

The key difference between the BoS and the legendary Round Table: King Arthur’s knights, for all their flaws and human weaknesses, are usually presented as unambiguous Good Guys. The BoS is... a little more ambiguous...

...but damn if they don’t think they're the good guys. 

A-ad victoriam, fellas!