#i cherish them both

[nanomooselet]

My Brother's Keeper (VII)

Knives, despite it all, I do indeed pity you. You horrible creature. More than you might imagine anyone would dare.

I said some time ago that Knives has agency and Vash doesn't, and that the Eye of Michael's dogma demands sacrifice.

One lives. One dies.

When Knives tells Vash to leave humanity, it's at that very instant Vash realises the truth: that this isn't about the Plants versus humans. It was never about that, ever, and trying to dissuade Knives from continuing his descent by arguing from that premise isn't ever actually going to work.

It's about how discovering Tesla broke them in two. It broke reality, cracked the singular unit they once believed themselves to be in half, and sent each half down forever-separate paths in both space and time.

Vash, through Rem, decided he could face the future. Even despite this discovery, how apathetically cruel the world is to the innocent, the future is always ours to shape as long as we live to choose. Rem showed him that through acknowledging and accepting responsibility for the pain of the past, even if once ignorant or complicit, one could learn and heal, and therefore work to be free of it. Not perfect. Never perfect. But still better.

Nai only saw potential pain. The fear of facing the world where it could be inflicted, and of those who'd done so, consumed him. He would erase both by returning to the past, the innocence and ignorance of having never learned the frightening truth. He'd thus build a paradise, an Eden, where no sin was committed and no sinner would set foot. He alone, in his own singular perfection, was fit both to assume this task and the power - and thus the right - to fulfil it.

Since when have we been so different?/Who are you? We've become so different I don't think I even know you anymore.

Vash begins to cry because he sees now that Nai… Nai is gone. Maybe he ran for too long, or maybe the Nai he thought he knew never existed. It doesn't matter anymore. There's nothing of his brother left to love in this monster before him, who's done everything that he's done and isn't sorry and wants to keep doing it by seizing control over Vash's own body. (Even though they look more like each other now than they have since they were kids, which still absolutely ruins me.) Vash grieves his brother, his brother's love and their togetherness in the past, but he finally knows for sure that they're gone, and he must define his own identity, and move beyond them.

His declaration that he'll always run isn't about running from humanity, anymore than Knives is truly fighting for the freedom of the Plants.

Seriously, Knives isn't fighting for the freedom of the Plants. He thinks he is, because he thinks that justifies controlling their bodies and consuming their power and benefiting from their suffering, but he's reversed cause and effect. He acts and so they suffer, but he believes their suffering is what motivates his actions and not his fear and his greed for the power to destroy whatever he fears. It's circular, and it's entirely self-centred.

It's the logic not of a liberator but of the entire system of oppression.

Knives's paradise, the home to which he's so desperate to return, no longer exists. It never will again. Not for him or for Vash or for the Plants. Knives himself broke it. Knives himself ripped it out of the heavens and plunged it into the earth, shattering it, so he could reshape the pieces into something that he alone controlled. Knives will always assume control, and he won't stop if you give what he says he wants, because he won't admit or even try to understand that it's not the truth.

He wants to stop being scared and alone. He wants his brother to need him and never leave him. He wants his mother, but she's gone. (He killed her. Over and over and over again he kills her and she's still always gone and he hates her for always being gone. Why is she gone? Why didn't she stay? He asked. He gave her a choice.)

(Yet in Vash's memories and in the people he loves, Rem's spirit lives on, and always will. She still loves him, her perfect boy, even still protects him, just as she promised she would. Did you guys know Vash's coat is bulletproof? Did you guys realise Vash literally still walks around kicking ass in the protective embrace of his mother? I actually had to take a minute, when I figured it out. It made me tear up.)

I was rejected?

Let me back in! Take me back.

Knives wants to go home. To be a child again with Vash by his side. Innocent, together, in paradise. But once you've grown up, you can never really go home again. It's a fundamentally selfish desire to want everything to go back to being the same forever - what it means is that because it was good or kind for you specifically, everyone else has to conform whether it was good and kind to them or not. There's always danger in nostalgia even when it's not misplaced. It encourages destructive nihilism, malicious and ignorant apathy. If the best can only ever be behind us, there is no reason to try to go on.

Vash is not nostalgic. Vash will run, and run, and keep running. For a lifetime if he has to - and a Plant's lifetime is a long one. It's not that he hasn't made a choice, but that he'd already made it long ago: to be free of Knives, to live and to fight for independence from his brother's abusive care, and to find a way to unite humans and Plants, the purpose he's been eager and happy to serve since the day he found it. Rem's dream is one he longs to fulfil, and he finally knows he has the power, intelligence, resilience, strength and above all, the right to take up that task.

He's just acknowledged and accepted that it's not also his purpose to help his stupid brother, not if this is all he gets in response. Dismissed, ignored, insulted, his grief and compassion mocked; abused, put down, smothered, injured, rendered permanently disabled, scarred, violated, traumatised. Forced into the shape that Knives imagines he should be in, pieces cut away until he fits the image in his brother's head.

It's very sad that after all that Knives has done to him, Vash doesn't value his own life and wellbeing enough to care for himself as much as he cares for everyone else in the world. But it still beats Knives trying to do it for him. He's so bad at it.

In the past, on occasions such as this, when Vash demonstrated like... the capacity to sort of almost disagree, Knives would yell at him suddenly and loudly enough that Vash would freeze up in terror, and then Knives would do whatever he wanted regardless. My man isn't good at hearing the word "no". If yelling or insults failed, he'd do something physically violent. I've seen a lot of takes on how funny and/or gay it is that Vash's reaction to Wolfwood grabbing his lapels and threatening to torture him to death is... this.

But understand that when Vash suggests an alternative that doesn't involve mass murder, his brother tends not to agree to it. Or stop at threats. Vash's arguments with Knives always make Vash sound a bit pathetic and dumb because Knives doesn't actually engage Vash - he shuts him down or insults him, telling him he's too weak and stupid to even speak. He has no respect at all for Vash's opinions, abilities, or as a person - honestly, I wouldn't treat an animal this way.

When someone finally respects your beliefs and abilities after they've been coldly or violently dismissed so many times, that's… how it feels.

Knives assumed that Vash had no powers so he was weak, and then when Vash did demonstrate powers, that Vash was weak because he was frightened of them. As usual, the trauma he's inflicted maybe being the problem never entered his mind; it's always Vash's fault. When Vash finally has both power and the will to assert control of it, he finally has the capacity and strength to enforce his refusal. And that leaves Knives finally exhausted of any means to break his will.

Except one. One final choice.

Vash is right: the plan has failed and this is over. Knives can never again have the power he desires, and what's more, Vash would rather be shot at for another hundred years than be together with his brother in paradise.

In spite of everything Knives has done to destroy it, the independent identity of Vash the Stampede yet survives. And so.

One lives.

One dies.

Nai is dead.

There's no turning back.

(The stars are falling down.)

And no one ever really goes home.

If you want to tell me Stampede is a poor quality adaptation, it's not funny and it's shallow and Vash is a loser now and there's no Milly and they're just exploiting the property and if it just hadn't been called Trigun maybe... maybe...

Maybe! You're entitled to an opinion. I'm open to the discussion. I do always try to assume good faith.

However, I'm still probably not going to agree.

And I'm done. Now I need to lie down on the floor and cry over my beautiful disaster twins. Thank you very much for reading! I encourage you to be as insane in the tags as you feel moved to be, because I crave validation.

(Extreme Lesbianism for Meryl Stryfe: Coming Soon.)

(Part I)

(Part II)

(Part III)

(Part IV)

(Part V)

(Part VI)

[orionchildofhades]

to follow up my post about the minyard twins being different for every fan here is my take :

my twins are short but like big, broad shoulders, soft belly, andrews chest and arms are bigger than arrons and arrons thighs and calves bigger than andrews, at least in uni while they both play. stubby fingers, short nails, veiny arms.

yellowish blond, short hair, around ear length, aaron likes to keep them out of his face while andrew just leave it be, the short strands often in his eyes.

very light eyebrows and eyelashes, long nose, aaron as a mole on his jaw but no one seems to realise the difference. most of the foxes were convinced they didn't have body hair because of how light they are, until aaron messed around with tape and violently waxed his arm.

very light skin, prone to sunburn quite literally anytime. the tips of their ears and the top of their shoulders are doted with freckles.

one of andrews ear is pierced with a simple black nail, one of his eyebrow is split with a silver piercing, he gets his nostril too later, kind of for the joke but he actually likes it. he has a scar near his hairline but it's so pale against his already white skin it's barely noticable.

aaron wears a single ring on his thumb, he doesn't have any piercing but he likes them, it simply doesn't fit with his lifestyle, both as a heavy sport player, exy is nasty, and a future doctor. he has a scar across his eyebrow from tilda, the same eyebrow andrew got pierced. he also has a dent in one of his front teeth but no one quite knows from what, a rough game? a bitch mother? stupid children being children? a fight? young nicky and he made friendship bracelet once, and he still wears his around his ankle. he likes to stay out in the sun and is usually a bit more tan than his twin, or just more red depending how long he stayed out and how much sunscreen he put on.

[inamindfarfaraway]

The Exorcists’ Masks of Virtue

The vast majority of Exorcists in Hazbin Hotel have a notable design element that other angels don’t: their masks are missing an eye. Specifically, the right eye.

I believe this is a reference to the Bible, Matthew 5:29. Jesus says, “If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.”

He’s being hyperbolic. Mr Free Healthcare was not pro-mutilation. What he means is that you have to be willing to make sacrifices to prevent sin. The context of the eye metaphor is him condemning adultery and warning that even something as easy, casual and small as a look full of lustful intent can lead to further, worse sin if you don’t notice your sin, hold yourself accountable for it and do the work to not let it influence your decisions. This will probably be hard. It could be very, very painful. Changing your perspective can feel as horrible as plucking out your eye, so many people can’t bring themselves to do it. But although it won’t feel that way in the moment, it’s healthier for our general wellbeing in the long run to abandon traits and behaviours that damage ourselves and/or others.

(You may notice that Jesus’s teaching that you can have sinned, redeem yourself by giving up sin and thus escape damnation is the founding principle of the Hazbin Hotel. You may also notice that it contradicts everything the Exorcists believe.)

The Exorcists seem to follow this idea of painfully excising badness for the sake of the greater good devoutly to the point of placing it above teachings like ‘Thou shalt not kill’, with their job being to remove sin, in the form of sinners, to protect Heaven. Hence the missing right eyes. They’re a declaration of moral righteousness and inability to stumble.

But the truth is that the Exorcists all have their right eyes. Their flawlessness is a facade. Underneath, they are untouched, think themselves morally untouchable and, as shown by their horror and outrage when even one of them is killed, would much rather be physically untouchable too. This perfectly represents their complete unwillingness to acknowledge their own faults, let alone improve. They are never the ones who sacrifice. They force the sinners to sacrifice and don’t compensate it with any salvation. They metaphorically rip out the sinners’ eyes, but still condemn their entire bodies as inherently, permanently sinful. So they’ll just have to do another Extermination to get the other eyes! And another one to cut off their right hands! And so on until there’s nothing left.

The only exception to the rule is Vaggie, both in appearance and character. Her mask has the left eye crossed out instead. Even before her expulsion, she’s set apart to the audience as an Exorcist who has the capacity to, shall we say, see a different side of things. Her mask having its ‘sinful’ right eye reflects her understanding that the Exorcist worldview is wrong.

When she almost kills a demon child, her hateful vision clears. She discards the part of herself that’s an unquestioning, merciless agent of death, terror and grief… and as punishment for what Lute perceives as treacherous weakness, gets her eye plucked out.

Of course Lute leaves her with only the ‘sinful’ eye. It brands Vaggie forever as the inversion, a perversion, of what the Exorcists are meant to be.

You know, all this talk of eye removal in the Bible reminds of another line - ‘an eye for an eye’. Adam directly quotes it in “Hell is Forever”. He uses it to frame the Exterminations as Old Testament-style punitive justice; the sinners did harm and so they receive it. But putting aside the debate about how ethical the concept of revenge is, the entire point of taking an eye for an eye is that it’s proportional. The punishment fits the crime. If someone cuts your eye out, you shouldn’t murder their whole family in front of them and then slowly disembowel them to death. That would be the sin of wrath. You should just make them pay without excessive pain or collateral damage. This is the fairest form of revenge.

The Exorcists don’t do that! The Exterminations aren’t proportional to the wrongs of all they hurt, nor was Vaggie’s brutal punishment equivalent to her extremely mild insubordination. Lute literally takes Vaggie’s eye, and more, after Vaggie does nothing to her! That’s the opposite of the phrase! Adam and his soldiers are wrathful and cruel, deriving satisfaction from others’ suffering. But they just can’t stop going on and on about how disgustingly evil the sinners are, in total hypocrisy… despite some of the sinners being far better people than the genocidal Exorcists are… it’s like they’re obsessed with specks of dust in the sinners’ eyes when they have massive logs stuck in their own. Oh hey, that’s in the Bible too!

[artsycooky13]

i just find it really sweet but also find the contrast super funny that steven always has a smol cute pic of connie by his bedside, meanwhile connie has a big hecking poster of him  (and lion <3)

[fizzytoo]

amaya and karlee settle into chestnut ridge smoothly. karlee's living with amaya temporarily, choosing to staying close to her sibling while also figuring out her place in the world. just two kids miles away from their childhood in sulani…

[em-exceeds-change-zearu]

so after reading the new eyeshield 21 oneshot i came to a very important realization

[celestialrealms]

I just noticed Mephisto matches with Barbatos (who is matchy with Diavolo) in the anniversary outfits in his SSR memory card

These three were also the only three who had half masks in the masquerade event!!!

Anyway, The Royals with Mephisto chat group when? We got one for Purgatory Hall with Raphael..... it's just fair !!

And one for Mephisto and Diavolo as well, but also one for Mephisto and Barbatos too. because you can't tell me their relationship isn't deeper than the devs portray when Mephisto has lines like this about Barbatos's room:

[reflectismo]

“I heard a lot of that stuff [‘I’ll Build a Stairway to Paradise’, Paul Whiteman Orchestra, ‘Chicago’] and I think that filled my computer with data. So that when I came to print out later, it was all in there. One of the great things about me and John was we both had that. We talked about some of the songs we liked, and he liked ‘Little White Lies’ … The night that you told me! Those little white lies! I knew that, so it gave us little bonds. That was his print-out. So when we came to write together we had similar print-outs, similar data from our upbringing. People tended to think of John as just a rebel or something; there was this whole other side to him that I liked, and that allowed me to get on better with him than if he’d just been a rebel.”

— Paul McCartney, interviewed in 2019.

[dragonwritersblog]

ML Show Fans: "OMG Awakening was so bad the show has so much more is a hundred times better!"

ML Movie Fans: "The movie is so much better than the show and did things that the show never could!"

Me:

[aroaceleovaldez]

just queued up @deathsibs with like two whole months worth of duo nico and hazel posts that have been sitting in the drafts. usually i alternate posting one of them a day but like a solid 50% of hazel art has nico there too so. finally clearing that out.

im serious there is so much

[note-boom]

Just some thoughts again for this episode sorry but....

Kyouka protecting Atsushi

Tanizaki getting triggered when they hurt Kenji (maybe not as unhinged as he is with Naomi but HE WAS PROTECTIVE OF KENJI)

The way the water the ADA stood next to rippled as soon as they stood up and decided to choose the path that led to less loss of lives...a ripple effect??

YOSANO'S BUTTERFLIES ANIMATED I AM OBSESSED

ALL the character moments like Kenji encouraging the ADA, Tanizaki being frustrated and protective, Kunikida never letting any of them die, Yosano saving them all with her ability, Kyouka going back for Atsushi, poor Atsushi being so out of the loop -

I wonder where the hideout Yosano was going to take them to was going to be....

[nobodys-saviour]

thinking about the little snowman in mc's image zayne did. thinking about how she was like "awww but its gonna be lonely :(" thinking about how zayne immediately made a slightly taller snowman beside it. thinking about how even though not romantic their friendship is so good

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

for some reason im really feeling the Queer Euphoria in this chilis tonight, specifically: being so ambiguous its hilarious. there is No label to describe my orientation/gender. like yeah i use nonbinary bc technically it fits but also bc the flag Fucks. if asked, my only correct answer would be "Wildcard, Motherfucker!"

[mid-nightowl]

<3 5 facts for a celebrity au? (pairing of ur choice!)

hi tauria!!!! thank you for ask :) <3 <3 <3

this is a good one, but it was a challenge. now bear with me, we're gonna do a dickjaytim celebrity au 👀

Jason’s the celebrity (but like minorly?). He's a theater actor and is well-known in theater circles etc., but most people off the street wouldn’t recognize him. He’s a fan favorite on twitter/social media though, for being a scathing but good critic for new books and books-turned-movies. 

>>Tim’s the CEO of Drake Industries and a rival to Wayne Industries in Gotham (but like he doesn’t take it as seriously as he should to the despair of his board). His parents died when he was a teenager and after graduating high school early, just took on the company and does whatever he wants. 

>>Dick is an orphan and the ward-adoptee of Bruce Wayne. Same backstory as canon, circus kid adopted by rich Gothaminite. Bruce and him act more like older brother-younger brothers and act like Alfred is their father/grandfather figure. Bruce is CEO and offered Dick a position at the company but Dick would rather not. Unclear on what job Dick does in this but he’s not a cop (blegh).  

>>Tim and Dick are local celebrities, well-known and often chased by paparazzi, but Jason’s the real focus for this AU.

So, Tim’s a CEO and has to attend galas and rich people events, socialize and get people invested in his company (as well as prove himself a capable CEO despite being so young). He typically hates these events, dreads going, comes up with any excuse he can, but does attend some. He attends a theater play, expecting not to have to talk or socialize too much because it’s a play, and falls head over heels for the main actor, Jason. 

>>Tim sort of falls into being a stalker-y, secret admirer of Jason but Jason’s pretty smitten with all the nice, thoughtful notes and gifts he’s getting (especially compared to some gross ones he gets from Roman Sionis and other old rich dudes hoping to buy his favor). EXCEPT, Timmy’s not the only one in the running for Jason’s hand. 

>>Enter Dick Grayson. Dick was often third-wheel to galas and other events with Bruce and Selina, often exasperated and bored. But, so so similar to Tim, attends an event expecting to be bored out of his mind and is instead captivated by this stunning actor aka Jason. Cue the courting and gifts. 

And expectedly, Tim and Dick both start to realize there’s someone else trying to steal Jason and they figure out who. And this starts an epic rivalry over Jason’s heart. It starts with trying to out-gift the other, both buying Jason elaborate but meaningful gifts (rare books he likes, regular books, flowers and jewelry, donations to his favorite charities, etc). And it escalates rather quickly. I imagine Dick can be downright mean in this and Tim is just as biting, both unashamed in their rivalry and obsession with Jason. Anyways, there’s a lot of fun and hilarious stuff you could do with Dick and Tim fighting without physically fighting. (I’m giggling over them sniping at each other over twitter and Gothamnities just being ???? until Jason [Gotham’s adored theater nerd] chimes in and fans start having a lightbulb moment) 

Eventually, Tim and Dick’s rivalry hits a high point and the two tumble into bed together. And then they both decide they can just share Jason. Jason, of course, is oblivious to all of this. He likes Dick and Tim a lot, like a little too much, but won’t make the first move because he is a shy baby and then starts to think they’re only doing it as like a weird rich kid rivalry ritual and don’t actually care about him or his feelings. 

After Jason’s (inaccurate) revelation, he starts to pull away from Dick and Tim (especially when paparazzi and social media pick up on the fact that Dick and Tim seem to be “dating”). Dick and Tim take this as a challenge, and Jason (and his coworkers/friends) thought it was bad when those two hated each other, but Tim and Dick working together??? It is…terrifying? Impressive? Terrifyingly impressive? Jason’s already head over heels, but now he’s obsessed even more (but also overwhelmed and a bit light-headed at all the swooning he's doing, it’s a bit too much at times). I’m running out of steam here, but eventually Dick and Tim do manage to convince Jason that yes, they do adore him, and no, this is not a weird rich-kid rival thing. And Gotham breathes a sigh of relief when Jason gets caught leaving Dick-Tim's penthouse covered in hickies and wearing their clothes :))

[seraphicalsuccubus]

ARTHAS!!!

Such a cute lil cat, such a great name!

Also happy early birthday! Hope all is well

AHHHH I KNOWWWWW !!!!!

I think it’s very fitting for my sweet little flame point menace boy 😌 I will raise him to be the most powerful Lich King, as his namesake has prophesied, I promise y’all. I do wish I was able to afford to buy his sister along with him though, she was a beautiful little chocolate tortie point Himalayan so she was all mottled at her points with light brown and cream and ugh !!!! and I would’ve named her Calia to match with him 😩 she really was the cutest little thing but I’ve been looking for a flame point boy for AGES so I decided I would pick him of the two since I couldn’t afford both. 🥺 I’ll get a little tortie point girly eventually, maybe once I’m finally out of Connecticut because they’ll be MUCH cheaper and WAY easier to find lol

and oh, thank you, it’s still a week away though haha so you’re very early !!! but you’re very kind, thank you !!! 🖤

[vampcaprisun]

a collection of random headcanons about wyll and zeph (my durge who’s romancing him):

wyll is the main party’s resident guidance-giver (thank you pact of the tome). when zeph wants to ask for it, he just reaches a hand over for wyll to take and wyll casts the spell as he takes it. zeph always makes sure to wyll’s hand a little thank you squeeze when he feels the magic hit. once they’re in a relationship, zeph reaching for wyll’s hand just to hold it often leads to wyll casting an unnecessary guidance out of habit, and the little bursts of accidental magic inevitably make both of them blush.

the two of them are very protective of each other in battle. if they’re both in melee, they almost always fight back to back. even if they’re not next to each other, they always watch each other’s backs with a crossbow bolt or eldritch blast ready for the second they notice that the other might be getting overwhelmed by enemies. zeph tends to be more obviously self-sacrificing about it, and wyll gives him a fair number of stern talks about it, but he’s noticed the darker sides of wyll’s hero act too and will gladly prove when necessary that he can give an earful just as well as wyll can.

zeph is much bigger than wyll and takes every possible opportunity to pick him up. it’s not uncommon to see wyll sitting up on zeph’s shoulders while both of them cheer after a successful fight. astarion declares this formation “the blade of frontiers and his noble steed”, and seeing the two of them approaching like that is often the first way everyone back at camp knows the day went well. karlach never complains about carrying wyll’s things so he isn’t too heavy for zeph to carry that far.

after wyll is transformed, zeph and karlach team up to teach wyll horns 101 — how to take care of them, comfortably sleep with them, and so on. (zeph happily gives him lessons on how to cuddle without them getting in the way.) they also like to take turns decorating them for him, usually with flowers they find growing wherever they are at the time and any makeup or paints they can get their hands on. they’re determined to show him that he doesn’t need to be ashamed of his new form.

in waukeen’s rest, the second wyll says that the person they’re trying to save is his dad, zeph breaks through the door and races in alongside the flaming fist. that’s when wyll first starts to realize he’s falling for zeph — when he watches zeph run straight into a burning building without a second thought, blowing right past a door that four other people working together hadn’t been able to budge, just because he heard someone inside was important to wyll.

late into the night of the tiefling party, when things are winding down, zeph realizes that wyll still hasn’t come back to his tent so he goes to check on him and finds him asleep by the water. instead of waking him up, zeph just picks him up, carries him over to his bedroll, and basically tucks him in. wyll does wake up enough from the motion to notice what’s happening, but he pretends to be asleep still because it’s cute and he doesn’t want zeph to stop. he would never admit that he enjoyed something like that, but when no one knows he’s aware of it and he can pretend he had no idea it was even happening (and he’s half-asleep enough to not care so much about that anyway)? he’s not above indulging in that comfort for a little while.