#more dad nasus to love

[talesofmetalandmagic]

CW for this one: it’s about a child character who almost drowns and there are mentions of ca

It’s a beautiful summer afternoon in Shurima.

His Radiant Perfection Saif the Great, his wife Safiya, their adorable gaggle of princes and princesses, their caretakers Nasus and Renekton and the requisite army of dignitaries, guards, handmaidens and worse are relaxing by a natural lake. Swimming, splashing, re-enacting naval battles and building entire cities in the damp sand.

The water is thick and it goes very deep – not a hassle for the crocodilian Renekton, who can swim all the way down to the bottom as if he was born in there and brings rocks to each of the children.

He basks in the admiration of the small ones; most notably the youngest and least loved, Azir, whose eyes shine as if he’s seen the coolest thing alive.

Minutes pass, and Saif wakes up from his afternoon slumber. He looks around at the children. One, two, three… seven.

Seven.

“Where did Azir go this time?” he asks, almost angrily. That child has a habit of putting himself in bad situations.

And it’s at this point that Nasus casually looks down into the water, almost as if guided by an instinct unknown, and cold sweat coats his fur.

The scream that follows is hoarse and desperate.

“RENEKTON! DIVE!”

“Oh sh-“ the Crocodile’s vulgar response drowns with him as he launches himself into the water, down and further down, where no human could ever go without proper training – and where, barely visible in the long shade, something small and brown floats.

When Renekton swims to the surface, Azir lays in his arms as stiff as a mace. His arms are spread to the side, his body is limp, his dreadlocks are scattered about and his face doesn’t respond to the gentle kiss of air.

Nasus’ heart clenches. No, no no no no… please no.

“What happened to my son?” His Most Glorious Resplendence asks.

“He dove deep, my lord,” one of the guards says. “I’m afraid… he…”

“No. Give him to me.”

Nasus pretty much snatches the child from Renekton’s arms and lays him onto the sand. Then he presses his small chest with force at a regular pattern.

“Come on, Azir. Come on!”

The children form a gaggle around Nasus, hugging each other as they witness what could possibly be the end of their youngest. A couple of them are crying.

“Is he dead?” “Please, Azir, wake up” “Mother, I’m scared”

Her Majesty holds her husband’s firm hand, her eyes fixated on the limp child in whose mouth Nasus is pumping fresh air from his own. Everybody’s looking at them. What kind of Emperor…

“Come on, Azir. Wake up!” Nasus presses his hands so strong he feels a bone creak. It can happen in this kind of procedure. What matters is…

“He’s not dead… is he?”

…that Azir comes to…

“Should we call Xolaani?”

…and meets another day.

“I should have been faster! Dammit! DAMMIT!”

Even Renekton’s own screams of guilt fall on the Jackal’s deaf ears. He presses and pumps, pumps and presses, praying the Sun Disc and all the Masked Ones not to take his favourite child, not him, not one so young and helpless.

And at last a stream of water falls out of Azir’s mouth and his eyes blurt open.

“Hey… hey!” Nasus’ hands barely shake of excitation. “It’s alright, child. I have you. Spit it out.”

He turns Azir to the side and holds him tight as the water keeps streaming down the sand, his little body twitches and clenches, and tears coat his cheeks alongside the water that clogged him.

Among the siblings’ hugs and Renekton’s wail of relief, all Azir sees is Nasus’ smile.

“I feel… funny.”

“It’s alright. You’re safe. I got you.”

Nasus wipes his own tears and, once he’s sure Azir has spit out all the water, he wraps him in a towel and cuddles him. The moment those small arms cling to his neck is the moment he realizes… yes. He saved him.

He sits onto the ground and holds the child close as Saif, holding tight onto the khopesh at his belt to steady his hand, his long thick braid swinging behind him, walks to the son he almost lost.

"Have you gotten it out of your system, Azir?"

"Y-Yes, father" the child blurts out.

"Eyes up. Back steady. You put yourself in grave risk. What pushed you to pursue such a dangerous stunt, pray tell?"

Azir coughs a bit, clinging tighter to Nasus' chest. The Curator massages his back to steady him and soothe him. He's so agitated.

"I merely wanted to imitate Renekton."

Saif takes a deep breath. "Do you fancy yourself an Ascended?"

"Maybe..." he whispers, but one gaze from Saif is enough to freeze him.

"You didn't just put royal blood in grave danger, frightening your mother and siblings and ridiculing our name among all those onlookers, then. You disrespected the very Ascended as well"

Azir covers his face with his small arms – Nasus pulls him tighter as a response. Renekton's thick fingers wrap around the tip of his loincloth.

"Your Radiance, he meant no harm. He's a child."

"And are you a parent, Nasus? I thought so. Don't speak back."

More tears dampen Azir's baby face, but his father turns back. It's done.

"Please, lord Nasus. Accompany this scapegrace back to the palace. His retreat is over"

Azir bows his head and snivels.

"My prince? Could some grapes cheer you up?"

"Nh. Thnk."

Azir sits in the back of the cart, still wrapped in the same blanket he was put in after he recuperated. It's not the first time this happened, nor will it be the last. He's been known for doing... things his siblings don't do.

One year ago he climbed atop the temple roof to see the doves' nests. He was unable to get down and spend the day up there until he passed out for heatstroke. Had Lady Xolaani not been flying nearby, he'd have been lost.

Two years ago a ring he was fidgeting with slipped into the sewers and he dove into them to get it back. Not only did he lose it – which resulted in a a nasty caning from his father, for the ring belonged to his sister who died in battle at only seventeen – but it took five vigorous baths to remove the stench.

Three years ago he went to the stables to pet Father's horses. He was kicked so hard he needed ten stitches – and since Azir is terrified of needles they had to put him to sleep before the healers could get to work, hardly a display of imperial courage.

And now this.

"Why am I so stupid, Nasus?"

Nasus holds the reins with one hand and lends Azir the other, open and welcoming. "You're not stupid, child."

"But my siblings don't act like this. It's all me, and..." he sighs, curling up tighter into the blanket. "I don't want to make Mother and Father upset. They were worried about me. I thought being like Renekton would make them like me more."

Nasus stops the cart.

"Oh, baby bird..."

He slips in the back and holds the child to his chest, rocking him as if he was smaller. He pets his still damp locs, wraps him tighter into the blanket and shushes him, as his pained whining subsides.

"You don't need to imitate Renekton for us to like you. We already like you, and the thought of losing you would have torn us apart. There's nothing wrong with you. Not at all."

Azir sniffles and hugs Nasus' neck. He always knows what to say.

"You don't have to be Renekton, or me, or your father. Just be Azir. We love Azir anyway."

"I'm sorry you're missing out on the retreat", the child whispers, cuddling up to his teacher's neck.

"I don't mind, honey. It's more of a Renekton thing anyway. I'll be myself instead: back home there's a nice book waiting for me. Maybe you'd like it too?"

And seeing the child's face light up seems to melt the Curator's heart as well.

[nasuversekinkmeme]

Prompt Spotlight: pages 1-5

Prompts from the first five pages of this blog which, to my knowledge*, have not been filled.

*I'm doing this from memory, I might have missed a fill or two. If there's a prompt here that has already been filled, well, give it another fill.

TSUKIHIME

Would really love some unethical Akiha/Kohaku/Hisui. Something along the vague lines of "Hisui reducing the collateral damage of Kohaku's plan by having it focus on/drug/ensnare Akiha specifically". Hope that's not too specific, good luck to whoever chooses to take this one! <3

Ciel/Akiha consensual blood drinking

FATE/STAY NIGHT

can we get some shirou/rin fluff?

Illya deserves to be kissed. i don't care who is doing the kissing, be creative

something with sakura x illya! ive actually written something for this ship in the past but it's not a super popular pairing and i need more... so i am tossing it in here to spread the word :3

Illya doing some killing as a treat

Saber and Illya having solidarity about their stunted growths

Saber/Caster on a date!

a SakuRider with the same energy that the Saber/Caster scene had

Shirou just discovered that every woman he knows is a lesbian

FATE/HOLLOW ATARAXIA

fuck it, crack ship. bazett/saber fucking nasty. we love repressed women and the dam holding their desires back breaking

FATE/APOCRYPHA

Cute gay fluff with Atalanta

smut, Mmmmmmmmm Siegfried under the effects of sex pollen, And someone has to help him out with his problem, (I just want to see this man frustrated and moaning)

FATE/GRAND ORDER

one bed meme with gudako and every alter servant

My friend asked me to send in some so I’m gonna! Let’s open with uh… well. Main ship. Barghest/Atalanta/Queen of Sheba/Nightingale is such an extremely important crack shop to me, and it needs more stuff. Or just chunks of the polyship. And if we’re getting more specific maybe smthn with Barghest cooking for Sheba, Atalanta, and Nightingale. Feeding kink is cool with this but not essential

Prompt: Anything with my boy Asterios. I barely see any content for him :<

ANY/MANY

Servants meeting their alternate selves (EMIYA and Muramasa, Sitonai and Prisma Illya, or anything else you can think of!)

smut, All the kings of Chaldea reunite themselves over wich of them is the greatest of them all, over a week long discussion it was decided that the metric to decide who is the best will be a giant orgy, the last one standing being the winner

TYPE MOON CROSSOVER

Hakuno/Rin angst

smut, Shirou/Mordred NTR. Shirou getting seduced by Mordred in a "get back at dad" kinda deal.

Nasu once said that Taiga Fujimaru's swordplay skills are on the same level as Ryogi Shiki, should they ever meet. I kinda wanna see how that sparring session would go, y'know?

[darkloveangel]

i'm having thoughts about fate mordred and i need somewhere to put them so here, likely incoherent

i think mordred has a more complicated relationship with their gender than 'mordred is a trans man' but they're definitely not just a girl like nasu says either, like idk how many people had a hand in making them but

from their grand order biography bits, they're a homuculus modeled after king arthur (artoria), who is a woman pretending to be a man, is the lore reason for arthur being a cute girl, so i assume mordred is some sort of clone of artoria, but was raised by their creator (mother?) morgan to kill arthur and become king, and would need to also pretend to be a man for that to happen

so morgan was a shit mom who made and raised mordred for her own selfish, evil ends, but mordred ended up liking artoria and looking up to her as a father figure and wanted her acceptance! but artoria rejected mordred and with them not knowing any genuine love in their life just fucking snapped, fine if dad's not going to accept them then they'll do what mom says and kill their father because maybe, just maybe mom will be proud and somebody will like them, because having that whole fucked up situation of rapid homunculus aging and the way they were created and what for left them an unlikable, rude and brash person because they didn't really have the time or space to develop as a person and figure themself out

and there's all this baggage of their brief life as a living person that comes with their afterlife as a servant, conflicted feelings of what they really are and why, what they're supposed to be and what they want to be, how much of it is their own desire and how much is it from morgan's manipulation, how much does any of that matter anymore when they're dead and it's all over and they're just a ghost now, it's frustrating to think about and it doesn't matter really so fuck it, shut up about it so they don't have to think about it at all

but the extra biography bit of not treating mordred as a woman and not being obvious about treating them as a man just reads as like, "i begrudgingly accept being a man because i sure as fuck am not a woman and those are the only two things i think i can be" so i think if mordred was given time to figure themself out and heard the term "non-binary" or some particular subcategory of that, they'd identify as that, but the closest to non-binary fate gets is like, "gender: unknown"

also i've noticed in events lately mordred gets referred to by other characters with 'they/them' pronouns, soooo

[madillhethen]

You know Zouken said Tokiomi knew about the Matou Holy Grail and I’m going to call bs on that. I don’t think that’s true. I mean—maybe it is when FSN was first written…. And maybe they just changed it later.

I’m going to have to look at—God, I can’t even remember. It’s either in the character materials or the Limited Edition Heaven’s Feel animation materials, but I thought there was an interview with Nasu where he states that if Sakura was the chosen heir of the Tohsakas, she still would’ve been adopted out due to Tokiomi not knowing how to handle her Imaginary Magecraft (I think that’s the idea where she’s adopted into the Edelfelt’s? I could be wrong here.)

In Zero, Tokiomi stated to Kariya that he wanted both his girls to be magi, for their full potential not go to waste. I mean that’s already a prick move in itself but I was under the impression the Matous, Einzberns, and Tohsakahs stopped collaborating years ago? Since each of them was cheating in different wars so it seems weird for Tokiomi to go out and participate in the 4th Grail War, with the expectation that he could die (that’s the impression I got from him in FSN Prologue where he was talking to little Rin. It felt like he was saying goodbye because there was no actual certainty he’d win even though he was cheating), but if Zouken had told him that he was going to create an experiment of a Grail, I feel like Tokiomi would’ve tried to help more with the cultivation of Sakura as a grail than participate in the War maybe? Since the Tohsakas are the only family left who even cared about getting the Grail for the Root.

I could be entirely wrong, and maybe Tokiomi is just that much of a prick of a dad to Sakura...I guess I’ve always had conflicting feelings about him because he seems to be a good father to Rin--not a great father since he prized the magus side but still. Sakura is given to be about, if not more powerful than Rin, right? I know she’s second-born so that means Rin had already been the successor a year before her, but I had always assumed Tokiomi chose Rin as heir out of great love and pride in her (though I guess one could argue, her 5 Elementals are like his own powers iirc...).

[arsnovacadenza]

Can you talk more about Yoshitsune related media? Care to share resources? I was thinking about reading the Tale of the Heike. Is it interesting?

Oooo boy I'm mostly a beginner in this subject and I'm not sure if I'm of much help. I usually go ask @daeva-agas for more historical things but I do have some suggestions.

For starters, I suggest going around Japanese Corpus for Genpei War-related historical figures. It’s a Wiki edited by Japanese people who read untranslated resources. From there I found out that there are actually more works abt Genpei Literature than just the Tale of Heike. They are:

Azuma Kagami, mostly about the founding of the Shogunate and beyond, which means there will be Yoshi appearances here and there. Lately, people have been recognizing its flaws as well as its merit as an important historical document. So, take information from this text with a grain of salt.

The Tale of Hogen, detailing the Hogen rebellion (July 28 – August 16, 1156). A prelude to the The Tale of Heiji.

The Tale of Heiji, recording the Heiji rebellion (1159–1160) in the form of an emaki or painted narrative handscroll. This, my friend, is the point where daddy Minamoto no Yoshitomo was defeated by the Taira while they spared his sons Yoritomo, Yoshitsune, and Noriyori.

Genpei Seisuiki (The Rise and Decline of the Minamoto and Taira Clans). Not sure if there’s any info in English about this text.

Gikeiki, a military book mainly focused on legends about Yoshitsune and his retainers. This is the one that provided a lot of inspiration for kabuki and noh plays about Yoshitsune. Translated in English under the title of Yoshitsune: A Fifteenth-Century Japanese Chronicle

And about Heike Monogatari/Tale of Heike. To be fair, I haven't gotten around to reading that one because It's VERY hard to get a physical copy here in Indonesia. What you're most likely to find, however, is the modern translations by Eiji Yoshikawa by the same title. From what I understand, it's a sort of modern retranslation from previous translations.

AND OOH FUN FACT My dad used to have a copy of Minamoto no Yoritomo and a big-ass hard-copy of Heike lying around in my old house. Dunno where it is right now since we moved like ten years ago. It's a shame I wasn't into Japanese history as I am now :')).

Now, for fictional media that should at least walk you through important events in the Genpei War:

Historical Jdramas Taira no Kiyomori and Yoshitsune. Note that Yoshitsune and Yoritomo’s first meeting doesn’t happen in Kiyomori until Ep. 47 or so.

The Shanaou Yoshitsune manga. From what I read, it tries to be faithful to historical records regarding the events in Yoshitsune’s life (training with monks, going to Oushuu Hiraizumi to gain Fujiwara no Hidehira’s support), but instead of the actual Ushiwakamaru/Yoshi, the protagonist is a young street urchin named Hyouta who looks identical to Ushiwaka. Basically, it’s a switcheroo with Hyouta replacing Ushiwaka as the heir of the Genji while Ushiwaka gets to live free from the Heike/Taira.

The ongoing The Heike Story anime by Science Saru. It’s told from the perspective of a blind lute player named Biwa who can see the future and tells her predictions to Taira no Shigemori (Taira no Kiyomori’s son) regarding the Taira’s future. Totally on my watching list.

The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail, a 1945 film by Akira Kurosawa. It was based on a kabuki play about Yoshitsune and Benkei’s escape from Yoritomo. Not sure if it’s up your aisle, but worth watching if you love Benkei and Yoshitsune’s relationship.

Then, here are some of the more batshit-insane fictionalized depictions of the Genpei Wars:

My personal favorite, ride-or-die Takashi Miike film Sukiyaki Western Django. As its name suggests, it’s a tale of the Heike and Genji IN THE WILD WEST. The plot is a rehash of the Spaghetti Western classic A Fistful of Dollars but with Heike Monogatari characters. Here you’ll be introduced to Yoshitune, Benkei, Shizuka Gozen, Nasu no Yoichi, Taira no Shigemori and even Taira no Kiyomori.

Kurozuka, a horror manga and anime series about Kurou/Yoshitsune and Benkei escaping from Yoritomo’s pursuit. They meet a girl named Kuromitsu who’s a vampire of some sort. Then Yoshi gets yeeted into the distant post-apocalyptic future.

The playstation games Genji: Dawn of the Samurai and Genji: Days of Blade where you control Yoshitsune and Benkei (and Shizuka in the second game) as they face the Taira clan using stones that can slow down time during battle. You’d probably know Days of Blade from that E3 meme with the Giant Enemy Crab. 

The otome/dating sim for girls game Birushana Senki on Switch. From what I can tell, it follows girl!Yoshitsune from her first encounter with Benkei up to the naval battles. You get to romance Taira no Tomomori or his brother Noritsune, Benkei, and uh, Yoritomo.

Otome game Ikemen Genjiden where you get to romance Yoshitsune instead. It’s a what-if scenario in which Yoshitsune is revived from his suicide attempt after fleeing from Yoritomo. There are yokai involved. 

Gojoe, which I just discovered today on TvTropes. So, apparently it’s about Benkei who’s now a repentant monk and Yoshitsune who’s now a power hungry mystic warrior after his death.

The old Namco game series  Genpei Touma Den in which you’re a resurrected Taira no Kagekiyo who’s out for Minamoto blood including Yoshinaka, Yoritomo, and Yoshitsune himself. Everybody wears creepy kabuki and noh-inspired face paint and it’s awesome.

There’s probably a lot more I haven’t covered. So if you guys happen to know better resources about Yoshitsune, feel free to message me. Also, don’t hesitate to correct me if I got any information wrong.

I hope this helps, anon! 

[thessaliah]

kirsch, olga, and ophelia!

I'll answer Olga here because I have asks for Ophelia and Kirschtaria, so wait for them. Spoilers for Olympus.

First impression: I loved her design, she and Roman were stands out of the cast (plus Fou because he looked like Merlin). Her role in Fuyuki was like "what the hell is her problem. Ok. Bye-bye."

Impression now: I can't say I'm a big fan of Olga. She just doesn't emotionally capture me aside from meta theorizing. But I don't hate her either. I think she's the type of character Nasu can't write properly, IMO. She has a lot of potential to be interesting, but once Nasu likes a female character, he tends to infantilize them, make them too gag-like despite landing an important antagonist role and target them with his stupid fetishes. Her U-Olga reappearance is everything is that is wrong with how Nasu handles his favorites. He's satisfied with that oversexed, ridiculous design because it tickles him. It's a shame because Olga shares some traits of two of my favorite characters (Integra from Hellsing and Asuka Soryu from Evangelion) but like in the hands of the least qualified person to write her (not that Nasu is a bad writer, he just doesn't excel to write most female characters in these kinds of roles anymore, and LB6 is proving this again; it's like his writing decayed for this when he used to be good). I do have a tiny hope for her and her arc, she's basically carrying my potential criticism to the world-building resolution on her back.

Favorite moment: Her scene at the end of the Rail Zeppelin Arc of Case Files where she does the Animusphere spell. In FGO, I suppose naming Mash's NP, I hope her endgame NP is Lord Chaldeas.

Idea for a story: Meeting her mother father's servant for the first time. Or SOL AU nothing goes wrong and everything is well, with children versions of Olga, Kirschtaria, and Mash adopted by Roman who married Marisbury (who is sent to sleep in the lab until he fixes his dad's skills). Goetia can be an angry animal mascot who plays with Fou.

Unpopular opinion: I'm not too sympathetic for her struggle outside Flauros' sabotage. It's sad her dad wasn't very emotional or warm, but, in comparison to all the horrible crap mage children deal with, it makes me go "that's it?" Even when she was disowned in Case Files, she still had a relatively comfortable life with a caring nanny, access to her family wealth, and her family magic crest. The bar in TM mages is so low that emotional child neglect is kinda tame for someone advertised as super tragic. Mash feels more unlucky than Olga. Maybe if she were younger in FGO, I would probably feel worse, that's probably why I feel more sorry for her in Case Files where she's 11 years old.

Favorite relationship: I don't ship her with anyone. Her pseudo friendship with Reines is interesting in Case Files.

Favorite headcanon: Since she has no mother listed, I like the hc that she's a test tube baby made with Solomon's DNA (recovered from the sent ring) by Marisbury. This makes her Mash's older sister in a way.

[300iqprower]

Hot Take: BERSAKA is in the Jalter camp of canon being conflated with fanon and his FGO portrayal as an utterly mindless being, an ACTUAL “Chaotic-Insane” personality (or rather lackthereof one), is more accurate to his original concept than a lot of his portrayal in the later Heaven’s Feel movies.

Much like how in fanworks and general discussions Avenger Jalter is often just portrayed/thought of as an angrier version of her Chuuni Berserker swimsuit alt (a version that was intended for a comedic non-canon spinoff event thatvwas explicitly poking fun at the idea she’s actually just an edgelord tsun) in fan works Heracles pretty much has his Strange Fake mindset/values (one of coherent thought and strong silence rather than roaring rampage) imposed on his berserker self. It’s even to the point where, like with Jalter, Nasu/DW started to canonically merge the two and cater to fanboys rather than stand their ground for fucking once, having a direct indication that they always WERE one and the same in the third Heaven’s Feel movie, in a shoutout that was very much not even remotely in the original.

I started thinking about this when i saw a complaint that in FGO Bersaka is less a character and more a living hazard, which is absolutely accurate with his own interlude describing him in similar terms as a “Walking Natural Disaster” or something like that. The conflation is essentially that everyone expects Heracles to be this “Protector” because of Carnival Phantasm Ilya memes and his Strange Fake self. Rather than being thought of as this utter demigod, NEAR IMMORTAL monster who is only kept from exerting hinself to death from the moment he’s summoned because this absolute freak of nature with hundreds to thousands of command seals is his master, he’s pretty much by default just seen as this protective dad who can only communicate through screaming.

So in summary what we’re left with is, like with Jalter, a part of the tragedy of the character being left behind. I was never big on Bersaka but I loved his concept of how it portrayed the overflowing power trope. I loved the idea that in a cruelly ironic fate, the incarnation of this universally iconic mythical hero who attained godlihood, must now take a form that is utterly lacking in humanity because of the power granted by that godhood. Like Jalter its not been entirely lost, but you can see it’s gonna keep fading if it keeps going down that path.

[haro-hawayu]

World Trigger S2 OP - FORCE ~ TOMORROW X TOGETHER

Okay, I couldn’t get this OP theme out of my head. Not like for the song itself (it’s good), but for just this entire opening sequence. Ughhhh, I just have so many words for it!! So I rewatched it some more times and wrote a reaction for it...

Border Squads during intro section, I love how it’s timed to the beats and they switch the squads. It was really nice seeing all the known teams that have shown up in the series so far. A-Rank Squads 1-7, the B-Rank Squads (the ones we already met in the previous season, the ones that will be featured in this season), the Border HQ staff, Tamakoma-1, S-Rank Agents, Tamakoma-2.

I had to squint lots to tell who was who, cuz some weren’t AS obvious especially the B-Ranks XD Like I didn’t recognize Suwa (no guns) until I saw Sasamori LOL.

Higher quality art and animation all around!! Everything looks sharp, crisp, and the colors are so good. 

THE FIRST SCENE! The scene where Jin saves Osamu is a great callback to the first opening scene of the first series. Love the shift from Jin to Yuma cuz we literally had something like that where they were like “Are you okay there Four Eyes?” in the first season.

We get a bit of the BACKSTORY of our main trio. Osamu being saved by Jin/Yuma, Chika’s massive Trion (REPLICA) and her crying (blaming self for disappearance of her friend, then brother) in front of Osamu (the reason why he joins Border), and Yuma when he got saved by his dad’s sacrifice (which leads to him to going to Border).

Also, for Chika/Yuma backstory scene, I love the monochrome-ish color scheme but like they leave the red. When I saw Chika and then Yuma, I got like the chills.

It’s not World Trigger without our iconic Tamakoma Branch rooftop scenes. This time feat: Osamu and Yuma.

Ugh, can I just say again just how good the storytelling aspect of this opening sequence is??? I actually feared we would get stuck with a 10-15 minute recap of the entire series, given than it’s been years since the last season... The previous season suffered from pacing issues, and the endless recaps that take up the beginning of the episode. I just had fears, but they had been dispelled. Instead, get a bit of a recap (of Afto-Invasion) in just a little over 1 minute, but so well done.

I love that we got to see a spread of the various Border members, and even solo agents like Shinoda, or Izuho + neko!!! It’s not everyone, but good effort on including so many people already. The colors are so amazing. I love how some of the Squad uniforms just POP (like RED Arashimaya Squad and ORANGE Kakizaki Squad).

Hmmm just realized the spread was probably agents who were active during the Afto-Invasion (i.e. missing Nino, Kage, Nasu Squads for ex).

Tamakoma-1 <333 forever my favorite squad <333

And more storytelling, this time the climax/epic moments from the Aftokrator Invasion. Where they try to target Chika, who gets cubified, and Osamu carrying her cube and getting attacked. Also Yuma!! Yuma who uses his Black Trigger and like defeats Viza. And of course, the injured Osamu who throws Replica (TwT).

Jin & Hyuse getting their own spotlight moment. Interesting that they didn’t include snippets from their fight.

Let’s not forget what else happens in this season, the invasion from Galopoula, we get to see the Neighbors included in this intro too!!

I’m wondering if they will tweak the OP animation to include other members that weren’t added (i.e. Satomi from Kusakabe Squad, Hyuse), or like adding the other Squads to be featured in the later B-Rank Battles (like Katori, Ikoma, Oji, Yuba) it would be REALLY cool if they do. Also would love a completed Tamakoma Branch version somewhere... someday.

[kewltie]

Bitesize BKDK #1

One.

"If you want to save our people, you will not settle anything less but the king's heart and Nasue," his mother says. "Gain his favor and this entire continent will kneel before you. Izuku, my child, you may be chained but you're not broken. Become the thing they're afraid of. "

Two.

"Tell me, my lord, did you bring me to foreign land to be your husband or your enemy?" Izuku asks with a steely calmness that doesn't match the erratic pace of his heart. "Because I cannot be both."

Three.

"I know what your people say about me," Izuku says, hands wringing in front of him but his voice is steady. "A moneygrubbing whore from Easterly, but I didn't wed the king to become the Imperial High Consort. I became the High Consort, so I can wed your king and I would do it all over again."

Four.

Midoriya Izuku was born fight a losing war. Omega, quirkless, and markless, the most unfortunate bastard in the world they'd deemed. A captive of his own genetics lottery, Izuku bears his burden like it's a trial by fire and out he steps from the flames, reforged and sharpened.

Five.

"Some battles aren't won on the field but in the bedroom. So seduce him if you must, sleep with him if you desire, and love him if you dare, but the moment you give your heart over to him you have already lost us the war."

Six.

Izuku doesn't love him. Not for his cruelty or the futility of his dream—to unite this shattered continent under one.

"Come with me," Bakugou demands, "and I'll spare your kingdom."

No, Izuku doesn't love him, but he will wed him and bring this unruly man down to his knees.

Seven.

Izuku's head is full of terrible things, but when the collar is snap into place and he falls to his knees before Katsuki it all goes quiet. The fear, doubt, and anxiety are vanquished. He finds his peace, a temporary relief from his restless mind under Katsuki's firm guiding hand.

Eight.

"—your latest hit single, 'the capital of me is you'," the interviewer says. "You said before that you don't do love songs, so care to explain that?"

"It's not a love song," Katsuki grunts out, a little peeve, but he looks at the camera dead on and adds, "It's an apology."

Nine.

Izuku pulled an old sword out of a stone, got declared the Hero, sent off to kill the evil dragon, and then, somehow, got soulbonded to said evil dragon instead.

"Um, do we have to, uh, consummate our marriage?" he squeaks out as Katsuki blows a fume of smoke from his snout.

Ten.

"Even when we're kids, I knew you were special. You were a star burning through the sky, Kacchan, and I'd idolized you but I didn't love you then." He shakes his head. "I had to wait for you to grow into the best version of yourself before I could see that possibility in you."

Eleven.

"Wait for me, beloved," Nine says.

Heavily pregnant and his brats tucked close to him, Izuku smiles coldly at the handcuffed villain—his husband, mate, and the father of his children. "No, this ends here."

In that moment Katsuki's shitty heart skips a beat and he thinks, fuck.

Twelve.

"Ah, is this that your other dad?" Goda-sensei asks curiously.

"Sperm donor," Kasumi corrects.

Without missing a single beat, Bakugou says, "She's the result of my teenage indiscretion."

Suddenly, her teacher adopts a worry expression like she's actually concern for them.

Thirteen.

"Your hand is cold," he whines. "Stop holding it then."

"No." Izuku grins.

Katsuki scowls, then he leans down and demands a kiss as retribution.

Just behind them, they hear someone says, "Doesn't that couple look like Zero and Deku?"

Fourteen.

"Kacchan?" Izuku asks, even though the answer is written all over the older man's scarred face—in his familiar red eyes and blond hair, and the way he looks at Izuku with a longing so deep it’s like an open wound.

He's staring into Katsuki's future right now and it's devastating.

Fifteen.

A series of flowers encircled a dagger in its embrace is decorated on Izuku's inner thigh. It's identical to his own down to hilt of the blade, but it's faded and discolored like someone had tried to scrub it off.

Katsuki stares at him in horror as Izuku smiles crookedly at him.

Sixteen.

"I'd chosen you all from an elite list of candidates for this important mission: Papa's heart. It won't be easy but love is war," Kasumi says, scrutinizing each suitor.

Hiroto oozes nervous energy, Todoroki is serenely calm, and all the while Bakugou looks absolutely murderous.

Seventeen.

"One more," Katsuki demands as their feet slow a stop with the music and he tightens his grip on Izuku's waist.

"It wouldn't be proper," he insists. "You know, I'm—"

A shadow falls over them. "Please let go of my betrothed, Lord Bakugou," Shouto says with steel in his voice.

Eighteen.

His forehead is pressed against the bark of the tree and somber figure hunched over, body shaking with the slightest of tremor.

"Your Highness?" Kouta calls out.

Consort Izuku's back unbends, shoulders straightens, and he turns around — eyes dry and a smile carefully placed.

Nineteen.

They’d tortured his name right out of him. Scrubbed his memories. Remade him into their image. They'd took everything till he had nothing; he is nothing, but when he close his eyes there’s a ghost of a boy with a pair of haunting green eyes and he is his. That they can't take.

Twenty.

"Scare?"

Izuku shakes his head. "You won't kill me."

Katsuki sneers as he lifts the sword to Izuku’s neck. "Yea, pray tell."

“You need me to keep the rest of the Alkene at bay and because," he sucks in a deep breath and smiles through the pain, "—and because you love me."

[flooffybits]

This stuff came from knowing bros which for me is a place I go to when I stan a new group because it generally has a segment to get to know members more. Knowing bros, Weekly Idol, or idol room for me is the best at getting to know them

Izone

Eunbi- she actually wanted to meet Soo Geun because he was so much fun in the program but she realized that he is too cold so she changed her mind😂. Earlier she worked as a part-timer in a Paris Baguette franchise.

Sakura- she’s best friends with Kang Hodong since they’ve been on multiple shows together and she said it herself, “Hodong is my first friend I made in Korea aside from the members” and she’s also associated with Kwang Hee since they are part of Everyone’s Kitchen Together.

Hyewon- Got the nickname fairy of delivery since she can remember most of the members’ choices for food and orders because once their manager often can’t remember their specific prefences so she stepped up when their manager can’t. Even though the line changes she’s also part of the monday fairies although I think all of them are part of it since their posts on ig often include some that aren’t included in the intro of monday fairies.

Yena- She is also seen with one of the brothers. Soo Geun is Yena’s cellmate in another variety show. She also attended in Joy Dance Academy and mahored in girls hip-hop dance.

Chaeyeon- tho I don’t see it often or its just me but she’s also part of the Monday Fairies. And our Feather Chaeyeon has a talent of making choreos. And crowned on both Idol room and weekly idol as dancing queen.

Chaewon- she is also known to be associated with one of the brothers since she and Kyung Hoon have the same hairdresser. She’s also part of Izone’s monday fairies, where on their ig account every monday she will post something to motivate their fans about the start of their week being hopefully great

Minju- She was also in in 7th or 8th grade, a commercial but for childrens wear instead. She’s a potter harry fan. And she had a dream of being a stewardess in middle school. And although she’s shy she likes rollercoasters and amusements park rides.

Nako-known as the girl who ranked F to A because she’s talented like that. She believes she was a cat in her prev. life (I mean who doesn’t?) and she’s afraid of heights

Hitomi- Monday Fairy squaddd. She loves watching cooking shows in her spare time. And she is good at composing songs and very competitive. And she wants to go to Nasu (idk what is this) when she learns how to drive.

Yuri- I think I’ve mentioned it before but if I haven’t she appeared on Idol School where she was Heechul’s student. She hates bugs (same) and she used to play piano but ended up givi ng up due to financial issues.

Yujin- (this one I know I mentioned but doesn’t hurt to say it again) she was a commercial star before being a part of Izone. And she specializes in girl hip-hop and the piano. Hitomi’s dad is also a fan of her which to me is hilarious😂

Wonyoung- She was also with Hodong on Dining together. And she’s a smart bean too she got perfect marks on Korean, English, and Math. She likes spicy food and she was deemed rank 1 and center exactly on her birthday, hence the nickname, born to be center.

Some random facts i found in the internet and variety shows

-✏️

oh yeah i know knowing bros and weekly idol are the places to know but i just don’t like weekly idol due to certain people lmao at first i had no idea what monday fairy was until i saw more of what you said and that’s an interesting and sweet thing to do. people are usually demotivated during mondays so i can understand. these are all really interesting and honestly adorable information about the girls so thank you nonnie

[piltover-sharpshooter]

i liked the institute of war better than current lore

//Imo, current lore is better. 

The institute, while interesting and fun, was very limiting in its story telling, as all things had to be resolved through it. So things like Ionia being invaded or the Crystal Scar conflict literally had to be stopped because the summoners intervened, things like Miss Fortune trying to kill Gangplank or Sylas killing Jarvan’s dad would never happen in the old lore. There was also the fact that all champions had to be summoned by real people, meaning that champs like Kindred, Aurelion or the gods couldn’t happen while certain champs (particularly the voids and the demons) where just “WHOOPSIE, A DUMBASS SUMMONER ACCIDENTALLY SUMMONED THEM, AND NOW WE USE THEM FOR SPORTS!” (Also like, everyone was an alien. Taric, Malphite, Nasus, Renekton, Morgana, Kayle all aliens)

So while the old lore has a special place in my heart and I love it to bits, I do think it being gone is for the best and I much prefer the new lore, where every Region is a bit more morally gray and things of consequence can happen.

[talesofmetalandmagic]

Dad!Nasus and Azir – headcanons

Nasus was always baby Azir’s favourite compared to Renekton, obviously since crocodiles are kinda seen as scarier than doggos. It took him days to even touch Renekton.

Azir was also Nasus’ favourite child of the Emperor, possibly because he saw how unloved he was. Behind the excuse of Azir’s small age, Nasus would bring him treats and trinkets to make him smile.

When he told baby Azir that he was a sick child and risked death, he clung to his neck and refused to let go.

The Emperor, a classic boomer dad who sees parenting as a way to act like a dictator (I mean he kinda was as a whole but…) was a firm user of corporal punishment on his children, and Azir was always his favorite to punish. Nasus would always refuse to cane him, and when it came to someone else to do it, he always had sweet words and medicine for baby Azir.

Side note: don’t f***ing hit your children

Nasus kind of hoped the Emperor would disown Azir at once, to remove him from that toxic family and be his new dad.

He was the one teenage Azir would go to to ask embarrassing questions about the birds and the bees. Cue Renekton laughs.

When Azir married his queen, Nasus gifted him splendid books he barely looked at because at this point all he had in mind was power. Renekton, who’s more reactive and less stuck in the past, gave him a more welcome gift: a chest of jewels and a majestic fur-lined cape. Azir would bite himself for days for not having given Nasus’ gift the proper attention.

Xerath planned to steal those books for himself, seeing Azir as an idiot unworthy of such wisdom. They were eventually plundered and lost. Thanks, Azir.

Nasus knits to relax his mind, which brings him closer to Taliyah. She says he’s too smart to think all the time. He says he’s stressed out.

He’s big enough to hold Hawk!Azir bridal style, which he sometimes does when the stress of everything conks him up early. He puts him to bed and watches over him for a while, as if he could vanish like Renekton once he turned to the side.

Since birds are of warmer blood than mammals, Azir feels like a small heat bag whenever he hugs him. He loves it even more so.

He’s conflicted between scolding Azir for his stupidity and just… being thankful he’s there. He reminds him of a much happier past. He feels as if he’s failed at everything and he must protect what little is left of old Shurima.

He’s a master of giving advice he’s not going to follow, and Azir is the field where he’s best at it. He tells him not to beat himself up for the past, to move forward, to find healing at once… yet he’s the one who dwells in the past the most.

If Azir was to be banished, he’d go with him. Nothing would be left for him out there.

In short, he’s pretty much the Slipping Through My Fingers scene from Mamma Mia.

[shurima-demigod]

“Dad? Who is....Renekton??” Asked the little Apphia. “You said that name when you had a bad dream ....Mommy said to ask you about it”

Go on anon and pretend to be my muse’s child!

Was she listening in on that?  He thought she was asleep, that it was only Qadira there to witness the aftermath of his nightmare.  He inhaled sharply, letting it out slowly before turning to Apphia.

“Renekton is- was my brother,” he said, resting his hand on her head.  “He- We-...  I grew up with him, and we became Ascended together.  But he and I... stopped loving each other somewhere along those lines.  Now...  It is hard to say, but he stop seeing us as brothers.”

Just digging up the memories was painful.  He could still remember the small things- stealing fruit when they were children, patching his brother up after getting into another fight on the street, watching his brother execute Nasus’ plans from the front line- and he missed every second of it.  He wanted his brother back so badly, but there just... wasn’t even a hint of the person he once was.

His breath came out short, painful as he rubbed his daughter’s head.  He had her now, and this was all very real.

But the thought that Renekton wouldn’t be involved in this...

“Here, I can tell you more about him.  Climb into my lap, and I will tell you about Shurima’s greatest warrior...”

[thegoldentigress]

👶👶 - for the twins :)

Send 👶 for our muses to have a baby together.

Apphia and Maahes. Her little sunflowers, a gift in her life since she first learned she carried not one but two children. When she’d informed Nasus of the news he was to be a father, she had wept tears of joy, so blessed to have a family with her beloved. The moment she lay her eyes on the newborns, she fell in love with them. They were perfect in every way she could think of, and as her children grew, Qadira grew to have more reasons to love them. Their children loved their father, and he loved them with such a passion his wife was moved by. He had sworn, since the day she told him she was with child, that no harm would ever come to their little ones, and to that oath he had kept true. Little Maahes, a copy of his father, soft spoken and intelligent, loving to sit with his father and be read to. It filled her heart with pride to see how he took to be like his dad. And Apphia, her darling daughter, so full of joy, energy and a little ray of sunshine personified. She brought a smile to all she would encounter. Singing her children a lullaby till they fell asleep, the mother smiled, tears in her eyes. Her little sunflowers, her little blessings , her beloved children. They were her and her beloved’s gift and miracle.

[fgodestinyawakenings]

Speaking of Lancelot, how come he's viewed as a terrible dad? I mean to be fair he wasn't present for most of Galahd's life, but it wasn't completely his fault since the woman who raped him had him without him knowing. A bad KNIGHT I get but it looks like hes genuinely trying as a dad. I hope LB4 gives closure to their relationship.

This is the part I definitely don’t understand the most. And yes, fair to him for his part, he got fucking raped by a woman he don’t even love via tricked into thinking that Guin to give birth to Galahad

And... He didn’t acknowledge Galahad initially, if playing this role reversal, that’s a child from him which came from the woman who rape him? But yet some point in his real life legend...

At least on his part at some point, he begins caring for Galahad as his son... Debatable a Stockholm syndrome from his end. If he’s a shitty dad, he would have been like Artoria and David, whom Mash and Galahad both find fucking no issue with them

I agree on the part Lancelot womanizing habit with married woman deserved to get a beating... But I never once see him as a terrible dad, just two fucking shitty children he’s cursed with because of the prophecy for the Grail. Heck, even his dialogue line have him accusing Romani or so for the revealing outfit when why don’t he just blame Galahad for that armor design or Nasu!

If both of them blame Lancelot for not caring for Elaine... Then that’s honestly, their own fucking problem. Because Lancelot clearly ever love Guin for the rest of his life, blame Elaine for raping Lancelot instead

LB4 is more of Karna and Arjuna... So LB6 where we get a scene to confront Galahad to sort shit with him once and for all to work with Gudas again

[thirdmagic]

giant rambly walls of text post of headcanons and theories and general thoughts on david, roman and solomon ft lots of extrapolation

first of all, i basically think of archer david as like... if 'lazy cheerful mcdonlads loving manchild in a yukata dad' kerry got summoned into the body of his child self and went 'oh wow this is before Everything in my life went horribly wrong it almost feels like all that never happened!!' and got into it enough to try to recreate what he was like as a child. which i realize is a hilariously weird mental image but a close enough comparison. it's just in this case the difference isn't '30 year old and 10 year old (at most)' but '60-70 something very old man and late teens/early twenties'. on the surface level this david is much more David The Humble Nobody Shepherd Boy Who Beat A Giant then David The Anointed Powerful King, because most of the stuff this version draws on in his NP and skills are from this aspect of him. but it's also clearly very much not the same case as other younger/child servants. most younger versions are aware of their older selves and what happens to them in the future but aren't those people and haven't personally experienced these futures. but nearly everything david does talk about, experiences he calls back to, people he talks about, is stuff from his time on the throne. he talks about this time as something that happened to him personally. so this isn't really baby shepherd david even though his servant container draws on these aspects of him, it's David The King in the body of baby shepherd david.

but what i find most interesting, is that he seems to really play into this image/role... like it's a deliberate choice/preference on his part or something consciously cultivated. there's what he says is tamacat's interlude, but also his my room line that outright has him saying 'sure i used to be a king, but don't worry about it, it's whatever, i'm just a shepherd now and i want to take this chance as a servant to be just that'. the impression is that he's very much trying to distance himself from his king-self and that entire part of his life which is... in its own way a lost cause and he probably does this knowing it's a lost cause, given that's what he spent the majority of his life doing and how everything he calls back to is from that life. that shepherd boy is just not the person he is anymore and hasn't been for a long time, but i think that's why he prefers to be summoned in this specific physical form and in this specific class that draws on this part of his life- the servant container/class makes it easier to act the part, to put that undesirable aspect of himself aside. so long as he's not summoned as a king he doesn't need to act like one nor feel like he has the responsibilities of one. and being a king clearly kind of sucked as far as he’s concerned.

now i mentioned before that biblical david is super kerrycore so while i don't know how much fate would even want to incorporate this side of the original version... idk, i'm really into the idea and think it's just potentially super interesting to take this parallel full circle and for david the king to be the figurative equivalent to cold blooded assassin magus killer kerry. it gives extra weight to why he'd want to just put aside this part of his life and lean in fully into a whole other role/identity that has nothing to do with kingship and why he acts Extra carefree and frivolous: because he spent most of his life as everything but that. because he couldn't be this way so long as he acted as king, because the responsibility and the role demanded that he had to suppress this aspect of himself and also that he act in ways he might not have really wanted to even as he understood that it was needed. he was good at doing the dirty and unpleasant stuff and he understood the necessity of it; he had a talent for it, in a sense, even if it wasn't a talent for something he liked or enjoyed. it goes well with him talking about how he dislikes battle in conjunction to how he was a very military focused leader-- something he never wanted to engage in or do, but that the role of the king demanded of him.

because his biblical depiction is from the very start, from the first goliath story, more of a cunning politician and warrior than anything else. he's subtle, sly and calculating, not afraid to get his hands dirty and do undignified things to get where he needs to, and very conscious and aware of all that goes around him, including how he's seen by other people and how he needs to act as if he were in front of an audience. he finds creative and subtle ways to get around most problems, but he also knows when a problem is best solved violently and doesn't hesitate to commit to that solution. (most unlike fate david though, he's also super hot-tempered and fairly quick to Stabbity Stab if someone pissed him off lmao and has to be talked down at least once from Doing A Murder)

this is compounded by how, in general, the narrative very very often leaves us in the dark about what he's really feeling or thinking in a lot of pivotal moments and leaves us often to wonder about his sincerity and true motivations. his story in the bible is essentially the unraveling of this kind of hyper competent and skilled person as he gets more and more exposed to the reader emotionally and personally, as we see more and more of his weakness and vulnerability and his real flawed and imperfect core is revealed. the narrative is at once both critical of him while still remaining firmly on his side and sympathetic towards him, and the main thing that keeps him sympathetic as a character in this way, through his darkest moments and most questionable behavior, is that he's 1) unquestionably devoted to God and nearly flawlessly pious, which is for obvious reasons a significant virtue for both the original writer and the original audience the narrative was meant for, and 2) very good at handling criticism, accepting that he made mistakes, and making amends/fixing things when he needs to. which he does a lot of.

so basically, yeah: ruthless stabby killer who's a clever and sly pragmatist, but also a Sad and vulnerable dad. that's what i meant lmao that's the exact same aesthetic as kerry.

and something you'll find pointed out very, very often by any literary analysis or any analysis at all, is his humanity; it's something that can be ascribed to many, many biblical characters but is applied to him as a defining trait in particular. and that's.... even better and gets even more interesting for fate david specifically when pitted against solomon, the perfect, flawless inhuman king. there's a consistent thematic thread in fate of being an ideal vs being a human being, especially for kings and other types of leaders, and in this context i think you can do a lot with david as someone who, instead of giving in/fully committing to one at the expense of the other, went for a balance between the two-- and struggled with that balance. he succeeded in many ways as a king and was good at it, but in some ways he lost that struggle because he failed to find that balance and gave in to humanity at the worst of times, and it's those moments which led to both his biggest mistakes and his biggest tragedies. it's interesting to me because it's different from the patterns that characters like kerry and saber establish, and it offers a perspective on this dilemma that also explains why people like them commit to this all-or-nothing approach to it.

and it's also interesting to me to compare to solomon, but especially the fact that when put in context-- that god sees david and decides to make solomon the way he is seemingly in response-- the implication is one of a background 'story' that's very consistent to an interesting pattern about god in genesis: that he's always trying out new ways to interact with this world he created through humanity and having to retry after each one attempt doesn’t quite go well. he started with adam and eve and they disobeyed him, when he tried to with all of humanity and when they turned away from him and degenerated morally he had to destroy them all with the flood. then he tried to create this connection/interaction through just one person and then just one nation from this person, and that's how he came to form the covenant with us. humans are constantly ruining his plans and he's constantly having to adjust and try or test new things. and i like the idea that he's also trying to do something similar with the kings and leaders he appointed to this chosen nation; he tried with the judges who were all scattered leaders that couldn't unite the tribes, then tried with saul who was just kind of a weak leader and king in general and couldn't handle it, tried with david, and then looked at him and went, okay, i did pretty well with this one, he's served me well but it's still not what i need. so, god reasons, if his problem is that his humanity was what got in the way then clearly the problem is that i look to humans as my representatives in the world. so clearly i need someone who can interact with humans and the human world as one of them but won't have their flaws. and so that gives us some background to and explains solomon's circumstances.

now in fgo itself the exact circumstances of solomon's birth and why he was born as he was are kind of vague, and i haven't seen anything in materials or other canon sources to elaborate (Dark Nasu, Show Me The Forbidden Solomon Backstory) but the one, somewhat cryptic line we're given to explain is that he was offered by david to god to make him into a greater king than he was. that's not exactly what happened in the original story but not really wrong either. it's a fairly legit and logical take on what happened there imo. what we're told is that god looked at baby solomon and went 'oh yeah, this kid seems pretty legit, i like this one' (when he was already born, not before that), and through a prophet, gives him a second name that literally means 'friend to god'. then, many, many chapters later, when david is old as balls and senile and slowly dying and there's a succession crisis blooming, nathan (who was the one that gave solomon his second name, as this part of the story’s acting prophet) has bathsheba resolve it by, ahem, 'reminding' him that he promised her that solomon will succeed him. and it's kind of Highly Conspicuous that we have never seen nor been told that this promise happened in the one part of the narration where it would have been most relevant to include so it's not out of the question that nathan had her persuade him of something that never happened because he was kind of very malleable at that point and with shit going down in court they needed a fast solution.

with that in mind i think fate goes under the assumption that this promise was actually real, and that the only major difference here outside of the magic/nasuverse specific elements is that solomon being chosen this way was something that happened before he was actually born, so it connected the two and combined them with how he's characterized in the chapters afterwards as the Good Flawless King and then with all sort of external sources that i can't really speak of since they’re not my area. the other main difference is the implication that david actually played a part in solomon's divine kingly destiny and planned on him being king from the start and specifically offered for god to raise him as such. and there's precedent for something like that with samuel who basically got offered by his mother to be raised as a divine prophet/judge, and the circumstances are more or less similar. samuel was offered by his mother to be in service to god and was raised by priests, which is close enough to being raised by god i guess? but he was totally separated from his parents, and he was definitely absolutely not inhumanly flawless lmao. so i think what david offered is roughly to the extent of 'i will give you my son to raise as his father instead of me, so you could raise him into the kind of king i couldn't be, while i'll stay out of his life so you can do your thing with him as you need'. and with samuel as an example for a similair offer/deal, i think he was expecting a normal human child, just one who'd grow up into a very skilled, competent king and without david's own flaws. and i imagine he was not planning on how it actually turned out for everyone involved.

and as for the reason why he even made the offer in the first place, i chose to look to the promise as the hint to the answer: at least part of it should likely be piousness and sincerely wanting to provide god with the kind of person he couldn't be, but it also means bathsheba, who became his wife under less then ideal circumstances and who lost both her husband and the first child she ever had and that should have been her husband's to his actions and his punishment, has guaranteed protection under her status as the king's mother and isn't thrown to the wolves when he dies, which is the issue she appeals to when she asks him to officially appoint solomon as his successor. being the king's mother gives her control and power in a world where she'd otherwise be in a very precarious position. theeeeeeeeennnn there's also some tradition-- i don’t remember much but i know it exists-- that claims she was his Favorite of his wives, probably for shallow reasons, though i don't think there's much internal textual evidence of that, but that's also A Thought. (i'm just saying, if they ended up developing an actually good connection and ended up loving each other for real that'd be a fascinating and very nasu twist but idk if i'm officially adopting that as my hc yet)

then there's the question of david's relationship to solomon.... there's different takes on it, from what i've seen in fancomics and stuff that does have transltions, and what i managed to understand from untranslated stuff. one interesting one is that david emotionally distanced himself as a result of the trauma of losing the baby from his initial affair with bathsheba, so he kept this distance from the second son he had with her so as to avoid something like that again-- -out of fear he'll lose him again if he allows himself to get emotionally attached. it's a trauma that would certainly be compounded after he lost tamar, amnon and then absalom and how that entire incident really broke him. i don't know if i totally subscribe to that but i think it's on to something.

in general i think of david as not a cruel or abusive father but definitely an emotionally distant one and not very actively present in his children's lives. the struggle of balancing being a king and being a human being had a wrench thrown in it when among all the roles he had to play came up the role of a father, which he just had zero understanding of how to approach or how it fits in with that balance-- the inhuman role of a king and the very human role of father are far more difficult to separate in the world of politics and the court, for him. drawing in from the source text, even in the bible you get the strong sense that he's not very attentive at the best of times, but the moment he loses any of his children, his grief is almost always overwhelming and unsubtle, even if it always manifests differently. in fgo materials their relationship is described as an indifferent one, which is to say, it's not a bad relationship because there's not much of a relationship at all to be good or bad, and i think it was sort of the case with most of his relationships with his children. of course, i also doubt there were absolutely no feelings or affection involved and that it was a totally apathetic one-- on david's part at least. solomon would have been given no room for human attachments such as family or the involved feelings, which means he'd also not feel the pain of the absence of such a thing or the need to have it. if he was given room to feel any sort of familial affection, it's likely a very shallow, vague one.

roman, i think, probably just has a lot of very complicated feelings on it that he's not sure what to do with and doesn't himself really understand. i also think this distance also means he never really understood david or was given the chance to, or, due to his own nature, been given any reason to want to. the absence of this relationship is something he feels in this new human life and understands that it was there and that it was not a good thing, but in a very vague way he's doesn't have the words for; he feels disconnected from it all because even as solomon he was very emotionally disconnected from his family and all that happened in it. and now there's the amount of time has passed and how long ago it would have been for him and how overall irrelevant it all ended up being for him... that david wasn't much of a father to him ends up not mattering much in practice because everything would have turned out the same even if he was, and it's hard to miss something he never felt he ever actually had. he knows there's an absence but doesn't feel it because solomon didn't feel it, and roman never got to experience any of it as roman.

and then he actually gets to meet david again thanks to chaldea. which is completely different as a human being with, like, Feelings, when you have all this knowledge in mind, and to look at a real breathing living human (figuratively speaking) right in front of you and for that person to register as Father in your head is a completely different experience then. it goes from a sort of vague, disconnected regret to a real, emotional understanding of what it is to have a father you never managed to connect to and who kept a distance from you for reasons you don’t understand, and then having the chance to form a connection, all while trying to figure out what the heck is going on with him because he's nothing like what you remember in life.

basically i think the first thing roman thought when he saw david was roughly something like 'whomst the fuckest is [waves hands vaguely] this guy because that is so not my dad', and it slowly segued into 'okay no now i see it, that's closer to the sort of things he'd say or do, but still, what the fuck'. he starts seeing david in an entirely new way on one hand after being exposed to this completely different side to him, but it's also confusing to re-contextualize with all his memories of him and how different he is. the last time they talked, david was on his deathbed giving him a list of people he wants him to murder the shit out of, and another list of people he absolutely does not want him to murder, and his last words were basically 'i leave it up to you how you'll do it legally but i need you to kill that motherfucker dead'. his last moments on the earth he still spent not as a father speaking to a son, but as a king to his successor. ... which suddenly he can also bring himself to feel actual strong feelings about when all of this begin to feel much more personal and much less distant, and also makes the absence of this relationship actually feel tangible, including the feelings of vague regret, maybe a desire to reconnect and to really develop this relationship now that he has the chance to actually know his dad, maybe even some kind of affection for the man-- and when it starts going there that's when he panics because he was not asking for this and does not want these feelings they're really bad and horribly inconvenient this is literally the worst time to be awakening to them!!!!!!

it's all a moot point, of course, because he can't even if he admitted to himself that he wanted to; he can't afford the risk of anyone that's not da vinci knowing, much less someone like this person who he doesn't really know or understand and wouldn't have his trust even under normal circumstances. but and in between all these considerations, he looks at david and wonders about him, wonders how to talk to him-- he  knows how to talk, as solomon, to His Majesty The King or to his father the king, but he doesn't know how to talk as a human being to someone he knows to be his father, person to person. he's both familiar and a complete stranger, and talking to him is just a source of headaches not just because of his general personality but because of this particular dissonance. and it's worse because he's also completely undecipherable and he can't tell what he's thinking at least half the time. as easy it might be to dismiss him and think there's nothing beyond what's going on on the surface, he still knows his dad well enough to understand that this is just not the case. and there's a lot of hindsight reflection over his childhood memories and of everything he does remember and in some way putting these things in a new context.

in practice how this manifests is really mostly that he just sort of hovers just outside his orbit, wanting to approach but avoiding at the last second, thinking all these things but not really doing anything beyond that, at one avoiding him and still being unable to resist the urge to engage with him anyway.

.... anyway this post got way way too big and i'm not sure how to end it, but these are almost all the thoughts/hcs i’ve developed for the past year or so. maybe a few minor things i missed or forgot.