pyrepalaver · 2 years ago
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yeah sorry we exiled your boyfriend. yeah he's losing hope pretty rapidly. yeah he--oh he just turned into a demon. yeah he's going mad trapped in an unbearable and unending hellscape. yeah and no level of penitence will absolve him of his minor wrongdoing. yeah super super sorry. his horns do look super cool at least.
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dedud3d · 5 months ago
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I'm bored so:
ml au where the ladybug miraculous is the one that creates sentinel/sentimonsters and the bee miraculous is the miraculous of synergy (or promotion maybe?) so it has a sublimation like power and I can rest in peace knowing the three powers that work really well together all share the same theme of bugs instead two being fowls (or whatever rooster and peacocks are considered) with the butterfly being an odd one out.
(also, the colors don't clash too much this way)
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baiobey · 1 year ago
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games about progressive fantasy afflictions are always going to own my disabled ass sooooo bad. especially when you can do very extreme things for the sake of improving your condition. especially when you can still be a hero. we need to make more of these
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isabelpsaroslunnen · 2 years ago
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My best friend and I are both Star Wars fans, and we have an ongoing amicable debate about the merits of A New Hope vs Return of the Jedi.
We tend to agree that ANH is the smoother of the two films in terms of executing its vision and general craft. It doesn't have the unevenness of, say, the somewhat bloated Jabba's Palace sequence or the weird pacing and structure of some aspects of the Battle of Endor sequence. ROTJ, on the other hand, is (in our view) the more ambitious film, and when it does manage to fulfill those ambitions, it's better than almost anything in ANH. The characters are more nuanced, their dynamics are more intense and complex, the great scenes are just, by and large, richer and more evocative. When ROTJ is bad, it's worse than ANH, and when it's good, it's better.
The debate for us is not about whether those things are true, but whether the consistent quality of ANH or the more ambitious and (sometimes) powerful quality of ROTJ is "better." At the end of the day, the distinction is not incredibly important and both of us love both films. But it is interesting, to us, to think about the merits of execution vs ambition in storytelling and craft.
I was thinking about this, of course, because I read The Thief and then The Queen of Attolia in rapid succession, and I feel like there is something of that ANH-ROTJ dynamic between them. The Thief is the smoother, more precisely crafted book, IMO, but The Queen of Attolia is doing so much more.
There's so much development of the characters (especially my favorite, Attolia/Irene), so much more intrigue and just substance, so many wild twists and turns along the way, and the last quarter was both gripping and just swept me off my feet. I loved The Thief, but there's nothing in it that I felt as strongly about as I feel about ... I don't know, 2/3 of QoA.
But I also have some gripes with QoA that I don't really with TT—I think the use of secrets, whodunnit-style semi-unreliability, and unexpected revelations, was structured better or at least more smoothly in TT. There were points in QoA where the "aha! actually, the whole time..." revelations started to feel repetitive to me, and certainly points where I would have preferred to see more onstage development, or at least more hints coming earlier, and less shocking twists.
That said, the escalation of intrigue, the deeper characterization, Eugenides's recovery, the glimpses of young(er) Irene along with her development and fantastic maneuvering, and basically everything Helen chooses to be, made it not only worth the price of admission, but feel like the richer and more substantial work of the two. It's not as "clean" as TT, much as ROTJ is not as clean as ANH, but it does realize many of its ambitions in a more powerful way.
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mercurywaters · 1 year ago
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any update on fuel? even just an acknowledgment that it’s on hiatus would be nice! hope all’s well
hi!!! FTP is not on hiatus, writing has just been super slow lately because I’ve got a lot going at the moment 😭
all is well, it’s just been a hectic few months with work and life!!! I hate giving out concrete dates since I almost never meet my own deadlines, but chapter three shouldn’t be much longer. I know that waiting for updates sucks, so I really appreciate the patience and continued interest 💗💗💗
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grandwretch · 2 years ago
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I love when I'm high and talking to myself on here and then it gets 1k notes and people are in the tags like "this is hard to read" like yeah bud you weren't supposed to read it idk what happened either
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ladyinthebluebox · 2 months ago
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i won't ever be normal about NFWMB.
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emilzke · 3 months ago
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Bingo
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Pairing: Leon Kennedy x gn!Reader
Summary: The village square was overrun and you & your mission partner Leon fought hard to survive. Yet, the villagers left under the command of the church bell, all dazed, without an explanation—leaving you both with relief and a joke that will change things between the two of you. [Inspired by: “You’re laughing. I told you a joke and you’re laughing. I love you.”]
Content: canon-typical violence, near-death experience, mutual pining ish, fluff
Word Count: 1.6k | Read on AO3
A/N: This can be read as a prequel to Extra and it’s part of a collection of works set during the events of RE4 with agent!Reader. I decided to write this because I thought the text post was very Leon and because you all seemed to enjoy Extra a lot :) way back when.
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You almost thought you were hallucinating. Between your ragged panting, trying to regain your breath after fighting off hordes of infected villagers, and the sound of your heart pounding against your chest and your blood pumping, the sound of the church bell ringing and chiming was clear to hear throughout the village. One old villager, who just a few seconds ago was about to snap your head right off your neck, turned around and ignored you with glazed eyes—muttering something in Spanish that you couldn’t quite hear as he walked away slowly in a daze.
Just a few seconds ago, you had that villager’s hands wrapped around your neck as you desperately swiped your knife back and forth at his torso, hopelessly hoping to get some sort of damage in. And just a few minutes before that, your shrill cry to your mission partner could be heard.
“Leon! I can’t hold them off for much longer!” you called out as your voice broke from panic, something you would never do under normal circumstances. You felt some sort of instinctual need to prove yourself to him, your dashing mission partner that you swore would have a much better career as a model with his looks. Why was he wasting his time trying to save not only the President’s daughter but also you when things got really bad, even if you stubbornly never asked for it?
“Huh?” The sound of your partner’s voice shook you out of your confusion and memory, making you turn to him—opposite the pyre in the middle of the square that was still burning. You thought back to his shrill voice calling out to you too. “Hang on! I’ll be right there!” you heard him shout and multiple gunshots subsequently after, you could only assume he was trying his best to get to you as soon as possible. And seeing his position now, closer compared to before, you couldn’t help but sigh in relief.
Leon looked over at you, his heart still pounding with the thought that he would see the life drain from your eyes and your head ripped off your body because he wasn’t quick enough to get to you in time. The walking villagers with their mutterings in a daze put him in a daze as well, all he could do was look and turn around in bewilderment at the scene unfolding in front of him. The sound of an axe falling into a muddy puddle from a villager’s hand made you both whip your heads around with wide eyes, still on edge and bodies fighting for survival in fight or flight. You raised an eyebrow at him, a silent question that he could answer with nothing but a shrug.
He shrugged in his brown leather jacket and could feel his hands shaking, one of them still gripping his gun until his knuckles turned white. The door to the town hall slams shut and your eyes darted around to see the entire village empty.
Leon’s eyebrows furrowed with confusion as it settled in, now that he finally wasn’t fighting for his life. His head turned around and he couldn’t help but take a few steps to see further. Empty. All gone. As if nothing ever happened. As if the sounds of your desperate shouts and panicked gasps didn’t fill his ears and travel straight to his heart, making it pound fast—searching for you—just a few minutes ago. Surreal. Absurd. Ironic.
He scoffed at the barren and empty village surrounding the two of you and shrugged. “Where’s everyone going, bingo?” He asked with a now laidback tone since you both were safe—for now. His tone made your eyes slowly trail in his direction, processing with your eyebrows raised.
“…bingo?” You spluttered out, dumbfounded at his joke, and suddenly it occurred to him that not everybody appreciated his… strange sense of humour, so his eyes darted the other way. You, on the other hand, felt the ends of your lips being brought up without you even having to think.
Your amusement at his joke and the relief it—and the realization that you two were alone for now—brought, started off as a slight chuckle under your breath before your eyes trailed towards his direction. You found his eyes darting from looking at you and at the ground. His blond hair, as he cast his gaze downward in what seemed like a bit of embarrassment, couldn’t hide the slight smile, awkward as ever.
So, your amusement turned into not a slight chuckle but a bright laugh, a giggle at the sight of him and the thought that only Leon would be able to make you this… relieved, amused, and grateful… all at the same time. A weight seemingly lifted off your chest and the thought of the villager just now that had his hands wrapped around your neck just made you laugh even harder. Bingo. You nearly died and yet here you were, cheeks warm and chest light with relief, gratitude, amusement, and some kind of fondness.
Leon’s eyes darted back to you when he realized you were not only chuckling but laughing at his joke, your cheeks scrunched up from your wide smile. With every crease he found from your amusement, the more he couldn’t look away. Your laughter was unrestrained and sure, you might’ve just been a bit delirious from nearly dying but it didn’t matter; he made you laugh and feel comfortable enough to laugh after something like that. Leon felt warmth rise up his neck to his cheeks, making him brush the hair out of his face in reflex.
He’d love to know what was so fascinating about your laugh that made him unable to think clearly, to breathe properly. It was nice to make someone laugh, of course. But the sight of your smile and the sound of your relieved laughter felt like a light was shining brightly at him, interrogating him for his true thoughts. True fondness.
You both had only just arrived in this village and yet there was now an undeniable sense of gratitude that you were the one here with him, that you got paired with him even if it led you into danger like this. At least he was with you. To keep you safe. To keep you from harm so he could continue to see you laugh. The feeling of the bright interrogating light of your smile turned into feeling like there was a cartoon light ball above his head in realization, heart pounding so fast he almost swore it was slower when fighting for his life moments before.
You sigh deeply after chuckling with a slightly giddy grin, falling back to lean against one of the walls of the village's houses, your eyes trailing towards Leon. Your eye contact was what broke him out of the trance that made him stare at you and every crease in your face from your smile. He gulped nervously as his legs moved on their own towards you, thumbing the hem of his leather jacket at the uncertainty his realization brought.
I love you. Those three words so foreign to him never made more sense. Every memory Leon had with you changed, even though they were just late nights scanning over paperwork at the office or you desperately trying to land a kick at him during training. Every memory he had of seeing love everywhere when he couldn’t fully understand it changed too. Leon repeated those over and over again in his thoughts. I love you. Now he knew how it felt to have the words creep up from his heart to his tongue, lips parting with nothing but a ragged sigh escaping and spilling out of him instead of those three words he knew would change things too much for the both of you.
You cocked your head to the side with an amused smile and your eyes narrowed in question—this wasn’t the somewhat calm reaction you expected from him making you laugh deliriously. Leon reached out a shaky hand that went unnoticed by you and placed it on your shoulder. His eyes trailed from his hand placement to your neck, handprints had begun to show now from earlier.
One minute or second more and you’d be taken from him. He wouldn’t be joking then. And you wouldn’t be laughing either. He wouldn’t get to hear the sweet cadence of it or see the creases in your face as you smiled—the features that interrogated him and illuminated a deeper feeling he held than just fondness.
“You… okay?” You asked with a raised eyebrow. You knew he was trying his best to calm your nerves and comfort you after what nearly happened but you figured your reaction to his joke would’ve told him you were okay, more than.
“We should probably… get moving,” he replied, the breathiness in his voice that wasn’t there normally caught your attention and it dawned on you that maybe it wasn’t you that needed calming but him. Leon’s hand fell from your shoulder and his lip curled upwards, making you rethink. “Before more of them come,” he added with a tired but relieved sigh, looking back at you with what you could only describe as gratefulness. You smile back, a fond and thankful smile this time instead of an amused one.
Those weren’t the words Leon wanted to say to you, those three words that he repeated over and over again in his mind. But they made their home there until he could think of nothing else but you when the thought of the word love crossed through his mind.
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thank you for reading! . link to series masterlist . masterlist
© emilzke : please do not copy, translate, or repost my works.
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aftgficrec · 2 months ago
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Hi!!! Do you have any recommendations for Kevin/Jeremy/Jean fics? Both more canon compliant ones or AUs are fine. Thanks!
I’m pleased to say there are some fabulous fics in our previous recs, and I found quite a lot more Kerejean for you here. - S
Previously recommended:
In the Light of Day here
‘when i kissed the teacher’, ‘Lap Sitting’ and ‘Spice the Eggnog Ch.8’ here
‘Daylight, Sunsets’ here
‘Belief’, ‘Our First Christmas’ and ‘Kerejean soulmate au’ here
‘Funeral Pyre’ here (updated)
‘Best of you’ here (updated)
‘To Be Certain We'll Be Tall Again’ here (completed)
‘Coming Home’ here
‘Enby Kevin/Kerejean Request’ here
text me (when you're home) by Anonymous [Rated T, 11007 words, incomplete, last updated Sept 2024]
After a summer of radio silence Jean finally reaches out to Kevin in form of a text. It goes from there. or a kevjerjean texting fic
'tis the damn season by footnotesforfoxes (y2beans) [Rated M, 7155 words, incomplete, last updated Aug 2024]
BREAKING NEWS - Exy star Kevin Day suffers extreme knee injury! Will he ever play again? Kevin Day, Jean Moreau, and Jeremy Knox have never been able to leave each other alone. That is until five years ago when Kevin chose his future in Exy over making a life for himself with a couple. After a career-altering injury, he is forced to face the mistakes of his past and find that love that still waits for him.
tw: negative self image
So Dark the Hunger, So Sweet the Ruin by NikNak22 [Rated M, 7233 words, complete, 2024]
This is a story about a boy, a monster, and a curse. It is about a sun, a moon, and some stars. It is about longing, words unspoken, and scars that never heal. It is about things scuttling around in the dark that should never be seen. It is about wanting something so badly that you would sacrifice everything to keep it safe. Even from yourself. Aka in a world where Kevin doesn't have a soul mark, what is the point of him falling in love?
tw: depression, tw: self esteem issues, tw: negative self talk, tw: implied/referenced suicide attempt
Haunting Spirits by fullyvisible [Rated T, 13637 words, complete, Daylight Savings Fest 2024]
Kevin's life is going wonderfully until the fifth anniversary of Riko's death catches him by surprise, and he realizes his happiness--and his sobriety--may be more precariously balanced than he had thought. Kevin is desperate to keep it together well enough to prevent anyone from noticing, but Jean and Jeremy know him better than most.
tw: alcoholism, tw: ptsd
Because, Despite, Still by codename_adler [Rated T, 11047 words, complete, Daylight Savings Fest 2024, locked]
"No matter what Jeremy thought he knew, no matter his meticulous observations and incessant pleas for Kevin to come and fix Jean, Kevin could see plainly that perhaps he should not have trusted the USC Captain on that one. Every time you show up on TV or any of us talk about you, he shuts his eyes for a few seconds. Like… Like he’s looking for you, inside himself. There’s nothing… There’s nothing else I can give him. I swear to you Kevin, I would if I did. I’m well aware this is most certainly going to get uglier before it gets better, but that’s a knife I can’t remove myself. Only you, Kevin. Only you. Please come home to him."
tw: implied/referenced abuse 
NB: you can find a link to a playlist for this fic on the author’s tumblr post
The "Ex" Protocol by KweenDay [Rated M, 14151 words, complete, Daylight Savings Fest 2024, locked]
Jeremy has heard about Jean's high school boyfriend, Kevin, of course, but he's not jealous. He doesn't get jealous over exes. Except... he didn't know ex-Kevin was THE Kevin Day, Exy royalty extraordinaire. And no, he's still not jealous... or obsessed with him. So what if he keeps finding a way for the three of them to be in the same room time and again? It's for research! Obviously.
tw: implied/referenced abuse, tw: implied/referenced cult membership
In The Middle by KweenDay [Rated E, 6894 words, complete, 2024, locked]
Jean has always looked at his life in two segments - the one when he loved Kevin Day and both, pleasure and pain, were inextricably linked; and the one when he loved Jeremy Knox and he learned that loving someone could come without the threat of pain looming over his head. But in the past few months, both of those segments are bleeding into each other. The shadows of the past mixing with his present, and Jean thinks maybe this is a whole new chapter. Something different. Something good.
tw: explicit sexual content
Break the Ice by noNic02 [Rated E, 25396 words, incomplete, last updated Feb 2024]
Things are finally looking up for Jeremy Knox. He moved to a new city, he likes his university program, his roommates are great (mostly), and he started hooking up with one very attractive Jean Moreau. There's really only one problem - Jean's roommate hates him.
tw: explicit sexual content, tw: scars, tw: implied/referenced abuse
Tell me where it hurts most by xxhearttommo [Rated T, 1828 words, complete, 2024]
Jeremy is on a date with his boyfriends when he answers a call from his mother and finds out his father has passed away. Jeremy is hurting. Jean and Kevin help him get himself together and go through a rough patch.
tw: death of a parent
suneater by REDRAGEOUSED [Not Rated, 11371 words, incomplete, last updated Jan 2024]
Jeremy reaches over and messes with Kevin’s hair, nails scratching his scalp lightly, and he leans into it hard, barely noticing it when he turns to whisper to Jean that “they should probably get him home.” Then the car is starting and Jeremy’s hand pulls back and this time, this time Kevin holds back the whine, but he’s still feeling fucking ridiculous because what grown man enjoys being pet. Kevin is not built for this, he is not built for affection and soft touches, he is built to be hit and bruised and pushed to his limits so this is just all fucking wrong. kevin day is desperate and fucked up and everything wrong with the world. he's not sure how they haven't realized yet.
tw: implied/referenced eating disorders, tw: panic attacks, tw: implied/referenced abuse 
through numb lips by REDRAGEOUSED [Not Rated, 2494 words, complete, 2024]
Kevin isn’t really sure why they’re whispering, but given the way he has to swallow, thick and heavy, to answer, he thinks it's probably for the best. He says “I think- I think I’m high.” He doesn’t know why he says it like that, but then Jean, vaguely somewhere up laughs, and he’s glad he did. kevin day gets high & gives the best blowjob of his life
tw: explicit sexual content, tw: recreational drug use
Lagom by NikNak22 [Rated E, 19399 words, complete, 2023]
When his kingdom falls, Prince Kevin Day is ripped from his golden cage and thrust into reality. With no skills to speak of and his title gone, he has to work long and hard to learn how to survive. It is only through the grace of his teachers (or captors or liberators, depending on how one looks at it) that he has succeeded, allowing him a kind of freedom and self-sufficiency he's never known. Together, Jeremy, Jean, and Kevin form a tenuous bond of loyalty and obligation, allowing them to co-exist peacefully. It is a partnership built on mutual understanding and respect. One with clear lines and boundaries. One that reminds Kevin daily of his place. Until one day, it all starts to unravel.
tw: explicit sexual content, tw: self esteem issues
The Love We Unravel by fullyvisible [Rated T, 10049 words, complete, 2023]
Jeremy deserves a comfortable, safe life; Jean knows he can't give it to him - and neither can Kevin. But they don't consider whether Jeremy thinks they're a risk worth taking. Inspired by Midnight Rain by Taylor Swift.
Birthday Wishes by fullyvisible [Rated T, 2595 words, complete, 2023]
It's Jean's birthday, and he expects to spend it alone - which would be fine, if he hadn't gotten so used to spending his time with Jeremy and Kevin.
Beach Trip by fullyvisible [Rated T, 4592 words, complete, 2022]
When Jeremy finds out Kevin and Jean have never been to the beach, he decides to take them for a day in the sand, sun, and waves.
tw: implied/referenced torture, tw: implied/referenced scars
Optimiste by mitigates [Rated M, 28838 words, complete, 2022]
“Riko is- is dead. I am- I am- I am alive-” Jean sucked in a gasping breath that made his chest ache with the force of it. He gripped Kevin’s collar until his breaths calmed into a slow aftershock.  A soft gasp in the doorway revealed Jeremy’s presence. Jean turned on him, eyes flashing. He said the words harshly in French, “This does not concern you!” - or - Jean loses his memories after an accident. In his mind, he's barely survived Riko's last beating, Kevin left him alone at the Nest, and Jeremy is nothing more than a strange captain from another team.
tw: implied/referenced abuse, tw: major character injury, tw: nightmares
can you show me how to make it true? by Flowerparrish [Rated E, 11071 words, complete, 2021, locked]
It’s not that Kevin and Jean don’t text. But one day, Kevin gets the text.
tw: implied/referenced alcohol abuse
doomsday by erosandhades [Rated T, 4810 words, complete, 2021]
He remembered every drink Kevin had thrown at him, then the shots, then moving to the next party, then Jean. He remembered thinking “fuck it”. He remembered doing three more shots with Kevin and two with Jean. Now, he didn’t remember how he got there. Or that tweet "one time at a party i kissed someone's girlfriend and to make sure he wasn't mad about it i just kissed him too... i blacked out and woke up to a text in a groupchat with both of them that said "did you make it home safe baby? <3"' but make it Kerejean.
One, two princes kneel before you by moonqueerdom [Rated T, 10084 words, complete, 2021]
Once upon a time, on a cold, dark night in the Central Court of Arcane, the annual winter masked ball was held. Faeries danced majestically all over the place, for the song being played by a charming group of faeries was enchanted (more literally than not) and the folk wouldn't miss the opportunity to celebrate the solstice. The winter flowers were blooming inside the castle with all the magic bursting from the Land and from the folk, and snow was falling outside the transparent plasma-gloss walls. And, last but not least, two princes and a guard were about to meet among all those partying people. A fairy tale about three faeries who meet at a masquerade ball and accidentally start a new folklore. And they're a chaotic mess.
Ask me to kneel by moonqueerdom [Rated E, 15404 words, complete, 2020]
Jeremy Knox meets Jean Moreau and Kevin Day in a BDSM club after some time without seeing them and finds that they have quite a Dom/sub dynamic that interests him immediately
tw: explicit sexual content
Stuck With U by moonqueerdom [Rated M, 21198 words, complete, 2020]
Jeremy and Jean go to Denver and stay at Kevin's apartment, but then the quarantine starts and they are forced to spend much more time than they expected in the city. And at Kevin's apartment.
tw: implied/referenced abuse, tw: anxiety, tw: implied/referenced suicide, tw: alcohol abuse
Art
cuddly kerejean by @ohsleepie on X
cold weather is better if you have two boyfriends to be your personal heaters🧡❤️💛 by @princesoleil29
highkey in love w them ? by @redrageoused
I’m supposed to be working but I needed everyone to see my vision by @thepriceofsurvival
Hockey is rotting my brain , but so is Kerejean  by @jeremy-knoxs-on-wood
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misscrawfords · 15 days ago
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Could Achilles be called an anti-hero? I finished reading the Iliad a few days ago (in love with it now!) and I keep thinking about him and trying to work him out. To what extent can his savagery towards Hector be excused by his grief over Patroclus? Also, at what point does humanising a character cross over into justifying their actions?
I'm reading the Odyssey now, by the way - I'm three books in and having a lot of fun with it so far. I'd really like to read your thoughts on Achilles :)
Really interesting questions and yay for finishing the Iliad and reading the Odyssey! I'm thrilled for you discovering these amazing texts and clearly having fun with them!
I'm going to give my most annoying Classics teacher response, which is rather to question your questions, because I don't think any of them are straightforward.
Could Achilles be called an anti-hero?
In a simple way, I guess he could be called an anti-hero, in the sense that he is a protagonist that the reader follows through a text and feels sympathy for but who does not act in a "heroic" way i.e. a morally virtuous and justifiable way that fits with perhaps a 19th century concept of a hero.
However, I don't think that's necessarily an appropriate way to discuss Achilles. One of my first lessons with my Classical Civilisation students is to make them come up with a personal hero (real person, fictional character, celebrity, whatever) and explain what makes them heroic. We compile a list of qualities that makes up a "hero" in their minds and it is usually consisting of some elements of bravery, self-lessness, resilience, over-coming adversity, being an underdog etc. etc. We then work out which of these characteristics would make up a Homeric hero and discover that Homeric heroes simply aren't heroic by modern standards.
Achilles is a hero because he is a strong and mighty warrior, brilliant on the battlefield, skilled in speech-making, beloved by the gods, respected by other heroes, possessed of considerable kleos (glory won by fighting well and winning spoils of war). He is not a hero because he is a good person. There are no "heroes" and villains in Homer. The Trojan War isn't a conflict of good v evil. Achilles and Hector are heroes on either side of the war. Achilles ultimately wins over Hector because he is the stronger warrior and because Troy - and by extension Hector - is destined to fall. So in terms of heroic values and the type of epic story that Homer is composing, the concept of an anti-hero doesn't make much sense because it's predicated on a set of moral values that simply don't apply to the characters described.
To what extent can his savagery towards Hector be excused by his grief over Patroclus?
Again, I have slight issues with the wording... "Excused" implies a kind of moral judgement on Achilles' behaviour... I'm not terribly interesed in moral judgements! Achilles' grief over Patroclus is certainly the driving motivation behind Achilles' excessively savage treatment of Hector. Even the other Greeks and the gods acknowledge that he has gone too far explicitly in the text. Killing Hector is a natural response but his human sacrifice of twelve (I think) Trojans on Patroclus' funeral pyre is barbaric and his treatment of Hector's body is unnecessary. It is driven by Achilles' unrelenting grief over Patroclus as well as his naturally violent and angry character. But I don't think it needs to be excused because that suggests trying to treat Achilles as a character who should be good but is instead doing bad things. And instead he's a hero driven to excessive emotions.
Also, at what point does humanising a character cross over into justifying their actions?
You'll probably not be surprised to hear by this point that I have issues with justifying the actions of fictional characters especially ones who are not created in a post-Christian era world of good v evil fiction where we have certain expectations of the morality of their actions. I'm too much of a classicist! I will humanise the hell out of these amazing characters and I have no interest in justifying or condemning what they do. Achilles isn't real - his actions don't hurt anybody! Personally, I'm much on Achilles' side than Hector's, though most of my students prefer Hector because he is "nicer" and loves his family and "just wants to defend his city". Well, he's also after glory just as much as Achilles is and priorities winning glory by fighting Achilles over staying alive and with his family. So, not so different really. Achilles' emotions are so big and I can't read of his rolling in the dust when he heard of Patroclus' death without weeping. And then his decision to return to the fighting to get revenge even though he knows it will mean his own death and he's already explained so eloquently in Book 9 how futile all this fighting is. And THEN the way meets with Priam and they weep together over their father / their son and find common ground... Most character of all time! I couldn't care less about justifying their actions - according to what set of values? Is this character interesting, can I relate to their emotions? Is there an important story being told there? That's the only thing I'm interested in.
Plato was very worried about Homer not setting good examples for young people to follow in his characters, particularly in how he represented the gods. So this has been a debate since antiquity. While I also absolutely love Plato and reading The Republic literally changed my life, he was also highly anti-democratic, pro-censorship and wanted to get rid of all fiction that wasn't promoting a rigid set of highly moral values for people to imitate (kind of like fandom in the 2020s, no?) so I don't agree with him in this respect. Plato would have loved Republican party book burning and would have put The Iliad on the pyre first.
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redwolfstabs · 5 months ago
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ALPHAWOLFSTABS - BILLY
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gifs not mine ~ Through cuts and wounds it often flows, In whispers only blood bestows, A story etched in shades of red, Of every tear and word unsaid.
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Meet the Blogger:
Howdy, hello, hi. My names Billy, He/Him pronouns only, I'm incredibly autistic so this is a friendly autistic space. DNI if you're a minor, no TERFs allowed, and basic DNI criteria.
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Writer, Gore Lover/Analysis, Billy Loomis Coded. You've been warned
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Disclaimer for my page:
18+
gore/violence
talks of abuse, sometimes
talks of drugs and alcohol, not often
mental illness
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I will always put warnings on what I post, always! I'll put warnings and a cut so everyone can avoid being triggered on my page. But please, do mind the tags I put and please stay safe here on my page. While things I talk about may be upsetting, I do not wish to upset or trigger anyone on here. Please please please, keep yourself safe on my page.
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My Fics:
Animosity: A pre-scream - current scream fic! Slow updating, very gay stuilly. A tad bit inspired by Sharps Debaser but it's not really all that similar, I assure you.
Crimson Moon: Stu discovers he's a werewolf and Billy needs to help him figure out how to navigate. [Unfinished/no longer being updated. However, Cereal occasionally draws Werewolf Stu, that's the art that inspired this. Go check that out]
Fangs Of Insatiable Longing: Vampire Billy, Human Stu. Billy has to learn to navigate this world, Stu helps him, still follows the plot of Scream with a few added things. Slow updates.
Shut My Brain Off, But Keep Me Breathing: Submissive Billy Loomis with Dom Stu, this one is very self indulgent.
The Vexation: A crack ship fic with Doug Van Housen and Billy Loomis. Slow updates.
To The Edge, Until We All Get Off: Sub Top Stu with Dom bottom Billy. It's Stu's birthday and Billy gets him a present, not super long but really nice.
You Like It Rough, But I Like It Rougher: Pure Smut, lots of blood and knives in this one. Be safe reading this.
Winged Insect, Funeral Pyre: Prison fic au, Billy is in prison but it's more of a rehabilitaion centre, focuses on his relationship with his mind, and the stupidly cute CO he likes a little too much.
JOYRIDE: Stuilly Week day one, bodyswap au, also short but fluffy
"Partner In Time": Stuilly week day two, timeloop au, Billy gets stuck in a timeloop and everytime he dies, he wakes back up in the kitchen with Sidney and Stu
Sailor Song: Stuilly week day three, ghost au. Billy lives after the massacre, Stu doesn't.
Domesticated.: Stuilly week day four, a survivor modern au, set in 2024. Not long, but it's purely fluff
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Up Coming Fics:
Malevolent Trinity: A soon-to-be Fic with Doug Van Housen + Stuilly. It will follow the plot of Scream, just with Doug added.
Unlikely Desires: A College Stuilly fic, in which Billy looks like Vincent from As Good As It Gets And Stu looks like like Tim LaFlour
Lost Years: A Team Loomis fic with Sam and Billy, Billy is alive and Sam kinda hates his guts but they get closer and become a good pair.
A Serpents' Song: A Fic sorta based around river dale, does include Stu.
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Requests:
I do take Drabble requests! If anyone is ever feeling up for me to write them something I will work on it slowly but surely. On top of that, I am starting Commissions soon for my fics. So if anyone is also up for that, keep it in mind for later down the road.
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Easy Links:
Stuilly Head Canons
Autistic Billy Loomis
Funny Scream Text Posts
Scream Script Thoughts
Drabbles
Poems
Stuilly Week 2024
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Additional:
My Carrd - This shows my name, my interests, and rules for my blog. :)
My Discord: Alphawolfstabs. Be careful
Letterboxd: AlphaWolfStabs or Here, Mostly horror movies to be honest. I am a Horror Movie nerd, I apologize
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pyrepalaver · 2 years ago
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i think volfred would, on very rare occasion, do something incredibly silly but in a way that no one would believe. like one day he's alone with the reader and just fucking dabs and the reader can't say anything because no one would believe it.
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dedud3d · 5 months ago
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so ml canon divergence au where after reflekdoll, marinette gets sick or hurt or both and can't be ladybug for a bit because of it so she has tikki go to chat so he can, ideally, take over as ladybug while she's gone and choose who he wants to be his black cat
adrien doesn't do that and instead chooses alya to be ladybug so it becomes a scarabella and chat noir team up which makes gabriel finally gather up enough courage to use his braincells
akuma + sentimonster + hawkmoth + mayura + bad/newbie ladybug who doesn’t have the talent for it or the experience in fighting together with chat noir = the highest chance of victory he has had so far(?)
so he makes an akuma and has mayura make them a sentimonster then they wait for scarabella to use her lucky charm and for chat noir to use his cataclysm before ambushing them then blocking them from escaping until they detransform and he can take their miraculous with minimal risk
*insert evil monologue and how disappointing adrien/chat noir is* before he makes the wish
gimmi: alright then Mr "nothing left to lose", bet.
gabriel wakes up in prison (life sentence with no chance of parole) and stays there for years without anyone visiting him with all the prisoners hating him before he accidentally broken out by a fight between someone with the dragon miraculous and someone with the ox miraculous whose superpower seems like a green lantern ring knock off instead of making him immune to superpowers like nooroo told him it would.
at first he just thinks nooroo might have somehow lied to him but then the Dragon miraculous user uses fire and then he's just confused.
he doesn't get much time to think on it because the inmates all start shouting and running towards the hole the two supervillains(?) made to try and escape. he follows them and ends up managing to escape but not without some bruises and a few bullets grazing him.
after his (not so) great escape, he hides and stumbles upon the goat miraculous by accident then laughs
gabriel: yes... the world is surely on my side!
he puts on the miraculous and transforms but his weapon isn't a brush, it's a battering ram stick with a goat head, and yelling 'genesis', no matter how many times he does so even at differing volumes, does nothing.
he also finds himself detransforming moments later and almost passing out from exhaustion. while he's on his knees gasping for air, a snort draws his attention, the source being... a kwami who looked very smug
gabriel glared at the goat kwami who dared treat him with such insolence
gabriel: ziggy, I order you to stop laughing and explain to me what is going on immediately!!!
the kwami's expression immediately turned to stone much to gabriel's satisfaction, though it didn't last very long before they burst out laughing
ziggy: hahahaha!!! what do you think this is, the previous world?
they didn't wait for an answer and promptly burst out laughing again
gabriel couldn't tolerate such disrespect and made to grab the accursed kwami to shut him up but his hand passed right through them. gabriel stared at his arm for a moment before making another attempt to grab them again... and again... and again and again
eventually the accursed creature stopped laughing and gave him a very bored look which somehow made him feel worse than when they were laughing at him. it was as if they saw gabriel as joke, and that joke was used too much at once so now it was no longer funny
ziggy: you said you had nothing left to lose, right gabi?
gabriel immediately went to correct them, after all gabi grassette was weak and long dead, but the kwami continued without giving him a chance
ziggy: that's why gimmi generously only took away everything you didn't care about to revive your wife
gabriel suddenly had a sinking feeling
ziggy: your reputation, your skills and talents, your knowledge as well as your connections... all of them were either taken away and given to someone else or made no longer applicable
he hoped that his knowledge no longer being applicable only applied to the miraculous but for now he needed to know more about the first part
gabriel: g-given away!? to who!?
ziggy: hmm... who knows really? but my hope is that it's ladybug, both because that would be really funny and a well deserved break for her as well as great karma for you!
gabriel barely managed to keep himself from grinding his teeth to dust or smashing his fist into the concrete wall or ground. the thought of that... that brat getting his fortune and talents... it was unthinkable what gabriel would do to correct that.
the kwami snorted as if reading his mind
ziggy: you already committed mass genocide on a daily basis, how bigger a hole do you think you can dig yourself into?
gabriel glared at the kwami before responding
gabriel: as soon as I figure out how the miraculous work, you'll see.
ziggy: but why do you need the miraculous in the first place? your wife is alive and well now even if she never wants you to be a part of her or her son's life. I thought you didn't care about anything except her being alive? or are you finally ready to admit to yourself that your goal was always to rule the world and you wanting the miraculous to heal your wife was just the excuse you used to manipulate mayura into helping you?
gabriel: shut up!!! no one deserves to more than me!!!
ziggy shook her head as gabi walked past with thinly veiled rage
ziggy: karma is yet to collect your full debt...
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maniculum · 5 months ago
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Bestiaryposting Results: Lumchagg
Another one that's immediately recognizable if you spot its most-known characteristic, but I had to keep this one in because I thought it was entertaining that the author was clearly working from two different sources and, rather than try and reconcile the two, apparently just copied two slightly-different accounts and left them like that.
If you're not sure what I'm talking about, you can find an explanation and previous posts at https://maniculum.tumblr.com/bestiaryposting. The entry that people are working from this time can be found here:
And here's the one that folks will be drawing this week, if you want to get in on it:
Anyway, art below the cut:
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@silverhart-makes-art (link to post here) noted the apparent existence of a larval stage in the second half of the entry, and drew a creature that's part Australian firehawk and part moth. I think this design is extremely cool, and does a good job extrapolating from the ideas of a bird that makes its own funeral pyre and apparently starts life as a larva.
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@sweetlyfez (link to post here) went kind of a flamingo direction with this one, noting that a purple bird might acquire that coloration from its diet the same way flamingos do, which is cool. I also like the idea that its pyre/container is a silver censer, which is oddly accurate to medieval depictions -- I've definitely seen a couple of medieval images of this bird where its "nest" looks a lot like a fancy bowl. (Also thank you for including alt text.)
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@kaerran (link to post here) makes note of a bit of a camera quality issue, but has what I think is a really clever idea. They've chosen to make their Lumchagg quite small, so that their "container" could in fact be the contents of a spice rack. A convenient solution for the modern Lumchagg with a high tolerance for plastic fumes. (Also thank you for including alt text.)
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@ectocs (link to post here) has plotted out the lifecycle of a bird-thing that genuinely looks more like a dinosaur than anything, which I like a lot. That is a cool-looking bird. I also like the facial expressions a lot -- maybe it's just my imagination, but that blobby little worm stage seems quite pleased with itself. I strongly recommend clicking on the linked post to see a number of additional doodles and notes from the design process, which are very interesting in my opinion.
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@cheapsweets (link to post here) has done this drawing in a nice dark purple ink, which is both pleasant and appropriate. The bird looks very cool, and I find the worm quite charming. I also appreciate the detail put into the pyre/nest/whatever here. It's good. I like it.
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@pomrania (link to post here) notes that the medieval definition of "bird" is quite flexible, and of course worm and wyrm were more or less interchangeable... so this is a dragon. Entirely fair, I can't argue with that. It's pretty cute, too.
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@coolest-capybara (link to post here) also gives us a life-cycle drawing, complete with a pupa, which I think is a nice and appropriate touch. They note the ambiguity of the term purple in pre-modern sources, so their Lumchagg has a more general colorful & iridescent look. I really like the parrot-worm-thing in the middle of the tree there.
To the Aberdeen Bestiary:
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Yep, that's a bird. Presumably the trees are meant to represent frankincense and myrrh, both of which I believe are made from tree resin. Very good Stylized Trees, naturally. The bird, which kind of just looks like a hawk, also seems to be resting on an invisible perch, presumably because the artist wasn't sure what to do with the legs of a bird in flight.
There's also a second illustration:
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That absolutely does not help identification, but I think a majority of participants clocked that this is the phoenix.
A few people noted that they hadn't known that phoenices (phoenixes? you know what, it doesn't matter, there's only one of them at a time anyway) were supposed to be purple. Others commented on the odd note about Arabia and the color purple, speculating as to what purple pigment was being referred to. I am excited to tell you that these two things are linked: the famous Tyrian Purple dye was originally used by... [drum roll]... the Phoenicians.
I actually had to delete a word from the entry before posting, because the original reads:
The phoenix is a bird of Arabia, so called either because its colouring is Phoenician purple, or because there is only one of its kind in the whole world.
The other part of the etymological explanation there is later explained by the assertion (the basis of which I do not know) :
The Arabs call a solitary man phoenix.
Also to be clear, there's not exactly a broad pre-modern consensus about phoenix coloration. Everyone seems to agree that it's brightly colored, but what colors vary widely. (However, it should be noted that "red" and "purple" are both popular options, and moreover that those colors are not always differentiated in older texts.)
It's tempting to say that the frankincense & myrrh is here probably just acting as a Christian resurrection metaphor because the authors are monks, but it is in fact the case that multiple medieval descriptions of the phoenix have it making use of valuable plants, including those. In the Old English Wonders of the East, it builds its nest from cinnamon. Herodotus (who says the phoenix is red and gold) mentions the phoenix using myrrh, but not as a nest or funeral pyre -- each new phoenix embalms the body of the previous phoenix in myrrh to be interred at the Temple of the Sun. Pliny (purple and gold, with a blue tail) has the nest made from cinnamon, incense, and perfumes, and when the little worm grows large enough it carries the nest, along with the remains of its predecessor, to said temple. Neither Herodotus nor Pliny mention the fire thing, interestingly, so I suspect it might have come in later. The Wonders of the East does mention the fire, but it has no opinion on the coloration.
I can feel myself falling into a rabbit hole, so I'm just going to cut this one off here.
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scroogemcducksbastardchild · 4 months ago
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"too sweet is so hannigram coded" wrong. listen to shrike right now
buckle up cause this is gonna be a long post!!
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[image id: screenshotted text from reddit user @yupsquared. it reads:
I've seen a lot of pretty varied interpretations of Shrike, which always kinda surprised me as I thought it had a very direct reading. Might as well type out my interpretation now in the chance anyone sees this, or maybe I'll make it into a post.
I read Shrike as a song in which the singer describes how his attitude towards love has been corrupted by a scornful and captivating lover, and how in a sense he has been 'ruined', having no other recourse now for new love.
He illustrates this with the image of the shrike, a bird—typically symbols of carefree or joyous life, but in this case a bird that relies on a brutal counterpart, a thorn, to live. The shrike impales its prey on the thorn and then tears it apart. The shrike needs its thorn.
We see the singer in the beginning, as generally timid, perhaps naïve, but ultimately good:
I couldn't utter my love when it counted
and
And I'd no idea on what ground I was founded
and
Then when I met you, my virtues uncounted
He doesn't seem to have much ideological ground or experience. Carefree, like a songbird. Moving on, we are treated to imagery showing just how asymmetric the relationship is; the lover is much more powerful than the singer. He is "hung like the pelt of some prey [she] had won." By all accounts he is under her thumb, and he is altered by it:
I was housed by your warmth
Thus transformed
By you're grounded and giving
And darkening scorn
The fact that her "scorn", such a harsh word, is perceived as giving betrays how awful this relationship is. Happy, healthy relationships are not scornful, they are affirming. The singer doesn't care, something within him has changed, has darkened. He now flies to "the hedgerows where bodies are mounted"— the final form this relationship takes, a killing field, terrible and grotesque. Ultimately, he is reborn:
As the shrike to your sharp
And glorious thorn
—and in this final transformation, he sees the thorn, by all means a noxious thing, sharp, something to be avoided— as "glorious" even invigorating. He has become a shrike, reliant, within the context of the relationship maybe even addicted, to a toxic lover's cruelty and scornful love.
The fact that this is set to pretty, melodic, gentle folk-blues music makes it cut even deeper for me. The singer has internalized this to the point where it is reflected as harmony, instead of grotesquerie. We see it, but he is slavishly devoted to this thing whose warmth seems superficial and who wears him like a pelt. There is no going back, no return to carefree songbird days. The shrike needs to eat. The shrike needs its thorn.
To wrap, this captivation with dark lovers seems like a pretty consistent theme of Hozier's. As It Was has those lovely closing lines:
And the sights were as stark as my baby
And the cold was as sharp as my baby
And the nights were as dark as my baby
Half as beautiful too
Dark, cold, sharp, and beautiful. Not despite the darkness, the sharpness, but because of it. And if we look at NFWMB, the whole of it describes his lover as apocalypse, literally warming her fingers on the pyre of the word and giggling at the sound of the dead rising from Hell. He likes 'em bad.
**rattled this out on the train, so lil grammar edits. end id]
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i'd offer my own interpretation of the lyrics, but yupsquared did a far better job than i could (here's a link to the reddit thread in case anyone wants to check it out!) so i'll just go off their analysis.
I couldn't utter my love when it counted Ah, but I'm singing like a bird 'bout it now I couldn't whisper when you needed it shouted Ah, but I'm singing like a bird 'bout it now
The words hung above But never would form Like a cry at the final Breath that is drawn Remember me, love When I'm reborn As the shrike to your sharp And glorious thorn
aside from the obvious shrike symbolism, to me, this is a contrast between mizumono and the wrath of the lamb. we know that will has difficulty accepting his feelings about killing- and by extension, about hannibal. he doesn't want to accept that he could love that part of himself, and in mizumono, we see him torn between hannibal and his life at the fbi. hannibal believes he's been betrayed by will and punishes him, destroying the possibility of a life with abigail. i think that if events had gone according to plan, will would have chosen hannibal ("i gave you a rare gift. but you didn't want it." "didn't i?"), but in hannibal's eyes will "couldn't utter [his] love when it counted" and suffered the consequences. a betrayal for a betrayal, a gutting for a gutting.
s3b has will go through a similar arc, choosing this time between hannibal and his life with molly. but he can make the choice this time, and he chooses hannibal ("this is all i ever wanted for you, will. for both of us." "it's beautiful"). even after everything they had gone through, everything hannibal had done, will chose hannibal, and his becoming is rebirth. he acknowledges their symbiotic relationship and accepts (to an extent; i agree with hugh that he's not fully there yet) that death can be beautiful. he becomes the shrike to hannibal's "sharp and glorious thorn."
And I'd no idea on what ground I was founded All of that goodness is goin' with you now Then when I met you, my virtues uncounted All of my goodness is goin' with you now
Dragging along Following your form Hung like the pelt Of some prey you had worn Remember me, love When I'm reborn As a shrike to your sharp And glorious thorn
when will and hannibal meet, and as their relationship progresses, will is unstable and unsure of himself but still has faith in his morals. his job helps him save lives, and if it plays into some darker urges he keeps buried, well, so be it. but hannibal's manipulation of will and the murder of garrett jacob hobbs brought those urges to the surface.
i think hannibal's manipulation of will was equal parts curiosity and personal longing. he wanted to see what will would do, but he also saw in will the potential to understand and be understood in return, something hannibal never considered as a possibility. he saw himself in will and that allowed him to see a future.
I fled to the city with so much discounted Ah, but I'm flying like a bird to you now Back to the hedgerows where bodies are mounted Ah, but I'm flying like a bird to you now
this verse can have multiple interpretations. one, and perhaps the most obvious, is will looking for hannibal in s3a. the first two lines are from hannibal's perspective; he fled to the city (florence), with the promise of a life with will and abigail discounted, but found himself returning to will in the metaphorical sense. leaving him his broken heart. the second two lines are from will's perspective. he's sailing away from home but towards hannibal, towards the life of violence he could easily escape. will also returns to hannibal in the metaphorical sense with the firefly tableau. he has become the shrike, mounting his prey on hannibal's thorns.
this verse can also be taken within the context of s3b, with will returning yet again to hannibal and "the hedgerows where bodies are mounted." this time, however, all four lines are from will's perspective. his "city" is a normal life with molly, and what he discounted was not the possibility of a life with hannibal (as the latter did in mizumono) but rather the possibility that he could want such a life.
I was housed by your warmth Thus transformed By your grounded and giving And darkening scorn Remember me, love When I'm reborn As a shrike to your sharp And glorious thorn
this is the final scene in the wrath of the lamb, the last step in will's becoming. he was transformed by hannibal; his manipulation, his understanding, the idea that someone could accept even the darkest parts of him wholly and completely ("you're not alone, will. i'm standing right beside you"). his love.
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popatochisssp · 1 year ago
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Hi!! If the Papyri are knights what are the Sanses? Also you should totally make an AU of this, you beautiful brain
You have no idea, none of you have any idea how absolutely insane I went about this goofy little one-off AU concept
...Some of you have an idea. And some of you maybe know me well enough to have just guessed I would go off the rails the way I have lol
Anyway, this is the first, but absolutely not the last of The Court AU:
Sans (Undertale): The court jester, in possession of a quick wit and a cutting sense of humor and with no desire to let either go to waste. He’s much beloved at court and prides himself on his ability to make even the stuffiest of courtiers chuckle with his jokes and pranks—and his jester’s privilege makes him nigh untouchable to those who somehow aren’t amused by him. It’s a good life…
Papyrus (Undertale): A proud knight of the kingdom and a member of the Royal Guard! Er…well…eventually, he will be. The Captain won’t make him a full member of the Guard until he’s proven his valor through a series of knightly quests…but she won’t tell him what the quests are, so he travels the kingdom as a knight-errant, helping those in need and solving problems that may or may not have needed solving! You’re welcome, good citizens!
Sky (Underswap Sans): A squire, or knight-in-training, attendant to the Captain of the Guard until he properly earns his own knighthood. …Frankly, he’s already capable and qualified to be a knight now, but he’s aware that the Captain has some reservations regarding his health and is hesitating to just give him the job because of it. He fully intends to prove himself to her in the line of active duty, and someday be recognized as a fully-fledged knight of the realm.
Paps (Underswap Papyrus): The court archivist, most at home amidst shelves of tomes and records and far away from the social obligations of the court itself. He tracks and preserves all kind of documents, from agricultural reports to genealogies to romantic poetry, and is on call to locate specific texts for any nobles or otherwise literate folks seeking to reference them. It gets a bit musty sometimes but he wouldn’t trade it for anything.
Jasper (Underfell Sans): A mercenary, traveling the kingdom in search of people to sell his sword to for a bit of coin—and then traveling in search of satisfying ways to spend that coin. He does occasionally venture outside the kingdom for both of these things, but he has quite a few connections to well-paying opportunities within the borders, so as much as he avoids putting down roots, he tends not to stray too far from ‘home.’
Pyre (Underfell Papyrus): A knight in the Royal Guard, touted as a black knight for the scorched and stained armor he wears—a marker of the many deadly, heroic feats he’s conquered. No quest is too dangerous, no enemy too great for him to overcome, and he bravely takes on what lesser knights fear to risk. He’s quite accomplished dealing with dragons, and wildfires, and even mages, who always seem to cast fireballs and…well, perhaps that’s the reason his armor is so blackened…
Mal (Swapfell Sans): Personal guard to the Empress herself, nominally part of the Royal Guard as well but far from the front-lines of battle as his duty to her highness’ safety comes first and foremost. He’s involved in a lot of the structuring and scheduling of patrols for the lower ranking guardsmen, and his opinion is often sought in matters of state and military, but his primary concern is accompanying the Empress wherever she goes, or standing post just outside the door. Only on rare occasions does anyone else fill his role, and that’s just the way he likes it.
Rus (Swapfell Papyrus): He’s a nobleman who used his wealth and free time to pursue a passion in painting. His passion paid off in the form of a bit of notoriety for his work and several offers of patronage from other nobility seeking portraits and frescoes and the like done in his hand. …Or as he sees it, rich people paying him to do what he loves instead of some sort of actual job. As long as he can comfortably afford his paints, he’s happy.
Slate (Horrortale Sans): He’s a stableman at the queen’s castle, looking after the horses and hunting dogs kept there. He isn’t as quick as he used to be, and his memory hasn’t been the same since his head injury, but he was graciously employed elsewhere rather than dismissed and it’s…fine. Well enough, at least. It’s dirty and often thankless work, but he is fond of the animals, and much prefers their company to anyone else.
Papy (Horrortale Papyrus): He’s a medic in service to the knights of the Royal Guard. He actually used to be among their number…sort of…but there were some changes, in his life, and his eye-sight isn’t really what it used to be anyway, and… Well! He spent some time learning from the court physician and got very interested in ways to treat illness and injury. He’s not as skilled and knowledgeable as a full-fledged healer but he’s happily on hand for minor training accidents and sicknesses or injuries in those coming back from patrols. He loves to be able to help!
Ash (Undergloom Sans): A musician who plays his trusty horn for the court during all the feasts and festivals. He’s only one player of many but enough of a talent to be selected for the job and pleased that his music should entertain the king and queen and all their noble guests. It’s not the most glorious of positions but he’s happy enough doing it and lives well for his station.
Yrus (Undergloom Papyrus): Head cook in the castle kitchens, a station he worked up to from the bottom as a lowly kitchen boy. He has a lot of experience making meals for the royal couple and for all the nobles that regularly attend court gatherings and he knows how to give the people what they want. There are several other cooks and kitchen attendants that work with him but it’s his job to make decisions and keep everything running smoothly, which keeps him busy but happily so.
Brick (Horrorfell Sans): He sticks exclusively to the royal court these days, not as a hired sword but as a wealthy and rakish duke of the kingdom. His brother gave him the title and it’d be stupid not to take advantage of the perks—though he does have to earn them. He’s less a hired sword now and more a hired axe, performing the duty of the royal executioner whenever he’s called upon to do so. No need to wear a hood, everyone knows who he is and what he does to enemies of the crown.
King (Horrorfell Papyrus): The king of the castle, in a very literal sense. Some may call him a usurper or a traitor to the crown to have seized the throne for himself without proper claim… and for those people he arranges a meeting between their necks and his brother’s blade. He seized the throne because he’s loyal to the crown and the queen he deposed was wearing it quite poorly. If he could, he would’ve stepped down by now and given way to the true queen, but the people have been through enough upheaval—so he will remain as their king, as long as is necessary.
Merc (Horrorswap Sans): A cursed king who lives an austere, lonely life in a desolate castle by the sea. He fled from his true realm in disgrace and now awaits an end to his curse or his shame—whichever comes first—in the ruins of a fallen kingdom as degraded as he is. He doesn’t expect to be found, or saved from the curse that his own choices wrought upon him, and just tries to bear his fate with the grace expected of him.
Ell (Horrorswap Papyrus): Prince-errant of his kingdom, meant to be ruling his people but instead gallivanting off across the countryside in search of his missing brother. He wants to find him and know he’s well about as much as he doesn’t want to go back and be the ruler of a kingdom, for which he was never properly trained and is wholly unprepared! Maybe in his search and his hardships, he can find the strength and maturity to do what the kingdom needs him to do…but he’s not there yet, and finding his brother is his priority.
Pitch (Horrorswapfell Sans): Every knight in the Royal Guard is hand-picked and trained by him. He held a high office among the guardsmen once, but a severe injury put him out of commission and without his sight, he was no longer fighting fit, as they say. Still, his strength and his skill didn’t abandon him and while he could be a liability on the battlefield, he’s nothing less than a powerful asset when it comes to training the knights up to his own exacting standards. Only the best make it through his gauntlet.
Nemo (Horrorswapfell Papyrus): He walks the wall of the castle at night, standing guard for any threats to the kingdom that might otherwise go unseen. He takes his duty very seriously and refuses to let any night pass without a watchman on duty, even in foul weather or nights of great feasts and festivals. His vigilance has protected the kingdom from many a threat and he feels certain that his job is of much higher importance than any frivolous pastimes he absorbed himself in before.
Sunny (Gastertale Sans): A courtier of…mysterious origin. He’s often at court, making conversation and telling colorful stories to anyone whose ear he can snatch—and he manages to snatch quite a few—but no one can manage to figure out quite where he came from or what he ought to be doing. Mostly, he entertains himself and others with various leisurely pursuits, games, hunts, dances, songs, and as such he’s a well-liked person at court…wherever he came from.
Aster (Gastertale Papyrus): Another man of mystery who appeared at court on the heels of his brother, though far less flamboyantly. He’s obviously a learned man, well-educated and well-spoken, and though he wasn’t as warmly embraced by the courtiers at large, he was eventually welcomed into the king’s confidence as a royal advisor. The backing of the king being what it is, he’s accepted and respected as probably some sort of nobleman, regardless of his unclear origin, and continues to advise the king on matters of state.
Spectr (Transcendtale Sans): A wanderer, uprooted from his life and former kingdom and left to walk the land in search of meaning. Some say his kingdom was destroyed but for a small handful of survivors. Some say he turned to dark magic and sold his soul for the chance. to take revenge on the one who desolated his home. Some say he’s ageless, bones turned to cold iron and chest empty of breath to contain the power he now holds. …They’re all right. But his quest is long over, and all that’s left to do now is wander.
PapAIrus (Transcendtale Papyrus): He’s a proud knight of the kingdom! He may not have been in the Royal Guard when he was tragically cut down before his time, but he did come back from death as a ghostly semblance of himself at the same time everyone else did—and when your Captain is no longer worried that you might get yourself killed in battle because you already did, promotions are in order! So, he now serves his phantom kingdom as a phantom knight, valiantly and eagerly, but of course, taking time every now and then to visit his (mostly) living family member, to keep him from brooding too hard.
Xanth (Ascendswap Sans): It’s…slightly unclear what he does. He’s seemed strange for a time, a bit touched, but the queen seems to hold him in high esteem and never fails to consult him (among others) before any major decisions are made. Sometimes he’ll appear in unusual places with cryptic messages, or look into peoples’ eyes and divine their intentions (should they be ill ones), and for all this, though he holds no specific title, he’s at least informally called the court mystic. There are rumors that his strangeness and that of those closest to him is because he made contact and some sort of bargain with the faefolk…but those are surely just rumors.
Piper (Ascendswap Papyrus): The royal falconer, primary trainer, keeper, and handler of all the hawks and falcons owned by the queen. It wasn’t a job he was born into, but one he sought out of the blue one day, and he earned his way by demonstrating a remarkable affinity for the birds even prior to any training. By now he’s a figure of great respect for the command he has over the flighted beasts, and he happily demonstrates it during the queen’s feasts and king’s hunts.
Carmine (Underfell Fruition Sans): He’s earned his way at court with talent, performing dazzling displays of bullets and other magic for nobles and royals alike. He’s a standout from other such entertainers in that his well of magic never seems to run dry and he can keep showing off his juggling and his light shows and his dancing bullets from sun-up to sun-down without ever tiring. He doesn’t talk much about his life before coming to court, but he’s happy now so it’s just as well.
Tank (Underfell Fruition Papyrus): He was trained from a very young age to be a soldier, a paladin meant to fight in a holy war and raised to believe his greatest purpose was to die on the battlefield and bring glory to the cause. That all…never happened. He was freed from the grip of the zealots and reunited with the brother he hadn’t seen in ages, but then left at odds for what to do now—a warrior with no war to fight. Eventually he becomes apprenticed to a carpenter in town in the hopes of learning a trade to live on, and…he’s starting to be content.
Vi (Swapfell Fruition Sans): Spymaster to the crown, head of a small network of covert informants, assassins, thieves and the rest of their ilk. It was a career he…inherited…but also one he carried out diligently, carefully, and above all, secretly. At least, until his brother married and he left to join him in his new kingdom, where he serves much the same function at court—with the added responsibility of wrangling and occasionally nominally filling in for the crown prince. All according to plan.
Hunter (Swapfell Fruition Papyrus): He was in the same family business as his brother, but when he caught the eye of a visiting monarch and won an invitation to their kingdom, to marry, well… how could he refuse? And when, after an unsuspicious amount of time, his spouse is found dead under mysterious—but not too mysterious—circumstances, and no one from the proper line of succession seems to be coming to take their place… He really has no choice but to go from the prince consort to the crown prince, for the sake of his late spouse’s people. He’s far from a proper or responsible prince, and certainly has some kind of reputation, but he’s pleased enough with how everything’s going.
Kohl (Descendtale Sans): He minds the royal dungeons. It’s not what he started out doing, but somewhere along the way he lost the humor for anything else, and it’s as good a job as any. Not too many strangers make it into the kingdom these days, but plenty have foul intentions and it is something he takes some pride in, keeping watch over those ill-meaning outsiders and making sure they stay put, where they belong. He’s not the kindest of dungeon-keepers, but quite frankly, since when was ‘kindness’ part of that job description?
Bram (Descendtale Papyrus): His brother keeps the dungeon and he keeps the grounds. While a groundskeeper isn’t anything close to what he thought he’d want to be, a lot has happened—to him personally and to the kingdom as a whole—and well, he’s providing a very valuable service with his work, humble though it may be. Anyone with skin would have a horrid time pruning back all the wicked, cursed thorns that keep trying to consume the realm, and unchecked, they could probably run wild in less than a fortnight, where would they all be if he let that happen?
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