#thanks beck!!

[mauvecardigans]

Tagged by @beck-a-leck for a wee game - picrew yourself and also share the last song you listened to!

Absolutely no pressure, but tagging those I know enjoy a good picrew - @phoomwhoosh @youandthemountains @wicked-jade - and those I just like to bother - @le-red-queen @variousqueerthings @thebreakfastgenie

[howmanyshirtsareinthistdframe]

trisha paytas absorbing war criminals souls into their uterus like a philosophers stone

[burnthatbridge]

BUDDIE SHIP STATS [inspiration] + [template by @marissources]

[malestarssockedfeet]

[thelonelyshore-if]

How would the RO act if someone was aggressively flirting with the MC and it was clearly making them uncomfortable

Ooooh I finally get to answer RO asks again I'm so excited 😭 Under the cut because it's loooong.

Beck: Will throw down for the MC no questions asked. It wouldn't be the first time they've been in a fight, and if it was to make some pushy asshole back off? Oh they wouldn't even hesitate. Dating or friends, it doesn't matter.

Croft: Despite usually struggling a lot with social situations, Croft grew up dealing with rich assholes. When they need to they can pull out a cold smile and razor-sharp politeness. They can dress someone down with a few words. They'd walk up, coolly insult the stranger, before ignoring them completely and asking MC if they're ready to leave.

Jay: Not only is Jay a big sibling but they're also very protective over their friends. If they saw some asshole flirting with MC when they clearly didn't want it they'd be furious. They desperately would want to fight them, but instead they'd give the person a piece of their mind and then try to focus on making sure MC is okay.

Perri: Unfortunately Perri is terrified of confrontation, so they wouldn't yell at the person or fight them. Honestly, they'd probably do something like 'accidentally' spill their drink on the person. Divert the attention and slip away with MC while the other person is distracted.

Ravi: Ohhhhh Ravi would Not Like That. I mean, none of the ROs would, but he doesn't like bullies and he especially doesn't like people harassing his friends. Ravi would probably walk up and interrupt, smiling wide and eyes sharp, and make intense eye contact until it became clear that this is an unwise course of action. He'd just make inane small talk but his vibes would be terrifying.

Yasmin: Isn't subtle, and would be immediately furious. She'd charge right up and chew the person out. Honestly, assuming this is happening in Easthaven, she'd straight up be like: "Does your mom know you enjoy harassing people? Hm? Would you like her to?" She's incredibly respected in town lmao she could absolutely ruin someone if she wanted to. It's not smart to mess with her.

[stealingpotatoes]

Hi!! I kinda found your blog after seeing your Tron Uprising art, and I must say, your art style is really good!

omg tron uprising havent drawn that in forever!!!!!!! quick have this paige

[aeoris4lovers]

when caleb is talking to the nein about his past before the dinner with trent, he tells them that in the time he spent under trent, astrid and wulf never wavered in their dedication or willingness. after rereading his origins comic, though, i think he’s wrong. i think there was a pretty significant period of time where eadwulf specifically was having doubts about what they were doing right in front of his eyes.

exhibit a: the bodies

this is the most subtle example of it, but it’s also the earliest and probably represents the very beginnings of whatever doubts were brewing in wulf’s mind.

in both of these instances, there’s a dead or unconscious body on the ground, and wulf is staring at it while bren talks to trent. it’s hard to tell where he’s looking in the second one, but a later frame makes it clear that he’s looking in the direction of a body.

in the first one particularly, he looks to me like he’s visibly upset — his face isn’t as stoic as the others, and his body language looks uncertain, not his usual crossed-arm stance.

these were the moments that first caught my eye. they brought up questions in my mind: what is he thinking? what’s going through his head as he looks at the people they just hurt?

exhibit b: the bath scene

this comes immediately after the second body, and is what confirmed in my mind that wulf definitely isn’t entirely on board with the things they’re being told to do.

he closes the door behind them and just stands with his fist against it. none of them look happy by any means, but it’s clear that he’s upset to a point where even bren and astrid, in the midst of their own feelings, look concerned and go to comfort him.

bren in particular takes a long moment with him before the two of them rejoin astrid. i’ll get into why that — and bren’s role in general — is significant in a moment.

exhibit c: the morning after

this is the most important point in all of this, and the significance of his reaction here really can’t be understated.

in this moment, trent has just drawn their attention to their “memories” of their parents defying the empire. these are, from their point of view, very real and undeniable memories. and yet, the reaction we see here from wulf is one of explicit and absolute rejection.

and he’s not just denying what trent wants him to believe — he’s angry. he’s standing up and slamming a hand on table and raising his voice. doubt has been simmering under the surface in him for a while now, and this is the moment that trent crosses a line. trent has presented something truly unthinkable to him and despite his own memories supporting it, he absolutely cannot believe it. on a very visceral level, he knows it can’t be right.

this moment is significant not only because it confirms beyond a shadow of a doubt that wulf is not completely sure of what they’re doing, but also because we literally never see another student of trent openly defy him like this, nor do we see any volstrucker do so.

let me repeat that: until caleb goes up against him with the nein, eadwulf is the only person we ever see look trent in the eye and say “you’re wrong.” even after all of campaign two, we never see someone actively working under him defy him that explicitly — it’s only caleb, who escaped his control, or people like the nein with no real connection to him. even when astrid acts against him, she does it very quietly and is clearly terrified of those actions being alluded to at the dinner. wulf is the only one we ever see who, while at trent’s mercy, dares to openly and completely reject him.

bringing his family into it was a step too far. at this point, wulf isn’t just struggling with what they’re being told — he’s absolutely not having it anymore.

so what gives?

we know that he ultimately believes trent enough to kill his parents, and is even the first of the three to do it, so how do we get to that level of agreement from such a powerful moment of anger and denial?

that’s where bren comes in.

looking back at that breakfast scene, we can also see how the other two react to their own memories coming to light.

astrid’s is one of betrayal. she’s confused and struggling to understand why they would do it, but she doesn’t deny it either.

bren’s, on the other hand, is one of defeat. he’s clearly upset, but he’s simultaneously totally certain that what they’re remembering is true. and of course he is — his memory has been impeccable his entire life. why would he start to question it now, even if he doesn’t want to believe what it’s telling him?

bottom line: while astrid clearly also struggles with it and may have her own doubts, though not as strong as wulf’s, bren takes it all in stride and never wavers.

and if there’s one thing we know about wulf, it’s that he trusts his people. throughout his scenes in campaign two, we see him looking to astrid for signs of what to do or say and deferring to her when he’s overwhelmed by or unsure of the situation at hand. when caleb takes his hand at the blooming grove, he follows, and when astrid takes his hand and leads him away, he follows her. where they go, he follows. he trusts them implicitly and he looks to them when he doesn’t know what the right call is.

so what is he going to do in that moment, when his own mind is telling him something that he absolutely can’t believe and he doesn’t know how to reconcile it? he looks to them for guidance.

astrid clearly isn’t in a place to offer much, and hasn’t been. she’s not as lost in doubt as he is, but she’s not certain enough to reassure him either. we can already see that in the bath scene — remember when i said it was significant that bren is the one to stay with wulf while astrid goes off on her own? she wants to comfort him and tries to because she cares about him, but it seems that her conviction isn’t quite strong enough to be a steady base for someone else. and in the breakfast scene, we see that again, with her not openly going against it but still struggling with it in a way bren doesn’t.

bren, on the other hand, is consistently certain that they’re doing the right thing, even when it feels bad. caleb says as much himself when he first tells beau and nott his story: “i was so sure, i was so sure, until i wasn’t.” hearing his parents scream as they die is genuinely the first time he ever has doubts. until that moment, he’s sure. he trusts his mind and he trusts trent and he believes in their cause.

so when he sees wulf struggling with it, what does he do? he offers that certainty, reminds him of why they’re doing what they do, assures him that they’re doing the right thing and he doesn’t have to feel guilty. he’s their rock, the one wulf and astrid can trust to be sure even when their faith is shaken.

and that’s exactly what i think happens in the time between that breakfast and the night they kill their parents: bren sees wulf angry and totally lost trying to make sense of the massive gulf between what he remembers and what he knows to be true, he sees astrid confused and not able to put the pieces together, and he reassures them because he trusts his mind and so do they and he doesn’t want to see them struggle.

and i think astrid needs less convincing, but once she’s sure too and it’s only wulf that can’t accept it, that’s when he starts to think that maybe the unthinkable could really be true. bren is certain of what he remembers and astrid is certain that bren is right, so how can wulf, who trusts and relies on them so much for guidance, not at least entertain the idea that his parents really are traitors? how can he deny it and, in doing so, deny them?

that’s how he can ultimately go and do what he’s told, with such a stern and certain look on his face as he does. because his people were sure that it was the right thing to do, and no matter how strongly he feels that something must be wrong, he trusts them even more than he trusts himself.

that’s not to say that his doubts are completely quelled, though, because there’s still more of this thread that we can follow.

exhibit d: the aftermath

wulf’s move to knock bren out and save astrid is a quick and decisive one in the moment, but it’s clear that he isn’t at all sure if he did the right thing. he talks to trent — explaining himself, maybe even apologizing because he thinks he was wrong — and trent has to stop him and say that no, he was right.

this is significant for two reasons. the first and more obvious of the two is that this shows he’s still in a headspace of questioning what he’s doing almost immediately after doing it. that doubt was quelled long enough to allow him to complete the “exercise”, but not by any means gone for good.

the second, which i think is the most important to the person he ultimately becomes, is that this is the first time he’s had to look to trent for reassurance.

before this moment, it’s bren and astrid who comfort and reassure him. but now, bren is lost to them and astrid is in no shape to offer any comfort, much less give him the reassurance bren might have. and she might not want to do so even if she could — she wanted to save bren, not leave him behind, and may very well be angry at wulf for the choice he made. so what choice does he have, with neither of them able to support him, but to look to his mentor for reassurance?

and what happens once he gets that reassurance from trent? before, he doubted trent and even openly defied him, but can he continue to do that now?

if he wants to be able to live with himself after, to live with the choice he made and sleep at night, he has to believe that the reassurance trent offered him that night was right — he has to believe that trent’s judgment is right. if trent is lying or just wrong, that means he did the wrong thing that night, and where can he go from there?

that night is a turning point for wulf not just because he took his parents out of the picture, but because he made a decision that ended up forcing him to trust trent to an extent that he really didn’t before.

the new eadwulf

the wulf that we meet in campaign two as an adult is a far cry from the wulf who stood up at that table and said “no, they would never.” he comes across as largely apathetic to and even comfortable with the things they do — it’s just a job for him, not something to overthink or get hung up on. as far as he’s concerned, the lives they take are unfortunate but still necessary sacrifices, just like trent always said.

and if you ask me, his journey to becoming that person, to the doubt and the fire in him being all but completely stomped out, starts with the night he was forced to give up his one source of constant reassurance and finally put his trust in trent instead. everything we see him do to separate himself from his actions, from his belief in fate and his “good soldier” attitude to the drink he has ready after spending time with trent, stems from that moment. he is the way he is when we meet him not because he simply doesn’t care, but because he can no longer afford to.

caleb says they never wavered while he was with them, but i think it’s only because his vision was clouded by his own certainty that he never saw it. he just couldn’t believe that they might not believe in their cause as much as he did because it seemed so right to him, and how could he believe that the people he loved would doubt something so important?

but they did doubt it, especially wulf, and even as an adult, little bits of that stick around in him — he immediately gravitates toward caduceus after caduceus stands up to trent, and as soon as trent isn’t a threat anymore, he’s perfectly content to just stay with caleb (and probably would have if astrid hadn’t pulled him away when she did).

i think, if bren hadn’t been selected for the volstrucker program or just hadn’t been as confident as he was in all of it, it may very well have been eadwulf who found himself standing against trent in the end.

[hollowsart]

@rancid-zinnia-onthepatio I couldn't help myself when I saw [your post] lol

[boogiepoeta]

so like......

I still like Tron

[mintjeru]

happy birthday yuder!! you aren't alone anymore

✨ turning fanweek ✨

day 6 yuder's birthday | free day

open for better quality | no reposts

[mysterygrl20]

ok. mhokday's beach kiss is at the top of my list.

like day wanting to feel his smile and mhok holding that hand

and day just goes for the moment

and the kiss deepens.

[pussiwagn]

[burning-academia-if]

:o could we get beck + longing?

Beck + Longing!

(PS got a lot more of these than I was expecting lol, so it'll take a few days to get through all of them! I promise I'll get to all the ones sent in today though!)

At some point, after the confessions of feelings and the overflowing warmth of a newfound connection, you’d catch glimpses of it. In moments Beck thought he was alone, his eyes would go vacant, lost in thoughts you couldn’t begin to fathom. He’d stare out, the ghost of something darkening his form.

            You’d linger, just a moment, before he’d notice you and his ever present smile bloomed in place. You didn’t think this smile was false, but you weren’t sure what those previous moments had been.

            In retrospect, you knew little about Beck. For all the words he’d say, very little was truly about him. You didn’t think he’d meant to, and you were sure if you asked he’d tell you anything. But were you ready for that conversation? Everything was still so much, and the relationship still so new. When was the right time to dig deeper into someone? It was a question without answer.

            At some point, it clicked into place exactly what you were witnessing.

            You’d found him at a table outside, near the dorms. His headed rest against his hand, his other hand holding his phone. The screen of it was dark, reflecting his unfocused gaze. He looked like he was waiting for someone’s call or text. His thumb hovered over the screen, but didn’t press down. You watched only a second, but that second was enough for a seed of understanding to form.

            “Are you waiting for someone?” You slid into the seat across from him, and he straightened himself just a moment too quick.

            He lets his phone rest on the table, “I’m not waiting for anyone, really. I’m more…hoping for it, I guess.”

            Normally, the ghost of whatever he was thinking about leaves him the moment you arrive. It remains this time, swirling around in his eyes. You don’t know a lot about him, and maybe this is too much too soon, but he isn’t hiding this from you or pretending it isn’t there. You don’t even think he meant to before.

            “Hoping for what?”

            He laughs, more a breath than anything, “For my aunts or uncles of cousins to text me back. To forgive me, or to let me explain the past.”

            “What…what happened?”

            “A lot, I guess. I don’t mind telling you but can I…can I have time to think about how to say it?”

            There’s an apology ready but you beat him to it, “Of course. You’ve always waited for me, I can wait for you. Whenever you’re ready.”

            The ease of his shoulders and the spark of light back in his eyes squeezes at your heart, “Thank you.”

            “Of course.”

            “I love you.” You would never understand how he could say it so easily, even right at the beginning. The words are still hard for you now, so foreign in concept.

            But you know you mean it, when you say it back. And you’ll wait for the answers, of whatever exists under the softness of Beck’s heart.

[cephalopodsquad]

it's not over yet!

[malestarssockedfeet]

[thelonelyshore-if]

Yeah no theo you have ruined Beck for me lmao

Everytime i see Becks name i remember what willow would say about them and it makes me fucking laugh every time.

How the hell am i gonna take them seriously now 😭😭😭😭

Oh noooo lmao. You're letting Willow win!!! /j

But that's totally fair haha. Hopefully getting to see them in story without Willow's influence for a bit helps. And if it doesn't, well....at least you always have the laughs ;)