#to see king be there for caleb so badly and

[dent-de-leon]

"The dreams are still getting worse, aren't they?" Caleb's voice is a soft lilt, quiet and comforting. The raw tenderness of it makes King bristle--prickling away at something beneath the skin, a festering wound that just won't heal.

"I'm not one of your students," he bites back, sickeningly satisfied at the stricken look on Caleb's face. "You don't have to keep an eye on me, professor."

The cabin walls were too closed in, too stifling. He very nearly ran at the last port, just taken off into the night and stolen the first ship to catch his eye. But somehow Caleb Widogast is still bloody here, with that soft smile and those knowing eyes, pressing a healing potion into his palms that's worth far more in gold than his pride.

And even here on the deck, bracing gusts of frigid wind tousling his hair, the ocean as vastly dark and deep as twisting nightmares of the Astral Sea--void black and spiraling endlessly--here in the open air, he still can't breathe.

A whispered word, a snap of the wizard's clever fingers, and brilliant glowing globules flickered to life, gently drifting in the chilled night air, bobbing and weaving among the stars like ghost lights. That faint pulse of golden amber--the barest brush of Caleb's magic, a simple cantrip--just that soft touch of delicate spellwork was enough.

Kingsley felt it. A rush of comforting warmth and light-headed glee, a constant hum thrumming in his blood. The man's magic called to him, vibrant and inviting, enveloping his shattered soul in its tender embrace. Beckoning him home. It's all he can do not to flinch, to suppress a shudder, gooseflesh prickling along his skin.

It feels...intimately familiar. Grounding. Like a scent you could never forget. Incense burning as he lays down his cards, the cloying sweet aroma of sandalwood wafting through their cozy caravan. Dried rose petals scattered amidst scrapped sketches. A cup of his favorite tea left to steep. Someplace he couldn't escape.

As if he always carried a piece of the other man with him. It was far too tempting to bask in the warmth of that dazzling light; to lay his soul bare again, let Caleb's magic wash over him, set his wanting heart aflame. "Empty no longer, Mr. Tealeaf," Caleb had whispered, promised. A vow was a dangerous thing in such rituals, as binding as the very threads of fate themselves.

He winces. Why does he know that? He shouldn't. He shouldn't, but. A dark whisper purred arcane secrets in the bleeding edges of his subconscious, forbidden power and sacred rites, the innate force of sacrifice. Caleb's lucky stone shattering, his tears falling, shaking hands combing through his hair, warm lips on his bloodied skin--Caleb giving his own magic as an offering, pouring his very life into every spark of flickering light, fervently promising to restore his shattered soul. A vow sealed with a kiss--

His heart was already Caleb's.

"I--I care for you, Tealeaf," his Magician murmurs softly, a tentative hand reaching out--

King shakes free of his grasp, pulling away and turning his back on the man. This was a mistake. Telling Caleb anything--nearly everything--of course it was a mistake.

"You're carrying enough burdens, Mr. Caleb. And there's only so much one person can bear. Don't go taking on another lost cause."

But his Magician gazes back at him with such wistful longing, it makes his heart ache. Kingsley stands there petrified, heart hammering in his chest, utterly powerless as the man before him starts to close the distance. They're worlds apart, but in just a few steps they're face-to-face, and this time when Caleb dares to reach for him, he doesn't flinch away.

Caleb's touch is the barest press of fingertips grazing over mottled scars and bleeding ink, soothing and calculated, a flicker of desire dancing between urgency and restraint, real enough to center his drifting, wayward soul.

Caleb's thumb brushes lightly over King's collarbone, eliciting a soft intake of breath--a wordless plea for more.

"These are new," Caleb breathes, just above a whisper, his delicate touch trailing over the bare skin at King's throat.

Ah yes, wizards and their perfect memories. A neat trick, he has to admit. But once he realizes Caleb has memorized him, meticulously cataloguing each new scar with such attentive care, tenderly running his hands over each and every wound--something in his infernal heart twists.

Don't, he thinks, all his lives bleeding together again, every memory coalescing in the soothing balm of a single kiss. Don't you dare. It's far too late for this.

"I've had scars for as long as I can remember," he laughs. "What's a few more here and there?"

Never mind that he usually keeps the collar buttoned up, hides as much of the scarring as he can--covers up the empty patch of unmarked skin where a red eye used to brand him.

He pointedly does not fixate on the mage's lingering touch, the way those piercing eyes see right through to his bleeding heart.

"You still fight the same, don't you?" Caleb asks, so quiet Kingsley almost didn't hear it. "Volatile and reckless. It's a wonder your crew still has a captain at all. You fear nothing, and yet--I know that look, friend. Tell me, how many nights have you gone without sleep? What is it you're running from?"

This body. The Mighty Nein. You. Everything--

There's a million things, but neither of them have time for this. Not when each new night brings more vivid, violent dreams. The Moonweaver's voice waning softer as Ruidus rises, the sweet dreams of a beautiful woman and charming circus decaying into restless night terrors. Alien screams and all seeing eyes, Catha eclipsed in a sea of red. The ever gnawing sense that he was running out of time.

When he speaks, his gaze gets lost in the tide, swept away with the steady crash of waves and gusting winds. If he peers out as far as he can into the horizon, he can just barely catch a glimpse of searing red.

"There's always this...this bloody scream and that red moon," he chokes out. "Chains."

He can feel them even now, binding him to some otherworldly plane. Pitch black manacles biting into his wrists and ankles and dragging him down, down--

"Tealeaf. Look at me."

He can't look. Can't let the Magician see him, not like this, not when he's had too many sleepless nights, too many drinks, too many close calls and quick escapes. And one day he's going to have to face the gutting truth. He still feels Empty whenever he's away.

It made him feel real, whenever Caleb's warm eyes lingered on him. He found himself intrinsically drawn to all of the Nein, the world less Empty and cold when he was by their side. But Caleb. Caleb. A single glance from the man, and he almost remembered everything. It was exhilarating. Terrifying.

He wonders if the Moonweaver meant it as a curse or blessing. And hopes foolishly that whatever magic binds them together, Caleb can feel it too.

"I did not follow you all the way to Cognouza just to lose you like this," Caleb says sharply. "You think I would not do it all again in a heartbeat? You think I'd just leave you to the wolves? Come, you know me better than that, ja?" His lips curl in a wry grin, a pained smile that echoes King's own melancholy. "Besides, I...I have always had a weakness for strays."

Somewhere in his mind's eye, King sees a stack of letters left unopened. A muttered curse and sharp hiss, drops of blood splattering down, soaking into the parchment. He scrambles to clot the blood, to stem the flow, tearing himself from the desk before his damned blood can desecrate anything else. He wants to tip the whole desk over and send it crashing to the floor, watch it all fall apart.

One wrong move and an inkwell spills over, bleeding into blood, blotting out the words he was so desperate to cling to.

He can never quite remember what the letters say. Why he couldn't bear to let go of a single one.

But Kingsley does know that a part of him is still a coward; that he still clings to a weathered journal he doesn't have the guts to read. That with each passing day, there is another message, another soft whisper of Zemnian echoing from an old Sending Stone. And for many long nights, he would toss and turn and replay Caleb's warm words over and over.

But he never replied. Not to Jester's cheerful voice still ringing with laughter. Not to Caleb's gentle murmur.

I have a weakness for you too, King thinks, his hand itching to reach for the coat pocket where a stack of creased and dog-eared cards still rests. Longs to let his fingers cling to something real, to trace the softly smiling portrait of his Magician.

Kingsley knows, deep in his bones, that their souls are inexorably bound. Caleb's ritual didn't end in Cognouza--the effects of it still lingered beneath his skin, ghosting at his every breath. Perhaps it was the infinite possibility of the Astral Sea, the ineffable world of imagination and dreams. Or perhaps it was the moment their cleric called upon Divine Intervention, the gods themselves pulling him back from the brink, severing him from the sweet catharsis of surrender--

But the Magician's spell, cast in desperation, imbued with all the power of dreams and gods and the beating heart of a man who lost all faith long ago--it tied their lost souls together still. Threads of fate weaving between their broken hearts, anchoring him back to this shattered world.

He wonders, idly, if there’s some way he can give it back. If…if anything ever happened to Caleb—and it wouldn’t, because he was a smart boy, a survivor; clever and stubborn and tougher than he looked—but if it did, then maybe Kingsley could offer that life back. Let it course through the Magician’s veins instead. Return the gift he never asked for and surely didn’t deserve. 

"If you really care"--and isn't that rich, the shattered shard of some empty husk without a soul, accusing someone real of not knowing how to feel--"then you'll stop trying to take on the whole world alone. If you were half as smart as I thought--or half as clever as you believe--then you won't go off and get yourself killed for nothing," he seethes through his teeth.

And Caleb, that arsehole, has the audacity to comb his fingers through King's hair so gently, to gaze into his eyes with such ardent longing.

"You don't know what you're asking of me. If...if you were truly born under Ruidus' light in the midst of the Savalirwood--more than that, if Lucien was fate touched--then you would be in grave danger, Mr. Tealeaf. I...I have seen firsthand what other wizards will do to fated souls. How much they'd torture you for just a taste of power. You managed to escape the Somnovem, but. What if you caught the attention of another? You got your life back, Tealeaf. You got another chance. You would risk losing it all again so soon?"

Of everything, that is what breaks him. Kingsley sees red, hands starting to tremble as he barks out a raw, hollow laugh. He sees it all in a flash, his hands clawing away at the dirt, tearing away at the earth until a beam of moonlight bleeds through--a glare of vibrant, burning crimson. His first gasps for air under a cursed moon. Whispers in the caravans of twisted fates and ill omen, rumors of other hapless souls sacrificed on blood red nights--

"You think I have a family or lover like everyone else? Anyone who'd really miss me? You think I've got a past and a future like the rest of you? I don't have anything to lose!" Kingsley snaps, a hoarse rasp that curls into a growl, words laced with the harsh, guttural snarl of Infernal.

The words are eerily familiar, an echo in the darkened caverns of a forgotten temple; smiling to bear sharp teeth, to stave off the clawing loneliness creeping in. "Why not?" he dares, challenges. Empty laughter echoing in the dark. "All of you weren't going to do it, you were all taking your bloody time. And what else do I have?" Rallying to justify it to himself, to them, as though speaking the words aloud will make them ring true, "I'm not betraying anything."

What else do I have? Just some bad dreams and an empty throne.

"You have me," Caleb breathes in a broken rasp. "And I--I could not bear to lose you, Mr. Tealeaf. Not again. Please."

The image returns, unbidden, of Caleb Widogast cradling him in his arms. Delicately parting his hair and bending down to return a gentle forehead kiss. Tealeaf imagines what it’d be like if his eyes fluttered open then, if he’d bolted upright and surged forward to meet the wizard—took him in a kiss that was far more passionate.

What it’d be like to feel Caleb’s lips on his, to pull him closer until they were lost in each other. Thinks of the two of them giddy and giggling after a good night at the tavern, Caleb singing some silly song, making the driest joke, showing off one of his rare smiles in the soft glow of candlelight. Holding him in his arms, taking him for a tumble. A night of fun and revelry and something he doesn't dare believe to be real.

A glint of moonlight washes over him, bathing Caleb in Sehanine's soft glow, sheltering him from Ruidus' gaze. Or so Kingsley hopes. Prays.

"Please," Caleb pleads. "It may sound foolish to you, but. If you would just stay until the solstice is over, it would put my mind at ease. I will have Beauregard, and we have--allies. Contacts. Reinforcements waiting for us in Marquet. We are prepared for this." He reaches out and squeezes Kingsley's hand, tries to ground him. "But if anything were to go wrong, the effects on a fate touched soul could be...catastrophic. Ruidus itself is said to twist fate. And wizards like Ludinus have sacrificed your kind for centuries. If only for my sake, promise me you won't take that risk."

As much as Kingsley hated it, he knew he could not deny him.

"Fine. But if anything happens to you two--anything, you hear me? I--I'm dragging both of you back here. This isn't how we do things, Caleb. That's not how this works. We--" We don't leave people behind--"You're not getting rid of me that easily."

[lollytea]

What do you think Hunter’s first daydream/dream/fantasy of Willow was like? Rather, the first time his brain subconsciously started telling him he has a crush? One where he was like, “Holy Titan this is different!” I want to know your take on it!

Oh his subconscious was TRYING to tell him literally that night after meeting her but Hunter blatantly refused to process the truth of the matter cuz it was just too much for him to mentally handle. He was all like "hahaaaa....friend.... :)"

Like "It'll only be 52 weeks before Caleb's next day off"??? Not only has this girl confirmed that she still considers him a friend (She's his friend!!! Hunter's stomach does backflips at the thought it of it.) but she also makes clear that she would like to see him again. 52 weeks....in 52 weeks he's gonna see Willow....there is no way that's not going to cause his mind to wander about the possibilities.

Oh and the pensta chatting. The pensta chatting makes it a billion times worse. Cuz he's here and he's talking to her everyday and he's having so much fun but all he has are her words on a screen. He can't see her face or hear her voice.

He remembers how he blurted out "The Emerald Entrails!", that moment of doubt that he had said something dumb, only for Willow's expression to completely light up in a pretty smile as she touched his shoulder and eagerly began to chant the name he came up with. That was when he knew he had done something right. And those little emojis and exclamation points and 'lol's are cute NICE and makes him all giddy when he gets a positive reaction out of her but he misses the real thing. Which is weird to think because he barely knows the real thing.

Why does he want the real thing so badly?

He misses her.

So he starts to imagine her smiles and her laughter somewhere on the other end of Bonesborough. He knows the hours she's at school. He knows the hours she's working out. So whenever they're not texting, wondering how she's doing is always tucked away in the back of his mind.

As Hunter's crush on Willow fattens up (without him realizing it) the anticipation to see her again only builds. Before he knows it, he falls asleep to the thought of how it's gonna go. What will he say? What will she say? He's writing scripts in his head. He'll be strapping on his armor in the mornings and rehersing his lines in the mirror. He always imagines himself as doing something cool that Willow is very impressed by. And then they'll play Flyer Derby together 🥰

So yeah that is definitely the foundation of Hunter's little Willow daydreams. They don't start off intimate in any way at first. They're very innocent. He just wants to see her. He wants to spend time with her. He wants to talk to her. (He later discovers that talking to her is easier said than done.) So while he definitely has a massive crush on her at this point, his feelings remain repressed because he doesn't have the self awareness to explore them so the explicitly romantic daydreams are still locked behind a paywall.

This shifts into something more heart thumping between the events of LR and COTH where Hunter gradually begins to realize that how he feels about Willow is very very different from how he feels about anyone else. Like Luz. At this point he can admit to himself that he's very fond of Luz. And ever since HP, he has wondered if he'll ever see her again. Her words still stick with him. But she doesn't render him grinning and giggling as he lies awake at night thinking about her. Willow makes vines squirm around in his stomach. It is undeniably different. Even Hunter, the king of mental gymnastics, can't run from that truth forever.

I feel like he didn't quite know he had feelings for Willow during LR. Hell, he was surprised as anybody about how nervous he suddenly became when she was around. But he had observed that she made him feel very funny. In a good way. He mostly just chalked it up to her just being so cool that of course he felt a little starstruck in her presence.

But then Willow yanked him into a hug after the Hexside battle and it changed his brain chemistry. Because she was just!!! So close!!! He could smell her. Her voice was practically in his ear. And she was holding him so tight and secure. It initially startled him beyond comprehension because he is so starved of intimate touch that a hug would absolutely make his endorphins go fucking buckwild and what was happening was so foreign to him that he was frightened of the emotion he felt. He couldn't immediately recognize it as a positive feeling because he had no idea what was going on.

But after?? After Willow let him go and the Hexside students all gathered around to make sure everyone was okay, Hunter was just left standing there, in a complete stupor until Gus pulled him out of it. He still didn't fully understand what had just happened, only that his brain was static because of it.

It takes him a moment to realize that he desperately hopes that whatever that was, she'll do it again.

So those few days/a week he spends with Willow and Gus, Hunter receives a bombardment of physical touch. Usually from Gus. Sometimes Willow too. And Hunter is going absolutely fucking bonkers because Willow's touches are so soft. So fluttery. A hand on his shoulder. A pat on the head. Almost like she knows the effect her touches have and is keeping it to a minimum just to tease him. And it's driving him wild. She'll jokingly pat his cheek and it takes all of Hunter's willpower not to press his face into it. A hand on a shoulder could so easily turn into an arm wrapped around him and pulling him closer. It never does. But that doesn't stop Hunter's kneecaps from melting everytime she touches him so gently and his mind wanders to how it could escalate.

It is astounding what one hug did to him. He hasn't been the same since. But Titan forbid he ask for one. Or initiate himself. Oh no no no that's far too forward.

So yeah, whenever Hunter is left alone and the thought of Willow crosses his mind, he ends up fantasising about being held. Or just. Touched in a way that makes him feel safe. It's a very emotionally charged desire.

Again, while Hunter has definitely reached some awareness that he might be heading down a slippery slope of infatuation, he's still very inexperienced in matters like these. So he doesn't quite know what to fantasise about. But he's had hugs and touching on the brain ever since LR so that's what all his dreams concerning her revolve around.

But then COTH happens and OH BOY. This is when the overload of repressed teenage hormones are finally unleashed. Hunter has spent the last week wanting to be held by Willow because Willow is so sweet and so kind and soft and pretty. But then it finally happens but the nature of it is completely upside down. This is different!!

She swoops in to rescue him and flings him over her shoulder and she's holding him tight but it's not a hug. It's nothing like he was fantasizing about. It's something he has NEVER experienced before but it definitely awakens something in him. She...she's capable of carrying him. She's strong. Girl strong. Arms.. Uhhh..hmm...um. WELL. that's...Ugdhhkk.

This unlocks a new reason that Hunter wants to be held by Willow. Because simply put he thinks Willow is hot.

And that is a whole other set of emotions that Hunter will have to unpack but we won't go into detail about it. But you know how it is with teenagers. Their attractions are borderline feral. Especially if they're experiencing them for the first time.

After Hunter's Strong Girl awakening, he's pretty preoccupied with the Day of Unity to focus on it. It's not until the dust has cleared and he's settled in with Camila that he has the mental capacity to indulge himself with silly little daydreams of Willow effortlessly picking him up.

So now physical attraction has been added to the Hunter crush broth. Now all that's left is for him to observe how Luz and Amity interact with each other, sharing affection that he never really saw up close before and he's beginning to realize that a romantic relationship is....a thing he might actually want? Maybe?? Holding her hand...hm...or....or maybe....

It began as Hunter simply longing to see her in person. To see her smile. To hear her laugh.

Then it escalated to wishing more than anything that she could touch him.

Then the fizzling burst of teen attraction butted its way into the equation and he can't stop thinking about her strong arms.

And now....he wonders what it would be like to kiss her...

Stir that all together and you have a boy who is helplessly in love.

[asherisawkward]

I heard a quote saying “A Story is only as good as it Villain” and I felt this can apply to the Owl House and How it treated it main villain Belos which is pretty badly the story never had a flashback episode on what his life was back then with Caleb and how he got his ideology the characters never try to understand what he coming from and is treated as straight up evil by the narrative. Certain parts of the fandom treats this as an example of good writing which is frustrating to say the least. This Show is filled to the brim with wasted potential especially Belos and how he mirrors Luz?

Oh, I absolutely agree with that quote. The antagonist is the one who pushes the plot forward, forces the characters to grow; and impacts the world before it can be fixed. Creating a good villain is one of the most vital aspects for any show (see the Nowhere King from Centaurworld as an example of a villain done right, even if their were flaws in the show), and

There was a lot of wasted potential, especially around Philip. He was treated pretty horribly by the show, and a lot of his characterization is retconned, altered, or straight up ignored by the writers later on. His set up was amazing and emotional, but they dropped the ball.

Luz, as I’ve mentioned before, doesn’t mimic Philip in her actions nearly as much as she mimics Caleb. I’ve gone on a rant/ramble about that before, so I won’t go through all of that again here, but Camila reflects Philip far more as the person who tried to conform to their world and was left behind by family.

This could have led to an incredibly emotional moment where Luz could say, “I’m not like you,” the way she did in King’s Tide.

Philip would then yell, “You’re not like me; you’re like my brother!” or something to the same effect. It would have been a great time for a bit of a flashback to really address Philip’s trauma at Caleb abandoning him as well as what Camila experienced when she found out Luz left her in the same way.

This was Luz’s big thing that she did wrong and what she should have actually felt guilty avout, as opposed to teaching Philip the light glyph when it did nothing, and he would have found it eventually anyway. We could have her accept her wrongdoings, apologize, and start genuinely working to be more considerate of others.

It could have been a moment of understanding for the Camila, and maybe she could be the one to kind of go “I understand what you went through was awful, but you’ve crossed the line,” which would be the way to acknowledge his complexity while not absolving his actions.

[weirdnesslieshere]

Here's a Theory

Okay, so this may be weird, but here me out.

I don't think Philip killed Caleb on purpose.

I am almost one hundred percent certain that he did kill him, with the remaining percentage just being there since I don't technically know how it went down.

What I think is that Caleb fell in love with Evelyn and wound up staying in the Demon Realm. I don't know if he did this on purpose or the portal got lost, but either way, he stayed while Philip thought he had been kidnapped. So, somehow Philip managed to find him in the Demon Realm after searching, only to find his brother in love with a witch. However, Belos tells Luz in "King's Tide" that he thinks she's been warped from being in the Boiling Isles, which leads me to believe that, rather than feel betrayed, he believed Evelyn had somehow controlled his brother. So, Philip wanted Evelyn dead, not Caleb. But then, we see in "Hollow Mind" pictures of Philip fighting Caleb, and I think Caleb tried to stop his brother and at some point Philip killed him by accident.

But, do I think Philip coped with this in a healthy way? Hell no.

Often, people react to grief badly, and what I believe happened is Philip decided then that his brother had betrayed him and that Caleb's death was his own fault. As seen in "Hollow Mind", Belos does not take actual responsibility for the deaths of his Grimwalkers, and talks about it like something that wasn't his fault and had to happen. So, I believe what he did was dissociate himself from what happened, saying Caleb died because of witches and from there doubled down on witch hunting, using his whole Day of Unity scheme as a way to avoid taking responsibility for his actions.

Following that logic, by creating a 'perfect' version of Caleb with the Grimwalkers, Philip could effectively reason with himself that had Caleb not left him to be with a witch, then nothing bad would have ever happened. So, he controls and manipulates the Golden Guards to do be the Caleb he wanted and pretend his death had nothing to do with Philip.

Anywho, that could be a complete load of crack given I am very sleep deprived right now, but I hope you enjoyed it.

[homunculusalphonse]

// toh spoilers

i didn't have a problem with this at first, but king being a titan... honestly takes away the entire meaning of toh.

right in the first episode, we see that king doesn't actually have a powerful crown that makes him a huge beast. he's... just a little guy. like i'm not even joking.

yes, i know the titan clues were always there, and baby king meeting eda was adorable and wholesome, but to me, king being a titan feels... contradictory? if this makes sense, it feels exactly like luz actually being the chosen one, which confirms belos' suspicions. it feels like hunter's disability being erased and that being treated like a GOOD thing (not to mention how cruel it is since they killed flapjack, and yet hunter is never seen using those powers in watching and dreaming. WHAT WAS THE REASON!!!).

what i mean is, these three characters in particular - king, luz, and hunter - are Actually Special. when we're introduced to them, they're not your average heroes. king is a small creature that starts out having no powers, acting mostly like a pet-slash-toddler. luz is a human who can't naturally do magic. hunter also cannot do magic AND he comes from the enemy side. but that doesn't make them any less valid as people. king may be comedic relief and he messes up a lot, but he is a good friend and he always helps. luz is able to figure out glyphs, teaching her own mentor and everyone else. and hunter gets his own palisman even though he doesn't have powers. caleb was his previous owner, too, and he was human! (i know evelyn gave him flapjack, but the point stands)

but by seasons 2 and 3, the show... erases all of that representation. i already mentioned luz and hunter, so king starts developing his own powers, and sure, i don't mind him figuring himself out, but him being a TITAN? seriously? how did toh mess up this badly? why did they deconstruct the fantasy world if they were just going to succumb to the same tropes?

[darkmatter-nebula]

An angsty one shot of Colli being badly hurt by Belos while he’s on the draining chair

Greetings! Thank you for the request!

I apologize for not writing it earlier, my dear anon. My day was, unfortunately, very shitty again. *sigh*

This takes place a few years before Colli was found and saved by Luz and King.

Drabble: The Tortured Little Boy

Emporer Belos had a gleeful expression on his face as he beat up a certain small starboy with a heart as pure as freshly fallen snow and otherwordly fluffy lavender hair. The little boy, later known as Colli, had a lot of abuse to endure.

Colli's dark blue blood was dripping to the floor of the secret chamber. His natural regeneration was weakened, thanks to all these years on the Draining Chair as Belos' living battery. The kind and sweet eternal little boy fell unconcious.

"Look at you, my Little Battery. So bloody and beaten. What a beautiful sight. This punishment was your own fault. You should cry less." The sadistic Emporer said as he put his hand on the blue side of Colli's adorable multi-colored face.

Unfortunately, Colli couldn't stop crying. The Draining Chair caused him so much pain. Then, Belos left the secret chamber. The man had a lot of things to do. "See you later, boy. Next time, your punishment will be worse."

.

.

.

A few days later, Belos visited Colli again. This time he held a dagger in his hand and slit Colli's throat! The same dagger he used to kill his brother Caleb all these centuries ago. The cosmic little boy let out some horrible noises as the wound very slowly began to heal. "What a beautiful sound. Truly melodic." Belos said surprisingly gentle.

Belos knew very well about Colli's immortality. The puritan used this fact to be extra sadistic towards him. Belos couldn't resist and licked the blood off the dagger. "Your taste is truly delicious, my Little Battery." He said.

The wound finally healed up. Belos wanted to hurt Colli more. He wrapped his hands around Colli's healed up throat and squeezed as hard as possible. Belos' icy blue eyes were practically sparkling as he was choking him.

"It's such a glee to have an immortal victim. No matter how much I hurt you, nothing can kill you." Belos put his hand on Colli's head and ruffled the immortal celestial boy's otherwordly fluffy lavender hair. "I will make you suffer so much more!" The ruler of the Boiling Isles grinned.

The End

[roses-and-grimoires]

Prompt #26: Last

Characters: Sebastian, Caleb @thedarknesssings, mention of Esra, Nathaniel @zoetic-tome Notes: Based off of a VtM campaign

Cold. He was so cold. It was a chill that he was honestly surprised that he could still feel, one that only compounded with the ache that he felt through his entire body. It was as if he had been burned then dunked in ice water--which, honestly, was not all that far from the truth. Even the warmth of the fresh blood in his belly and the pile of plush blankets piled atop him could only do so much.

He is aware of his phone, if one could call the ruined square of melted and soaked plastic such a thing, being set on the bedside table, followed by the sound of footsteps and the door opening and closing as the others filed out of the bedroom that was both familiar and not. He burrowed down deeper into the blankets; his shivers had started to relent, but the ache had not, and he suspected it wouldn't for some time.

Such was the dangers of having one's blood start to burn them from the inside out.

Sebastian runs his tongue over his lips. The taste of blood lingered upon them, taken fresh from the neck of a servant. But it did little to drown out the memory of the blood that had poured from his lips. He could almost smell it again, the raw power that had emanated from the sanguine pool. There had been a promise in it; a relief from his pain, yes, but so much more than that. There had been power, and the respect that came with it. The ability to enforce his will. To be a player at the board, and not merely a pawn upon it.

Because if there was one thing that he knew for certain, ti was that he was a pawn. Even placing a Prince's crown upon his head had been little more than moving him into place for an assault upon the king.

Sebastian rolls over in the bed and drags the blankets up closer, his long, dark hair falling around his shoulders. His dark eyes fix on the window over which heavy drapes had been drawn in preparation for the dawn that he could feel coming.

If he does not play his role, then he knows the price. He knows what happens to traitors, to disappointments that are more trouble than they're worth. He will get to see the dawn once more, and it will be for the last time. If he is lucky.

After all, mercy did not have a place amongst the politics of the creatures of the night, and weaknesses were a liability.

Would it not be right to seize any scrap of power that he could?

Would risking losing himself to the Dracon be any worse than the creeping numbness that he felt gnawing at the bottom of his soul each time that he called upon the shadows that were his bloodright?

Would he not merely be doing what his sire had taught him?

His sire... Sebastian's eyes flick towards the ruin of his phone, a heavy sigh leaving his lips. Maybe Nathaniel had been right, maybe all of the little ways that he had kept him out of danger had been signs of care. Or maybe they were just ways to keep him a sharp and willing weapon.

He doesn't know. In some ways, he's not sure he wants to know. And yet the question burns almost as badly as the fire had in his blood.

Suddenly the door opens behind him, interrupting his thoughts. He turns his head a little, listening to the footsteps on the soft carpet, then the creak of the bed as someone sinks down onto it. Strong arms wrap around him, causing a smile to form on his lips as he recognizes that familiar scent.

He leans back into the touch, basking in the feeling of Caleb's touch, if not the warmth; they were, after all, both very dead. But that did little to take away from the comfort the gesture offered, and it is with a smile on his lips that he slips into the repose brought by the breaking dawn.

[jinn-mori]

The Seven Deadly Sins brainrot is immense today, so I'm just gonna share all the brainrot and there are cameos from other fandoms.

Firstly, a Zombie Song animatic that's BanElaine but Zombie!Ban x Human!Elaine. Ya know, since one of his titles is Ban the Undead. There's so much potential angst with this too. Like, Helbram or King accidentally hurt Elaine somehow - maybe they were trying to hurt Ban or they just got into a bad fight - and Ban reads that as them hurting Elaine on purpose and so he ends up hurting/accidentally infecting them not because he wants to but because he wanted to protect Elaine.

And Ban is an oddity amongst zombies in that he's fully cognisant and is basically human in his thoughts except for the whole 'craving human flesh' thing. But Elaine, hopeful, tries to see if maybe Helbram or King end up like Ban and she won't have to kill them.

But they end up sticking to the rule rather than be the exception. And Elaine doesn't have the heart to kill either of them, so Ban does it for her.

Maybe it would end with Elaine being badly injured and Ban turns her, the two of them now undead wandering an apocalypse.

Next up, I've got a new crack BROTP: Eda and Ban. They have sorta similar color schemes and tend to lose body parts a lot. They're dismemberment besties! Just imagine Ban gets trapped on the Boiling Isles and stays with Eda, King, and Luz. Him and Eda would be the best/worst examples for Luz. And just imagine Ban finding out about Belos' schemes and Luz just hears him mutter 'not this shit again' because he's dealt with stuff similar to Belos (Hendrickson, the Commandments, Demon King) and at this point he's just going to turn it into a drinking game of 'shitty ruler/god-like threat of the week' and he might even crack a joke at Belos' expense along the lines of 'What? Did your old man not love you enough or something? Or did you have a bad relationship with your brother?' and Ban accidentally pisses Belos off because Caleb reasons.

Also, I feel like he'd have a serious talk with Luz once he learns that her and Amity are a thing because he doesn't want anything close to what happened with him and Elaine to happen to Luz and Amity. I'd also wanna see him punch Odalia in the face.

Though we all wanna see Odalia punched in the face.

[headlesscribbler]

I finished For The Future and it's good! But ALL BETS ARE OFF I'M POSTING SPOILERS AND THOUGHTS. (Also its super long like has 20 different points)

Written plotpoint wise and then in general.

-The tone at first was insanely confusing with everyone dying and then then Hooty flying and Eda almost immediately getting over her missing limb (well ig the cliffhanger made it look more dramatic). Also haha hot Harpy Eda scene, fan artists are winners.

-The curse actually wasn't explored that much (or the Owl Beast being trapped which I'm really annoyed at) but it seems to act similarly.

-Luz totally saw King's slightly grown up form with the wings.

-It's depressing seeing literally everyone screwed up but that makes sense and I do like how everyone gets a spotlight on their issues.

-Ok Belos is SUPER cool this episode. Tbh I found him more weird/slightly funny looking last episode but I like how this 350 year old man's flesh is falling off the bones. Also that's definitely dead Caleb we saw this episode and probably last (very cool but the knife looked a little funky dangling there)

-The broken playground and swing, nice Episode 10 reference. Also the graffiti is always funny.

-Lol screw you Terra you got picked to be the Owl Beast bc you're old and cranky. I can't believe her not being in the trailer was for this.

-That Draining Spell is literally only a kill everyone spell, ok? I mean it would have been interesting seeing them try to adapt without any magic but sure (also ig there wouldn't be time)

-Boscha you still suck! Also I can't believe my brother guessed the Kikimora reveal, I was like red skin, short, that's too easy. But looking back, the voice, the glasses. Ok I see it.

-Yeah no redemption all the Grimwalkers/Caleb want to kill Belos. Also lol I joked that he would say shut up to them and I guessed it right.

-Also not really surprised his Grimwalker body didn't last, like you're running out of resources. Still not sure why it still ended up looking like you. Also I was spoiled on him climbing up the skull so I was jumpscared by that scene AND it being a spoiler!

-I liked the visuals of the giant book circling around the tiny planet. Also Collector I know you can rhyme better come on.

-I have no idea what's up with the Collector portraits (hey Hollow Mind parallels). I'll let others dissect it but I found the lore kind id underwhelming like last time but I'm a terrible theorist and time crunch so eh. Also repeat images?

-Literally the entire Hooty and Eda scene was recontextualized to be weirdly more chill and cheery. Like Hooty is alive, why and also why immediately joke about it being weird?I'm not sure how their hideout works but hey there's some peace? Also you're killing me Eda please be with Raine oh my god! Also Eda saying "What's the matter?" made me want to cry, she sounded like a mom comforting her kid! And she said it so kind and softly!

-Ok I was pissed at the Hunter possession bc I thought it was fake/looked dumb. This feels random and weird. Belos possessing a puppet, really? I swear it's like "Huh screw Eda I'm gonna use Raine". But they look better off than Hunter (also why the goop on the ears, like injuiry from a piercing?) Ok but they(?) have cool expressions and their normal voice and mostly look the same and I doubt they'll die (otherwise it's that Diversity Loss meme. I'll pretend they'll die so I don't feel as bad/disappointed if it happens). I don't know why we're doing this again, pattern breaking says they must go but don't they have too much potential?

-Ok this possession concept feels kinda written badly? It's only introduced last episode and you're gonna convince me Belos can actually possess the Collector? Please! Also in general I don't like possessions as they take away the person's choice and creates limited character development for them.

-I've got beef with the Collector (who I now realize is probably different from the Owl Beast trapper but still), I don't like how it's not acknowledged that he was fine with killing everyone. King is nothing like that and I don't like how this Collector feels different from the more scary and dangerous shadow Collector we've seen the most from. It doesn't make sense they're supposed to be the same! Also they'll probably depower him simce he's too powerful (I wonder if doing this will make Collectors extinct.)

-Someone else probably articulated it better but I like the spotlight on Willow, how holding in her emotions to be strong for everyone ends up making her spiral out of control and how Gus and Hunter tell her she can let it out. It's really sad seeing her miss her dads but I'm glad it's acknowledged.

-Yay Camilla and Luz time! Yeah, it's sad how they both have regrets but I'm glad they're reconciling and Camilla is righting her wrongs. Also Luz's wish makes so much sense and I love the anime like tears. (Also yeah her saying she doesn't know what she wants definitely fits Amity given a predetermined path)

-For the teleportation powers Hunter gets, ehh but I do like the action is brings. Also YEAH new plant attacks Willow!

-Also literally calling out every single guess and putting it all in one. I like the Chinese dragon looking one. The designs all kinda look like OCs but it fits and it'll probably grow on me. Also 80% snake for the win!

Bruh the animation looks so good! Honestly mostly the effects but also the scattered fight scenes as well! I like how it goes from whimsy to body horror (would've liked more but eh Belos takes an L)

Tbh the pacing was kinda off since there was the school, King and Eda, and Raine being posessed. It felt weird because it didn't even really feel right for a cliffhanger. Hey who's fault is it (Disney)

Ok compared to Thanks to Them (which I really didn't like and don't want to rewatch due to the Belos possession) this is leagues better. No doubt because questions are answered, things are different and we get to see them again! Effects/fights/body horror/character design is good, I really like the character development and them coping with this nightmare, and others than the Raine thing/unavoidable pacing issues (this feels like similar issues to the first episode) it's super good!

[radfae]

plz give us your opinions on the new toh ep queen <3

okay i apologize in advance bc i’m like almost done writing this while i add this disclaimer and i’m realizing it’s VERY ramble-y and my adhd brain keeps rapidly switching topics but i hope this makes sense HAHA

IT WAS GOOD! it wasn’t nearly as gut-wrenching as the last one but i do appreciate some good ship action (raeda and huntlow tugging on my heartstrings fr). a lot happened this episode and i feel like a big theme was character development and personal exploration, we saw that a lot with hunter, but most of all luz and willow! it makes me really happy to see luz get her palismen (palisman??) finally and string bean is so adorable! i was team snake btw so i’m happy with this outcome. a lot of people say that boscha was really annoying this ep but honestly i didn’t think so? i mean, she was a bit, but she’s clearly not a villain here; she’s just a traumatized mean girl teenager handling things badly. she’s developed some pretty bad abandonment issues from losing her grudgby team to the collector, and ended up taking those out on amity, which isn’t…great, but people are treating her worse than belos this episode lmao?? but ANYWAY i’m very happy to see hunter again <3 and i’m happy that his development is moving in a positive way. not everyone is happy about him having magic from flapjack, but i think it’s nice; it reinforces that flapjack is still with him, even if he’s not physically present, which is a nice sentiment. and like i am sorry he is going thru it or whatever but i MISSED him being an annoying angry boy,, and OH MY GOD “you mean a lot to me too” “cool, happy to help” KILL ME NOW?!?! THEY’RE SO ADORABLE.,,,, and i’m glad they focused on willow here too because it made me like her a lot more than i did previously. and ok going back to raeda the “i just like to come out and see raine” i don’t remember if that’s exactly what she says but eda literally risking being caught by the collector who still thinks she’s the owl beast just to see raine,, AND RAINE’S LOOK IN THE BEGINNING WHEN SHE GOES INTO HARPY MODE…… omg they’re in love. and i’m choosing to say raine is a lesbian bc it makes my heart happy. switching gears completely to camila,, just,,, in general,, her being a mother figure to so many of the kids and her conversation with luz to amity saying “you and luz are a lot alike”,, i love her so much i cannot believe there was a point in which she was controversial in the fandom. i’ve always been a camila defender. OKAY BUT THE ACTUAL EPISODE ANYWAY the collector is obviously being set up for a redemption arc of sorts; they’re really pushing the idea that he’s just a kid and doesn’t want to really hurt people, and it’s clear that he really did care about king (defending him from the coven head i forgot her name sorry lol, respecting his boundaries with his rabbit and not touching it, calling him his best friend, immediately not trusting belos when he said king has it out for him) and that’s why he’s taking his ‘betrayal’ so hard. i did NOT expect him to team up with belos ngl, i thought that this episode would be them defeating the collector and next ep would be belos, as like a first and final boss type of thing, but this is like. so much better lol. AND SOMEONE ON TWITTER POINTED THIS OUT BUT belos is ALWAYS looking down on people, specifically at hunter; there’s always a specific camera angle to showcase it, but in this episode, in his weakened state belos finally looks up at someone: caleb. belos has always been in a position of power in every relationship we’ve seen with him so far, EXCEPT for caleb. caleb is the only situation in which he’s been the dependent. which is really being showcased here and i liked the imagery,, and i’m curious as to why belos chose raine in particular? like obviously this is going to be used for some raeda plotline which i personally don’t mind actually but like. obvious excuse for ship angst is obvious. but i hope there’s some other reason than just “let’s make eda upset hehehehe” u know what i mean. oh and raine mullet,, pretty. if i had a nickel for every time belos possessed someone and they got a mullet i would have two nickels which isn’t a lot but it’s weird that it happened twice right.

i’m excited to see how things go with the collector next episode (new noceda sibling real?) and i’m excited to see king, eda and luz’s reunion! i really need eda and camila to meet like NOW. i also really hope that hunter is the one who gets the final blow on belos, like sorry to luz or whatever i know ur the protagonist and that’s your moment but he DESERVES it. and obviously luz isn’t going to stay in the human realm indefinitely but with her mom i’m wondering how they’ll work things out; maybe there will be a more stable portal and luz and camila will be able to pass through both worlds and visit as they please? or will camila just stay in the demon realm with luz? idk!!! i can’t wait for next episode but knowing we’re officially on our final hiatus and that the cast just finished recording for the last episode is also :’D a bit miserable. sad to see it go but excited at the same time

[speaking-at-the-theater]

TOH REACTION

so first thing first: i misspell a lot. i also swear a lot, if that bothers you, sorry

i havent watched the last two eps of toh so heres me doing it. i’ll compile it all in one post so i wont have to tag 300+ posts, i also use caps a lot.

anyway, let’s go! QUICK DETAIL I ACCIDENTALLY REFER TO COLLECTOR AS HIM HERE I DIDNT NOTICE HE WAS THEY THEM I'LL CORRECT IT AS SOON AS POSIBLE

FOR THE FUTURE! here we go

collector’s happiness overlaid with everyone else’s suffering is so…funny??? idk also ‘it’s like the whole world is singing’ is a cool phrase if it weren’t for the context XD

–

aunt lily to the rescue!!

–

LILY NO

–

‘now, what part do i get to play’ horrific scene i want more

also: this is why you don’t give children godly powers. it ends badly!

–

oddly beautiful if not for the corpses

-

i want that as my wallpaper

—

EDA’S REQUIEM!!!!!!

–

you know things are bad when the logo/intro changes

—

‘it’s not like he’ll inexplicably appear if you say his name!!’ hunter have you ever read a fairytale? a myth? the bible??? names have power.

—

oh yeah never mess with a latina mama.

–

it’s cute seeing the kids miss their home

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through the face??? count me in!!

–

luz is smitten

–

noooooo luz :((((( you’re happier sharing both realms everyone can see it

—

—

anyone know what these are??

–

ah. the bastard is here.

–

CALEB???

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nooo gus youre making me cryy

–

‘i’m fine, really’ said every character who is not fine in the story of ever

–

the soundtrack in eda’s room scene!!!! i need it!!!!

–

amity’s palisman being a cat fits so well bc cats choose where they go. you cant control them the way you might a dog or a bird, which fits well with the idea of choosing your own path.

—

camila is taking everything so well!! my mom wouldnt last two seconds in the boiling isles. neither would i ofc.

–

is this an animation error or….??

–

some graffiti messages i managed to read:

-(do not) celebrate the day of unity! :( 

- boo belos

-hide ur kids

-run

-they’ll find you!!

-hide

-nope, no, go away

-closed forever

-help

-run

and general sun and moon symbols

-beware the collector

-amelia, cat! (general stuff i cant make out) (infinity train???)

-where is the titan now?

-belos lied

-

these are cute

–

wow that’s creepy

-

i know it’s supposed to be creepy about the collector playing pretend while everyone suffers but- i can’t. the secondhand embarrassment is too much for me.

-

light glyph go??????

-

collectors ‘cool aunt vibe who pretends to be coldhearted but actually cares a lot’ vs luz’s ‘bad but sad boy’

parallels? ey?

-

hmmm yeah that was creepy

-

‘little space cherub’ XDD

-

love how we go from funny new hexside to (ughhhh) belos. 

—

hmm  i would love to analyze the composition of this glyph

–

all the bastard adults trying to take advantage of the collector ughhhhhh

also love the space palace

plus: ‘what do mortals eat again? rocks? fire? gravity?’, unfortunately, collector, we are not stars

–

of course the book is made of rocks. of course.

also king seems…practiced, on reading the book. you gotta wonder how much he knows now about collectors

-

cool how collector is both evil and, yk, a child. bc children are not always innocent. they can be some of the cruelest creatures on the universe (i would know)

–

one has got to wonder about the history told in those walls, meaning i will wonder and theorize. bc that’s what i do.

ok it seems like collector was…surrounded by titans. baby titans, and then a group of older collectors took him in, seeing as theyre smiling and reaching out a hand, instead of banishing him away. they dont look friendly, but it might just be the portrait.

although those first two portraits reveal themselves, at the very end there’s something else

 unfortunately i have no idea what it is. i dont think the repetition is an animation error or shortcut. if it were, why only repeat two times and change at the very end, where it is unlikely to be noticed??

 again, portraits repeat, except for a star in the middle.

......i wanna theorize on this. maybe on another post.

collectors doing something to a planet and our collector watching, wanting to join in, but probably rejected (the whole portrait section had a lot of images but it surpassed tumblrs limit so i deleted them, more on another post, maybe

–

—

—-

—

–

poor raine tho. what’s up with them and people trying to mindcontrol them????

—

poor hooty

–

what’s this, rapunzel?? a tear saves the guy???

–

poor willow tho

–

‘’im gonna assume those are clean’ ma’am cleanness is the last thing you need to worry about now

–

that’s two simultaneous mindcontrollings! raine is on a roll!!

—

“trouble with your team, captain half-a-witch? leading isnt easy is it? all your time is spent helping the team, keeping people from fighting, planning your next move, and titan forbid you show any weakness! everyone else falls apart.

-

fucking kikimora

-

cuando no tienes la chancla, un bate sirve

-

boscha is….ugh. i’m conflicted. i get it but also.she annoys me.

–

everything is under control when everything is not undercontrol my favorite trope

–

poor (????) collector. i know he’s not good but….idk, i feel for him

–

ITSHATCHINGITSHATCHINGHATCHIHATCHINGAAAAAAAAA

—

poor willowwwwww poor kids everyone needs therapy here

—

“luz has a staff, why does that make me nervous?” considering the first impression you got of it……

–

SNAKESHIFTER YESSSSSS ALSO SNAKE PALISMAN FOR LUZ WE WINNIN

i could write poems about how it fits her but just- look. it fits.

-

END CREDITS WHERE AWESOME!!!! Love the snapshots of the things that werent fully explained!! kikimora manipulating boscha during the attack, king being sad at losing eda and lilith and the collector…..emphathizing?? of a sort??? anyway yeah

[dent-de-leon]

Liam: "With Mighty Nein, I feel like this is a major chapter, but not a final. And I can imagine them coming back together for different reasons over the years."

Ashely: "...I'm gonna lose my shit if something happens to Beau."

Taliesin: "I'm going to lose my shit if something happens to Beau. Or Caleb."

aHH!!! THIS!! MORE MIGHTY NEIN REUNIONS!! ALL OF THEM COMING TOGETHER OVER THE YEARS! A STORY THAT'S NOT OVER. ALL THE LOOSE ENDS THEY COULD STILL EXPLORE TOGETHER! ASHLEY SAYING THAT SHE'LL LOSE IT IF BEAU DIES, TALIESIN ADDING HE'D BE UPSET OVER CALEB TOO!!

Anyway, I am thinking of all the possible Mighty Nein oneshots we could end up getting down the line. That this isn't their ending or goodbye. And with Ashely and Tal's comments, I'm just imagining Yasha and King running to Beau and Caleb's rescue--

[katrinasis]

anyway the final stage of belos’ character is probably going to be the complete collapse of every lie he’s ever convinced himself of. 

we saw beginnings of this in clouds on the horizon, where they make a point of showing belos’ nervousness and how badly he reacts to the thought that the human realm has changed, and then again towards the beginning of king’s tide when luz straight up tells him that no one hunts witches anymore and his drip is trash. it’s pretty clear that, to belos, the idea that the human realm has at all deviated from his idolized fantasy version of it is a Bad and Unacceptable thought that he’d rather just ignore. he doesn’t want to think anything’s changed and he refuses to think he’s changed, either. the man is literally a goo monster playing pretend with human skin and he still believes that he is a regular human. he gets violent towards luz and the collector when they tell him he’s changed because he cannot bring himself to consider the perfectly reasonable idea that they’re right.

and then we have the scenes in which gus pulls up his worst memories and belos calls hunter “caleb”, which are like a minute total combined and also i think the most important scenes Of All Time for belos’ character. 

his rationalizations for the murder of his own brother are so flimsy that literally just thinking about the event itself is enough to make him flip his shit. he knows what he did was unforgiveable and he knows there was no real reason for it and he knows the grimwalkers are not caleb, will never be caleb, he’s been playing god with his brother’s body for centuries when he KNOWS that caleb is gone and he will never get him back. and then, right off the heels of belos finally being forced to confront what he’s done, we see him calling hunter “caleb”. he looks at hunter, the grimwalker that looks the most like caleb, the one now holding caleb’s palisman, and suddenly he doesn’t see hunter anymore. he’s watching caleb “betray” him again, and he doesn’t want to see because it’s forcing him to think about why caleb did it. he was never corrupted or lost or in need of a merciful death, he just wanted something different than philip and that was unacceptable. 

and finally: the collector! belos thought he could use the collector and then throw them away when they weren’t useful to him anymore, just like he has for literally every single person he came across for the past 400 years. the man has been acting essentially consequence-free ever since he murdered caleb, and then the collector is freed and immediately shows him that the manipulation is not going to work anymore. for once in his life he is facing the consequences of his actions, both in the past and in the now. 

what happens now that belos is a small pile of slime on a completely different earth? what happens now that he can’t deny that luz was right, that he isn’t even human anymore? that his home is a place unrecognizable to him? that the childish goals he’s built his life around are considered a joke? is he going to double down or is he finally going to have to realize that he is a joke? that everything he’s done was for literally nothing? that caleb died for nothing? that maybe, just maybe, he could have led a happy life had he not been so obsessed with his own warped sense of righteousness and revenge? 

the walls in belos’ mind are going down and brother, they are going to go down hard. 

tl;dr: the show is making a point of showing that belos’ worst fears and memories are actively being brought to the surface in ways he can’t rationalize. he finally has to face what he did to his brother and the fact that he’s in a form that can’t even pretend to be human anymore. this man is going to try desperately to hold on to anything he can before the walls come crumbling down and we get the third-act breakdown we’ve been waiting for. 

[writefightandflightclub]

I really enjoyed your Nathan fluff 🥺 we love this angry peach fuzz king 👑💖 would you ever write him being comforted after having a nightmare? 💕

First of all, LOL @ “angry peach fuzz king” 🤣🤣🤣

Second of all, here you go! 🧡 I will warn you - I think I forgot the fluff a little bit though. It became more hurt / comfort? More angst than expected? It ends nicely though and comfort is given to Nathan - but only after I’ve subjected him to rattling around in his own head and house for a bit.

Through the looking glass (Nathan Bateman x GN!reader)

Summary: Nathan has nightmares after The Incident. After so long alone, he doesn’t realise how badly he needs a little comfort - and maybe he doesn’t believe that he deserves it.

Author’s note: hopefully this isn’t too similar to All Better. I know they both take place post-stabbing, but I tried to give this a different focus. I know I could have made the nightmares based off of anything given the ask, but this timeline / focus seemed most sensible to explore the character.

Warnings: nightmares following traumatic incident (a stabbing); mentions of blood and injury - not graphic. Self-harm (punching the bag until injury); Body horror if you squint (some gruesome descriptions occurring in-dream, but fairly abstract); swearing; implied alcoholism recovery if you squint; mentions of therapy; Nathan mildly injured in fic; reader offering comfort.

Rating: MATURE for themes mentioned above.

GIF: by @santiagogarcia (this whole gifset is magic- check it out + reblog!)

Nathan wakes up breathless, plastered to the covers by a sheen of sweat - and not in a good way. On instinct, or out of habit by now, or maybe somewhere between the two, his palm slides over his body to the site of the wound.

He is so slick that he half-believes he is soaked with dank, deep blood again, until his fingers trace over nothing more than a half-concave, half-ridged scar. The lack of searing pain is the next point of evidence leading him towards an alternative conclusion. He’s not dying (again).

It’s just another gruesome nightmare.

Although… there is nothing “just” about it.

The nightmares are pretty brutal. Brutal enough for him to wake with ragged breaths and a hammering heart, his sheets dampened and coiled up around him. Enough that it takes effort to sift through the layers of terror and distinguish reality.

With what can only be described as a whimper, Nathan swings his legs over the edge of the bed, bringing himself into a seated position and bracing his head in his hands until his racing heart levels.

In his mind, he’s telling himself to be logical about this. That Ava hasn’t truly arrived to finish the job she started; but logic is not the safe haven it used to be.

She could come back.

She’s still out there, somewhere, and Nathan distinctly got the impression, last time, that she was vehemently not a fan of him.

His hand trembling, Nathan reaches for the glass of water by his bedside, glugging it down so eagerly it spills into his bushy beard.

Since the… accident? Malfunction? Functioning just fine, actually? Failed experiment? Greatest achievement known to man? Attempted murder? (Truth be told, Nathan isn’t quite sure what to call it, so he simply calls it The Incident.)

Since The Incident, Ava has begun to regularly visit him in his sleep.

The visitations are not waning with time. In fact, they are happening more often, not less. They are happening more since you moved into the house.

It’s a bad fucking time to have quit drinking.

You’d been sent by the board. Something about Nathan taking “tortured genius” a slice too literally. Something about him being in isolation too long and needing another human around in the compound.

Well, that’s not technically true, is it? The shit all started when he opted to get social, after all.

Fucking Caleb.

Before that, he was doing just fine.

Nathan doesn’t like it at all - having you here. Being watched. Observed. Having someone monitoring his actions. Waiting for him to either fuck up or prove himself.

Ironic really, considering where he kept Ava. The experiments he ran on her.

She’d probably find it poetic, if she could truly understand such a concept.

At the thought of her, Nathan physically shudders, and reaches for an old vest to haphazardly mop the excess sweat from his skin. Then, he balls up a change of clothes and tracks nude to his wet room, feeling relief as the luke warm water sluices over his skin.

He watches himself in the mirror as he stands there naked. It’s not a vanity thing - at least not any longer. These days, he examines the way his form has changed since it happened. He lost some of his muscle and bulk during recovery, whilst unable to exercise, his arms slightly smaller and his abs softer. His stomach a little more rounded.

There’s also the puckered scar, of course - that permanent reminder of where he was skewered through the chest like a piece of kebab meat.

His gaze travels up over his body, until his eyes settle on his still haunted face. He doesn’t have his glasses on, and somewhere between the blurred vision, misted mirror, clouding steam and sluicing water, his reflected face distorts. It transforms - for the briefest of moments - into her.

Still amped with adrenalin from his harsh awakening, this briefest flash sends a surge of panic zipping through Nathan’s chest, his heartbeat racing so hard he can feel the pounding of blood in his ears.

Fuck, he curses, reaching his arms out to brace himself against the shower wall above him, his body trembling and his head dipping down between the cradle of his broad shoulders as his legs threaten to buckle.

He turns the water cold, until it is practically glacial and thundering on to the back of his neck, subduing this spiking heat.

She really did a fucking number on me, didn’t she?

It’s true though.

Ava is haunting him. When he sleeps - and at other times too.

Nathan didn’t know robots could do that. Didn’t know they could spawn ghosts.

Nathan doesn’t believe in ghosts, of course… but he does believe in trauma and its effect on the brain. He at least concedes that it is natural to continue to feel afraid; but this?

Being dogged by the spectre of her taps into Nathan’s deepest insecurities.

After all, there is nothing a genius fears more than doubting his own mind.

Nothing a God fears more than his own mortality.

And the man? Turns out, there is nothing he fears more now, than dying alone.

With a ragged breath, Nathan towels off and pulls on his grey sweatpants, tugging on his black zip-up hoody over his bare chest. And then, keen not to return to his damp, tangled sheets, he tracks towards the kitchen - mainly for want of any more favourable option.

Of course, he had returned to the compound after The Incident. Something about that many fibre optic cables being a bitch to lay down. Sunk cost fallacy and all that - too much already invested.

But it possibly wasn’t the best choice for his recovery.

Nathan has certainly gotten more used to walking down that hallway since he returned from the hospital, and yet he still finds himself holding his breath until he is free of it. Still finds his pace is just a little faster as he passes through. His gaze deliberately averted from that spot.

Once, you’d found him lying in it.

Lying in that exact spot, his body arranged like a crime scene photo, his eyes closed.

Hey, it’s hardly his least healthy coping mechanism, is it?

What in the fuck are you doing, Nathan?

Re-enacting my death, obviously.

Uh-Kay…. A beat. A devious smile. Shall I get some popcorn?

Absurd as it was, he had laughed. Laughed for the first time since it happened, and, with an extended hand, you had helped him up off the floor.

Still, now that he’s alone, he does not dwell in the corridor, colder and darker as it is without your light in it, and he tries not to think about your face or hers as he pads to the kitchen.

When he arrives though, he bypasses it entirely - heading out on to the decking, the crisp night air soothing his hot skin.

He wants to be outside.

There are too many ghosts in his house now.

He has tried to shake it. Tried to desensitise himself to Ava’s face. Spent longer than strictly necessary poring over footage of her.

He built her. Shouldn’t that take the fear out of things? Not to mention the fact Ava’s face was simply a composite of some manipulable nerd’s wank bank browsing history.

Fucking Caleb.

Still, once Nathan had looked her in the eyes and seen a rage that was all too human, things seemed a hell of a lot different.

Nathan crosses to the punchbag on the deck -lit by creeping dawn- on instinct, or out of habit, or maybe some combination of the two, his unease riling him enough to sock some punches at its midsection. Right at the equivalent site of his corporeal puncture.

He punches so hard that the skin on his knuckle splits, but Nathan doesn’t stop. He throws punch after punch until his hands are scathed and bloodied, and a trail of spit hanging from the corner of his mouth. Until he hugs the bag - the closest thing he has to a warm body to hold - and slides down it, coming limply to his knees, wiping his face on his sleeve.

He stays there, dead eyed and still for some time, the pain in his hands raw and singing. Unpleasant, but better. Better than what he was feeling, and worse all at once.

He considers his tired, cumbersome body, and contemplates remaking the world one more time. Uploading his mind into a machine or some shit, so that he doesn’t have to contend with the fragility and failings of his own existence.

He stays there, until some motion in the interior of the compound causes the light and shadows to dance differently over him, and he looks up to see your figure there, cast in a soft halo of yellowed light.

He tips his head up slightly, opening his mouth as though he might cry out to you for help, but no sound comes out - only a thin, dry croak.

So, instead, Nathan watches you for a moment, moving seamlessly around his kitchen as though it is your own. Maybe it is - more yours than his now.

Observing you like this, through the tall, cinematic windows, it is as though he peers in on another world entirely. Something less resembling a nightmare.

Lighter than that. Something more like a good dream, albeit a good dream that Nathan cannot be part of. One he can only ever watch, from the outside looking in, always fated as he is to be on the other side of the glass.

Truth be told, you haunt him too. You represent everything he could have and yet doesn’t deserve.

You appear in his nightmares and his dreams, in various terrifying and beautiful incarnations. Many variations of which his therapist would have a field day with, he’s sure - or, she would, if he’d ever fucking call her.

When you first arrived here, he was plagued by grotesque visions of you. Grotesque visions of the skin being peeled back from your body. Sometimes, circuitry beneath, and other times, muscle and bone. Sometimes, Ava’s face was buried beneath the chilling slip of your fleshy mask.

Sometimes it is a better dream. Sometimes you save him. Sometimes he saves you.

Sometimes it is a good dream. Ava isn’t there at all. But the good dreams never seem to last for long. 

Sometimes you kill him, and sometimes...

The glass door slides open.

“Reenacting your own death again, are you?” you tease, though not unkindly, interrupting the spiral of Nathan’s incessant thoughts.

A lump forming instantly in his throat, Nathan swallows thickly, and looks up at you helplessly with a thin, joyless smile. He snorts as though it’s funny, but it really isn’t. “Over and fucking over.” 

You nod once, and, without hesitation, you extend your hand towards him. Your gaze cuts through him as you search his face and he feels suddenly see-through, as if he’s about to be hit with some Shyamalan-esque twist. Was he the ghost all along? Did he die here after all?

If so, is this purgatory because Ava is here too, or heaven, because you are?

Christ. So fucking schmaltzy, Bateman.

After hesitating, Nathan takes your hand and you yank him to his feet, drawing him inside, through the looking glass.

The room seems warm on the other side. It feels… safe.

“What happened?” you ask, as you look down at your joined hands, your thumb painting a smear of red across his split knuckles. 

You mean now. What happened now, but Nathan’s mind harks back further than that. In his mind, everything is connected. Every thing threaded to another. This one smear of blood to that weeping flower of red.

The thought -the thoughts, all of them- halt him in place, his feet firmly planting on the ground. Nathan’s hand clenches tightly around yours as though it is a lifeline, as he is cast adrift on this familiar crimson tide, his face growing increasingly angular and stern.

“She...” He swallows, unable to complete that precise thought, his eyes dropping down to his feet.

You turn your body towards Nathan as he croaks, still not letting go.

Your eyes flitting around his face, attempting to search his eyes, you tentatively step closer, sliding your palms slowly over his tense shoulders, feeling them rise with an uneven, stuttered breath as you do so.

He’s so tired. He’s so very, very tired.

And it happens all at once on the exhale.

Suddenly, your arms are tugging him closer, and his face is contorting as a violent smattering of tears beads in his long lashes. You are encasing his body in your embrace and rubbing circles into his back as his buzzed head sags all too willingly toward the junction of your shoulder, your fingers splaying along the smooth flesh at the nape of his neck and pads dancing over the gentle prickle of his hair. You are shushing and soothing and reassuring and squeezing and smoothing and cradling and Nathan can feel it. Can feel his heart race in his chest and…

Finally.

Finally, his heart is not pounding because he is reliving his death.

It is pounding because he feels alive again.

When was the last time he cried, even? The last time someone really hugged him? He doesn’t remember the last time. The serendipitous combination of Nathan willing to be vulnerable, and another being willing to hold space for his pain is an all too rare thing.

There’s a reason -or several - he’s so emotionally constipated, after all.

Fuck. I’m taking a huge emotional shit right now.

Nathan remains in the welcome circumference of your arms longer than is strictly necessary - until the tear trails over the bridge of his nose begin to feel cloying. Until his breaths steady, and until his thoughts and ego creep back in. Until he notices the way his hands are clasped at your waist like claws, fingers sinking into your softness, and he thinks to release you.

Then, he leans away, a weight on his brow making his expression stern.

He waits for you to judge him, another swallow trailing thickly down his throat.

However, your eyes are kind and level, dancing with soft concern. Not with judgement or satisfaction or pity, or with anything he fears.

It is refreshing not to feel so afraid.

Finally.

“She…” Nathan begins again, finally finding courage. All at once his eyebrows shoot up towards his hairline. “She fucking stabbed me.”

You take his words in. You listen.

His “reveal” is simple. Plain and factual. A little indignant. Kinda salty. It’s not overly emotional, or articulate.

But it is enough.

Your eyes narrow, and you nod slowly, trying to understand the true meaning beneath his words.

You even reach up to cup Nathan’s face, his springy beard a cushion beneath your gentle palm as you hold him. “Yeah, genius,” you tease, with a tentative, lopsided smile, dropping your arm all too suddenly, perhaps as you catch yourself. “I got that from context.”

In response, Nathan chucks air from between his teeth, bringing his hand up to comb through his beard - perhaps to obscure his involuntary smile, or perhaps chasing your tender touch, the impression of it left warm on his cheek.

As he brings his hand up, your brows draw together, and you hook his bloodied paw delicately in yours, examining the wound, and leading him gingerly across to the couch as though his whole being might be hurting along with it.

It is.

You order him to stay put while you fetch the first aid kit, and then, in stages, Nathan watches you with fascination as you painstakingly clean and tend to his wounds, without ever being asked to.

He watches you carefully swipe the angry red away from his skin, and, to his overactive mind, it’s all connected. This red is one and the same with the flower of blooming red from The Incident.

Ava hurt him then, and she is hurting him now too.

And you…

“Going to tell the board about this?” Nathan asks, his voice weak and scuffed.

You search his eyes, holding your words back for a moment before answering. Then, you launch them on a big breath. “Fuck the board, Nathan. I told those assholes to stick it.”

Nathan blinks in confusion, shaking his head, his hand flourishing emphatically through the air. “Then… what the fuck are you still doing in my house?”

“Well. I’m… here for you,” you admit, sucking in air through your teeth, your voice shrinking. “If you want that.”

Well, that’s news to him.

Welcome news, perhaps?

You’re not watching him at all, are you? Not observing. Not asking him to evidence his humanity. Not waiting to see whether he fucks up or proves himself.

Instead, you’re seeing him. You’re seeing him and you’re not running.

Nathan had begun to think that maybe he was the nightmare. He’d begun to think he might always be haunted.

Always alone. That he might die that way; again.

And now, here you are.

Nathan thinks about that. He could so easily revert to his old ways, in this moment. Of pride and ego and stubborn independence.

But, perhaps those assholes from the board got a few things right - he’ll admit.

Maybe he had been in isolation too long. Maybe he didn’t need to take “tortured genius” quite so literally.

And so, Nathan almost protests. Almost rejects your presence and your comfort and pushes you away. But the truth is, he’s just so… tired. He’s had so many nightmares, and this time, he’d like to be on the other side of the glass. He’d like to step into that dream.

Nathan takes a deep breath, and releases on the exhale. Releases more than air.

He slowly, ever so slowly, shifts towards you on the couch, angling his body until he can safely dip his head towards your lap, his nose pointed in towards your abdomen and his knees curling around you.

“Th.. this okay?” he asks weakly.

You throw your splayed hands up into the air in surprise as the weight of Nathan settles there, but as he curls his arms around your middle and shuffles closer, you ease into it. You snake your fingers in intricate caresses over his head and neck and shoulders.

“Yeah, Nathan. This is okay,” you soothe gently, voice taut with emotion.

You comfort him.

And finally, Nathan does not need to peel your skin back to know what’s underneath.

He knows you’re not a robot, and that, as your kind touch finds him corporeal, that he is not a ghost.

He closes his eyes. And this time, when he next wakes, he knows that whether the dream is bad or better or good, it doesn’t matter. Because you will be there with him.

He wants you with him.

It’s not at all natural to him, to have you around. For the longest time, he didn’t like it. It didn’t come instinctually, and he has formed no familiar habits.

It isn’t easy - he doesn’t make it easy.

But he wants it to be.

And, in your arms, he can finally dream that it will all work out. What’s more; he can dream he deserves it, too.

[renquise]

Okay okay okay here I am fully two weeks late to the CR finale with Thoughts, Especially About Essek, which is about par for the course for me.

In extremely incoherent, bullet-point form, probably forgetting half the things I want to say and wandering off onto personal tangents:

- Ah, gosh. Some things I loved, some things I was more eh on, and mostly--it’s a very gentle, dissipating-energy kind of ending episode, which is strange to say about something that figured a full-on Wizard Fight. Circumstances kind of made it so I had to watch these seven hours in bits and pieces, and there’s something that made it very beautiful? Like, this slow letting go of this story in bits.

And--okay, this is weird, perhaps--I’m almost kind of glad that it wasn’t the kind of ending that was so perfect that it makes me go, like, welp, that’s all there is to say about it, I don’t have anything else to add. Like, I kind of love that in my mind, the ending of the series was last episode’s impossible, beautiful series of events, and this long unraveling is more nebulous in my mind. I don’t know if that’s a bug or a feature, but I’m selfishly glad that it’s the kind of ending that makes me want to play around in this sandbox some more.

- Okay okay okay Veth floating in the water of the grove’s pool in just her skin. So so so beautiful. Like. What an image.  

- It’s funny, the way I don’t know how to feel about Kingsley? It’s interesting--on one hand, it’s great, I love this not-so-accidental-pirate-king, yes, give me all the pirate politics shenanigans. But on the other hand, I loved that conversation at the beginning of the episode between Beau and Yasha about not wanting to impose their memory of Molly on the person that they brought back, but Yasha obviously wanting the person she loved back so badly. I almost wished they had left it on that ambiguity, perhaps, because that ambiguity is more interesting and more poignant to me?

- Full disclosure, I started watching the episode live, promptly fell asleep on it while it was still running, and woke up at like 1AM to HEY SURPRISE TRENT IKITHON and let me tell you that I wasn’t unconvinced that I had dreamed half of it

- ASTRID i got nothin i got absolutely nothin. I know that this is where they had to end the show, because where do you go from the unlikely miracle of last episode. but damn god damn would I eat up the complicated political mess of navigating the Assembly’s dissolution with a SPOON.

- Everyone picking off Trent’s Fancy Magical Stuff made me laugh so frickin hard oh my god are they even going to use this or just bring it to their friendly local pawn shop. Either way. Hilarious.

- I totally didn’t expect Jester and Artagan’s epilogue to get to me the way it did, but I SHOULD HAVE. Artagan asking her what she wants. Jester saying that she wants to see everything. Jester going to kiss him and biting him on the nose. The way that Artagan enabled Jester to go see the world and come into her power and the way Jester changed him profoundly, in a way he never accounted for. God. I love them.

- FEY REALM ADVENTURES FEY REALM ADVENTURES 

- Beau and Yasha being beautifully domestic together. Aaaaaaaa.

- Ha ha ha. Predictably. The cheek kiss and enveloping hug and “Don’t be a stranger” and “Try to be kind. To yourself.” Killed Me. I love that the evolution of this relationship could be analyzed entirely through forearm grasps and the follow-through on this touch. I love that this one is just--so gentle. So quiet. So much about closing this space between them.

- Listen. Listen as someone who is always very happy to write things that are resolutely non-canon and are never going to be, and who took one look at Caleb and Essek playing social manipulation chess when they met in Rosohna and was like, I Am Compelled--it is absolutely surreal to me that Essek not only has his own epilogue, but shares it with Caleb. I’m so delighted.

And like. Frick. I remember watching the episode with Essek’s first appearance after the year-long hot boi drought and just--desperately wanting more of his story, whatever it might be, and being overwhelmed, overjoyed when his story became interwoven with the Nein’s in a way that is now impossible to separate. I’m just over the moon at what the series delivered with his character.

- Geez. I think that the intensity of my feelings about Essek’s “ending”--and it doesn’t feel like an ending, it feels very much like a beginning--needs to be contextualized with what parts of it resonate with me. I’ve always moved around my entire life, and I’ve grown used to having to appreciate that you need seize and cherish friendships in the moment in which they exist, and that you will sometimes have to leave some of those connections behind--and that as someone who is way on the aroace spectrum, those connections are incredibly, incredibly dear to me, however brief. 

And gosh. Essek, always moving around, assuming a different identity in every place he visits, but hearing from the Nein constantly, and always orbiting back to Caleb as a constant in his life--oof, that, that is something that gets me right in the chest, both as an ideal ending for him and as something that retains that bittersweet edge, that sense that all things are temporary and that you have to hold them close while you can.

Essek has been stuck in a society that is unchanging or changes in only in vast tectonic shifts, with lifetimes upon lifetimes of gradual change, and as a new soul, he’s been expected to keep up a certain image--and this image is likely one that would be expected of him for lifetimes more. But in exile, he can remake himself anew in another city, try on another costume to see how it might change him, taste new ideas constantly and experience the very opposite of stagnation--that, I think, is so dear to me.

And the idea that in these wanderings, he also makes a home with Caleb, that he can find a nest with him in the time they have, that he can have both this opening of experiences and this person to share his life with--fuck. That’s ideal. That’s so good.

I wonder if, eventually, Essek will have that same crisis of identity that strikes people when they’ve lived in many different places or who live in exile--that though he’s been formed by the Dynasty and Xhorhas and must hold some parts of it dear, however subconsciously, that eventually someone will ask where he’s from and he won’t really know what to answer, how to explain what places and people have shaped him.

And I love that his relationship with Caleb feels hard to define, but that it’s unambiguously intense, intimate, vulnerable, trusting--that they share something with each other that binds them to each other in a way that they can rely on each other. Like, I’m so glad that there was explicit confirmation of their relationship, but that that space of possibility between them is also so beautifully undefinable, so rich with what is and what could be and what they choose to make it. Like. Again, that might be the aroace feelings talking. But man.

(AnD NOW IT’S CONFIRMED THAT HE’S DEMI TOO AND I’M LIKE OH. OKAY.  \o/)

- Good stuff time to rewatch c2 again I guess. Man I can’t believe I’ve been watching these chucklefucks since they stole a ship.

[anasticep]

Why Julie and the Phantoms is a masterpiece of a show. Part 2. Heroes and Villains or Let that foil shine

NOTE: Thanks again for your kind response to Part 1. I never expected that. It being my first tumblr post and a first meta in quite a long time I was blown away. I read all the tags, some were really hilarious. About having more than one brain cell xDDD I laughed so hard. It means a lot.

NOTE2: Please remember that the gifs are made by me, so don't crop, edit or give as yours.

Part 1.

Before diving into meta, I have to mention that the Villain of the story is actually one of the best in the decade. He’s cool, evil from the start, we understand his motives and we certainly are not supposed to love and make excuses for him. The writers made sure of that. So back to the main topic.

A foil is a character who contrasts with another character; typically, a character who contrasts with the protagonist, in order to better highlight or differentiate certain qualities of the protagonist

Foils in literature are not necessarily antagonists. A friend can be a foil or sometimes even a thing, a song. Whatever can make a good and real contrast to the protagonist. But it’s not very simple to use this author’s device and not fall down a deep hole. Because you have to make sure you did just the right amount of work to make it understandable for a reader, the things you want to contrast are definitely there and still you don't waste a character. On TV it can be even harder given limited air time. And, well, I don’t come across this device being used in full very often nowadays. It’s usually good and evil fighting for the plot. That’s why I personally appreciate JaTP so much.

Caleb is clearly a foil to Luke. As much as I’d love to say that Julie also has one, that’s not entirely true, at least not this season. Carrie is not her foil though it may seem so, and I really think that’s cool as Julie’s journey is being presented through her own demons and I'm going to cover that next. That being said, of course Caleb doubles as an antagonist plotwise, but I personally consider him being written more as a contract to Luke so we could see and appreciate his character and journey better.

1. Origins

Caleb and Luke have extremely similar backgrounds. They are both natural performers. They know how to deliver, because c’mon, “Now or Never” is something and so is “The other side of Hollywood”. Stage is their natural habitat, their element, power. Although they channel this power from completely different places.

Let’s start with our little ball of energy. It’s emphasized TWICE that he doesn’t care about the money aka the physical side of art.

All Luke wants is to make music. Connect with people. He is so happy just to be heard despite him loving to perform. Making music is what makes him feel alive and basically that’s enough. I think if there was no “hologram” magic at all, Luke would have still been extremely happy to make music with and for Julie. Because that’s the way he is.

But Caleb doesn’t know that. He knows, and I’m standing by that, right away that Luke is the one to aim at. Because we always feel the similarity in people. If Luke said yes, Reggie and Alex would have followed. So Caleb recognizes the passion and shoots at them what he thinks is appealing. And, oh boy, he delivers.

“The Other Side of Hollywood” is a perfect song to emphasize Luke and Caleb being foils for each other. Follow me here:

But these lines come from very different places. For Caleb the only thing that matters is himself. He owns the show, he IS the show. It’s about being famous, drowning in applause, admiration. Look at how he performs. Confident, yes, but still very much in control. He must keep his perfect face. No flaws, no real emotions, no real connection (Did you miss ME? I did too // This band is back). Whereas Luke is simply living the best time of his life each time he performs. Is it just jamming? Bring it on. Doing fun riffs? He’s all for it. He doesn’t care how he looks (though who could deny gorgeous sweaty Luke), he owns the show just because he is a natural.

So back to the business. Caleb immediately puts the boys in his own shoes:

On the other side we live like kings // Your soulprint on the walk of fame on the boulevard of your wildest dreams // I got your glamour, got your gold, got all you’ll ever need

And, I mean, he is not that wrong. You can see the appeal on the boys’ faces. They are young, passionate, handsome, talented musicians. Of course they wouldn’t deny fame. Of course they would want all that to some extent. And Caleb is very sure he pulled the right strings.

Watch me make a move, I’m your number one choice

Also I have to mention, as we are talking about TOSOH (IKEA name again) and it being a foil for Luke, thy lyrics still don’t forget about what is important for Reggie and Alex (we’ll talk about that just a bit later):

Welcome to the brotherhood -> Reggie

Where you won’t be misunderstood -> Alex

Then again, lots of foreshadowing in the song, if you listen carefully the lyrics are stressing the true colors of the offer:

A tomb with a view

Man, what a metaphor. I would have run out of there the minute I heard this line. But our boys share one brain cell (I can’t get over how funny this is) and it’s currently taken by Julie, so I don’t blame them.

Disappointment is huge. Caleb read it all wrong. So we are moving to the next point in our Heroes and Villains essay.

2. Recruitment

It’s very cool that Caleb offers the boys to join his band right after Luke offers Julie to join Sunset Curve. They both are going out of their ways to get that (although have different budgets apparently. But look, they live in a garage). Luke made a hit with a bunch of Julie’s not very well structured lines (I love Flying Solo with all my heart as a song, but as a poem it just looks weird to me) to impress her, and we all saw the show Caleb had thrown to impress the boys. Plus food. And fancy dancing. But here is where contrast comes again.

Caleb offers to join the band, yes, but only as backup singers. It’s his show, remember? It’s only about him. He doesn’t care if they are even good. He wants their magic under control.

Share the spotlight with ME / How do you like MY new band?!

Luke offering Julie a spot in the band is a completely different story. He saw what she is capable of. He instantly knows she must be the key to a new sound, a new level. And he, a natural performer, frontman, lead guitarist, steps back and gives the spotlight to Julie. To think about it, he could have just got her magic under control by giving her simple lines, incorporating piano in the songs and that’s all. They would be visible, he would still be a center of attention, and Julie herself wouldn't mind that much. But that’s not who Luke is. Yes, there is a funny scene of “Hey, I’m your lead singer” and “you don’t have to be mean”, but it’s just messing around. Because right after that he finishes Flying Solo, writes several other songs with Julie, seeks her approval of Sunset Curve songs and basically follows her around like an adorable excited puppy.

Moving on and back to the rejection. Again the writers are mirroring them. Julie quits the band & the boys decline the offer. What does Luke do? Well, he tries the way he knows: books a gig, makes Reggie and Alex sing in perfect harmonies and does his puppy eyes thing. And it doesn’t work. And Luke goes to reflect and then probably try to come up with a plan. But something tells me he would not have haunted Julie until she joined them.

What does Caleb do after the initial rejection? Puts a cursed stamp that leaves them no choice but to join HGC. You don’t need to say more.

But in fact the more I think about it, the more I suspect Caleb also not possessing enough mental capacity for a human being. Like, if it wasn’t for Willie, how would they even know? Has Caleb planned to simply show up one day and casually explain? Look, foils in everything.

“You’re in a tough spot… So, you wanna join the band?” | “Looked like it hurt… you know where to find me”

But we sidestepped a bit.

3. Pulling the strings

After the song Caleb comes out to consolidate his success. What he does is clever and, btw, that’s the only time he becomes Julie’s foil. They are stating basically the same thing.

Again, Julie is concerned about the band and the boys, while Caleb is only concerned about having them under control. But they both are pulling basically the right strings.

What is interesting, Caleb actually impressed the wrong person (and that person is our sweet Reggie). Luke follows the string Julie pulled. Although the offer is tempting, he insists twice that they are in a band already directly to Caleb and then in Eats&Beats he says "It's like Julie said, we have a new band, a new sound». No matter what Caleb promised, Luke is not affected at all although Caleb’s offer is a very-very safe choice.

Speaking about using friends as foils, Alex and Reggie also serve as contrast characters for Luke at some points. Luke’s indifference to money is first stressed through Alex who is clearly the chief accountant for the band. His lines about not getting tips, living in a garage and «it’s a little bit about the money» are waved aside by Luke. Reggie is clearly the most affected by the whole Bobbie thing. His lines «I don’t care what Julie said, I’m glad we scared Bobbie», «So we’re gonna forget about getting back at Trevor?» are getting a clear contrast by Luke’s «It’s what Julie said, we have a new band, a new sound» and «He has to live with that guilt».

While editing the article I realised a very cool thing I haven't noticed before. How badly Luke wants to go on tour. And again that's another thing Caleb offers as if reading his mind. That's actually brilliant, to think about it.

Caleb is a VERY good reader. He tests the waters with a speech about disappearing from stage and going around the world and all dreams coming true. Still he doesn’t know the boys and especially Luke, so his phrase “no real connection” doesn’t register that much.

But he learns. Remember the lines I’ve marked before?

Reggie is afraid they will not be together after they cross over. He is in desperate need of a family. So wouldn’t it be nice to spend the rest of your afterlife with your brothers? (Reggie's main insecurity is loneliness, feel of a broken family. That's why he is the most concerned about crossing over. Will his family stay intact?)

Alex is insecure, and not being understood by the people closest to him will always hit hard. So welcome to a place where you won’t be misunderstood. And actually we know there is a guy you like and find comfort in. (Alex's insecurity is growing up in times when he could not truly be himself even with his family and for sure not believing he would ever be able to find someone meant just for him)

That mirrors the whole Luke’s beach speech perfectly. Only comparing them we can truly appreciate why Luke is the leader. He shuts down his own demons to make Alex and Reggie remember that they are not alone (“and I believe in you”. sorry. Olicity fan).

Caleb makes them suffer to get what he wants. But this time he is careful with the words aimed at Luke. Yes, he repeats his words about vanishing and applauses BUT he makes sure that his words about CONNECTION are the key words for Luke. Intense look, calming voice, touching - these are all elements of hypnosis. And Luke is in a daze. (Continuing the parents' thing, for Luke the main insecurity is not managing to connect with his mom. Maybe that's such a big thing for him: through all these people he wanted to find that connection with her)

4. The Hero’s journey

That’s the best part actually but I won’t be saying anything new or that you don’t know. Luke is made of lyrics and music. That’s his soul, heart, that’s the feeling running through his veins. He doesn’t need anything other than that in his life. Playing for eternity is “a gift no musician would ever turn down”. But he actually does turn it down. As well as his dream to go see the world with his band (is there covid in jatp universe?). He is the one who resists the hardest to the pull. Luke, who always has a guitar in his hands, doesn't want to play. Because it’s not only about the music now. He has this amazing girl in his afterlife who was willing to accept them for who they were, helped Luke battle his own demons, eased his pain and made him open up. And it doesn’t make sense any longer without her anymore. “And you’re a part of me now till eternity”.

Caleb, being Luke’s foil, completely misses the whole point of connection. It’s not in his nature. His house band are just recruits (Just so happens you’re in luck we’ve got a vacancy). For Luke his band is his family (We are the only family we ever gonna need). The Connection theme is one of the main in the show. And it’s so cool to show it focused through Luke whose best way of interaction is a touch. But not being able to touch Julie Luke has to find other ways, although it’s not that simple for him. And Julie backs that up: We connect in so many other ways. They literally touched each other's souls. Without knowing she put a stamp of her own on Luke, Alex and Reggie. They’ve never felt loved enough, appreciated enough, supported enough. They’ve only had each other. And Julie’s stamp is love. And for Luke (as well as Reggie and Alex) from now on this girl is worth dying for all over again.

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So yeah. I hope you enjoyed it, as I for sure enjoyed writing. There is gonna be a part 3 about Julie and a few honorable mentions of parallels of the Pilot and the Finale (I hope at least to do all that). I’ve also figured very very cool connections in the songs and I can’t wait to share.

Also as I was heavily speaking about The Other side of Hollywood, @catty-words has a wonderful meta on rain metaphors here (sorry for tagging, if you don't want to be tagged), check it out if you somehow missed it. It's super clever.