#what i'm trying to get at is that the way people percive black people completely changes our experiences esp if we're queer or women

[starrysharks]

i wonder if white people specifically white progressives realise that black people are only ever seen as their skin color first and foremost

[icharchivist]

I forgot to read Grand Percy's fate episodes until yesterday and after reading it I think it's pretty neat how both Lancelot and Percival are actively trying to reform their own countries and trying to do away with classism and general inequality among the general populace. It's cool how they're people of wildly different backgrounds but have more or less the same goals

i'm a fake fan i still haven't read it

but that does track with Percival's storyarc since it's been also the theme of his 5* as well if i'm not mistaken.

Percival in general is pretty fascinating to me since he's a guy who's clearly been born into privilege and could easily have closed his eyes on the horrors his own family has done and everything, yet he always held them accountable for what they were doing wrong and wanting to fix things to make things more bearable for the people and all.

Percival has this vision of duty that, as a king, your priorities is the people who lives there. Not the pride you have for your family or your history, but making sure even the weakest people in your country are safe.

and Percival went on record a few times (i think it's also in his profile) on how he doesn't believe that people who are born into nobility are natural good leaders. He's constantly challenging the system and basically saying he trusts people who are born from nothing but have strong ideals far more than anyone who is born into it and imposes themselves due to their heritage.

And it's where it's always fascinating to see him with Lancelot, especially when they clash, since Lancelot is really the opposite, a commoner who raised through the ranks due to his pure skill and loyalty.

What i think is fascinating though is that Lancelot is doing it in huge part because Percival is the one who lectured him about it in his own 5*. Because Lancelot did have a problem of blind trust in the Fendrach's system, both as someone who felt like he owed it to the country for allowing him to get this far, and as a trauma response of feeling betrayed by Siegfried. But the whole reason Percival was particularly harsh on Lancelot in 4KoaFK is because of Lancelot's complacency in the broken system that had made it possible for Isabela to even come back. In Lancelot's 5*, Lancelot gets torn because with all the horrors that happened he feels like he has to put his King before his values, and Percival lectures him that if he has to compromise on his values to serve his King then it's not a king worth serving. And it's what triggers Lancelot's arc into realizing that doubting his king, the system, is healthy, that he has to fight for what he believes and not turn a blind eye to the flaws of the system but instead fight to fix them.

So, it's fascinating indeed to see that those two are now set completely into challenging the wrongs of their countries's past and putting forward ways to fix the future, especially when it comes to Percival who was born in privilege and could easily have missed the mark.

but yeah for Lancelot i find it fascinating because his whole arc was about how he went from being unquestioning of the system and being blindly loyal, and he had to learn that doing so just allowed evil to come back and hurt the people he had sworn to protect, so now he has to challenge all of it.

As for the classissim it's really cool yeah, like i said for Percival it's in his core beliefs, and for Lancelot, it shows also on how he sets up the program with the new knights recruit Mordred and Arthur are part of. In his Wind FE it's made clear that Siegfried had to fight for Lancelot to be accepted into joining the Black Dragons because the rest of the nobles wouldn't want it, and it's Lancelot joining the ranks that started to change the system to allow others, non-noble people to join in, and Lancelot pushed it a step further then. (his Wind FE is in preparation to the chickadee event, and shows how Lancelot wants to work out a more fair way to open the gates of the system to non-noble, and hearing Siegfried tell him the specifics about his own joining convinced him).

and ironically during the whole scene Siegfried says that Lancelot was nearly refused access to Knighthood solely due to his background, Percival gets upset at the nobles for genuinely believing class matters enough on this topic. It's also why he encourages Lancelot to set up the new knighthood system.

Idk it's just very neat. I def need to read Percival's grand FE one day when i manage to put the energy into focusing on this ahah, but yeah, that tracks with his character so far and yeah, the thing is that Percival and Lancelot always had this common ground which is why Percival is as hard as he is with Lancelot because he doesnt want Lancelot to lose sight of it ever again, like he did when the Siegfried being framed incident rewired Lancelot's brain. (he actually addresses it directly in his base unit's 2nd FE, that he considered Lancelot his rival in a way where the two of them had similar values and by competing against each other they were able to challenge and improve on their ideals, but the moment the Siegfried incident happened, Percival felt his own ideals waver and turned to Lancelot, who, himself, just did a 180° on his ideals, and it threw Percival off so much it's when he left the Black Dragons because he couldn't stand what Lancelot and the country he was serving had become.)

At the beginning of their journeys in the game, they were opposing each other because of this animosity but it's nice now that they're on the same page again. They'll def need it for whatever is going to come next....

[i-know-you-can]

sorry about my vague contextless mark conseulos anon before. I've seen so many 'this is racist' posts about riverdale ships lately that it reminded me of the brief anger about Young!Hiram that circulated the internet before people buried their heads in the sand when they figured out the actor is actually Hispanic. The big racism call out recently isn't even about the ACTUAL plot points that could be racist. I've seen some people's hot takes that shipping Tabitha and Reggie together, for example, is racist because they're both POC??? And that belief completely ignores the fact that those two characters have actual things in common - and really, how does one discern that wanting a black woman and an asian man to be together is a racist idea?? If anything, I'd say it's more racist to say 'those two shouldn't get together because they're both POC'.... like, does Tabitha seriously have to be with a white man for her relationship to not be racist?!??!?! Sorry, I just have a lot of thoughts.

Haha no worries. I was just confused about the Hiram thing because I haven't actually seen anyone say anything like that so I wasn't sure if you were bringing up an old drama or making it up for some sort of reason.

I've definitely seen those takes about Reggie and Tabitha and I'm very much confused. As far as I can remember the characters of this show currently available, there are two white men there that seem to be interested in dating women (we don't currently know if Tabitha would be interested in dating a woman). Jug and Archie. That is, if we only look at characters who are roughly Tabitha's age and aren't shown to be evil (which leaves out uncle Frank and Percival Pickens). Obviously us, Bughead shippers, mostly don't like the idea of Tabitha with Jug. But we also like her enough to not want her with Archie. So who is left there? And would it be more or less racist to try to only ship her with a white character? And then of course there is this whole argument of how we can't possibly ship her with someone who she hasn't shared scenes with. But why? Who is this shipping police making up shipping laws? We can like the idea of two characters together based on what we know about them as separate people. Of course we'd want to see them interact and confirm our feelings on them but it's not a crime to like the idea of two characters together nor can I see how any of this makes it racist.

But of course, as always, the people who are yelling about this are ones who just really don't want Tabitha with anyone but Jug, if not because of actually shipping them, then because they want Jug to be conveniently in a relationship. And what a better way to fight against another potential ship and their shippers if not calling them racist?

[silverynight]

Hi! May I ask for a Gramander story? Like, Newt lives with his father, a horrible and cruel man who hurts him but the boy meets Percy and he finds comfort in Percival, who helps him and hugs him? Maybe it's a little long but it's my first request and I would be so happy and tomorrow is my birthday so I can't sleep bc I'm nervous!!! Anyway. Thanks for your time. 💜💜💜💜

Percival never told anyone that when he knew he wanted to become an auror he also realized he was in love.

It was summer break and Percival only had 17 years old at the time; everyone was pressuring him to choose what path he was going to take to keep with his professional life, the truth was that he wasn’t sure and he didn’t want to end up working in something he didn’t like.

So he used to apparate in the woods, he enjoyed the peace that brought the nature to his mind. But one particular afternoon he discovered that peace was not the only good thing he could find in the woods; wildness and chaos were good too.

Because that was Newt to him; a mess in reddish curls with a wild personality that for some reason was completely irresistible to him.

Newt was 15 when he met him; Percival likes to close his eyes and try to recall that afternoon as best as he can, he enjoys drowning himself in every detail and sound he heard that day.

“Hey! Have you seen any wampus around here?” Percival got startled and immediately took his wand out his pocket; there was no one in front of him nor behind. So, where that voice had come from?

“I’m up here! Hi! My name’s Newt!” And then Percival saw one of the most beautiful boys he had ever seen sitting on a branch; a warm smile spread all over his features, on a face completely covered by adorable freckles. He jumped down the tree and walked towards him.

“Percival,” he blurted out his name after blinking like an idiot.

“Are you looking for a wampus too? You see, I read a book about them and it said they were common in these lands and since it’s my first time in America I thought I could go out and see one.”

Newt couldn’t stay still, even when talking with someone, he was constantly moving around, gesturing with his hands as he explained something he was passionate about. Percival loved that about him.

“Do you want to come with me?” He asked, Percival must’ve been quite distracted by the boy’s eyes because he didn’t know where they were going to go. Still, there was just one possible answer.

“Yes.”

They didn’t find any wampus that day, nor the next days they saw each other, but they enjoyed so much being together, they stopped caring about anything else.

Those were happy days for him, until he saw the marks. Newt had rolled up his sleeves because he had sworn he saw a bowtruckle and wanted to climb a tree to see it; just when Percival looked down to help Newt, his eyes caught the purple marks on his skin.

Percival Graves might be young, but he knew abuse; his mother’s friend used to come to the house and cry over her shoulder until she decided to report it. But it lasted long for Percival to learn that abuse was marks of fingertips over the skin, a black eye, a bruised lip or harsh words followed by a rough voice begging for forgiveness.

“Newt?”

The boy blushed when he followed the direction of his glance and quickly covered his arms again.

“It’s nothing,” he said, dismissing the subject with a wave of his hand. “I’m clumsy and I bump into things all the time.”

Percival was also familiar with that kind of response, but he didn’t pressure him. Without another word he approached Newt and hugged him, it only took a couple of seconds for the boy to finally relax in his arms. Percival knew in that moment, just when Newt buried his face in his neck, that he wanted to protect him and take care of him for the rest of his life. He also realized he wanted to do something for the people who couldn’t do it for themselves, he wanted to punish those who used power to hurt and abuse others.

He was going to be an auror.

Percival didn’t brought up that again, but he reminded Newt he could count on him, he could tell him anything and he’d try his best to help him. He also watched the boy closely, looking for any indication the situation was getting worse, because he was going to do something if that was the case.

Then, slowly, Newt started to trust him enough to tell him about the ‘incidents’ that happened in his house; he didn’t mention who was abusing him, but the details Percival made him think about a father figure.

“I was expelled from Hogwarts and he got mad,” he sobbed and Percival caressed his back whispering in his ear that he was not a failure, that he was brilliant and passionate and studying magical creatures was not something to be ashamed of.

“You have to report it, Newt. This is not okay.”

The boy shook his head, he was family; his mother had died, Theseus (his brother) was in England and he was the only one taking care of Newt.

“He’s sorry,” he said. “Told me he’d never do it again.”

Percival sighed and pulled Newt even closer. How to explain him that abusers always promised that and they never changed?

Then one day he saw Newt with a black eye and Percival decided, with the blood boiling in his veins, he had had enough.

“He usually doesn’t punched me in the face, it’s one of his rules,” Newt mumbled. “But he was so angry this time he forgot.”

“Take me to him,” Percival growled. “I’ll talk with him.”

But he wasn’t planning on just talking.

“No, Percy… please.”

“Newt, this has to stop. You can’t live like that. It’s not… He’s hurting you.”

“He’s sorry!”

They ended up arguing; Percival didn’t know what to do to help Newt. He thought about reporting it himself, but just when he suggested it Newt ran away and he never came back to the woods.

Later he found out he and his father went back to England.

Newt’s absence broke his heart.

***

It didn’t take long for Percival Graves to get a reputation; he was starting working as an auror at MACUSA and yet everyone who worked with him knew he was very strict, but he was especially harsh on abusers.

There were many rumors surrounding that fact, but none of them were close enough to him to confirm or deny them.

“Why you always look so grumpy, Graves?” Seraphina Picquery, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, asked him, joking.

To which Percival only growled in response, making her chuckle.

“Your lover left you or what?”

She was just kidding; they all started to joke around each other when a case was particularly difficult to relax and help them keep focused. But Percival couldn’t hold back his reaction, his lips twisted down, his eyes darkened in sorrow.

And Picquery noticed.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean-”

“It’s fine.” He cut her off. But it wasn’t. Newt wasn’t his lover, but Percival loved him. And he ran away because he didn’t know how to handle the situation. He had failed him.

One night when they arrested five wizards for trafficking, he saw him again. Newt still had the same innocence when he was a teenager, but also had a fire in his eyes, his passion had grown and Percival could see it in the way he was curled up around the demiguise; he was protecting him.

He was breathtaking.

“Percy?” His eyes sparkled when he saw him and Percival grinned from ear to ear.

“Newt.”

Percival had no other choice, he helped Newt, ignored the case he had (because if what he told him was true, then he had broken at least ten laws just by carrying that thing around). He also defended him in front of the President and the Director, Picquery, who’s eyebrows quirked up when she saw Newt.

They let him go and because Newt had nowhere to go he accepted Percival’s offer of spending the night at his house.

“That’s the one, right?” Seraphina smirked, knowingly.

“Yes,” he sighed and took a confused Newt by the arm and apparated with him outside of his home.

“I’m sorry. For leaving like that,” Newt mumbled that night, after thanking him many times for helping him.

“It’s okay. You were afraid. I understand,” Percival said, but as soon as the words came out of his mouth, he saw another bruise and it looked recent. “You still live with him?”

Newt nodded, the movement, cold, almost mechanic.

“I’m not there that much though. I’m always traveling.”

Percival stared at him and caressed his cheeks, Newt blushed a beautiful shade of red, but didn’t move away.

“I know you don’t want to report, but that doesn’t mean you still have to go back to him.”

“I have nowhere else to go, Theseus’ flat is small and he’d wonder why I’m not with our father. He doesn’t know,” he said and Percival felt a little lighter because at least this time Newt wasn’t trying to deny it.

“You can stay here, with me,” Percival blurted out.

“You’ve done enough for me already, I wouldn’t want to-”

“Stay.” Percival pleaded. “I want you to live with me.”

A few tears fell down from Newt’s eyes, but there was a soft smile when he threw himself at the auror’s arms.

“Thank you,” was the whisper Percival heard and he was happy to find out it was like the time hadn’t passed between the two.

***

Months passed; howlers and letters came demanding Newt to come back and Percival was glad to see that Newt was more secure, more firm in his responses and his refusal to return to England.

He made friends with the people of MACUSA; by the end of the first month everybody knew him because he started to bring Percival lunch and without realizing it, he became MACUSA’s unofficial consultant when it came to magical creatures.

Seraphina liked him, not only because he was adorable, but because he was her favorite thing to tease Percival Graves.

Everybody knew Percival was in love, except Newt. But he didn’t want to talk to him about it yet, he wanted to give him enough time for him to heal.

“You’re an idiot,” Seraphina huffed. “Just tell him you love him already.”

But he didn’t, not that night at least. Newt was the one who started their first kiss a week later and took Percival’s breath away that he couldn’t actually say what he felt, he whispered it over Newt’s lips instead.

By the time Theseus came to visit his brother Newt and Percival were engaged. Although that didn’t make the British auror a happy man, at least he approved. Of course, that was the last thing that crossed his mind after Newt talked to him about their father.

Percival was with Newt the whole time, he knew how difficult it was for him to admit what his father did to anyone who wasn’t Percival, it was even worse because it was his own brother.

He felt almost relieved when he saw that Theseus believed him, although he understood how difficult it was for him to accept the fact that his father was an abuser and he never noticed.

“I’m sorry, Newt,” Theseus said, voice broken.

“It’s not your fault, 'Seus.”

They found out later that Theseus had challenged his own father in a duel and won quickly and everything happened in front of his co-workers. And although Percival agreed with Newt that wasn’t the way to solve things, he was secretly pleased and took a mental note to send Theseus a bottle of wine on his birthday.

***

A year into their marriage, they met a child on the streets; he was just five but was very smart for his age as Newt noticed every time he talked to him.

He was also going to be a very good wizard, judging by the magic Newt felt around him.

Newt also was the first to notice the problem; he had experienced that same fear he saw every day in Credence’s eyes. He had known the pain caused by marks if violence, same marks he had seen on Credence’s little fingers.

New​t didn’t have to say anything, Percival was the one that suggested it; they were going to adopt the kid.

They face some problems because the child was in a muggle orphanage, but the court ended up giving them the custody of the kid because Percival was the Director of Magical Security by then and he was important in America and also because President Picquery helped as well.

It took some time for Credence to adjust to his new home, but he already liked them both so it wasn’t so hard, at least not to accept them. Although Newt had to help him to overcome the nightmares and panic caused by the abuse.

Percival discovered, with a fond grin, that he had a natural talent, as his Dad, to take care of magical creatures.

“Look, Papa!” Credence ran towards him as soon as he opened the door. “I found your watch. Niff had stolen it!”

Percival rolled his eyes, but chuckled anyway.

“Where’s your Dad?”

“Over here!” Newt was tickling the thief and scolding him for the things he had found in the fur of his belly. “Why? And how by Merlin’s beard did you manage to escape from the case?”

When Newt finished and the Niffler returned to his nest, he walked towards his husband and welcomed him with a kiss.

It was nights like that, with Newt kissing him slowly, Credence spreading his arms for Newt to pick him up and hugging them both by putting his palms over the his parents heads, when Percival thanked Mercy Lewis for making him apparate in that particular forest when he was just 17 years old.

*************

I hope you have a very happy birthday, anon!