#which indicates a lot of theft

[chucklechampion]

ah heem heem......

[celestialmoondragon]

On Eurylochus in Epic: the Musical

Hey, guys! I've been struggling to put this together since Thunder Saga because the amount of Eurylochus hate I saw after that saga just really stuck in my craw. Now, to be clear, I'm not pointing fingers or saying it was everyone, and a lot of it tapered off so I think it was just a gut reaction after the Saga came out but I've always identified more with Eurylochus while everyone else seems to fall over Polites. 

Not that I have a problem with Polites or anything. I just find the 'blindly optimistic sunshine character' to be rather irritatingly naive most of the time? Again, I identify with Eurylochus’s character & philosophy. I'm not trying to prove he’s better in any way. I've just been trying to put together something to articulate why I think Eury deserves more love.

So here is what I’ve been affectionately calling ‘The Eurylochus Apologist Post.’

Full Speed Ahead:

This song sets up the relationship between Ody, Eury & Poli. It's clear it's a dynamic they're used to: Eury & Poly providing seemingly opposing arguments and Ody finding a sensible middle ground between them. I've seen posts saying it's the Devil & Angel on Ody's shoulders but I don't like that argument because it assigns a moral value to their arguments that isn't there. I think the reason this has worked so far is because Ody sits between them, balancing their viewpoints as both pessimistic caution and blind optimism could be dangerous to their survival solely on their own.

Eury's argument for theft feels extreme, sure, but keep in mind these men just got out of a 10-year war. He's not arguing because he wants aggression or slaughter. Later songs show him going out of his way to avoid conflict enough that an argument could be made for his cowardice although I don't believe that to be the case. Here, he thinks a quick in-and-out is a safer, more cautious approach when dealing with the unknown residents of an unknown island.

I would argue that Poli's desire to openly trust strangers is a more unusual philosophy post-war. And maybe his blind optimism has helped the men keep their spirits up. (Everything's changed since Polites.) But Ody says 'No, let's give them a chance at a peaceful resolution.' 

Both songs before this have shown us how tired of violence & death Ody is but some people read this as him agreeing wholesale with Poli's philosophy which is not the case as he's by far the most cautious of the two in Open Arms. It's only as a result of Poli's death that he tries to be kind to Polythemus, perhaps in honor of his friend. But also simply to spite Athena, who's been rather aggressively telling him he's wrong, and Ody is nothing if not a petty bitch.

Back to Eury tho.

Luck Runs Out:

Eury expresses his doubt after Poli's death. Yeah, they've worked together for at least 10 years and possibly grew up together, but the Polythemus incident is the first time that Ody's cleverness fails. The first time their crew actually dies as Ody's managed to keep them all safe the entire war. And their personal friend was the very first. He sees their mortality for possibly the first time. 

He expresses this throughout Storm. He was CAUTIOUS in Full Speed Ahead, yeah, but the level of defeatism in Storm is extreme. And nearly right after, while he's still struggling, Ody wants to try his tricks on a GOD? There's no indication that he knows about Ody's personal relationship with Athena. All he could see is his friend being arrogant enough to stroll right up to a GOD like it's nothing right after they lost their best friend and several others to a monster. A God is a more dangerous opponent than a monster. (Don't you know how dangerous the gods are?) 

So he tries to articulate his feelings and worries and what does Ody do? Dismisses them. Entirely. Or at least that's what it feels like to Eury. This is something he wasn't doing before. It's also here that we see Ody parrot Poli's philosophy. This is a huge out-of-character shift in their dynamic. Ody isn't playing the middle ground anymore, a mix between trust and caution, the best of both. He's now the other extreme and the dynamic doesn't work with only two points of the triangle.

Now, Eury isn't perfect. He definitely should have expressed his doubts in private where the crew couldn't hear them argue. And Ody does try to reassure him but it's coming from this place of ego & optimism. Eury feels like he doesn't get it. They're both talking at each other but not getting through. And to put the cherry on top, after Ody pulls him aside, all Eury hears is that his concerns don't matter. It isn't necessarily what Ody means. Ody, I think, just wants to caution him about making the crew doubt his leadership but, to Eury, Ody's words come across as 'I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing and you're just going to have to deal.' Which, again, is not how their dynamic works before. Ody fully hears him out in Full Speed Ahead and incorporates his advice into the final plan.

But he isn't doing that here. Eury's final okay is him giving up on trying to get through to Ody right now. Without other events, they might have had a chance to talk about it later and actually reconcile but neither of them are in a state to do so right now.

Keep Your Friends Close:

The captain comes back from an ill-advised talk with a GOD with a mysterious bag that he claims has to stay closed. The crew is agitated by the winions claiming its treasure and the harrowing events of the cave and storm. Remember, Eury's backing vocals are the crew. He speaks for them. While there might have been members who think Ody was lying about the contents, I don't think Eury opened the bag out of a sense of greed. There's been no indication that he's greedy at all. But the crew is growing increasingly agitated and the Captain is obsessing over the bag to the point that he stays awake for 9 days. That's weird. That's out of character. 

People act like the wind bag reveal and his 'sudden' distrust came out of nowhere but the entire first half of the Storm Saga shows their relationship deteriorating. Should Eury have given him the benefit of the doubt considering their years of friendship a trust? Probably. I'm not saying Eury is perfect.

Maybe I'm assigning a thought process that isn't there, but if I were in that position? I'd be worried. Not just about the captain's judgment being impaired from lack of sleep but also there's no telling if the God told Ody the truth about the contents of the bag. I think Eury still trusts Ody but what if Ody's the one being tricked? The crew is agitated, his captain & friend is acting strange, they've got a mysterious bag with unknown contents... 

Of course, he opened the bag.

One argument I've seen the most is that if he hadn't opened the bag, Poseidon wouldn't have caught them and the 557 men wouldn't have died before they got to Ithaca. Well, I would argue that there's no indication Poseidon couldn't get them on Ithaca even if they had made it, but that's not really relevant.

Eury has always, always been worried about the safety of the crew.

He just wanted to check. Be able to reassure the crew & make sure Ody was okay.

They. Did. Not. Know. He. Was. Chasing. Them.

While Ody does question the origin of the storm, (Is it nature or Divine or a blessing in disguise?), it's more idle speculation. That line exists more as a hint to the audience that something is afoot more than an indicator that Ody's figured out, out of nowhere with no context, that the god of the sea is hunting them. With the benefits of hindsight, we the audience know they wouldn't have died, but within the story, the characters didn't have any clue and I don't feel it's fair to blame Eury. 

Puppeteer

Eury tries to fess up immediately. Eury tries to tell Ody his mistake as soon as possible but Ody is, once again, not in a state to hear him out. That isn't either of their faults at all but it does erode their relationship further. It's unclear if he's seeking absolvement, atonement, or just reassurance, but what is clear is that the guilt festers until he blurts it out at the absolute worst time in Scylla. 

Eury gets a lot of flack for proposing they leave the men captured by Circe. Is it necessarily the morally correct choice to abandon their crew? No, and I won't say it is. But his decision is perfectly in line with his character. 

(Look at all we've lost and all we've learned.

Every single cost is so much more than what we've earned.

Think about the men we have left before there's none.

Let's just cut our losses, you and I, and let's run.)

He's begging & pleading for Ody to not through them up against another foe they can't win against. He's saying 'look, we've lost nearly everyone. It's okay if we're cowards here because we won't have anything left if we fail again.'

Now this is somewhat speculative on my part, but If Eury was really a coward or really didn't care about Ody, he probably could have convinced the crew left on the ship to cut and run while Ody confronted Circe alone. All he would have to do is use the same argument he tried on Ody. I think the narrative decision to make Eury's backing instrument the crew tells us pretty clearly that they'll side with him. It's shown most obviously in Mutiny, of course, but it's first demonstrated in Luck Runs Out.

Different Beast

Eury is technically not in this song except for the fact that he is. Because Eury reflecting the crew works both ways. He is the crew & the crew is him. Now the crew, including him, are all on board with Ody's change. Eury wouldn't have left the sirens to chase them or attack others either. He thinks their viewpoints are aligned again, not the Ody has gotten to the opposite extreme of 'only I have to survive.' Not Ody realizes this either.

Scylla

This is were Eury breaks. He blurts out the truth that's been eating him alive at the worst moment. He thinks he's in a good place to confess and try to talk to Ody again because as far as he knows, they're just sailing through a dark cavern. He has no idea Scylla is there until they're attacked. Even when Ody instructs him to light torches, he probably thinks it's because it's dark.

And then she starts eating the crew Ody deliberately made her target. Whether Eury was one of the intended targets doesn't matter, in my opinion, as much as Eury realizes that Ody's new philosophy for survival doesn't include the crew. 

I've seen speculation that Scylla has some sort of truth-compelling power but I believe it was terrible timing myself. The framing of Scylla leaves the audience speculating who she's talking to until it's revealed at the end that it's Ody. Her (breaking the bonds you have made) line comes after Eury's confession not because she's compelling the truth but because she knows what response Ody's gonna have. She knows him because only someone like her would brave her lair. (We're the same, you and I.)

Mutiny

This is by far the most complicated bit and I'm not going to pretend Eury isn't a bit of a hypocrite here. I think he would have made the same choice to sacrifice 6 men if it came down to it, since he was willing to leave some of them on Circe's Island, but I don't think Eury does. He thinks he's always made the most pragmatic, logical choices for the crew's overall survival. He sees Ody's compromised mental state in Luck Runs Out/Keep Your Friends Closer but he didn't necessarily see his own then or now.

So he rounds on Ody. Ody deliberately forced them onto a dangerous path that would see some of them dead without telling them the risks. Eury 'for the crew' lochus can't believe that after all the risks he's taken to save them all, Ody would suddenly decide they don't matter.

(If you want all the power, you must carry all the blame) is a line I've seen people use to argue Eury's hypocrisy but I've always interpreted it differently. He isn't saying 'You're the captain so everything that's happened is your fault,' he's saying 'If you want to keep secrets and throw your crew away, you can't blame them for fighting back.' I believe this to be the case because it comes after (You miss your wife so bad, you trade the lives of your own crew.) 

Between the two is Ody's line (Don't make me fight you, brother, you know you'd have done the same) and, as I said earlier, I firmly believe Eury would have done the same in Ody's place. Or would have less of an issue if they crew were informed before and drew lots or something. But he can't see his own hypocrisy. Whereas Ody was too compromised to see Eury's POV in Luck Runs Out, Eury is now too compromised to see Ody's.

How do we know this?

Because Mutiny begins to mirror Luck Runs Out. The crew parrots Eury's lines, fully and completely taking his side and after Ody passes out and they get to Helios's Island, the lyrics constantly call back to Luck Runs Out although not precisely in the same order. For example:

Luck Runs Out:

Please don't tell me you're about to do what I think you'll do.

You've heard the legends of the island in the sky, this proves they're true

We're in the home of the wind god

We don't know for sure

How many floating islands have you seen before?

This is the home of the wind god.

And what's your plan?

I'm gonna climb to the top and ask 'em for a hand.

Mutiny:

Please don't tell me you're about to do what I think you'll do.

Ody, we're never gonna get to make it home

You know it's true

You don't know that's true

This is the home of the Sun God

But if you kill his cattle, who knows what he'll send?

This is the home of the Sun God

I'm tired, my friend

But we're so close to home, this can't be where it ends.

-----

This continues the entire second half of Mutiny but I’m honestly not a skilled enough musician to recognize every little motif and note. But the two songs feel very similar except that now Eury is the one that can’t hear what Ody is telling him. I hesitate to include this information because it’s not explicitly stated in the musical but the reason he kills the cow in the original is because either the starving crew will survive and can build a temple to Helios in Ithaca or the gods will kill them quickly. Not only would starving be a slow, painful death but it's not a glorious end for soldiers and warriors.

Regardless of whether you choose to include this information in his motivation, it’s clear he’s done. He’s shattered and broken and Ody’s reassurance is too little, too late. The crew is, in his mind, either going to starve to death or die trying to get home and he’s quickly realizing he doesn’t know which is better. He hates that the situation and his relationship with Ody has come to this. He’s no longer angry, just resigned and exhausted. He doesn’t know how to solve their problems and can’t trust that Ody cares enough to try either. So why does he fall back in line so easily when Ody orders the crew to flee?

Because, despite everything, he wants to trust his friend. He wants to go back to when it was the three of them and they trusted each other with no reservations. Which brings us to his last lines in Thunder Bringer. 

Eury: Captain?

Ody: I have to see her.

Eury: But we’ll die.

Ody: I know.

I saw a lot of people getting particularly angry at this because he’d brought the wrath of Zeus down on them and is now begging Ody to sacrifice himself instead of the crew. But I don’t read it that way at all. We’ve heard him plead & beg. He pleads firstly Luck Runs Out and begs broken on his knees in Mutiny and this line doesn’t sound like either. 

This is resignation.

Mutiny shows us that he’s already given up. He’s ready to die. He’s not begging for his life. The crew questions Ody, reprising the chorus of Just A Man the same way they did when they questioned his decision to kill the Infant. Because that’s what Eury’s asking. 

Can you live with the fact you killed us?

Not because he wants to live for himself but because he wants to know if Ody can truly live with the choice he's already made in his heart. At the very end, he seeks reassurance that his last friend will be able to survive to make it home.

For all of them.

In conclusion, Eurylochus is a flawed but entirely human character with a very consistent internal logic throughout and he doesn't deserve to be painted as a conniving, fickle, cowardly friend to Ody because it's abundantly clear he loves the crew and his friend.

[officialdaydreamer00]

Aimless outing

in which you took your significant other out for a ride.

pairing: idia shroud x yuu/reader

contents: kinda short oneshot, lower case intended, this is just a spoonful of sugar tbh, everyone thank deuce for lending us his blastcycle, kinda ooc idia? idk, actually based on a screenshot in the game i'm playing and i love that lmao, reader is referred to as yuu, gender neutral reader and narrated with you/yours

★ the daydreamer speaks — my second entry for my tumblr older sibling @cloudcountry's sweet shroud summer 2024!! the worms are worming and i'm on a roll hehe ^-^

do i tag? yes, i do. my main idia liker: @edith-is-a-cat, others: @identity-theft-101 @keii-starz @xen-blank @loser-jpg @lemonchuu @dove-da-birb @twistwonderlanddevotee @escha-evenstar

remember to comment or reblog if you enjoy my work!!

"Yuu-shi, where are we going!?"

"Somewhere, anywhere! Does it really matter?"

a slow sunday and the lack of immediate tasks in your schedule was all you needed. and what better way to spend the day with your beloved than taking him out for a ride?

deuce was kind enough to lend you his blastcycle for this little trip of yours, wishing you good luck and all, and you've already gotten permission to go out from the headmage the day before, as much as you hated his gut. meanwhile, ortho was doing his best to get idia waiting outside of campus, and making sure he didn't second guess his desicions before you arrive.

and that led us to where you were now, going kilometres per hour as if gliding through the highway, feeling the cool wind of a chilly afternoon excitedly picking up your hair as the sun retreated behind the mountains. you loved the thrill it gave you, if the bright wide grin on your face was of any indications.

idia, on the other hand, was a bit overwhelmed. with his arms coiled tightly around your waist, hands trembling ever so slightly, he hid his face in your hair, not daring even a peek at the blurring surroundings.

"It's not a ride if you can't see what made it so fun in the first place, Idia! Just give it a try, then we can go back if you want."

idia stayed quiet, weighing his options. he could ask you to go back and return to the monotony of his life, safe yet nothing special. or, he could continue on this ride, just you and him on the road to an ambiguous destination.

he opened his eyes, widening as they laid on the most beautiful painting of dusk mother nature had drawn. white, pink, and orange blended together so harmoniously on a darkening blue canvas. rows of clouds lined the sky, bouncing around the little lights left of the sun onto the crashing waves the sea created.

his breath was taken away.

"Quite a sight, isn't it?"

idia could only muttered a soft 'yeah' as his eyes glued at picturesque scenery, taking in all he could for he wasn't sure he was going to see such a sight again. his tight grip on you slowly loosened, now only wrapping around your waist like a warm hug you would give him on chilly days.

the moon soon made its appearance as the canvas of nature was painted black, stars glimmering from beyond like diamonds in the sky. the two of you was making your way back to campus, with the blastcycle's headlights and idia's hair illuminating the road.

idia found the night sky beautiful, a lot different from dusk, but he loved it all the same.

it was a fleeting sensation of a thrill so different than what his heart was used to, but it was welcoming, a comfort even. especially when you were there with him, laughing without a care and genuinely living in the moment.

it was a memory he wished to never forget.

[loveliestofbugs]

☆ Arthur Morgan Headcanons! (Modern)

☆ I could definitely see him working a blue-collar job tbh, like a mechanic or something. Either that or something involving animals/nature, like a park ranger!!

☆ I could see him liking a lot of older music, not necessarily from his childhood (which, in this case, he'd be a 90s kid) though he definitely does like some 90s music, but I could see him liking 70s music, specifically rock. I could also definitely see him liking folk music (for obvious reasons lol)

☆ The only indication that an account belongs to him on social media is that he makes the "nickname" or whatever its called his full name. Everything else is blank. No posts, no profile picture, username is something like "user192829201010". Literally does not gaf 😭 is rarely on social media too, so if you sent him a video it would take him DAYS to see it. You're better off just showing it to him irl.

☆ Victim of single man decor. His house is so plain looking it's kind of sad. Has a couple of decorations here and there, like pictures in frames and a couple of trinkets, but the house is mostly empty.

☆ Drives a pickup truck. Either red or blue, I don't make the rules.

☆ Smokes so many cigarettes, but lowk judges people for vaping 😭

☆ When out with friends, he'll drink but rarely get drunk. Mainly because he's able to stomach an ungodly amount of alcohol, making getting drunk unintentionally next to near impossible (Keep in mind I don't know how much alcohol is a lot, because I don't drink lmao)

☆ His phone is so bright, it's literally blinding. Also he got it for like $50 and it's a brand no one has ever even heard of.

☆ Absolutely a dog person. Has 2 dogs, something big but friendly like a golden retriever and then a tiny satan spawn named "princess" or something 😭. It's like 100 years old and bullies the bigger dog.

☆ Loves playing pool or darts on nights out with friends.

☆ Replies with 👍 to every. single. text. Either that or like a grammatically correct reply, fully punctuated and all.

☆ REFUSES to get therapy, even though he very clearly needs it. (Assuming his childhood went the same way as in canon, aside from his dad getting hung because obviously no one's getting hung over theft/larceny nowadays.) Thinks it'll do him no good.

☆ Assuming his father is still alive, I don't think he'd go no contact with him, but they'd definitely have a strained relationship. Not to say Arthur doesn't love him, he does, despite everything.

☆ Would probably have tattoos, to be honest. I could definitely him having a sleeve.

☆ I seen someone else say this but he would watch Judge Judy. That is so funny to me. I don't know why.

☆ Is bisexual, but that doesn't click with him. Just assumes everyone else feels the same way about the same gender because he has a preference for women, which "makes him straight" (Projecting heavily here)

I love Author wish he was reel 💔

[ode-to-arecibo]

Sapsippers, the third species to join the empire and the only hive mind as of the war.

Sapsippers are a hive mind that communicates between members via tapping on the ground. That has a lot of ramifications.

We're not talking about one of those weird unrealistic queen mind controlling everyone hive mind. I mean ants. A gestalt consciousness. An individual sapsipper isn't really a person, and one that gets isolated will freeze and hope someone will come pick it up. Get six of them together and they start to resemble a person. Six or more sapsippers communicating in one place are called a thrum. There's no limit to how large a thrum can get, though in practice subthrums form once you can no longer fit everyone in one room. All this communication is done through vibrations in the ground, and partially pheremones, which resemble emotions.

Sapsippers can also form a thrum over their internet (which is made of flesh), by standing on pads that transmit their tapping. Each sapsipper planet often consists of a single massive thrum which outside governments often treat more like a lect than a country.

A lot of their tech is made of flesh. Because they don't have genes, rather their protein equivalent also acts as genes and self replicates, just injecting a foreign protein alters their genetic material. This is true of everything on their planet. The hardest part of genetic engineering there is purifying the proteins. And then figuring out which proteins and how much will give you the desired result. But they were trying as soon as they figured out glass. Their spaceships still have to be metal though.

They use D-glucose like humans, so you can bring a thrum to a restaurant and order sugar water for them. They can tolerate most alien substances, though high sulphur drake food tastes terrible, so there's a culture of trying things like honey and maple syrup among smaller independent thrums.

Sapsipper philosophy has two "souls" or minds or personhoods or consciousnesses. The tatik is contained within the body, each individual sapsipper has one and it contains whatever their expertise is. A tatik can be trained to do specific things, just as different parts of your brain do different things, and it will contribute it's skills to any thrum it joins. Some optimize for pure processing power, some for specific knowledge, usually at least one per thrum knows Universal and has a translator implant to let them pronounce drake phonemes (all drake phonemes except the mandible clicks can be pronounced by humans, but humans invariably have horrible accents). The eidika is the soul of a thrum. It only appears when at least six tatik get together into a thrum. It's consider the more important consciousness, and it's the closest sapsipper concept to what a person is.

Thrum intelligence scales continuously with size, but there are two main classifications who hate eachother. Massive thrums the size of a planet or space station act similarly to lects. Huge gestalts that manage a ship and engage in many conversations at once. Talking to these things is like talking to an AI or a call center. The other kind is more common, if only because it doesn't require hundreds or thousands of bodies to form. Talking to the smaller sort is like talking to a human.

All crimes from minor theft and vandalism to mass murder are considered being cancerous and punishable by death. Or, well, they kill the tatik that isn't cooperating. Something like theft is indicative of a general lack of cohesion and a sapsipper that can't or won't merge with the thrum around it is treated like a tumor that must be excised.

They don't worry about death so much in general, and medicine is only considered important for queens (who limit population size) and queenless thrums like on many smaller ships (that can't repopulate on their own). Sapsippers only live 6 to 12 years, but since the eidika is more of a person than the tatik, a dead worker just gets replaced no problem. At worst, that was the body with the translator implant and you won't be able to talk to non-sapsippers until you replace them. Bigger thrums have more redundancy built in.

Sapsippers have also had about a dozen wars total in their entire existence, counting the kinds of wars neanderthals could have had. before the bomber plane, any two colonies that got close enough to kill each other would merge into one whether they wanted to or not. After the radio, the homeworld was all one big thrum and fighting anyone would be like fighting yourself. People often hear this statistic and expect them to be pacifists. No, they love war, they're quite aggressive and generally consider violence to solve most problems. If not for the Empire being one big alliance they definitely would have taken over someone's homeworld.

They invented written language in 2050, after drakes and kaledevids tried to write down their language and did a terrible job. They didn't need it to communicate among themselves as one, they have terrible vision, they wouldn't be able to read 12 point font while sitting on it. And two, whenever they get close enough to another thrum, they merge, so they'd only use a written language for street signs in unpopulated areas, and sculpted maps work better for that.

[catboygirljoker]

read ur post on xigbar's interactions with the Teens n it just got me thinkin. like. yknow, if dark road (and probably missing link) and just the general implications of his character are any indication, he's prob experienced Being A Child and Growing Up so many times that i imagine it makes him better suited to understand kids than like the vast majority of other people ever. which is wild because he was also de facto committing child identity theft but well. hee hee funny bodysnatcher man

YEAH youre so true...i think in general in my mind palace he like, doesn't particularly like kids (or at least claims not to), and a lot of people think he's "bad with kids", but his thing is more that he doesnt treat kids as any different from adults—at least in terms of giving them like. dignity and agency and treating them like full human beings and not objects or animals. which is to say hes kind of a dick to them but in roughly the same way he's a dick to anybody else lmao

and yeah, having spent more time than anyone else as someone in that very disenfranchised position probably does a lot...every time he thinks "lmao these dumbass kids have it so easy" he gets another teenage vessel and experiences being legally less of a person than people who are technically younger than him and hes like. oh yeah.

also, i think, having witnessed the keyblade war firsthand wouldve made an impact. he watched children kill each other. i dont think you can do that and ever treat any kids the same way again.

[tangledbea]

do you think Eugene was wanted dead or alive in all kingdoms/nations, most, or only corona??? cause iirc in ye olden days execution for thievery wasn't as uncommon as people think it was, also Eugene's bounty was 10,000 gold pieces in the movie (based on the snuggly duckling poster) which sounds like a lot but I also am not fluent in ancient currency/gold so idk

and I wonder if the Stabbington's bounty was higher or not, since they def seem like they probably did more than thieving if the whole, very willing to kidnap Rapunzel is any indication

The series implied that Eugene is wanted in more than one place. But part of why Eugene was so wanted by Corona was because he stole Rapunzel's crown. Personally. He's the one who plucked it off the pedestal, and then stole it from the Stabbingtons as well. He didn't just get sentenced for being a thief. Stealing the crown jewels is a serious offense. And, in this case, an emotionally-charged one, because it wasn't just the king or queen's, it was the Lost Princess'. Just before the event that honored her and called her home on her birthday.

I don't imagine Rapunzel's crown was kept on display year-round. I imagine it was usually locked in the vault and only brought out for her celebration.

Eugene's theft was adding insult to injury, and it's not like it was the only theft he'd committed. He'd been pestering the kingdom and evading the Captain for years. He was being led to the gallows the morning after being caught, while the Stabbingtons were still sitting in their cell.

And according to the wanted poster at the Tangled bathrooms in Walt Disney World, the Stabbingtons are worth 10,000 pieces as well. But since the Flynn Rider poster in the bathrooms says he's worth 5,000, I assume that's 5,000 apiece for the brothers.

[queenwendy]

My favorite thing with Relativity Falls is trying to wrangle Dipper and Mabel’s gender with the identity theft. Are one of them trans? If so, which one? If they don’t have any siblings, that means one of them is Stan and Ford’s grandparent. Is the remaining twin pretending to be the other or are they honest about being a different one? There’s a lot of fun combinations:

I flip flop on which twin works better as the author, but I really love Grauntie Mabel so if I ever made Relatively Falls fanfic I’d probably have Dipper be the Author with Mabel running the shack. I also really like the secret identity angle so I fully support Mabel impersonating her brother. To solve the gender issue you can either go the trans route or the crossdressing for 30 years route. The most “natural” feeling one, at least fanon wise imo, is that Dipper is transmac but fell into the portal before transitioning. But the dipper as transmac headcanon bugs me for reasons not relevant here, and I like Grauntie Mabel too much to make her crossdress as a man for 30 years; so I actually prefer transfemme dipper who fell into the portal after transitioning (I am also definitely not impartial, I am a trans woman lol). That also ties into Dipper feeling like a weird outcast who would study cryptids a la Ford, as opposed to him just being a mystery loving nerd with a constellation birthmark (of course, that’s if you make Dipper study the same things as Ford, which lots of people don’t).

Of course, that line of reasoning leads to all sorts of interesting questions as a result: who is the McGucket analogue? I usually see Candy or Pacifica, but if you wanted to mirror the show (and lean into the queer angle/a relatively falls fiddauthor), Wendy works pretty well. That also helps put Fiddleford in the shack so he can go on adventures with Stan and Ford. And Shermie? Oh god, Shermie.

Shermie is his own can of worms. If he’s Stan and Ford’s brother, is he older or younger? Is he there with them over the summer or is he back with Filbrick and Caryn? Maybe he’s still the unseen grandpa, making him Dipper and Mabel’s brother and sidestepping which one of them is the grandparent. Imo, Shermie works best as Stan and Ford’s older brother adventuring with them. Maybe even as a Soos analogue.

As for who the grandparent is, I dunno! Maybe Soos is, making him Dipper and Mabel’s brother. Maybe Mabel was, making the fact she faked her death and impersonated Dipper all the more tragic and gut punch-y (and very different from Stan, who Alex Hirsch thought never would do that). Maybe Dipper was, and so Mabel is pretending to be a grandparent. If it was Mabel or Dipper, who’s the spouse?

I like swapping Soos and Aubelita too much to make Soos Stan and Ford’s grandpa (though it’s a fun idea I don’t see anyone do). So then one of the mystery twins has to be the grandparent. I don’t think Mabel would abandon her family, so Dipper as the real grandparent has to happen via process of elimination (meaning until Not What (S)he Seems, Mabel goes by “grandma mabel”). Who the other parent is up in the air; Wendy or Pacifica are already popular ships with Dipper, and also potential McGucket analogues. If you wanna get really weird with it, Bill is, imo, a valid choice given the implied romance between him and Ford.

And that snowballs into dealing with Bill. Does he get swapped? If so, with who? Gideon kinda makes sense, especially if you want to keep the Hand that Rocks the Mabel(Ford? Stan?) plotline (as opposed to Stan x Bud which… okay that’s actually funnier). But Dream Demon Gideon sounds kinda stupid to me, even if it fits oddly well (I actually think that works better if Mabel is the author). Do you swap Bill with Euclid and Scalene? Then there’s two dream demons and baby bill running around, but Bill’s parents are kinda nothing burgers of characters. Why do they want a portal? You can also just keep Bill as Bill. I mean, the Book of Bill indicated that there’s a Bill for every universe. I dunno where I stand there, but I lean towards keeping Bill as himself. But swapping any obsessive ex tendencies of his from Ford to Dipper for obvious reasons.

I dunno if I’ll ever write anything, and that’s obviously not all the questions this AU raises (if Pacifica is swapped with Preston, how does Double Dipper play out? Does Boyish Dan work at the shack or is he the estranged son? Who do Candy and Grenda swap with? Are they the Rico and Jorge of Mabel’s backstory? How different is Mabel and Dipper’s backstory to a Tale of Two Stans?) but this AU is probably my favorite and every time I reblog art or an idea about it I get more and more drawn in. It’s really thought provoking.

[jayladfanpage]

What do you think is the most important trait for Jason? This is totally the first time I've ever asked you this question

Yep totally the first time. I didnt accidentally delete the first ask at all

Anyway the answer is his hypocrisy.

Now, I know I talk a lot about Jason's love and his fears and stuff, but I think all of his everything can be better understood through his hipocrisy and his actions vs his words. Here's some instances that stick out to me:

• Sasha/Scarlet from Batman and Robin (2009)

One of Jason's Most Hated Things is the concept of child sidekicks. He hates that shit so much. However, he literally kidnaps a child from a mental health facility to make her his sidekick.

[Batman and Robin Vol.1 #3]

(While Morrison's Jason is... far from good, the concept of Sasha is one of my absolute favorites, so we're talking about it.)

Jason preaches about Batman being morally wrong for having another Robin after his death, and yet he takes Sasha with him to bloody, disgusting massacres he commits, and encourages her to participate in his "branding," exposing her to the violence of his beliefs.

[Batman and Robin (2009) #4]

BUT!! It's important to note that Jason cares about Sasha a lot. To the point where he's willing to work with Dick and Damian to get her to safety (aka, with him).

[Batman and Robin (2009) #25]

He actively teaches her violence and hatred and these very polarizing beliefs, and he does that because he loves her.

• Jason's idea of a criminal in Beast World

We all know Jason's backstory. We all know he stole the tires of the Batmobile and that's how he met Bruce. That story implies that Jason committed a lot of petty theft before he got picked up by Bruce, and it was his main source of income.

In UTRH, it's talked about how Jason belives that Bruce isn't effective against the "dress-ups" because they know he won't kill them, implying that Jason kills to scare said dress-ups, the bigger fish.

However, in the Scavengers story, we get this speech bubble:

[Beast World: Gotham: Scavengers (2024)]

Jason, as a child, is willing to do what he needs to survive, and yet kills other people who are doing the exact same thing. He talks about hunting down the bigger fish but we never get to see him actually do that at any point. (Seriously, the only Rogue I can remember him killing is Captain Nazi. Which was 8 years ago.) Instead, we get canon confirmation that he harms the little guy, the ones who are just trying to get by.

• Robin vs Red Hood and sex work

When Jason is Robin, we see him hurt pimps and (maybe) kill Felipe Garzonas for sexually assaulting women. He's pretty strongly against the abuse that comes with sex work.

[Batman (1940) #422 and #424]

But in UTRH, it's stated that Jason literally becomes a pimp.

[Under The Red Hood (2006)]

There's nothing to indicate that he treats his girls any better or any worse than other pimps in Gotham, but the fact he becomes a pimp at all is enough to prove my point.

(That panel is also the best way to show my... mild distaste for utrh)

There are definitely plenty more instances of things like this but those were the first to come to mind. Hope the answer is satisfactory!!

[coraniaid]

Here is a partial list of traits that distinguish Teacher's Pet's insectoid monster-of-the-week from any of the other approximately 2,400 species of mantid currently known to science:

She is much, much larger: far larger than any insect has any right to be (according to Popular Science there exist species of stick insects that can grow up to two feet long, but the heaviest insect seems to be the aptly-named goliath beetle, at up to 100 grams)

She is "a shapeshifter or a perception distorter" (to quote resident expert Ruper Giles), capable of taking on the appearance of a human adult for long periods of time

She is capable of emitting pheromones that attract teenage boys and provoke unthinking terror in fearsome vampires

Despite apparently being a member of the super-order dictyoptera, and as such most closely related to termites and cockroaches, she is capable of producing viable young after mating with a human being

She is significantly more intelligent than most known mantids (according to a pseudonymous contributor at www.mantidforum.net there are "anecdotal stories to indicate that mantids have more intelligence than your average house fly", but I have found little evidence online to suggest that many mantids are capable of understanding and mimicking human speech, grocery shopping or identity theft)

Unlike most mantids on record, she is known to have pursued a career in the US public school system

Here is a partial list of traits that Teacher's Pet's insectoid monster-of-the-week shares with approximately 50% of all other mantids:

She is female

Guess which of these characteristics the writers decided was important enough to include in her name?

I mean, "Fork Guy" (or "Claw Guy") isn't a very inventive name for this week's vampire, but that vampire is only really a red herring with minimal importance for the plot. Moreover, both these names are just nicknames that a teenage Buffy Summers comes up with on the spur of the moment and are never treated as anything more than that. And both names do, in fact, capture a distinguishing feature of the vampire in question.

On the other hand, the "She-Mantis" is the main monster of this episode and, in-universe, she was named by Dr Ferris Carlyle, an adult man with "advanced degrees in entomology and mythology". What's his excuse? Isn't this an awful lot like, on discovering a giant fire-breathing lizard who can survive nuclear blasts and seeks to destroy Tokyo, deciding to name him the "He-Lizard"?

[allwormdiet]

Extermination 8.4

Armsmaster: I'm a genius! Armsmaster: Oh no!

Everything they do against Leviathan is insufficient. It's fucking horrifying.

Skitter just like "ehh, I don't think Parian's hardcore enough tbh"

Also, God, it's just getting increasingly dire just in terms of who's standing, huh? They're down most of the forcefield users at this point, the Triumvirate is down or handling other shit.

Also also I'm so sad that Purity didn't drown in the middle of the street like she deserves

Taylor is so fucking funny, she's like "I'm not brave like these other capes, I'm just standing and working to combat an Endbringer even though my power does absolutely nothing offensively or defensively against it. oh I'm not an adrenaline fiend or anything, I don't live for the thrill of battle, I just have an unreasonably high pain tolerance and not a whole lot of care for whether I live or die"

So her power gets stronger in especially high-stakes situations. Something about her emotional state, or something about an innate response to extreme threats?

Taylor's life seems to involve constant rapid-fire vacillation between predator and prey. It can't be helping with her stress levels, regardless of how good she is at being both of those things.

So this is a tactic that will slow Leviathan down, but if he gets to keep moving for too long then it will immediately turn around and bite them on the ass. Dunno how good of an idea that is tbh.

Fucking automaton freak of a superhero, truly

Also does the wider world never find it alarming that the order goes "parahumans < Endbringers < Scion" because I feel like that would prompt questions about Goldilocks on the regular

New Wave is at 75% strength and the invincible Ward just got fucking vincibled. God that's rough.

Wooo! Nazi down! Yeahhh!

WOOOOOOO NAZI DOWN!

Hope the water slide chaps your legless ass on the way to Hell, Kaiser, you rancid fuck!

Also haha whoops I sure hope that dead armband isn't indicative of some kinda foul play

Well yeah, fuck, I guess it's a good thing she had those decoys after all

Credit where credit is due, if it was possible to actually kill an Endbringer, which I fucking doubt, this would probably be the best show of doing it.

According to Wikipedia, "hubris" describes a personality quality of extreme or excessive pride or dangerous overconfidence and complacency, often in combination with (or synonymous with) arrogance.

According to studies, hubris, arrogance, and pretension are related to the need for victory (even if it does not always mean winning) instead of reconciliation, which "friendly" groups might promote. Hubris is usually perceived as a characteristic of an individual rather than a group, although the group the offender belongs to may suffer collateral consequences from wrongful acts. Hubris often indicates a loss of contact with reality and an overestimation of one's own competence, accomplishments, or capabilities. The adjectival form of the noun hubris/hybris is hubristic/hybristic.

The term hubris originated in Ancient Greek, where it had several different meanings depending on the context. In legal usage, it meant assault or sexual crimes and theft of public property, and in religious usage it meant emulation of divinity or transgression against a god.

Hesiod and Aeschylus used the word "hubris" to describe transgressions against the gods. A common way that hubris was committed was when a mortal claimed to be better than a god in a particular skill or attribute. Claims like these were rarely left unpunished, and so Arachne, a talented young weaver, was transformed into a spider when she said that her skills exceeded those of the goddess Athena, even though her claim was true. Additional examples include Icarus, Phaethon, Salmoneus, Niobe, Cassiopeia, Tantalus, and Tereus.

These events were not limited to myth, and certain figures in history were considered to have been punished for committing hubris through their arrogance. One such person was king Xerxes as portrayed in Aeschylus's play The Persians, and who allegedly threw chains to bind the Hellespont sea as punishment for daring to destroy his fleet.

What is common in all of these examples is the breaching of limits, as the Greeks believed that the Fates (Μοῖραι) had assigned each being with a particular area of freedom, an area that even the gods could not breach

In its modern usage, hubris denotes overconfident pride combined with arrogance. Hubris is also referred to as "pride that blinds" because it often causes a committer of hubris to act in foolish ways that belie common sense.

Anyway I guess Armsmaster has to be called Armmaster now, s- oh, what's this?

Congratulations allwormdiet! You are the 4,000,000th Worm reader to make the "Armmaster joke!"

Oh boy what do I win

Nothing!

O-oh.

Tfw the teenager you deliberately attempted to sacrifice in order to get your moment of glory soloing the raid boss still tries to save your stupid ass

Fucking remarkable that Skitter is still contributing at all considering how hard she's been rocked through all of this

And she's gonna keep doing it, too.

Tfw the teenager you deliberately attempted to sacrifice in order to get your moment of glory soloing the raid boss is the only thing saving your life

Current Thoughts

Colin, Colin, Colin. We'll get into it more once the fight's over but you truly fumbled on this already rancid day. I hope like Hell this will finally get you to be a little humble.

So, some more bad losses in this chapter obviously, sad to see Aegis go for all he was kinda bland and I'm sure New Wave is going to feel their losses something fierce.

But hey, two more dead Nazi capes, so it's not all downsides!

[spiralinghours]

“Consequences”

Characters/Pairing: Mark Hoffman x fem reader

Rating: PG

Tags/Warnings: mild knife play; mild mask kink (the pig mask stays on); a little victim x kidnapper type dynamic

Summary: Reader is a trap victim, but some masked figure is testing her in an unexpected way.

Author’s Notes: Wow, another insert fic with yet again another plain and bad title. What else can we expect from me? Not much tbh. I’ve had a lot of creative blocks lately so I forced this out as a means to get the juices going again. It’s probably not good because of that. It’s also fluffy, cheap, indulgent, and corny, so if you really don’t fuck with that, don’t bother reading.

Thick, gloved fingers firmly palmed and planted on your thighs, a humid and tacky sensation from the leather texture intermingling against your silk fabric and skin. You were rousing to more consciousness from the touch, more clarity coming through on the situation.

Like some stereotypical damsel in a pulpy plot, you awoke in some undisclosed shadow—some storage crate or warehouse, it seemed like—in your nightgown and literally nothing else. Of course that was the type of thing to happen to you. Of fucking course.

Through some snowy static on the old TV in the corner, some eerily warped voice had informed you of your task and the point of your entire test. Apparently Jigsaw didn’t appreciate even the pettiest of theft, and you were found on his chopping block… Meant to exercise some endurance, some will, against touching and any other natural reactions. Poetic justice bullshit.

There was also the mention of not letting your heart rate get too high throughout the challenge. The monitor connected to your circulation-cutting restraints would be sure to keep accurate track.

While that all didn’t seem too difficult to roll with in a ten minute limitation, you were starting to develop doubts… Doubts regarding how the big hands resting gently—though with stern authority—on your legs were making you feel.

Whoever the figure was—wide, encased in layers of black materials, a stiff raincoat with the hood up, a pig mask draped with black hair—wasn’t moving, as if to avoid anything untoward. Their touch stayed in place, hesitant, waiting to see what you would do.

You did your best to still your heart and any quivering through your muscles, prompting the pig-faced person to remove their grasp. They started tugging the gloves off, finger by finger, until olive-toned skin was exposed, working its way back to you, cupping your hands this time.

The odd message from the TV hadn’t said anything about speaking, so surely it wasn’t against the rules to talk to the pig-person.

“Who are you?” you asked stupidly, knowing immediately they likely wouldn’t answer that. “Can you breathe under there? It’s hot in here. Aren’t you hot?”

An amused grunt rumbled from the individual, shifting in their wide chest with a noticeable rise. They momentarily repositioned again, unzipping the constrictive neck of the raincoat down to their chest, which you were surprised to see was bare: ruddy-tan skin accented with flecks of sweat, curls of dark chest hair, and a sizable pink scar slashed over one pec.

“You’re asking a lot of questions,” a sultry sort of voice curled out from under the mask. You were taken off guard by them speaking back. “And your hands. They’re so cold.”

“Circulation,” was all you could mumble, your brain-dead thoughts barely tumbling out sensibly.

You tried not to stare with too much fervor at the scar dipping between the pig’s hearty pecs. A beep from the heart rate monitor pinged, showing an indicator rising from a green to a yellow level.

“Something catch your attention?” the low voice asked. “Better be careful that doesn’t hit red.”

It wasn’t clear if the warning was playfully malicious or genuine. They had a taunting sort of tone to how they spoke.

“I, uh…” you scrambled, flailing your fingers in his big grasp. Their palms were so soft, reflective of the welcoming chub that dimpled around his knuckles.

“Careful,” they warned, snatching away. “Your touch betrays you, remember?”

Right. It was all a test.

“What’s—What’s going to happen to me?” you badgered, to no success.

“It is hot, you’re right,” they agreed with a put-on sigh, disregarding the inquiry. They lowered the hood, then worked at sliding the zipper from the crease under their chest down their bulky torso. Each movement seemed unexpectedly calculated, as if it was one whole burlesque.

It wasn’t helping your conflicted palpitations, so you shallowly sucked in grounding breaths.

Meanwhile, Pig Mask had roughly chucked his coat to the floor, leaving a white undershirt that embraced a sturdily-rounded physique with perspiration. That was next to go, however, as it tugged and crinkled up and over broad shoulders, joining the coat in a pile.

Sweat beads gathered along wisps of chest hair, delicate and crystalline, rolling down in long trickles across the expanse of bare skin. Whoever they were—he was—seemed softened to the touch, dewey skin adding to the plushness across his hips, chest, and back. You considered what your fingertips would feel like if you—

The yellow level had been bypassed, spiking to the lowest part of orange.

Pig Mask—somehow he kept breathing through it, despite shucking other layers—neared where you sat, a sort of swagger to his unrushed gait. You were delayed in noticing where he had produced a switchblade from, but it was now tipped to the underside of your chin. He lightly trailed it down the curve of your neck, to the tender hollow between your collarbones, then back to its original point.

“Nervous?” he asked from under the vacant face.

“No,” you immediately lied. Your response wouldn’t make a difference in your position regardless.

He pressed the blade tip harsher against you, not drawing blood, but just on the brink of doing so. You reactively flinched and swatted your hands around, as if to grab at him or the knife.

“Ah-ah, control yourself.” It was all some twisted joke, a laugh, for him. He craned down beside your face, pulling the mask up just enough with one hand to expose his rounded chin, his full lips. “Only a few more minutes,” he purred.

His behavior was hard to read—hard to decipher if he wanted to help you or wanted to savor your inevitable loss, whatever that would entail.

While you should have been focused more on how to win, how to inevitably escape, it was hard to disregard what a different, more heated part of you was noticing: the way the stranger’s lips curled up into a self-satisfied smirk, the way he shifted around with a swaying certainty… There was also the way perspiration was starting to gather and roll down from his hefty chest down the soft curve of his belly.

You bit your lip, trying weakly to hold back an instinctual hum at your observation. But he could see you, almost as if the gears turning in your head were that obvious. It warranted a gruff chuckle.

“You’re sweating,” he noted bluntly, dragging a couple of fingers along your neck, feeling the dewiness. “You weren’t sweating that much before.”

“I, uh—It, it ah—” Your eyes tracked in a panic between the monitor (solidly in the orange zone now) and the stranger, his hefty torso closing in in you, looming over. He dragged his fingers from your neck to your lips, damn well aware how he was pushing you.

Your heartbeat, meanwhile, was fluttering so arduously that it felt more like a metallic thud in your chest. You dared not look at the monitor again, feeling the red mocking you, feeling like this was going to be the breathy spiral that would do you in. It was true, your touch and your gaze—your impulsive want—was going to be the downfall…

“Look at that. Game over,” the syrup-thick voice mused close beside you.

You hadn’t taken notice to how tightly you had squeezed your eyes, waiting for death by some choke or some shock—anything. But apparently you were fine and intact, keeping just calm enough within the timeframe to survive. The digital timer had even given you the proof, showing flashing red digits set to 00:00.

Thick fingers began working at the cuffs that held you in place, presenting more ease than you had expected. It had further lulled your tense breaths and beating heart into a comfortable rhythm.

Expecting to just walk out like a mouse in a maze, booted to the street like nothing had occurred, you were taken aback by the way you were scooped up by the masked stranger. Your side pressed up warmly to his plump form as he started carrying you out princess-style. The cushion of his chest and stomach, along with his husky breathing from under the pig facade, wound you up into a flutter, though you felt guilty at the sensation.

“Where are we going?” you finally asked, breaking from your distraction.

“You won your test. Someone will want to see you about that. But in the meantime you should rest.”

A blush flourished over your cheeks. “Taking me back to your place or something?” you teased, testing the waters with a bit of flirting.

“Why? Would you like that?”

You didn’t quite answer, just worked the bottom flap of his mask back up over the lower part of his face and planted a small kiss to the padded angle of his jaw.

It was hard to tell in the dingy darkness, but you thought you glimpsed a perk of his lips.

[nalyra-dreaming]

Hello! Hope it’s okay to message. I saw your post about Marius and the paintings in the series/trailer but I’m dumb and don’t understand them. Can you explain them screenshots of when they’re in the trailer and series? Thank you so much

Hey!

Of course!

So in episode 2 we see Daniel in front of a painting.

Armand: "It's Venetian. A contemporary of Tintoretto's." Daniel: ""Marius de Romanus." Never heard of him." Armand: "Little of his work survives. Mr. de Pointe du Lac covets the rare."

Now. it's probably important to know here that Marius is Armand's maker, and he painted him quite a few times. (Armand also was an icon painter in his mortal life, in the book, we'll see how they'll spin it here, though the art in that one shot in the trailer is very interesting.)

Supposedly Armand thought Marius dead for long periods of time. However, given that we're in a mixed timeline, and that there are indisputable elements of the last trilogy in the show (Fareed, for example.) I believe that we are looking at the show's version of "Trinity Gate". And in the Trinity Gate era Armand was more than aware that Marius was indeed not dead. In fact there had been reconciliation. For me the painting on the wall of that apartment indicates that a certain reconciliation between must have happened already. I cannot see Armand look at his maker's painting when he still harbors the negative feelings he must have felt after it all came down.

In the trailer we see this guy, played by Justin Kirk, who I think will be/is Marius. He says: "You should fear the other one."

And right afterwards there is a shot of Louis hurling his glass with blood at a painting.

However, that is not the painting by Marius (that would be behind Louis there). This is "Rembrandt's "The Storm on the Sea of Galilee" (something which Assad Zaman cheekily posted ages ago^^).

Here you probably need to know that after the "chase" of the Devil's Minion arc (so when Armand hunted Daniel across the globe and eventually fell in love with him) there was a phase, where they hunted down art thieves. And kept the art.

That is stolen art from Daniel's and Armand's time together on the wall.

Edit: @cbrownjc pointed out that the timeframe of the theft doesn’t match the likely DM timeframe. So the painting might be from after DM! (But still stolen art^^)

And Louis throws blood at it in obvious frustration.

In the story referenced through the painting Christ calms the storm after his disciples panic, and he admonishes them: "Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?"

Given that (I'll just call him that until proven otherwise) Marius just talked about who Daniel needs to fear in the previous scene? Definitely not a coincidence :)

I also do not think the "presence" of Marius behind Louis on the wall there is any coincidence. (But it cannot be seen, and that is definitely no coincidence either, imho.)

Marius has been foreshadowed, and quite heavily, imho. He is also necessary for both Armand's and Lestat's backstories.

It's... too early I think to fully analyze what it means. It could mean Daniel has fully remembered and he and Armand are in their own little bubble (after all Louis seems to be alone there). We'll see.

Last but not least:

This - there's paintings.

Has Armand started to paint again? Has he shown Louis his paintings? Does he make himself vulnerable there for Louis, and Louis... accepts the invitation? Bites him there? Turns him to kiss him?

I would actually love that.

Because that would be a huge step for Armand. Huge. Cannot be overstated. Because Armand, too, carries lots of trauma. (They all do.)

[rambles-of-mental-illness]

What diagnostic critera was used to get the ASPD diagnosis. DSM 5 (American) or ICD 11 (European) and what do you think of both of them?

The DSM-5 criteria for Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD) require a pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others, occurring since age 15, as indicated by at least three of the following:

Failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviors (repeatedly engaging in illegal acts)

Deceitfulness (repeated lying, using aliases, or conning others for personal gain or pleasure)

Impulsivity or failure to plan ahead

Irritability and aggressiveness (repeated physical fights or assaults)

Reckless disregard for the safety of self or others

Consistent irresponsibility (failure to sustain consistent work behavior or honor financial obligations)

Lack of remorse (being indifferent to or rationalizing hurting, mistreating, or stealing from others)

The individual must be at least 18 years old.

Evidence of Conduct Disorder before age 15, with symptoms like aggression to people or animals, destruction of property, deceitfulness, theft, or serious violations of rules.

The occurrence of antisocial behavior is not exclusively during schizophrenia or bipolar disorder episodes.

The ICD-11 (European) equivalent is Dissocial Personality Disorder, which is similar but emphasizes callousness, irresponsibility, and persistent disregard for social norms and obligations rather than specific behavioral criteria.

The term "Dissocial Personality Disorder" is used in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) manual produced by the World Health Organization (WHO), while "Antisocial Personality Disorder" is the term used in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) by the American Psychiatric Association.

I do not like the American diagnosis 👍

(Though I do prefer the name Antisocial Personality Disorder over Dissocial Personality Disorder. DPD makes me think of Dependent Personality Disorder, which is a completely different thing)

The DSM-5 criteria sucks ass. Just. Plain and simple it does. They focus way too much on criminal behavior rather than actual personality traits. It ends up diagnosing behavioral issues rather than the disorder itself, which is why so many people get misdiagnosed just for having conduct problems, and why some prisons will diagnose you with ASPD just for being convicted, which floods the data with false statistics.

The ICD-11 criteria are a little better because they focus more on core traits like callousness, lack of empathy, and disregard for social norms rather than just checking off whether someone has committed crimes. This makes it more accurate for diagnosing functional antisocial people—the ones who don’t necessarily break laws but still fit the disorder.

Neither are perfect, but I do like the ICD-11 more. A lot more. I still don't like the European name though 😭

[musicalhell]

Persephone's Gambit Extra: Fun With Phony Mediums and Tarot (Mis)Interpretations

I had a lot of fun writing this last chapter, because I got to introduce another major OC (and a fun minor one), set up an arc that will have some fun payoff, and play around with Tarot in the narrative itself. So let's talk about the Montclair's seance!

Madame Volpina

This was something of an unexpected character--she was originally meant to be a one-off mention from Raoul's sister Elaine, who I figured would be into spiritualism the way modern bored housewives get into essential oils. (The name "Volpina," from the Latin and Italian for "fox," indicated that the medium in question was pulling a fast one on her.) But I needed a social function to introduce Eugenie and her family, and a seance provided many more possibilities for atmosphere and side commentary than a dance or dinner, and so I pulled her into the story.

Two characters had a strong influence on how Mme. Volpina finally appeared. The first was Oda Mae Brown, the (initially) phony psychic in Ghost who becomes an unwilling ally to the protagonist after discovering she really can hear the dead:

The other, and more direct, influence was Youree Dell Harris, aka "Miss Cleo." The spokeswoman for the Psychic Readers Network, Miss Cleo's scarf-wrapped head and "Jamaican" accent (Harris was really from Los Angeles) were staples of late-night cable commercials in the late 90s and early 2000's:

Psychic Readers Network would eventually be charged by the FCC for false advertising and other shenanigans. Harris herself was never indited (indeed, she saw little if any of the PRN's profits), but her visibility as the face of the company and the revelation that this "Jamaican shaman" was really an actress from California made her the brunt of public ridicule. She would go on to do various other projects (Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, where she voices Auntie Poulet, is probably the most widely known), but any attempts to revive Miss Cleo were hit by legal action from PRN, who claimed "ownership" of the character. (Yeah, dick move.) Harris' strange, complex journey came to an end in 2016, when she passed from colorectal cancer.

The Tarot Readings

For this chapter, I really wanted to do something where the cards are interpreted one way, but have other implications which may be more appropriate to the circumstances. (This is not to say the initial reading is "wrong" as Tarot is more art and intuition than science, but that the characters are being told what they want to hear more than what they need to hear.) Twice during the chapter, a card falls in reverse before being turned upright. Many Tarot readers don't do reversals for various reasons; this was just my way of indicating that the negative aspects of the card are more likely to be in play. (This is why I used my Phantomwise Tarot by Erin Morgenstern for the images--no relation; it's more linked to Alice in Wonderland and Morgenstern's The Night Circus--because she explains that she only does upright readings.)

Court cards feature pretty heavily in this chapter. In Tarot, the court is often taken to mean people--either the querent themself or someone in their life. The Queen of Cups appears in Elaine's reading, and Mme. Volpina correctly defines this as someone who is compassionate and generous of heart. But the card falls in reverse, indicating the Queen's darker side is at play: insecurity, neediness, and martyrdom. Elaine wants everyone to think she has a perfect family she's utterly devoted to, but is that true? Is she really happy, or is she pretending she is because she's been told that she should be happy in the life and role she's accepted?

The High Priestess is the Major Arcana associated with intuition, the subconscious, the search for knowledge, and the balance of duality. It can mean "go with your gut" but can also be a call to probe beyond the surface. Again, there's probably a lot of things in Elaine's life that she's ignoring or repressing which she really shouldn't.

Finally, the Six of Swords is interpreted by Mme. Volpina as indicating "travel," which is one possibility. But it also indicates change and transition, especially leaving behind a bad or painful situation for the prospect of something better. It's an indicator that in order for Elaine--and her daughters--to grow, things can't stay as they are.

Then there's Eugenie's reading, where Mme. Volpina is clearly playing to her hosts' wishes:

After Death, The Lovers may be the most misconstrued card in the deck. It can indicate romantic love, but more broadly refers to all manner of partnerships, and also carried connotations of choice and commitment. Perhaps Eugenie is being told that she needs to hold firm in what her heart wants. Perhaps it's telling her that she needs someone--maybe someone at the table--who can work as her ally...

The suit of Coins/Pentacles is associated with the material--not just wealth and possessions, but also one's labors, projects, and employment. The Knight of Coins, therefore, could be taken to mean "a wealthy young man" but on a broader level indicates who is patient, persistent, and sees things through to the end. Is this the person Eugenie has her heart set on, or is it a call for the person she needs to be?

The King of Coins indicates someone who is stable, enterprising, and likely successful in their business endeavors--a reasonably accurate description of Eugenie's parents. But again, this card initially falls in reverse. The negative aspects of the King of Coins are rigidity, ruthlessness, and an obsession with obtaining wealth and status...exactly the sort of person who might pressure their child into a match with a young nobleman.

[icelordofwinter]

WARNING THIS HAS SPOILERS FOR MONKIE KID SEASON 5

So since we have the new villain who is definitely Impiled to have a lot of importance to the story which is the nine headed beast

I decided to check abit about him to see if there is any info of him and in fact there is he was a villain of journey to the west and here is what we have

this is copy and pasted from the jttw wiki it says and I qoute

“ The Nine-Headed Beast also known as the Nine-Headed Prince Consort is married to Wansheng Dragon King's daughter. He is armed with a Crescent Moon Spade He collaborates with his father-in-law to steal the Śarīra from Golden Ray Monastery. Sun Wukong enlists the help of celestial forces to deal with the demons. The Nine-Headed Beast has one of his heads bitten off by Erlang Shen's celestial hound but manages to escape”

and for more info on the wansheng dragon king and the nine headed beasts wife is this

“The Wansheng Dragon King is based in Emerald Waves Lake Rocky Mountain Kingdom of Jisai He marries his daughter, Wansheng Princess, to the Nine-Headed Beast. He plots with his son-in-law to steal a Śarīra from the pagoda in Golden Ray Monastery in Jisai and release a rain of blood in the kingdom. Without the Śarīra, the pagoda loses its magical shine, and the king perceives the blood rain as an ill omen. He believes that the monks in the monastery are responsible for stealing the Śarīra and starts persecuting them. Sun Wukong uncovers the truth when he and his companions arrive in Jisai. The dragon king and his family are eventually killed by Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie. The Śarīra is returned to the pagoda”

“The Wansheng Princess is Wansheng Dragon King's daughter and the Nine-Headed Beast's wife. She stole the Nine Leaves Lingzhi Herb from the Queen Mother of the West. She is slain by Zhu Bajie”

he also seems to have two servants

“Benbo'erba and Babo'erben are two minions of the Nine-Headed Beast. Their respective forms are a sheatfish and a blackfish respectively. They stay at the top of the pagoda in Golden Ray Monastery after the Śarīra is stolen. Sun Wukong discovers them while cleaning the pagoda and captures them. He learns about the theft of the Śarīra from them”

so that’s what is seen so far he is practically a prince as he had married to royalty and his wife is practically dead- along with his father in law and such him being a prince does fit though due to his appearance and what his body language indicates

I hope in the English dub or sub we get info of him and we seen him more he is a really interesting character

(also side note is it just me or why would it feel like the character double trouble from she ra would fit for a English Va )