Reading (listening to, as Homer intended) the Iliad making me go oh. Ohhh. I should have done this before I read Gideon the Ninth. I get it now.
Particularly thinking now about the tidbit that in early drafts, our beloved gray-eyed Necromancer Warden of the Sixth House was named Diomedes Sextus. For Diomedes, king of Argos, young, brave, noble, heroic. Favorite fighter of Athena, bestest friend of Odysseus. And, notably, fought gods and—well he didn’t win exactly. But he got them good.
And specifically, he fought and wounded Aphrodite; Aphrodite, who is also called Cytherea.
And then of course Tamsyn Muir said she decided to change his name so she could make the Sex Pal joke.
Palamedes is a less heroic, less fondly remembered character in the Trojan War, but according to Plato, he unrelatedly invented both number and the alphabet, so you keep that connection to scholarship even if that’s not the first association with him. More interestingly, imo, there’s also an Arthurian Knight of the Round Table named Palamedes, best known for his unrequited love for Isolde (and his apparent ultimately gracious acceptance of her choosing Tristan).
I think this is actually a super interesting shift in thematic naming focus: from favored-of-Athena, fought-gods-and-wounded-them to unrequited heterosexual love, but didn’t act like a dick about it.
Also y’know. Sex Pal
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Stillborn danyal al ghul au incorrect quotes - dpxdc au
Vlad and Danny, fighting for the nth time this month:
Danyal, exhausted: hey if i call you dad will you like. Stop. I have a test tomorrow.
Vlad, has a parental bone in EVERY part of his body: *immediately stopping*
Vlad: What do you mEAN YOU HAVE A TEST. WHY DIDN'T YOU LEAD WITH THAT--
Danny: BECAUSE YOU'RE TRYING TO KILL DR. FENTON AGAIN, VLADIMIR.
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Danny, flopping into bed facefirst: i need sleep or rehab. again
Tucker (maybe?? I haven't decided yet who he's friends with): i thought you were clean
Danny, into a pillow: not if this keeps up.
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Tucker: favorite superhero go
Sam: Wonder Woman
Danny: the Flash
Tucker: Okay Sam's is obvious but, Danny I would've thought you'd say like, Martian Manhunter or Superman or Starfire. But Flash??
Danny: i had a foster in Central City for a few years and met him, he's a really nice guy. He made me promise to invite him to my high school graduation and is part of the reason I made it to rehab and ended up getting rehomed and picked up by the Fentons.
Danny: I have a hoodie with his logo on it in my closet, i saved up to buy it and its the first thing I got with the allowance the Fentons got me
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Danny wearing three layers and a scarf in the middle of summer: *shivering*
Sam: how are you cold you're literally made of lava
Danny, hissing: lava cools at contact with the air and I'm trying to keep my body temperature at a reasonable level, SAM.
Tucker, touching Danny: you feel warm to me
Danny: to YOU
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Danny:...i could eat lava
Tucker:
Sam:
Danny:
Tucker: do it. no balls
Danny, getting up: bET--
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Danny:
Dash:
The Both Of Them: *under the bleachers to smoke/vape*
Danny, smokes: I wont tell if you won't tell
Dash, vapes: ....deal
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Danny, breaking into Vlad's lab: YOU FUCKER QUIT-- what the hell is that
Vlad, working on his newest invention: Language. ....And it's something I'm working on, go away
Danny: what? no, fuck you. You're trying to kill Jack again and this looks interesting. I was gonna come beat you but now I'm curious what the hell this is
(Vlad spends a good hour explaining what he's doing before they start arguing and Danny starts a fight)
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Danny laying on the ground staring the ceiling, feeling like shit:
Jazz, popping by his room: ,,,what'cha doing, Danny?
Danny:
Danny, internally: 'Jazz says i should be more open'
Danny: considering the benefits of relapsing
Jazz, immediately stepping into the room: oh okay so lets talk.
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Danny, meeting Robin as Phantom for the first time unaware of his identity and his own birthright:
Robin:
Phantom:
Phantom: fuck you
Robin, a 12 year old: fUCK YOU
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Vlad: Jack Fenton iced me out of my early adulthood and got you, his foster son, killed by his own invention. He is a danger to society and I personally want him dead.
Danny: okay, cool motive still murder.
Danny, louder: I DONT NEED YOU TO TAKE REVENGE ON MY BEHALF
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Vlad, grabbing Danny's shoulders: aren't you tired of being nice
Danny:
Vlad: don't you want to go apeshit
Danny, in the american foster system since infancy, was in rehab at 11 years old, has been fucked over metaphorically, emotionally, physically, ten times over:
Danny: i feel like we need to have a talk
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DP/Regular DPDC Vlad: *gripping by the shoulders*
DPDC Vlad: how
Stillborn Vlad: what
DP/DC Vlad: how are you getting him to like you.
Stillborn Vlad:,,, well first off i don't torture him so jot that down
Stillborn Vlad: second of all, like is a strong word.
Stillborn Vlad: Daniel only likes me on tuesdays and when i show him how to make fireballs
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hot take ??
the only reason people say that "mafuyu and tsukasa have nothing in common" when presented with mafukasa parallels is because they equate mafuyu and tsukasa being similar to "tsukasa has depression" because the fandom equates mafuyu's personality to being depressed and nothing else.
it doesn't help that people (primarily younger people in the fandom) who DO believe in mafukasa parallels end up making the mistake of portraying tsukasa as depressed because as of right now he is not (although it's possible he was in past because of his Very Unclear Middle School Backstory but that's irrelevant)
anyways, mafuyu and tsukasa are narrative foils because their core personalities are built off of the concept of wanting to make the people around them— especially their families— happy.
they both developed personalities at a young age based on someone they looked up to. for tsukasa, it was seiichi amami's performance that inspired him to be a star— a hero that could cheer anyone up. for mafuyu, it was her mother taking care of her that inspired her to be a nurse— and you can see the similarities from there.
for mafuyu, her identity would first come into conflict when her mother expressed her want for mafuyu to be a doctor— suddenly, "everyone's" happiness didn't match what she wanted to do, leaving her in a state of disorder and eventual depression.
for tsukasa, his identity was something he nearly forgot in its entirety at the start of the main story— becoming arrogant and fully absorbed in a hero persona, forgetting the kind person he truly is. furthermore, his current character arc seems to be foreshadowing that what "being a star" to him is going to be called into question— maybe it is something more than just being the main character that saves everyone.
their insecurities are incredibly similar.
in mafuyu's first mixed, mafuyu feels insecure towards ichika because unlike ichika, she feels as if her lyrics have no genuine meaning to be expressed to other people— despite them being her very real feelings. this is brought up again in her second mixed as well.
in tsukasa's third focus event, something similar happens. when watching seiichi's performance, he thinks that his acting is "real" and feels inferior towards him, which is ironic because tsukasa has been method acting this whole time. when tsukasa is acting out rio or bartlett or really anyone at this point in the story, it's not just those characters— it's a reflection of his traumas.
just like mafuyu, tsukasa undermines his passions he's poured his feelings into because someone else's work is more genuine in his eyes.
now, then, foils have many similarities and parallels (and i could honestly list a lot more), but how i define them is that they usually have some kind of major branching difference that MAKES them foils.
for mafuyu and tsukasa it's pretty straightforward.
mafuyu's people pleasing behavior comes from external expectations and pressures— her mother's demands.
tsukasa's people pleasing behavior comes internally, from himself— if he can't meet his own standards, if he can't be the perfect big brother or the perfect star, then he is nothing.
and even then, there's some overlap.
tsukasa's behavior was indirectly encouraged by his mother praising him for being a "good big brother" over the phone instead of asking him if he was okay while home alone.
mafuyu's terrified to be herself around other people because she doesn't want to worry or bother them— she doesn't want to be a burden— and projects her mother's expectations onto them, not realizing that they would prefer the real mafuyu if they knew the truth.
and the concept of mafukasa being foils is most perfectly and blatantly portrayed in these two cards.
mafuyu, the marionette, sitting limp on the floor— puppeteered by her mother's demands and donning a mask to hide her true self.
tsukasa, the jester, standing above everything else— puppeteering silenced plushies— his feelings. he's not being completely honest with himself, and he doesn't even realize it.
mafuyu has cut her strings and ripped her mask in half. she has acknowledged her true feelings and expressed them to her mother, even if she had to run away in the end.
tsukasa has not yet cut his.
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