Thinking tonight about Caelus, and the nature of his loss and his grief after the Everything that went down in Penacony during 2.0.
Because Acheron, Black Swan, and Misha kind of knew of Firefly, they at least met her, but they didn't like really know her, and Caelus never even got the chance to introduce her to the rest of the Astral Express Crew. The only person who would have talked to her much was Sparkle, who is. Probably not really someone Caelus is interested in grieving with skznmsks
Anyway, all this to say, I like thinking about how alone poor Caelus is in his grief, because he was the only one who knew Firefly. He's the only one really mourning her. There's no one to talk about her with. There's no stories to trade or memories to reminisce with anyone over. It's not as though he knew her for long, but still. No one else knew her at all.
And I love the thought of all of this coming bubbling up, hot and acidic and bitter, during a conversation with Sampo, who Caelus just so happens to run into in the Golden Hour. Poor Sampo is kinda blindsided, he knew shit was going down in Penacony, but yeesh. And he just. Isn't quite sure what to say about it all, because he's never really encountered this before. His feelings about the Masked Fools are...a mixed bag, but he's been a part of them for a very long time, and when you're with a close organization like that, it's hard to feel alone, in grief or otherwise.
So Sampo sits there on their little bench that the two of them have occupied, and he thinks of his old friend April, how she'd died in his arms cackling and spitting her own blood after a heist gone wrong, and how after he'd dragged himself back to the World's End Tavern they'd all held a Fool's Funeral- which is basically just a big party where everyone gets really really drunk and reminisces and toasts the dead and celebrates their life.
He still thinks about her a lot, and he remembers how the time he'd most keenly felt her absence was on Jarilo-VI, the one place where he couldn't talk about her because he couldn't say anything to give himself away as an alien. The Fools still tell stories about her every time he goes back to the Tavern. His first toast of the night is always in her name. Even now, all these years after she'd died, Sampo is still learning new things about her. He's never had to grieve her alone.
Caelus doesn't have any of that.
He might never have that. As they speak, Caelus has no proof that Firefly was even her real name, or if she dreamt with her true appearance. He might not ever find out who she even was.
And just imagining that kind of loneliness hollows out a strange little pit, right behind his sternum, deep between his ribs.
So Sampo claps Caelus' shoulder and offers him a deal. Come find him outside of the dream. He knows a guy who can get them a lot of beer for really cheap-
("Is that guy you and your five finger discounts?" "Whatever do you mean, dear friend, I don't even know the meaning of the phrase, hehee.")
-and they can hole up in a bar or a hotel room or something, and get completely shitcanned. Tell him all about Firefly, tell him everything, and he'll tell Caelus about April and everyone else he's ever lost. Sampo will carry Caelus' memories of Firefly with him, and at least this way, Caelus will be a little less alone in remembering her. And the next time they cross paths, Sampo will be the one to bring her up, and to tell her stories, and Caelus can get to be the one listening. He won't have to be the only person to talk about her anymore.
Caelus rolls his eyes when Sampo avoids another remark about sticky fingers, but...ok, yeah. That sounds good. Nice, even. Thank you. Caelus bumps his shoulder against Sampo's. Sampo bumps back.
(They find each other again the next day, and true to their word, get themselves completely and utterly shitcanned. Caelus talks more than Sampo has ever heard him; every minute detail, every word choice, Firefly's every odd little mannerism and habit. Because Caelus wants to make sure this will outlive him, that even if the Stellaron dwelling within him finally burns him to a crisp and he really does up and kick the bucket, or even, godforbid, if he forgets, he wants to make sure someone remembers her. She deserved that.)
((And it takes quite a while, after that. Caelus doesn't see Sampo again until after everything has settled down. On his last day in Penacony, he finds the guy slinking out of a seedy back alley and all but runs right into him. Sampo happily leads him to some dive bar in an even seedier back alley that Caelus has never even heard of, and Sampo raises his glass. "To Firefly! Who sounds like she probably would have hated me at first, but I would have liked to have met her anyway."
And Caelus stares at him, almost looking startled, long enough that Sampo worries that he's read him wrong and brought this up too soon. He's halfway into planning how to talk himself out of this situation when Caelus finally throws back his head back and laughs, tells him that yeah, Firefly would have politely called him out on every lie he told, and all their conversations would take twice as long with the way Sampo is so full of shit.
And he can see it, the same way he watches and sees through everyone, that Caelus' eyes have a tightness to them, his knuckles are nearly white around the handle of his mug. But he smiles. He hits his glass against Sampo's far too hard and throws it back and gets foam everywhere like he does every time they drink because the guy's about as elegant as a raging bull, but those things don't lessen the genuineness of his smile.
The grief is there, but so is the elation, and those emotions aren't a sliding scale between one or the other. It is all of both and both at once, and that's what contents Sampo enough to throw his own mug back when Caelus makes a toast of his own, "to April!!".))
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hey!! what happened? were people hating on you bc you supported Joe? that's so wrong, I'm so sorry that happened to you :// istg this fandom really annoys me at times.. especially since they're defending her even though Joe spoke up about palestine (it's not like travis is The Great Boyfriend/Person they all think he is😭)
hi! 🤍
so here's what happened: i reblogged some posts about joe supporting palestine, then all of a sudden a lot of my mutuals unfollowed me (so i'm guessing that was the reason). apparently when you're a swiftie you are obligated to hate joe, there's no other way. i got mad, i took a little break from tumblr (mostly because everybody on my dash either hates joe & calls him joebless or talks about travis being the most incredible man ever), but i am back, i unfollowed 100+ people because i don't want to see travis on my dash, i don't want to discuss taylor's personal life 24/7, i don't want to keep shitting on joe knowing only one side of the story & i want to criticize taylor when she deserves to be criticized. i swear to god, this is the most toxic fandom i've ever been in. just like you, i don't agree with travis being the most excellent boyfriend ever & i'm tired of seeing his face on my dash. i'm staying away from the fandom at the moment because none of this is exciting anymore & i guess i cannot call myself a real swiftie because i mostly care about the music & not her new perfect relationship that's very personal & not at all public.
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what all of you people who haven't romanced Lae'zel don't get is that romanced Lae'zel is obsessed with Tav. she gets ahold of their body just one time and cannot stop thinking about them. the first time you go from 'casual sex' to 'committed relationship' is when she challenges Tav to a duel, because that's how she was trained to show compatibility, except that for me after she got just one lick in she immediately stopped and said no I can't do this, I can't hurt you, I don't want anything bad to happen to you ever, and isn't that strange for someone trained to be a weapon in a society that only prizes how good you are at killing??
she gives you a series of petnames over the course of the relationship, from 'source of my bruises' (/affectionate) to 'object of my obsession' to 'my everything'. in her last romance cutscene (that I've seen, at least) she takes Tav to watch the sun rise over the city and tells them how beautiful she thinks it is, and how before Tav she never thought to look for beauty in the world
and also, when I was looking up the romance options for this game, basically everything I saw assured me that you can really only do one romance 'path' but if you want to sleep with Halsin certain partners will be OK with that, including Lae'zel. I didn't get Halsin's offer until fairly late, and went to ask Lae'zel how she felt about polyamory; she immediately clocked that I meant Halsin, agreed with me about hot he is... and then said no. gave me a possessive 'you're mine and if you want to sleep around I'm breaking it off'. which, like, I'm a bit disappointed by but also something about her being so possessive of Tav that she doesn't want anyone else to touch them, even when the internet was under the impression that she 'doesn't care'? it's so endearing to me. she cares SO MUCH
do you see what I'm saying here? Lae'zel is OBSESSED with Tav
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