I have something that my brain is like "Hey, this is an Ask!" So let's do this!
Did Greygold ever encounter Ansur? How would they respond to him making his very (very) messy breakup their problem? Especially with most of the pre-fight being Ansur and Emps using the inside of their head to bicker like an old (very bitterly divorced) married couple.
Hell yeah they did! Had this Ansur of a question (hweh) pre-prepared~
And bonus:
Greygold had one million questions for the Emperor.
I am once again reiterating that Leo could and should be a figure skater because what are ice skates if not twin blades? What is dual blade swordsmanship if not a dance-like performance? Using the skates as blades themselves could let Leo make portals be his ice rink no? I rest my case. ⛸️
Leafy Seadragon: The name is derived from their appearance, with long leaf-like protrusions coming from all over the body that serve only as camouflage. The leafy seadragon propels itself utilizing a pectoral fin on the ridge of its neck and a dorsal fin on its back closer to the tail end. These small fins are almost completely transparent and difficult to see as they undulate minutely to move the creature sedately through the water, completing the illusion of floating seaweed. Popularly known as "leafies", they are the marine emblem of the state of South Australia and a focus for local marine conservation.
The earlier Grue post has reminded me of an observation I had a while ago but never got around to hammering out- basically no superheroes actually featured in a parahumans story maintain a secret identity in the classic bifurcated sense. There's anonymity, sure, and as seen in the Dauntless interlude there are cover stories that their neighbors hear about their day job, but with the exception of pointed edge cases like Alexandria and Brandish, the professionalization of heroism is near total. None of these people are juggling a day job. Examples of the classic dual identity situation are actually slightly more common among the villains- Purity has a day job as an interior decorator, and Kaiser and Coil are in charge of their respective companies- but of course all of those are kinda "set-your-own-hours" kinds of situations. Kaiser's got people and Coil's literally got a power custom made to grease the wheels on two-timing in that way. The majority are full-time gangsters or mercenaries. Taylor's pre-Leviathan juggling of school and supervillainy is actually the main example of anyone trying to do it and the course that ultimately takes is instructional as to why she's the only one. Taylor mentions that people joke about her iterant teacher Mr. Quinlan secretly being a cape, but a lot of the book is spent quietly putting the torch to the idea that that kind of balance is tenable. Like at a minimum people would notice that you're running off all the time, there's a whole shell-game played with pulling random kids out of class at Arcadia to obfuscate which ones are actually the superheroes.
jjust. the way jack starts out completely untethered except to her Singular Purpose, her Will to Power, the way she’s literally larger than life, she’s not even an idealist she’s an ideal. and the way lou is so situated, so located, so bound to and within her family structure. how both of their interactions w drugs feed their anger but lou weans herself off nicotine and grows more frantic and fragile and human, while jack pumps herself full of steroids and grows more decisive and single-minded and capital m barbara creed Monstrous. and then those roles are reversed at critical moments. and then gently fantastically reversed back at the Most critical moment. the way that “i wish i never met you” doesn’t sting but feels heavy…. and then jack is strong enough to carry it. there’s all these little moments of severance throughout the film where they’re trying to save each other from the fact that they got enmeshed so quickly, trying to believe that there’s only room for one of them, jack the hero or lou who serves her or jack who saved her or lou who’d give everything for her or jack who doesn’t need so much as she desires. please watch love lies bleeding i think it altered my brain chemistry. dave franco gets the entire lower half of his face smashed in
gojo constantly tells you he'd die for you. at the start of your relationship, you would kind of roll your eyes at the comment. he's so dramatic, you'd think to yourself, though you'd appreciate the sentiment nonetheless. but as time went on, and as your relationship blossomed, you began to feel a pang in your heart every time he said it.
an ache so deep in your spirit, that you could cry whenever he'd go on a mission. because you knew, that while he was fighting for a better society, for the eradication of curses and corruption, there was a large part of him that was fighting solely for you. for your safety. and if that meant he had to die for that to happen, so be it.
i don't want you to die for me. words you never thought you'd have to say to the love of your life. you want to spend the rest of your life with this man. why must he insist on showing his love in death?
he'd always give you a little smile when you'd say that, because he knows tears will be following soon after.
i know. there wasn't much more to be said after that. just a mutual understanding that a devastating heartbreak is lingering somewhere down the line, inevitable. he just hopes that in his next life, he gets to spend more time with you.