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#like he is probably the most selfless to endure everything
alexiethymia · 3 months
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Hazbin Hotel Ep 5
Ok wow Ep 5 (and 6) was such a ride.
It's so fun to dissect Alastor since he's pretty much the only one who's character is hard to pin right now.
I can easily believe that Lilith is the one he has a contract with (hence the on a leash comment). I can believe that he might or might not be there because of Lilith (either he's obeying Lilith or he's getting close to Charlie because that in some way will help him get rid of his leash). I can also believe that he is intentionally pissing Lucifer off.
BUT
The thing is, even with all of this, I really thought that the Alastor we would see was the same Alastor we saw who handled Vox with so much class. Someone did a mini analysis about their face off. Alastor was completely unbothered and in control of the whole situation. He didn't bother interrupting Vox and the whole encounter with Vox losing his top and Alastor keeping his cool definitely showed that Alastor won that round.
But with Lucifer, it's different. Lucifer is pathetic and desperate. It would be so easy for Alastor to rile him up while still being calm, but there's none of that here. Where's the manipulative persona? Rather, it even seems like Lucifer brought Alastor down to his level of pettiness.
There's visceral rage right from the beginning when he sees the welcome banner, and the uncontrollable twitching of the eye when he sees Lucifer hug Charlie. The funny thing is Alastor is the first one to react to Lucifer while Lucifer is completely focused on his daughter. Twice we saw this petty eye twitching - when he was annoyed with the Egg Bois and when Carmilla could care less about where he disappeared to. So we know Alastor is capable of it. He's not as high and above everyone as he thinks he is.
Lucifer's lame comeback was enough to get him to swear?? It was such a whiplash from what was established about Alastor so far. But for him to show his annoyance at Lucifer in such an obvious way, shows that there's something about Lucifer that just pisses him off, enough to slip his usual control.
Same with his final encounter with Mimzy. They're established as good friends, but the hotel is a red line. He's not all lofty like in the past episodes when Mimzy confronts him about whether or not he actually cares about the hotel. We as the audience are supposed to be sure that he doesn't, but I was expecting at least a smirk or his usual pleasantness and I-know-something-you-don't attitude. But he was as serious as he ever has been when he gives Mimzy an ultimatum. And the thing is, it's not a show he puts on to get on Charlie's good side or to piss Lucifer off since neither of them see it.
Again, I could easily interpret the entire sequence between Lucifer and Alastor as Alastor still being on top, and willfully manipulating and using Charlie just so he can have one over Lucifer if not for those two things. His uncontrolled reactions - swearing at Lucifer and the uncontrollable eye twitching when Lucifer and Charlie hug - because what benefit even does that get him??
So maybe he is taking this step-dad thing seriously because Lilith and him are involved somehow (which, yikes in so many ways), maybe he hates Lucifer for a separate reason unrelated to Charlie and/or Lilith or his hatred of Lucifer has everything to do with Charlie (even if it started with a deal with Lilith initially) and Charlie (as well as the hotel) are starting to have more of an influence on him than he expects.
Either way, it was awesome and this was exactly the found family chaos I was hoping for and I sure am glad to get it.
#hazbin hotel#alastor#charlie morningstar#lucifer morningstar#like ep 5 and 6 were both great for found family feels#the fact that Alastor near says it verbatim in the song and shows their f'd up li'l hotel family#(except Sir Pentious) no I correct myself Sir Pentious was in the kid-friendly drawing!#but no nifty so I guess height? or because she appeared in the song already. but the drawing itself is funny though it's so pg haha#ep 6 was so great#I am so so proud of Angel Dust#how he always gets the courage to fight against Val when he's fighting for his friends#first Charlie then Nifty#like he is probably the most selfless to endure everything#as long as none of his friends are hurt#and perhaps it's saying something that he's protective over the girls#because he remembers molly#it's even in the little things like watching out for nifty's drink#or wanting to actually commit on going on the straight and narrow#husk being proud of angle dust#the grayness of morality#I'm glad we got emily#and that charlie isn't just a naive optimist#it's what makes her so admirable#AND THE FORESHADOWING WITH VAGGIE#I am late to the party#I didn't realize about the pilot outfit#BUT AGAIN duh it would make sense even in the pilot people were wondering why vaggie would be in hell#but I mean even that throwawayline in ep 4 about vaggie learning to trust through military drills which didn't make sense#from her earth background but we know now is because she was an exorcist#and even the obvious and not obvious origin of her name
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theriveroflight · 9 months
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Very slowly turns towards you. For the shipping requests… Laymitri and number 88 (I’m thinking at the end of UF, before Dimitri gets taken to jail). Turns away and disappears.
88. Hurry to the airport/train station before the other leaves town forever
"Wait!"
Dimitri turns to see Hershel rushing up to him and his police escorts. He's no longer wearing his hat. Dimitri's not sure if he's ever seen that. It strikes him for more than just how unusual it is.
"Allow me to speak with the suspect, please?" Hershel asks. "I assure you I have no intentions of allowing him to escape."
The officers look at each other, probably assessing if they're permitted to do such a thing. Dimitri hopes they won't, just so he won't have to endure this conversation. He can't imagine it would be particularly pleasant to have a conversation with Hershel like this, and he doesn't want one of his last experiences as a free man to be something that digs up everything inside him and exposes it.
But they leave, retreating to just a few meters away -- out of earshot, especially with the chaos around them, but within view to remind Dimitri that this is not an opportunity.
Not that he would take it if it were.
"So she's gone, I take it?" Dimitri asks.
"For good this time," Hershel answers, looking down at the hat in his hands. "In some ways...it's best that she's gone. I wouldn't know what to do if she had stayed. My life has changed so much."
Any reply Dimitri has to that sounds thoroughly uncharitable when he says it in his head -- to Claire's memory, to Hershel, to himself.
"I had already said my goodbyes to her," he says. "It wasn't selfless to let you. Just fair."
"And I am grateful for that." Hershel looks at him. It strikes Dimitri as deeply vulnerable, more than it would be if he were wearing the top hat in this very moment. "I'd like to offer my apologies."
"What for?"
"For getting you into this position," he answers.
"I only have myself to blame for listening to Clive." Clive's been escorted away by now, having been considered a larger risk than Dimitri himself. "I let myself be consumed by my desires. I should’ve known better than to listen to a man who was barely an adult."
Hershel frowns. "Being emotional is certainly not a bad thing. I...do wish it were easier sometimes for me to be open about what I am feeling, but I don't even know how to open myself to my emotions."
Dimitri barks out a laugh. "I wouldn't worry about that too much, Hershel. It's not a bad thing, having what you do."
"I have been made aware of the man I could have been several times before." Something dark crosses his face. "None have done so quite as blatantly as you, of course. I have been forced to confront the possibility of turning from my current path to see despair instead of hope. But, most critically, you can choose the path of hope, Dimitri. Hope remained when nothing else would."
It sounds like he's quoting something, but Dimitri’s never been the type for literary analysis.
"I'm afraid I'm not too familiar with the story," Dimitri admits, "but I know a thing or two about hope."
Hope that Claire would return. Hope that Claire would be able to stay, in spite of the many possible pitfalls. Hope that they might be able to carve out a different past.
And now, here, with Hershel: a new hope.
A hope not to change the past, but to change the future.
"That's good," Hershel says with a smile. He looks up and affixes his hat in its place of honour atop his head. "I don't know if we'll ever see each other again, but I do hope you find a way to reacquaint yourself with it."
Dimitri nearly asks Hershel in that moment -- come visit me, see me in prison, don't leave me.
But this feels final, in some ways. Maybe this will be the end for good, or maybe it'll be an end wrapped in a beginning.
"We will," Dimitri says, with more certainty than he feels.
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ted616 · 1 year
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quick csm part 2 ramble ((i may have made this account just to post stuff like this));
i adore all the setup we've been getting in part 2 so far. it is a LOT and its great for weirdos like me to theorize (?) about what fjmt may do with all of this.
anyway. with all that we've seen so far (chapter 120) i believe i have some idea of what will happen in the future.
first of all. denji and asa are (i think) perfect parallels of each other that work flawlessly as a duo/pair. both of them being broken and traumatized teens that have been wronged by society in some way or another, and how differently they have approached their lives in response to that.
denji being a kid who's only really known love and care for a year or so, having lived ~16 years being abused by adults, and only truly experiencing what it is to love and be loved for a year. how his life became what he always wanted and so he became somewhat "selfish", getting to do everything he ever wanted (eat good food, sleep well, go out on dates) and all of it with a true family that loved and accepted him (power and aki), while his motivations were mostly to impress a woman who merely manipulated him and used him, as he felt the love one has for a mother for the first time with makima and she took advantage of that.
while being selfish, making friends and having the time of his life-- he ended up losing everything. his apartment, his family, reze, etc; all of it as makima's game. ultimately, his love for her was the answer to defeat her, and now he lives a life with nayuta; a kid who, if not for kishibe and denji himself, would spend her childhood just like denji did, being used by men with power and turning into another makima.
that's why he now cares so much about nayuta and what she wants. he wants to give his all so that she may be happy, he wants to stop being selfish and give to others what people like aki gave to him. he's learning how to be selfless, even if not in the best methods.
in the other hand, asa always had her parents with her until recently. she *was* loved by them, and even though she was awkward in school, she could manage! until they both died, her mom passing ""because"" of her own fault. since then, we can guess and see how asa's life went downhill, as she lost the people that most cared about her, and was left alone in the world. everything was shittier and shittier, until the moment she fucking died. she died without truly living life, and so, when she was "reborn", she decided she would live life more selfishly. take the chance to make her own life right and stop it from being the painful and guilty bore it always was, even with yoru in the way to fuck her up even more.
what im trying to get to is;
i believe csm part 2 is going to be about balance. both denji and asa have a goal, consciously or subconsciously, of living for themselves (asa) or for others (denji). i believe the path of only choosing to go for one of the two is ultimately harmful, leaving asa more and more alone and paranoid and denji turning into a bad guardian for nayuta, giving her everything she ever wants and worsening her perspective on denji and her own powers and how to use them, making her a potential threat for others as she won't hesitate to use her control for her own gain (wiping someone's mind or turning them into a damn dog is too much!!)
i believe that once they both realize the problems in their ways, theyll slowly learn from one another as they endure through shit together. asa will slowly pick up more selflessness and care for others, and denji will re-learn to be more selfish in a moderate way that isn't harmful, probably turning more and more like aki (😣). and so, they will achieve a balance where they can finally care about others AND themselves without harm coming to anyone in the process.
im REALLY excited to see how everything goes down in part 2, and how much they change as characters for the future of csm. fuji please dont kill them
i know this is stupid and obvious but i just wanted to word my feelings on this 😊 lmao i love this manga
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oathofpromises · 9 months
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“I won’t lose you. I can’t.“ — from Data to Stella
This mission was intended to be another routine operation, with the objective of entering and exiting smoothly. Nothing looked as grandiose as some of their previous quests. However, it rarely yielded the desired outcome on most occasions. The price of being a warrior of light.
A torrent of arrows descended upon them, prompting Stella to instinctively raise her shield to protect Data from the onslaught. However, lacking the assistance of her paladin wings, she found herself with only a single option. With a swift and precise motion, she firmly planted her sword into the solid ground, creating a powerful and unbreakable tether that connected the two of them. The Au Ra displayed a momentary discomfort as each attack, originally aimed at Data, inadvertently struck her instead. It was the only way to make sure he didn’t suffer any wounds. Smoke cleared as Stella felt blood drip down the sides of her face.
In order to ensure that he remained unharmed, it was imperative to pursue this particular course of action. As the smoke gradually dissipated, Stella's senses were overwhelmed by the metallic scent of blood. She could feel the warm, sticky liquid trickling down the sides of her face, a stark reminder of the injuries she had sustained to keep Data safe.
"Are you okay, Data?" Stella coughed, as she dropped to her knees. Pausing briefly, she carefully directed her gaze downwards, only to discover that an arrow had penetrated completely through her abdomen. Blood splattered onto the ground as the woman experienced the full impact of the blows she had recently endured. One of the disadvantages of being a Paladin is that certain attacks would result in her own suffering. However, this was a trade that she willingly embraced in order to ensure the safety of others.
In the blink of an eye, Stella, overcome with a sudden sensation, found herself losing her balance and cascading backwards. As this transpired, her Paladin armor dissipated into thin air, leaving her adorned in her normal attire. The Au Ra was ensnared, as a sense of detachment permeated everything. Data gazed intently down at her, his eyes widened and tears on the verge of cascading down his own face. Summoning her dwindling reserves of strength, the woman exerted a deliberate effort to raise her hand, guiding it with utmost care until it came to rest gently against Data's face.
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"You are not to blame for this…no matter how much you probably are thinking it is. I just can't bear the thought of losing you too.."
Stella possessed a keen awareness that, regardless of her words, the brunet would inevitably blame himself for this. She understood the feeling, for she knew deep within her heart that if their roles were reversed, she would undoubtedly do the same. As the Au Ra gasped for breath, a crimson trickle of blood escaped her lips, staining her chin. The arrow had narrowly missed a vital organ, but its presence within her body posed a growing threat. With each passing moment, the potential for further damage intensified.
‘I won’t lose you. I can’t.’
Stella's delicate fingers gently caressed the contours of Data's face, her touch as tender as a lover's caress. A soft smile graced her lips, though her heart fluttered with a mixture of anticipation and trepidation. At that moment, time seemed to stand still, as if the universe itself held its breath, captivated by the undeniable connection between them. His heart, so gentle and tender, was a treasure she cherished deeply. It was but one of the countless reasons why she cared for the Miqo’te so much. The way he looked out for others, with a compassion that knew no bounds. Despite how the world tended to ask so much from him. It truly was a testament to the goodness that resided within the other. His kind heart shone like a beacon of hope, drawing her closer to him with an irresistible force. It was in those moments, when she witnessed his selfless acts of kindness, that she could see how extraordinary he was, just for being himself.
With a delicate tilt of her head, she surrendered to the pull between them, her lips gently meeting his in a tender embrace. With her eyelids gently shutting, a cascade of tears gracefully descended her porcelain cheeks, like shimmering pearls in the moonlight. In the depths of her heart, there existed a single soul she vowed to never let slip away - none other than Data. Perhaps their friendship was more than they allowed themselves to admit. The way they were always there for each. How easy it was to spend hours around the other. There was so much Stella wanted to say to him, but for now this would have to be enough… even if her heart yearned to utter so much.
Their foreheads gently pressed against each other, creating an intimate connection, as Stella gracefully leaned back to catch her breath. She observed a subtle blush gracing the tanned freckles of the Miqo'te. It nearly caused her to overlook the arrow protruding from her abdomen. If this was the final opportunity she had to communicate with Data, she felt compelled to express the entirety of her emotions and thoughts.
“Data, you possess an immense strength that far surpasses the recognition you grant yourself. There are moments when the weight of it all can be overwhelming. Although my knowledge of this world may be limited, one thing I can confidently affirm is that you possess an exceptionally compassionate and benevolent heart. There are individuals who hold a deep and profound affection for you. Please always remember that you deserve to find happiness, no matter what, and that this was my choice…”
Stella swiftly seized the arrow firmly, recognizing its significant penetration into her abdomen. Therefore, it became imperative to promptly extract it to prevent any an increase of blood loss. A delicate smile graced her face as she redirected her gaze towards Data.
"I'll need your assistance, Data…we need to get this out of my stomach…healing won't work unless it's completely removed… Please, the longer the arrows stays in there, the more damage it will cause…"
The weight of weariness settled upon the woman, causing her eyelids to droop with each passing moment. The battle against sleep became increasingly arduous, as her eyes grew heavier and heavier. A realization had settled within her, whispering the grim possibility that this could very well mark the conclusion of her journey. The weight of impending doom pressed upon her weary soul, urging her to surrender to the inevitable.
Yet, amidst the shadows of despair, a flicker of resilience ignited within her. A defiant spark, fueled by an unyielding desire to cling onto life, dared to challenge the encroaching darkness. A desire to delve into the boundless wonders that this world, with all its intricacies and mysteries, had to offer. The whims of fate often proved to be capricious and unyielding. Such was the nature of the universe, where the hand of destiny could be both a benevolent guide and a merciless tormentor.
The Au Ra felt an overwhelming sensation of darkness enveloping her essence, while the voice of Data desperately called out to her, pleading with her to remain conscious, yet even that appeared to be a challenge. As her pink eyes gently closed, a rivulet of blood cascaded down her abdomen, mingling with tears - his tears.
'STELLA!!!!!'
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What might each of the holders do to impress someone they want to date?
OOOOO this is a fun question!
(Read tws in tags before proceeding)
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Charles- This psycho could never get with anyone who's not on his own level of crazy. Charles is extremely possessive and emotionally stunted, so I imagine a lot of his techniques involve him stalking you to know everything about you, only to be a tactless dick to your face because he has no charisma. Also he's insanely self centered and will always lean towards violence.
Examples of what I mean:
burning down your house for the insurance money because he heard you had money problems
buying you a new house but it's entirely decorated by him (based on the information he got from stalking you) and he won't let you change anything
killing your neighbor because you got in an argument about something stupid
stealing the neighbor's cat because you wanted a cat ever since your last one died in the house fire
I think you get the idea, lots of solving problems he himself causes.
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Ferris- Much like Charles, him and his tactics are absolutely insane. Ferris would probably have more success with dating since he sometimes can be selfless and has some sense of romance, but it's extremely twisted by his insatiable bloodlust. Probably some stalking as well, although he'd be more discrete about it than Charles ever could. God help you if Ferris is trying to be your suitor because you'd have endure;
bouquets of extremely toxic/carnivorous fauna from the Park
takeout (usually inedible to humans due to it being from insane pocket dimensions) for dinner every night because he can't cook
everyone you even mildly dislike being murdered
him sending you tapes of said murders
using you as a muse for his fleshcraft projects and torture theatrics
Only real benefit is that he would at least try to correct his more deranged behavior if you directly ask him, but that's really a bandaid on the bigger problem since that might make his tactics more bloody.
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John- No stalking this time, but you'd still want to avoid him like the plague. John is an emotionally-dependent dumbass who will be utterly subservient to anyone that shows him a modicum of affection. He'd follow you around like a lost puppy unless you told him off, but if you're not careful about your wording, he may leave and never talk to you again (usually where most of his romantic endeavors end). If it gets past that though, feel free to deal with;
frequent gifts of random stolen junk that vaguely reminded him of you (can range from expensive jewelry to just plain candy wrappers)
a lot of sappy Hallmark esc cards for the most random, obscure holidays days
obsessive questions about what you like, but no information on what he likes
a shit ton of drunken phone calls lamenting his love for you only to veer off into trauma dumping (the only reliable way to get any information about himself)
Basically, unless you're an aspiring psychologist, tell him off and never talk to him again.
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Jeagar- Feels no romance towards anyone or anything, but can feign it if he thinks there's something to gain.
He'd pretend to give a shit about what you think and want, let you pour his heart out to him, maybe even get you a small gift or two.
Then the next thing you know, he either abandons you after getting what he wants, uses you as a part of some big evil plan and leaves you to clean up the mess, or he kidnaps you to turn you into some horrible flesh-magic machine/beast.
Or he'll sense that you're an emotionally-dependent dumbass and use said dependence to keep you under his thumb forever...
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Daniel- Actually the most well adjusted of the bunch in this area! Daniel has a very conventional and restrained sense of romance.
He would be the only one of the group to just straight up ask you on a date after knowing you for some time. He'd obviously spoil you with expensive gifts, but would space them apart and make sure not to overwhelm you. You think staking would be a problem, but he'd actually want to get to know you himself and would give you space to yourself.
Honestly, Daniel would be a dream partner. Just remember that if he finds out you're using him or you break his heart, he's gonna make you hurt.
-From Biblically Accurate Producer!
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the-nysh · 2 years
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By now you've made a dozen posts analysing and expressing your thoughts on Garou's character and storyline, but I'm curious: if you had to sum up in one post your overall thoughts on Garou, what would they be?
(Dozens?? It's already been countlessly hundreds by now if you've been here since 2016!) But to prevent this from spiraling yet again into another unrestrained 1000+ word essay, my overall thoughts & feelings about Garou? HMPH!!!! 😤 My boy~ <3 If it wasn't already obvious, then just like Tareo, hell will freeze over before you'll see me lose faith in the Real Garou's inherent goodness and amazing potential I know he's consistently capable of - aka his own unique value, character defining strengths, and overall worth that even he denies and doesn't fully believe he has the confidence to offer. :') I can still see it so clearly. When he's been the most fleshed out and thoroughly explored character the manga has just by narrative real estate alone. So even if he's to tragically die or the plotline throws everything it's built up for him into the trash, I've already long seen & trusted the core fundamentals of what’s already been there, and nothing is changing my opinion about that. Even when everyone else in-universe and out judges him less than human, he’s still probably the most wonderfully flawed human of all, from the full expressive range of his rawest and impassioned to his softest and most endearing sides.
He's endured and suffered some of the shittiest pain, 'punishment,' and physical/mental trauma - and now heck, even some of the worst cosmic trauma imaginable, yet he’s still struggled to survive, fight back and be strong, all alone if necessary, even against all the worst possible outnumbered and overwhelming odds. Even when he’s internalized to believe his self-destructive, lonesome fate doesn’t deserve anything better than to receive the worst even when he behaves at his best, thinking ‘this is how the world works’ and hating the sheer cyclic injustice of it, that he doesn't know how or where to constructively direct all his pent up billowing frustrations and rage in order to change it, and compensates with some radical/defiant defense mechanisms for it (aka his outer monster persona). There's still a tenacious, undying flame in there that would repeatedly risk his own life to fight for what he morally feels is right. That despite all appearances, it manifests in all those direst, most selfless moments when he doesn’t even have to think about it. Cause every time he’s pushed to the test, where he puts others (like Tareo) before his own safety and chooses to act on his true feelings (of the heart), it reveals him at his strongest and most impressively awe-inspiring, because That's Him folks~
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(He’s ironically already his own type of best boy even without knowing it~)
So even as a fictional concept, he's a far better and inspiring person than [redacted - whoaa my indignation really shouldn't go there] anyone ever expects him to be, but just him finally being allowed to truly and freely be authentic to Himself - as a silly dork and a nerd, who’s strongly empathetic and passionate to protect those who've unfairly suffered for -being themselves- too, sparks more joy than you wouldn't believe. :')
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sylleblosscm · 1 year
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Anonymous:
For the meta thing, perhaps the journey to contact the gods and how it affects Lunafreya?
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Send A Topic For Meta [accepting]
Oh Anon, starting off strong with a punch to the gut.
 Before I get into this proper, there’s some context I need to provide about Luna’s character that is arguably the most pivotal aspect when it comes to understanding her fully. It’s something I’ve seen criticized and overlooked, even within the source material itself. See, it wasn’t just the Empire that put Luna through hell. There’s a heartbreaking moment in Dawn of the Future where Noctis is given the chance to see all of history, including everything he never knew happened to Luna in the years they were apart. There’s no way to stress just how brutal her Oracle training is - and Luna began hers at the age of twelve. Fucking twelve. She was forced into long periods of isolation, fasting, intense mental and physical training - and all this is to say nothing of the hellish panopticon of being made into a religious figurehead in one’s tweens. Imagine what that does to a person. With that in mind, know that Noctis is disgusted and horrified, in no small part with himself, now he knows the full extent of what Luna endured for his sake. He never knew. He never knew because Luna never said. Luna, the girl who literally can’t survive the a p o c a l y p s e without writing a letter to her boyfriend about the tea she found and the time her companion said she had a bad poker face, never thought to mention the extent of her training. 
 And that’s the thing, friends: this is as normal to her as the sky is blue. Try as Noctis and Ravus might have, bless their hearts, Luna was never taught that her life, her thoughts, her feelings, mattered. Hell, she was actively taught the opposite. She was not yet a teenager, suffering after the death of her mother, the separation from her best friend and the subjugation of her Kingdom, when immidiately her image, thoughts, feelings and relationship to her religion were made into a public commodity. Millions looked to her during times of war and strife for comfort, assurance - shit, God Himself put the weight of the world on her shoulders because he was too lazy to do it himself. Luna is the epitome of a good and selfless person being taken advantage of so severely that she can no longer function healthily, and that’s the kind of thing that takes years to heal from. And the worst part is, she can’t see what’s so wrong with it. 
 With that as our groundwork, let’s move on. Because there is one thing she kept for herself, if only one. A dream. One encouraged by her own Gods by virtue of their prophecy - that one day, the darkness would be driven from their star, and she could be with Noctis again. This isn’t a lunoct apologeia post (although...) - it’s just important you understand, it is the one and only thing she wanted for herself. The dream she worked toward all her life. Yet by the time she was to awaken Leviathan, Luna knew she was not long for this world. Please understand what this means.
 At some point between leaving Insomnia and arriving in Altissia, Luna realised she was going to die. She was going to die, and her only dream would never be fulfilled. Her God, who she dedicated her life to, failed her. She would leave her brother, her only family behind; Noctis would have to go on without her; and she would never get the future she was promised. Sit with that a minute, because goodness knows I had to take several. There was a moment in time when that thought first occurred to her, and she had to keep going. I want to say she was too good and noble to run, but knowing what we know about her upbringing, it probably never occurred to her in the way it should have.
 We don’t know too many details about what traveling was like for Luna (because the game doesn’t care what she thinks or how she feels), save for what few cutscenes we get, and what Ravus writes in his letters. We know Gentiana was with her for at least some of the journey. We know she visited a few places and was well-loved wherever she went. We know her condition steadily deteriorated from being in fine physical form, to struggling to carry her own body weight. And goddamnit, we know Luna never got the justice she deserved except for in one canceled DLC that made a banger of a book most fans will never read. Justice for Luna.
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alluina · 2 years
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[11:05PM] Of Love & War [Gender Neutral!Reader] Warnings: Blood, Injuries, Mentions of Death
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Kaeya considers himself a selfish person. Most of the things he’s done in his life have been for himself, they’ve been to further his own agenda. He’s lied, cheated, and manipulated his way to success each time.
He has a feeling Y/N had been aware of this from the moment they’d met. And yet, he had been met with nothing but their kindness each time they interacted. Even now, as they tore away at their jacket in an attempt to create a makeshift bandage for his injuries.
The cloth wouldn’t be enough for what he’d endured. But Kaeya could tell that wasn’t what they were looking at— no, even as they wrapped the cloth around his bleeding body, he could see their eyes flickering towards his hand. 
Kaeya held two visions in his hand as if they were all he had left (in Kaeya’s mind, they were), but it was the Pyro vision that had caught Y/N’s eye. 
“What happened?” Y/N finally asked, eyes drifting across the field, likely in search of a body. Though the glow of Diluc’s vision was a relief to them, Kaeya had a feeling it wouldn’t be for long.
A humorless laugh escaped him, though it soon turned into a flurry of wheezes as he was overwhelmed by pain, “Diluc happened.”
Y/N blinked, once, twice. The shock in their face was obvious as they began to speak, “he wouldn’t—”
“It was deserved.”
He sounds defeated, and it’s a foreign sound coming out of Kaeya’s mouth. To be so resigned. He can only offer them a bitter smile as he moves to sit up, though Y/N attempts to stop him as he brings a hand to their shoulder. “He’s going to do something foolish— you need to stop him.”
Their mouth gapes open at this, and they begin to shake their head. They gesture wildly to his wide array of injuries, he’s bleeding from a lot of concerning places. Not all of the blood is his, but most of it is. But at this point, Kaeya knows for a fact that he’ll live, much to his dismay. 
“I’m not going to leave you.”
“But you want to.”
The words leave his mouth before he had a chance to think. Probably because of all the blood loss, but if Kaeya’s honest, he’s endured worse. And he figures that if he’s going to die, perhaps he should do something good for once. Although he has a feeling that his words hurt given the way that Y/N is looking at him. 
“He loves you.” Kaeya allows the words to leave his mouth, “and you love him too.” 
Kaeya had seen it all. The stolen glances between the two of you, the way you drifted towards each other in crowded rooms as though you were pulled to one another by magnets. He could never get Diluc to shut up about how wonderful you were, and even if Diluc was too dense to realize his own feelings, Kaeya wasn’t. Y/N made Diluc happy in a way Kaeya couldn’t describe, and given everything that had happened in the past few days, Diluc needed them more than Kaeya did.
That didn’t change the underlying fact that Kaeya was equally, irrevocably, in love with them. But it was a fact he chose to ignore as he watched the internal conflict grow in their eyes. 
Kaeya decides that this will be his one selfless act. 
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pupperofdarkness · 3 years
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Top 5 Ladies of Berserk ?
yoooo i’m here for questions like this. Gotta warn you though, I’m not the very good at going into depth about these things, but I’mma try
5. Slan 
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Honestly she’s terrible, but we stan lol. But seriously, I find her absolutely fascinating and I really wish we could have learned who she was before she ascended, what actually made her activate her Crimson Behelit, and who did she sacrifice. Really I think I’m just fascinated by the mystery surrounding her.
4. Schierke
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Such a wonderful lil bean :’). I’ve always adored child characters who are wise beyond their years and Schierke is definitely one of my favorites. I mean, we’re talking about a 12-13 year old girl who ADULTS look to for assistance when it comes to learning magic or staying sane, here. That to me speaks volumes of her strength. What I love most about her, though, is her dynamic with Guts. It’s so sweet how, aside from Casca, she’s the only other person he’s ever been completely open with and the fact that he trusts and believes in her so much is just so amazing to me. Plus her and Isidro’s antics never cease to make me laugh.
3. Luca 
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She’s just a ray of sunshine in such a dark setting ☺️. I admire that despite living in such a bleak world and being in a hellish situation, she still remains, kind, selfless, and brave. And the unconditional, motherly love she has for her girls is just so heartwarming. I’ll be honest, I was pretty bummed when she didn’t join Guts’ party, but she had to look out for her girls so I get it.
2. Farnese
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Ngl she got on my nerves at first, but I also found myself intrigued by her and the more I read, the more I ended up empathizing with her and liking her. 
For all intents and purposes, she should have become a terrible person, hell she almost did. Though I will say that’s pretty understandable, given how she was raised. Growing up neglected, sheltered and lonely can be really damaging to a person’s psyche. And the fact that she only got positive attention by hurting others did NOT help her mental instability. But when she joined Guts’ party, became Casca’s caretaker, and became Schierke’s student, I saw a side of her that I never would have expected to see in a character like her. It turns out her sadism hid kindness and compassion and selflessness. She just needed an opportunity to let that side of her shine through. I especially love her relationship with Casca and how she went from being a protector to a close female friend for Casca to rely on (which is something Casca really needs atm).
Also, I thought it was cool how Miura wrote Farnese using her penchant for bondage and sadomasochism to do good after her characterization (i.e. the thorn snakes). She’s actually the first instance I’ve seen of BDSM being portrayed in a positive way with a story like this, so that was pretty refreshing.
1. Casca
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Words just cannot express how much I love this woman. But I’ll do my best.
Everything about her is just so amazing and she’s probably one of the STRONGEST female characters I know. I mean, this girl kept the Band of the Hawk together and lead them for a whole ass YEAR in Griffith’s place and when the Eclipse went down, she maintained a level head and managed to calm everyone down before everything went to shit. That honestly says a lot about her strength and leadership prowess.
That’s not to say that she always has it together. She can be hot-tempered at times but even then, she still has good judgement. She’s also emotional, and tends to cry a lot, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Actually, the fact that she wears her heart on her sleeve is just another thing that I admire about her. Her vulnerability only ADDS to her strength and imo makes her that much more relatable, because it underlines that while she is a gifted sword fighter, soldier, and commander, she’s still a human not a machine or weapon. And Casca realizing this, learning to find value within herself and learning to consider what SHE wants out of life rather than letting her value be dictated by her usefulness to someone else is something I love so much about her. And you probably have seen this a lot across tumblr, but I love, love, LOVE that she’s a WOC. I mean, how many instances are there of a leading lady in a dark medieval fantasy being POC, especially during the ‘90s?
My only complaint about her was that it took so long for her to come back to us. I don’t mind that Miura decided to have her dissociate after the Eclipse (in a few ways it makes sense given all that she witnessed and what she had to endure at the hands of Griffith and the apostles), but I wish it didn’t take 20 irl years for her to regain her sanity. Tbh, I think it would have been better if she began to gradually come back to herself or learned to cope with her trauma over the course of her and Guts’ journey, but it is what it is, and I’m just glad she’s back.
I just love her sooo much, holy shit 😩.
(btw, sorry it took so long for me to answer, I’m not used to people asking me stuff like this and I wanted to answer it the best that I could)
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makeste · 3 years
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some meta about Izuku, Katsuki, and trust
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and choosing to trust is the real bridge that goes to accepting that person as a part of your live again and what the offender has to earn. I think the interesting aspect of Deku and Bakugou's relationship is that Deku has always trusted Bakugou, and I would say more than he had forgiven him at the start of the story (where he does show more frustration and resentment towards Bakugou's behaviour and see him as a jerk) but despite that he can always trust Bakugou to him himself, attested to
the fact that Deku feels very confident about how Bakugou will act or what Bakugou's true motives are and probably the reason why he always sees Bakugou as a hero despite his hurtful behaviour is because Deku 100% trusts Bakugou even if he's doing something disagreeable or that will hurt him. Knowing someone and trusting is not exactly the same and I see it as trust because of Deku willingness to be co-operative. On Bakugou's side he is mistrustful of Deku and thats where the communication
breaks down and there has been plenty of meta exploring why Bakugou has deep rooted problems around Deku and his journey is him taking accountability of that and changing to be a better person. While understanding and miscommunication get their fair due I think trust and mistrust are the true bedrocks of the bkdk river bed because that allows for how they can still be so connected despite the miscommunication (with Bakugou mistrust is mixed with some trust) because of knowing.
anon I really enjoyed this, thank you for sharing your thoughts! I concur with just about all of this, and this ask got me thinking a lot about the nature of trust, and how it applies to Izuku and Katsuki’s relationship.
I think a lot of people’s reactions to reading the sentence “Bakugou and Deku have always trusted each other” would pretty much be, “???” and “lol what.” like, yeah, sure. they trusted each other so much that Bakugou decided that throwing a tantrum for ten years would be an appropriate reaction to Deku trying to hold his hand. classic Trust, right there!!
lol but I honestly think this is true, though. it’s just that there are different... levels?? types?? of trust. let’s go with types. there are different types of trust, and what makes Izuku and Katsuki’s relationship so interesting to me is that it’s kind of the opposite of what these fictional rival-type relationships usually are. it’s basically the difference between knowing, and understanding.
okay so first of all let’s back up here to make sure we’re all on the same page. we’re defining trust as “firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone”, which is the Oxford Language definition and which works pretty well for me. you’ll note, btw, that the current relationship between Katsuki and Izuku more or less meets all four of these criteria.
reliability - both boys regard each other as dependable and are willing to rely on each other in a pinch (although Izuku is currently having some difficulty with that, but that’s another topic for another day).
truth - both are honest with each other, though not completely honest (this is the aspect that Katsuki still needs to work on, as he’s currently hiding his desire to atone).
ability - neither of them have any difficulty with this. Izuku admires Katsuki’s ability so much that he’s made it his own gold standard since childhood, and Katsuki respects Izuku’s ability enough that he made him his main rival, and never doubted that Izuku was qualified to receive OFA and become All Might’s heir.
strength - as with ability, this is another aspect of trust that neither of them has ever struggled with. in fact, a lot of their relationship struggles happened specifically because Katsuki never doubted Izuku’s strength, but feared it because he didn’t understand it.
so yeah. there’s a lot more trust between them than most people realize, I think. but the thing is that the type of trust they have is based more on knowing than understanding, and that’s where so much of their conflict stems from.
when I say knowing, I’m talking about the kind of awareness that comes from familiarity and experience. this is the type of trust that’s difficult to take shortcuts with, because it mostly just has to be accumulated over time. this is all about learning what someone is like through observing them and being around them. and it’s just as much about being known as well, because at the same time that you’re learning who the other person is, they’re learning about who you are. and that’s where trust starts to work its way in. it’s the slow unveiling of who you are, and laying it on the table piece by piece over time. and every time another little piece of you is revealed and accepted, and every time you accept one more piece of who the other person is in turn, that trust increases a little bit more. this type of trust takes a long, long time to build up, but in exchange the foundation it creates is pretty much rock-solid and nigh-indestructible.
understanding, on the other hand, to me is more instinctual. it’s about empathy and insight. and the interesting thing is that it’s possible to know someone for years upon years, and yet never truly understand them. and on the flip side, it’s also possible to understand someone within minutes of meeting them, even if you know almost nothing about them. if “knowing” is about learning who someone is, I would say that “understanding” is about learning why they are who they are. this type of trust isn’t necessarily always mutual, but it does necessitate forming a connection with someone. because empathy is such a critical component of it, it’s basically impossible to understand someone and not form an emotional connection to them in some way. this type of trust can be far more powerful and intense than the “knowing” type of trust, but the flip side is that it can sometimes be less stable and easier to break.
I think that the majority of fictional relationships, especially the ones that become really popular ships, are based more around the latter type of trust because of its intensity and unpredictability and potential for story development. the thing is, both of these types of trust are necessary for a good ship (and when I say “ship”, I’m talking about both romantic and platonic relationships just fyi). if neither type of trust is present on at least some level, then there’s really no foundation to start building up the relationship. so most of the time a ship will start out with one or the other, and then over the course of the story they'll work on building up whichever one was lacking.
and because of how stories work, the majority of the time we’re going to be dealing with characters who at first don’t know each other all that well. and so the relationships we get are ones where the characters first form some kind of emotional connection that builds understanding, and then over time they start to learn more about each other and build up that kind of trust as well. I feel like 90% of ships have this kind of dynamic. it’s the basis for things like enemies-to-lovers, fake dating AUs, and basically any kind of trope in which the characters get stuck somewhere and are forced to spend a lot of time together. it’s good, and it works.
but the fascinating thing about the relationship between Izuku and Katsuki, though, is that it’s actually the exact opposite of this. the premise of Izuku and Katsuki's story is that these are two people who’ve known each other their entire lives, but have almost no understanding of each other whatsoever. they know almost every little detail about each other, so much that they hardly even think about it. but all of their conflict is based on the fact that understanding between them is basically nonexistent.
and to me this is such an intriguing dynamic. the two of them know each other like the back of their hand. they’re familiar with the smallest habits. they can predict each other’s actions. they know how the other person thinks. and they have the kind of trust that comes with having seen the other at both their best and their worst. Katsuki is capable of letting his guard down around Izuku in a way he doesn’t do around anyone else. he cries in front of him on multiple occasions. he lets Izuku call him “Kacchan” long after their other childhood friends have stopped doing so. and even though he fears and resents Izuku’s strength early on, he also subconsciously acknowledges it in ways that even he doesn’t realize (e.g. “don’t you dare get into U.A.,” rather than “you can’t get in” or “you won’t get in”). he knows Izuku.
but he doesn’t understand Izuku. he knows who he is, but he doesn’t understand why. he knows that Izuku is strong, but he can't wrap his head around the nature of that strength. and because he lacks that understanding, this vital aspect of the trust between them is lacking, and is all too easily broken when Katsuki falls into the creek and Izuku tries to offer his help. Katsuki knows that Izuku is a good person, but he doesn’t understand that goodness, that selflessness, and so he’s mistrustful of it.
on the flip side of the coin, however, Izuku has the utmost faith in Katsuki. to him, Katsuki is the strongest, smartest, most capable and most amazing person in the world (aside from All Might). and Izuku, unlike Katsuki, actually does understand his childhood friend at least a little bit. he understands Katsuki’s reasons for wanting to be a hero. he understands that Katsuki is not just mindlessly pursuing strength. he understands that Katsuki’s motivation is about overcoming obstacles and beating challenges. and most importantly, he understands that Katsuki, in spite of everything he’s said and done to Izuku over the years, is fundamentally a good person.
and this is crucial. because, along with the bond of familiarity they’ve built up together over the years, it’s this other, one-sided bond of understanding that is responsible for their relationship enduring for as long as it did despite everything. as you put it, anon, Izuku’s trust is ultimately what becomes the bridge between them. on some level, he trusts in Katsuki’s innate goodness. he believes in it in spite of all of Katsuki’s attempts to persuade him otherwise. e.g. when Katsuki suggests that he go jump off the roof, Izuku is hurt by the words, but he never once takes them to heart, because he knows on some instinctive level that Katsuki doesn’t mean them. and so he grumbles to himself about Katsuki needing to think before he speaks, but aside from that he never gives the words another thought.
Katsuki would no doubt consider this yet another example of Izuku not caring enough about himself or taking himself into account. but it really is more than that. the reason the words don’t cut deep in spite of them being vicious and well-targeted is simply because Izuku knows that Katsuki isn't truly that cruel. and he knows that on a level so deep that Katsuki is never able to break it despite his best efforts. he can’t break it, because there’s nothing to break, because it’s true. the reason the relationship endures in spite of everything is because deep down Katsuki is fundamentally a good person, and so Izuku’s trust, in the end, is based on truth. and so it never fully breaks, and eventually, it becomes reciprocated.
and that’s what their story is all about. it’s two people that have known each other their entire lives, but have to work in order to build their understanding of each other. unlike many ships, they start off already having that foundation of knowing and being known, and so their story instead is about forging that connection of empathy and insight. and it doesn’t come easily to them at all. but they keep at it.
anyway, so thank you again for sharing your thoughts on this, anon. I didn’t even get into the topic of forgiveness, but I agree with you about it being a process of letting go of negative feelings and resentment. I also agree that forgiveness is a separate thing from trust, but I do think trust plays a big part in one’s decision to forgive or not forgive. it's a lot easier to forgive if you have an understanding of the other person’s actions. and it’s also far, far easier to forgive if the offender’s actions are long in the past. and because the latter is now true in Katsuki’s case, that shows a pattern of him learning from his mistakes and not repeating them. which further builds trust, especially in the “reliability” department. and so even though forgiveness and trust are two separate things, they’re still connected. and in many ways, by working to rebuild the understanding between him and Izuku, Katsuki is also working towards earning Izuku’s forgiveness, even though that’s ultimately something that can never truly be earned, but can only be granted.
I’m not sure if I’m really making my point very clear here lol, but basically what I’m trying to say is that while the relationship may have once been one-sided in this aspect, it’s not anymore. it’s mutual, and they’re both putting the work in. and Katsuki is also doing his part without any guarantee or expectation of forgiveness on Izuku’s end. it’s unconditional. he’s doing it because he wants to atone. and he’ll continue to do it whether he’s forgiven or not. and that’s important. it’s important because it shows that the relationship has value to both of them. and it’s important because neither of them wants to lose it. they want to fix it; they want to make it stronger.
and ultimately what that means is that the relationship will continue to endure, despite their ups and downs. because even though it may have started out as something incidental -- two boys who just happened to become friends because they spent a lot of time together as children -- it’s not, anymore. it’s no longer just something that happened, something that just accidentally came together. it’s something that they’re both working to build. they want to trust each other. they want to understand one another. their relationship is no longer something that simply withstood and persisted -- it’s something that is now being nurtured. and you love to see it.
so let's see, how do I even begin to tl;dr this post lol. something something blah blah blah trust, understanding, childhood friends, knowing someone, having faith in someone, being the recipient of that faith, and working to become worthy of it. they're very confused, but they care about each other a lot, and they are good boys.
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angelssdecay · 3 years
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Why Xiao isn’t just some edgelord, an essay by yours truly (or: I need sleep)
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Before you read!! 
This was mainly written because I kind of got tired of Xiao being labelled as ‘edgelord’ a lot of times and while I have nothing against it when it’s jokingly said (after all I call Childe a ‘clown’ all the time or Klee ‘Arson child’ haha, you get what I mean) I also feel like him getting meme’d as that leads to a lot of mischaracterization. I’m not here to attack anyone or anything!! Just sharing my personal thoughts about him influenced by his canon lore in game + headcanons I developed while writing fics for him. I hope you don’t mind my brainrot.
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-            I suppose that a lot of Xiao’s characterization as an ‘edgelord’ comes from his wildly dark history and the way he expresses himself (like growling when he’s thinking about his past memories) that is quite different from other characters in Genshin when he’s not like this because he wants to but because he’s been shaped by his trauma that reaches wide into the past and the fact that he doesn’t belong in the human world   -          he is stuck in the mortal world while having to defend it from otherworldly beings and forces that threaten to destroy the fragile balance between both worlds, and it’s a task he fulfils with pride because it was given to him by Rex Lapis, the god who saved him from his former master – 
-          an evil deity who had abused and used him and forced him to commit atrocities that still haunt him to this day; he never wanted to kill, he never wanted to have to take away someone’s dreams but he was helpless to resist and in the end he stained his hands with so much more blood than he ever wanted to   -          taking his trauma and the way he talks about it and labelling it as ‘edgy’ is plain disregarding towards the pain he went through in his early years when his innocence was stolen from him and then utterly destroyed until Rex Lapis saved him and gave him his life back, a duty he can be proud of and the chance to regain a bit of his former gentleness because that’s who he is deep inside: a kind and gentle soul that never wants to hurt anyone
  -          not to mention the trauma he experienced by having to watch the only family he ever had, the other Yakshas, perish one after another – whether it was because they were consumed by the darkness they fought and killed one another or because they died in battle – he wasn’t able to save any of them and while it’s never talked about in-game lore I doubt that their deaths didn’t leave a mark on him that lasts till today. To be heralded as the last Yaksha is surely not a title that Xiao is proud or happy about.   -          to get to his character trait of him usually keeping his sentences curt and to the point (like his good morning line ‘’We're wasting time. Let's go.’’) and him growling when he thinks about his sorrowful past that probably made people label him as edgy – does it really surprise anyone that he doesn’t talk like humans from Teyvat talk when he’s a) not human and b) has spent almost all of his life in solitude?   -          which would obviously lead to him being extremely used to dealing with emotions and humans; despite having such a kind and selfless heart (more to that later) but he’s just not used to conversing with humans - mainly because Adepti need to keep their distance from humans lest their adeptal energy will harm them   -          when Xiao kept his distance from humans all these years, it was for their own good (something he says during the first meeting with the traveller and something I think he firmly believes in because past encounters with humans never went well for them and again, he doesn’t want to hurt anyone and certainly not humans)   -          and while he’s gotten used to living in solitude I don’t think he actually enjoys having to live like this – he’s incredibly lonely and suffers from it - and just like every living being he longs to have someone to talk to and who understands him, even appreciates him although this is something he wouldn’t dare to wish for because it’s something that can’t be fulfilled (Lumine: sikes you thought you can stay alone forever, yeah too bad for you I’m here for you now)   -          it was stated in the article about Xiao and his creation process how curious he is about the human world despite trying to hide it from others (and himself too because longing for something you can’t have or take part in hurts like hell and god knows he’s experienced enough in his life) -  but it doesn’t mean he doesn’t yearn to experience those feelings of warmth and love that most humans as well   -          and when I say love I don’t necessarily mean romantic love although I don’t count it impossible for him (though it would take a long time for him to break down his own walls and find the courage to love and be hurt, and I think abrupt love confessions would frighten him because he simply never experienced it before – a life of bloodshed and battle certainly don’t help with understanding his own or other hearts)   -          no, what I mean are the different kinds of love he’s seen humans share with each other – a mother’s love when she puts her child to bed with a goodnight kiss, a friend’s platonic love when they hug their friend who’s sad or simply out of joy – it’s all things he never got to experience for himself but secretly longs to experience as well (fight me on that because I’ll die on that hill)   -          and this also leads to me firmly believing that he doesn’t hate humans no matter how often he ‘mocks’ traditions and customs – it’s mainly to hide his own curiosity and longing to join them knowing that he doesn’t belong with humans. But he certainly doesn’t hate them no matter his words because you can’t guard and protect someone without loving and caring for them. If he truly despised humans he would have never risked his life and soul for as long as he has to protect them.   -          and he knows that he will never receive any gratitude for the suffering he endures, nor that anyone will pray to him, or even pray for him to come home from battle safely – all he has left by now is himself and his duty he proudly continues to fulfil to honour his fallen comrades and his contract with Zhongli – and yet he keeps fighting such a thankless and seemingly endless battle without any complaints or lamenting his cruel fate; if that isn’t kindness then I really don’t know anymore   -          not to mention that if he truly was an ‘edgelord’ he’d be lamenting his cruel fate or curse at everything for forcing him to live such a life devoid of any warmth and joy – but he doesn’t. Because no one survives thousands of years with a heart full of hatred and no one understands that better than him who has fought against the lingering wrath and hatred of fallen gods.   -          and while Xiao himself doesn’t believe that he is kind (after all both his hands and soul are stained by blood, he’s nothing more but a weapon or so he would say if someone told him he’s kind) it’s his selfless and devoted nature and his love for the simple things in life – a nice dish of Almond Tofu, flowers, the soft tunes of a flute - that make him such a gentle soul – he just doesn’t realize nor acknowledges that part of himself   -          so if someone loves him they have to love all the cracks in his soul and try to pour their light into them, be patient with him because it will take him a very long time to get used to all these feelings, to the reassurance that he is loved and also deserves to be loved, after all this is so foreign to him and very likely to frighten him but in return he will love unconditionally and be forever loyal as he is loyal to the land he continues to protect 
...and what more could anyone ask for, right?
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animeyanderelover · 3 years
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Whoo, requests are open! Can I get Azusa Mukami, Ash Launders, Lau, and Grell Sutcliff with a darling who's a ghost, or something akin to one? Thank you, please take your time with this and remember to take breaks when you need to!
I recently talked about this with my friend, but both of us are amazed with how popular Ash actually is. He suddenly became so beloved in here. Not that I complain😏.
Tw: Yandere themes, unhealthy mindset, unhealthy relationship, possessiveness, obsessiveness, delusions, paranoia, self-harming behavior, kidnapping, killing
Ghost s/o
Grell Sutcliff
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🟥Grell is a grim reaper and for that probably met ghosts quite a few times ago. Ghosts are souls from people who didn’t find peace yet and whilst humans can’t see ghosts most of the time, other supernatural creatures can. Grell feels sometimes a bit sorry for ghosts whose souls are tight to this world until whatever doesn’t allow them to Rest In Peace is solved. There are exceptions though, it isn’t unheard that even after the issue was solved, ghosts decided to stay, mainly because they started enjoying life as an undead once again. So at one point such examples were counted in the supernatural community as well.
🟥If her darling should be a pure ghost, it depends on whether they still try to find a way out of this world or are one of those who decided to live forever as a ghost. If it’s the first one, she would definitely try to make her darling enjoy life once again since she doesn’t want them to leave. She wants to give them happiness once again and would try about everything to make them feel joy again. If it’s the latter case, she would switch from a worried mother mode in a totally fascinated one. She did meet ghosts before, but normally they are more of loners since they grief over whatever they couldn’t finish during life. So having a darling as ghost makes her more interested since ghosts aren’t that known to other magical beings.
🟥Hopefully you know how to manifest yourself or else Grell will get really pouty since she’s clingy. A ghost can learn to materialize their body so others can touch them even though that takes practice. Girl loves you just very much to the extent where she often wants to jump on you and tackle you in a hug after a boring day of work...which ends with her being met with the ground of you don’t know how to control it or did it on purpose. It also tends to scare her a bit if you suddenly pop somewhere up without her knowing since you can just walk through objects. There was this one time where you were looking for her, ending with your head popping up through the ground right in front of her. And Grell might be able to handle, blood, zombies and other gore stuff, but not this. It ended with her screaming startled.
🟥If you’re not dead, but just possess the possibilities of a ghost, the whole walking through walls and turning invisible stuff, you’re most likely a hybrid because believe it or not, in materialized form ghosts can create or bear children too. And half breeds have been since the earliest days always been a more risky topic. Many creatures are still lacking the openness to accept persons from two different kinds since many are still in the classic belief that only the same species should have children together. It leads her to being more overprotective over you since she doesn’t want you to endure hatred and racism from others. She’s fiercely overprotective in that regard.
Lau
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🚢He has a weird fascination with such things, at least in my opinion. He might only be human, but he has awareness of the more otherworldly creatures on this planet and his assistant, Ran Mao, herself appears to be some sort of superhuman as well. He has probably heard a lot of ghost stories before, either from his own country or here, in England. And he is somewhat good in telling when a story was just made up so the person could suddenly gain attention or if there is a spark of truth in it. He has a nose for stuff like this and actually likes listening to such stories.
🚢So expect his obsession to very quickly grow if his darling should be a ghost even though he would hold himself back if they are unhappy due to their unfinished business. He is manipulative and is also, despite being good in hiding it from his darling, very greedy and mercenary. He might not show it, but he has every intention to make his darling stay with him, even if that means ensuring that whatever they need to do in this world will never be finished. If you are that kind of ghost who’s happy with their new life, he would be much more open with his curiosity, expressing his interest in your abilities and also backstory. Especially if you should be a lot more older than your appearance gives away, he would be keen on your story. If it should happen that you were murdered and the killer is still alive, that guy will join your kind maybe very soon if they have regrets in their life.
🚢He’s also interested in how your anatomy works since he’s an expert in it. He of course wouldn’t use you like some test subject, but he is just kind of interested how you are able to turn your whole body in one moment in something thinner than air and in the next moment into something that appears to be flesh and blood again. He also kind of likes it to touch through you since your transparent body has a certain coldness around it which gives him goosebumps. It’s a great contrast to when you have materialized and are in possession of a warm body which leads him to being even more touchy than usual. Lau finds it also always very amusing whenever you suddenly appear out of thin air, your abilities are such a breath of fresh air for him. He tends to be a bit surprised, but is good in hiding it with his usual mysterious smile.
🚢He can only guess that a half-ghost like you are one isn’t very beloved in this world. Lau of course doesn’t think you, he finds it highly interesting that you are a mix from two different species, he never thought ghosts could actually create babies. If there’s the possibility, he would like to meet your parents and talk with them, especially the parent who’s the ghost. It kind of leads him to wanting to isolate you a bit since he doesn’t want some other creature trying to kill you since different from a normal ghost you can get hurt by weapons and die like a normal human even though it’s harder to do.
Ash Landers
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▫️Whilst he definitely is informed about all the other magical beings existing in this world, he stays away from pretty much everyone, even his own kind. Ash is just embossed from his obsession with purity and doesn’t think of anyone as really worth living since everyone is tainted by greed, lust, sloth and other unspeakable sins. He even hates his own kind since many angels protect the exact lowlife he wants to get rid off, believing that every life deserves living and given a chance. He is somewhat alone with his crazy goals, but he doesn’t mind.
▫️I think Ash with a ghost darling isn’t a very good mix, a horrible if I’m being honest. For the simple reason that you already died and merely your soul remains on this planet, either because of your own free will or because you carry a burden with you. You’re dead. That should say everything to why Ash is experiencing the true deepness of madness and terror someone could never possibly begin to imagine. He failed, he pathetically and utterly failed to protect the only person who actually deserved a happy and good life. It makes his whole life shatter, next to his already screwed up sanity. It does not matter if you were killed, died in an accident or because of a deadly sickness. The village you lived in will be blamed and slaughtered by him.
▫️He’s horrible to act with this because I have this terrible thought that he will not only not allow you to leave, but also desperately try to search for ways to somehow get your soul back into your body or will find a vessel in which you can live. He does not care if you want it or not, he doesn’t even really care if you’re happy or not. Dead is dead and he wants you alive. He would get incredibly prone and torn apart if you yell and cry at him that you don’t want it, that you want to die finally in peace or like being a ghost. You just don’t understand!! HE HAS TO MAKE SURE YOU’RE ALIVE AGAIN!!!
▫️With you being only something akin to a ghost, a hybrid in here, the situation would still be very tangled, but a bit less than with you being an actual ghost. I see Ash as someone who usually despises hybrids, but you are made the only exception from this. It isn’t worth saying that he isolates you since he would do this in all scenarios, even though he also does it in here due to fearing that someone might talk down to you because of your unidentified species. He kind of thinks he’s the only one who can truly cherish you for your whole beauty. You might have an advantage since you can just sneak past him whilst invisible, question is if you’re heartless enough to let innocents suffer under this because Ash can and will burn whole cities down if it leads him to getting you back.
Azusa Mukami
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🔪I don’t think he ever met ghosts or other otherworldly creatures before even though he lived a pretty long life. It stands even open to question if he is aware of the existence such other creatures. Whilst he does know that vampires exist, he himself is a half-blooded one, he is not really too informed about other creatures and might even not really cared about it anyways before meeting his s/o. His brothers on the other hand considered the fact of other magical beings on this planet.
🔪He is saddened that you are already dead, it doesn’t matter since how long you’ve already been. It’s still very upsetting for him, especially if you should be mourning over something you couldn’t do in your life as well. I do see him as someone who might actually possess the selflessness to let you go if you’re really desperate despite knowing he’ll die without you. So it’s up to his brothers to find ways to bind you to this earth because they’re scared what Azusa will do if you should ever disappear and leave him alone for eternity. With a darling who likes their current body and is satisfied with themselves, Azusa will be happy as well and be in love with you and your fascinating powers.
🔪But please let him touch you. He is clingy and likes having physical contact with you and if you aren’t able to manifest yourself and hurt him, he will become overtime more desperate. His brother also realize the problem with you being able to escape anytime you want from them except if you make this place your new place to haunt for eternity which all of them hope. Whilst he does like feeling your actual warmth and body, he still finds your ghostly form appearing, the feeling of cold and lingering touches everywhere and yet nowhere at the same time. I do not know if ghosts possess blood or anything like this, I doubt it. So that means at least you don’t have to worry about him eventually giving in to temptation.
🔪He will never be able to understand if someone should dislike his s/o if they should be somewhat of a half breed. As I mentioned, I don’t think he really cared much about the possibility of other beings existing and certainly not a mix made from more than one species. It does add up to his worshipper tendencies since apparently people like you are not very common. He thinks you’re wonderful. As a half-ghost you might have blood inside of you, if it’s from a human is another thing to discuss. But Azusa is from all vampires the one who wouldn’t want to suck your blood, even if it drives him crazy. And even if his brothers try to force him, you can abandon your materialized form anytime for your ghost body. You give Azusa’s brothers honestly a bit of a hard time with your abilities, it’s mocking for them in a way.
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lupically · 3 years
Text
#C45052 | BENNETT.
genre | fluff
word count | 1753
warning | mention of injury​
note | (ignoring the obvious fact that i did not know how to end this) bennett is a good and underrated boy.
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you shivered after your fist came in contact with the ice barrier.
your skin was numbed by the sheer cold to a point where the pain of punching a giant fallen icicle would simply subside into the stinging uncomfortable of your freezing skin. the sheer cold of dragonspine was nothing to make fun of, you realized that now, and you should probably not have agreed to travel here with bennett out of all people.
you never believed in superstition. curling a cord three times around the hairdryer would suffocate you, whistling past midnight would get you kidnapped by witches, looking at the clock when it strikes three brings you to alternate dimension—bennett’s terrible, unexplainable, god-awful bad luck.
you did not believe in it. even after seeing the scars that adorned his young skin, you did not believe it was the result of poor luck but only the product of a teenage boy's aggressive clumsiness during an adventure.
yet, after venturing into dragonspine with bennett, as well as razor and klee who have decided to tag along (razor convinced only after finding out klee is also going, not to watch over her for her safety but the cold mountain's livelihood), you found out you were having a change of mind.
it was very likely that you only wanted somebody to blame, though.
you four got separated after bennett slipped from a cliff, bringing you with him when his leg somehow tipped over your ankles and tripped you as well. klee and razor got distracted, it seemed, as you could hear explosions firing during your fall before your shoulder hit the soft surface of bennett‘s torso.
the two did not come down to find you guys, so you two decided to head up the mountains again in hopes to bump into them somehow. but, during an encounter with some whopperflowers, you two were backed into a cornered cave and, lo and behold, a giant and thick icicle fell atop of the spike-sprouting flowers and, conveniently, the only exit to the cave as well.
that was not mentioning all the tiny misfortunes thrown in between, such as falling into lakes, unable to find fire podiums, and slipping off snows.
therefore, no, you do not believe in superstition, but for the sake of being able to direct your anger toward someone else, you spared yourself the strictness and blamed bennett's bad luck.
"hey, look, i'm sure razor and klee will find us somehow!" bennett exclaimed with a smile after walking to your side. "you won't believe me but razor has a very keen sense of smell!"
you rolled your eyes with a huff, feeling annoyed that he still had it in him to look on the positive side. "what's he gonna do, sniff your bad luck and find his way here?"
his brows raised in curiosity. for a second, he genuinely thought about the question, then he laughed loudly and rubbed the back of his neck. "i don't know! but it would be so cool if he can do that, don't you think?"
"the only thing i am thinking about now is getting out of here," you lightly growled under your breath as you glared at the azure-colored icicle.
archons. you could not be trapped in here for any longer. it was cold, the oxygen was probably draining and bennett never stops talking so he sucks the living hell out of the air, and there was no guarantee you two wouldn't be stuck here for the rest of your lives!
worst of all, you snap at people easily, especially when you were angry at them. whether it was misplaced anger or not, having bennett be near you right now could easily cause a misunderstanding with the words you could spill out of you. you would not mean them, but they could still hurt his feelings, and you did not want to hurt his feelings.
bad luck and badly-timed optimism aside, bennett was the single most selfless person you have ever met.
he still had it in his head to reach out for you in mid-air and use his body as a shield during the fall, for archon's sake. you could count with less than half of your fingers the number of people who would do that voluntarily.
blowing air out of your mouth and sucking back in deeply, trying to breathe properly due to the cold climate freezing up your insides, you turned to look at bennett and he tilted his head at your stare.
"what is it?"
"couldn't you do that swirly thing with your fire?"
he widened his eyes. "oh, you mean my vision?"
"if that is what it's called, sure?"
he pursed his lips together then. that would be the easy way out, of course, but he hasn't thought about it because of how much his body was aching from everything that had happened.
he was sure the soreness around his shoulders and back, which came flooding to him like punches after he took your fall for you, would only amplify with the heat. not to mention the other wounds around his body from the additional mishaps and fights.
he had his fair share of accidents and pain before, and his endurance was built up well, but he would prefer not to take it if he didn't have to.
"i... uh..."
his eyes shifted away from the icicle to you. amid his reluctance, he watched the way you winced at the cold. all he did was watch you flinch and shudder, at the cold and the monsters you two continuously alert.
he remembered you weren't supposed to be here, that you were only here because he asked if you wanted to join him on an adventure to dragonspine of all places, that you were only here because disasters loved him too much.
but he had been so happy when you agreed to join him, happy and accepted like he hasn't been in a long time, like having a new friend to play with, like he finally found someone who wasn't afraid of what he could bring.
the least he could do for you was to try and help, he thought, even if it hurts.
"move aside."
he stepped forward, his brows narrowing in concentration. you did as he told you, your hands clutched together before you as you watched the slight redness of heat emerge from his feet. he brought out his weapon as it traveled up his legs to his torso, spreading to his hands, and suddenly—a quick jump in the air, fire burst through his body and covered his blade, and a loud clank could be heard against the icicle.
the icicle was, unfortunately, not broken, but your concentration was diverted to bennett instead of the result of his action. 
he was panting heavily, in a way as if he had just run a mile under a mere minute. his back was hunched so he could support himself by leaning against his knees, attempting to catch his breath and ease the numbing pain of conflicting fire with cooled skin. and, most horrifically, the wound on his left forearm has re-opened from the movement and was bleeding. 
“well, that–” he huffed with a soft smile, “–that did not work at all!”
“bennett–bandages, let’s get you some bandages.” 
you moved over to him quickly and urged him to sit down near the icicle. you knelt next to him, your face falling quicker into despair when you realized none of you bought sufficient supplies for such an injury. everything was in klee’s backpack with her bombs, and razor was the one who offered to hold the bag so klee could move around easier. 
bennett wanted to speak up.
watching you fumble with a concerned expression completely contradicted the reason behind him straining himself to use his vision. he did that to soothe you, not to make you worry even more! but, before he could open his mouth to speak, his face pinked with an immeasurable heat—hotter than fire—when he saw that you had proceeded to rip the hem of your shirt apart.
you wrapped the fabric around his forearm, hoping it would stop the bleeding for now, or at least keep him from injuring it even more. unbeknownst to you, bennett had turned his head and shut his eyes tight so the exposed part of your tummy would be out of his plain sight. his hand gently shook, not from the wound but the touch of your much more delicate hands.
“bennett.”
“i–i–i’m not looking, i swear!”
you furrowed your brows and glanced down at yourself. you held back a laugh; you were barely exposed, it was just the side of your waist, that was all. but his politeness was welcomed, nonetheless.
“i am going to lean on you, is that okay?” you asked then, sitting down on the ground and shifting into a position where you were close enough to him to make him flush even more. “you’re warm.”
“i–i think it’s the fire,” he squeaked, his hands curled into awkward fists that he propped on his knees awkwardly. he nodded to himself, feeling his heartbeat increase. "it's the fire... yeah..."
you smiled to yourself. this might be the first time you thought bennett was cute. if only the circumstance was less staggering and unideal.
“thank you for saving me back there,” you muttered. “i could have died if you hadn’t caught me.”
“ah! that! haha!” he blinked to keep his thoughts somewhere other than the proximity. “i have fallen too many times to let a little slip off a cliff end me!”
you didn't respond. the heat radiating off his body was so satisfying that all you could do was drown yourself in the warmth. sensing your silence, bennett snapped himself out of his shy rage and glanced down at you, and he softened significantly when he saw you huddled up next to his side trying to scrape as much of his body heat as possible.
silently (for the first time in a while), and timidly (also for the first time in a while), he moved his arm around your shoulder and brought you closer to his side.
the blush on his cheeks was furious, the shy boy within him jumping up and down in a frenzy, but he still kept you close for the warmth and stayed silent to let you rest.
and he hoped that the next time he goes on an adventure, you would be willing to tag along again.
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junova · 3 years
Text
↬ 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞𝐭𝐲 𝐧𝐞𝐭 | 𝐬. 𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬
abstract: the one where steve finds your love letters.
pairing: au!steve x fem!reader
word count: 3K+
warnings: cussing, fluff, angst, crying, slight self-deprecation.
[author’s note]: hey guys! i’m really new to the writing scene so kind words are appreciated! srsly just testing my writing style out and wanted to just post something to motivate me to keep writing. hope u like it. <3
also thank u ari for the inspo and that bomb ass album that saved twenty-twenty. now we just need biden to get elected.
ps. don’t forget to vote! <3
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Stevie,
First and foremost, I want you to know how proud of you I am. You have become the man you’ve said you become, the one I always knew you would. You have finally seen what the rest of us see.
A good man.
The soul you carry within you shines brighter than I’ve ever seen. Just for that only, I’m thankful for the time we’ve spent together. Maybe one day, I’ll be brave enough to tell you this without hiding behind the comfort of this notebook. She won’t spill my secrets, fortunate for me.
Some days you have no idea how badly I want to tell you. I think it’s on the days I discover a new fleck of green in your eyes or maybe when you show up to class with a cup of coffee for me without request.
More. More. More.
More. More. More.
It’s selfish of me, that much I know. More days than not, I would say you give too much of yourself away. Always wanting to appease everyone, you, Steven Rogers, the bridge to making the people around you happier than they walked in. Even when Bucky drags you into his nonsense bullshit, you say yes without hesitation.
I’ve got not a a clue on how you continue on, how you still remain you when you tend to spread yourself so thin. Who watches out for you? Who cares for you? Who loves the almighty, selfless Rogers?
For me, it’s much easier to pretend you carry too much on your plate than to deal with the rejection I would receive from you. You’re just too good, more than I deserve. More than I would be willing to take. I know I couldn’t possibly give you what you deserve but, I hope that one day you might see me differently. You would see me more than the light I’ve painted myself in.
Even though the shade is lovely, I want to be deeper. Deeper into you on a level which only seems unattainable at this point.
A forever friend. To be in your life, just as a friend, is an reward in itself.
But someday I hope you would love me in the same way I do. It’s all a love struck girl could do. Hope for the best, bet be prepared for the downfall.
With much love, your forever friend.
Tearing the page away from the binding of the overfilled notebook, dispensing it in the first empty drawer you could find, you abandoned the feelings as soon as the pen’s ink bleed out dry.
“You know it would just be easier to tell him how you feel.” You peaked up at the sound of her voice, before realizing she was looming over you, watching your write the letter.
Your supposed, secret letter.
“Nat, please. No.” Opening the drawer, she grabbed the letter but was surprised with just how many she found.
“You’ve got to be kidding me. You’ve written about him multiple times?” You sank in the soft, plush material of your seat hoping that just maybe it would begin to swallow you whole. Hopefully, fast enough were you wouldn’t have to endure the rest of the conversation. One you had been trying to avoid, for the past three years.
“It’s nothing Nat, just forget it.” Just like a Romanov, she couldn’t leave it alone. Even if she tried it was laced in her blood to see any little thing through.
“You really shouldn’t wait so long. A window might close for you, much sooner than you think.” With a curious eyebrow lifted, you felt your breath leave you.
“What does that supposed to mean?” Steve certainly deserved the best and you knew it was only time for him to figure out you would never be enough for him.
“Peggy Carter.” Peggy.
The one girl of a sea of many who had been enamored by Steve. He never really seemed to spend anytime with the women who vied for his attention, but Peggy was surely different than the rest.
Even if Steve was oblivious when it came to the advances everyone would make on him, he saw Peggy. Considering she was the most beautiful woman you had ever seen, she intimidated you. God, did she ever.
On numerous occasions she and Steve had gone out, and even though he assured you they were just friends you were starting to believe he was only trying to protect your feelings. As a friend.
He had never cancelled on you once for her and he would tell you if he had started to date someone, just like he had before.
Even though the entire three years you’d known him he only had one serious girlfriend and after eight months, the pair broke up and even now he still didn’t budge on why they broke up.
“Steve can do whatever he wants with her. He’s a single man. He’s gone out with her before and he’ll probably go with her again.” Then Sam was the next to speak up, dismissing the total bullshit spouting from your mouth.
“Can’t you see he doesn’t want to? The damn man follows you around like a goddamn puppy.” Okay, when did he even come in here?
“God, fuck, no he doesn’t. He would have said something by now, he’s had three years and it’s been nothing but radio silence.” With an all knowing smirk, Sam proposed a new concept into question.
“It has been three years. So, have you ever said anything to him?”
Shit. Fuck you, Wilson.
“W-Well, not exactly.” Sam didn’t have to say anything in response. You knew he was right and you hated it.
Your unwillingness still stood for you, there was just no way he actually would reciprocate your feelings.
“Listen, I think it would be really good for the both of you to air everything out. Peggy is sinking her claws in him and it isn’t too long before they get stuck. Just talk to him.” You nodded silently, but you weren’t sure if you’d ever have the courage to.
Emptiness.
It’s all you seemed to feel today. Following you around was a dark cloud, looming over you. Wishing you could be anywhere but your own body. Nothing in particular happened to make you deserve the feeling you were granted with. It just so happened to be one of those days.
From the moment you got out of bed — or rather stayed in bed until four in the afternoon, you felt like anything you would have done just didn’t feel enough. The feeling was fleeting, never staying for more than a day or so, but it made the day drag on. Never ending.
Your muscles sore, body aching from the lack of activity your presumed. Or maybe you had built it in your head too.
Thankfully for you, Nat was busy helping Bucky move into his new place the entire day. She asked if you wanted to help, but mentally you didn’t feel you would be useful for anyone. Simply, telling her you would hang back, claiming you had another an essay to write.
Which you did, you weren’t completely lying, but there was more than your sour mood to blame for your dismissal of social interaction.
You hated to be that girl, the one who needed the presence of men. Specifically, the company of one very beautiful, blue eyed one.
His absence in your life the past few weeks felt heavier on you than you thought it would. You knew from Sam’s intel he had been hanging out with Peggy more and more. He said the two of them were getting close, mercifully sparing you the details.
You hated it’s you’d become. A girl so damn struck over a boy who was giving his attention elsewhere. Upset you were though. Before even if he was busy between classes and his internship at the gallery, he would still text to check up on you.
Now, it was nothing but radio silence letting you draw conclusions on your own. Very, very dangerous territory for you to travel to.
Steve and you are just friends. Get. Over. It.
You thought you’d be alone the rest of the Saturday, especially since it was nearly midnight. Figuring Nat was staying over at Bucky’s and Wanda leaving earlier in early hours of the morning to see her boyfriend for the entire weekend.
Then, an incredibly drunk Steve stumbled into your quaint apartment, the thoughtfully sweetness in him blubbering out with the alcohol flooding through his system. It was like he was on overdrive. More than ready to crash at any given moment.
You had enough when Steve started shamelessly raiding your kitchen, but you remained on the couch attempting to maintain some distance between the two of you. He had a history of being incredibly handsy whenever he had bit too much to drink.
Stumbling his way over to you, almost tripping on the rug, until he was basically cuddling up to your side. His arms latched tightly around you, pulling you into him. Not spared a choice, not that you’d want one.
The security of being wrapped up to him wasn’t something you ever grew tired of. You don’t think there would ever be a time you would ever be capable of turning him away.
“I’ve missed you. It’s been too long.” His soft tone, penetrating the tiny resistance you held towards him. “Me too. I was starting to think you disappeared on me, bubba.”
“Never.” His iron grip holding so tight like he was afraid you’d slip right through.
“Is everything alright?” Trying to pull from him, but Steve seemed unable to let you go. You whispered in his ear, caressing his back.
“I think so.”
“Here, let me grab you cup of joe and some water. Okay? I’ll be right back.” Leaving him a kiss on the cheek, before heading him into the kitchen.
If you had been around him recently, perhaps you would be more in tune with how he was feeling. Then the guilt sept in.
“Sweetheart, do you know where the phone charger is? It’s not by the recliner.” You heard him shout, trying to stop your heart from hammering into your stomach.
Just make him some coffee, sober him up, until he crashes.
Steve always seemed to be a lightweight and somehow whenever he did decide to drink he always found himself routing his way into your home. You thought it was simply for accident alone. The bar he frequented at was only a few block from you.
The past few times he would just stumble into your bedroom, immediately passing out in your soft, silky sheet. Now, he seemed to have more pressing matters at hand.
“Check the drawers, Stevie. I think there’s one you left around here somewhere.” You grabbed the filters and the grounds out, brewing the coffee. Soon, with a black cup of coffee and a water bottle in hand you took note of just how quite he was being.
He was never this silent and it was freaking you out.
“Are you sure you’re o-”
Just like that.
Fuck.
Hunched over, practically on his knees, he read over the endless letters you wrote about him. Confessions never meant to be seen by him. You lost track of how many you had written over the past few years once realized how irrevocably in love with him you are.
He didn’t realize you had found him and you were suddenly paralyzed. Unaware of your presence he continued to read through them and his expression was unrecognizable. One you’d never seen from him before, and you didn’t quite know how to react.
No. He wasn’t grimacing nor did he seem to be elated either. He just stood there just like you, afraid what would happen next.
What did this mean for the two of you? Your entire relationship was purely riding on whatever happened next.
Softly, with a gentle hand, he sifted through them all like he was looking for something specifically. Steve let them fall to the hardwood floors as your shaking hands could no longer support the weight of the dainty coffee cup he had actually sculpted himself.
The glass shattering everywhere, several pieces making their way towards him, thankfully not fiercely enough to penetrate his skin.
Truly, you had never been more sorry than when he looked up at you with tears in his eyes. Threatening to spill over. Because of you.
You didn’t have to be told, you already knew.
Carefully, Steve stood up making his way over to you around the shattered mug. Still you couldn’t bring yourself to move. Simply just watching him until he was right in front of you — more silent than you’d ever seen him before.
“Those were about me. Weren’t they?” You nodded having no reason to lie other than to protect yourself from a rejection you been hoping to spare yourself from.
“I didn’t want you to find out like this. Or at all really.” Your resolve dropping instantly when Steve took a step further gripping by your hips, pulling you closer.
“Why not?” He questioned you, again. Almost like he needed a verbal affirmation of every secret he had just read.
Unintentionally, stealing your soul served for him on a silver platter.
“I know how you’d feel about me, Steve. It’s not how I want it to be and it’s okay.” You remove yourself from him, traveling to the other side of the living room. Suddenly, the apartment seemed suffocating with him in it. “I’m fine, Steve.”
Hearing him sigh in frustration only furthered your immense feeling of being a burden to him.
You’re just one more obstacle he has to deal with.
“One of them dated back for over two years ago. Two fucking years.” His harsh tone, piercing through you like a knife.
“I know. I should have told you.” You whispered, wishing you could disappear into any abyss that would take you. Deeply wishing you just didn’t have to endure for the rest of this conversation. Wishing you could have stopped him from opening that stupid drawer. “I tell you everything, but I just couldn’t bring myself to speak about this. Look at how you’re reacting? How could you blame me when every fear I have about this is justified?”
You really should have kept those elsewhere, not your open, public living room.
“Because it’s us. I’m always here for you.” He was still crying through broken words and you didn’t know why. Almost like you had shattered his resolve and his control leaving with it.
“Not lately. You’ve been otherwise occupied.” Suddenly find the plant in the corner of the room. It certainly weren’t trying to distract yourself from the insatiable cerulean eyes.
The breathtaking british woman wasn’t even here and as soon as she was brought up — there was a wall. Seperating, you from whatever was between the two of you.
“This isn’t my fault. You never said anything. How was I supposed to know you feel that way about me?” He tried to make his way towards you but you just stalked off in the other direction. Circling around the living room like a coward.
“It didn’t matter though, did it? You found someone perfect for you regardless of how you feel.” God, you wish he would just leave so you could let the dam break.
“No. You don’t get to do that. Since the moment I met you I only had eyes for you, but you never seemed like you were interested. So, I dropped it. Okay? You never left me a crumb to think you would ever want to be more than just friends.”
“You were my best friend. You still are. No matter how I felt, it could never outweigh the need I have for you to be in my life.” He sighed, rubbing his hands over his face. Trying to figure out what was next for the both of you. Steve always had to initiate and this time was no different.
“Peggy told me tonight she wants to be exclusive.” His confession washing over you like a ton of bricks. Crushing you.
You really couldn’t have any ill feeling towards her, she was just doing what you lacked the courage and the tenacity to do.
“But I didn’t really know what to do.” He took quiet steps towards you, not wanting to spook you. He voice not no longer held the a warmth of teddy bear, but a man on a mission rather took over.
Steve kept quiet until he had you backed up into a corner, no escape route in vision for you.
“’Cause there’s this other beautiful woman, absolutely breathtaking — and I just I really needed to know how she felt. If I had known before,  I never would have gone anywhere else.” His hand caressing your soft, plump lips. Pulling on your bottom lip with his thumb, sending you into a frenzy.
“Then, I just wanted to forget about everything until Sam called me. Three beers deep, when he told me of a drawer filled with letters I should take a look at.” You could feel his breath on you, temple pressed against yours.
“I just need to hear you say it. Just once.” Taking it a step forward, intertwining your finger with his own.
“I love you.” It was all he needed as he sealed his own affirmation with a sweet kiss, inking your lips with all of his love.
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shirtlessfelix · 3 years
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hi hi hi, could i get a drabble on felix and david being childhood friends (or rivals 👀) who end up meeting again in the fog and end up developing feelings for each other after a while of felix being there? (sorry if this isnt specific enough btw sshgnhsn i dont usually rq things like this)
Yes, this is so cute!! I lowkey love this ship ngl, thank you for requesting it! <3
To Fancy an Old Friend
Slow Burn | 1306 words
Those eyes.
Felix knew them too well even after all the years during which he hadn’t seen them. Dark and morose, they stared back into his own, the mouth just under them with parted lips as shallow breaths left them. This first encounter was rather painful for Felix, who hadn’t been subjected to that glare since he was a child; since David King was taken away to a private school with stronger disciplinary measures.
The two didn’t dare speak to each other, not even now that they were adults and past all of that childish anger. Felix had heard terrible things about David growing up from his parents; the last thing he’d expected was to see him again, and to be stuck with him in the same place he’d hoped his father was.
Felix didn’t recognize anyone else, but they all stared at him just like the kids in his primary school. He was the only foreigner then, and he stuck out terribly when he spoke, no less when David would mock him for it and make the other children laugh. Even here, even now, Felix was hesitant to speak.
“No fuckin’ chance you’re the Richter boy,” David said before anybody else. He was shorter but much more stocky than Felix, and he still came off quite threateningly. The Richter boy stayed quiet and let his old Mancunian rival figure it out for himself. “It’s you, innit?”
“You know this guy?” interjected a girl who was standing by, and Felix was relieved when he heard her accent. She was Nordic.
David nodded, licking his lips as he recalled his past with the blond boy who sat in front of him in class, desperately trying to focus on his schoolwork while enduring his childish means of torture. He’d never laid a hand on Felix even once, but the words he spat along with little paper balls were enough to make him shudder.
“Probably wishes he didn’t know me.” Felix stood back and watched as David stood up from his seat on the log. “This is Nea. I’m sorry you’re here.”
---
While he learned the ropes from the others, David left Felix alone, not assuming he'd want to talk with him even though it had been years since they'd seen each other last. It was inevitable that they would end up in a trial together, but even then, he paid Felix no mind until he was in trouble with the Wraith invisible at his heels. He didn't know where to turn.
David jumped out behind Felix when the killer revealed himself once again, swinging out in front of him and expecting the newbie to fall into his hands. Felix gasped when David grunted instead, letting himself be injured for his sake and yelling, "Go, Felix, run!" So he did.
A flick of his bell, and the Wraith had vanished once again, but David could tell that he was going after Felix again, and that was something he just wouldn't have. He followed the billowy shadow through the trees and once again got in his way, but tumbled forward to waste even more of the killer's time on him. Felix had been able to get away.
Later, David hadn't acknowledged the selflessness that made Felix wonder how much he'd really changed, and instead he disappeared off somewhere else. Felix wanted to talk to him, to ask what happened on the first day when he didn't have him to rag on. Where did you go? he wondered. Why are you here?
---
The time for conversation finally came when neither of them were stuck in the confines of a killer's territory, where they were safe from all that for a while and could confront the years of tension that was left unresolved. Felix approached David as he whittled a stick down to dust, sitting next to him on his spot by the campfire.
"I know we were kids then," Felix told him, and David noticed how much his accent had gone away. It made him laugh inwardly, how something so small made him so upset as a child. Felix must have stayed in England, he thought. "Thank you for helping me before."
"It's nothin'. Gotta look out for each other down here, y'know." David wiped the sawdust from his hands and sat back, looking at Felix in the moonlight. He asked him, "So, what brings you?" and for a long time, they talked about their lives after they'd left each other's. The Richters' involvement with "a cult or something" that Felix hardly bothered with, and how David had simply thought he'd gotten so drunk he started hallucinating.
They reminisced on the short time they'd had together in their past, Felix not blaming David for not having liked his accent. "Well, that's not true," David told him. "I did like it; that was the problem," he laughed. "I liked it so much, I hated you. Stupid kid things, I guess."
And then, the conversation had taken a turn. It swerved and slowed down to a halt when Felix told David how much he'd admired his strength back then, and his bravery at any given moment. That much about him hadn't changed, it seemed. Felix still swooned over it.
"I took German in secondary school," David admitted. "I had a lot of regrets that I wanted to make up to you somehow. Some part of me hoped that I'd see you again."
Felix chuckled. "Well, here we are."
---
As the two of them spent more time together, David teaching Felix more and more how to survive this place, and Felix helping David brush up on his German, they grew closer than they'd ever thought possible. David even may have been ready to admit why he'd really loathed Felix all that time ago, and why his utter perfection even as a child made him so, excruciatingly jealous.
"Oh, you think you were jealous," Felix laughed. They were laying deep in the woods together, looking up through the trees and eating from a basket of berries that Jake and Claudette had picked earlier.
"You had everything, Felix, of course I was." David brought his hands up behind his head and clasped them together.
"Not your strength," Felix said. "Not your courage, not your ability to never give a shit what anyone thought about you. I had pretty buildings to look at."
"Do you care what I think about you now?" David asked with a smirk tugging on his lips. Felix laughed and looked away. "What do you think about me?"
"I think... you've turned out all right. Strong, good-looking... I mean--" By then, his face had turned the faintest shade pinker, and David's had too. "Well, you know what I mean."
"Do I, now?"
"I'd hope so."
"Are you calling me handsome, Richter boy?" His face had gone red. "I'll call you handsome, then, how's that?" Felix smiled sheepishly and shook his head, to tell David that he was being ridiculous, how dare you play with me like that.
What was all fun and games turned into a softer stare-down between them.
Those eyes.
They didn't glare at Felix like they used to, but they looked at him with a longing hat had been there the whole time. He dared to lean over and let his lips connect with David's in the most hesitant kiss he'd ever kissed, one surrounding him with comfort as David's arm laid itself over his waist. It left Felix wanting more, to kiss him even just once more, but maybe another time.
For now, this was okay, and certainly more than he'd bargained for when he found himself with David King in his life again. Maybe it wasn't quite life they were living, but it was something, and they were together. And Felix didn't mind at all.
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starring-movies · 3 years
Text
The Haunting of Bly Manor: Episode Analysis
*SPOILERS*
Episode 7 - The Two Faces, Part Two
Episode 7 of The Haunting of Bly Manor is mainly a continuation of Episode 3, which has the same name, as we explore more of Peter and Rebecca’s backstory and a lot more questions also start to get answered.
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The episode starts as Dani has been tied up and is coming back into consciousness after Miles (possessed by Peter) hit her over the head at the end of Episode 6. As Peter is trying to set his plan in motion, for him and Rebecca to possess Miles and Flora’s bodies permanently, he suddenly gets thrown into a memory. Unlike Hannah, Rebecca and Flora who ‘dream-hop’ through many of their memories, Peter only ever gets put into one of his memories.
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The memory that Peter repeatedly gets pulled into is the memory of a time when his mother came to visit him. Peter’s mother knocks on the door and when Peter lets her in, she tells him “I’m out” and that this time she’s out “forever”, because she says “I suppose they’d say I’m cured”. It’s never explicitly made clear where she’s “out” from, but it’s most likely that she’s been released from a mental institution for her failure to help her son when she knew that her husband was molesting him (which is something that is insinuated later in the episode).
Peter’s mother tells Peter that she needs money from him now that she’s been released and so she blackmails him, saying that she’ll show Henry his “juvenile records”, if he doesn’t give her any money.
The scene then moves to the memory which Rebecca has entered, where we find out that “priceless heirlooms” have been stolen from the manor and that Peter had been embezzling money from Henry. From this it becomes apparent that in Episode 5 when Hannah saw Peter stealing a necklace from Charlotte’s vanity, he was stealing it so that he could sell it and give the money to his other to keep her quiet. It seems that Peter was stealing the “priceless heirlooms”, such as the necklace, to give the money to his mother. However, the “quarter million pounds” that Peter embezzled from Henry most likely really was for the purpose that he said - so that he could run away to make a life in America with Rebecca and free himself from his mother’s blackmailing.
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A small little detail; is that after Rebecca finds out that Peter is dead, we see her zoned out in one of Miles and Flora’s lessons. On the desk that Rebecca is sitting behind, there are some word blocks that spell out “redrum”, which is a nod to the 1980’s film ‘The Shining’. Mike Flanagan created The Haunting of Bly Manor and also directed the 2019 sequel to The Shining, Doctor Sleep.
It’s interesting to note that in The Shining “redrum” spells “murder” backwards, and Rebecca ends up being murdered by Peter.
This is not the only reference to The Shining, as there was another one in Episode 1. When we see Dani leaving the hostel which she’s been staying at, as she’s shutting the door behind her, we can see that her room number was 217. In the original book of The Shining by Steven King, the haunted room that Jack Torrance enters is room 217 (but in the movie it’s room 237).
As well as these two instances, there is yet another reference to The Shining, also in Episode 1. When Miles and Flora are locking Dani in the cupboard, we get a shot of them just before the shut the door on her. The shot of Miles and Flora standing side by side with one another evokes the memorable shot of the twins in The Shining.
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Rebecca tries to suggest to Peter that they still continue their previous plan to run off to America and tells him that she doesn’t mind if people think that she’s “some batty old witch who talks to thin air”. Peter tells her that they can’t do that because he “can’t leave Bly” and he “can’t get past the end of the drive”, but then he discovers that he can possess Rebecca’s body just like he can with Miles’. The two of them devise a plan where Peter will possess Rebecca’s body and he’ll try to leave while still in her body. They carry out the plan the next morning but as Rebecca runs to the boundary of the grounds, Peter is ejected from her body.
This brings up a question of confusion, as in Episode 9 Dani manages to leave Bly with The Lady in the Lake in partial possession of her body and neither of them were thrown out from Dani’s body. Since Dani is able to leave the grounds, the reason that Peter was pushed out of Rebecca’s body must be because he exited her body himself. As he was about to cross the boundary he probably came to the realisation that if he left while still in Rebecca’s body, then he and Rebecca will never be able to be properly together again and so he pulled himself out so that he could think of another way that they could be together. However it also could be that Dani stopped Viola’s gravity well when she invited Viola into herself (we see all the other ghosts are released when this happens in Episode 9), but this still wouldn’t explain Peter’s oddly quiet reaction when he gets pushed out of Rebecca’s body at the manor’s boundary.
This would also make sense of a lot of a few other things as well. It would make sense of the odd reaction that Peter gives after the failed attempt at escape, when Rebecca says “it didn’t work” - he doesn’t look particularly sad that it didn’t work, even though he was so enthusiastic to finally be able leave and be with Rebecca. It would also make sense of when Older Jamie says that “Peter had not been back to find her, he had left her at the boundary of Bly”. Peter disappears for so long because he’s trying to come up with a different plan for them to be able to be with one another.
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After trying to leave the manor in Rebecca’ body doesn’t work, for whatever reason, Peter then comes back to Rebecca with his new plan. Peter explains that when he tries to take possession of Rebecca’s body, neither of them mean to, but he always tries to push her out and she always tries to push him out and so the possession is “temporary”. He tells her that there is a way that they can be together forever and able to touch each other but to do this he says he needs to be given permanent possession of her body and for this to happen she needs to invite him in and give him consent. However when he’s explaining this to Rebecca, Peter doesn’t explain that his grand plan for them to be together means that he’ll take over her body and they’ll only be together by being tucked away in a memory together.
After being given consent from Rebecca to have permanent control over her body, which he gets through the phrase “it’s you, it’s me, it’s us”, Peter carries out his plan. Rebecca gets tucked away “in a memory of them”, and although they are together and can touch one another, this is not what she wanted (nor is this what he really promised to her when he got her to give him her consent) and it’s not ideal for him either as he is now left in Rebecca’s body “here, alone”.
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Since Peter is now alone in Rebecca’s body and he doesn’t want to continue to be alone, he decides that he’ll drown her body so that they’ll both become ghosts and they will both be together that way. We see Rebecca (possessed by Peter) crying as she walks into the lake, and then we see Peter crying in bed with Rebecca in the tucked away memory, which is how we know that Peter was in possession of Rebecca’s body when she drowned.
But then as the water starts to enter Rebecca’s body’s lungs, Peter leaves and Rebecca herself is forced back into control of her own body again. We see just what type of a person he is, as he leaves her on her own to feel the pain of the drowning. In a parallel to this, this shows us just how much Rebecca cares for Flora, as in Episode 9 she tells Flora that she’ll take over her body before she’s dragged into the lake and she’ll feel everything for her - a completely selfless action considering that she’s already had to endure the pain once.
Like Peter and Hannah, Rebecca immediately turns into a ghost and we see her mourning her body and the betrayal of her trust, as she stands by the side of the lake and cries. This explains to us why, when Rebecca was possessing Flora’s body, she always walked to the lake - because she sits by the lake and mourns her life.
This is the most prominent example of the love versus possession conversation that Dani and Jamie were having in Episode 3. Peter says that he loves Rebecca, but he displays no true love for her at all, to ask for her complete trust and consent and then to betray her by stealing her life. Peter is acting completely on selfishness and is treating Rebecca like a possession who he manipulate for his own personal benefit. To truly love someone is to want the absolute best for them, even if that comes at your own expense; but when Peter makes this decision he isn’t thinking about Rebecca at all, he’s only thinking about his own desires and loneliness.
After Peter drowns her body, Rebecca returns once more to the memory of when Peter gave her Charlotte’s fur coat. The memory was once a very happy one for Rebecca, but now it’s been tainted by Peter’s selfish actions. Rebecca now sees how Peter manipulated her as she says that “I didn’t agree”, she only agreed to them being together not for him to take her life from her.
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Peter suddenly gets pulled back into the only memory that he gets pulled into, the memory of his mother coming to visit him. Peter says that from constantly having to return to this memory he feels “like I’m in hell” and his mother says “well, where else would you go”, stating that there is nowhere else that he could go after what he did to to Rebecca.
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Peter then gets released from the memory he was being tucked away in and he returns to the attic, where Miles and Flora are in the process of freeing Dani. Peter stops Miles and Flora from letting Dani go and Rebecca returns from her dream hopping.
To try and convince Miles and Flora to give consent for their bodies to be possessed, Peter says that they’ll be able to go to their “forever house” where they’ll be with their parents forever. The “forever house” is a reference to The Haunting of Hill House where Olivia made blueprints of a “forever home” for the family to live in once they got enough money from flipping Hill House (but when Olivia dies, Hill House becomes the forever home). The “forever house/home” is something that is supposed to symbolise safety and family, however in both Hill House and Bly Manor this isn’t really the case. In Hill house the promise of the “forever home” that Olivia dreamt of was never fulfilled; and in Bly Manor the “forever house” that Peter is talking about is just for Miles and Flora to be permanently tucked away in false memories.
Despite Peter’s manipulation, he does know what love really looks like. He tells Miles that, when he’s tucked away in the “forever house” with his parents, he’ll be “with two people who love you so much, so much. That makes you the luckiest man in the world, the richest person, I wish I could be that rich”. Peter recognises that being in a safe place with two people who love you makes you the “richest person” and was something that he never got to experience himself. Not that this makes his behaviour acceptable, but it may from his childhood where Peter developed a distorted view of love and posession, and so this is why he manipulates others and treats them as his possessions - while Peter is supposed to be the conventional ‘villain’, this fleshing out of his past makes his character much more multifaceted and complex, as well as making his actions much less black and white. This added depth and complication is one of the things that makes Bly Manor and its characters so deeply flawed yet extremely relatable.
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When Peter takes permanent possession of Miles’ body, when Miles gets up we can see that his right eye is still blue but his left eye is now brown. This is a sign that the person is no longer completely themselves anymore and we see the same thing happen to Dani’s eyes in Episode 9.
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We then see Miles (possessed by Peter) walking with Hannah to the well, to try and get her to come to the realisation that she’s dead. He compares Hannah to the cartoon Wile E. Coyote, who would run off a cliff and just keep going, just as Hannah has died (run off the cliff) but she just keeps going and doesn’t become a proper ghost. Miles explains to Hannah that “when Wile E. Coyote looked down, then he’d fall, only when he looked down”, so he tells Hannah that she also needs to look down in order for her to come to terms with her situation and then she’ll also fall (become a ghost). The looking down that Miles wants Hannah to do is not just an actual looking down the well to see her corpse, but this is also a metaphorical looking down of her seeing the ‘big picture’ and for her to stop being in denial.
Hannah finally looks down the well and sees her corpse. She isn’t interrupted (like when Dani interrupted her doing this in Episode 1), but she’s given a proper moment to take in what she’s seeing, and so she is able to come to process and accept her death - just like Peter got to see and accept his body being dragged away by The Lady in the Lake; and just like Rebecca saw and mourned for her body by the side of the lake.
We then return to Flora and Dani in the attic and we find out that Rebecca only pretended to go along with Peter’s plan and possess Flora’s body. Rebecca tells Flora that “no one should ever need that much help”, showing us that she understands true, selfless love and to ask that much of someone is not caring for them at all. This also relates back to what Peter did to Rebecca, he should have never needed “that much help” from Rebecca as to take her entire life from her.
As well as this, it shows us how much Peter is like his mother. Peter’s mother asked too much of him and, in a way, ended up killing him by blackmailing him for money, which is just as he told her that “I hope you know that, late at night, that you killed your own son”. Peter is just as manipulative as his mother when he persuades Rebecca and Miles to trust him so that he can possess their bodies - needing to ask for “that much help” from a person is not love.
You can read my previous The Haunting of Bly Manor posts here:-
Episode 1 - The Great Good Place
Episode 2 - The Pupil
Episode 3 - The Two Faces, Part One
Episode 4 - The Way It Came
Episode 5 - Altar of the Dead
Episode 6 - The Jolly Corner
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