#this is far more tragic to me than whatever it is they're saying about him now

[nevalizona]

Sometimes I wanna go bananas when I think too hard about EZ. Like he could have had such a successful life, but nah, the universe had other plans. Bad decisions made after bad decisions, led him to where he is now, who he is now and it's so :(

He could have turned his life around. He could have gotten better, done better things, and had what was left of the life he should have had, but he wouldn't allow it. He wouldn't do that because he decided he wasn't worth it. He was going to be anything but the "golden boy" he had always been and was expected to be as a kid. He decided he would be everything the MC needed. But it's not what he needs, and he will never fill that hole deep down inside himself because this is not the life he was supposed to live. This was not his purpose, no matter what he claims now.

#stevie.txt #text #m*yans mc #the show can claim whatever they want about him- but they always show the exact opposite #he was not meant for this life #he is not a monster #he has decided this for himself #there is no unavoidable pull- dragging him deeper and deeper into this life that was decided for him as a child #that does not exist #this is far more tragic to me than whatever it is they're saying about him now

[luveline]

For the Steve zombie au, may i request r and Steve’s friends getting to know each other? Maybe they’re all eating together and r realizing she can trust these people and Steve is just so happy they all get along?

thank you for your request my love! steve zombie!au | fem!reader ♥︎ 1.2k

You're majorly surprised that Steve would be friends with Jonathan Byers. It probably seems like old news given the apocalyptic circumstances, but you remember the epic and tragic bumps of their love triangle. Nancy bouncing between them, and the eventual messy breakup. 

You're unsure if Steve knows you'd been there that night at the Halloween party. His Risky Business costume had actually done a lot to humanise him when you first met him again in the early days, and he'd been a total jerk. He'd say something cruel and you'd remember his sunglasses and his chicken dancing and get over it. 

You're not in the early days anymore. Months of hiking and fighting and zombies and, amazingly, falling in love. Steve would kick the shit out of anyone if they talked to you the way he had, and his apology for being such a grump comes everyday and in new ways. 

He has his hand between your thighs, fingertips stroking circles up toward your knee. 

"No, man, I'm serious, it was a shit show! First you, then Hargrove," he's saying, stomach digging into the table's edge with his enthusiasm. "Good thing, though, my ego was dead and gone when I needed to be humble." 

Jonathan snorts, picking through his cards with a concentrated frown. "I'm still sorry." 

"I don't want you to be sorry. I was a dick." 

"Yeah, but we were seventeen. Everyone's a dick at seventeen."  

You're having a hard time distrusting him, or any of Steve's friends, considering they're the ones who fought to get you back. They walked miles in the dark and the cold to save you, and bring you back to the community. If it weren't for them, you wouldn't be tucked into Steve's side, eyeing his cards and whispering instructions. Nobody's given you shit for it, while it's pretty much cheating, and you know why — there's a resounding feeling of pity wrapped around you. 

You still have all the cuts and scrapes of your kidnapping. The scratches on your face have barely scabbed over, your wrists still sore and torn. It's a constant reminder. You try not to look at them. 

Pity comes with a good helping of care, though. 

"Hey," Robin says, bounding into the town hall with a smile. "Where is everybody?" 

"We're early." 

"Oh. Well, I got more cards," she says, brandishing a fresh pack, plastic wrapped and everything, "Cooper didn't wanna give 'em to me, but I told him the cards club got a bunch of new members. Hopefully he doesn't come tonight." 

She pauses. "Can I sit here?" 

You nod emphatically. She can do whatever she likes as far as you're concerned. She'd been there for Steve while you were gone, and she's come to find you too. You're starting to realise that your suspicion of her had been unfounded. For the two weeks you'd slept in her room, you'd stayed up sick with nerves thinking she was gonna stab you in your sleep. It's kind of hard to believe she'd bother these days. 

Plus, you desperately want to like Robin. She's funny, and smart, and she has a really nice voice. You could listen to her talk about movies for hours, and you would, because Steve could do it too, though he's far more opinionated than you are. 

"Thank you," she says. "I got something for you." 

You sit up from Steve's side, trying your best to look like a functioning person rather than his pathetic clinger. "What?" 

"Yeah, I got this bio-oil from the medic station for your face. I mean, don't get me wrong, you'd look cool with a scar, but I thought maybe that should be up to you. And this," she says, putting the bio-oil and a white packet down in front of you. "Steve said you liked the first one." 

It's a small bar of Hershey's Cookies 'n' Creme. You stare at the two items, lost for words, and then you decide you have to be brave even if it's a little awkward, and even if you're still scared of things going wrong. 

"You didn't have to get these for me, Robin," you say. 

"I wanted to." 

You slide across the bench you're sitting on slowly, so she has time to move away. "Thank you," you say, and hold your arms out for a hug. 

She looks startled but happy, and is quick to accept your offering. "You're welcome," she says, arms crossing behind your back. 

You nod and pull away, giving her a genuine, if guilty smile. 

Just as you realise Steve has been listening, Jonathan tries to save him, roping him back into conversation. You miss his hand on your leg and consider asking for it back, and you really wish he'd stop the game altogether so you can hide under his arm again. You've been feeling rightfully fragile since you got back. Touching him makes it go away. 

But you're not a loser. Robin's breaking the seal on the new pack of cards, and you're really good at card games after so many nights alone with Steve, who's really bad at them. 

"You know gin rummy?" you ask her. 

"I do not," she says, with an air of grandness, her smile unmissable. "I'm a quick study." 

"Robs, don't let her teach you," Steve butts in, "she'll teach you how to play, but she won't teach you how to play well." 

"I only taught you badly 'cause I was mad at you," you say, rolling your eyes.

"What?" 

"Yeah, it was after we got stuck inside that taco truck, and you said I sound like a dying cat when I sing, even though you're the one who asked me to sing in the first place." 

He chuckles easily at the memory. "Oh, yeah. God, I'm sorry, you were still sick from that bad water and your throat was all raw." 

He does you the service of kissing your cheek.

"I'm sorry," he says again. "I was mean." 

"I don't buy it. That's a fake apology," Robin says. 

You burst into giggles as Steve gasps with indignation, and Jonathan lays his cards out flat on the table. 

"I win," he says. 

Steve, despite your ganging up on him, and Jonathan's poorly timed victory, doesn't seem upset at all. He's smiling one of his more secret smiles, the kind you had to dig long and hard to find, and his hand feels like love as he takes up station on your thigh again. He squeezes three times. 

You cover his hand briefly with your own, rubbing the fine hairs on the back of his fingers, before turning your attention to Robin completely. 

"I'm gonna make you a champion," you promise. 

#steve zombie!au #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington x you #steve harrington x y/n #steve harrington #stranger things x reader #stranger things fic #steve harrington imagine #steve harrington fanfic #steve harrington fanfiction #stranger things #stranger things 4

[utilitycaster]

Sorry for the rant. I think the fact that they didn't wait until after the Candela finale was a missed opportunity that would have felt less, jarring 1. they could breathe and RP for a session after coming back from the moon reconnaissance mission (this is also considering that whether or not Matt made the party fight Otohan and have a PC death) Matt could have told them to end that particular session at Keyleth's camp and even tell Liam to wait and call Dorian at the end, and then have the party switch. it's also so strange to split the session in two for whatever reason

2. having the party switch after Candela would allow for a good window of time for the Crown keeper to do what they need to in case they can't reach a good point to return to BH in 2 hours, maybe a session and a half at most

3. assuming Dorian, and maybe others with him, come back to the group after whatever this intermission is done, i think it would be hard for them to split the attention between Keyleth encampment and debriefing - mourning FCG - guest players in a way that wont feel like it makes a disservice to another one of these topics (focusing on Guests and FCG's death could make it so the debriefing for the mission they spent 10+ episodes on feels lackluster, and vis versa)

As someone else said, it feels like they are giving us a palate cleanser as i was halfway through a good meal, but also they gave us another meal and after two bites they took it away so i could finish it in two weeks

there is also this limbo feeling of that we are getting late to the airport (freeing Predathos) but also we are taking a stop for sightseeing, and snacks, and bathroom and- it's like they are trying to convince us that "there is an urgency and we have to get there now now, but also nevermind that, lets catch up with these other characters for a bit"

It's just an ODD choice no matter how you look at it

So the urgency doesn't bother me. This was a weird thing in the fandom during the Solstice Split too (god i blocked so many people for constantly shrieking ARE THE OTHERS DEAD in the main tag every week, like no they are fine, they are narratively on pause) but like. Time is frozen for Bells Hells right now. We are following another group. We are not going to get snacks; we are looking in on what other people are doing, concurrently with this campaign. Indeed, that's not a bad idea. In a good campaign, there is this sense that the rest of the world exists and is doing things as you go about your own business - you are heroes of the story but you're not the only people who matter or do things.

It really is like. In some fantasy in which I were personally asked "hey, we want to do this thing where the Crown Keepers show up midway through the episode, and we follow them for that half an episode and then the beginning of the next episode, where would you put this?" I would, to be honest, say "maybe just do it as a standalone episode itself" but if I had to it would just be, again, Not Now. Cutting away while the party is on the moon! Cutting away while they're headed to the moon! Cutting away a week from now! Cutting away just before the Otohan fight! Hell, I even think that while I would have initially been far more annoyed if we started the episode and it was the Crown Keepers the whole way through this week, it would feel more coherent. But like, on a list of 20 places to insert the Crown Keepers scene, "halfway through an episode following a particularly dramatic and tragic character death" would be 21st.

(I also do want to push back against the idea that Sam needs more time and so this is why; you could just. run more episodes without him. Travis voluntarily sat out of almost 5 episodes. It took 2 episodes for Caduceus to show up. Team Wildemount had more episodes than Team Issylra. It is literally fine if he misses a few more episodes.)

#cr spoilers

[hell-drabbles]

Companion angst?!?!?!

Let's say companion is in a desolate place, no one around them. They unfortunately found themselves in battle with a few angels, the only weapon they fend them off with was their metal pole. By a stroke of luck, companion had managed to defeat them. Unfortunately, this cost them fatal injuries everywhere. Their body battered and bloody; while the battlefield, splattered with the blood of what they fought.

Without warning their body collapses to the cold, rough pavement. All of their strength had finally wavered in the end. All of their effort had been put into a cat-and-mouse chase of angels seeking out nothing but bloodlust. Had they been too careless? Too tough?

Sanguine blood seeps into the rocky surface which created a bit of feathering on the edges. The multitude of wounds on their body; the gashes; the bruises; all painful. They hiss as they try to shift into a more comfortable position, the pain rendering the motion detrimental. More scarlet blood flowed out of their opened wounds.

They sigh, resting their head on to the pavement wet with their blood.

Unable to move, the companion just lies there. They're too worn out. Too worn out to scream; too worn out to fight the pain seeping into their open wounds.

"It's better to die than be stuck in this place."

Ra-on would probably carry on with his life. Maybe he hadn't even noticed their disappearance. Ra-on was not a carefree man, but a careless boy. Was Solomon as ignorant as he was? The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, as they say.

All the devils in hell probably won't bat an eye either. After all, this companion was insignificant to Raon's story.

What about Minhyeok? Would he grieve, or would he get over it quickly?

"You're talking to yourself again." A mumble escapes their parted lips. Companion wheezes out a few hacks and coughs. Breathing felt like their lungs were trapped in an iron maiden. Constricting.

Whatever. Whatever. It's better to rest it off for now- or forever- if that's what God chooses.

(Hahahahaha! Oh how I adore any and all forms of angst. Though, since this is me we're talking about, I never really stop at just death when it comes to that. I'm a big ol' fan of the "fate worse than death" troupe. Dying is simply not enough for me, I need more! Also, no clue if any of this is accurate, but who cares? I write what I want.)

And in this drunken kissing party, some of the devils present whispered among themselves.

"I found blood," one said as he chugged a shot, "lots of it. Couldn't find a body though."

"Angel blood?" The other devil was tracing the veins in his partner's neck, but pulled back. He knew him too well. Anything he says was always worth something. Redundant comments about a common sight were not a part of him.

He asked 'angel blood,' but the answer wasn't going to be something he would like.

"No," This devil was hoping it would be just that. That he just found an unusual amount of angel blood streaking the walls and street. But no, of course not. He's always walking and always finding tragic things. A curse, really. "Human blood. Too much of it."

"And you're not telling anyone else?"

"…it's their blood. You know prideful they are. If… if they're somewhere, then I don't think they want to be publicly seen like that."

He and his partner got up and walked out without a word. It's not as if they went unnoticed. To have any devil walk out when they're all playing a game of who can make Ra-on pass out with a kiss, it was… strange.

Others would follow, but most would stay.

And, of course, Ra-on wouldn't notice either. How could he when he's distracted by all the matters of the flesh? Of the very thing he's been fantasizing and is now receiving? In his head, perhaps this was his reward for surviving for as long as he has? For living with this heavy burden upon him after all these years?

An existence as dull and mundane as his was bound to crave excitement. And certainly, Ra-on was selfishly thirsty for it.

He has freedom. Ra-on's narrative was finally, though temporarily, free of those judging eyes and hissing insults. He could indulge in everything and anything, even if what he's getting is just his ancestors leftovers.

Besides, to all that knew his companion, that knew them, they'll be back. Hurt and bloody, but they'll be back. To him, to many of the devils Ra-on's slept with, they cut a near invincible figure.

"They're like my pet hell bug Mimi!" Someone once laughed behind him, "I keep losing her and yet, she always comes back alright no matter how far away I am."

The devils are idiots but their hearts are pure.

They make bonds so easily. If it weren't for that, well, can anyone really hope to survive in Hell? Would the journey be as interesting if they weren't as open and gullible as they are?

The devils in the alleyway search for a person that is no longer there.

And the devils here keep the last human in Hell happy.

Of course, no one would turn their eyes to the window, where a transparent, iridescent feather falls. No one spots the figure sitting on the ledge.

The companion is lost. All that's left behind was a shallow, haloed husk.

#admin #whb #what in hell is bad #what in “hell” is bad #drabble #reader insert #embittered companion au #writer: Anon #ra-on

[crystalelemental]

It's Frieren Friday, but there's no more new Frieren, so instead I'm just thinking

In part what gets me is the usual: I have a strong affinity for characters that don't understand their emotions.  They're almost always favorites.  I think the reason Serie hits so hard is because she operates as a foil to Frieren's journey.

Frieren's current journey is about contextualizing the human experience she lived through during her travels with Himmel's party.  She's coming to understand how much that brief period meant to her, and that despite how small a portion of her life it truly was, it's had a huge impact on the course of her life.  And it's also about grieving the loss of Himmel.  The introduction that gets this moving is his death, and the realization of how much he meant to her.  The whole show is very retrospective, looking through the past while moving forward.

Serie is the exact opposite.  Serie's response, any time she's asked, is that Flamme is a failure, she never lived up to her heights, and she really shouldn't take on human apprentices anymore.  But she does.  Pretty constantly, apparently.  And she remembers each of them perfectly; their names, their faces, their favorite spells.  Even uses their favorite spells in her day to day, creating the field of flowers in the examination room using Flamme's spell.  Who's to say other spells haven't been used in equal effect?  The flowers are just the ones Frieren would notice.

Serie's grieving the loss of people she cared about too, but unlike Frieren, she has no idea why or what's even happening.  The reason she recalls all these people with such perfect clarity is completely lost on her.  She has an intellectual understanding of each of them, but never really made much human connection with anyone.  Even her current apprentice is so in the dark about how Serie thinks and feels that he assumes she's just as disappointed in his abilities as she claims, and is primarily concerned about her living a long life alone with no one's legacy beside her.

There's something tragic and powerful to the idea that Serie's always taken on these human apprentices, and despite caring deeply for them, never once realized it.  That all of them died likely thinking the same as her current one does: that she was disappointed they never measured up.  That for all the care she must have held, they may never have known, because she didn't tell them.  She didn't understand it herself.  And now that they're gone, all she can do is use their favorite spells to bring herself reminders of them, for reasons she can't even parse.

Which is exactly what Frieren's going through.  With how much HImmel meant to her, whether romantic or platonic or whatever it was, she never got to tell him, and now he's gone.  She has only those memories to guide her, and she's embracing each to learn more about herself and her journey, and is starting to better appreciate the current moment.  She's not perfect at it, her most recent argument with Fern shows she's still not great at telegraphing how she feels.  But she's trying.  And that's something Serie's never tried to do.

It's why Serie's so predictable.  Frieren and Flamme predict her literal every move, because she's never emotionally matured.  She operates purely intellectually, and she is talented.  As Frieren points out, her intuition is always right, and we see that the intuition has a logical sense to it.  Magic is drawn from imagination, and if you can't imagine yourself as first class, then you're not.  Even as far as her focus on fighting, the northern lands are still home to demons.  If you can't think of how to fight an opponent likely stronger than you, you won't win.  There's a logical sense to all of it.  But despite all that, Frieren knows full well that Serie will be a brat about her approach to magic, just as she'll be too impressed by Fern's ability to fail her even if she's like Frieren.  Even with Flamme's will, she called that Serie would throw a fit about the request, but here we are all these years later and Serie's basically doing as she asked.  Serie will have her little outburst and her big speech about magic needing to be exclusive.  But over the years, she'll settle down from that argument, and she is going to miss her apprentice.

I just...really like Serie.  She's neat.

#frieren beyond journey's end #serie

[pythoria]

something about bg3 i find fascinating is just How Many characters are good and compelling. Usually with most media, be it games or tv shows or movies you have one or 2 characters you get attached to, but with baldur's gate i love almost every single character in their own way.

Astarion is instantly charming and witty, he's the sassy vampire who most people find themselves drawn to, but he's not the only compelling character by far. Gale takes some time to grow on you, but after you actually see how his story unfolds and maybe even romance him, you start understanding that he's just as hurt and sad as any of the other characters, groomed from a young age and misunderstood because of it. Astarion sees himself as just a body to be used, but Gale also thinks he's worthless deep down, especially after losing the bulk of his magic. He's passively suicidal and thinks his abuser is worth sacrificing everything for, and needs the whole camp to yell at him for being stupid to realise he might deserve to live and even, get this, find happiness.

Shadowheart's story and ending isn't talked about a lot, but it is HEARTBREAKING, and both endings for her are the only ones that actually brought tears to my eyes. In a similar way to other characters, her bad ending gives away a lot about her character, almost more than her good ending, and without spoiling it, i'll just say: it's impossible to make her character evil. she will always be governed by a sense of good and justice, and the only thing that goes wrong for her is being misguided and unable to turn back. Whatever she does, she does it because she thinks it's good and just.

I can't go in depth about every character, although they are all incredible, but honourable mentions for me are literally all the villains. Gortash is instantly compelling, and how could he not be with a voice actor like That. Him and Orin are also incredibly visually interesting, as well as their personalities being so magnetic. Ketheric is deeply tragic in his own way, act 2 is practically dedicated to his shattered family and it's so fascinating to see the shards of a broken man scattered across a broken, cursed land.

Raphael has the best theme song by far, he's overflowing with charisma, he speaks in riddles and verse, he's the perfect devil. He draws you in, you almost start to like him, and then you arrive at the House of Hope and the illusion both shatters and builds even further, because his lair is by far the best map in the entire game. You find out he only ever wants to sleep with himself, but that he's terrible in bed according to his succubus. You see people's lost souls pop in and out of existence, and you can only watch them beg for reprieve, but cannot interact. You see debtors crawling around rabidly on all fours, or worshipping his toilet, or sitting in front of his budoir, endlessly bound to watch him and his succubus through the peep hole but never allowed to join. And then there's the final fight, with its incredible song that everyone should experience for the first time in game.

So many compelling characters and i could write an essay about each one. i've barely scratched the surface, and i haven't even mentioned all the origin characters. it's just insane to me how detailed every story is, how they all have their own individual arcs and motivations and they're all fully fleshed out, and feel so god damn REAL. Yeah, bg3 should get GOTY, but honestly that's not even enough. The voice actors need oscars, the composer needs a grammy, and so on and so forth. what a game.

#pythoria.txt #bg3 #astarion #baldur's gate 3 #bg3 gale #bg3 spoilers

[rillils]

imagine post endgame bucky having to go alone, without someone to support him, to say sorry to all the people whos family he killed and he keeps saying that he didnt have a choice as his excuse

and he keeps thinking that its not a good enough excuse, that hes not good enough

no, you see, you see!! one of the things that made me uncomfortable about their treatment of Bucky, back when I was watching tf*ws, is precisely this

gonna slap this under a cut because BOY I have things to say

I WWILL NEVER STOP BEING MAD ABOUT THIS. I MEAN.

deciding that he has to apologize for all those deaths implies that he murdered those people willingly, while he was perfectly aware of his actions, of their consequences, and just did it anyways. so now, you know, he has to "atone for his sins", or make amends or whatever. so we're just going to send him off to those dead people's relatives to immolate himself because of course that's the only right thing to do. BUT idk, say what you will, this entire concept just sits wrong with me, I can't help it.

like first of all, we're acting as though killing all those people was a conscious choice on his part, as though he were completely 100% in control of himself and actively chose to murder a bunch of people, just because it suited him or something, when we know, WE FUCKING KNOW, WE HAVE BEEN LITERALLY SHOWN THIS, IT'S A RECURRING THEME IN AT LEAST 2 OF THE CAP MOVIES, that THIS. was NOT. the CASE. and fuck anyone who says any different tbh, mcu included

second, they might argue that by walking up to the victims' relatives and apologizing, Bucky's giving them closure or something, but. just. look at this from their point of view, right. as far as they're concerned, this is the guy who murdered their loved ones in cold blood, and he's just! walking free! getting away with murder(s), apparently without suffering any consequences whatsoever for all his crimes and all the grief he has caused. is that REALLY gonna give anyone closure? or is it just going to hurt them more/make them even angrier/unnecessarily reopen old wounds when there's nothing, really, that can heal or soothe them at this point, but rather just make them more painful than they already were????

so, it doesn't give them closure. and it sure as fuck doesn't give him closure, either.

they send him on this horrible, tragic, terrifying, sad errand, and all he gets out of it is torturing himself some more. seeing the pain and the hatred for him on all of these people's faces, the moment he says "yes, it was me, I pulled the trigger, I killed this person you loved". like, torture, yes, torture!! that's all this is!!! that's all it earns him!!! no peace of mind, no sense of closure, no hint of forgiveness! just more pain!!!!!!

just. I just hate this, you know, I just. I really, really hate this. I especially hate how, as you said, the way they insist on him having to personally apologize is just going to make him feel like his own hardships (aka being physically and emotionally tortured until he broke down and had his identity, agency and free will stripped away from him) were just "an excuse". as though a victim (because THAT'S what he is, THAT'S what he always was, a victim himself) needed an excuse for all his suffering. as if he brought it upon himself. as if he was "asking for it".

nah, all of this, it's just going to make his sense of guilt grow stronger and deeper over time, making him feel even more Unworthy (unworthy of love, unworthy of acceptance, unworthy of living a normal life after everything he's been put through, unworthy of friendship, unworthy of being seen as a whole person, as a human rather than a murderer) than he already felt before, making his own pain so overwhelmingly powerful that he might end up feeling like his entire existence is a mistake, and everybody would be better off if he just wasn't around anymore. and that's just so horrifying that I refuse to contemplate it.

#stucky just stucky #personal #like most of the time i feel like they just *hate* him down at the mcu quarters you know #it's like all they're interested in doing with him is just 'hey let's see how much more crap we can throw at this character' #just for funsies lmao #and i'm not even going to touch on what they did to steve (and - by proxy - to bucky himself) or i'll never shut up at all #i'm really sorry i went on a tangent honey #i just have way too many feelings about this 😭😭😭

[gwenllian-in-the-abbey]

Aegon ii story is filled with so much tragedy, i truly hope the showrunners do some justice to it and be swayed by the fandom hatred for his character.

Well anon, it sounds to me that if they're doing one thing right this season, it's Aegon's character, which of course makes me more excited for S2. Most of the reviews have singled out Aegon as being more entertaining, nuanced, and compelling than they expected. Of course, fans of book!Aegon know that he has one of the more fleshed out character arcs in the Dance, right up there with Rhaenyra, but unlike Rhaenyra, whose personality popped out more on the page, Aegon's personality is a lot more open to interpretation. I don't know if they realized they overdid it a bit making him villainous in S1 (inviting Joffrey comparisons when really he's more of a Theon with shades of Bobby B?) and are now course correcting, or if they always wanted sympathies for him to emerge more gradually, but whatever it is, I'm glad they're doing more with his character. After all, unless they go wildly off book, Aegon is going to be on our screens longer than almost anyone else in the main cast save Alicent, and has one of the meatier storylines in the back half of the Dance, so the audience needs to have some investment in his character's arc to tolerate him remaining on screen as we start to lose other favorites, even if they're not actively rooting for him.

Of course, a lot of the good response to Aegon so far is down to TGC's acting, and I think that will probably continue to be the case. He's really a tremendously talented individual who puts a lot of thought into his performance. He's made it clear that he's read the book and understands Aegon's arc, while also respecting the show as its own beast, which I think some of us (notice I say us because I do include myself in that number!) book purists do struggle with. He has repeatedly referred to Aegon as a tragic character, and has said that his journey is only just beginning, and I think that Aegon's character is in very good hands with him as an actor.

I think the biggest potential for Condal to cock it up is in the handling of Aegon's injury and disability, so the back half of S2 should be telling. Also, later seasons will not have a writers' strike to contend with, so if the writing for Aegon is strong this season, I can't imagine it getting worse when they're able to incorporate improv and do on-set rewrites. But yeah, currently Aegon is the least of my concerns about the show, which is actually a pleasant surprise and a nice change of pace.

#asks #aegon ii targaryen #hotd critical #tom glynn carney

[susandsnell]

🌻

I almost missed this one!!

I'm a big fan of all kinds of gothic romances, absolutely morally bankrupt characters (and the fucked up ways they might fall in love or lust or obsession or something in between), villains and foes and psychosexual nightmares, all that good stuff. I do not believe fiction needs to be moral or didactic in this respect. I say this as a preface to what I have to say next because I think it's a genuinely unpopular opinion:

This is an Edward Rochester hate zone.

I cannot abide this man. I hated him when I was thirteen, and I hate him at twenty-five. (I believe I once wrote "he should have gotten crispy in that fire" in some free reading assignment or other.) His Byronicisms all fall just in the wrong way for me, in large part because they are gross in a way that feels painfully real that isn't fun to read about, and they aren't tempered by any traits to recommend him. I find him not at all interesting and entirely unsympathetic. The only time I ever liked him was when he was doing the most with the drag act, but even then that was pretty loaded.

This all makes him a realistic jerk so he is perhaps well-constructed and well-written, but I for the life of me have never gotten the appeal of this dickwad. He's so mired in his own privilege and unearned self-pity that I genuinely find him to be insufferable. This is a bit bizarre to me as I have adored characters who have done objectively far worse and behaved far more cruelly and violently than he ever did, but again, as asserted earlier - I can get into an awful person being awful if they're doing so in a way that's interesting to witness, and/or if this is balanced out by humanizing elements. Heathcliff abuses women and children and kills innocent animals and he's still intensely sympathetic. Sweeney Todd did all of that and I feel for his plight and love his wry sense of humour and capacity for deep love. The Vampire Chronicles' entire thesis is that even the truly monstrous among us are made human by their ability to connect to art and to one another. To clarify, I know that a character need not have suffered/had a tragic backstory to be sympathetic or interesting just as people we know don't require xyz to be deserving of compassion (for instance I enjoy Dracula being The Worst because he's interesting, he's irredeemable with some zazz), but in terms of what he feels and how he acts, I cannot find any avenue for this connection to come in. I know that it's not uncommon as a modern reader to feel horror for Bertha Mason rather than at her (and it's not '''purity culture"/Puriteens/whatever paper skinned English majors are coming up with now to dismiss any critical discussion of books they like to feel this way!), and this plays a large part in my reading, but he's also cruel and dehumanizing to Jane in a way that feels very much like a Victorian era equivalent of negging/overpraise, which strikes exactly the wrong nerve in me compared to other destructive romances I've liked. That's not to say that one is more or less realistic than another, and comes down to personal bias, but I feel what I feel, and this is a free opinion sunflower emoji ask lolol.

I understand Jane Eyre and like most of it. I understand what a huge step it was as a protofeminist work, the reversing of the power balance by having him be humbled and reliant on her by the end, the emphasis on Jane's freewill and self-worth in the face of her horrific struggles and turmoil.

I cannot grasp wanting to be around this man for more than five minutes. Truly no judgment to those who get something out of this guy, but I just Don't See It.

#posts that will get me kicked out of gothic literature fandom #i'm interested in hearing people's counterpoints on why they like him #less so in debates on this post lolol #no judgment to anyone on either end of this love you all xoxo

[breakaway71]

ANIJATP PLEASE

aaaaaaaahhhh I love this fic SO MUCH but I uuuuhhhh legitimately sort of forgot it existed until like a week ago when I found it on my flashdrive and was like DID I WRITE THIS IN A FEVER DREAM OR SOMETHING?? So this is my JATP/Animorphs crossover, which is mostly canon-compliant for both universes, except the Yeerk war ended more quietly than in the books, so they were still secret at the end. Essentially, Reggie was also an Animorph, getting caught up in it by virtue of being Marco's older cousin, who was visiting when Elfangor crashed in the construction site. The war ended, and a couple months later Reggie ate a bad hot dog and died anyway. (Yup I managed to make hot dog death even more ironic and tragic.) The story picks up post-S1, and Reggie is struggling because his friends still don't know his secret, and he also misses his other team and wants to know that they made it, that they're okay, that they recovered from the war and losing Rachel everything else that happened to them. Also I accidentally made it Marco/Ax :D snippet:

“Reg?” he hears from far away. “Dude, what’s wrong?”

“I…” Reggie shakes his head, coming back to himself all at once to find that he’s shaking all over, jaw clenched around a scream. “No, I’m, um. I’m fine.”

“You don’t look fine,” Alex says, and Reggie turns to find him hovering at his other shoulder, looking worried.

“Bad dream,” Reggie mumbles, and can’t miss the look Luke and Alex exchange. Because, yeah, they’ve seen him zone out before, but it doesn’t happen to them. He doesn’t know if it’s a trauma thing or just a himthing, and honestly doesn’t want to know. “Look, it’s fine. I’m all good.” He tries for a smile and knows it falls short when Luke crowds in closer, reaching out to grab Reggie’s shoulders.

“Hey,” he says. “You know you can talk to us, right?”

Reggie just barely stops himself from snorting. Yeah, he can talk to them. He can tell them all his wartime trauma stories, and then wave goodbye as they cart him off to a rubber room for ghosts. Sounds fun.

“I…”

“Whatever stupid thing you’re about to say,” Alex says, “don’t.” He nudges Reggie’s side. “Come on, you think we didn’t notice all those times you disappeared on us? We knew something was going on. You don’t have to tell us what it was, but it’s obviously still bugging you, dude. We’re your best friends. We’ll listen if you want us to. You know that, right?”

Reggie shakes his head, not because he doesn’t know, and not because he doesn’t want to talk to them, but because he promised. Because even if he could tell them everything (and he can, he knows he can, they’re ghosts now and even if the Yeerks were still on Earth, his friends would be safe by default because they don’t have bodies to infest), he wouldn’t know where to start.

Once upon a time, I was visiting my cousin, and he and his best friend and a few other kids dragged me through this construction site on our way home from the mall. A dying alien crash landed his ship right in front of us, and suddenly playing bass with you guys wasn’t the most important thing in my world, no matter how much I still wanted it to be.

“I can’t…I…” Reggie swallows. In a much smaller voice, he says, “I promised. A long time ago.” It’s the only excuse he has. “I’m sorry.”

Another look is exchanged, but then Luke and Alex are hugging him, one on either side, and for a little while, that’s the only thing that matters.

#julie and the phantoms #animorphs #crossover shenanigans #ask meme #snippet

[margridarnauds]

@too-fond-to-be-fearful @moonlarking

Okay, so Fomoire Drama Time --

Generally, with criticism of CMT, we say that you have about three generations represented in the text -- there's the older members of the Tuatha Dé (the Dagda, Ogma, Nuadu), a middle generation (Míach, Airmed, Bres, Óengus), and a younger, up and coming generation (Lug). Lug is born during Bres' reign, but Bres is still a generation behind people like the Dagda. (And yeah, you'll notice how screwed and tragic Bres' generation is, sharing it with Míach.) (In headcanon territory, I also like to think that Bres is of an age with Étaín, even if she doesn't show up here.)

We have less on the Fomoire, so this is not me speaking as an Academic, it's me pointing out different strands and what I make of them on an informal level. You have older members of the Fomoire -- Balor, Indech, Elatha, and Tethra seem to be the hard hitters, since they're the ones who are invading Ireland during Bres' reign. Indech and Elatha are both described as kings of the Fomoire, and Balor is old enough to have a daughter of marriageable age when the TDD invade Ireland. Therefore, as two young adults at about the same time, Ethniu is likely of an age, roughly, with Bres, the two cousins are both part of that middle generation. (And then her son makes Bres' life a living Hell.)

But then we see this...sort of shadow generation that you catch glimpses of in the actual battle. Balor's twelve sons, who don't do all that much. The sons of Tethra, who are more useful of Tochmarc Emire.

Bres' son, Ruadán, who is described as being a man but, by all the laws of mathematics, he couldn't have been more than 30 when he died, and I'd honestly wager for early twenties as far as age. And the text specifies that, when he dies, he dies "in the presence of his father." We focus a lot on Bríg in this scene, understandably given it's a very poignant scene and really shows the cost of this conflict on the mothers, but no one ever points out that *he died in BRES' PRESENCE.* When I really want to hurt myself, I like to think about what "in his presence" meant. Did he collapse at Bres' feet? Did Bres hold him when he died? Did he collapse a little bit further away, so Bres only just missed being able to hold his son one last time? Was he too shocked to do anything? Bres isn't given any other children by the text, even though we see him with other children in other texts. There's one Dindshenchas text, the Dindshenchas of Bréfne, which gives Bres a daughter, Indusa/Innus, who dies via a deed of "manly might", in a tract that mentions Balor's army. Did she die fighting for...or against the Fomoire? Or did she die in a separate conflict? Either way, it wasn't natural. In that same tract, Bres is called "búain" -- "lasting, enduring; constant, firm, persevering." In the Dindshenchas of Cairn huí Néit, Bres is described as having died "without prosperous issue." I'm not saying that the implication in all three texts is that Bres outlived any and all children that he had, but I think that's a reading you could make. And this is AFTER his father demonstrated, very clearly, that he was kind of embarrassed by him and really pulling away from him, adding another layer of disfunction to the mix.

And then you have whatever the Hell's going on with Indech's line. Specifically, his daughter. She isn't given a name. She's always "Indech's daughter", she's described as being strikingly beautiful, and she has sex with the Dagda. She leaves the Fomoire for the Tuatha Dé. She's not really discussed all that often, but I have a lot of thoughts about her. (No, really, ask me about my thoughts on her and specifically how I'm interested in adapting her.) She and Ethniu are both Fomorian women who go to the Tuatha Dé, one as part of an arranged marriage, the other because the sex was great. I sometimes wonder how she fared after everything, as a foreigner whose father was one of the invaders. Did she form an alliance with the other Fomoire who were there? Did she mourn her father's death? Did she not care? Regardless, she's remarkably proactive, strong-willed, and sharp in the one scene we get of her.

His son Ochtriallach only gets a couple of lines but HE'S weird as well, more to come on that. He doesn't die, but he does pop up a little bit -- he fights and kills two of the Tuatha Dé's poets and is the one who orders the Tuatha Dé's healing wells to be stopped after Ruadán's death. Which. I can understand why some retellings make it so that it's Bres who gives that order, because it's WEIRD. It isn't said to be explicitly in response to Ruadán's death, but it's put so closely next to it that it's hard not to draw a connection. (Yes...I headcanon the two of them as lovers. OBVIOUSLY not present in the original text, I'm not claiming it is, but we know I'm always trying to make CMT gayer. I also headcanon the Daughter of Indech and Indusa as being girlfriends, because apparently Indech's line has a Thing for Bres'.)

And then we have Duirgen. Who does not appear in CMT, but in a later Dindshenchas tract, where we learn that she found out her mother was having sex with a slave instead of her father, told her father, and in vengeance, her mother told Indech, who was a kinsman of hers, to take revenge on Duirgen. He propositioned Duirgen, who fought back, and he finally killed her. I think about her more than I probably should given that she's a character who appears so briefly. That Indech actually tried to have sex with this girl whose mother is at least a kinswoman of his, who, by all implications, seems to be much younger than him. That she was just...tossed aside like that. The way her story links up with that unnamed daughter's, as both of them are kinswomen of Indech who defy him.

The point is that we don't get much on the younger generation of the Fomoire, I wouldn't argue the point TOO strongly, but I think it's very possible to make a reading that says that the Fomoire were portrayed, both in this text and in some of the later texts, as falling apart at the seams, and I think about them very much in the mode of Greek tragedy (that's not INCLUDING Balor's story, since that's another example of Fomorian Family Drama). The Tuatha Dé are going to eventually (and in the early modern recension, they ARE), but at least they have a Lug. At least they have an Óengus. Or an Airmed. Relationships between parents and children among the TDD are strained, but they EXIST, whereas with the Fomoire...it feels like this generation (and the slightly older generation) is being eaten alive. They don't have a Lug, they don't have a future. They are going to be utterly destroyed, either in exile (voluntary or not), dead from the war, or the victims of their own family members.

[smokestarrules]

Please explain warrior nun to me. I wasn’t interested at first but you make it seem so cool I want to learn :)

I WILL explain it to you. Saddle up because I'm prepared to ramble. There will be spoilers. If you'd like another summary w/o spoilers, let me know!

First: our main character, Ava Silva. At the start of the show, she's a paraplegic and orphaned 19 year-old girl who is, quite literally, dead in the first scene. She is snarky, a little clueless but not innocent, and most importantly, she wants more than anything to live.

This is Sister Beatrice!!! She's the love interest, technically, but she's not the only one (just more of an important character than the other), and she's also so much more than that. She is a prodigious warrior who fights for the OCS; The Order of the Cruciform Sword, which is a sect of Catholic nuns that fight demons for the good of the people. She is good at everything with the exception of Not Being Gay, which is, incidentally, the reason she was sent to a Catholic boarding school in the first place. Suffice to say, her parents suck.

There's also a wide cast of incredible characters; we have (from right to left) Mary, who is The Coolest and also, somehow, more of an older sister figure than the actual sisters; Lilith, who's a bit of a bitch but we still love her, Father Vincent, who's also a bit of a bitch but we tolerate him, and then on the far left, there's Camila, who is simultaneously the Cutest and also the Smartest. (also not pictured here is Mother Superion, whom we also love.)

This show has so many good women characters. You will become obsessed with at least one of them. At least.

Essentially, Warrior Nun's plot depends on the use of the Halo, which is a literal Angel's Halo (or is it?) that fuses itself to the spine of one special nun, the Warrior Nun, who is then given the ability to see demons and also other various superpowers. However, because of its immense power, demons and other forces are constantly trying to seize the Halo for themselves, and due to a tragic series of events, a panicked nun has to give Ava the Halo.

Ava, who is dead at the time.

And it brings her back to life. Not only that, but it gives her the ability to walk for the first time since she was, like, four years old. Also, it gives her superpowers, too, but whatever.

So basically, Warrior Nun is about Ava trying to balance her will to live her life now alongside with the new duties that the OCS are trying to put on her. They can't take the Halo out, because it may kill her. Something something jesus parallels, something something taking the time to have the characters work things out for themselves, and you get this show. I cannot emphasize enough the character writing.

(Also it has one of the best sapphic slowburns I've seen in a show ever. They hit so many good tropes in such a well-paced manner. I can't even describe how well they're written. What the fuck.)

So. Watch Warrior Nun. We need a season 3!!

#this show is just. so good. SO good you guys #season one is a solid 8/10 #season two is 11/10 at LEAST #watch it. please #warrior nun #ava silva #sister beatrice #shotgun mary #sister lilith #sister camila #father vincent #mother superion

[callmegaith]

Hey! I'm just wondering where you got the idea to start shipping Dale and David? (Cool art btw!) As far as I know they've met thru Birthday but are they related in any other way?

Oh boy. Okay. This is gonna be all over the place.

So birthday, you get the letter from David saying he's sorry and all that. Yeah. Dale and David are connected, we just don't know how yet. Something important to David was for whatever reason in Dale's home.

But really the appeal just comes from what if scenarios. Both Dale and David are victims of their circumstances. David made Dale the person he is. He set him on the path of the lake, doom pretty much. And seeing he was remorseful for that in his letter, I like to imagine a world where David is doing his best to undo the damage he's done....

And so Down the Rabbit Hole is born. (If you haven't read it, I feel like it explores my idea for their dynamic better than my rambly post can. It's a comic series I'm working on exploring Dale and David's relationship during David's own paradox journey)

To me they are like two people chasing each other for opposite reasons. David just wants forgiveness so he can let go of the guilt of what he has done to Dale, and Dale wants peace of mind and an end to the trauma that the events of that day caused him... Or revenge even.

The potential of those two just... Meeting again, talking, and David finally having the chance to clear everything up to Dale can make for something so beautifully tragic. There's a story to be told here, not necessarily romantic. But a good tragic story about healing and moving on which is what I want for both of them more than anything. David has turned his back on the Lake. He has betrayed his gods and ran away unlike the rest of the souls at the bottom of the lake, and Jakob wanted to hunt him down and kill him for that. He's been up to something we don't know since then and that eventually led him to Dale. And I just imagine a world where the two of them become the characters that break the cycle of the Lake.

It's the star crossed trope really. With all the jumping around and changing pasts and futures in this game, the idea of them being doomed in every loop, every universe, every recreation. It's appealing to me. Just two people who are broken, running circles around one another but never being able to reach out to finally break the loop. And so they're stuck, never being able to move on while desperately wanting to. And there's just something so MWAH, chef kiss, about the tragedy of them.

So TLDR??? Makebelieve and doomed yaoi :)

It's really hard to explain and I do it better with art than words. I'm not very good with explaining things so I'm sorry if this made 0 sense. But hope it answered your question well enough or that at least Down the Rabbit Hole gave you a better idea than this xD (tho Down the Rabbit Hole is not a ship comic, it just shows the dynamic and idea I have for them)

Generally, the ideas I have for them aren't specifically romantic. I just like dudes kissing :)

(which I never even drew them doing except for a meme)

So yeah, gay, not gay, I just want the two of them to meet again and reconcile.

#asks! #thanks for writing! #ship: jackalope #comic: DTRH #actual TLDR: #its the appeal of the tragedy of them #RL: lore and theories

[jorisjurgen]

13?

Worst blorbofication:

Chara Undertale because they make fandom actively insufferable. I don't even know where to begin, from the fact that I've received death threats for not liking the popular headcanon that Chara and Asriel were siblings, to acknowledging what Asriel said at the end of the game about them mistreating him and that it was really unlucky that he met them, how he wished he met Frisk instead, even if he still loves Chara despite that. (I've seen people claim that it's "insane" to imply a child could abuse another child, and like... I was NOT beaten violently every single day for eight years by other kids at school and developed CPTSD about it just to hear this opinion.)

Chara, a bitter child who, like many children in real life, acts violently and cruelly due to their life dealing them a bad hand. Who acts that way towards their only friend, who loved them unconditionally in his innocence. And being blinded to it by their hatred for humanity, hatred that is more powerful than desire their desire to live, they squandered it for a revenge plot of killing all humans. Then, them having to see what happened after they died by tagging along with Frisk as a ghost, how wrong they were about killing all of humanity because Frisk is nice, and what their ideas did to Asriel, and changing their mind, but it being far too late to change anything and redeem themself, because they're dead, and Asriel is changed beyond recognition, trapped in a body he hates, is far better storytelling than the popular headcanon, and at the very least, much closer to what happens in-game, with their presence largely being an implication. (And cough cough. Flowey is Asriel. Asriel is Flowey. And he was beaten to death and his body and mind were ruined by the trauma, physical and mental. He's physically disabled by his physical trauma, and he hates being disabled and having PTSD. I am tired of pretending otherwise or that "oogh flowey turns back into asriel and gets a happy ending and he's good, and can walk, and isn't mentally ill and evil anymore!" fanfiction don't annoy me.)

Or, like, that people saying they were "suicidal" when they fell, on accident, into a fucking hole, doesn't make me insane. When it's the first thing the player ever sees.

Unlike Frisk, who is implied to have come on purpose, either to actually end their life or because of something else, in their heart-to-heart with Asriel at the end of the game. Not that anyone cares.

I LOVE CHARA, WITH ALL MY HEART, but GOD I wish people loved them like I do. They're interesting, they're tragic, they fucked up so bad at such a young age, because of their skewed worldview and cruelty, and they will never get to apologize to Asriel or get better beyond whatever development might have happened in the pacifist route. Because they're dead.

And it makes me so sad that other people reduce them like that.

#ro.txt #ask games #undertale #ut #me posting this to main tags is rent lowering gunshots #chara #asriel dreemurr #flowey #NEVER get into ut in 2015 and watch ppl with no reading comprehension get into the game. WORST mistake of my life

[ruby-red-inky-blue]

so i finally got my hands on a copy of Grimm's fairy tales again and The Frog Prince is still so fun and baffling to me:

just a reminder that it starts with the coolest opening line of all time: "In den alten Zeiten, wo das Wünschen noch geholfen hat..." (In the olden times, where wishes could still aid...)

confusingly, the focal character of this fairy tale is not the frog* but the princess, which is an underrated fact (and another thing that made me feral about Neverafter because Gerard giving up his name for Elody's is actually the ideal reasoning for why this story seemingly just refuses to have the obvious protagonist be the protagonist)

there's a theme going on where the princess AND the person-turned-frog* are both very childlike outside the castle and then framed as much more marriage age and/or sex-aware age inside: the princess is playing with a toy and cries loudly over losing it and the frog expressly asks to be her "Geselle und Spielkamerad" (companion and playmate!) at the well, not her husband or bedmate or anything

(the appendix mentions an earlier version where he demands to be the "Schätzchen" (sweetheart) of whatever princess comes to the well right out the gate)

but then inside the castle the princess is expected to be responsible and true to her word like an adult and also reacts with a lot of disgust specifically to the idea of the frog* being in her bed and soiling her clean sheets (they're really going in on those sheets), and rates this as far worse than having him eat out of the same bowl of soup as her.

and the frog* demands to specifically sleep in her bed with her

There's an interpretation that this fairy tale is a metaphor for the princess's sexual awakening and how she has to come to terms with herself as a sexual entity (i paraphrased this kinda poorly from memory, for more info see here in the German wikipedia entry of the fairy tale), and so far all of this would work for that.

The whole nature/culture split is a big deal in German lit of the time, so that's also an angle to look at it.

But then once they're alone the frog* says he wants to sleep in the bed simply because he wants to sleep "as well as she does"? It's really hard to say if this even is a metaphor for sex on his part or if he genuinely just wants to have her life for a bit?

Completely unrelated to any of this but the frog takes a full day to make it from the well to the door of the dining hall, which is deeply tragic and very funny

The frog* is kind of dick. He's also a fucking snitch: "Take me into your bed or I will tell your father!" (direct quote)

She doesn't just throw him against a wall. She throws him against a wall "aus allen Kräften" (with all her might) and says "Nun wirst du Ruhe haben, du garstiger Frosch" (Now you'll have your rest, you disgusting frog!). She straight up tries to murder this frog*.

Upon which he's immediately transformed not just into any prince, but specifically a prince with "schönen und freundlichen Augen" (beautiful and kind eyes)? i'm pretty sure that was never in the more modern versions and it should be

Also, yes he immediately becomes her husband/betrothed "nach ihres Vaters Willen" (as per her father's wish), which is very funny because it does read very "listen kid I would really prefer if you married the handsome young stranger I made you take into your bed with you. I really think we'd both look bad if you didn't."

i am however surprisingly touched by the insta-marriage part because it is SO soft for a Grimm fairy tale actually? He doesn't just become her husband, he becomes her "lieber Geselle und Gemahl" (dear companion and husband), which is? actually very sweet? Because I really do get friendship-based marriage from that.

Post wedding a whole 1.5 lines (which is kind of a lot of real estate for a fairy tale, and just as long as the info we get on them getting married!) is devoted to them just falling asleep together and being woken by the sun the next morning?

Iron Henry remains both so touching and so confusing to me. Touching because a) this dude just loves his young master so much. He probably raised this kid! He was devastated to see him gone! He's so fucking happy for him! b) Heinrich's inclusion is actually, in tandem with the "kind eyes" part, really interesting in regards to the princess. Because both of that screams, this man is a great choice for you. He is kind. Even his subordinates love him so much that his misery nearly killed them.

Confusing because yes, I know why**, but it is still a hilarious unending mystery to me why the guy who was this upset about his master getting cursed wouldn't just, you know. Hang out with him by the well?? And give that kid some fucking company???

* I had a little ramble in the tags at some point about how weird it was that the English translation makes him a frog prince instead of the Froschkönig, frog king - because if he's a king, he's probably an orphan. If he's a prince, his father (and possibly living mother) are just the worst parents? Iron Henry knows that his master was turned into a frog (which is wild, see above), but then he would have told the king! They must have known what happened to him! Don't they have a well at their castle?** This spawned a top-five throwaway line of parental abandonment on D20 (and that is saying something!): "Yeah, they haven't looked for me that hard. I've been missing." Like yeah! In a world where a prince can make his whole kingdom look for a woman whose shoe he found, you'd think the world would be on the lookout for a missing prince???

Anyway the confusing reveal from the og Grimm's version is... it's... both? The title says Froschkönig, but then after the frog collides with a castle wall there appears a "Königssohn" (literally king's son, a prince) with kind eyes? But then when Henry comes with the carriage to take The Man Formerly Known As Frog and his new wife to his realm, he is referred to only as the young king? Listen, this is not new. These stories do not give a flying fuck about internal cohesion, but in this specific case there are so many implications to it and it will never stop making the wheels in my brain go brrrr.

** I knooow this is a fairy tale, and they don't work like that and I'm looking too hard at a thing I should accept as given. He was cursed to live as a frog in a well until x event breaks his curse. Chances are this curse included "you must be an anonymous frog in a well, basically dead to all your subordinates and loved ones and removed from all your luxuries". I still think this is fascinating and i rotate this in my head at all times.

good luck trying to figure out what the trigger for breaking the curse was btw! "until you have enraged a young woman by being too forward"? "until a woman is so disgusted by you she attempts manslaughter/frogslaughter"? Just "until a princess throws you against a wall"? He does even say "sie allein" (she alone) could have broken his curse, which opens up more questions. She alone as in, a woman who now (inexplicably) loves him? That doesn't work because she definitely did not love him when she threw him against the wall. She alone because she was the closest princess? Or she alone as in, this specific princess and nobody else? Because she is so beautiful it surprises the sun every time it shines on her face (verbatim quote)? Because no other woman could have thrown him that hard??? We'll never know and I think that's hilarious, actually.

#yes i will do ANYTHING to not work on my degree thank you for asking #i love this story so much. it makes no sense. it has? no moral? i love it so much #(i'm very proud of the dumb frog prince/artist formerly known as prince joke. someone please tell me they laughed at it) #the longer i think about that witch cursing the prince/king the funnier #'you broke my curse! a cricket shot a rocket at me!' becomes #also once again so so many kudos to murph for a) pulling the .5 % of characterisation out of a fairy tale #('once i'm a prince again you're fired!' and 'i'm a castle frog' are genuinely excellent spins on the og frog) #and still b) managing to make the character likeable. these stories aren't FOR that. it's genuinely so impressive to me. #carrie reads #brothers grimm #the frog prince #literature #fairy tales #neverafter #prince gerard of greenleigh #<- mostly unrelated but i'll want this in the tag

[vampcubus]

Your fabolousness Queen Ashi, it is I, poll nonnie or a nonnie named desire.~ just kidding you can call me whatever. Anyways I thank you ever so kindly for giving me the chance to share my tragic story and unburden myself. Oh and that phrase you like is a spanish saying. One of my favorites that i try to live by. I believe you could use it in this time of need, because though I haven't expressed it you have my support. As I said previously fuck dem kids. Best thing you can do sometimes is not acknowledge the squealing, don’t give foolishness a platform. There's enough of that already.

Now, I will try to make it brief, but I tend to ramble, so I may require two parts. But I'll try to get to the point. So, without further ado, hit it with the sad violin music or Sarah McClellan.

I must begin by saying that I do not receive much male validation... like ever. Which is strange because I have an ample bosom and a winning personality, but alas men will fuck a mcchicken sandwich but they won't fuck me. I have found however that they do fuck with me quite often. See, ever since I was a girl, I've been the object of cruel pranks where I would be asked out as a joke. Boys had no qualms using me as a sort of penalty of a low bar of attractiveness if you will and that remained through grade school. Thing is everyone said you will thrive in college and that happened to some of my friends, but not me. Even in college nothing ever really happened, and I was always more invested in the interactions than the men were. So I've learned to pick up cues and behavioral patterns to know when I'm being led on, or when they're waiting for me to put out.

This all leads to a couple days ago. You read that right. Mere days ago I reconnected with someone from early college through Facebook, a den of foolishness and evil. Being graced with male validation I was gleefully happy for the first couple interactions. I returned to my youthful girlish days of squealing when I got a message.

My grave sin, is I caught myself simping. *Simping* for a human male when I swore to myself and vowed by the queens Ruby and Teresa that I would *never* be caught simping for a man unless that happened to be Leon Sexy Kennedy in the fucking flesh. Needless to say, the man I was tragically simping for is far from a Leon. I wouldn't even consider him an Ethan Winters (less beloved but perhaps equally devoted lover). I decided to stage an intervention and request assistance in this endeavor from some bad bitches because that could not stand. No it would not stand. Homeboy was leaving me on read. Taking hours to reply. Sending single sentences responses? I knew the signs. I knew them well, I had not put out. Or perhaps he had realized that he'd drunk messaged me. Regardless it would not stand that interaction though only days brief would end by my terms dammit. I just needed some reassurance that I was doing the right thing, because a softer. Weaker part of myself kept making excuses for this fool. So thank you again your fabolousness, and if you've made it this far you are a real gem. I sincerely thank you for helping me remember my worth because Queen Ruby didn't get her face burned so that I would simp for a common peasant who can't be bothered to send a timely reply.

“alas men will fuck a mcchicken sandwich but won’t fuck me” TOOK ME OUTTTTT 😭😂

PLEASE I JUST GOT HOME FROM A HARD DAY AT WORK AND YOU GOT ME DYINGGGG /POS. “i wouldn’t even consider him an Ethan winters” DRAG HIMMM 👹

i could listen to you ramble about your life all day i am so entertained. your storytelling skills >>> i’m glad metaphorically kicked that guy the the curb cus you deserve better queen 😤 especially with a personality and sense of humor like yours.

#‧₊🧛🏻‍♀️˚⊹ ashi rambles #poll anon