#a more profound bond

[prosopopeya]

i don't have any new fic for this nov 5 but may i repost a thematically appropriate fic of mine:

right to lose control - a four seasons total landscaping/fantasy bookshop au ft. a splash of November 5 accidental press conference antics, rated E, ~8500 words

preview:

It starts innocently enough. Dean wants to buy new porn, that's all. And a butt plug. Innocent things. Casual purchases for a guy who's recently admitted to himself and everyone else that he's into dudes, so he's free to indulge in the things he'd have shied away from before. No, he's out now. Charlie dragged him to a gay club, and Sam has a pride bumper sticker that Dean hates on principle for ruining his car, but his car's already ruined for being what it is, so.

It's a very regular Thursday afternoon, and Dean's going to buy some things to start exploring a new area of his life, and he's, maybe, a little, excited. Nervous, too, and it all jangles around inside of him, making him itchy and jumpy and twitchy in a way that's got him feeling almost drunk.

The Fantasy Island Adult Store has been down the block from his landscaping business for a while now, and he's been in there before (duh), but the old owner was a major creep, and Dean wasn't interested in being skeeved on while he browsed skeevy porn. But there's a new owner now, and the Google reviews are pretty good. Hey--support local businesses, right? Maybe the guy'll need Dean to mow his lawn, which is a thought that has Dean almost (almost, thanks) nervously giggling to himself as he steps inside.

It's bright, brighter than before, and the long, narrow store has been sectioned off by white shelves, all the better to show off the neon pink dildos, he guesses. Like, that's probably actually the case; that makes sense from a purely logical level and also from the level that has Dean staring at them, knowing full well he's not ready to take that step yet, but also, y'know. Thinking about it.

"Hello. Can I help you?"

Dean missed the person working here because of the dildos, yes, but also because he's in a corner off to the side, surrounded by cardboard boxes. There's dust smudged on his nose, and his hair has fallen over his forehead, and his eyes--a bright, piercing blue--look out from underneath with a steady, almost unblinking gaze.

The guy tilts his head, squints. "Are you okay?"

Right. Words. People use them.

"Um, hi. Yeah, sorry." He clears his throat and opens his hand, has a full second to worry if it's weirdly sweaty as he starts to extend it, has another second to wonder if he could get away with wiping it on his pants at this point, and then it's all over because the guy is shaking his hand, still looking confused. "I'm Dean. Winchester. Over at Winchester Total Landscaping?"

He looks from Dean's eyes to their hands still linked together and back up, and Dean has a full-body panic over whether or not people actually still shake hands anymore before the guy's shoulders drop, and he stands up a little straighter.

"Castiel Milton."

Dean nods a beat too long, holds Castiel's hand a beat too long, until he lets go finally.

read the rest on ao3

#supernatural #a more profound bond #destiel #deancas #destiel fic #deancas fic #in the spirit of the season #my favorite bit is that in researching the press conference #the people who owned four seasons total landscaping were like #man we really wished we'd painted that wall before all this happened

[im-some-lionheart]

#Destielmonth Day 3: Fight

They don't fight often, but when they do it's a whole thing.

They shout, and question everything they think they know about the other, and say things they regret the second the dust settles. They frown and stare angrily and push each other into walls –and a part of Dean always struggles to not get turned on by that.

There's just something about being thrown around like a rag doll that will do things to a man's brain.

Anyway.

.

The thing about Cas is, he's one stubborn motherfucker. Once he gets an idea into that devastatingly handsome head of his, it takes an entire army to change his mind. And sometimes, not even that'll do it.

It's infuriating how, after all these years, he still thinks it's smart to hide things from Dean. Or how he insists on doing everything by himself and sometimes disappears for days on end. It pisses Dean off so much, that Cas still doesn't realize just how needed he is.

.

The thing about Dean is, he's too simple. And too much of a martyr for his own good. Things are either right or they're wrong, and that's it. He's got one mission in life and that is to protect everyone he encounters. That mission comes before everything else, even Dean's own well-being. And if he fails to fulfill that mission, or if things go sideways, he crumbles.

And, because he refuses to acknowledge it, he almost never does the work of putting himself back together again. He cares too much, about everything. Yet he refuses to let anyone take care of him.

He's too simple, and too fragile, and too beautiful. It's exasperating.

.

.

They don't fight often, and thank God they don't. Because when they do, it's devastating.

It's half-truths spat at each other, and charged silences, and pleading eyes and broken whispers of “please, don't.”

Dean drinks and he fumes and Cas disappears for days. And the bed feels so goddamn cold when it's half empty.

.

They don't fight often, but when they do, the make up sex is amazing.

All soft kisses and finger pads brushing over every millimeter of skin and almost reverential whispers of “I love you” and “I'm sorry” .

They recite their apologies like a mantra into each other's ears, like a prayer that will wash away all the anger and the hurt and make them worthy of each other's love again.

.

They don't fight often, but when they do, it's in their own terms.

It's so passionate and hungry, so chaotic and alluring, that no one else could ever understand it. But them.

Their fights are rare but they're just another expression of the same energy vortex that has binded them together from the second Castiel laid a hand on Dean in hell. Their bond takes a million shapes and the tears and the scoffs are just another form for it to wrap them together into the jagged spiral of their love.

.

They don't fight often, but when they do, even the fights are sacred and beautiful and free. Like them.

#destielmonth22 #destielmonth #destiel #otp: i did it all of it for you #deancas #spn #supernatural #dean x castiel #castiel x dean #dean winchester #castiel supernatural #castiel the gay angel #destiel angst #angst with a happy ending #destiel fic #destiel fanfiction #destiel fanfic #destiel ficlet #Destiel fighting #a more profound bond #profound bond

[crackers4jenn]

spn is such a funny show, it'll be like:

Naomi tells Cas he has to choose "us, or them" and 'them' is meant to imply Sam and Dean both, but then

she makes Cas kill fake copies of Dean only

Or Metatron will speechify about how Cas is "in love... with humanity"

and then give Cas another lil speech about how it was all "to save Dean Winchester. That was your goal, right? I mean, you draped yourself in the flag of Heaven, but ultimately it was about saving one human, right?"

Ishim shows up and tries to tell Cas how weak he is for befriending Sam and Dean

and then when he wants to "cure" Cas of his human weakness, that weakness is just Dean

AND THEN you'll have things like

Sam will say that Cas is family, that he'd die for him

but he also refers to Cas as an "it" just hanging around in a vessel strong enough to take on Lucifer (in season 11!! It's not like he said that in s4 or something, it was like 8 years after knowing the guy)

Or in "Regarding Dean," Dean will say to Sam "and our best friend's an angel!"

and then when he's by himself in the mirror, he'll say "and Cast--Cas is my best friend."

#just thinking about the various ways the show frames cas's relationship as being a sam-and-dean kinda thing #and then will later emphasize how actually it's dean in particular that motivates cas #supernatural #destiel #castiel #dean winchester #otp: profound bond #(this isn't sam hate btw it's more just #i don't know #it's so interesting how the show first goes the 'we' route meaning sam-dean-cas and then almost always #separately takes dean and cas aside and reiterates the theme of 'we' differently without sam #😩😩)

[nikkashidashipper]

im going through the same emotional journey watching house md for the first time as i did while watching hannibal for the first time

like i go into it with the smallest of ideas of what the show generally is about, and a hunch that apparently theres two guys who will be fun to imagine as a ship because of some subjectively read homoerotic subtle subtext hints

and then i watch the show and its just. text. not even text the show should actually be called "they never kissed or fucked on screen but it would be less graphic than whatever the fuck im watching happen between these two"

#t4lx.txt #none of those words are in the bible #finishing s2 and im. the old man yaoi has gotten to me once again guys #not even just that but wilson and house both are just so interesting to me #i wanna see so much more of them. cannot wait for them both to get more fucked up #(i say this fully aware that im gonna be emotionally distraught upon it happening) #the homoerotically charged profound bond of middle aged traumatised emotionally repressed middle aged men is killing me #house md #hilson #bbc sherlock #hannibal #nbc hannibal #hannigram

[44um-theannoyinggirl]

I've hold you tight and raise you from perdition

#dean winchester #castiel #supernatural #We do share a more profound bond #spnfamily #spn fanart

[comradekatara]

I meant Hama and Katara... But thank you for the Kanna & Katara Link. I'll go theough it.

ohhh yes i obviously have so many thoughts on hama and katara as well..... hama is the embodiment of who katara could have become had a) her circumstances been slightly different (and worse) and b) had she had less emotional strength & resilience & desire to cling to her own humanity at all costs. like, the fact that katara gets multiple figures who embody the terror of her submitting to her most vengeful instincts and perpetuating the cycle of violence instead of working to end it is honestly quite beautiful, as that tension culminates in "the southern raiders" and katara lets herself prioritize her own humanity over her pain and rage and (totally justified) desire for revenge.

i know a lot of people think that hama and jet are the most politically confused aspects of the show, since they do play into the thing lok does where it's like "all oppressed peoples who employ radical means of resistance are simply cackling mustache-twirling terrorists," and while i do think that the way hama is framed at the end of "the puppetmaster" is in poor taste and lacks nuance, it's also pretty clear to me that a) their trauma is portrayed as sympathetic b) their stories are depicted as tragedies and c) atla doesn't actually demonize violent methods of resistance. like if katara wasn't literally the main character i'd feel much more comfortable making that critique (because lok does do this and it's liberal bullshit and it sucks), but we see katara use violent means of resistance as early as episode 6 of the whole show. she's literally framed as a hero for doing ecoterrorism; even when she's actually in the wrong in that situation, her desire to do whatever it takes to help people and encourage them to fight back against their oppressors is celebrated unconditionally.

the lesson katara has to learn from them is that she must never let her anger and desire for revenge consume her over her love for humanity and her drive to help people. jet and hama are both deeply traumatized in a way that made them prioritize wanting to wield power over others in the same way that they were once made vulnerable and helpless, and katara recognizes that instinct in herself too, that instinct in every person who has been subjected to that degree of violence. hama targets fire nation civilians out of spite, because she was once a regular girl from the southern water tribe who was targeted for reasons beyond her control, made to fight and treated like a villain. the reason she goes after "regular people" instead of targeting actual combatants is specifically because she knows that if the roles were reversed, the fire nation wouldn't care about differentiating her people in those roles; she's giving them a taste of their own medicine.

she used to be a resistance fighter who fought back against the imperialists on her land with everything she had, and it didn't work. she suffered unimaginable horrors, and in the process discovered an ability that would allow her to make others suffered the way she did. no, she's not a good leftist or whatever, but her motivation is understandable. she's driven by pain, not reason, just as katara and zuko are in "the southern raiders," just as aang is in "the desert" when he loses appa, just as sokka is in "the boiling rock." when one is hurting that badly, the desire to ease one's pain supersedes logic, supersedes one's core values in general, the values of grief taking its place. hama has been grieving her entire life; whoever she was before the raids is gone, and now she is someone shaped wholly by pain. and had katara not met hama, been traumatized by her, and thus vowed never to be like her, who knows whether she would have had the ability to take a step back and recognize within herself that she is standing over that precipice, and instead walk away from the threshold of violence, and back towards herself.

#ariadnesweb #asks #katara #hama #hama&katara #analysis #hama is kind of katara's sokka.... in the sense that sokka is aang's hama..... #they both have such similar struggles and are able to understand each other on a very profound level #but also must never submit to the logic that propels them become who sokka/hama already are #obviously hama's circumstance is more extreme #but both aang and katara must recognize their own humanity and never let themselves sink into the pain and be driven by it fully #whereas hama and sokka have already abandoned their humanity #in different ways. but still #that's for another post i guess #remind me to talk about sokka azula aang trio sometime #bc its crazy. #anyway i think i find hama more effective than jet to communicate this aspect of kataras arc #because hama is an elder of her tribe and she can bond with her in this incredibly special and culturally meaningful way #whereas jet is kind of just like. what if haru was an asshole #so uhhhh..... sure i guess #but we already know and like haru. so he's just kind of boring to me #whereas hama is awesome and i love her so much <3333 #(t shit that says in giant letters no one can tell im a dyke...)

[darcyolsson]

i need every wwdits watcher to accept that what we had in s3 is forever gone and that we must move on now. instead can we please discuss how we feel about guillermo's entire existence (within the story) being about wanting to become a vampire and him suddenly deciding he didnt want to be one anymore after about *checks watch* five minutes of being properly turned. all because he (a serial killer) felt bad about having to kill people

#not to be a hashtag hater but it felt so random? more like an excuse to get back to the status quo as quick as possible #literally why not cite him having to abandon his entire family and becoming smth they were born to hate as the reason it was RIGHT THERE #im trying to see other peoples' opinions on this but the entire tag is just gifs of nandor helping guillermo w his cape 😭😭😭😭😭 #and all discussion i see of this moment is ab how nandor felt it coming and that this means that they had a profound bond all along etc #and look i get it. i do. i was there once. but i need everyone to FOCUS! and tell me how you feel about the writing this season immediately #wwdits #personal #wwdits spoilers

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

So I realized that 3 am me is not coherent and tends to ramble on topics that are obvious so I'm just condensing my touch and relationships post into this shorter one.

Basically, the whole thing stems from Dazai using the bare minimum of contact with others - he keeps his space and his nullifying tends to occur either by touching the ability (indirect) or by touching the user with only a single finger (minimal). Moreover, he accepts very little contact from others. So, when he initiates or receives physical contact, it's significant and can be taken to mean that he, with all his sort of control freak tendencies when it comes to people around him, is actually okay with that situation, if not outright encouraging of it.

Part 1: The Buraiha Trio (Friends!)

Ango:

Dazai initiates - hugging him (with Oda) to make his clothes smelly so he'll join their group lol, ends up in his personal space at Bar Lupin

Ango almost never receives or reciprocates

Their dynamic is actually interesting to me because it was Dazai who initiated it, simply because he found Ango's recording of info on all the mafia members who died in DHC fascinating. He was the one to invite him to Bar Lupin along with Oda. That's pretty unusual for Dazai, who hates getting too close and has accepted the inevitability of losing people. At the same time, there's Ango, who is always reluctant or somewhat uncomfortable - he never initiates or receives contact with either of them, in which the reason why is obvious - he's a triple agent. He can't afford to be honest with the other two... and by the time everything is out in the open, it's too late. There is no contact between Dazai and Ango after his betrayal, except for very minimally, when Dazai pulls Ango's own gun on him - Dazai appears to be uninterested in restoring their friendship (even if I don't think he really hates him anymore).

Odasaku:

Oda initiates - literally picking up 16 yo Dazai and force-taking care of him (I am begging you to read Day I Picked Up Dazai pleasepleaseplease), reaching out to stop Dazai from confronting the Mimic sniper

Dazai does not receive this well - basically throws a tantrum for the former and walks away from Oda into a potentially lethal situation in the latter

Dazai initiates - again with getting in Oda's personal space, helping him up, reaching out to stop Oda from confronting all of Mimic after the orphans are killed

Oda for the most part just... passively doesn't react - at least until the latter where he too, walks away into a lethal situation in a direct parallel of the earlier scene of him reaching out to Dazai and failing

It really doesn't get more obvious than this - the anime draws direct attention to the "grab and miss" scenes between the two of them. They keep missing each other because they're both reluctant to change the comfortable status quo and because they each have their own baggage that makes it difficult to allow themselves to be reached out to. Dazai is evasive and while he has respect for Oda and will openly say that to others, he rebuffs any attempts to allow the man to know him more deeply. Oda, on the other hand, is extremely passive and while he wants to help Dazai, he's caught up in Dazai being his superior and intelligent beyond his years - which leads him to hold back at many points when he actually wants to say something out of a mix of respecting his boundaries and "it's not my place to say anything". Both are reluctant to actually use the word "friend" and only do so at the very end, when Dazai calls him friend to Mori, and Odasaku tells Dazai that he considers him his friend as he dies.

The anime has this beautiful moment where both Dazai and Odasaku are in direct contact with each other right as Odasaku delivers his last words. Dazai tries desperately to support a dying man, spurred by his emotions to try and save his friend, even if he knows the action is futile, logically - Odasaku has no choice but to see the depth of Dazai's care for him, despite differences in rank. Odasaku holds Dazai's head and forces him into eye contact - he cannot be avoidant anymore. This moment is when Odasaku says aloud that he found a real friend in Dazai and that he was a real friend to him, and where Dazai realizes that Odasaku knew and understood him better than even he had thought.

Odasaku is special, as Dazai doesn't have a moment like this with anyone else where he allows himself to be so vulnerable - through words or through touch, as I'll expand on in Part 2 - mentees and Part 3 - partners.

Aaaaaand this is still really long. Goddammit.

Part 2 (Mentees) here:

I Like to Write BSD Things — Part 2 (Mentees) of my notes on touch in bsd! If... (tumblr.com)

Part 3 (Partners) here:

I Like to Write Things — Ok finally, finally, here is part 3 of my touch... (tumblr.com)

#bsd #bsd meta #does this count as a meta? #this is more word splatter tbh #dazai #osamu dazai #ango sakaguchi #oda sakunosuke #ango #odasaku #oda #i can't help myself from rambling about dazai and oda #i am very not normal about them #there's something about watching a bond that profound between two lonely people #especially as someone who grew up lonely #it just gets me man #also i actually love ango there will be no slandering the sad little government man here

[castielsarmpit]

That angel literally stitched dean back together piece by piece and branded his soul permanently claiming a piece of it,

But no he couldn’t possibly be in love with him?!?

That’s crazy talk!!!

#okay gayboy #not the profound bond #The handprint is literally more gay than any gay sex I’ve ever had #you ever brand a man soul and are irrevocably changed by him and your deep profound love is the thing that kills you #Lazarus rising #spn 4x01 #that shit is so wild #destiel #Castiel

[loyaltyfallen]

Cas googling how to celebrate birthdays because he never really had the time or opportunity to celebrate the Winchesters or Jack and he really wants to give Dean (who probably hasn't celebrated since he was 4) a proper 45th birthday.

#Post-series #the most caring man (dean) #a more profound bond (destiel)

[dawnthefluffyduck]

#messing around in ms paint #i was working on something to post on halloween but i got frustrated with it and set it aside for now #maybe i'll redo this later 'cause the actual picture grew on me #there's more i could do to this but really i just don't wanna sleep #i think they call it reclaiming time and i should stop so i'm going to do that #anyway kris and noelle #i don't really have anything cool or profound to say #just that their relationship is so bittersweet #they have a bond that was quite possibly very strong a long time ago #despite whatever happened #i think kris still cares a lot for her #but an already strained relationship crumbled once more by something completely out of your control #is extra painful when that person was like family to you #i mean she's the first to notice something is off with kris in *that* route #granted she spent more time with them alone #but to catch it before their own mother?? #i know we have pretty good guesses as to what happened but i wanna know for sure #what could possibly drive you away from someone that close to you for so long #okay its 3:19 AM i'll stop blabbing now #kris #noelle #deltarune

[prosopopeya]

Drabble Day 4: Memories

Prompt from @deancaskiss 's drabble challenge.

Dean's a good bed sharer; he's used to staying crammed on his side. Cas is a rough sleeper, and sometimes Dean gets woken up with an elbow in his face. (Which is probably why they keep rotating out who gets stuck with Cas.) 

He wakes up when the bed shakes as Cas rolls around; a few seconds later, he rolls over again, the bed squeaking. Cas's breath hits him in the back of the neck when he sighs, loud and frustrated. 

"You got problems?" Dean asks. Behind him, he can hear Cas regret waking him up.

"Sorry." 

He glances over his shoulder to see Cas, framed in the moonlight sneaking in through the gap in the curtains. Insomnia's not new for Cas--well, not for human!Cas. He looks apologetic for it, dropping his eyes to the bed.

Dean shifts over, and Cas lifts his arm so he can rearrange the blankets, and then they're facing each other. Their body heat creates this warm space in the bed between them, but Dean's face is just outside of it, where the overly cool air of the motel's AC almost stings.

"It's my--my thoughts. I can't get them to stop." 

Dean knows what that's like. Knows there isn't much anyone can say. Still, he tries to think of something, until he lands on a memory and huffs. "Too bad I can't help you the way you helped me." 

And then Dean--3-AM-not-thinking-things-through!Dean--reaches out and lightly touches Cas's forehead, a parody of Cas touching him, of Cas helping him to sleep. Dean's fingers linger longer than is probably wise, until he pulls his hand away, something anticlimactic about it. 

"You help," Cas says, then turns his eyes, pale blue in the dim light, up to Dean's.

virginia is for lovers: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14

#dreamydrabble #dreamydrabbles #profoundnet #deancasfic #destielfic #dean pov #supernatural #a more profound bond #my fic #still not a drabble but it IS. becoming a series.

[izzyspussy]

another rkj trope subversion apparently happening in tatg: jamie as the vertex(-at-first) partner instead of keeley

#jack facts #keeley's like yeah roy's still like *into* me and i love him but he and jamie have a More Profound Bond TM #& roy is like yeah she's still *into* me and i love her but she rejected me romantically and is sharing her bf bc she's so generous #meanwhile jamie's like wow two partners! cool! :) #writing process #ted lasso #rkj #tatg #anyway even roy i've seen as vertex more than jamie. i actually don't know that i've seen jamie as vertex... ever.

[arcstral]

—  Fire Emblem: Engage, The Emblem Marth Retrospective.  —

Marth in FE: Engage plays a fascinating supporting role.

He has a dynamic presence on the boxart though he’s not a character native to this installment; enlarged and immediately able to be seen on the left where the eyes tend to be first attracted. His title 'Emblem of Beginnings' implicates his role as the first emblem to be summoned on Elyos. He serves as the spokesman for the emblem family in a lot of cases, and provides worldly exposition for the ancient artifacts and plot detail uprisings.

If you acknowledge his role as a witness to every phase of Alear's life from beginning to end- the parts we see in game to the invisible sections we don't see a thousand years before- he suddenly becomes larger than life. The figure that has been with Alear longer than even Lumera. Someone who has seen everything there is to see about our protagonist, to an extent where if an omniscient narrator was ever needed to narrate the events of the game, the only qualified individual by necessity would have to be the ‘Emblem Marth’.

With that that said, I was initially willing to go into Engage thinking of its Marth as an offhand spinoff version. No different from the inconsequential single-beat portrayals of Smash or even Warriors. But this idea is wrong. Engage surprised me by putting a very human, very special Marth into my hands. An echo of the original Hero-King, Emblem Marth recognizes that he is only an emblem from the very first beat of his first appearance, and yet he's unaware of how faithful of a homage he is to the individual he's extracted from.

How much he takes the foundation and honors it elsewhere.

The Emblem Marth as set apart from simply Marth is a purely loyal existence from humble beginnings to bitter end. A millennial being who answers Alear’s call for aid at every cost and asks for nothing in return but to be remembered. His duty to protect this world is equal to his desire to be at Alear’s side. It's that enduring spirit of nobility, loyalty, and devotion to his friends, even forgiveness, that places him on par with his original.

It’s the adversities that best place these traits on show.

Chapter 10 happens and brings the sky crashing down. Suffering on that course, as the last and latest emblem ring to be reclaimed from enemy hands- utterly miserable to be torn apart from Alear and company as Veyle aptly put it- still he serves to provide nothing but love and forgiveness for Alear on their long awaited reunion. The fact that chapter 10's devastation happened at all despite the counsel he’s spared. His even greater forgiveness of Veyle is extended in the aftermath, a compassionate empathy toward her circumstances that reflects the kind he shows for others in his time- his enemies. Hardin and Katarina. Camus and Michalis.

When Veyle returns the ring of the Hero-King to Alear in Chapter 22, she observes that “it was lying by your side, as if it wanted to be with you”, and to me this statement was the most touching. Marth no matter the circumstance will never, ever leave Alear behind if he can help it. But that situation, and that tragic day, arrives. And his reception to the cold fact is graceful.

Accepting his death without complaint, he quells Alear's fears with the reiterated admission of duty, no longer to Altea or to Archanea, but to Elyos. The Emblems exist to protect this world and in that call to existence is a reason worth dying for. His cessation means nothing, Marth nobly says. 'I am of no consequence' he remarks to Velyle tangentially in his paralogue when she laments at the idea of fighting him, with words that resemble humility but in actuality prioritizes the things that he sees as truly important--others.

Duty is the overpowering virtue of Marth’s character. Whereas the original Hero-King cites himself a prince before a son or a brother, this one would call himself an Emblem above all else. That sense of duty to a world not his own even manifests in many different ways. From that unique perspective of both an emblem and a king comes his wisdom, the utmost belief that a world placed in Alear’s hands will know peace and prosperity, that it would be a beautiful place.

This interaction speaks of the telling final thoughts that the Emblem Marth possesses in the last chapter of his life; a dutiful onus to realize a successor to the emblems’ legacy, someone to watch over the lands they have protected for eons. To pick up the torch in their stead. This desire is coupled with his love and peace of mind. He is proud of Alear’s growth, has seen it himself over the course of a thousand years and then some. Of all Marth’s fond observations for the Divine One, such words might be the highest level of his praise.

Such words reflect the caliber of a noble and positive existence who is aware of his bitter end and smells only the flowers. An everbright future with or without the emblems.

When the Pact Ring paralogue finally rolls around, we begin with Marth’s explication about the origins of the ring which even Vander does not know. Detailing Lumera’s mysterious history as its previous owner, and the familiarity of the local surroundings to him, it ends with his sound advice that Alear think carefully on which ally to give it. He is more than aware of the special meaning of this ring and how it will strengthen the bonds between two people.

That knowledge conjoined with his long history as Alear’s partner and a Lythos emblem posits an important side to the conversation:

He is consistently a voice of wisdom yet this example is special; it is in the late Queen Lumera’s place that Marth acts, informing her child about the ring most conducive to their happiness, second only in importance to the emblems and the birthday ring staving off Alear’s corruption. Marth, as always, is watching over the Divine One, nudging them toward their own betterment. Once a long-standing guardian to Alear’s slumber, he watches over them in the innocent and unassuming manner of this guidance as well.

Ultimately, by the game’s ending I thought very deeply about what endeared me so much to this Marth. Why I mourned so much at his loss as a 'phony' version of the original and I think I can finally put it into words. It’s about how much he exemplifies the loyal Hachiko paradigm but ten times magnified. Waiting and watching at the side of his sleeping 'owner' for a thousand years, never failing to sally to Alear's side, and even when corrupted by the fell dragon incantation- even when unable to verbalize or express any component of free will- he's able to muster the scantest smile for Alear in their darkest hour.

Marth is the emblematic mascot who goes through a dozen different redesigns and cameos in the most offshoot games- the most of any existing FE protagonist in both aspects, all differing in appearance from one another in various degrees. In terms of those many portrayals that define Marth, FE17 is nevertheless set apart in this regard by its depth. Showing more than anything that a Marth of a vastly different premise and belonging to an alienated universe is still, well, Marth.

Someone who is dutiful to extremes and deeply appreciative of his bonds, unfailingly kind. Someone who has 'always been kind' as Alear puts it.

Marth's words that Sombron's Emblem will never come back to him again is mirrored for himself. He, too, will never return, and what’s left in the wake of this knowledge is a unique iteration worth mourning. Engage teaches me nothing new about Marth but it does tell me one thing. The hero known as 'Marth' is as much a character as well as the allegoric ideal that puts greater duty and lordly goodness on the table.

Marth is Marth says Engage and that will always be an immutable worldly comfort.

#◜ ╰ ♕ ◦ › gathered wits ‹ INTROSPECTION. ◞ #the profound and almost unfathomable ideation of a bond with one thousand years worth of depth #engage opened my eyes to the trascendental kind of form a friendship could take #in any case the emblem marth was absolutely standout #i once read a jpn fetwt comment that complimented pikazo's artistic take on marth #but more importantly posited the idea that 'how marth looks doesn't matter. it's that noble quality that must stay the same' #really really stuck with me #marth being the 'mascot' of fire emblem is half a character and half an ideal #he defines what a lord is and i think engage covered that aspect wonderfully #engage spoilers

[gwynbleiddyn]

bg3 has truly given me a new lease of life on two of my old dnd PCs and that is a gift actually

#im being so normal about it #Dyn meeting Halsin feels like such a major catalyst event that i have to explore #from being a ranger in complete solitude because solitude is safe to relying on the shared power of other people to help is a big step #made possible by the fact that halsin understands the draw of aforementioned solitude. especially when it's nature that lures you in #i have so many thoughts #especially when dyn gets bitten by a lycan. THE NARRATIVE IS PROFOUND AND UNKNOWABLE. the wild does not stop being wild #and even when you love it it will still hurt you unexpectedly #in ways you are powerless to fix #and lyre... lyre i need to make first but i think he'll be a tiefling bard now rather than a goblin #which is irrelevant to the way he looks because he's an amorphous form at BEST #the only reason i can't make him a changeling is because i want his connection to the feywild to be more deliberate #less a bond of origin and more a bond of invitation

[january-summers]

I need a Supernatural AU in which Sam really was the type of nerd who was into D&D (or another ttrpg) in school, and at one town they stayed at, he managed to get Dean to go to a session with him, so Dean jumps in with a quickly cobbled together warrior type character and has more fun than he was expecting.

They’re in the town for a while, and Dean keeps joining the group sessions, and then during one session his character is left behind in a hell dimension because reasons and the group is expecting to never see that character again. But the DM had an idea and they chat to Dean about it and the next session the others are waiting for Dean’s new character to appear but instead his old character rocks up now with a level in “I serve a higher power now cause he gripped me tight and yanked my ass outta the fire so I owe him one.”

Which higher power? Well while brain storming they decide it’s an angelic like being, and they need a name so Dean pulled a name from a list of angels he’d read from his dad’s research once (because his mother used to tell him angels were watching over him) and blurts out “Castiel.” So throughout the rest of the campaign Dean(’s character) prays to Castiel for various reasons. Including some really dumb ones, and it accidentally because a habit/joke that he starts praying out of character too.

Real Angel Castiel has been absolutely receiving these prayers and was very confused at first, but slowly started to understand and only nudged the dice a few times in answer to the prayer.

Fast forward several years, Castiel is sent to retrieve the Righteous Man from hell and senses a familiar soul, an undercurrent of subconscious prayer, and follows it all the way to Dean, cutting decades off the invasion of hell and resurrecting Dean a few months early.

Sam is finding it far more hilarious that Dean’s D&D patron saved him from hell.

Meanwhile heaven is left floundering because Castiel’s garrison wasn’t actually supposed to stop the start of the apocalypse.

#dean winchester #castiel #they do have a deeper more profound bond #destiel #sam winchester #cracktastic au