Small Analysis on Belos/Philip, and the many chances at Redemption he missed.
I think the reason why I loved the scene in Watching and Dreaming were The Collector hugged Belos while saying "I get it! You just need kindness and forgiveness, huh?" was because it encapsulated perfectly how many chances Belos didn't take to fucking redeem himself.
I think we all kinda know that if he was just self aware, and reflected on the shit he did for ONE damn second, maybe, just maybe he could have turned out way better than what ended up happening.
Analyzing his backstory and what we can decide actually happened with Caleb (mostly based on all the pictures that were released from Hollow Mind with additional ones), it's not like he was ever exempt from sympathy, don't get me wrong.
Can't really go into the reality that Caleb, being Philip's sole guardian, most likely abandoned him to go with Evelyn into the Boiling Isles (not with bad intentions but still) since THAT'S a whole 'nother can of worms, but like hey! It's fucking understandable, who wouldn't be hurt by that?
But at the same time, what Belos decided to do, it was all on his own accord.
It was all his own decisions tha he could have actually thought on but no! He was too stuck in his delusional beliefs.
Could have stopped anywhere. After he killed Caleb. After he was tricking and offing witches and demons. After the whole encounter with Luzura/Luz and Gertrude/Lilith. After the making of the Grimwalkers began. After instilling glyphs on witches.
There are probably more examples, but basically, Belos had so many damn chances.
But nope! Never took them.
And again, The Collector was so willing to forgive him, even after manipulating and using this kid for centuries on end. After all the horrific shit that Belos has done, there was still a sliver of hope for him to actually just think, 'What am I doing? '
Of course, that didn't happen. It was a 'Friendship is Magic, but gone wrong' and he attempted to kill The Collector once again.
You know what's the best part of this? That there's a scene that just adds onto what I'm saying perfectly.
Later on when Luz revived into the super cool form that is Titan!Luz, she ripped out Belos from the titan's curse. And when he reformed again, he turned into his Philip Wittebane look.
And he had the fucking audacity to blame that dark magic (presumably his curse) was the one who made him commit all those horrendous acts.
This would make pretty much be his very first, and only attempt towards redemption.
But the thing is, it's too late.
Belos threw out his very last chance at redemption with The Collector.
And now? He has nothing more but than to deal with the ultimate consequences that have been building up.
This is also why I'm not that mad that Belos wasn't shown to finally realize the severity of what he has done, or to feel all that built up guilt flow it.
It's because it shows amazingly how far up his ass he was in his beliefs that even when he was DYING, he was just too fucking stubborn.
The more ironic part, like I mentioned earlier, that 'dark magic' was pretty much just his curse. That I want to mention, is fucking SELF AFFLICTED. Belos was literally the one eating all those Palismen, which are the cause of the curse. He's quite literally blaming himself!
And even though he tried to claim that Luz somehow cured him, got quickly called out on his bullshit when the boiling rain revealed him to still be purely goop.
Till the last minute, he was trying to keep a facade that quite literally, crumbled.
TLDR; Belos ultimately gave up every chance to be a better person, and he pretty much got what was coming for him.
So… do we all think Gale has some panic attacks the first few months back in his tower when he wakes up in the night or Tav isn’t in bed with him for some reason and for a second he’s back before the orb is under control and he’s alone and he can’t leave and he can’t breathe and-
Please please I'm begging on my hands and knees for my slasher!Graves because I just read it and I'm so unwell about it 😩🙏🏻
I can totally see Slasher!Graves as a type of guy to kill any man who even tries to look at his pretty little darling. And I have feeling he definitely intimidates her on purpose just to see her squirm and shiver, watching her from the shadows and stealing her panties and whatnot ughhh
Oh he definitely does!! I mean, who wouldn't be intimidated by him. He much older, 40 already, not to mention that something in his blue eyes is just...off to you and he's an old perverted fuck to :((
When he found out that you were renting out a room on old Mrs. Marjorie's farm he had mixed feelings. Sure you could stay in that dingy old motel just outside the town but it was far away, not to mention not a suitable place at all for a young lady such as yourself.
Staying with old Marjorie was a frankly much better option since it was safe and you worked for a living on the old woman's farm which made Philip's heart stutter a little and cock harden, such a hardworking girl you are.
The one problem was Marjorie herself. She was an elderly woman but incredibly strong and resilient for her age, she owned a much smaller farm which mostly consisted of a peach orchard, a few chickens and two cows. She's widowed, never remarried and never had children and even with her strength and health of an ox he guesses she took you in as a helping hand, but the thing is...The old hag is for some reason very protective of you so Philip had to be extra careful whenever he wanted to interact with you, but truth be told you didn't make it any easier.
You were a skittish thing, shy and easily flustered too and when he swung by the orchard the first time, all big and burly and proud like a prized stallion he saw clear as day that you were intimidated by him which Graves ate.up.
Now whenever he sees you running errands in town or you're working on the farm he makes sure to "accidentally" just happen to run into you and ump his charm up to the heavens; lowering his voice into a seductive low gravely drawl, flexing his broad shoulders and well-build biceps under the plaid shirt he had on, moving his strong hips a little in a way that made you stutter and shiver. But he just can't help himself! It's only natural that a man like him would go wild for a lady like yourself, your pretty tits almost spilling over the neckline of your dress and Philip feels his blood rush to his cock, oh what he wouldn't do to that soft body of yours~
It's only when the old had calls you back into the house and sends a glare his way is the spell broken and Graves almost bares his sharp teeth in annoyance, if it was anyone else other than the woman they'd be rotting in the middle of his corn field getting torn by coyotes or long gone after a visit to the pig pen.
The only consolation are your cute frilly panties that he managed to snatch from the drying line outside, your sweet scent still lingering on them despite the sharp bit of the wash machine powder. It's on that evening when he sits naked in front of his fireplace back on the ranch, panties to his nose as he jerks his thick cock roughly when he decides that he needs to see you squirm more, even if that means you'll start seeing a dark figure just outside in Mrs Marjorie's orchard <3
my roman empire is razumikhin always calling raskolnikov “rodya” or “rodka”, but raskolnikov only ever calling him “razumikhin” i could (and do, to the disparity of my friends and family) talk about that for hours and write a million essays
This little interaction made me so happy! Killer really fought through Dream to give Cross his necklace back
Asjlkhdkgkd I'm so glad you liked it!! I had fun putting a little story into that one ^^
And, because I am normal and don't think about these guys for hours every day, here's some backstory:
When Cross first joined, Killer actually took to him pretty quickly (Dust and Horror did not get warm welcomes). Which is to say he immediately started flocking to Cross to annoy him and compete with him on missions. Cross didn't have the benefit of knowing Killer already to see these were affectionate annoyances, so to him Killer was just some guy who had a problem and wouldn't leave him alone.
During that mission, Nightmare was calling a retreat when he put a hand to his chest and realised the heart locket was gone. Killer saw him looking all around frantically and had a good idea what was lost, since it was the one thing Cross would absolutely not part with since he joined. So, Killer ran back out towards the stars to look for it, because why learn self preservation now. It was the first thing to convince Cross that Killer actually was being (relatively) friendly, despite all the annoyances.
And also, a doodle of the afterwards of that picture
because it's probably the only time he's managed to get Killer to shut up lol
youve heard of sex flowers get ready for the flower that makes you into a celestial shoujo herione complete with particle effects you cannot turn the fuck off and creates a wifebeam so powerful it can incapacitate and maim and keeps making you burst into tears and fall on your ass which makes the wifebeam More Powerful and you also cannot turn this off either.
and is also still, sort of, a sex flower
from one of my favorite fanfictions, Celestial Afterglow by elanor_pam, a fic that defies description in the best possible way
jake oettinger postgame — DAL vs VGK; game 4 — 04.29.24
[ah, you know ty very well. how hard is it to stay focused throughout everything he’s been through?] yeah, it’s … you know, there’s no one in here that deserves that more than him, and, you know — i live with him, so, i get to see … i’ve been through, you know, everything that he’s gone through this year, and, just, the way that he carries himself, and — you know, there’s no one that puts the team more in first than him and he works his butt off and never has a bad attitude and has just stayed ready for when he got his name called, and played great tonight and, you know, showed that he can step in and, and be a great piece to this team. so, you know, there’s not a lot of people that are gonna be happier for him than me, that’s for sure.
[i was gonna say, the body language that he shows, just when he’s out there – first one on the ice – i mean, he does all the little things you’re supposed to do to show that you’re a big member of the team, even when he goes, whatever, six, eight games without playing.] exactly. and you’d never know … you know, some guys, you know, carry the way that they’re playing on the ice on their face and you’d never know with him. he’s just, you know — puts the team first, wants what’s best for the team, and, you know, he knows when his number’s called he’s gonna step up. and he’s done that. and, uh, like i said, just so happy for him. and there’s tons of guys in our organization who’re like that, you know, just — everyone wants to win, and you know, not everyone’s going to have the exact role that they want but, you know, if you win the championship at the end of the day it doesn’t matter.
[just for color, here — you and ty share a house, a condo?] he lives at my house. me and my fiancée’s house, yeah. yep. [does he pay rent?] uh, we’re still working through that (laughs) yeah. he’s, uh, he’s been on dish duty, so, that’s kinda how he’s paying for his rent right now. [let’s say, maybe give him a little break off — get a goal, you know, goal’s count.] yeah, for sure. for sure, yeah, exactly. [and, just for color, what type of jersey does your brother wear?] he wears delly’s jersey. yeah, i know — second favorite player, yeah.
dimension 20 is magic to me bc what show can bring me to my emotional limit while also containing a scene where a group of sexy rats do the can can and show as much hole as possible
Kakashi being compared to both a mountain goat and a sloth in the span of a single page!!
For some reason, in a world of near entirely names of Japanese (or very rarely, English) origin, there's a blind astronomer named Jean-Marc Tatar, seemingly the only French man in the history in the Naruto universe, who is also friends with Ninja God.
This exchange between Sakura and Naruto: “Same old idiot as always.” “Me? Sasuke?” “Both of you, obviously.”
The reveal that there's a nap room next to the Hokage's office!
The insane reveal that Orochimaru has developed a pair of goggles that look exactly like Obito's from when he was kid but give you the power to use the Byakugan?!
Naruto perfectly landing motorcycle jump over a cat with zero practice while being shot at by laser beam drones??
Naruto's little antisocial scientist friend repeatedly saying how much she doesn't need friends and Naruto going, “I’m not gonna force you to connect with people or whatever, you know,” like that hasn't been how he's resolved every conflict he's ever had.
The incredibly specific take from Yamato that by himself he can raise a mokuton pillar 310,000 feet into the air to support the weight of a motorcycle. Babygirl. Why do you know this!!
Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto having this impressive little adventure in the clouds before it immediately cuts to Sai also thousands of feet in the air slowly suffocating of altitude sickness, who unlike them doesn't have an oxygen tank, because Shikamaru is not a medic but also maybe an idiot.
Sakura realizing that Sasuke is about to do something incredibly dangerous so they share a little kiss above Naruto's head (on a motorcycle, 660,000 feet vertically in the air).
quotes from alex turner's favourite authors that make me want to put my face through a wall:
"although i have never been an actor in the strict sense of the word, i have nevertheless, in real life, always carried about with me a small folding theatre" - vladimir nabokov, despair
"there is a terrible emptiness in me, an indifference that hurts," - albert camus
"there is no trap so deadly as the trap you set for yourself" - raymond chandler
"at eight, he had once told his mother that he wanted to paint air" - vladimir nabokov
"no man ever understands quite his own artful dodges to escape from the grim shadow of self-knowledge" - joseph conrad
"everything i've ever let go of has claw marks on it" - david foster wallace
"we're all lonely for something we don't know we're lonely for. how else to explain the curious feeling that goes around feeling like missing somebody we've never even met?" - david foster wallace
"i turn over a new leaf every day, but the blots show through" - keith waterhouse
"the truth will set you free. but not until it's finished with you" - david foster wallace
"curiosity is insubordination in its purest form" - vladimir nabokov
"i'm me and nobody else; and whatever people think i am or say i am, that's what i'm not, because they don't know a bloody thing about me" - alan sillitoe
"we live as we dream; alone” - joseph conrad
"i liked, as i like still, to make words look self-conscious and foolish, to bind them by mock marriage of a pun, to turn them inside out, to come upon them unwares" - vladimir nabokov, despair
"whatever you get paid attention to for is never what you think is most important about yourself" - david foster wallace
"i continued to stir my tea long after it had done all it could with the milk” - vladimir nabokov, despair
"i remained too much inside my head and ended up losing my mind" - edgar allan poe
"all the information i have about myself is from forged documents" - vladimir nabokov, despair
"how odd i can have all this inside me and to you its just words" - david foster wallace
"you will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. you will never live if you're looking for the meaning of life" - albert camus
in stars and time is ruining my life what do you mean i'm at 28 hours played and still don't seem to be near done yet when the average person on howlongtobeat finishes the main story in 19 hours, and with side quests in 26 hours.
what do you mean i've stayed up until 4am the past 3 nights playing. what.