don't feel bad. i'm usually about to die.

indie selective multimuse / 21+ / mutuals only / low activity

[heroicpaths-a]

indie selective multimuse / 21+ / mutuals only / low activity follows come from @altarbov

rules & muses . memes

by liam (he/him). discord is available upon request.

GENERAL. basic rp etiquette applies: don’t control my muse in any major ways or without talking to me first; don’t assume things about my matt and their characterization; and generally, be nice. any hate sent to my inbox will be promptly ignored and deleted, any hate towards me, my rp partners or characters that i write will mean an immediate unfollow. i don't engage in callout culture and drama in any way (steer right clear of it as a matter of fact). i keep an eye out for more serious things, but overall, i'm here to relax and not get stressed about other people. additionally, this blog is a sideblog to altarbov. follows and asks will come from there. ==\s\syou are not obligated to follow the main blog back if you don't want to. \s\s==

ACTIVITY. may be spotty at times as i can go through periods where i don't feel like writing much. i'm always lurking and keeping an eye on my notifications, so even if i haven't posted anything in a while, feel free to shoot me a message.

REPLIES, MEMES & THINGS. usually, when i'm around, i like dedicating my time to draft rather than memes, which is why i don't often reblog them. if you're new and just want to break the ice, though, feel free to grab something from the meme tag to send my way as they don't really have an expiration date. usually, when sending or receiving memes, i expect them to be turned into threads, but it's not mandatory.

FOLLOWING. crossovers and ocs are more than welcome, as long as there's an easy way for our characters to interact. i don't have aus on the ready as i prefer plotting them out with a partner first, so i might not follow you back if i don't see a way for our characters to interact. if you have any ideas, feel free to message me.

SHIPPING. i’m always open to shipping anything. if it works it works. of course, exceptions apply but if the chemistry is there, i’m down.

NSFW. i'm very unlikely to write it unless i know the other mun and am comfortable with them, but it may happen once in a blue moon. in that case it'll be tagged accordingly and etc. i'm okay with discussing nsfw headcanons though. let's just not make it 99% of our ooc interactions.

TRIGGERS. i do my best to tag them accordingly. i do read everyone's rules before following and again before interacting, but something may occasionally slip my mind. if you need something tagged and i failed to do so, please send me a message and i'll fix it asap.

OTHER / CREDIT. all icons and graphics seen on this blog are made by me unless stated otherwise. the only exception as of writing this is the psd i use, which was made by jaynedits. any artwork on this blog is not made by me unless stated otherwise. any graphics made with comic book art will be official art from a comic or cover, and credit goes to their original artists.

ABOUT THE MUN. i’m liam (he/him), i’ve been rping on tumblr for 12+ years. just generally be nice and we can be friends in no time. discord is open for ic and ooc purposes. just shoot me a message if you want my username.

[heroicpaths-a]

@heroicpaths

[altarbov-archive]

hey guys so here's a tiny announcement!!

i've been working on some stuff for this blog behind the scenes and decided i'm gonna be moving to a fresh new blog and this one will become an archive. it's not happening for a few days while i finish organizing stuff over there but consider this a pre warning of sorts.

this is not a reboot. i'll be moving all my threads over there and will continue to watch the notifs for this one.

I keep feeling like this one has become a little too bloated with it originally being a multi and all so i want a bit of a clean slate while i get on the hype train for ddbas2.

I'll announce it properly once i get the new blog up and running, which should hopefully only take a few more days. in the meantime, feel free to give this post a like if it's cool for me to follow you over there

[bokketo]

[x] It's not that he wants to make Gustave relive the trauma of losing most of his expedition, so he's not sure what compelled him to ask what happened. It's not like he hasn't been watching over Maelle from the start. Theoretically, Gustave could have found some way to communicate with other expeditioners during the days when Verso was frantically trying to find Maelle after her disappearance — the Curator had not given Verso a courtesy call about his plan to keep Maelle safe after whisking her off of that beach — but it was unlikely that they wouldn't have joined up and stuck close if that was the case.

He can't wonder if part of him subconsciously wants the man to suffer for his proximity to his sister. He could be happy for her but the more she has to lose here, the less likely she will be to help him release Maman from the canvas and, selfishly, he wishes he was the one at her side instead.

Verso winces at the question. There would be so much that would have been easier to dodge, why did Gustave have to hear that of all things?

"It's a turn of phrase ...?" He lies poorly, then shakes his head upon hearing it. "I haven't considered him a father in several decades. He's no more than a stranger to me now, and I would cut him down for his actions if I could. If it is possible, we will avenge your expedition... and ones that came before you. I promise, he and I are nothing alike."

Oh, but that is the biggest lie of all. He is his father's son, despite everything, in more ways than he’d like to admit.

[heroicpaths-a]

For better or worse, Gustave figures that's the best answer he's getting for now, so he nods and doesn't push it further. Verso hasn't tried to kill him and, as a matter of fact, saved his life. In that aspect, he's telling the truth about being nothing like his father, and maybe for now, that's enough.

The thing is, Gustave really wants to trust him. It would be nice to have someone else on their side, especially someone with more knowledge of the Continent and what lies ahead, because, as of right now, they don't have much of a plan or strategy going forward. Make it to the Paintress, sure, but that's incredibly vague and not much of a strategy when considering what they've been through lately. Years and years of planning for this expedition had gone downhill almost instantly after they set foot on the Continent.

"You know, when we were planning for this expedition, we looked a lot into Expedition Zero," Gustave continues, figuring a change of subject is the smarter thing to do. "It was the only one with any survivors; we thought it might be a good idea to follow your trail." Of course, they didn't have any more information than that. There aren't many records of the first few expeditions. "Did anyone else survive? Other than you and Renoir?"

[eurodynamic]

GUSTAVE Renoir's Suit + Baguette Sunglasses Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (2025) dev. Sandfall Interactive

[bokketo]

[x] Sophie nods. It's a decent enough proposition. She holds the converter gingerly, as if she could damage it further by handling it improperly. The external design has changed dramatically since she last saw it ( though the wiring is presumably similar ) and a good portion of the converter had still been on paper back then rather than a physical device. The earliest prototype had only been made after the break up, back when she'd insisted that she needed space to process everything, to grieve their relationship properly.

And she had grieved it, the chasm that remained in her chest, the empty space in her bed, the part of her mind that whispered his name when the darkness loomed too close. She was in love with him. She is in love with him, no matter how much she's tried to divest herself from that emotion, and she probably will be for the rest of her life. She'd told Sciel once — only once, when she was drunk — that not having Gustave around anymore was like having a missing limb. Now Gustave has to live with the physical representation of her loss. Sophie feels strangely guilty about it.

"It's hard to tell, with all the damage," she admits, putting the converter down on the table. "Smaller things, with less room between bits of wiring, are always more likely to short circuit. The tradeoff between bulk and safety is..." She doesn't need to say it.

Sophie looks at where Gustave's arm ends and wonders if there's more she can do to help ease the pain. But he works so closely with Lune and if her healing skills are insufficient to fix it, what can Sophie do? She sighs internally.

"Are you planning to train back up with the prosthetic to join your expedition trip?"

[heroicpaths-a]

"Yes, of course," He answers, a little put off that she even has to ask. Gustave has always been too stubborn for his own good, which is unlikely to change regardless of what happens. Of course, losing an arm shouldn't be taken lightly, and if he's being honest, he has no idea how he'll be able to fight as well as before, but he can figure that out in time for his expedition.

He has to. Because the alternative is spending a whole year in Lumière without Sophie. It doesn't matter whether or not they're together; this is just unthinkable. Besides, he's long since come to the conclusion that he won't have any children of his own— not without her, but that doesn't mean he won't try his hardest to ensure others can't have a future. His apprentices alone are more than worth the fight.

Momentarily pushing away from the workbench, Gustave steps to the side so Sophie is instead facing his good arm. He hates the way she keeps looking at the spot his left arm used to be. He doesn't want her to see him like that.

"I, uh... I wanna open it up and check the wiring inside. Do you mind... holding it down?" He'd tried earlier, but the prosthetic arm wasn't very effective for either holding down the device or undoing the screws. It's one of the reasons his whole toolbox was currently lying on the ground a few feet away from his workbench.

[alwaysxinxtrouble]

It wasn't something Matt had thought about since he first got Maggie to admit she was his mother. The truth had nearly destroyed him; growing up thinking he was alone in the world, raised in a boy's home with a chip on his shoulder. Him against the world. It been like that for most of his life. Until the truth came out Sister Maggie was his mother, watching him from the sidelines without a word of comfort towards him.

Jack miraculously coming back from the dead was his second chance at having a life with his father again. More importantly, for Emily to know her grandfather. Emily was already in bed after practicing her lucha libre moves with Jack while Matt finished washing the dishes and cleaning up from dinner. The question caught him off guard as he put the last dish away, turning around to pick up his own beer from the counter.

"No?" His brow furrowed, not bringing the bottle up to his lips just yet. "She wasn't exactly forthcoming about being my mother. I only found out because I heard her praying to you to protect me. Why?"

[heroicpaths-a]

Jack nodded at his son's words. Maybe he shouldn't be surprised that Maggie never actually got around to telling Matt everything, but it would be a lie to say he wasn't disappointed. Jack had hoped she would take care of their son— and to be fair, she had, in a way, done that. Just not in the way he wanted her to.

"Well, I— I was hoping she would, eventually. The night before that fight against Creel, I called her. She didn't answer, but I left her a message, telling her what I was about to do and... asking that she'd look after you." Maybe it had been a little selfish of him, knowing what kept her from staying with them. Well, it was too late to dwell on that one way or another.

"Look, Matty, I didn't mean to hide anything from you. But you were just a kid, and it wasn't fair to put that on you. Your mother... Maggie, a while after she had you, she... she got sick." Maggie had explained it to him, a couple of years after everything. It didn't help then— he was still hurt to this day, and the wound was much fresher back then.

[bokketo]

[x] "If you insist, thank you." Gwen chuckles at Matt's antics. "Let me set my groceries down and change real quick, and then I'll take advantage of your hospitality." She'd really rather not go into someone's home with egg on her dress. "Or, actually, maybe I should clean up the landing first. If someone slips on that, I'll feel terrible." Not to mention that taking a shower and changing before cleaning up doesn't make much sense. She'd just be getting dirty all over again.

She gives Jack a sheepish look as she fishes out the key for her own apartment and gingerly puts down her bags just beyond the door. "Do you think I could pop by in half an hour or so? I'll try to be quick! And that'll give you a little time to figure out what to do with Matty too. Might as well get him a distraction so he doesn't end up in your eggs too!"

[heroicpaths-a]

Jack nods, though he'd be lying if he said he doesn't wish she could hang around for a little longer. "Yeah, sure, that sounds good. Let me know if you need any help. With— with the clean up, I mean," He adds quickly. The last thing he wants is for her to think he means anything else by it, thanks to the weird timing.

For the next 30 minutes, Jack does some cleaning around the apartment himself, in between stopping his son from getting into trouble, which is a tall order, even though Jack tries distracting him with cartoons on the TV. There's always something that grabs his attention, and he ends up wandering off again.

By the time Gwen rang the doorbell, Jack had all but given up and strapped the kid to his high chair with some snacks. He's sure Matty will find a way out of those eventually too, but at least it buys him some time.

"Hey," He smiles at her once he opens the door. "Come on in, kitchen's just through here. I probably shouldn't be away from the little Houdini in there for too long," He points back at Matty, who is perfectly visible from the doorway, waving at Gwen from his high chair as if he's a well-behaved little angel. "Is there anything else you need, or just the eggs?"

[apocketfullofmuses]

@heroicpaths | Freddie & Peter

Freddie laughed and clapped, watching Peter swinging above her head with her daughter nestled safely in his arms; Prue giggled and babbled, thoroughly enjoying swinging from one end of the rooftop to the other. There was no fear in either mother or daughter of Prue falling; even if Peter's strength or reflexes failed him, Freddie could orb the baby back into her own arms in a heartbeat, and thanks to the inherited super soldier serum in Prue's blood she was a lot more sturdy than an average toddler.

When Peter's feet landed back on the rooftop, Freddie bounded over to them, her smile brighter than the sun that was just beginning to set. "Was that fun, baby?" She reached out for her daughter, only for a giggling Prue to cling onto Peter's neck.

"Nooooooo! Dada!"

Freddie's breath caught in her throat for a second; Prue had been using words for a little while - her favorite so far being NO - but she'd never said that particular word before. They should have expected it of course, Peter had been everything to Prue that a dad should be; more than once Freddie had laid awake, wondering if Peter would want to be Prue's dad one day, or if that was even something she could ever ask from him. With wide eyes, Freddie bit her lip and looked at Peter, waiting for his reaction.

[heroicpaths-a]

To say he was surprised when Prue spoke would be an understatement— or, not that she could speak, she'd been doing that for a while now, but what she said was most definitely unexpected. And, if he was being honest, a little terrifying. His life had been such a mess lately, and as much as he'd like to actually be Prue's dad, he wasn't sure he could pull that off. Most definitely not with Jameson underpaying him for his pictures, and that wasn't even mentioning the danger that came with being associated with Spider-Man if that ever got out again.

He lifted his eyes from the baby to look at his girlfriend, who looked as surprised as he was. "Uhm... that's fine, I can take her back inside," He assured Freddie, deciding not to acknowledge Prue's words for now. He wasn't sure how Freddie felt about it, and he doubted it would be very effective to try to correct the baby if it came to it. "And, uh... maybe we can talk about this later?"

[gwendolyn3]

Peter Parker at the Daily Bugle

Tom Holland for Prada 2025

[forsakenwitchery]

'Still can't finish your sentences, can you?' aka Gustave + having a... unique way with words

my Clair Obscur gifs

alt of the first one with Soph under the cut

[bokketo]

[x] Sophie smiles at his stumbling words, the same way she always has. "I know. I know." They're the same words she said to him then. He doesn't have to say things for her to understand ; she reads him like an open book. "I was worried that I would only be a distraction if I came back to you, that you'd resent me without meaning to. But when you found me under the red-and-white tree, I knew—"

She, too, runs out of words with him sometimes, as if his stuttering, overlapping thoughts desperate to tumble out of him are somehow contagious. Mostly, it is that so much of her brain is dedicated to murmuring I love you on repeat, no matter what. Somehow, no matter how many years went by, it never slipped into past tense. Not I loved you but I love you, always. She struggles to even remember why she stopped being able to say it so readily, as if the last few years of her life before the gommage have become something of a haze. Everything has taken on a sort of unreal quality, and perhaps it's for the best that she does not remember all the suffering and can focus on Gustave entirely.

The fact that his hands on her face are soft and warm doesn't seem to shock her, despite knowing that one should have been metal ( they had both been flesh the last time he'd held her like this too ) and she puts her own hands over his.

"Will you kiss me this time, Gustave? Will you keep me and let me keep you?"

[heroicpaths-a]

Gustave is so temporarily stunned by his arm that it takes him a moment to take in Sophie's words. Maybe, for once, he doesn't need to understand it. For once, he can just have this moment, whatever it is, just to themselves. Isn't that what he always wanted after all? To be able to spend the rest of his life with the woman he loves? This, whether it's life, the afterlife, or whatever else, is a blessing, as long as he's with Sophie.

Isn't that what he's always wanted, after all? What he's dreamt of, for years now— all the years they'd spent apart, for a lot of reasons. They won't have to worry about them now, will they? Just like in his dreams, they can be together without worrying about the Paintress stealing their futures.

"Do I really need to answer that?" He smiles, then, tentatively, slowly, almost as if he's afraid she'll fade away into nothingness again, Gustave leans in, closing the short distance between them to press his lips softly against hers.

[apocketfullofmuses]

[Text: Sam] well why isn't he wearing the hat? I wanna see the raccoon in the tiny hat!

[Text: Sam] I checked and it's surprisingly not illegal.

[Text: Sam] I'll make you dinner if you let me see the raccoon :D

[heroicpaths-a]

[Text: Sophie] he's sleeping! I'm not gonna disturb him for that

[Text: Sophie] my sister found him in our dumpster :P

[Text: Sophie] we still haven't named him. Do you have any suggestion?

[heroicpaths-a]

@apocketfullofmuses from here

[Text: Sophie] I have a racoon. and a tiny cowboy hat [Text: Sophie] like separately. he's not wearing the tiny cowboy hat [Text: Sophie] yet [Text: Sophie] I'm just trying to plan ahead

[imperator-kahlo]

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Act One | Gustave

+

[heroicpaths-a]

@bokketo

Gustave finally rises from his usual seat at the edge of the cliff, stretching to try and counter the back pain that had been building up from sitting down for hours on end. It's a good thing Maelle didn't come with them this time, or he wouldn't be able to escape the old man jokes. They're becoming a little bit too real.

There's no need for him to be working this late anyway, even if it's just reviewing and editing notes from earlier. There's no urgency anymore, after all, no more deadline to complete a mission before his gommage. But old habits die hard, and Gustave never did learn how to take time off— it had been an impossibility for most of his life. The extra time for him just automatically translates to more work he can get done for Lumière.

It's perhaps why it's taken him so long to head back to the Continent with Lune. But most of his work is done now, and whatever is left can be finished by his apprentices, so it felt like the right time to join her in her research out on the Continent. As he looks back at her and her guitar, though, it's clear that he's the only one still worried about it for the night, because he'd barely even noticed she started playing.

He crosses the familiar campsite— the same one from their expedition years ago— and sits down next to her to watch. He's seen her play countless times and has become quite familiar with her repertoire over the years. In the past few years, whenever she returns to Lumière for weeks at a time before embarking on another expedition, he's heard new songs, likely ones she wrote while traveling the Continent.

A lot of things seem different with her now in comparison to before, and Gustave really liked the change. He'll see her happily chat with the gestrals or the grandis, still taking notes, of course— it's a tough habit to break for her too, but there's less of a weight on it now. Their future isn't dependent on their research the way it had been before, so it's like they're actually allowed to enjoy it. And most of all, he's seen her practice and work on her music— something she'd call selfish before, and, more than once, he caught himself watching her and smiling when she wasn't looking.

This is one of those times.

"Don't think I've heard this one before," He comments as she plays the last note. "Working on something new?"

[apocketfullofmuses]

In the years they'd spent training alongside each other, Sophie had come to see Sam as more than just another vigilante protecting the city like her dad had, and now she was too; she saw him as a close friend - and if she was being honest with herself, there were times that she definitely wouldn't have minded him being more than just a friend, especially over the last year or two. Now that had her dad had fully stepped back from Daredevil, it was nice to think, sometimes, that she wasn't alone out there, that Sam was watching over Chinatown the same way she watched over the Kitchen.

Tonight, though, Hell's Kitchen had been kind to her; other than a small scuffle between a couple of drunks that she probably could have just left alone anyway, it was remarkably quiet. Her dad had always taught her to make the most of nights like this, because they didn't come around often; she could have gone home and actually gotten a full night's sleep for a change, but she hadn't seen Sam in a couple of weeks, and she missed him. Before she'd even fully formed the thought to do it, she was already making her way across the rooftops, swinging from building to building with the billy clubs her dad had gifted her, until she found herself in Chinatown, and watching Sam.

"I guess I just felt like slumming it over here," she joked with a shrug and a smile bright enough to outshine the moonlight. "The Kitchen's quiet tonight, and I haven't seen you around for a while, so I figured I'd come say hi - and I know I can get some good takeout around here." Most of the good takeout places around the city were more than used to a vigilante or two paying a late night visit for food. "Dad always told me to take advantage of the quiet nights, so that's what I'm doing. You hungry?"

[heroicpaths-a]

Sam had always somewhat struggled with the concept that people actually wanted him around. A few months after he first started training with Daredevil, the man offered him a job in his office after Sam broke his arm and couldn't keep his job as a janitor at the university anymore. As soon as his arm was fully healed, he had been expecting to be sent back to cleaning toilets. To his surprise, Matt not only let him stay, but he was actually confused when Sam suggested he should be going away now that there was no need to keep him around.

It had been a similar thing when Matt retired from Daredevil, essentially saying Sam and Sophie's training was over. He still showed up for dinner if he was invited, sure, but he'd leave as soon as that was done, not wanting to overstay his welcome. And when it came to Sophie, it wasn't much different. They didn't need to train and patrol together anymore, so he didn't want to impose.

Of course, it never occured to him that he *wasn't* imposing. They did become friends over the past few years, after all. Maybe part of him wished they could go beyond that, but he promptly shot those feelings down— and he his heart skipped a beat when she smiled at him, he made sure to ignore it. There was no point in ruining what they already had.

"I could eat," He shrugged, smiling back at her. He remembered those lessons pretty well, mostly because he found them quite boring. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad with Sophie, though. "And I can take you to the best food trucks around for a midnight snack."