Aphmau Posting;3

[crows-of-crows]

Thinking about Garroth and Matilda friendship. It's important that Garroth still hates Malik though very very important. Not only is Malik the lord that garroth hates, he's also his friend's boyfriend that he hates. Double combo

[ic4rusarchives]

Garroth Ro'meave Redesign! This is pt 6, Laurence is next

[sunflw3rghost]

the dissonance between mcd and mys versions of characters is actually something i generally like (in a conceptual way. i dont always like certain character directions but thats besides the point)

if we had gone from mcd to something similar to late mys, where both are relatively high stakes and tonally similar(? ish), mys versions characters would have likely been funamentally different. but early mys gives the interesting quirk of giving the characters a kind of normal, low stakes existence from which they are promptly ejected after season 3 and then have to grapple with horrifying situations.

the characters aren't picked up from one (relatively) serious setting and put down into another, you first give them peace and let them be normal and happy,,, and then put them into a serious setting. which could make for some fun horror, if you were into that kind of thing

[ladymargarine]

my interpretations of aphmau for both MCD and MS are like this:

MCD Aph= Anthy/Utena: lives in world with abstracted medieval ideas of female identity, masculinity, motherhood, chivalry, knighthood…etc. where they try to gain agency by taking a traditionally masculine role (ei: becoming a lord), but ultimately end up being doomed because that’s the fate that you are slated for in this world.

MS Aph= Laura Palmer: on the surface a typical girl next door, prom Queen, student body president type teenager, who the town largely assumes to be innocent and unassuming, but secretly harbors hidden depths and experiences cosmic horrors that reflect the horrific homelife/family situation they have

[lilacs-echoing]

thinking about the greatest tragedy of mcd, lost time.

how you lost time before you knew who you were. how you rebuilt it all just to lose it once more. being the same age as your once-young children due to an irreparable error. not watching your friends become mothers, fathers, not seeing them growing older. all the missed weddings and baby showers and birthdays. the community you built has scattered and the world has changed; they are all lords of other villages, bound to duty. there’s still someone waiting, and he is also losing time, you’re still stuck in the irene dimension. coming back to the home you built and watching as the image has become a desolate ruin. you were what kept them all together, yet you’re not what keeps them going. that home is gone, but the people aren’t; their new home is on the shore. and they built it without you.

experiencing immortality once, and then twice, being stuck in time while everyone else moved on in 15 years.

[ladymargarine]

Dante keeps having dreams of Aphmau being married to Gene, it’s mortifying and disgusting, and he would never breathe a word of it to anyone in the village, but sometimes when he falls asleep at night he dreams of another world. A world where his childhood home still exists. Where the kitchen looks the exactly the way it did before that fateful day, yellow and hazy with morning glow. In the middle of their dining room, the table their father built for his and their mother’s wedding day stands proud and uncharred, along with the chairs that belonged to their family. He sits on one these chairs now staring at two newlyweds. He doesn’t know exactly how he knows that their newlyweds, but his mind skips over this fact like a stone on a still lake. Perhaps he guessed it from his good-sister’s glittering eyes, staring lovingly at her new husband. Her face is young and unburdened, only made lovelier by her adoration. He knows she is gentle and openhanded, and deserves a true and noble knight. A man who shares her compassionate heart. Who better to love then, but his brother? A man who has never turned a hand against anyone. Who has always been there for Dante his whole life. Who could be more deserving of each other than the two kindest souls he’s ever met? How lucky is he to have been born with such a noble brother? And to have gained such a loving sister? These questions echo in his mind until he is ferried back in to the waking world, where the house in his dreams has been long gone, and the brother, who in his dream looked so tenderly at his new bride, had long since died. He wakes slowly, and vows not to speak a word of this to anyone

[enderpawz]

aphmau and her boys are SO IMPORTANT TO ME

garroth who slowly finds himself guarding outside aphmau’s house late at night, overcome with a bone-deep fear that something will happen to her or her sons and he won’t be there to protect them. garroth who, immediately upon finding out zane is trying to wed her, sends a letter back with raven to dale and asks them to up defenses around her home for when they return from the eastern wolf tribe’s village.

laurence who will genuinely become standoff-ish when aphmau has conversations with strangers, the overwhelming feeling of alertness flooding through him as he studies every single action they make in case he needs to step in. laurence who stays up to listen to her breathing when they’re camping out, letting it ground him, a reminder that the shadow knights could not make him take away what is most important to him.

dante who will tease and scold garroth and laurence all he wants about how jealous and dumb (/aff) they are with aphmau but is somehow worse then both of them, hovering around her the entire time she wanders phoenix drop and he’s on duty. dante who is shorter than her, but will immediately takes a step in front of her and puff up the second anyone even remotely gives him the idea he needs to.

[ladymargarine]

If I have to be the first Vlyadmau shipper in this fandom then so be it!

[pheonixdrop]

Nobody talks enough about how mcd Garroth handles his emotions by self-isolating until they go away.

He hides them completely, at the start of the series. Nobody is allowed to see him without his literal or emotional mask.

When Zennix destroys his helm, he hides himself away and politely shoos everyone off who tries to check on him. I don’t think he ever truly processes the betrayal, especially with how angry he gets when it’s brought up by Laurence. He never speaks about Zennix unprompted.

He won’t talk to Aphmau about his feelings, despite how badly he wants to. It takes a lot of time, combined with aggressive prodding, for him to even talk about it with Laurence.

When he believes Laurence and Aphmau have gotten together behind his back, he does not lash out. He hides. He locks himself in his room and feigns sickness. He won’t talk to Aphmau and Laurence, at all. Not even for closure.

It takes a complete stranger pretending to be a doctor for him to open up even a little.

Aphmau only ever finds out about his romantic feelings by accident, really. Even his early attempts to hint were wrapped in plausible deniability (leaving a ring in a box for her, anyone?), but that one, big, dramatic move— kissing her in his “dream”. Something he would only ever do in a dream, if he were left to it.

And finally, when he realizes Aphmau chose someone else, that she’s pregnant, he runs away. Up and leaves. Completely isolates himself to start again somewhere else. Damn all the years he spent for Phoenix Drop, damn every relationship he’s forged, damn it all, because he would rather be alone than crack open his shell.

This man is terrified of emotional vulnerability.

[m--rtyr]

So very very very curious about your PDH rewrite dude, as you know! Starting off by asking about Phoenix Drop and of course Phoenix Drop High!

:333

Phoenix Drop is a pretty small town, despite its history and religious significance. Because of the location of PD, there wasnt much room for expanding outwards, and the idea of expanding upwards didnt really mesh with the preservation of the older buildings and monuments that the church has been funding for the past couple of centuries. So, in more spacious areas which have access to PD, theyve become common tourist spots especially for those aiming to get married, buried, or give birth in Phoenix Drop (which are all very common, it is the location commonly accepted to be the site of Irene’s rebirth, marriage and eventual death).

Because of the significance and size of PD, housing there is *so* fucking expensive, and the academic facilities are highly sought after. A lot of the money goes back to the church, and then into preservation and restoration, and public services like homeless shelters and food banks across the region. If you can afford to live there, you get it all paid back in other means, but uh. You also have to afford it in money.

PDH in particular is kind of like the equivalent of a catholic private school. In the way that it is like a really good school. It just also has a lot of religion baked into the education and it appeals to one particular demonstration of belief in the divine, being a very irene-centric one.

It has a school uniform (im debating between red bc phoenix drop or blue bc irene), and attached dorms (which are especially popular amongst less-wealthy and not-local students), and a cathedral on campus. Its soooo fucking fancy.

It offers a wide range of classes, even more specialised ones (which can help students aiming to go into particular career branches get a leg up on uni applications), including things specific studies for groups such as Werewolves and meif’wa, which go into the history, art/literacy, biology, etc, of those groups. Which are a good study to have under your belt if you want to apply to uni courses anywhere particularly fancy. Which is why Aph in my rewrite ends up doing Werewolf Studies.

Which is how the whole ultima thing will be introduced as an idea, as its like. Werewolf mythology, and relevant. Its a very common course amongst werewolves but its not a necessity for werewolves, nor can only werewolves do it.

Its also a popular punishment for rich people to send their kids to PDH for misbehaving because its pretty strict, and the whole proximity to religion is believed to make them better people and purify them.

And every year. 6 students are selected to get full-ride scholarships to any uni of their choice, which is a mix of being elected by the student body and teachers alike, and your grades in your subjects, each corresponding with a divine warrior. Its not uncommon for wealthy parents to pay to boost their kid’s chances of getting the particular divine of their choice.

[m--rtyr]

Something i find really interesting is the idea that Garroth was in a position to rewrite the Oath of the Guard.

I know its for storytelling reasons and isnt meant to have broader connotations on the power he holds in Ru’Aun

But i think about it sometimes. Its not even just a legal document or vague promise, its an enchanted book. People are going to be held to that pledge even if they arent being observed.

Im gonna play with this for sure. Maybe theres a bigger guard council he merely appeals to about making this change. As it was his alteration, he is the one to present it.

Or something like that. Maybe he has so much aura they just let him do whatever he wants.

[m--rtyr]

I also think its interesting that Lords seemingly have no say over the Oath of the Guard when their head guards do.

Aph has no say or contribution for the meeting, only invited to be informed.

And considering characters like Zenix, who have a problem with the Lord/Guard system, it makes me curious. Just in the regard that its acted as though Lords hold this crazy amount of power over the guards, and yet the guards decide their own rules

I get that its probably left up to Head Guards (The only non head-guard consulted is Brian, who is an apprentice head guard at that point), and Head Guards are probably all the way up the ass of their lords, especially if theyre selected and sworn in by their lord.

But it does raise the question of, if there is such widespread discontent with the Lord/Guard system, why have there been no efforts made by Head Guards to fix it? Especially characters like Garroth who lost people close to him due to it, and clearly has influence over the oath. Youd think maybe he might take some of the things that ended up radicalising Zenix and reforming them?

Garroth makes no preventative action regarding Shadow Knights. His plan is to just kill them when they happen.

Another point in favour of ‘Garroth would be a bad lord’.

Me, 1. Rebirth, 0

[m--rtyr]

i like the idea of like.

Zenix who very clearly loves pd but doesn't like to admit it. Like even when he's there, he's making all these comments about the village being a lost cause and how Brian was smart to leave for Guard Academy, and then people ask why he didn't go and he makes up some bullshit about it being too much effort. But they see him put 10x more into protecting the village from monsters and bandits than he ever would have to in order to get through guard academy. its so clear that this is his home but he can't say that because of what he is. he will have to leave, one day, if he hasn't fucked it up by then, when it becomes obvious he hasn't aged since the old lord died, whether that be tomorrow or ten years from now.

He can't admit he loves his village and his people because he shouldn't love them, and he injures garroth rather than let him find out the full extent of the truth because gosh if he's gotta run away and be a shadow knight, at least don't let them know what he was willing to do to survive before that.

but idk i love him too much i'm biased in how i like to imagine him.

[m--rtyr]

You dont get it i need Zenix and Ein to both be aphmau’s evil half brothers on other sides and also hate each other

And Ein gets pissed off because as teenagers, Zenix was younger and smaller than him but woah jesus thats a giant adult

[m--rtyr]

Brendan and Kiki are Asian because Brendan’s skin is a Bolin skin and Bolin is also Asian

Also Brendan has the nicest ass and tits in Phoenix drop and the women can’t even be upset because it’s true there is no competition

Yes exactly! I agree i agree, they’re both asian.

And yes, he does. I think the only people who get upset about it are the men who pride themselves on being big and buff because he’s barely even got to work at his build. Aaron and Garroth always stand a little straighter (and taller) whenever Brendan is around.

[m--rtyr]

Idk if we discuss enough how Zoey’s story of being magically exiled from Yggdrasil, brought home by her husband, and reunited with her son who was now a man… kind of mirrors aphmau’s story of being trapped in another realm, brought back by Zoey, and reunited with her son who was now a man.

Or the implications of how Zoey took the role in Aphmau’s story that her husband played in her own.

Or the implications of Zoey being kept away from her family using barrier magicks and being a barrier magicks user herself. She is kept away by the one thing she should be able to control.

Similarly. Aphmau is kept away by the Irene Dimension, which is her own domain.

(Screenshot below of Zoey’s backstory for context) (Episode 44 of Season 1)

[ladymargarine]

It actually so cruel to me as a zanemau shipper, that Jess MADE it canon that Aphmau’s favorite mystic messenger character is Jumin Han. JUMIN HAN. The rich, black haired, nepobaby that secretly loves cute things?!?!?! That’s literally Zane. Her type is Zane. AGHHHH