Its Unrealistic For All The Characters To Be Queer Maybe Your Reality Is Just Fucking Boring. Literally

“it’s unrealistic for all the characters to be queer” maybe your reality is just fucking boring. literally my entire friend group is queer, we travel in packs

angel of death 

OH MY GODDDD THE ARTS SO BEAUTIFUL AND DOLORES 🛐🛐🛐🛐

Dolores

I just love reading these things sm

so why did amnesiac!claude take as much time to bring back athy as he did?

(just what i think 😳😳)

i believe this is where we find the answer:

his word choice here is integral to understanding amnesiac!claude, because we aren't dealing with claude after he's raised athy. it's practically LP!claude all over again.

and even if diana may see giving birth as an act of love, claude sees it as a choice. it's her choosing someone else over him, which is why he considers it betrayal. that's what his life has been - the emperor choosing to favour anastacius, anastasius choosing to hate claude, penelope choosing to betray him. and diana, who has literally introduced him to unconditional and reciprocated love, has just done the exact same thing. diana has made a choice, and like everyone else's, it wasn't him.

in amnesia arc, we are being reintroduced to him as a character, and it's why it's so long - it's all his thoughts since he's met athy compressed into one arc.

he deals with athy the way LP!claude would, which makes sense. he wouldn't have kept someone by his side - the way everyone claims he has athy - if he didn't love them, and if they didn't love him back. and the "proof" that someone truly does love him, to claude, is the choice. the choice that everyone else failed in making. the idea that he chose athy - diana's child, the child that for all intents and purposes he planned on killing - for fourteen years and that she chose him back is quite ridiculous to him.

but that's what she's been doing all along, right?

...choosing him for her debutante, finding her happiness in going with him and not lucas or felix or ijekiel, and many more little instances like this. she's been choosing him for fourteen years, claude sees this especially when athy mentions she doesn't need to see diana because she has him (i'm pretty sure he was awake) - which is why incidents like this stopped happening:

even during the LP!timeline, athy has not given up on her father. despite having realised he will not accept her, she knows she would've died to keep jennette, his 'happy ending' alive. athanasia has unknowingly, in both timelines, become exactly what diana had hoped she would - his constant.

the one person who chooses him, over and over and over.

and what happens in LP!timeline? the moment he lets her go, pushes her away, he has no one. that happy ending is gone. i have no doubt that felix would never have stayed after athy's execution (despite being in the flashbacks of athy's birth, the massacre of ruby palace, he isn't present in the dream where claude is dying with anastacius in the shadows). he loses it all.

but here's the thing about him - despite everything, claude craves love. after being abused by his literal family, he accepts penelope yudit into his life. he may have held some positive sentiments towards her - especially after the neglect and humiliation he faced from his family and the noble court, there must've been some comfort in her presence. and she hurts him.

years later, we see claude letting diana in.

he's given away his heart twice and he knows he'll do it again, thus that portrait of penelope in his room to warn his future self. and really, after letting go of athy who poses such a threat to his heart, amnesiac!claude should feel relieved. at ease.

he isn't, though. his most trusted friend is telling him he had found love. that for the fourteen years he cannot recall, he was happy. amnesiac!claude is restless, and that desire to be wanted, chosen, is still fresh. the dream about diana puts it all into perspective. magic is not a cause, nor the effect. it is simply an aid, a catalyst. he could not have possibly forgotten diana had there been a symbol of her, of their love, right beside him - and now, chasing athy away has become a battle against his own mind. dreams cannot simply be conjured up, they are the work of the subconscious - and to deny the truth behind his safekeeping of her paintings, the protection spell on her, the chair in his office and athy's gardens, to deny all of this would be to lie to himself. so, he puts her through a final test:

and athy chooses him again.

this time, however, it isn't over felix or diana or lucas, athy has chosen claude over herself. over her safety. despite him publically denouncing her, despite an attempt on her life, she's made her choice.

it is a gamble, a risk, claude knows this. the courage to return can only be fueled by love - athanasia mentions she doesn't want to fall into his trap as well, but where does she end up, despite this fear? she returns to him, as she always does.

she doesn't pressure him. athy checks on claude everyday, advises him to keep his health a priority, she decorates his study with what I assume are lavender flowers (which are known to symbolise purity, devotion and serenity, and are given to convey a message of healing and love - spoon often plays with the symbolic significance of flowers in her panels) and despite her insecurity, invites jennette to the lake for his comfort. she stands in silent support, showing him that she will remain 'the constant'. it makes him want to remedy their relationship, understand the happiness she had apparently been giving him for years.

and so, he chooses her:

THIS LOOKS PRETTY

𝘙𝘢𝘯𝘣𝘰𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘴 ✨

Volleyball is a sport…where you always look up!!

ー HAIKYŪU!! ILLUSTRATIONS (2022) drawn by Haruichi Furudate