Arthur: He Tossed A Few Drinks Together, Poured It Out, And Made You Drink It? How Was It?

Something I think about a lot is how Dutch managed to turn Arthur into this perfect and dependable killer/enforcer.. Like, I know Dutch basically saved him and therefore could use Arthur's gratefulness as a manipulative tool, but still - how did he manage to shape a teenage Arthur so precisely into what he needed him to be? (I never really questioned this before, but I've been working with/teaching teenagers lately and it's so fucking hard to get them to do basically ANYTHING??)

(part 2) I guess what I’m trying to get at is: Teenagers are so different from children, and I think teaching/influencing them is a LOT harder? (let alone shaping them into violent right-hand thugs, looking at you Dutch) Or maybe teenage Arthur was already like that so Dutch just had to use that rather than change or manipulate him? I just find it so hard to believe this whole thing worked out as well as it did…(I meant to ask for your thoughts on this but instead I just rambled, I’m so sorry)~~~~~~~~~~No need to apologize, Nonny.  <3  If I remember the phrase right, Arthur is described in his official bio at the point Dutch and Hosea took him in as “the life of a criminal is all he’s ever known”, “living on the streets ever since losing his parents at an early age”, and “particularly angry and damaged”/”seemingly a lost cause who responded well to some structure and mentoring”.We also know he barely remembers his mother, he watched his father die, his dad was a criminal, and he remembers his father with absolutely no fondness.  We see he’s overly anxious to please Dutch, to the point all Dutch has to do is issue a casual challenge implying Arthur’s doubting him or not measuring up, and Arthur scrambles frantically to fix that.  So what I’m thinking we have here is a kid who grew up suffering both psychological and physical abuse from his father, who was probably forced into learning criminal talents early (pickpocketing, in my headcanon).  He learned very young that he had no worth as a person, and the only value he had was to produce results.  He seems to have loathed his father so I doubt he worried about winning Lyle’s love, but he recognized that succeeding meant approval, at least insofar as probably being abused less.His father dies.  Arthur’s left living on the streets for several years, probably in a big city that he could so utterly disappear.  The message that he has no worth is further reinforced.  He’s alone, scared, fighting to survive, and there’s no Sister Calderon or anyone else to save him or tell him he’s worth saving.  Given the need to fight for food, sleeping space, safety, etc. against other street kids, he certainly lived in an environment of heightened aggression and anger and violence here.  He’s living the life of Dutch’s social Darwinism: the (violently) strong survive, the weak perish.So you’ve got a kid with shitty self-image, a history of abuse, and a lot of capacity for anger and violence.  Then Dutch and Hosea take him in at fourteen and things change.  He’s given a place to belong.  Clothes that fit and aren’t ragged.  A safe place to sleep.  Enough food to eat.  He learns to read and write.And Dutch isn’t hitting him, so Arthur assumes this new father figure is how it’s supposed to be.  But he’s missing the other facet: the psychological abuse.  The same produce results or you’re worthless to me mentality he likely got from his father, but Dutch is far cleverer than Lyle Morgan in it.  He gaslights.  He manipulates. He alternately flatters and praises, and then insults and questions, so that Arthur’s left always hungry for earning that love and approval again.You’ve got a pissed off teenager, and given Arthur’s got plenty of sarcasm I imagine he was, as I have Hosea put it fondly, “a smart mouthed little shit”.  But he’s also a scared boy who’s been repeatedly taught he’s dispensable trash.  He’s started to like this life he has and its comforts and security compared to the bleak hell he had before, started to become comfortable in it.  He’s terrified that if he screws up, if he gives Dutch reason to not value him anymore, he’ll be thrown away again.  So yeah, he’s going to jump through every hoop Dutch presents him eagerly, and even be trying to anticipate the man’s needs and wants if possible.  Because in his mind his place in this family, his continued survival, absolutely depends on this man still finding value in him.  The question of having worth as an intrinsic right as a human being doesn’t even register with him.  All he can see is constantly proving his having external value.  So he doesn’t have the luxury of typical teenage defiance and sometimes telling his self-proclaimed dad to go get fucked as part of the pursuit of discovering and asserting his own identity.  Because honestly, Arthur doesn’t have much in the way of his own identity.Given the emotional damage he’d already suffered, and the fact he’s being further abused and taken advantage of, that’s the status quo for the next 22 years.  Arthur doesn’t ever really get the chance to grow beyond that blind loyalty and eagerness to please and be regarded as valuable, and really form his own identity and principles, until the 1899 crisis forces him to do so.So if Dutch wants to teach Arthur to shoot, wants him to learn to rob a stagecoach, wants him to go teach someone a “lesson” with his fists?  It’s absolutely “Yes, Dad, I’ve got this.”  Anything at all to make Dutch happy and make himself more valuable to the man.  He’ll work until he drops to become the best man for the job, the one Dutch absolutely can’t do without.  If he protests at all, it’s a token grumble, but he’ll give in readily and go do it, because he prides himself on being able to get the job done.  Dutch clearly only values his brutal and violent skills–it’s Hosea who encourages other things in Arthur.I also think this is part of why Dutch openly favored and identified more with John as his clear “golden boy” while relegating Arthur to being the gang workhorse.  Arthur’s snarky defiance largely died down and transformed into awkward gratitude and absolute loyalty when he realized he could stay.  John stayed something of a cocky brat.  Arthur is far more versatile and useful, but Dutch enjoys John’s “unbroken spirit”–so long as he doesn’t question too much.

Darabella but make it reverse batb I always thought Daring’s beast arc was a little contrived because he didn’t need to learn to be selfless, he needed to learn that self worth wasn’t contingent on having a destiny, but what if Rosa helped Daring overcome his identity crisis in between specials and Epic Winter was Beast!Rosa learning self care instead, because something something you need to take care of yourself in order to properly help others. Also beast Rosa adorably deadly

yeah i see that! daring really wasn’t that bad before epic winter and he did help people. so he didn’t really need a redemption arc, more like some clarification on who he was

beast rosabella makes way more sense to me than beast daring. (although i love beast daring a lot pls don’t get me wrong) but beast rosabella just feels right. like, she’s been known to be loud and be very passionate when it comes to certain things, and i just think she’d be so much better at beast than beauty.

daring on the other hand, is a 100% certified pretty boy so the fact that he’s not beauty in canon is a crime.

please say your thoughts about camp jupiter and specifically any like any headcanons or ideas you have about nr, the characters, their relationships and backgrounds, literally anything!!! i am a fellow cj enthusiast and would absolutely LOVE to hear your thoughts on it <3

-@brooklyn-house

okay okay I didn't answer this for WEEKS I'm super sorry my head was so empty and I got hyper fixated in another fandom, so I didn't want to deliver half assed answers, but I'm back!! recharged lol

• new rome/camp jupiter probably has a million secret entrances to different places, that probably only reyna knows of.

• octavian was actually friends with jason and Reyna when they were little kids but he grew to be evil and they became frenemies.

• jason and reyna spent basically all their time tgt going to different historical locations, if jason was assigned a quest he'd be like ‘can reyna go with me please?’ because they'd use it as an excuse to tour places and talk about history.

• jason definitely had other best or atleast close friends in cj or nr in general, apart from reyna. and I feel like that person knows him too well (maybe even more than reyna does) and after his death they cried their heart out, and nobody knows that they were close friends. this friend/friends have so many letters and things jason wrote to them.

• baby jason and reyna would love to try on the armours that were put on the statues in cj and would run around with it. they were definitely rebel kids.

double agent fiyero headcanons bc i need it

(pre captain) feldspar is his informant — fiyero constructs an elaborate story about how riding him will “teach him his place” and make him forget how to speak. feldspar is “imprisoned” in a stable that only fiyero has the key to — when he goes on these rides, he tells feldspar all the information he’s gathered about where Animal raids are going to take place. geldspar then takes the info to another informant, who notifies the Animal community

the wizard’s personal guard, which fiyero leads, is a personal protection service, almost like an elite emerald city police force. the wizard uses men in lower positions to do the grunt work of actually removing Animal settlements

* fiyero distributes these orders, but always slowly enough that the settlement is able to escape

he is the one that is in charge of imprisonment — whenever an Animal is arrested, he makes sure that he intercepts them before they’re taken to the wizard himself. when he “interrogates” them, he reveals that he’s an inside agent. before the engagement ball, which he knew would draw the majority of the skilled guards away, he unlocked all the cells so the animals could escape. this was blamed on elphaba when she arrived, but was actually orchestrated by feldspar

he refuses to be told elphaba’s location — if he’s discovered and tortured (lmao ironic) he cant put her in danger

he does however smuggle supplies out of the palace for her, and has definitely given feldspar a bunch of poppies to deliver on several occasions

the flying monkeys are his biggest regret — he cannot free them because it would immediately reveal him and the guilt absolutely eats him up

he has successfully redirected the Gale Force to be primarily concerned with finding elphaba, keeping them away from Animals

if a particularly sociopathic guard joins the Force, he ensures that they are assigned to the wizard’s personal guard instead of being on the field

Ghost Rider Au

So this plot bunny was born due to @mrskrazy amazing Ghost Rider drawing of Arthur. Don’t know if I will ever write this, but feel free to add or write about this au, also big thanks to @deputyoneill for helping me flesh out this idea. Also bear with me, I’ve been trying to make heads or tails of Ghost Rider lore and it is so damn confusing, if I get something wrong please correct me, but no hate. 

So this au starts six months before blackwater, job. It all started late one night when John and Arthur are riding back from a successful job,  the pair come to a crossroads and at the crossroads is the Stranger. The stranger makes a comment about how wonderful a job Arthur has been doing, doing all these deeds that would send his soul straight to hell. Arthur and John are confused as fuck, and try to attack the Stranger but, it doesn’t work. The Stranger simply says that’s it time for Arthur to come with him. Arthur falls to the ground in pain, and John in a moment of fear and panic falls to his knees next to Arthur and states that he loves him, the Stranger glares daggers at John and says something about how he can’t take Arthur soul to hell, but he could do something else. Again Arthur and John look confused at the man, and the man says that if he can’t take Arthur soul, then Arthur will collect the souls for him. The Stranger held up a ball of fire and tossed it Arthur. The man started to scream out of pain, and then he started to transform. The Stranger says that when it’s dark or if he’s in the presence of evil the rider will come and he will collect the souls of the damned. With that the Stranger is gone, and Arthur is now a flaming skeleton. 

It takes months for John and Arthur to get use to this new form and powers. At the start John and Arthur would rush out of camp, before night came. (One time they forgot and to there shock Arthur didn’t transform.) And then blackwater happened, and Arthur has to will himself from turning when they save Sadie. And then Micah, gets arrested in strawberry.  Arthur goes but he doesn’t want to. And then it happens, after Micah is freeded, he turns. Much to shock, horror and fear of everyone. And then it hits Arthur, he looks at Micah who is looking at him with the fear of God in his eyes, and due to the riders powers he can see every sin that Micah had committed. And then it hits Arthur it was Micah who betrayed them at blackwater and had plans to turn Dutch in. Arthur in a fit of rage used the  Penance Stare to kill Micah. And then he turns back, the lawmen could stare in horror, and Arthur flees. He lies to Dutch, telling him that Micha was hung. Dutch was not happy, but with Micha gone the gang seemed more at ease. 

Trio of Rat Kings

For about a year this phrase has been trending on Chinese internet: "This family is going to fall apart without me." And dare I say it is very Arthur Morgan core

interpreting the wizard of oz through the lense of the backstories the characters are given in wicked does leave room for the possibility that the scarecrow, the tin man, and the cowardly lion are having some truly wild conversations behind dorothy's back during their little trip

i can imagine that when they first meet on the yellow brick road and dont know each other, Boq wouldn't be concerned about "the Scarecrow" losing straw. just assumes its normal for living scarecrows and figures the guy doesn't seem bothered. but after the two of them figure out who each other are (no matter how poorly that conversation goes) Boq would see Scarecrow loose a bit of straw and immediately goes "FIYERO. FIYERO ARE YOU OKAY." totally forgetting how easily he's walked it off the past days of traveling. Fiyero has to go into damage control mode and assure Boq He's Fine because he does NOT want to deal with Boq rusting himself again.

Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero: a deleted scene in Wicked of the news and anticipated exciting arrival of the Winkie Prince himself to Shiz University💙😍