Person

14 years ago when I had recently moved to Alaska, I went hiking with an Aleut friend, and she pointed to a feather lying on the ground and said "hey that's a bald eagle tail feather, you should grab it!" and I was like "uhh I'm very white and that's very illegal" and she went "they're fuckin everywhere up here man. I have 20." so she grabs it off the ground and hands it to me and says "there, now it's a ceremonial gift from an indigenous person."

and I'm like, okay, cool, I guess this is how we do things in Alaska. nice.

so I keep this bald eagle tail feather around for years. display it in my home among other cherished memorabilia from places I've lived and visited, etc.

on a whim, I have just now looked it up. there is no exemption to that law for a ceremonial gift from an indigenous person. the last 7 years I lived in the US, I was technically a bald eagle poacher.

the law against 'picking feathers up off the ground' means that you can't go shoot an eagle then sell the feathers on etsy by saying you 'just found them'. you can't own them no matter where they came from, which makes sure that they're not going to come from any birds killed and then secretly disposed of.

Both places are of p both personal and political importance to our heroes.

Castle Heterodyne is Agatha's ancestral home, her birthright that she first saw as an adult.

Castle Wulfenbach is slightly younger than Gil himself. It's his home the place he grew up, and the sumbol of his father's-- and his-- political might.

Gil is prepared to destroy his only home, in order to stop the Other.

I think in many ways, he was raised to do so.

Gil grew up hearing about how Baron Wulfenbach built this flying fortress in the ashes and ruins of his small patch of ancestral land, and founded an Empire to save Europa from the Other's wasps & revanents, and the chaos that came in their wake.

He was raised by Ottilia, Muse of Protection, who likely taught him about sacrificing one's own wants for the sake of others.

He's already spent almost 3 years surviving the loss of his father AND the love(s) of his life. He can survive the loss of his home.

He's telling himself that if his Father could survive the loss of his home, rebuild, and keep the Other's forces at bay for at least a couple decades... Then he will, too.

It's just another test.

Gil outlines why this situation can benefit Tarvek 's stated goals. And then. The LOOK on his face, in that second panel!

Tarvek looks like he did when Sephie outlined a future in which Tarvek wins and weds the Lady Heterodyne, leaving the heartbroken Baron Gilgamesh Wulfenbach to retreat to the cold comfort of Science and Logic-- and enter a political marriage with Sephie, the most Logical choice.

Everything coming together, just as intended since he was old enough to scheme. But he doesn't LIKE the future they're describing.

Being Storm King meant a lot of things to Tarvek. It means surviving his relatives, and coming out on top. Ushering in a *true and lasting* Peace to Europa (...possibly via Mind-Control; there is some debate in the Order...). It means a political marriage with the "Heterodyne," dressed up as a Fairytale Romance. It means the Muses found and restored to full health and glory.

But things are different now. He's begun to envision a future outside of his family's control, outside the threat of Mind-Control (how long had Tarvek suspected that HIS father meant to overwrite his mind and not give it back, the way Klaus did to Gil, but worse?) and his Grandmother pulling his strings and assassins of dubious loyalties following his heels.

Tarvek doesn't WANT his own rise to require Gil's fall, anymore. He wants to imagine a future where they BOTH win!

And he's an intelligent man with an ear for gossip. He's probably thought at least a bit, about the possibility of Agatha choosing both of them, of having a Triumverate.

“It's not a who,” replied the client, swirling their wine around the glass, “but a what.”

“I don't do animals.” The assassin motioned to a waiter to bring her a glass. “And I charge double for conceptual. At least double.”

“I am happy to pay for exceptional work.” The client picked up the bottle and filled the assassin's glass.

The wine was dark and viscous with only the faintest tint of red; it was like someone had cut the throat of midnight and bottled its lifeblood, straight from the vein.

“There is no ‘exceptional’ work in this business. Not really. There's only here or gone.” The assassin drained the glass and tasted tannin, clay, summer fruit and ozone. “So what would you have me make gone?”

“Despair.”

The assassin laughed. She laughed loud and slightly too long.

“That one is an easy target. Simplest thing in the world.” She nudged her glass towards the client, who refilled it silently. “If despair is your enemy, you can kill it with three words.”

“Must be powerful words.”

“The most powerful.” The assassin held up three fingers and counter out three simple syllables. “I. Need. Help.”

The assassin emptied the fresh glass of wine. She detected undernotes of rich chocolate and spent matches.

“A most efficient incantation indeed.” The client sipped from their own glass, leaving their lips and teeth coated with glossy dusk-stains. “So… why haven't you asked for help if it's so easy?”

“We're old buddies, me and Despair. If he was gone, I'd surely be lonely.” The assassin laughed again, but only a little, and her laugh was a sad, small and wriggling thing.

“Nonetheless, he is the target.” The client dropped a velvet bag on the table with a clink. “Will you take the job?”

“I… I don't know if anyone will answer me. When I ask for… y’know.”

“Then you had best create a world that will.” The client dipped a finger in their glass, then idly began to doodle on the table in wine smears. The wood sizzled as they did so. “It is said that, in this world, the best way to kill is with kindness. I wonder if the reverse could also be true?”

“How so?”

“Do you think that you could kill so skilfully that you make the world kind?”

---

[tumblr] is a flat circle.

Person 1: -posts-

Captions cover the spot on the screen you put the information I need

The dialogue is captioned but not the song you have playing that the dialogue is responding to

You only captioned the person on the screen, not the person off screen who is also talking

No captioning of critical sound effects (alarms, bells, dogs barking, etc)

Speakers are not labelled at moments where it is not clear on the screen who is talking.

Captions cover the spot on the screen that you put the information I need!

Other d/Deaf people welcome to add.