#wow this ended up really long

[possamble]

do you have any particular thoughts regarding marcille being a half-elf? its interesting to me considering the fact that she seems self-conscious about being a half-elf, but denies it when its brought up

i remember marcille looking visibly uncomfortable over laios simply asking her how old she is, which i think the only reason she might feel nervous about this is because it might reveal her as a half-elf to him.

she's never corrected anybody whose called her an elf either.

never mind the circumstances of the reveal, in which thistle goes on about how half-elves are inferior and accusing her of wanting to become full blooded elf, she seemed particularly upset like he struck a nerve-

i wish the half-elf thing was built upon more. also, underrated marcille line:

okay so i revisited this sequence just to make sure I could back myself up and it's just... man. there's a lot going on.

the first reaction we get from Marcille is this huge panel that takes up half of the page

she is viscerally affected. flushing to the tips of her ears with the intensity of it. and we see it again, a few pages later

so it might seem like she's embarrassed about it and lying to herself, but... I really think it's just that Thistle is accidentally hitting sore spots. If you really look at what he says to get these reactions

"you'll live out your entire life [...] and die that way too"

"a hundred years from now, nobody will be there"

Hear me out. I think, if he stuck to harping on about her inferiority without bringing up how terrifyingly long-lived she is, she wouldn't have been as bothered. But right now, Thistle is accidentally hitting all the marks on Marcille's deepest fears-- and this is after the Winged Lion promised her that her dreams could come true in an extremely vulnerable moment, so it also hits her slightly guilty conscience as well.

I do truly believe that Marcille isn't bothered about being a half-elf the way that people assume she'd be bothered by it. To her, the biggest problem with being a half-elf is that it's isolating.

On one hand, it's not hard to imagine why she'd distance herself from elves in the west. A lot of them can clock her as a half-elf on sight, unlike other races, and therefore she's always branded with this weird stigma of being Othered -- I would even say that she considers herself lucky for being born outside of elven culture instead of having to grow up in it. I mean, just... look at the way elves talk about her.

Skipping past the uncomfortable implication of what 'not tolerating the existence' of half-elves would actually entail, this is incredibly fucking annoying. You can see why she wouldn't want to be around elves much. You see a lot of Marcille reacting badly here, but honestly, almost all of it can be attributed to her freaking out that her bluff completely failed. She's honestly more paying attention to Izutsumi's footsteps and trying to coordinate an opportunity to escape.

And in the end, you see her built-up frustration at being asked if she wants to be a full-blooded elf like 2-3 times in a row.

Yeah, yeah, "the lady doth protest too much," and all. But we know Marcille. We know that she's a lot more embarrassed and horrendously unconvincing when she's being prodded about something she's actually self-conscious about.

Moving onto the flipside of things, it might seem weird that she "pretends" to be a full elf around other races, but it's not really that strange if you think about it. Again, people are weird about her being infertile or whatever, and a lots of them don't even know much about what sets half-elves apart from everyone else. I mean, look at how uncomfortable Laios is just asking her about it

and look at how exasperated and resigned she looks

And like... she's right. Where would that come up in normal conversation? Why would she go out of her way to tell them? She's functionally a normal elf to other races anyway -- got the ears, the abnormally long "childhood", and the huge mana capacity. Unless it's directly relevant or important for people to know, I don't think it's all that strange or indicative of insecurity that she prefers not to bother with it.

(This combined with her sense of being an "outsider" to elf culture also explains why she thinks elf superiority is embarrassing. She sees the way elves treat short-lived races from the "outsider" perspective nonetheless, and thinks it's obnoxious; especially more so because she usually has to play the elf around short-lived races and deal with the reputation of arrogance that elves have built up.)

The sad thing is, this all means that... she doesn't actually fit in anywhere. She doesn't like going out West much because of how elves treat her. But she's also an outsider in the continents she was born in, treated like this exotic long-lived alien choosing to live among short-lived races for some reason. She is always an outsider, the Other, no matter where she goes. Add in the fact that she'll live longer than literally anyone she knows, and it's honestly kind of heartbreaking.

And I think that's the crux of it. Marcille really doesn't act like she's at all self-conscious about being a half-elf because of any feelings of inferiority or being half-made or whatever. She considers herself a perfectly legitimate being and might even, in some ways, consider herself superior to normal elves because she's not blind with elf supremacy or whatever. (And whatever "elven biases" she displays, all of them are born more out of the fact that she's kind of bad at conceptualizing how other races age and mature compared to herself, not that she actually considers herself better or more mature simply for being an elf.)

I think that whatever self-consciousness Marcille has about being a half-elf is, instead, related to terror and loneliness. The reminder that it ensures she'll never truly belong anywhere for the rest of her very long life. The reminder that, in truth, even she's not actually sure how old she is by other races' standards (hence the discomfort when asked how old she is). She doesn't want to not be a half elf, or be a full elf or full tall-man-- in her ideal world, she's still a half-elf. She just gets to live out her life at the same pace with the people she loves and doesn't have to say goodbye again and again and again until she dies.

and one last very important panel, right after Mithrun tells her that all her desires would be devoured

In her ideal world, she's still a half-elf and reality magically starts marching at her pace. But failing that, the second best thing is that she's still a half-elf-- but one who is able to accept reality and let go of her fear.

(But the rest of the story pans out the way it does because, to Marcille, taking reality apart and reshaping it was less scary than simply and fully reconciling with it.)

#asks #dungeon meshi manga spoilers #marcille donato #manga panel analysis #this is probably riddled with typos sorry #readmore cut bc it got long lmao #i ended up babbling about it bc it's such an important character detail to me #bc like... wow. she's so normal about it. she's literally just chilling. #the only thing that really bothers her is the material reality of it and how people treat her #the stereotypes the stigma etc. etc. #otherwise it just.. #literally doesn't factor into her criteria for self-worth at all #the basic truth is that marcille likes herself on a fundamental level #she's not plagued by a deep and festering self-loathing the way a lot of characters in her archetype are #she likes herself and is proud of her successes and accomplishments #its just that shes terrified of failure and can have *episodes* of self-loathing when she fucks up #but who doesn't yknow #i know its a very slight nuance that makes very little difference in how her 'overachiever' problems manifest but its there #the sword of abandonment issues that hangs over her head has nothing to do with her self-worth or self-esteem or meeting her own standards #it has to do with the fear of not living up to *other* people's expectations and not being useful enough to be worth keeping around #she's good enough for herself but she's always so so so scared that she's not good enough for other people #i wont say much about what ryoko kui is saying using this as an allegory for real world racial biases but #dungeon meshi's treatment of marcille's relationship with her being half-elf is so incredibly important to me because it gets it so right. #a trauma about inferiority or being a half-being isn't inherent to the experience of being 'of two worlds' at all #that's something that's unfairly drilled into people by their environment #the *inherent* anguish is the loneliness. the constant longing. the fact that you are always homesick no matter where you are #always just a little bit of an outsider and never fully at home #and dungeon meshi gets that. #edit: cleaned it up a little

[books-are-my-life-stuff]

Finished series, Fall 2023: Akuma-kun (2023)

"What is happiness to all humans? Are they happy if there's ample food, clothing, and shelter? Do they want self-fulfillment? Recognition from others? The psychologist Maslow said--" "Hold on. Hey, Ichiro. What is happiness to you?" "To me?"

#akuma-kun (2023) #akuma-kun spoilers #ichiro umerogi #mephisto iii #shingo umoregi #strophaia #flashing tw #eyestrain tw #my gifs #finished series gifs #long post #userartless #(hope you don't mind if i tag you even though this series might not be in your watchlist!) #one of my most anticipated shows this season and WOW I WAS BLOWN AWAY #it's really great!! i enjoyed it thoroughly #i had no experience with this franchise unlike gggnk so a lot of the references might fly over my head #but i still can enjoy this series so much i finished it in one sitting #it never fails to leave me on the edge of my seat! #shigeru mizuki-sensei's works are always astounding and timeless #(though this is less of a reboot and more of a sequel of sorts?? i dunno) #now to watch the original akuma-kun! #i actually was planning to make the entire gifset into black-white-red focused #but i wasn't really good at focusing on just one color pallette #aaaaa i was going to just choose one scene per episode for this set but i ended up making multiple gifs from one ep #this series is just so pretty and has so many beautiful scenes i can't help myself

[dimiclaudeblaigan]

ah yes, she's concerned about the aggressor and attacker who was invading them six months ago. something is wrong with the empire right now, poor edelgard; whatever could've happened to her? :(

like... what. why do you care about what's going on with her specifically when she's the person who made the decision to invade leicester? does the whole war just mean nothing to marianne? it's just totally fine that all those people died in a war edelgard started? poor edelgard, something happened to her after she started her attack? you're concerned about the leader who gave the order to attack your home?

hopes has stupid lines but this one is top tier of the top tier and just an excuse for more edelgardjerking from the writers.

#DCB Three Hopes Run #like no sorry if someone attacked the country i live in and then suddenly their army was a mess #i would /nooot/ be concerned about the leader who ordered an invasion of my home #you'd never see a character being like wow i sure am worried abt dimitri and claude #who are just defending themselves and fighting for their lives out there #but here we get marianne being worried abt the person who declared war on her people #this game tries so so SO hard to make edelgard seem justified and doing a good thing #and also has tons of characters being like wow i sure do just want the best for her #like no i would not want the best for someone who invaded my country unprovoked #being worried abt the civilians in the empire is one thing bc the imperial army was out of control #but just wanting edelgard specifically to be okay? uhhhh. seems like this was just #the only way the writers could keep it in their pants without having shez make a sex joke at edelgard like byleth can #like does marianne not realize the end goal here was to defeat and thus kill edelgard? #it doesn't happen bc of the plot bc thales' magic and yadda yadda #but ultimately without that happening she would've had to be killed to be truly defeated #she's not like claude who would prioritize survival. she would fight to the end #like if you're that concerned about the person who started this war then why are you fighting against her? #either join her side or stay out of the war. really don't understand why anyone from leicester in ag would be worried abt her #they can't even use the classmates excuse bc they weren't even classmates for that long (and it's a stupid excuse even in gw) #but like no rly this game just has ppl love up on edelgard for absolutely no reason #she comes in and starts killing their soldiers for her conquest and marianne six months later is like wow i sure am concerned abt her!! #literally like imagine someone from crimea being like ''im concerned abt ashnard''

[cirrus-grey]

I know it's kind of the point, the passions of man versus the indifferent cruelty of nature, but it is amazing to me how much the Whale in Moby Dick just does not give a fuck.

The whole book sets it up as this malicious, intelligent demon that has it out for humans and wants to kill them all, and then when the Pequod finally catches up to it it's just... puttering along, enjoying the weather, having a grand old time. Even after they attack it and it destroys one of the boats it just kind of sits in the water nearby swatting at debris with its tail and ignoring them. Even at the end, the final destruction of the ship and deaths of all the crew, it kind of just has this attitude of like. Hey. You. I thought I told you to fuck off. Like -

Ahab: From Hell's heart I stab at thee!

The Whale: Oh, not you again. 🙄

#yes yes themes and symbolism but. its also really funny. #moby dick #moby dick spoilers #original post #i kid but that was a really gripping ending #one of those books where you read it and go‚ oh yeah i can see why this is a classic #...but also‚ oh wow writing styles have changed since then #556 pages to Hunt The Whale. 5 pages to Realize We Fucked Up. 1 paragraph epilogue. #barely any mention of our narrator or his [boy]friend at all during the final chapters #multiple long ass speeches bringing the action to a screeching halt #and a ~dramatic metaphor~ to finish it all off #anyway. glad i read it‚ would recommend to others‚ but certainly not what i expected going in

[astranauticus]

Guess what i fucking did it

#rolling with difficulty #art i made #rwd #wow im so glad im finally free from this. honestly #surprisingly this did not ruin the song for me? #cuz last time i made an animatic (/first time i made an animatic) it was set to drowning sorrows by mao buyi #so. two for two on animatics using cpop songs nobody on this side of the internet has heard before #and i could not listen to that song for like a YEAR afterwards #killed stone dead by overplay #interesting. anyway #in my planning spreadsheet the last two frames were written as 'how??' for the longest time bc my original plans only went up until like #the end of the lyrics? #then i realised the outro for this song is fucking long so like i needed to add something there but i wasnt sure what for really long #basically my point is the last two frames of MR-SN was. absolutely not planned from the start but oh boy #not to like gas myself up but like #i watched this once through again after uploading to youtube bc youtube.. really did not want to upload this in full quality for some reaso #and that time around that ending really broke through the whole 'i always get really desensitised to my own art' thing #yeah. #Youtube #as a side note if you're curious the character behind VR-LA in the thumbnail is 马 -> #chinese name of the song #bc can you imagine how fucking ominous it would look if i just wrote HIM really big behind him #so no. just this once i'm going w the chinese option

[moregraceful]

KASPER THOSE TAGS. THE IMPACT THIS SCHOLARSHIP CAN HAVE ON THE GUNNAR HENDERSON BLEEDING LOVE CINEMATIC UNIVERSE

GHBLCU!!! I can’t even look at the tags I wrote my own self without blacking out bc rhi’s scholarship captures SUCH a specific and visceral mood that yeets me violently back to high school and college, but it also captures the vibes around certain men so so well. Like yeah!! If I was Gunnar Henderson having to be around chosen one Adley Rutschmann who is so kind and so big and so goofy and so disinterested in me romantically but loves me wonderfully like a brother, if I was Gunnar sitting on the couch watching The Dark Knight with Adley, both of us sprawled out and kinda paying attention but also not really because neither of us actually wanted to watch the Dark Knight, Adley wanted to watch Casablanca and Gunnar wanted to watch V for Vendetta and they just ended up on The Dark Knight rather than re-litigate an argument about how many times you can watch Casablanca without Humphrey Bogart becoming Your Thing, if I was Gunnar and I was kinda bored and I knew Adley was kinda bored and I could see him shifting restlessly on the couch like he wants to start that argument again anyway, then, yeah, I would be feeling some things. If I was Gunnar, I would kinda wish Adley would feel me up on the couch!!! A lot!!!!

#i had to google ‘’movies’’ for this post bc like any good small liberal arts college student who came of age in certain ways in baltimore i #could not remember the name of one single movie made ever that wasn’t ghibli except the social network and to kill a mockingbird #this ask no joke has taken me almost an hour to answer because i had a long ass tag tangent abt the baby o’s ending up at a burlesque show #getting targeted by burlesque dancers and whether that was relatable for anyone else in their 20s in baltimore or if that was just me #but i realized it’s not relatable at all #like do i think adley would also say ‘’oh gosh’’ at a burlesque show yes but he’d probably play it off a lot better than me #every once in a while i think abt mining my baltimore collegetown experience for fic and then i’m like i barely left campus #you want a fic about breaking down sobbing in a class about hamlet bc people were bullying ophelia i’m your guy!! everything else that #happened to me happened without me having one single ounce of input or agency i just like ended up places and by virtue of being small #and wide-eyed and pretty sheltered growing up with zero street sense burlesque dancers were like wow. we gotta bully this kid so hard #which i don’t think is really the vibe that adley rutschmann gives off???? maybe i’m wrong. orioles scholars should engage #dude i should i have kept a timer on how long it took me to answer this ask #cage replies #pindergarten #i’m so sorry. i’m SO sorry

[skitskatdacat63]

thinking so hard about . when exactly in the martian timeline they hated and loved eachother can u help me .. cause after turkey 2010 they had their love moments as well and even in 2012 they had their buddy buddy moments so idk !!! they’re confusing

OH MY GOD IM SO SORRY I MEANT TO REPLY TO THIS AND THEN I JUST COMPLETELY FORGOT, SO: hello :D

This is something I think about often as well. Teammates are a weird dynamic in F1 because you're forced to compete for the same resources and against each other in the WDC, but at the same time have to still think combined for the team, for the WCC. I think teammate relationships are like being siblings or like being in a marriage(actually I think Mark has said this before haha.) You can never fully hate or separate from each other, even if you go through rough patches, because you're stuck together and have had the same experiences, for good or for worse.

Turkey 2010 is funny because I think that was one of their first bad moments as teammates, right? And I love that RBR made them take that couples therapy, "us in our get-along shirt", picture. That's what I mean by going through the same experiences, like yeah they were probably pissed at each other but were also probably bonding over the hilarity/awkwardness of RBR making them do damage control.

I just think it's probably difficult to stay upset with someone consistently when you're constantly working with them, and you've also experienced the highest highs and lowest lows with each other. I think I referenced this in my Martian champagne pics post but it's kinda funny when you look through all of those shared podiums that Mark always seemed to be way more willing to spray Seb and smile at him when Mark was the one who won(Literally 3/4 of the pics from that post when they were both at RBR were from Mark's wins.) Like it was such a "I can't stay mad at you 🤭" relationship with them. Like with Mark in particular, it feels like whenever he got a better result, he was mostly like "I shall forgive your transgressions." But then 2013 was kind of the last straw for him, with Multi-21, and especially since he really was getting crushed by Seb and not even getting any wins like in the prev years. But then, by removing himself from it all when retiring, he was able to take a step back and see what it was like to not be in constant, direct competition anymore.

Idk if I'm the best person to ask as I don't think I'm in any measures a great Martian scholar. But these are my thoughts :D I just think being teammates in such a competitive environment can result in such love-hate relationships and that Martian is one of the greatest examples of how it fluctuates. I think it'd be really difficult to try and parse when exactly they were on good or bad terms. For me, tbh I think it kinda correlates with Mark's results because I think with just that whole situation, where they were in as teammates directly competing at the very top, it was a lot easier for Mark, rather than Seb, to start feeling resentment as he was generally drawing the shorter straw most of the time.

Basically, teammates(Martian especially) are bonded through triumph and trauma

#wow wrote a lot haha #i never ended up posting it but i drafted a post w similar thoughts to what i said here #like how martian has a rly odd relationship bcs yeah they were both competing w each other at the top constantly #but then both of their peaks in terms of results were when they were teammates #so you can't really think of either of their most successful periods without thinking of the other!! #like yeah im annoyed at my teammate for screwing me but hey look at us!! winning the wcc!! #but that thing i said abt podiums is so true hahaha pls look its kinda hilarious to me #but yeah i wouldnt say im a martian scholar or anything as i havent been here all that long #but these are my thoughts!! #teammates in f1 remind me kf what being siblings is like #you go through rough patches and are annoyed w each other but cant imagine what itd be like without them #because theyre the only person who understanda the greater circumstances that youre under and relates!! #i cant find it but theres some quote i really love about not wanting to lose a sibling bcs it is the most unique dynamic #and that is how teammates are to me!! #catie.asks. #martian #sebmark

[lingeringscars]

updated overall faves from the top of my head:

cassandra who's afraid of little old me? the bolter but daddy i love him guilty as sin? the alchemy florida!!! the smallest man who ever lived

#the thing is is like. i do genuinely enjoy almost all of the songs. they're just kinda forgettable and blend after #so the standouts end up being a lot of ttpd because i like every song except robin really on the anthology #but cassandra and the bolter are the WOW ones #whereas the other ttpd songs kinda blend or are v distinct but not totally my vibe (down bad / i can do it with a broken heart) #but these are like i know what the song is and i know i like it and it stands out <3 #these are the songs that i could probably type into youtube like i wanna listen to that now #when overall this is an album that's like. i'll listen all the way through bc there are no like repeaters To Me #(like stay don't go or haunted or long live or would've could've should've or nothing new that i would play every day) #(i don't really have that here) #i'm sure there are others like the prophecy or the manuscript or i look in people's windows or the black dog or i hate it here #bc i know i like them when they come on #but i also need them to come on you feel me #long explanations no one cares about but i am SORTING THOUHGTS #ooc. #tbd. #i don't really have a skip song but i don't really have a repeater either u get me #so funny of me to by like ivy <3 guilty as sin <3 is it over now <3 #when songs that get into my top 3 are about cheating look the other way?

[loafbud]

The first Splatoon game turned 8 yesterday!

#the last (and first) time i drew anniversary art for the first game was when it turned 1 year #imna use the tags to be all sappy real quick: #ive been a huge fan of the splatoon series since the first game & have played it since day one #splatoon is the first time ive grown up with a game series from the beginning #like i knew it was gonna be a successful game that'd eventually grow and become a series w/ a cool fanbase #for first/third person shooter games (esp multiplayer)- i could never call myself a fan of those #but the moment splatoon debuted in an e3 trailer??? it took a concept i'd normally go meh to- but made it into smthn colorful/unique #like??? weeks after the announcement i was already gushing over what the lore would be in their universe #it got really tiring seeing all the hate it received- id watch ppl stream it out of interest and their chat'd be like uggh this ass title? #or id watch gamers do one single lets play of it and be like oh ok i can see how this game is fun (me assuming they'd doubt it's potential) #but to see how much splatoon as a series has grown has me kinda emotional ngl #like yeah sure theres still ppl outside the fandom who has (or still has since the 1st game) sour opinions about it #but ever since the fandom grew over those 8 years- it feels like the love for this series outshines that #but man.... i said this already on twt but i remember going to my first color run event locally w/ my family #(this happened weeks before the game came out btw) -but id have my phone out with the inklings on my screen #and id look at my phone & feel this happiness (that i havent felt in a while tbh) at being in an event that had a lot of colors in it #and at the time seeing all the powdered colors flying everywhere at the end of the race reminded me of splatoon sm i was like raaaaah #WOW SORRY FOR THE LONG TAGS LOL #BUT YEAH- I LOVE THIS SERIES (thats all i wanted to say) #splatoon #splatoon anniversary #splatoon 8th anniversary #fanart #loafbud

[widevibratobitch]

i hate them with a passion

#this may turn into one of my long ass posts with hundreds of screenshots of quotes from the books #but i dont have the energy for that just now #anyway. this moment makes me wanna throw shit at the walls. their relationship is my favourite thing from the very beginning #but dumas went really went out of his way to make it even more insane in the last book #and dont hit me with a 'aww they have such a big/little brother energy its so cute uwu' please im begging you stop saying that #nothing irks me more than hearing their relationship described as something that innocent. its so much more complex and intense come on #there is pure visceral hate there. jealousy. bile. cruelty. some fucked up form of codependency even? maybe? from d'artagnan's side? #there's nothing more horrible and cruel than the fact that THEY are the only two left alive in the end (not for long but yknow) #they would NEVER be friends if not for athos (and they would never hate each other so much if not for him too) #they hate each other so so much. but remember that d'artagnan starts out being absolutely bedazzled by aramis and looking up to him #his first impression of aramis is just. hearteyes and 'wow i wish that were me'. he doesnt do that even with athos at first. #he grows to adore athos yes but upon first meeting him he doesnt think much of him. unlike with aramis. #and then it changes instantly. does a 180° flip when aramis is a bitch to him. #and it stays that way for the entirety of the trilogy. until this moment. this one short moment when d'artagnan #who. mind you. is not innocent himself and was also manipulating the hell out of porthos and talking shit about aramis behind his back. #but he makes that step. he reaches out. 'i fucking hate you let me help you you dumb evil cunt' and aramis says 'no <3' #you know i have this thing where i am OBSESSED with finding the one moment where a character condemns themselves for good. #the one moment when they figuratively sign the contract for their perdition. that up to that moment they could still be saved somehow. #for rodrigo it is when he tries to kill eboli (in the play). for don giovanni it is when he refuses elvira's plea to change #(NOT when he accepts il commendatore's invite mind you) #and i feel like THIS is that moment for aramis. #the fact that it comes from d'artagnan is so just so fucking agsjssgsgsh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and of course he says no. #there is no version of this where he lets himself be helped. he has to say no he will always say no. #but boy oh boy is this making me bang my head against the wall. #the three musketeers #les trois mousquetaires #vicomte de bragelonne #alexandre dumas

[surrealismhorror]

@ed you in the replies on my post then realized that was the worst possible way in the world to communicate with another person. Anyway did you say pathologic TLT AU 👀??

HEHE YES a lot of it is very loose thoughts but I think these series connect so well thematically that it's very fun for me to think about so far what I have is;

Second house: Necro: Aglaya, Cav: Block, not super solid on the placement of these two but the military format fits and I think the idea of a necromancer and cav who don't get along but are Super dedicated to their duty and are both top of their field would be an interesting dynamic

Third house: Stamatin twins, Peter as the necro and Andrey as the cav, these two are so Tridentarii coded it's ABSURD, I think the way they each view the polyhedron would be interesting to transfer towards necromancy, Peter is capable of insanely powerful necromancy but it takes a 'miracle' to achieve it, I also think the parallels between Naberius and Farkhad could be interesting as well so I'd like to throw him in there somewhere, maybe he met Bab's fate earlier on as a botched lytorhood attempt or perhaps Andrey wanted him out so he could be cavalier prime dunno. Not sure if they would become a lyctor or not, I feel like they'd both be all for the process but given how doomed all their projects are I feel like it just wouldn't end up working out, or at least not in the way they want it to

Fourth house: Capella, Khan, and Notkin are all kind of currently rotating positions for this one, I think Capella and Khan's idea that they need to start on this predestined path and be great leaders already despite being literally children and how this indirectly pushes Notkin into that as well is very 4th house like

Fifth House: I think I'm putting Necro Artemy and Cav Rubin here, I think Isidor was the necromancer prime with Rubin as his cav but when he died that got shifted to Artemy, I think his nature as a humble makes Rubin well suited for a cavalier but I think he'd have the same internal conflicts he does normally about Artemy being suddenly given Isidor's role, and Artemy having his same personal journey about his role. I do think Artemy becomes a lyctor though and the more I'm thinking about it is probably one of the better adjusted ones in this au?

Sixth House: Necro Daniil and Cav Eva, you KNOW Daniil would go crazy not only for necromancy in general but the concept of lyctorhood, complete and total mastery over death? Sounds great to him sure hope there aren't any tragic drawbacks! Ultimately I think Daniil isn't capable of becoming a lyctor without a push and I think Eva ends up sacrificing herself for that because she thinks it's their destiny so Daniil ends up getting what he originally wanted but with a lot of guilt attached. On a goofy silly note I think Eva's not actually that good of a cavalier she was just the only one Daniil could get along with

Seventh House: Necromancer Grace is here :) sorry despite this literally being my favorite house that's all I've got dfgdfgkh

Eighth House: Not sure for this one either honestly, leaning towards the Saburovs for their themes of judgement and religious control, regardless I think Katerina in this au is maybe not full on pretending to be a lyctor but definitely still has the issue of trying to seem more powerful than she is

Ninth House: Necromancer Clara and her Cavalier, her twin sister also named Clara isn't that crazy? Nobody's seen the 9th house twins in the same place at the same time and Clara does become a lyctor later on so was she always a lyctor? who's to say. I think in this au the locked tomb contains something more in line with The Powers That Be or perhaps even further The Ones That Executed The Whole Thing but I'm not sure beyond tying it in to Clara's meta awareness, plus she would Thrive in the 9th house's faux Catholicism environment, I know she goes hard with the skull paint

Other Misc Things:

Mark Immortell as John, what if god was a theather kid would that be fucked up or what

Simon was a lyctor and the Kains are definitely doing some fucked up shit to try and reachieve that

I'd like the blood of eden to be in this au somehow and I'd like the fellow traveler to be in this au somehow, that's as far as I've gotten with both those thoughts

I think Lara and Aspity both have a lot of good potential roles in this au I'm just not sure where to put them exactly

any sort of plot stuff is VERY vague rn, canaan house setup at the start I like thinking about and I'd like to tie the sand pest in Somehow

Maybe the polyhedron can host a soul for literal real this time

Anyways this is all extremely messy I just love the way these two series potentially blend together it's very fun for me dkgjdfjg

#WOW THIS ENDED UP BEING REALLY LONG HUH #sorry I got into both these series around the same time so this was kinda the result of like 9 months of rotating them in my mind #bone chatter #pathologic #the locked tomb

[glompcat]

We’re Number 2!

...for cities with bad air quality on Earth.

#apparently New Delhi is the city currently ahead of us in the rankings #watch out tho we may just surpass you by day's end #wow is it scary out #really am not looking forward to going out for my commute #even with a mask on it scares me out there #as does seeing all the people outside walking to the subway with no mask #even though the city issued a warning that they are needed rn for lung health #and specifically needed by everyone not just people with preexisting lung issues #apparently not only will this stuff fuck your lungs up even if you are healthy #it has fun long terms effects #like increased risk of cognitive imparements down the line

[sparring-spirals]

I'm definitely of the mind that all of this was real and will have severe consequences for the party. Even if FCG is able to bring Fearne back, who could then bring Orym back, it's still going to have major consequences for everyone. The real wild card here is Laudna, because she could go either way. I'm not sure revivify would work on her, since she doesn't have a soul. All this to say I hope nothing gets explained away, because this is the first real loss for Bell's Hells, and a brutal one at that. They need this to grow and become closer, even if that means someone is going to stay dead.

Hm. Well, a couple things, I think:

- I believe Revivify should work for Laudna, at least mechanics wise. Story wise, character wise, might get complex, but I think mechanically the Revivify would work. Folks better acquainted with DnD mechanics can correct me if I'm wrong.

- I definitely agree that even with successful rez rituals all around this is going to leave a lasting mark on the Bells. (And thats also why I am Gleefully™ writing meta about the emotions and dynamics of the battle itself, because even if the outcomes shift- the events still would have occurred, in some form(???). We Love Consequences™)

- That said, I'd maybe disagree that the Bell's Hells need this loss in the form of permadeaths, or a hard bar on some reality waving stuff, or that they haven't already suffered losses as a team. I guess this kind of gets into pedantic territory about what "explaining away" would entail but- I think even if there's a dream or vision or time travel route, there are potentially ways to still have the ripples and impacts felt. I definitely have my thoughts and prefs about ways to do it, but I think a lot of this will come down to execution and follow through.

I think like you said, as long as we really get the weight of this to stay with the Bells, I'll probably be having a good time. The details of how- are all pretty up in the air. (haha get it. Up in the air. bc everyone got tossed by a whirlwind. 👉👉).

#theres like a weird level of nuance here i hope i explained where i dont really disagree with the sentiment here but #i also think that theres good flexibility for the desired Weight and Consequence and Emotional Resonance that is kind of distinct from the #specific choice that might end up getting made #but maybe im just being unbearably optimistic and not correctly reading the intent behind 'explained away' #im of the mind that even if they choose an explanation im more wary of theres still plenty of room for it to be executed #in a way that fufills what im hoping for #and esp since so much is still unknown atm! im in a holding pattern basically #critical role #cr spoilers #c3e33 #spar speaks #WOW sorry this got long #am i writing this on my work break. maybe. #i looked at too much art and now ive got CR brain again #ask away! #speculation

[wraithsoutlaws]

I'm curious. Is there anything about Dagger that you haven't really gotten the chance to tell a lot of people but would really like to share? Anyways, just wanted to let you know I always enjoy having Dagger on my dashboard and that he's a fun an interesting character :). Hope you have a nice day!

hey!!! thank you so much this made me so happy!! i'm really glad you like him ahhH. i know you sent this a few days back and i'm so sorry it took me so long, ive been dealing with Brain Won't Work disease but i am always happy to talk about him and this really means a lot to me &lt;3

hm okay so some time after things go bad between him and Maelstrom (and the Wraiths) he isolates for a while, in a pretty bad/paranoid state. he's essentially hunted by Wraiths, with a reward for his capture and it ends with him being run into the NCPD instead. he gets arrested but winds up in a psychiatric hospital where he goes to therapy and gets much needed help :) except he hates it, and part of his therapy is watching BD's, harmless ones that allow him to feel all the emotions he's repressed his whole life, like genuine happiness but also grief. Hes very miserable despite having a certain rapport with his therapist. He eventually plots a mass escape, releases all the patients, kills a lot of people in the process, then forces his therapist to watch the XBD's he'd made in the past (where he kills people :)) as revenge. years later, he'll go back to that therapist (abducts him) and seek genuine help so it's actually a nice story :)

#i bring this up specifically because i keep Thinking about actually making his therapist in game #just like. dagger subjects you to psychological torture because hes so against having healthy coping mechanisms and confronting his past #then years later shows up at your window and throws you in his trunk and asks you to help him with his problems #and pretends like everything is just water under the bridge. this is normal dagger logic. #also just. addendum to the above: dagger had been asked to make a few murdery XBD's and they became very popular #though he only ended up making like 3 because he thinks if you want to murder people then you should go out and do it and not be a coward #living vicariously through somebody else #he remains as a sort of celebrity in the underground xbd market #and is still occasionally contacted to make some more #anyway. this has been Storytime with Dagger #i hope you enjoyed. also thank you again dlafjsa i'm really sorry this took so long i really appreciate you though #wow tumblr updates and now i have to actually open HTML to make small text smh. #oc: dagger

[miamierre]

.

#i want to write that km prompt that just went up today :/ i cant but i want to #also was thinking abt married pierre n charles and how they spend their first night together. #like obviously they have sex! obviously. they just became a family of their own and theyre both insane abt Family Life #but like. maybe they think that. bc this has been their whole lives. they can pretend like nothing has changed bc really nothing has #all that's changed is that there's now a legal document saying theyre married. everything else feels like it was before. so like. #they try for quiet! and normal. they call it a night after one round. except charles cant sleep even if he's been tired all weekend #and he just. cant stop thinking about that one little change. how pierre is his forever now. how he is pierre's just the same. #pierre is out cold and charles just stares at his sleeping form half the night so full of love for this man here beside him. #eventually pierre wakes up to go pee and charles is half awake (finally sleepy after HOURS) when he comes back to bed #''why are you still awake...husband'' pierre whispers and charles just laughs #covers his face. answers ''i dont know...husband'' just to make pierre laugh. but then gets all soft and serious and confesses #that he's just. thinking about their love. yk? something tender and sentimental. pierre kisses him softly in his sleepy honesty #and they fuck (''make love!!!!'' charles protests later in the morning) again and it's just about the belonging of it all. just to be close #just bc they can and this was always how it was meant 2 b! matching rings for real. a life shared. a love so long-winded it will never end. #wow i watch one (1) scene from a show and go off. i think ive got some pent up insanity to release.

[munamania]

um yall… sam’s roommate pulled up to coffee like. um. dressed like this. btw. and their hair is just like. a better fluffier mullet. is this surprising

#just wanna express what i’m dealing with btw because the hair thing sort of hit me like a truck earlier and then i was like #well girl wait… literally… come on lmao… also we both wore sweatervests hashtag twinem #it’s so chill though coffee was really fun #we ended up hanging for like two hours and then i was like fuckkkkk g2g to class and they walked w me partway there #and then almost dapped me up gave me a hug at the worst possible intersection there were so many people walking fuck the construction fr #but like. yeah it was chill im glad i reached out even tho like idk things r... ok.. w sam but we’re certainly not like 🤞 #and i think they just had a semi recent breakup and drama and im like. um. largely unwell #and need 2 just get through this semester so i rlly forced myself to chill and go in with no expectations and it was just :-) #i was charmed by how passionate he was talking abt the weather and stuff like within minutes of meeting #i was listening to a very excited spiel about el nino and the tornadoes in wisconsin and etc oh and they came up w an ocean fact for me #and also ugh they played piano for so long growing up and can still like. do it. fucckcjkkk. and demonstrated #this rlly odd chord. um. like stretching and flexing their hand. srrryy lol i’m just giggling #lol and i mentioned my hair journey at one point and they were like ‘yeah? tell me about it’ shut UP… oh and also #knew exactly the stairwell i was talking abt when i described my favorite and we managed to chat abt that ugh it was so dorky #like. aw wow this person is just really cool #i also think they’re stupid hot but like idk since we actually um communicated and etc it's taken out a lot of the #tendency i had/have to be like 'sigh what if -' and er mythologize ppl. i suppose could be said. like aw we're just yapping and we're loyal #story likers now and if they ever want to just like make out sometime that’s so chill but regardless like we ball 💪 #yayyyyyayyyyy me when i can be normal about things!!!!! 🫶🙈 #abby talks