#a story we tell ourselves

[artctrlcee]

/SHOUT: "Get behind the ice, get behind the ice!!"

#ffxiv #final fantasy xiv #ff14 #endwalker spoilers #endwalker #shiva #ffxiv ysayle #ffxiv amon #meteor survivor #I will never get over the poetic story telling of Amon #at the end of Endwalker #casting Curtain Call and everyone's gut reaction is was Curtain Call = Get behind the ice. And the devs know #they know we've all done Syrcus A THOUSAND TIMES! #We all know this mechanic and we were all going to react with “Where is the ice?!” -- and then there's a gust of wind #and as if we the players ourselves summoned her #Shiva comes to save us

[aquamonstra]

I think it says a lot about the sad state of Hollywood that none of the live action nutrek series have had the balls to set their stories after Voyager, and I think it's because they're too big of fucking cowards to address the issues of the rights and autonomy behind artificial intelligence set in motion in both Voyager and TNG.

Like I get it there's a bunch of interesting stuff that happened between present day and TOS but FUCK THAT SHIT WHAT HAPPENS AFTER VOYAGER!?!?!?!?!?!?

#im sure people are going to come at me telling me there are books and games but i am SPECIFICALLY TALKING LIVE ACTION HERE #I WANT THE HUMAN REALIZED FUTURE #THAT IS THE WHOLE POINT OF STAR TREK #IS MAKING A STORY OF A BEAUTIFUL SCI FI FUTURE THAT WE CAN SEE OURSELVES IN #THAT FEELS SO REAL AND TANGIBLE AND RELATABLE THAT WE FEEL INSPIRED AND MOTIVATED TO MAKE IT HAPPEN #THAT WAS GENES VISION #WE NEED MORE OF THAT #who do i have to fight to get put in charge of a new live action trek series and DO THIS SHIT RIGHT #star trek #star trek voyager

[dhaaruni]

Does anyone recall that, in the original version of the tale, it’s unclear whether Scheherazade survives? The Arabic manuscripts offer no resolution; the convention of a happy ending came from the revisions imposed by European translators. What a different ancestor storytelling would have if we knew Scheherazade not as a triumphant, silver-tongued heroine but as a woman controlling her terror as she nurses her smallest baby and minds the other two, telling a story not because she thinks it will save the world, or herself, but because there is nothing else she can do. We can even wonder about what swarm may have nestled against her spleen. But that’s another story. 

— "The Tyranny of the Tale" by Parul Sehgal

#links #quotes #on writing #we tell ourselves stories in order to live

[mulletmitsuya]

random tokrev rant ahead !!

when i first started this blog it was going to be for random shitposts, groupchats once in a while, and mostly tokrev analysis but i was so scared of discourse that i just chose to do the funnier stuff 😭. when tokrev was at it's peak i'd be reading 20k+ words of analysis and it was so fun!! but i felt like i couldn't word what i wanted to say properly so that discouraged me but i wish i'd ignored that because there would have been at least one person who understood what i was saying yk?

#anyway #i used to have a tagging system but i forgot so that's my bad #and the thing about discourse is that you could give a person all the canonical facts of the story and they'll still find a way to pretend #that they're right and i personally cannot handle that #i take things very seriously and someone thinking they won a argument when they didn't would make me rip my hair out #so maybe my blog not going into that direction was good for my metal health #i feel like fandom interactions always end up as fights for some reason #why can't two opinions co-exist #let's discuss and have fun why we gotta tell each other to kill ourselves😭 #like i saw a very well thought out and written theory about sanzu having autism or something along those lines #and a comment was like “stop trying to give him excuses he's a terrible villain and he's just crazy blah blah blah” #whole time this person's an izana apologist #like😐 #i love both these characters but a lot of characters in tokrev are more complicated than just a “crazy villain” #and it seems like they understand that about izana so???? #ok i'm done now i hope you guys get what i mean #tokyo revengers #tokyo revengers manga #tokrev

[illuminatedquill]

Sabine Wren

Tale As Old As Time

Story Summary: On a cool evening night on Peridea, Sabine and Ahsoka discuss the stories they wish to leave as their legacy.

Evening was falling; a cool breeze whispered through the Noti encampment to herald the coming dark.

Preparations had already been made to move the next morning. Sabine had come to appreciate the constant movement of the strange crab-like beings that had welcomed them into their company. It gave her a sense of purpose; something to focus on in the meantime while her master figured out their next move.

Huddled around the campfire, her belly full after a good dinner consisting of some spicy stew, Sabine listened to the chatter of the Noti around her and gazed into the luminous night sky above.

“It still amazes me, no matter how much I look at it,” said a familiar voice. Sabine turned to find her master, Ahsoka Tano, walking up to the campfire, Huyang close behind.

Sabine agreed. Many evenings on Lothal had provided her with a wondrous view of the stars but Peridea had it beat by a large margin.

Ahsoka sat down next to her Padawan with a slight huff. After a moment, the older Jedi asked, “Would you like to hear a story, Sabine?”

Sabine blinked. “Aren’t I a little too old for bedtime stories?”

“One is never too old,” Ahsoka chided, “to hear a good story, my Padawan.”

Huyang offered, “I have plenty to offer in that department, Lady Wren.”

Sabine considered that. “What kind of stories?” she asked.

“Tales of the Jedi, and their numerous exploits across the galaxy,” said Huyang.

Sabine’s eyebrows raised in astonishment. “I thought the Empire wiped out all stories of the Jedi. Or replaced it with their own propaganda.”

“Oh, they tried,” replied Ahsoka. “To their credit, they did do a thorough job of it. Most of the modern galactic citizens don’t know much about the Jedi at all, despite the purge happening fairly recently in our lifetime.”

She smiled a little. “But they couldn’t erase all of it. The Jedi existed for a millennium before the Empire. Their stories are written in the very fabric of the galaxy.”

“Are there stories about you, Master?”

Ahsoka laughed. “Oh, I’m sure. I traveled a fair amount back in my youth.”

Sabine looked to Huyang with a grin. “Are there any funny ones about her, Huyang?”

Huyang pondered for a moment before replying. “There is one where she had to pretend to be someone’s fiancée. It was with a boy named Lux, I believe-”

Ahsoka, embarrassment coloring her tone, interrupted him. “Okay, maybe not that one.”

Sabine’s grin turned mischievous. “Oh, did you have a crush on him, my master?”

Ahsoka crossed her arms and sighed. “It was complicated. Happened during the Clone Wars.”

“Oh.” Sabine dropped her teasing. “What happened to him?”

Ahsoka seemed to withdraw into herself. “I’m not sure. I heard rumors of his death during the Rebellion.”

Sabine felt a gentle sadness and regret pulsing out from her master. She decided to drop the subject.

“What kind of story would you like to be remembered for, Lady Tano?” asked Huyang.

Ahsoka blinked at the droid. “That’s quite the question, Huyang.”

“You’re a hero,” suggested Sabine. “You’ve helped so many. So maybe a heroic story.”

“Jedi don’t do this to be remembered, Sabine,” reminded Ahsoka. “We do it because it’s right.”

The older Jedi stared into the fire. “I’m not sure I want to be remembered at all,” she confessed. “I haven’t always done the right thing.”

Sabine said, “But you’ve always done the best you can. I’ve never seen you settle for anything less.”

It felt weird defending Ahsoka against herself. She had rarely seen her master be so unsure before.

Ahsoka smiled appreciatively at Sabine. “That’s true.”

She looked at Huyang. “I suppose that’s the story I’d like to be known for: someone who tried her best to help out.”

“Very appropriate,” observed Huyang. “I’ll keep that in mind for future reference, Lady Tano.”

The droid turned to Sabine. “And you, Lady Wren? When the time comes, what kind of story would you like to leave behind?”

Sabine blew out a breath. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “It’s still being written.”

“A good answer,” said Ahsoka. “You’ll have plenty of time to decide.”

“I would suggest a comedy,” offered Huyang.

Annoyed, Sabine flicked a pebble at the droid. It dinged on his metallic exterior, satisfyingly.

Ahsoka laughed. “Go ahead with a story, Huyang. There’s a funny one with Master Yoda, if I recall? When he spent time with the Wookies.”

“Ah, yes,” said Huyang, approvingly. “That is a good story.”

Ahsoka settled into a more comfortable position. Sabine followed suit, leaning in with interest.

“A long time ago,” started Huyang, “in a galaxy, far, far away . . .”

When the story was over, Ahsoka stood and stretched her back. “You’ll take first watch?” she asked Sabine.

Sabine nodded. “Sleep well, Ahsoka. Same to you, Huyang.”

Huyang replied, “As a reminder: I am droid, and therefore do not require sleep.”

She rolled her eyes. “I will throw a bigger rock at you next time,” Sabine promised.

After they left, Sabine took a stick and poked at the campfire. The Noti had retired to their huts; she was alone with her thoughts.

She leaned back and gazed into the star-lit night sky over her head.

When the time comes, what kind of story would you like to leave behind?

Sabine thought of her life so far; what had been lost and sacrificed.

Her mistakes and failures.

Should it be a tragedy? A cautionary tale for others?

As she brooded, the fire began to die out. Reaching out for another log to feed it, she paused.

“I don’t want to be a tragedy,” she said out loud.

She tossed the log into the campfire and it roared back to life. Sabine watched the glowing embers rise on the night breeze, drifting into the night sky like fiery petals.

She thought of home. Not Mandalore - but Lothal. Her loth-cat, Murley.

Kanan. Hera. Jacen. Zeb. Chopper.

My family. The names repeated in her head, over and over, like some sacred prayer.

And, of course, whenever it was darkest for her, she thought of him.

Sabine looked back into the fire, feeling it’s warmth flow into her.

Ezra filled her mind and, like the campfire, beat back the darkness. It was his constant gift to her; making the dark small.

When the time comes, what kind of story would you like to leave behind?

Sabine smiled. She had her answer.

Whispering, Sabine says it to herself, as though she was uttering a private, secret wish.

“A love story.”

#sabezra #sabine wren #ezra bridger #ahsoka tano #star wars rebels #ezrabine #star wars #ahsoka show #ahsoka #natasha liu bordizzo #eman esfandi #what are we #but the sum of our memories #we are the stories we live #the tales we tell ourselves #sabezra fanfiction

[writhe]

#TAGS TLDR YOU CAN NEVER TRULY GO HOME BUT DO YOU WANT TO? #writing a little for d&d and having feelings about this #it was really interesting jasper and i were working on some game mechanics and we kept getting stuck at weird parts and it developed into #this conversation where we realized we experience the world #in such fundamentally different ways. like specifically talking about how paranoia #manifests and stuff but even later in a broader sense like our experiences of time and everything is so different #and they'd be like 'well what if this is something that happened to lock' and id be like 'how could that be something that anyone would #experience' and they were like 'oh because i do' #(example here was my character not realizing he had been magically transported and filling in the blank with vague memories of travel but i #was like. are you not acutely aware of every single moment you are awake and in motion even if it is excruciatingly boring. and jasper #was like. 'oh...no. i could be transported from one place to another and if time passed i wouldnt even think about having traveled or not' #which was WILD to me but then we were like 'okay i guess this cannot be something that happened to lock' because i couldnt even fathom that #but like anyway idk we got weirdly deep dive-y about d&d stuff and personal lives and i had big feelings on it bc genuinely i feel like #there are facets and caverns in myself i have only ever touched in storytelling but particularly in this campaign #and i've joked a lot about Lock and other chars in this game being self inserts #but i mean it in a good way #like the ways we tell stories or experience a world we created together is going to be through an extension of ourselves etc #but it's interesting to me to consider the limitations that brings yknow? we all live by such vastly different sets of rules and #understandings #and im writing out some stuff now and im like. yknow. #lock can never truly go home. i can never truly go home. none of us can ever truly go home #home as shifting impermanence home as transience etc #2017 levi is back apparently but hes always been right

[francesderwent]

I don’t know I just don’t think that letting go is the final form of love, any love! it’s a stage, and it’s a stage we have to pass through—there was a time when “To live in this world you must be able to do three things: to love what is mortal; to hold it against your bones knowing your own life depends on it; and, when the time comes to let it go, to let it go” was an earth-shattering revelation for me. but it’s penultimate, it has to be. because where does letting go leave you, but in a kind of indifference which is the very opposite of love? you let go to release the ache in your hands from grasping. but then you have to extend your hand again. even if the love doesn’t come back, even if you’ve let go of any hope of it coming back the way it was before or the way you wanted it to, you have to extend a hand to it and hope that it will meet you in the end—in the very end, where the good here unfinished is completed and we may laugh together yet. you have to let go, and then you have to hope for the fulfillment of heaven. I do not believe the “noli me tangere” is ultimate; I believe it is a period of fasting before the wedding feast.

#yes there’s the danger of Lewis’s artist from the great divorce #who is so interested in what going to heaven could do for his art that he’s not thinking about HEAVEN #he had some letting go to do! #but I think there’s an opposite danger where we tear ourselves so violently from what we used to love #that even if we don’t HATE it #the idea of being in communion with it again is terrifying and unappealing #where our indifference is truly opposed to love #not just in the sense of being trapped in Lewis’s purgatory saying ‘no I don’t want to go forward my old love is there and I let it go’ #but in the sense of being HERE and being indifferent to the salvation of that which we used to love #because we can’t be indifferent to ANYONE’S salvation!!! #we hope for ALL!! #and BECAUSE we hope for all letting go never has the last say #(how many disparate references can I fit in one post lol count them) #in which cate tells stories

[fictionadventurer]

All the tour groups in Springfield should be very proud of me for how well I refrained from sharing all my fascinating Lincoln facts.

#there were so many school groups! #a giant one came in RIGHT AFTER i entered lincoln's cabinet room #part of me was screaming 'children i NEED to tell you about all these idiots and their insane drama!' #a smarter part of me understood that would be super weird #so instead i regaled different individuals of my own traveling party after we had the room to ourselves #then at lincoln's tomb we lucked out in getting there during the ten minutes of the day when school groups weren't there #which meant we got a personal tour from a guide who seemed thrilled to have grown-ups to talk to #he and my dad chatted about fishing for a long while in the entry #it didn't feel disrespectful because it totally felt like the kind of conversation lincoln would have understood and joined in on #and then we went on our way but the guide then chased us down to share all the fascinating lincoln stories as we went along #(shout-out to lefty you were great) #and then a school group found us so we made a graceful exit #but outside a teacher was explaining to a different group about how robert was significant in his own right so he's buried at arlington #and the RESTRAINT i showed in not immediately informing them that he was present at three presidential assassinations! it was rather heroic #and then when we toured lincoln's house the guide (who accidentally made it clear he was a revolutionary war buff) #(which made it a bit hilarious he was stuck with lincoln) #asked for questions before we started and someone asked about lincoln's 1860 election campaign! #aka one of my SPECIAL NICHE AREAS OF OBSESSION! #you cannot imagine how desperately i wanted to tell him ALL ABOUT seward and thurlow weed #anyway it was fun to go back now that i actually know stuff about lincoln #but it was also a bit frustrating because now i know how much they leave out #(though there was cool new info and artifacts) #(the blood-stained piece of laura keene's dress was very morbid and very cool) #also it reminded me that i still have that book on the 1860 election i've yet to read and the hype is so real #presidential talk

[petrenocka]

"X is just a guy" is a popular phrase to throw around these parts when talking about blorbos, but I swear, and I am 100% stone faced serious when I say this, not a single character has ever done it quite like Geralt from The Witcher books.

#sure your guy is maybe just a normal man in an unfair supernatural circumstance #but is acknowledgent of his guyhood a conclusion of a gut wrenching character study about trauma personal and generational #about the lies we tell ourselves so we can ignore the hurt we feel #did your guy spend the entire story desperately dehumanizing himself clinging to his alledged non-personhood #did he insist at every opportunity and despite an overwhelming mountain of evidence to the contrary that his torturers were successful #that they did make him into a monster without feelings without morals without future #are the people who did this to him the only family he ever had and the only people who would ever accept him now that he's this? #did they also go through the exact same process themselves do they genuinely love him on top of that? #does your guy reference his acquired infertility every time the topic of sex comes up #only to end up raising a daughter with the equall infertile love of his life? #does he defy his non human credo all the time by being unable to stop being kind an empathetic #and never acknowledges it because he can't bear thinking of himself as anything but ''a witcher''? #is he just a guy? #geralt of rivia #the witcher #the witcher books

[lestatslestits]

Hmm.

Oh, Daniel…

#interview with the vampire #iwtv #daniel molloy #amc iwtv #interview with the vampire 2022 #amc interview with the vampire #iwtv 2022 #*grabs you by the shoulders like a lunatic* do you understand what i’m saying??? #something about the odyssey of recollection #something about unreliable narrators #something about the stories we tell ourselves to live with what we’ve lost #we disappoint we leave a mess we die but we don’t #we disappoint in turn i guess forget though we won’t #do you get it #i don’t know if this makes sense #me: i’ve connected the two dots #also i learned how to make gifs with text in order to make this post #my gifs

[immcrtalsx]

Konrad knew Elsie was in town. That's why he came to the side of the living and found somebody to vouch for him to let him interact with the real world. It had only been a little over a month and he hadn't found the courage to seek her out yet. Turns out, he didn't need to because she showed up at the auto shop one day. He opened his mouth to speak but was so shocked in that moment that he didn't have the words at first. He gathered himself after a minute, though it felt like an hour, but the only word that came out was, "Hey Els."

@nctural ( Elsie Blackthorne )

#nktclosed #starter #(( even if it does demand sacrifice || konrad magnusson )) #(( perhaps it's time for a new story || starter )) #(( the story we tell ourselves || interactions )) #(( interactions || elsie blackthorne )) #(( interactions || konrad magnusson & elsie blackthorne ))

[darklight-owl]

Denial is a river in Egypt

#KIDDING KIDDING LMAO #he's right he's right the prof has lived through worse things before it's not the first time he's died #actually can you imagine Luke telling that story to Phoenix #'well see it's just like when we had to kill ourselves in order to save humanity from a horde of golems-' #'you- you what-' #'you're welcome for that btw. Anyway if we lived through that we can live through anything' #professor layton spoilers #pl spoilers

[builtyouahousefromabrokenhome]

Oh this explains exactly why I hated Mean Girls:

Because jesus christ NO!!! YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE LIKE THAT o_O;;;

My family moved around a lot so I transferred schools a lot lol, often in the middle of the school year too. Thanks to that I experienced a wide variety of social dynamics. In the worst, most hierarchic and 'kill or be killed' schools, I was a weirdo outsider, sometimes with literally no friends (which was fine; I knew that wouldn't last forever, bc we were probably going to move again in a couple years). In other schools where there was much less hierarchy and performance, and much more solidarity and camaraderie, I had a lot of friends and was part of many social groups.

Is your school, workplace, family etc. shit? Well, it's not like that everywhere!

You don't have to ruin your life, sell your soul or abandon all morals trying to 'fit in' when the system is shit.

YOU CAN RESIST THE SYSTEM.

#honestly #this kind of reasoning is just making up excuses for your horrible behaviour #'no but everyone else was doing it!!!!' #'we only did it to protect ourselves!!!!!^1' #'we did it because we desired to be accepted!!!!' #fuck off #that's what people holding up other fascist systems tell themselves too #lol #peer pressure is one of the most pathetic things in the world #and cause for so much stupid and horrible shit #oh and 'look!!! in this fictional story EVERYONE is mean! even the home schooled kid and the kids who really want to be kind!!!' #'so that's exactly how it works in real life too!! because the story wasn't made up or influenced at all by an author or anything!!!!' #(lol sorry for the rant ig but i've been mainlining dan and phil for the last few months) #(and dan talks a lot about his horrible school experiences which has made me think a lot about weird school experiences too :( )

[lesbiancolumbo]

rewatched asteroid city and guys it's ok i get the play now

#you don't know how to do a play about grief because you've never experienced it until eight months into its run #anyways something something we tell ourselves stories in order to live

[librarygf]

iwtv is actually sooo good bc it mixes genres that co-exist so well. while memoir is about creating a narrative of the past that explains where you are now, horror is about facing the question of good and evil within ourselves. in that sense the deconstruction of louis' story about himself becomes the deconstruction of a larger story, the one that seeks to draw easy lines between good and evil and shield us from confronting our own flaws. and this on top of the love story, which is also about recognizing yourself through the other and about the selflessness of truly caring for another person. all this combines into a perfect story about facing and then forgiving yourself

#and all of this is anne too she's always asking what it means to be good or evil how we love other people #how we confront ourselves how we tell our own story etc #and the show is asking am i a devil can i forgive myself as i forgive others what do i do about having failed the ones i loved #its soooo it all fits so well #interview with the vampire #m

[pen-of-roses]

Hi yes i am having emotions of the mundanity of life and love and how i hope i never get to used to them to forget them

#also the way we tell stories of non-human things discovering/rediscovering the simplest things so that we ourselves remember #the sheer joy and delight #the way love is held in the smallest actions #sometimes ones that those we love wouldn’t even know #ahhhh