#he actually isn't real

[noknowshame]

why is religious Christmas imagery all so joyful and pleasant? where is the inherent horror of the birth of Christ? A mother is handed her newborn child, wailing and innocent. Her hands come away sticky. Red. Simply by giving her son life she has already killed him. He is doomed from the beginning. Her love will not save him from suffering. Because the thing cradled in her arms is not a baby, it is a sacrifice: born amongst the other bleating animals whose blood will one day be spilled in the name of what demands it. the night is silent with anticipation. Mary, did you know? That your womb was also a grave?

#instant conversation enders for my multiple youth pastor cousins #don’t say it (I’m gonna say it) #The Child is The Price #but i mean come on #as someone who isn't actually even christian the real-life historical version of this is still cursed as fuck #i mean we know that jesus was a person who existed. whatever circumstances he was born in #its terrifyingly ominous to imagine being so unaware of the affect your child will have on the future of humanity #time itself will one day be counted around your birth of him #and all because he will suffer an excruciatingly painful death that you will not be able to prevent #not only that. but regardless of his or your intentions #regardless of whether there is a god #for millenea unfathomable millions will have blood spilled and will spill blood in his name #atrocities will be committed that you cannot even conceive of #and all on his and your behalf #you love your child. its beautiful. but there's horror in what you've done. because everyone else will love him too #and what's more dangerous than that?

[spotsupstuff]

day 15

Moon, I need you to develop arachnophobia or smth pronto and do *any*thing about your damn underhang. I can't handle it

#rw #rain world #rw art month #tw arachnophobia #rw looks to the moon #rw spearmaster #philosophy sessions au #my art #i've done more animatic work with moon than anyone else why the Shit she isn't even on my favorite list or anything #the spiders are actually the reason why pebbles took her water away. real facts here. he had enough n had to let her sail down

[mumbledramblings]

i had a vision from god the other night

anyway i love how some of wolfwood's first character-establishing scenes in both animes is him trying to scam people

#trigun #trigun stampede #tristamp #trigun 98 #tri98 #trigun fanart #nicholas d wolfwood #nicholas d. wolfwood #mid draws #idk if anyone has done this yet #had a full on eureka moment earlier about how wolfwood's cover for being a gung-ho gun isn't being a priest #it's being a con artist pretending to be a priest #like it is SO obvious he isn't a real priest/undertaker that people just immediately think “oh this guy is just a con artist” #and they don't think any further #so the reveal of “oh hey i'm actually part of an anti-human terrorist organization (though not necessarily willingly)” is an actual surpris #because you think he's just a con man who's really bad at his job #i feel like the last person to come to this conclusion 😶 #genuine character analysis? in MY memes? it's more likely than you think

[mariana-oconnor]

#Baldur's Gate 3 #BG3 #Shadowheart #Gale of Waterdeep #The Underdark is Going Well #When I finally managed to get there because the game wouldn't let me fast travel out of the Mountain Pass until I'd had another long rest #Also I keep seeing pictures of Early Access Gale and it freaks me out #Early Access Gale isn't real and he can't hurt me #I find him very upsetting #He is not as friend-shaped #My current mission is actually to find a way to get Astarion's approval up at least a little bit #He's the only companion still in Neutral #I've got 3 exceptional #2 fair #and the vampire still doesn't gaf #I am determined that he will be my friend #whether he likes it or not #He's right on the cusp of fair #I will get him there #Without brutally murdering everyone #I think I misstepped in a couple of conversations where I could have got approval and instead just didn't get anything #I might never get him to exceptional #But I will get him to good at least

[lgbtlunaverse]

So I've been wondering about one particuar point on the "Jiang Cheng marriage recquirement" list and it's the one about low cultivation.

Now on its face, except for the "must be nice to jin ling" point, the whole thing just looks like the most standard list of "ideal wife characteristics under a patriarchal society." naturally beautiful, graceful and obedient, coming from a good family, voice not too loud, etc. This leads to either the interpretation that jiang cheng really wants that (doubt dot png) or just... put all the most stereotypical things on a list even though that's not what he really wants.

In that context "cultivation must not be too high" sounds like a typical "men are scared of women who are smarter/stronger" thing. you know, the dudes who feel 'intimidated' when their wife or girlfriend makes more money than them.

...Except wasn't Yanli openly mocked for her low cultivation? Like, wasn't one of the reasons Jin Zixuan was such an ass to her initially because he shallowly assumed her lower cultivation made her an unworthy marriage candidate? Jin Guangshan may hate women who can read but society overal doesn't give the impression that high cultivation in women is seen as something undesirable. I mean... a wife that never looks like she's over 20 even as she starts aging? yeah I have no problem believing a misogynistic society is okay with high cultivation.

So if it's not there just to fit the stereotypical standard of an ideal wife...

Jiang Cheng, are you just describing your sister?

LIke?? Every single point on this list applies to Yanli. All of them. I don't mean this in a freudian incest-y way but in a "jiang cheng are you so unaware of what you want in a partner you just took the only woman you've had an unambiguously good relationship with and hoped no one would notice???" way. Does he know the difference in what you should like about your sister and what you should like in a spouse? Is he even aware he's doing this? Jiang Cheng answer meeeee.

#mdzs #jiang cheng #mdzs headcanons #mdzs meta #you can take this headcanon so many places #is he like this because he's gay? aro? actually attracted to women but too emotionally stunted to know what he even wants? #in cql canon the whole list imo becomes about wen qing #in a 'i'm still not over my dead not-girlfriend so all my recquirements are for someone extremely unlike her' way #is it self-sabotage? trying to avoid being reminded of her? who knows! #but in novel canon chengqing's not real so there it's about yanli #i mean the list isn't even IN the novel so depending on whether you consider word of god canon or not it doesn't even exist there #but it's so fun to play with #also i know in novel canon yani is described as at best 'above average' looks wise #but are YOU gonna tell one of her brothers she's not the most beautiful woman in the world? #i don't think so

[scintillyyy]

can you really talk about tim's tendency to idolize and place dick on a pedestal and his semi-entitlement to understanding dick without also talking about dick's tendency to project his own feelings and insecurities onto tim and also his semi-entitlement to his right to try and micromanage how tim should feel and react about things. i, personally, cannot.

#dick and tim #anyways trust me when i say that none of this is meant in a negative way because this is what i Like about them lmao #forever thinking of the M/F fight where dick expects that tim will go alone with his line of thinking just because he says so #and is shocked when tim doesn't and instead has his own thoughts and feelings abt the matter #and babs has to tell him that tim isn't him & had a fundamentally different experience to him #it's like hmmm very realistic to me #the way they do this to each other in a way that almost is depersonalizing but like isn't actually #it's more just that they understand each other so well most of the time that it's easy to forget that they're their own person #with their own thoughts and feelings #like hm. there is something very realistically siblings about it in that #older siblings do tend to try and dominate the relationship with their thoughts and feelings because #their first memories are of being expected to lead their sibling and the sibling usually comes at a time when the older sib is v possessive #so the older sibling conceives the younger sibling as belonging to them and being kind of a hm extension of them vs their own person #meanwhile the younger sibling has no knowledge of a life where the older sibling doesn't exist #and the younger sibling's experience is that of observation of the older sibling from basically the very first day of life #so the younger sibling will often see and perceive the older sibling in very interesting ways #they're always learning something with thay observation good or bad #and thus probably develop more instrinsic understanding than even the parents do #and conflict comes because each is their own person but it's hard to see them that way sometimes #anyways there's also another thread where for dick it's hard to conceptualize tim's family of origin as real compared to them #but that's like mainly headcanon just know i'm right and it's interesting

[cardo-de-comer]

this is Meech, my oddworld oc! he's an angry shaman and grumpy old mud (most of the time)

#art #oc #oddworld #oddworld oc #i know almost all oddworld fandom on tumblr have seen him already but i just now realised that i never posted him on main #he's actually should be more desaturated/gray bc he's blind but my colors are funky #(real reason: i can't bring myself to draw something that isn't saturated like idk what lol)

[hrokkall]

One must imagine Sisyphus happy

#Ultrakill #Sisyphus Prime #Sisyphus Ultrakill #Minos Ultrakill #King Sisyphus #I almost tagged Minos Prime but he's not actually in this one oops #Cw: #Body horror #Blood #ANYWAY I PROMISED I WOULD DRAW HIM AFTER ARTFIGHT! I'VE DELIVERED!! OLD MAN YAOI* IS REAL!!!!!!!!! #*This isn't actually ship art. I mean it can be why not but I'm not explicitly tagging it as ship #I had so much trouble drawing Sisyphus Prime's head before I realized I can just stylize him however I want and that made it so much easier #Much happier with this one than the last one I drew; that's for sure #Human Sisyphus was also super fun to draw he's so silly (says this about a guy who has killed hundreds and will do it again) #Anyway shoutout to the people who followed for rain world and are now getting buff shirtless men on their dash. It will happen again #Hrokkall Art

[fromtheseventhhell]

I also find it funny that fandom will only accept Lyanna being her non-conforming, wild self in the context of saying that Arya isn't meant to be pretty; Any other day we get back-to-back posts about how Lyanna is actually super traditionally feminine cause she sniffled at a song once, so she's actually more like Sansa. Instead of constantly speaking on Arya and Lyanna, how about you guys reflect on why your standards of beauty for women are attached to how well they perform feminity within the patriarchy?

#lyanna stark #arya stark #asoiaf #/Lyanna isn't actually pretty she was a wild tomboy/ Those two things are not mutually exclusive 😭 #how you look is not a reflection of your personality and this is also a running theme within the story #we have morally good characters who are ugly and morally bad characters who are beautiful this is like...kindergarten level #Lyanna is idealized in terms of her personality hence /you saw her beauty but not the iron underneath/ #and Ned correcting Robert when he said Lyanna wouldn't have shamed him like Cersei had #he's a very shallow misogynistic character and I truly doubt he would've been as attached to the idea of her without surface level beauty #reminds me of people saying that Olivia Hussey is a bad fancast for them because she has a /doll like/ beauty and they're /rougher/ 😭 #as though their entire facial structure magically changed once they realized they enjoyed playing with swords instead of sewing sdksdkdsksd #it's giving that one tiktok with the /cat pretty vs doe pretty vs bunny pretty/ #even if you wanted to make the case that her beauty is idealized in her death we get Arya described a pretty multiple times? #idk it's just so wild to me to use personality as an indication of looks it just sounds so stupid #Arya/Lyanna can still have /delicate/ features (which is extremely subjective) and still have a wild personality #how about we acknowledge that the perception of both of them is warped by strict patriarchal gender norms instead? #some real analysis just to shake things up idk

[dominicsorel]

We were inseparable. But then I lost you...I came here so I'd never lose you again! Was it really me you came for?

#kingdom hearts #kh namine #kh sora #kh riku #namine #sora #riku #soriku #another past duo #sora is actually so closeted for thinking he came for kairi like #explicitly NOT who you came all the way here for sora #then he decides to sleep instead of finding the real riku #he truly forgets what he came for all along and riku is left alone #and that's the question isn't it? a memory or us?

[hephaestuscrew]

It's so emotionally powerful to me that we don't hear any interactions between Minkowski and Eiffel in the finale between the scene when she tries to send him back on the Sol and the scene where she witnesses him losing his memories. That's more than an hour in the middle of the finale with no direct interaction between these two central characters whose dynamic is a core element of the show. For me, this makes both of those dramatic scenes even more moving, because they feel juxtaposed in a way they might not otherwise be if there was a Minkowski & Eiffel interaction inbetween them.

As the Sol prepares to launch, Minkowski tells Eiffel goodbye and she knows it could be the last time she speaks to him. She thinks she might never see him again, but at least he'll be safe. She thinks he might never forgive her for that choice, but at least he will have made it through this.

But his stubborn desperation to fight alongside the rest of the crew defies all her plans to protect him. And the next time she speaks to him - after she's been shot in the stomach during her attempts to reach him, after she's continued to look for him even as she's bleeding out - he is injured in a way she would never have expected. When she first sees him hooked up to Pryce's machine, maybe she thinks for a moment that he's unharmed, that they might all make it through this the way she hoped. Then she learns that his memories are already slipping away from him.

There's her desperate attempt to protect him at all costs, and then there's a life-altering harm that she couldn't protect him from, which she witnesses. Between these two moments, there aren't any scenes with both characters in together to bridge that gap. There's Eiffel yelling "Goddammit, Renée, DON'T DO THIS!", and then there's him telling her "It was an honor to serve under you, Sir." There's him pleading with her and then there's him forgiving her. There's Minkowski saying "Go home, Eiffel. Hug your daughter.[...] Goodbye, Doug.", and there's the desperate heartbroken way she says Eiffel's name after the memory wipe has gone through. There's two very different kinds of goodbyes.

And then, afterwards, there's two very different kinds of introductions.

#wolf 359 #w359 #doug eiffel #renée minkowski #renee minkowski #I know there is the scene where Eiffel imagines Minkowski talking to him #as he's trying to turn the Sol around #but for the purposes of the point I'm making here that doesn't count #because while that scene is significant in terms of their relationship #it isn't actually an interaction between Eiffel and the real Minkowski #From Minkowski's perspective she tries to send him back to Earth #and then she doesn't see or talk to him again until she watches him lose his memories #And god... That's so raw and intense as a sequence of interactions #I suppose you could argue that they interact 'off-screen' in the gap #but it doesn't seem likely #they don't seem to be using comms #and evidence suggests that they don't physically encounter each other #I think Hera has updated Minkowski on Eiffel's whereabouts/wellbeing but that's it #I care so much about these characters that I can write paragraphs about them *not* interacting with each other lol #wolf 359 spoilers #w359 spoilers #the empty man posteth

[stop-breaking-my-heart-dragonage]

my greatest achievement in DA2 is maxing out Carver's friendship

and all it took was begrudgingly kissing a little templar ass in act 1 because Carver didn't want to plan a prison break if my Hawke got his ass arrested for being stupid.

#carver hawke #dragon age #dragon age 2 #da2 #well that and he didn't want leandra gamlen and himself to also get arrested for harboring an apostate but you get me #carver hawke loves his sibling and doesn't want them to get taken away that's why he's such an ass and approves of 'pro-templar' choices #in act 1 he's not pro-templar himself but kissing a little templar ass is how you avoid being arrested #'why yes cullen you are so right the templars are so cool and sexy' my hawke says through gritted teeth for that +5 friendship #look i love him okay he's my favorite and i will go the extra mile to make him happy and it's worth it for how much softer can be later on #honestly maxing out his friendship isn't hard if you're aware of what quests you're bringing him on and make him a grey warden #oh but you do need the legacy dlc otherwise you can't fully max friendship out... you can still get enough to change his dialogue/attitude #also like... we the player know hawke won't be arrested like they're not in any actual dangers from the templars as the playable character #but carver doesn't know that and neither does hawke so the templars *are* a real threat to them #and it's incredibly reckless to purposely piss off templars AND selfish because it's not just hawke that'll be arrested it's their family #for harboring them like we witness templars going after people hiding apostates soooo..... #i'm just saying that carver isn't irrational or just being an ass to personally annoy you okay he has cause #also once carver's a warden and ed has money and the estate THEN he's way more open about telling the templars to piss off #sigh one day i'll sit down and write an essay about carver.... one day

[paimonial-rage]

what are they like in a relationship? For diluc

do you have headcanons about them? for xiao

[Character Analysis Ask Meme]

What is Diluc like in a relationship?

The day you found out his feelings, he didn’t approach the matter like most men in Mondstadt. He didn’t smile, nor did he meet your gaze. If you had to be honest with yourself, it seemed as if he wanted to be anywhere but here with you. Yet even with his stiff expression, he asked if you would meet him on the veranda privately. There, with the sun setting from behind and a slight dusting of red upon his cheeks, he then requested permission to court you. 

It doesn’t take you very long to notice how awkward he is in his courtship of you. Whenever you walk side by side, he always keeps a respectable distance. He does not reach for your hand, nor does he hold you close. Still, you can’t deny he’s earnest. Every meeting greets you with a bouquet of flowers. Every parting leaves you with a kiss upon your hand. 

It takes you a bit longer to see through his cold exterior. How his frowns when you speak are only in frustration due to not knowing how to respond in a way that’ll make you smile. How his eyes tend to follow you when he thinks you are not looking. How he turns away to hide his smiles when you do something that warms his heart. 

You come to the conclusion that even though he left his past behind him, he is a knight through and through. Never having been in a relationship before, he lets propriety dictate the way he acts toward you. It’s so incredibly stiff and awkward, you can’t deny that. And yet, when you look in his eyes, all you can feel is warmth. 

-----

Xiao Headcanons

Self-focused

Though many of the workers at the Wangshu Inn attempt to create a calming atmosphere for Xiao, there’s nothing he hates more than silence. Many people would not expect it with the young adeptus, introverted as he is. How would they know that the worst times of his life were spent struggling to survive on his own? And the best? When he closes his eyes, he can still hear them—the melodious voice of Sister Bonanus, the loud and rambunctious teasing of Brother Bosacius—his family. Sometimes, on the worst nights, he finds himself drawn to the edges of Liyue Harbor to let the sounds of life and living draw him to sleep.

Relationship-focused

Though you may have realized it before entering into a relationship with him, it only becomes even more noticeable after that Xiao isn’t one to express his needs. Oftentimes, it’s only until after he’s fully withdrawn himself that you realize something may have happened that caused him undue stress. It takes you time to realize that it’s not because he’s upset with you or that he doesn’t trust you; it’s simply that he does not wish to inconvenience you with his problems. It’ll take time and patience before he feels truly comfortable relying on you during his weakest moments.

#genshin impact #genshin x reader #diluc #xiao #diluc x reader #xiao x reader #character analysis #thank you for the ask!!! i hope you like it! #sorry i know the diluc one isn't my best work #i couldn't come up with a satisfying last sentence aaaaa #actually about xiao though #another headcanon that i have for him that i didn't want to put up... #in a real world au i have this headcanon that xiao probably suffers from an illness similar to hiv #it's the closest parallel that i can find to karmic debt #i dislike using hiv as the direct parallel though so let's just say a fictional infectious disease that is passed through body fluids #i imagine he got it through his mother which caused a lot of health complications as a child #hence why he keeps to himself #idk haha #karmic debt plays such a huge role in him during the present that it's kind of sad that a parallel is not seen in rl!aus #and for diluc i didn't want to make it into a complete story #the question focuses on how diluc would be in a relationship not how reader would interact with him #so i tried to keep reader out of it as much as possible #hence why reader feels so passive haha

[lgbtlunaverse]

"Nie Mingjue would still have died young even if Jin Guangyao hadn't killed him" Not as in "So it's fine to kill him because people who won't live for much longer have obviously already forfeit their lives" (what) But as in "If you don't get that Nie Mingjue has had an inevitable young and violent death hanging over him since he was a young teenager and has embraced it you can't fully understand his character"

#mdzs #nie mingjue #i do not wish to be misconstrued on this #because the first interpretation might genuinely be my least favorite nmj take #because it has so much baggage in regards to the actual real life murder of disabled people. most often by their caretakers!! #and the reaction to it from public the media and the justice system is overwhelmingly 'oh well that wasn't a life worth living anyway' #'plus they were SO hard to take care of rlly if you think about it the murderer is the victim here that must've been so hard for them' #and these characters aren't real. nmj isn't actually dead he was never alive. but i really hope that take is no one's actual view on life #but from a purely story-perspective i also hate the 'everything would've been fine if not for jiggy' takes #STOP MAKING THE BLORBO UNINTERESTING BY OUTSOURCING ALL HIS ISSUES!! THOSE ARE /HIS/ LET HIM KEEP THEM

[kyouka-supremacy]

That fic from Akutagawa's pov that remarked how although Dazai had left a bomb under Chuuya's car, at least that showed he had thought about him before going, while he never cared enough to spare a thought for Akutagawa.

#I think about it a lot... Something something the opposite of love isn't hatred but indifference #I can imagine Akutagawa and Chuuya fighting over Dazai when he left #“AT LEAST HE THOUGHT ABOUT YOU!” “HIS THINKING ABOUT ME WAS A FUCKING ATTEMPT TO MURDER ME AKUTAGAWA!” #... #It was supposed to be funny it shouldn't hurt me as much as it does......... #Trust me chuu/aku angst actually hits the hardest and you will never see it coming. #Because it’s not the kind of angst of “oh no my boyfriend has been beheaded by this magic sword that cuts through space and time ://”. #Chuu/aku angst hits right close to home when you least expect it and it’s so real in its inherent humanity it leaves you defenseless #ryūnosuke akutagawa #osamu dazai #chūya nakahara #bsd #bungou stray dogs #mine #q. #23/11/22 #I'm sorry I don't remember the fic of course I'll add the link if I find it again #It's just that sometimes you will read something in a fic and go “oh my God” and it feels like you've been run over by a bus #And other times you read a fic and it seems like nothing happened– #and then two years after you realize you're still thinking about that tidbit of lore and you'll be like “oh... oh.” #Like fics that rewrite your entire belief system without you even noticing for real

[skyloftian-nutcase]

I'm looking at the Zora May prompts and wanna write stuff, and now my brain's just giggling with ideas LOL like--

Imagine, after Age of Calamity, that Link and Mipha get together. That has its whole set of fun and drama - a Hylian/Zora marriage would mean a lot anyway, but particularly when it's the Zora princess and the Hero of Hyrule. Link and Mipha start to have a family, Zelda is settling into being queen, and they all have their own set of stressors and joys and the three are still besties and it would be just so funny to see y'all. Like... Link takes his oath as a knight seriously, so he still assists Hyrule often, and just this scenario in my head came and--

Zelda, sighing: I hardly slept last night. I was up late researching the latest Zonai discoveries and almost forgot I had a meeting with the Rito delegation this morning. I'm so tired.

Link, hair a mess, on his third cup of coffee after dealing with one of his kids having a meltdown while the other kept everyone up crying all night, dealing with Mipha also trying to do royal duties, having just teleported over here via Sheikah towers: .....That sounds rough.

#give me some domestic hilarity and stress and fluff dang it #Zelda has every right to be exhausted too but this image in my head was too funny not to share #I don't know how parents do it I'm barely alive most days LOL #if I had a husband and kids to worry about too I'd probably have a permanent IV for caffeine injections #all my lovelies who are parents: God bless you XD #age of calamity #oh and then totk happens and Link almost loses his ever loving mind LOL #imagine Link as a dad in totk HAHA #Link dealing with Ganondorf while his four-year-old destroys Dorf emotionally #Ganondorf: Behold a king's revival! #Link's kid: You're not even NEARLY as big as Grandpa and he's a REAL king and your hair's ugly #miphlink #poor Zelda had to become queen after the Calamity since she came of age #she and Link exchange letters on the regular when he isn't doing assignments for her and actually gets a few days to chill in the Domain #Mipha has to often visit to help Zelda with her anxieties #I think they'd be a fun dynamic ok