#he also kind of doesn't blame him but where most people may blame god for inconvienieces jc blames wwx

[pbaintthetb]

It hits Wuxian like a bullet to the brain, Jiang Cheng sneers when Wuxian says he thinks he might have an idea as to how to walk through the herd, and it just hits him. "You think I caused this, don't you?" His brother doesn't say anything, just wipes the viscera off his knife and scowls at the heavily barracade door. Heavily barracaded it may be, they both know it won't be enough. Not for long enough. The sneers, the looks, the- the everything. "I would never," Wei Wuxian insists hotly. Because sure, things had been bad, ruined- not ruined before the world had imploded itself, but they've taken a new turn. And Wei Wuxian doesn't want his brother to think him capable of this- doesn't want to belive his brother could believe him capable. Not really, not truly. But the evidence is here. He does. "What's the genius plan then?" Jiang Cheng asks, pushing forward, ignoring. Just ignoring. Never listening. Taking and- Not before, not when- "I wouldn't do this." Wei Wuxian reiterates. "And you have to know that." Maybe death is better than living when his brother thinks this of him. His brother's eyes sweep up and over, calculating and brimming with ice. "No, I know you never stick around to deal with your messes." Jiang Cheng sweeps out a hand, at the barricaded door, the starving mass outside, the weapons bedecking their person. For a brief hysteric moment Wei Wuxian can envision Jiang Cheng making the exact same gesture to Jin Ling to get him to clean up his room. Then the reality quickly rolls back in. And the relief. Because- "You-" "You just create them. And you never think about the consequences you create. And you mess with things you shouldn't." Jiang Cheng speaks over him, smile terrible and wide. "Don't worry, A-Xian, I know this isn't your mess, but that doesn't mean it isn't your fault."

when you have a fun idea but wwx would never explictly call JC out on his bullshit so. rip. so OOC for wwx alas

#vibe was (probs modern) zombie au #where actually wwx and jc find each other as survivors like to think jc (and friend?) accidentally stumbles across wwx's group #obvs iwth all their histor #and it's very awkard #and at some point wwx starts to realise/wonder if the reason jc is so extra petty at him is like #also because it's fun i should clarify just becuase jc doesn't think wwx is the necromancer who created the apocalyspe #he does stil think it's wwx's fault in the sense that he thinks someone tried to imitate wwx and fucked it up #so he blames wwx for messing around with this shit in the first place #he also kind of doesn't blame him but where most people may blame god for inconvienieces jc blames wwx #tumblr fic #to jc's surprise wwx does not leave him there to die despite him being a prick #admittedly jc was sceptical wwx would really have a way out cos he considers himself a thorn in wwxs side so he's like rip im dying here #wwx does not consider him a thorn more like a misplaced rib #jc thinks wwx should be worried that he (jc) is going to fuck up wwx's life and reputation with his group #wwx doesn't really ahve the capacity to worry about things jc will or he won't but he hasn't so he probably won't #also if jc calls him out then they have to TALK about it and he's banking on the fact that JC hates talking as much as he does

[kaija-rayne-author]

Wow. So much dislike about elves generally preferring to be barefoot in the Dragon Age world.

Y'all.

Why elves not wearing shoes in Dragon Age is completely logical.

Okay, so it’s not a huge secret that I grew up poor. We're talking hardscrabble poor. The kind of poor most people don't think even exists in the western world anymore (I guarantee it does).

To someone with very little ability to buy things, shoes just aren't the priority everyone seems to think they are. City elves are poor in most depictions.

The Dalish would likely feel they'd rather use the materials for something else. They may not be as poor as city elves, but they likely wouldn't be wasteful either. Depending on where they wintered, they might not even use them then. I go out barefoot in light snow and frost, you do actually get used to it.

Fenris is a former slave with lyrium tattoos on his feet. The tattoos cause him pain when touched. Of course he doesn't wear shoes.

I never had shoes in the spring/summer/fall. They just did not exist in my understanding of the world. There was no need to buy and ruin a pair of shoes when feet toughen up just fine.

I grew up in the Adirondack Mountains, by the way. There are a lot of bloody rocks there. You can't dig very far down before you hit bedrock up there.

We had horses and dogs too, (yes, I'm aware of the crappy juxtaposition of parents who pay for horses but not shoes) so it's not like we're talking a pristine woodland.

I'd get a pair of sneakers/runners before school started (usually second hand) and a pair of boots in the winter. I remember having to wear bread bags around my feet inside my boots to keep them dry and whole. Less likely to get frostbite that way.

I distinctly remember my first brand new pair of shoes. I remember my second and third pairs too.

Even now, when I have far too many shoes, more than I could ever need, (I've got a thing for boots, my kids tell me my collection is 'extra'. They're right 🤣) I still prefer to go barefoot. From around April to November, I just don't wear shoes unless I have to. Like, to go into a store or public area; I'll reluctantly wear proper footwear to hike in (and even then they usually wind up over my shoulder instead of where they belong) shoes just aren't the absolute necessity so many folks act like.

I'm aware of what Gaider said about it, that he blamed (unfairly) the art team. It's the director's job to approve things like that, so, uh, bad form.

Still.

It is very possible to have a strong preference for no shoes. You don't really miss what you never had. And to me, it feels like y'all wearing shoes all the time is weird and likely unhealthy. In fact, it kinda is.

"Walking barefoot helps to improve circulation which increases the nourishment of nerves, muscles, and bone of the foot and helps minimize swelling of the lower extremities. Walking barefoot may also help improve the strength and flexibility of the muscles and ligaments of the foot which improves the function of the foot, reducing injuries of the foot, and improving posture and balance of the body."

At most, for just every day, I'll wear a pair of flops if I think the terrain is dangerous enough to warrant it. That's very rarely. I do have a habit of watching where I step though.

In spring, I go out on the tarmacadam to intentionally toughen my feet up. And no, my feet aren't calloused monstrosities.

It's just kinda mind-blowing to me how essential so many people seem to feel shoes are. They just aren't.

To me, it makes perfect sense that the elves, a historically repressed and abused people (sort of like a lot of my ancestors) don't feel they're necessary.

In a medivalish world like Dragon Age, where blights or false gods or wars keep tearing civilization to pieces, shoes would be ridiculously expensive. I mean, soldiers didn't take boots because they thought they were cool. They did it for resale value.

And cobblering is incredibly skilled labour. I was lucky enough to find someone who still knew how to keep my favourite boots alive longer. That guy could make those boots look almost brand new.

But in that world, poor elves would absolutely not be likely to wear shoes.

Shoes feel incredibly confining to someone who didn't grow up wearing them. I utterly loathe the way shoes feel.

I've also been a dancer and martial artist for a large portion of my life. Two groups of people you'll frequently find barefoot.

The way you walk in shoes is completely different from how you walk barefoot.

It's also an incredibly privileged viewpoint to utterly insist shoes are necessary and that elves in a video game should absolutely have to have them.

The only thing I'm annoyed about is that the armours often include boots, which my elves just wouldn't wear. I should have a barefoot option.

It may not be strictly cannon, for the whys behind barefoot elves, but it makes complete sense.

The only elf I'll say it doesn't make sense for is Solas. Why he doesn't wear shoes could just be a big commitment to his cover of elven apostate hobo.

Or perhaps his culture didn't think shoes necessary any more than I do. That would also explain why elves could have a preference for no shoes, it could be a holdover tradition because they all descend from the Elvhen.

It's true that you develop a sense for the earth, or trees, or whatever you're walking on if you don't wear shoes. I spent a lot of time with a book in trees, because few people would climb as high as me so I was safe there. It could easily be that elves wouldn't want to lose that sense, too.

You can learn a lot about an area by what the surface feels like under your feet. If you're a hunter, it's sometimes easier to track if you know your quarry prefers a certain type of terrain. You don't need to look down if you can feel the ground.

In fact, despite what people may think, my feet are incredibly sensitive. Tough, yes, but still very 'feely'.

Point made, I'll stop blathering now 😅.

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#dragon age series #dragon age #dragon age inquisition #solas #DAO #da origins #dragon age elves #DA2 #Dragon Age 2 #dragon age meta #Fenris

[starry-blue-echoes]

Star Swap: I might have mentioned this, but I love the idea of Jonathan semi-accidentally rallying the meeker prisoners like Guccio and Atroe, which means a lot given that the prison is largely led by a right-makes-right mentality. Because Jonathan is nice and caring and kind and (with some advice from Gwess and Ermes) not afraid to start punching people if need be. He may not have his old muscles but he still has his boxing skill and maybe his hamon? Can't remember when he was taken. Anyway, he manages to assemble a small following of prisoners, helping them so that they can eventually help themselves.

YESSSSSSSSS

while Jolyne's body may not have the pure muscle and intimidation factor that Jonathan's original one had he's far from helpless. As you mentioned there's the aforementioned Hamon and boxing, plus how Hamon would work really well with The Passion when he gets pricked

and it's definitely an accident at first. Jonathan couldn't help it! He wants to help people, no matter whether or not they can give him anything in return. And while he may not teach them Hamon (he realises pretty early on just how dangerous that could get if he taught others), he can teach them how to defend themselves and get away from danger

For a bit of fun chaos, I like to image there was an instance where two people he taught used the things he learned to pick on others and he marched his way over and started scolding the shit out of them. He gave them a flawless "I'm not mad just disappointed" look and speech like he was their parent or something and he looked to genuine and upset and oh god I feel so bad what the fuck was I thinking-

and just to add a but of extra fun spice to it, maybe one of the two ends up attacking him because You Can't Tell Us What To Do Short Stack only to promptly get their ass handed to them on a silver platter. Maybe even a broken bone or two........ but then when it's over Jonathan completely heals the opponent but leaves himself injured so when the guard shows up it looks like the fight was completely one-sided

was that a bit tricky of him to fool the guard like that? Yes, he feels terrible about it for days afterward and can't get the mental image of Dio out of his head, but he isn't going to just let this person use what he taught them to hurt people that just wouldn't be nice >:(

he doesn't even realise how many people he's befriended until Hermes makes a comment about it and he almost starts crying because he hasn't had this many friends EVER, he's still honestly trying to come to terms with the fact he has friends period

once again, I'm loving the mental image of Hermes and Gwess trying their absolute damnedest to just Keep Jojo Alive. They know he's powerful and that he should theoretically be able to handle himself, and most of the time he's honestly really reliable! He's surprisingly emotionally intelligent and knows just what to say....... but then right after he'll do the stupidest (/aff) shit imaginable and they'll remember "right, this is the same guy who thought the tv was trapping people inside and that blood letting was an acceptable medical treatment"

also, speaking of Atroe, I had a silly idea for how Foo slides into things: I think it would if they're just Body Buddies. That's it. Foo expressed interest in helping out Jonathan for the respect he showed them and Atroe was like "welcome to the club! Jojo's really cool and nice so I can't blame you, why don't you come with :D" and just lets Foo vibe in their body

would this work biologically? I don't think so, but also consider It Would Be Funny For The Sake Of The AU

#star swap #jjba #jojo’s bizarre adventure #stone ocean #jjba part 6 #jjba jonathan #jonathan joestar #the passion #jjba hermes #hermes costello #jjba gwess #gwess #jjba atroe #atroe #jjba foo fighters #foo fighters #sb answers #ailingwriter

[ittybluebell]

Matt Murdock and Borrowers

i can only speak for the show specifically because i haven't read the comics, but engrained in daredevil's story is commentary about the effects of capitalism, power, and greed on the lower class. matt tries to combat this through the law, but even he knows the law is flawed and favours the rich and powerful. matt needs to help people - that's just how he is. the nelson & murdock office was literally going under due to matt, karen, and foggy taking payments in other forms besides monetarily (baked goods, for example) because they know the people who NEED help often can't afford it. all three of them are bleeding hearts who understand injustice and fight it day and night

with that in mind, how does it influence matt's interactions with borrowers? specifically with goldfinch, the protagonist of my daredevil g/t concept

matt knows that goldfinch is taking things. cloth and other little objects are going missing, but most notable is the food. they're taking necessities to survive. he recognizes that this is someone in need, someone who matt can help without putting on a suit, whether it be armoured or a two-piece. he leaves crumbs by the entrances frequented by finch. he pretends he doesn't notice their little heists, which leads to them becoming outrageously overconfident and quite literally stealing (*cough*borrowing) under his nose. he's shocked and impressed by finch's lack of fear (or perhaps a lack of self-preservation), but also amused at how much they're underestimating him

underneath the genuine saviour complex, matt is fascinated by their existence. he's so curious to know more. and can you blame the guy? a tiny person just four-inches-tall. how? where did they come from? he has a mini faith crisis, but that gets pushed down to unpack later (never, if he can help it)

matt empathizes with finch. living in a world not designed for you is a struggle he knows very well. 'super-senses' this and that, yada-yada - doesn't change the fact that he is blind. he can't read visual language or pictures; he can't see lights or colours; he struggles to operate technology and touch-screens are only getting more prevalent. if he isn't disregarded or patronized, he's infantilized. and matt is determined not to belittle finch. they may be small, smaller than his hand, but they're not helpless

MORE UNDER THE CUT!!

that said, it definitely takes a learning curve: he's protective over this tiny person. it's a big world, and they could be easily hurt. he doesn't intervene when they're climbing furniture and shit because, hey, he does parkour nightly. who's he to stop them? they have it handled. but when finch starts leaving the apartment and being out in the streets? hoooo boy. goldfinch can be cocky and reckless, especially in dangerous situations (matt's begging them to value their life a bit more and finch is just astounded at his lack of self-awareness), and matt so badly wants to put them in a little pouch where they'll be safe (he won't; they made an agreement)

don't even get me started on when frank finds out about goldfinch. dear god. matt wants castle nowhere near them

when the other defenders discover finch exists, matt is wary (more than finch, funnily enough). he didn't want them to know. these people are fighters (pot, kettle) with super strength: borrowers are extremely breakable and more people knowing increases the risk of finch getting hurt (also increases their protection, little does he know). luke is his gentlemanly self, giving finch space and genuinely interested in them as a person, but danny has trouble with boundaries and can be a little much (finch stabs him. he learns). they're both very careful. beyond the surprise, jessica is her indifferent (read: depressed) self. she's kind of unsettled, actually, and doesn't want to go anywhere near finch. this could be for a multitude of reasons (angst, uncanniness of a tiny person, etc) but all finch cares about is one less bean crowding them. holy shit, they thought one was bad...

more on foggy, karen, claire, colleen, misty, and frank with goldfinch in the future :3 i'm gettin the whole gang together bc defenders' group dynamics are my playground and i simply must have g/t interactions with them

matt keeps goldfinch a secret. of course he does - secrets are his jam. after meeting finch and learning about tiny people, he starts discerning smaller voices that he thought were merely distant; noticing little movements he mistook for rodents. one night he's out daredevil'ing, he rescues a borrower from a raccoon and that borrower tells others that the human vigilante with horns saved them. matt hears birds flying closer than ever, following him; perched like they're observing him. little voices whispering about the devil. word travels fast through the borrower network and borrowers in the area start to panic. finch has to run interference and reconnect with the community they left behind before this panic gets out of hand

matt keeps an ear out for borrowers like any citizen who might need help. finch acts as an advocate to vouch on his behalf because a big, scary human looking straight out of a nightmare isn't the greatest impression on borrower-kind. they're working on it

this went in a different direction than i originally planned. i swear i was going to write about the parallels of borrowers with the growing endemic of houselessness and poverty related to increased 'crime', and matt murdock struggling to uphold the law while also knowing the law fails and persecutes so many disadvantaged people, but i got carried away with interpersonal relationships. i'm actually so intrigued by borrowers being a critique of ableism, classism, and capitalism

#g/t #giant/tiny #daredevil #daredevil g/t #goldfinch (oc) #matt murdock #borrowers #g/t writing #g/t thoughts #gt #the borrowers #g/t community

[weirdcat1213]

STEVEN UNIVERSE FANS: WHY YOU SHOULD WATCH TRIGUN STAMPEDE (SPOILER FREE)

Hi there, it's been a while, isn't it? The whole show ended 3 years ago and honestly, nothing has felt the same. Most shows get axed/are on streaming which makes you binge them and you don't get to emotionally bond with that show.

Well let me tell you I got something that you may like

Ok so this post will summarize Trigun Stampede, its similarities to SU/SUF, questions you may have as someone who doesn't like anime that much and why it needs a shit ton of support.

Trigun Stampede:

The story is set on this desert planet where humans need special machines to survive called plants because they produce all the resources humans need to survive. In a world where fighting is the only way to survive, the outlaw Vash the Stampede decides to help people with their plants/personal problems without using violence. If he is a pacifist then why is he an outlaw? Watch the show.

SU/SUF similarities and pros:

-Did you like the sci-fi element in SU? Stampede has so much of that and they actually get deep into it. It has an important role in the story. (I wish I could say more but spoilers)

-Did you like the message of love and peace? Our beloved main character lives by that motto and yes there is conflict.

-Did you like cool villains with good reasons and grey morals? OH, WE GOT YOU ALRIGHT. Vash's main antagonist has that covered (again, spoilers) BUT I PROMISE YOU HE IS EVERYTHING YOU WANTED IN SU FROM A VILLAIN.

-Did you like pretty art? Orange, although mainly known for its CGI has done beautiful backgrounds + art concepts for the show.

-Did you like the gorgeous and smooth animation: Orange is the best studio when it comes to CGI and that doesn't mean "ok this is decent" kind of CGI, this is "I'm gonna eat this scene" kind of CGI. SU only got smooth animation when they brought guest animators but Stampede has that level on every. single. episode.

-Did you like SUF specifically for the trauma, growth and mental health themes? You will love Vash and some of the other characters. But Vash...dear god.

-Did you like the angst? Stampede is for you but don't blame me for the therapy bills

-Did you love the music? Stampede isn't a musical sadly the ost fucking slaps and it's so cool. It's on Spotify if you want to support it legally.

-Did you love the likable secondary characters? Stampede has a few characters but they are likable characters and feel real instead of NPCs. None of them follows an archetype strictly except maybe for one who is still pretty cool.

-Did you like the representation? Nothing can be perfect and it would be misleading to not mention this considering it's a great part of what makes SU special to me and others. Although it's not explicitly queer, there are some themes/ characters to whom queer people (myself included) have connected a lot. There's a non-binary character, and Vash's struggle with (spoiler) is relatable to a lot of queer people. Also, the guy really gives gender. Cmon, look at him. There's a fanon gay ship but the original creator (Nightow) and the Orange team really made Stampede *gay*. Like Yuri on Ice but better IMO

You can literally send me a dm with a "what about X" and I will reply.

Questions you may have as someone who doesn't like anime:

-I don't like Japanese voices and how they scream: The english dub is really good (like, omg VAs I will give you my life) good. They all fit and care for their characters, and the direction was amazing. If you're a zach callison fan I reassure you, Vash's voice actor GAVE that kind of emotion.

-I don't like generic anime looks: Guess what! Stampede is pure CGI and it looks awesome! If you don't like the generic design anime characters get you're in for a treat.

-I don't want to read the manga/watch the 98 anime to understand whats happening: And you won't have to! A lot of people got into Trigun as a whole with Stampede and the people watching the 98 anime now are doing so cuz they miss the characters, not because its crucial to understand Stampede.

-I don't like CGI, non of it: watch the 1st episode then come back to me. Not even that, just watch the trailer.

Why it needs a shit ton of support

Apparently, anime is just starting to take outside-of-Japan fans into consideration for things like renewals, so at the Orange panel, the staff told people to support the studio and Stampede if we want more of it. It sucks that this is the only way a show can get renewed but we already know what's that like because of SU. Even if we didn't know it, people talking about it, going to cons cosplaying characters from the show, and buying merch was giving power to Rebecca to keep pushing for the show. Even if we got season 5 cut we managed to get Future and maybe the movie thanks to the fan support. Stampede is so new and although its popular it got cast away just for being CGI and for not being the exact same as the 98 anime. It's literally a passion project and the staff (including Nightow) are so in love with it. They want us to look for clues and give us more content because they love Trigun as a whole. Animation is suffering and I know there are 100000 shows that need support but please keep this show in mind. It's made of love, you could say.

Here's the ways you can support it!

-Where to watch (sub/dub): crunchyroll/ the DVD is coming out soon but I dont think that has the dub.

-OST: Spotify, Applemusic

-Merch: I recommend CD Japan but there are other websites

#trigun #trigun stampede #steven universe #steven universe future #su #suf #su future #please share this on another social media #the people need to know

[shinigami--apples]

I accidentally opened floodgates

girl help

(again just my interpretation and just an additive that you ship who you like, I don't care this is just my personal views on the matter here we go)

Anyway here goes:

I don't think Alarak romantically likes Vorazun. Not One Bit.

And this is a weird opening because the end of this rant partially has nothing to do with it.

So in the grand scheme of things, for starters, I know for a fact that, yeah, he was definitely flirting with her in that mission they were on together. Like, painfully so. It was painful. My Guy She Does Not Like You Calm Down.

(note that Vorazun Fucking Hates him, she moved to another section of the ship as soon as he was more permanently on board and GOD the way she speaks to him on that mission ranges from slight annoyance to incredulity like cmon, it's why I personally would never ship them, she shows No Interest, and it's not even in that "I hate you <3" type way, it's just No)

BUT the reason why I think that it wasn't particularly born from actually seeing her as a potential romantic partner is because, in the grand scheme of things, Alarak doesn't actually know how to connect with others on a deeper level.

Honestly, who could blame him, he's a Tal'darim, and Tal'darim spend their whole lives on a knife's edge. They CAN'T have deeper connections because a deeper connection could mean death. Feelings are a weakness, and from the way he interacts with Ma'lash, Nuroka and Ji'nara, the way that Tal'darim speak to each other, at least on the high end of the chain is like a chess match, and every word counts.

(so on top of this, I have this headcanon that Amon was partially influencing the emotions of the Tal'darim, keeping them from being able to form proper bonds so that they would be more compliant about the backstabbing and slaughtering and also so that the terrazine could be used to manipulate them better with the positive emotions it would give them. Propaganda and fearmongering would do the heavy lifting for the Tal'darim that the emotional blocking didn't quite work on and there we go. Alarak has been away from the rest of the Tal'darim for a while while he's on the Spear and I like the idea, personally, that the emotional manipulation wasn't working so well thanks to distance and active defiance, which is why he would get confused about those particular emotions he ends up experiencing, but even without this headcanon, the difference in dynamic in terms of how he interacts with people may throw him for a loop too)

When he's on the Spear around Artanis and the rest of them, he talks too much. This is ESPECIALLY with Artanis. The way that they interact in particular was very much "Artanis would like to be out of this conversation, shush, stop talking" and then he WOULDN'T. It only happened a couple of times, but I felt it hard. I kind of feel as a whole that he's very much the outcast of that whole group which, yeah, that's most likely intended, his views differ MASSIVELY from the others.

(just like me fr)

The other part of this is that I think that he really respects Vorazun. The way he speaks to her vs Artanis is like night an day. In their first encounter, his voice is far more gentle than any other time in-game, and I have only ever heard him refer to her as "Matriarch" (apart from in a voiceline in co-op where he expressly addresses her by name, but I haven't heard it outside of looking through the files so I don't know if it's used). And obviously this is partially to get her to listen to him, but even later when he's trying to get Artanis to do the same, he's never so respectful.

But this is all just a precursor to say that because of this apparent social ineptitude, a mixture of possibly newer emotions, and the respect he seems to have for Vorazun, I think that he may have confused respect for infatuation and tried to act on it as such.

Like at the very end of that mission, she's actually marginally impressed and then he ruins it by bragging which... God, What A Dork (affectionate). But the way that he brags to Artanis and Vorazun in general also seems oddly like attention seeking, at least in my eyes. There's this dynamic of wanting to prove he's strong vs wanting to make sure that he made the right decision in going for help from them (or you know, striking a bargain. It's not asking for help if you have something to give in return I prommy) by constantly poking Artanis in particular. It's something that I don't see in Ascension with Tal'darim-only interactions, or even in interactions in Heroes of the Storm. When he speaks with Nuroka, when he speaks with Ji'nara, there is no bragging, it's all mostly regular conversation. With Nuroka he's even, at least partially, admitting that there are things he can't do. It's only when he's matched up against Ma'lash with Artanis' army at his back that he starts bragging again.

Basically mans has a lot of trouble interacting with protoss who don't immediately want to kill him and that leads to him thinking that flirting with Vorazun is a Good Idea even though she hates him. There's no real romantic feeling involved in my interpretation.

#starcraft #starcraft 2 #protoss #alarak #vorazun #artanis #ji'nara #ramblings #headcanon #bwuh

[weprywepry]

Hatred never ends. It's a bit absurd, absurd in the narrative sense of the word. How can we expect a story about the endless cycle of violence to do anything other than perpetuate that violence? Either AOT is wrong, and there actually is some way to prevent people from killing each other, or the series will end up as just another part of the killing.

I remember defending AOT against people that criticized its portrayal of fascism. Some of those criticisms are, still, to me very hollow. Like that one Polygon article which can basically be summed up by *"guys i think there might be fascist subtext to a story explicitly about fascism"*. That much is just a kind of trolling. But there is the more serious matter of whether or not the show accidentally encourages the sort of hatred it displays.

"You can’t choose where the cat sleeps."

"There is no such thing as an anti-war film."

No matter how talented and well minded an artist is, there is no way you can actually *make* your audience react a certain way. I'm sure there are neo-Nazis out there that enjoy watching Schindler's List. If people are stupid enough to actually *do* the things portrayed in media, then why should we be surprised by their reactions to the media? There's no way AOT could kill fascism. But still, for how intelligent the story is, I wonder if that just doesn't even matter.

It is also very stupid at times (like the S1-S2 openings), but those seem unintelligent only by how easily they are taken out of context. I think the narrative structure of Attack on Titan relies on building up expectation and then dismantling them in such a way that is revealing about ourselves. The Titans are presented as an absolute, unifying, and indiscriminate evil. The Titans are actually deeply tragic beings that are the product of human choices. This may teach an audience to not trust such narratives. That sort of "bait and switch" relies heavily on the "switch." If you only ever are exposed to certain parts of AOT (like just the action or overly dramatic AMVs), then its easy to get the wrong message.

But it's hard to blame AOT or Isayama for that. Asking an author to not allow that may as well be asking an author to not tell stories at all. It's inevitable, even more so with popularly. It's hard to tell a truth about propoganda without enabling the spread of that propoganda. Context matters, but people are inevitably lazy. It's just the law of large numbers. That isn't to say there's no use in trying to provide context. An audience can be lured into a critical experience with a piece of media. But there will always be bad actors, and those bad actors will be just as cunning.

But as a more fundamental flaw with AOT itself rather than art in general, oh my god. What the fuck is the ending.

Here's my two cents:

Armin hates himself. Even before becoming a mass murderer, he viewed himself as inadequate and undeserving of respect. That self hatred never left him and never was resolved. Becoming a soldier allowed him to quell it and act rationally according to his objective, but the self hatred was always still there.

For him, to thank Eren is an expression of his self-hatred. He sees himself as at the same level of moral fault and that they both deserve the same fate. Eren is undoubtedly *worse* than Armin (80% of the worlds population), but Armin still considers himself just as culpable. So his friendliness with Eren is a sardonic, cynical expression of his own hopelessness.

This is the most charitable interpretation I can come up with. Even if this *was* an intended subtext, I think the more honest interpretation is that Isayama just got tired and lazy. The theme of "those who can't abandon anything can't change anything" needed to be reincorporated, and this was a giant flashing neon sign indicating that. Eren did certainly change something.

What I want to say is that, by this point in the story, the notion of positive change through sacrifice had been disproven. There is no common enemy to humanity; humanity is its own enemy. So "tatakae" is no longer about promoting a greater good, but promoting one's own interest over others.

"Fight! Fight to survive!"

has a very different tone from,

"As long as we have unbending convictions, a clash is inevitable. There is but one thing to do. Fight."

I wish i could say all that.

But far too much credence is given to the idea that the Rumbling is justifiable. Hange says, "I'll be damned before I justify genocide." But at almost every step, the Rumbling is presented not as a moral apocalypse, but as a solution to a problem. This is absurd. Erwin counsels Levi that, "No one will know how things will turn out." And yet these two outcomes, let Paradis be destroyed or let Eren destroy the world are presented as the only two options. Even worse, that this is supposedly the case is supposedly *the fault* of Hange and Armin and Jean and everyone else. Floch saying that Paradis will drown in a sea of blood is propoganda. This propoganda is treated as if it is the unquestionable truth.

I think Isayama wanted a moral dilemma for the characters to ponder (save ourselves or save the world), but got lazy along the way. That dilemma, "us vs. them," is never true and is used to justify atrocity in the real world. Violence never ends, and the us's and the them's change to fit the needs of whatever cruelty needs justification. I hope that Isayama knows this. It’s present in the work already. But here it vanishes in favor of a simplistic, cliche narrative. Laziness, when dealing with subject matter as sensitive as this, has a real cost. And it's a bummer beyond all other bummers that this is how the story ends.

#attack on titan #shingeki no kyojin #help me

[nesswrites]

Skyrim Rambles

Okay, so I'm playing skyrim again, this round as an Imperial Khajit, but as I go through this, having played both Imperials and Stormcloaks (I alternate my files to make it more interesting)....I have opinions.

FIRST from a logistical and "connection" standpoint, if you go into Skyrim blind to the internal politics, the Stormcloaks are actually "better" in a lot of ways. Ralof and Ulfric know you were innocent and about to be killed, and no matter how other Stormcloaks feel, they are willing to accept and protect you. Meanwhile, on the other end, Legate Rikke was going to have you executed even though you weren't on the list.

SECOND, FUCKING HADVAR. Look, I love Hadvar, he's great, he and Ralof are ex boyfriends. But he's also a goddamn moron. Man couldn't write us a recommendation letter? Give us a signet? Also like, he heads off to Solitude first, while we play message boy for his family to the Jarl, go through the Barrow, and likely defeat a dragon before we head to solitude ourselves (story wise). Hell, I went and got the rest of my Fus Roh Dah before heading to Solitude this time, and took the scenic route past the college of winterhold. Hadvar arrives after you, who he didn't even write a letter for, after sending you to THE SAME WOMAN that was gonna murder you, and hope she believes you.

THIRD... while everyone likes to compare the Stormcloaks to some unsavory racist types (and it is earned in some ways) they are very much also an equivalent analogy to Native Americans. The Dunmer settled primarily in Windhelm, with the stormcloaks. Windhelm, despite being the racism capital, is the city that opened their gates to the refugees. There's tons of other cities, many far more pleasant, and yet most of the dunmer are in Windhelm. The soldiers also recommend going to the Dunmer shops for buying/selling, and I'm sorry to the shopkeeper but he's just nice Hisoka in my mind. They also never run to the cringey "one of the good ones" language if you're a Dunmer or Argonnian or Khajit, they just accept this warrior based entirely on "Ulfric and Ralof say they are cool".

Adding in I don't think making the Dunmer live in the slums or making Argonnians live outside the walls is cool, but the slums read more like that's where the refugee camp was, inside the walls for protection. I am all for eat the rich but also most family homes in skyrim are probably built by your grandpa. And if we wanna go there, why is the Dragonborn able to own like 12 properties, not rent any out, and never be home other than to get money from their spouse.

Third and a half - while not related, a BIG part of the conflict is after Windhelm was so accepting of the Dunmer / dark elves, the light elves come flouncing in and make it illegal to worship their main god, Talos. The Dunmer don't care and in some cases even think this is a stupidly bad ruling, but they are caught up in the blame. ESPECIALLY since the Thalmor / Altmer themselves are the kind of assholes who would probably run a smear campaign against the Dunmer.

Fourth, the imperials are also fucking racist. Be a khajit sometime and tell me they're not as you hear the same three lines again and again. "Awwh did someone steal your sweetroll", "SKYRIM BELONGS TO THE NORDS" "Watch your back sneak-thief". Also when they defeat Ulfric and take over Windhelm, things do not change for the Dunmer nor the Argonnians, nothing gets better, and that drunk racist douchebag still wanders around town screaming at people because he is essential for a fishing quest. They have almost no Dunmer in solitude. They are not opening their gates to refugees. They're the nice shiny capitol city that doesn't let the rabble pollute the streets.

Extras:

On the things I like about Imperials - Hadvar may be stupid but I love him. Rikke may have wanted to kill me in cold blood, but now I'm her little meow meow, and she trusts me. The high queen of Skyrim is there, as is the Bard's College. The imperial drip is better than the stormcloak drip.

The gay rights is great. Ulfric and Galmar came to my Lesbian Lizard Stormcloak wedding in my other file. I presume Legate Rikke or someone similar will come to my lesbian cat's wedding. No comment about how i only play lesbians. I used to have a gay boy cat married to Derkeethus but.....my himbo lizard husband and the only man I enjoy courting.....He's SO broken and stupid. Man running from Solitude down to his original home every single day. At normal running speed. And hope I don't follow him because dragons always love attacking. Meanwhile my preferred wives are lizard lady what sometimes gets murdered if you don't solve the Windhelm murders asap, and strong orc woman whose one desire is to NOT marry a man, but if you are a guy character don't worry she doesn't mind marrying you for the alliance (though she reads very lesbian)

#skyrim #I don't even like either side all that much #but stormcloaks kinda get a worse rap than they are #Plus #for the head of the stormcloaks Ulfric was sure cheerful about me getting married #like this man got an invite to some Argonnian and Orc wedding and went FUCK YEAH THATS MY GIRL

[philosophicalparadox]

Demon Kings and their Emotional Kryptonite, part 2 - Hitting Them in the Feels

It occurs to me that opening the door to ones heart is not the same as absolutely destroying it. Here's some nifty tricks for absolutely whumping the fuck outa these bois (and Grils) and guaranteeing that by feeling this way about them, and eliciting their conditioned response they hate or avoid you forever:

(This post was brought to you by: 2 hours of sleep and 1 1/2 long Islands)

Pattern is: Feeling Expressed Toward/About Them /Their Emotional Reaction That Cripples Them or Exposes Some Usable Weakness

Beelzebub-

Contempt / Disgust, as in "the world is better off without you or people like you in it". Disgust for your mere existence, the same way many feel about bugs.

Astaroth-

Disgust / contempt (yes opposite of beel 😆) as in "how dare you think yourselves above me and mine, we inhabit the most ancient lifeforms on earth you arrogant POS".

Amaimon-

Genuine Compassion / Insecurity-fueled Rage, because boi does not believe your "lies" and will not be hurt again.

Egyn-

Malicious, Emotional Sadism, aka being a bully / Wild, Feral kind of Fear that makes him very very dangerous because he's easy to corner, and if cornered animals fight, then Egyn fuckin Massacres

Iblis-

Disrespect / unbridled, disciplinary rage, fueled by a need to protect the status quo and enforce structure where none existed. The more intentional the disrespect the worse her ire.

Azazel-

Cowardice, or else calling him a coward / a cold, turbulent kind of Fury, because you're either right and he's pissed (at himself) about it, you're wrong, in which case he's really pissed (at you) about it, but also wants to make you suffer for your ills, or you're too weak to be worth anything more than that and he doesn't have a shit left to give you

Mephisto/Samael-

Sincere Love / Absolute Terror, disguised as an acrid, venomous Rage. Sincere Love scares the shit out of him and even he isn't sure why. Definitely the "don't say you love me until you've seen me at my worst" kinda guy. Also the kind to move the goalposts forever in a worse direction just to prove his point.

Lucifer -

Genuine Empathy (real understanding of his feelings expressed) and Understanding of Him / Narcissistic Rage. Which if you don't know what that is : it looks very scary and feels really bad, but always says more about them than you. It's just a sea of projection and blaming you for all their problems, while sounding like the victim and singing their own wounded praises thusly. We've all seen someone use their victimhood to virtue-signal. Pretty much just that turned up to 11. Difference is Lucifer is not actually powerless, so his Rages have the potential for severe destruction. That said he is Covert, so it's more likely his Rage is expressed briefly and explosively, before apparently "vanishing" until you realise he is Petty AF and is unravelling your life systematically at the seams while you are still catching your breath. Narcs be like that.

Well folks that's all I have for today. I may be back with more dark stuff once I'm sober but for now take the alcohol induced angst-ery at your leisure and thank God for autocorrect.

#ao no exorcist #blue exorcist #mephisto pheles #fan theory #lucifer #ba'al #whump ideas #whump

[ralexsol]

hopping into your inbox because the post is getting a little long LOL but basically, in the rolled charlie says something like "yeah i didn't even really know what i was saying, when i was in character as william & criticizing WATCH" [paraphrased] which leads me to believe that he doesn't think william is right, or at least doesn't understand the logic behind it. it's definitely possible they go some kind of system-criticizing villain route, but i'm not sure it'll be handled well because of stuff like that.

i had some hope because dakota was wondering why villains were put in prison, but that slid directly into a joke where he was like "is anything even real???" and it seemed more like the purpose of his talk with bookworm, was like. him trying to convince bookworm that the lich was not really a living thing, and therefore ok to kill. rather than a genuine criticism of heroes. which is further backed up by grizz saying that he wouldn't agree with anything william & vyncent are saying, rather blaming himself for tide's depowering :(( grizzly also said that he thinks if william and vyncent went that way, there'd probably be a huge argument and a large ideological rift— none of this necessarily means that it'll be handled badly though!! just means dakota probably won't be going that direction soon, but he did get a look at some nuance bc of wavelength

there's still potential for sure!! vyncent is as down to kill (confirmed by condi in the rolled) as ever. i think the william & vyncent's talk turning into a joke, as well as bizly's comments, kinda put me off so i might be biased LMAO

definitely possible that more is going on up top than we know! related to that—i'm pretty interested to know how the ms g plotline will progress, with the power vacuum as she's out of action. would love to know more about why they're keeping that secret, and the potential consequences of it going public. hoping it'll be interesting HAHA

(worth noting i didn't finish the rolled, there could be more i'm missing)

i will be kinda disappointed if they throw away the potential to create a story about youth realizing how fucked up their government is and having the chance to actually do something about it. as said before, we don't know how it really all works, but a system that looks this fucking bad has some problems.

the council may also just be afraid to do a story like that because. y'know. i'm sure some people just refuse to accept the death penalty ever being a good thing. it could possibly be controversial, idk. it's almost like bizly himself is trying to get the message across that you shouldn't kill people, which is fair, but this is superheroes. people in our daily lives don't have the insane abilities like they do on prime.

i get that jrwi IS a comedy show for the most part at the end of the day, but... god i really hope they don't waste this chance...

then again, the council themselves could have very different opinions from us, and i don't think they've thought about all the implications/repercussions that come from what the watch has done (other than maybe bizly). i'm just someone who loves talking about politics/government on a large scale, so i think through everything that probably will never cross their minds.

hopefully, we'll get an idea soon about where the council is heading with prime defenders. i'll 99% probably support whatever direction they take, so in the end, it doesn't really matter.

(and as i keep saying, there's a WHOLE lotta shit we don't know about the watch. we'll probably find out very soon what they actually do with supervillains, if they're not all just locked up in a supermax forever)

#jrwi #jrwi spoilers #prime defenders #rrays answers

[coffeexmythos]

Lemme introduce y'all to the Sleepwalker. She's not entirely a serious character but maybe you'll like her anyway! (Edit: this got really long, my bad.)

The Sleepwalker - true name Ath-Artyx - isn't exactly commonly known to occultists and the various worshippers in the Mythos. You might see the name pop up once or twice but there's not a lot of information on her other than that she's blind, presumably identifies as female and is connected to the King in Yellow somehow. That's not really special, though. There are a lot of strange entities in the universe and the King's secrets tend to stay his secrets, known only to the cultists and his Court. Probably just some lesser aid or Yellow noble, right?

Well... About that...

She's actually the incarnation of Azathoth. Literally, she is the dream experiencing itself. That explains a lot about her, once you know she's the Blind Idiot of infamy, because guess what? She's both! Though most would rather describe her with terms like "ditz" or "airheaded" - don't want to hurt her feelings. She's very sweet, see, to most people. She gives hugs and sings songs and cuddles with her favorites. But while she may seem childlike, she shouldn't be underestimated or treated like she's incompetent. As those in the know speculate, Nyarlathotep got it from somewhere...

Speaking of the Crawling Chaos, he tolerates his so called "mother". The Sleepwalker adores him and recognizes him in any of his forms, which often leads to her attempting to hug him or show her seemingly endless affection. His patience for her is endless as well, though it's hard to say if he genuinely cares for her or if he's just manipulating her like all the rest. Mostly Nyarlathotep tries to keep her in the Dreamlands, where she won't cause or get into trouble. She still tends to get out a lot.

The Sleepwalker mirrors the environment she's in. On earth, for example, she's human, with her eyes wrapped in bandages or hidden by dark glasses. Her hair is long, and she's always smiling. Under those bandages and glasses, her eyes are closed. When they open, she awakes - and so does Azathoth.

The fortunate thing is, these moments of wakefulness are brief, temporary. The Sleepwalker can't or doesn't want to wake up and even if she did she likely wouldn't be able to. These moments of waking are imperceptible to many, even the most skilled occultists won't notice them happening. But maybe one day you'll look over and notice the flowers by your neighbors house are different than you remember. Maybe you'll open a book and the words are written just different enough than last time. The sheets on your bed feel different. You could've sworn that picture pointed the other way.

Some people brush that off. The ones that don't, however, will almost always go mad.

The Sleepwalker has a cult to herself, sort of. Its more of a collection of scattered, desperate "friends" she's made, who pray for her safety and happiness, to not get run over in her wanderings, to rest comfortably and to never ever wake up. These friends have no idea the others exist, and if they meet a traditional Azathoth cultist, the kinds that want to wake up the Demon Sultan, murder or worse is on the horizon. Their offerings are candy, mostly - the Sleepwalker has a definite sweet tooth. They will also eventually get into the habit of referring to her as "Mom", just like she calls herself.

Out of all the other entities and so called gods of the Mythos, there's only one that the Sleepwalker has any negative feelings towards. Most of the rest, she seems to have no opinions on. The King in Yellow, though? She hates him. Haaaates him. And she'll be happy to tell you why: at some point, she, Ath-Artyx, became known and worshipped as one of his wives. The King in Yellow had no involvement in this development but she still blames him for it and will never let it go. Maybe Nyarlathotep really did get it from somewhere.

Two things tend to haunt the thoughts of those who know the truth about the Sleepwalker.

First, is she really as harmless, as happy, as she seems? She can seem as human as Nyarlathotep but he is not human and she isn't either. Is she really as big a ditz, a cheerful fool, as she looks?

Second, and far more ominous... If there's one avatar of Azathoth out there, are there more?

#cthulhu mythos #lovecraft mythos #nyarlathotep #lovecraft mythos oc #azathoth #cosmic horror

[milfmorrowind]

For the Skyrim asks could you do 2, 3, 5, 8, 16, 33 and 39 pls? :3

hi!!! sorry this took me a bit, it's finals season :( I'm going to answer these for Mailie!

2) Do they worship any deities, be it aedra or daedra?

Mailie has a passing respect for any god who treats people with decency, but I wouldn't say she really worships any of them. She doesn't have any beef or anything with the imperial pantheon, but she was raised in a family where religion was very much a political thing and it kind of turned her off of them, so she leans much more towards the Nordic pantheon.

She doesn't love consorting with Daedra, mostly because she considers them pretty dangerous. Despite that, she's had dealings with most of them at one point or another, but she tries to avoid them as much as possible. The only daedra she even comes close to trusting is Nocturnal. Mailie considers Nocturnal a business partner, and the feeling is mutual. I wouldn't say Mailie worships her, but she respects her, and is happy to work with her.

3) What factions are they a part of?

The Thieves' Guild, the Companions, and the College of Winterhold. She's most involved in the Thieves' Guild, and they're her family at this point, but she's still close with the Companions. She's technically Harbinger but she considers her position more symbolic than anything else, and is working with the other members of the Circle to induct a new member. She loves the Companions, but it's not a group she feels super comfortable leading. On the other hand, when Tolfdir tried to make her Archmage she noped out immediately. She never really wanted to be so heavily involved with the College anyway, she just felt like she had an obligation to help them. And besides, she's responsible for enough people already.

5) What were they doing before their adventure officially began?

Initially, living with her parents in High Rock. She ran away a month or so before getting captured at the border because she was tired of dealing with their politicking.

8) What is their combat style?

Take out as many people as you can with arrows and fire magic, then go in close with a sword to finish them off. She deals with the undead a lot, so she favors Dawnbreaker (although covering the glowy bit is a pain in the ass). She also has a dragonbone bow she looted off of a draugr.

16) Did they feel sympathy for any villains they came into contact with? If so, who and why?

She feels a certain amount of sympathy for Miraak. She's fully aware that she'll enter Nocturnal's service when she dies, and she's not super jazzed about it, so she can only imagine how horrible thousands of years in Apocrypha must have been. She doesn't really like him though. She doesn't view the Silver Hand as purely evil, just misguided. She hates them for killing her friends, and is all too happy to wipe them out, but she can't really blame them for their viewpoint. If she hadn't become a werewolf herself, she may very well have joined them someday.

Mercer, on the other hand, gets no sympathy from her. She feels stupid for ever trusting him, and considers him the worst kind of traitor. He can rot in Oblivion for all she cares.

33) Do they have a specific color scheme?

Not really, but I tend to picture her in light blues. She has bright blue eyes and somewhere along the line it became her color.

39) Has their character design changed?

Nope! All that's really happened is I've solidified what her cheek scars look like. It's more like one curved line up on her cheek bone and another shorter one one her jawbone. pics below :)

#mailie #my ocs #skyrim

[enderwalking]

TERMINAL ENDERSMILE BRAINROT WOOO \o/ also yeah i totally agree that a reveal at the finale wouldn't make sense w how they work, but i'm torn on whether or not enderboo sees it that way. bc overall, i see the staredown the same as you! "its part of the plan, it'll be fine, no worries, we're still on track" bc seeing your buddy get yeeted twice unarmored is. awful. but enderboo's notes(do not read 2, pg 16-17 on wiki) he seems shocked by dream lying(understandable, dream doesn't often lie) he writes "may have" but we know he Did do the community house, tho we also know his memory is wonky when stressed. regardless he almost sounds like he Expected dream to out him for some reason, and maybe that Was part of the plan in his mind before dream decided to protect him. ranboo/enderboo is known for catastrophizing, dream is known for sudden emotion-driven choices, enderboo could've expected the worse bc of that but was proven wrong the notes were also For ranboo to see, so he could've wrote in a way that kept things basic and confusing, just like the voice(and his book response later on. and all the cryptic messages. enderboo is a cryptid bastard /pos), make ranboo call into question Why dream wouldn't just reveal him, why dream of all people would Lie for Him bc if dream hadn't lied for him, then he'd be in just as much trouble, both of them bad guys worthy of prison(which he agonizes and swears to Hide in his follow up stream). this was the second time someone else took the full blame for something he took part in(first being tommy in exile trial, narrative parallels my beloved), and this time its by the most hated, evil man on the server, which should raise some big questions for him. sadly our boy ranboo is just as much about de'nial river as he is lethe, so he tries to avoid thinking on the signals being thrown at him by his own mind as much as possible, if he ignores hard enough surely it'll go away(it didn't go away, it got so much worse bc he's stubborn through and through, mind/voice and enderboo included, both taunting him over his attempts to avoid the truth ala Why Are You Running? lmao)

i get you i GET YOU i think my main point of contention overall is obvs we know "enderboo" is just ranboo with all his memories etc, but even with that caveat that they are ultimately the same person, i think it's also important to realize that it's not just a binary switch, yknow? it's not like there are just two states that flip between each other, it's not quite as easy as being like, oh ranboo forgot about this event which means that he was enderwalking during it. there's some kind of spectrum between the states, there are times he's more aware than others but also still not Fully aware, and all in all it's just very difficult to distinguish i think? so i can't say with confidence that ranboo writing things during events he forgot about is always actually the enderwalk trying to leave messages for his less-aware self, though obviously we know he does do that sometimes? idk idk. it is a VERY cool read though and is not one i had considered in the past!

i do think that something notable in all this is that ranboo--all parts of ranboo--do not want to fear/dislike the other parts, like. it is about the need to reconcile all these different parts that seem incompatible but actually are all necessary to form a cohesive whole! while ranboo has been terrified of the enderwalk at times, and while the enderwalk has seemed to mock him at points, the one most direct instance of communication between the two states is written with such care, and in a way where ranboo seems notably reassured! and it's shown again in the way ghostboo initially derides his living self, but then realizes better, and ultimately is doing all he can to protect his soul! all parts of ranboo are better off when they come together and love the other parts RANBOO IS ABOUT SELF-CARE AND I LOVE HIM

also MY GOD, DREAM'S LIL QUIRKS W INFO REGARDING RANBOO. this man is a disaster of slip ups w that to the point its a miracle he hasn't been called out on it, from him choosing to send the message to ranboo to his and techno's stand-off of "i refuse to reveal i care for/know ranboo, but what about You???" in the cell where dream had to backtrack and lie so hard. like "yeah he visited the most. no i don't know him that well tho nope" ??? gg king, ur lucky it was techno he's very good at keeping the secret despite those slip ups, and his talk w sam..... ohhhh that's a mental landmine for me /pos. bc when making sam go through the list of things people hate him for, when he talks about ranboo dream's tone changes to a bit more aggressive, his words more biting, and when it becomes clear sam only killed ranboo for Ego(imo, based off his words) dream pulls out his axe subtly after only holding steak(WHEN I TELL U I LOST MY MIND...) and then dream doubles down on poking to see if sam Knows about them, and when he realizes sam has no clue he then Taunts him over it by revealing the tnt thing but refusing to put 2+2 together for him, bc honestly out of ANYONE on the server, sam should be the one who'd make that connection the easiest And Yet He Doesn't and its hilarious. all the visits and altered waivers and ranboo's panic, and yet sam Does Not See It lmaooo its a taunting reveal, w two layers, 1 is "ur a dumbass for not realizing w/o me basically spelling it out" and 2 is "ur a dumbass for falling for it this whole time + btw ranboo's life is worthy of more than ur stupid ego + there was totally actual reason to arrest him ur just stupid + cringe fail warden + L + ratio". its just enough info to fuck w sam's head, which is exactly what dream wants

YES EXACTLY oh my god i didn't notice the thing about him pulling out his axe JESUSSSSS OK OK OK COOL!!! but YEAH this this exactly all this

ALSO i'm under the belief/hc that dream has No Clue that ranboo is actually like. Dead dead. bc w the ho16 death, ranboo was down one more life than dream is aware of, so it'd make sense if dream assumed ranboo was still alive somewhere and just hasn't contacted him(he still wasn't told Why the visits stopped after all, and a lot happened so he could be assuming enderboo is hiding or avoiding) which is why boo has been left waiting for a "He" to revive him as he fades more and more (wondering if He is even trying), chased by sam, unable to be in contact w many people or else it gets worse as he'll feel more. bc i doubt that dream would just leave his ally for dead when he has the full power to Fix It, especially considering how he reacted to sam about the murder. boo is trusting dream to revive him, but much like w how he feels about the rest of the server, he's likely starting to fear he's been abandoned by him too -Soul

this definitely makes a lot of sense! i think a factor that i've personally put a lot of weight into is, again, the fact that dream Will Not publicly reveal his alliance with ranboo, and so if he just revives the guy out of nowhere then that would automatically send out red flags to literally everyone who is even a little bit aware of anything. so i think he fully intends to revive ranboo and has intended to do so for a while, but he can't do it unprompted, yknow? otherwise it would be extremely sus to say the least lol. so basically he's just gotta play a waiting game to see if anyone approaches him first to give him a justification, yknow?

#asks #(actually a submission but i'm categorizing things here ok) #soulandseer #lei talks lore #TYSM <3

[riverofrainbows]

Thoughts on religion.

Just because you've been raised in a religion doesn't mean it's real. Most of the core principles of modern Christianity, the ones that brought the most harm to people, have been additional stuff added in later centuries by some guys. There are conflicting information in the bible because it was essentially a big discussion club with people putting out what they thought was right about it, because you couldn't do much else in the iron age i suppose. Revelation is an apocalyptic rpf fix it fic about emperor Nero. Christianity, from the beginning, was an apocalyptic cult. Paul was entirely celibate because he thought Jesus was coming back any day so what's the point in procreation, except that then he didn't come back. A lot of things how Jesus fulfills prophecies from the old testament was because Matthew (who wasn't actually Matthew but they assigned him several hundred years later) put them in to make it sound cooler and more connected to the old testament. Several of those were misunderstandings of his about the meaning of the stuff he quotes which is where we get the Virgin Mary (she wasn't virgin in the prophecy). God being omnipotent and omnipresent and almighty is an invention of those later christians in the middle ages, he wasn't in the old testament. He also wasn't the only real god in the old testament, they thought the other gods were real too just that theirs was better. Hell wasn't mentioned even fucking once in the bible. Slavery is fine with the old testament, but it says fuck all about homosexuality (and so does Jesus) because they basically had ancient roman homosexuality going on. All the stuff that gives so many people the religious trauma is made up later additions that Jesus never once even implied. Jesus just wanted you to be kind and help the needy. God being omnipotent, omniscient, almighty, reading your every thought and throwing you in hell for it is not in the text. The trinity is made up in a council a few hundred years after Jesus. Jesus doesn't blame women for "men's uncontrollable sexuality" so modesty lest the priests get urges is bullshit. Jesus doesn't value virginity over a person's inherent value. He is friends with prostitutes. The way the garden of eden story about hereditary sin and god's all-knowingness create an absolutely fucked up horrible god is baseless because god in the garden of eden isn't all-knowing. God punishing people for executing their free will when he created them with free will knowing what they would do with it is baseless because he isn't omniscient. He just gave people free will, went "well shit" and then intervened to enforce his rules. And he doesn't intervene anymore because he isn't omnipotent because he never was. Also it's ancient texts where people needed an explanation for stuff like natural phenomena. This doesn't mean religion is stupid (and i really respect modern judaism) but that most of Christianity has fuck all to do with the bible and with Jesus especially. It's made up and reinterpretated in later times in ways they thought best that turned into this thing that tells you it's righteous to tell gay and trans people that they're abdominations and will go to hell but Jesus loves you. How their love is contingent on stuff made up in the middle ages but they cite the bible to take away human rights. How throwing out their own child is love because you save them from sin so Jesus may love them but Jesus already loves them because he loves every single person including the sinners, and the only sins he cares about are being cruel and kicking the needy to the curb so who is the sinner in this. The pope declares he is Jesus representation on earth but he says "love the sinner hate the sin" and trans people are an abdomination. Evangelicals say that helping someone is doing a sin because satan is nice and deceives people but satan isn't even in the bible and they are a death cult built on revelation. But the end will never come because revelation is not about us it's a contemporary piece of literature about the roman empire.

#own post #religous trauma #christianity

[totodiletears]

Why you should read The Serpent Gates duology by A. K. Larkwood

Or: if I'm going to complain about how people haven't read this enough to create a fanfic scene, I should at least explain why it's worth reading

This duology consists of The Unspoken Name and its sequel The Thousand Eyes. It's a fantasy taking place in a world composed of several worlds, connected by gates which take you to a place called "the Maze" where you can travel between worlds. You can even risk visiting dead worlds, worlds devoid of life and slowly being reclaimed by the Maze. And that's not going into the history of this place. The basic gist without spoiling important plot details: there used to be a race of giant snakes running a multiple world empire, but they, their world, and their goddess are dead now.

But who cares about the setting and lore and shit? We've got CHARACTERS! There's a decent-sized cast here, but there are three characters in particular who across the duology get plenty of POV time and good proper character arcs.

Also none of these three characters are straight. I feel like this is worth emphasizing: these characters are queer as all hell.

Csorwe: most important in book one, where she gets the privilege of being the protagonist. Her character arc is pretty well completed by the end of that book. Her background is pretty well described in The Unspoken Name's tagline, "Priestess. Assassin. Traitor." She grew up in what was effectively a death cult, where she was given the role as the Chosen Bride who would be sacrificed to a death god when she was 14. When the time for her sacrifice came, she instead turns against her faith and runs away with a visiting mage named Sethennai and grows into his right hand. Oh, did I mention she's an awesome butch orc? She is. Total blorbo material too. By the end of The Unspoken Name I was so proud of her. You GO, girl!

Talasseres Charossa: usually referred to as Tal. Your first impression of this guy is he kind of sucks. Much of this is because you're seeing him through Csorwe's eyes. Her first impression of him was pretty terrible, and after that they spent years both working for Sethennai and competing for his praise. This setup does not lead to a good working relationship. But let's be fair, we can't blame entirely blame Csorwe for this impression. Tal's a mess. He doesn't care about a darn thing besides pleasing Sethennai, and he's an ass to everybody else. But it's okay, because he undergoes CHARACTER GROWTH!!! Even just finishing the first book is enough to make you way more positive toward him, and the second book? Hoo boy. Did I say I was proud of Csorwe? Fuck that. As of The Thousand Eyes, Tal's the one I'm proud of.

Qanwa Shuthmili: a mage with a passion for historical research. She comes from Qarsazh, a place where magic is seen as evil. Magic comes from patron gods, which god depending on where the mage came from, and in Qarsazh this god is a feared god indeed. For this reason, those born with the ability to use magic are either killed or forced to live very strict lives. Their lives aren't considered their own at all: they may only live to serve Qarsazh in the way Qarsazh demands. Shuthmili insists the future set in front of her is fine and exactly what she wants, but is it really? Talking about Shuthmili is kind of hard because, while she sure is an important part of the first book, she moves to a protagonist role in The Thousand Eyes so a lot of development is saved until then.

Look I really adore these characters and I think everybody should give them a chance. Also a warning: there are times things look very, very bad for them. Bad enough it might seem hopeless. When that happens, keep going. Just keep fuckin reading. The characters aren't giving up, so why should you?

#plz read and yell about it with me

[ambrosius-goldenlion]

Dash Games Compilation pt.1

((I decided to go through my other blogs and pull out a bunch of Dash game things for Ambrosius, because they're really good for developing your character or they can just be comedic))

Make your muse as a drink!

Ambrosius' Special Strawberry Lemonade- A recipe passed down from his mother, this drink embodies him perfectly. Golden, sparkly, but a nice mixture of sweet and sour mixed with the cool, refreshing flavor of some mint.

Ambrosius doesn't make this drink often, but when he does, he always makes a lot of it. He also buys the strawberries as fresh as can be for a good tasting drink.

----

Which Paranormal being are you?

The Witch

"You took a look at the world you were given and said no, this is not enough. The faces around you are complacent, boring, undeserving. You know the benefits of ambition, of never settling. You have scraped together your power through blood, sweat and tears, and you can be sure that no one will take it away from you. You’ve collected the blueprints to life itself, though they desperately tried to hide from you. You scoff at those who look down at the earth and only see dirt. You know where to dig."

----

Can you fight god?

Ambrosius can kill god gloreth easily!

"Uh, no, I don't think I can."

----

What Kind of Ghost Are You?

Malum

"Your death was a tragedy. You died with a broken heart, somehow or another. Maybe you lost someone you loved, or you were lied to, or you were abandoned. You didn't do anything wrong. Terrible things happen to good people all the time. Your grief is the defining trait of your ghostly life; people often catch glimpses of you weeping, or are bombarded with an aura of despair."

"The problem is, you won't talk. If someone tries to make contact, you disappear, closed in on yourself and folded a hundred times over. Either it's too embarrassing, or you feel pathetic, or you think you might collapse if you verbalize your grief. Remember that bottling up how you feel will only hurt worse, and it is no bad thing to talk to someone about your grief. Your heart may not be miraculously healed, but you deserve the chance for peace and rest without your grief dominating you."

----

【 WHICH GREEK GOD/DESS ARE YOU? 】

Apollo

"Apollo has been variously recognized as a god of music, truth and prophecy, healing, the sun and light, plague, poetry, and more. The twin brother of Artemis. He is loyal, fierce, and headstrong. Despite traits such as impulsiveness, he is rather intelligent and graceful."

----

What Color Is Your Soulmark?

The color you fit most is Blue!

"Seen as the most popular favorite color, and for a good reason, the blue soulcolor is admired by many, even if they aren’t conscious of it. Friendly, loyal, and always there when you need them, the blue soulcolor is a people pleaser with a heart of gold.

People with this soul color are charismatic in a small way, choosing to speak as much as they listen, and take a genuine interest in people. They look past beauty and see the hidden soul under the skin. Loyal to a fault, they often downplay other’s negative traits as “quirks” and choose to see the best in everyone. They often miss social cues and overstay their welcome without meaning to.

While they might not seem the type to some, the blue soulcolor is likely to fall into fits of depression and self loathing. This is because they have high expectations and hold themselves to strong moral conduct, and failing that moral conduct means failing other people. Even if it’s not their fault, they will choose to take the blame.

When gathering a group of friends, this color likes stability and harmony. They hold onto friendships from their childhood, even if their interests shift, and have a hard time letting people go. Changes in relationships scare them. They will be the first friend to show up at your house when you need them, whether they live a short distance or not."

----

Ambrosius' last words were "I can't believe I failed".

----

make your muse a dragon  

((I was so tempted to make him an Imperial because they have that Knight vibe to them, but I realized that Pearlcatcher fit him the most. Draped in gold colors of course. I love how the Piebald gene makes asome parts darker so it looks like he's burnished gold on the front of his belly. Of course he has constellation on his secondary because he's famous, and Filigree on Tertiary for the same reason.))

#Dash Games