#the line about who was following who killed me bc if that isn't their whole relationship in one go but now they've flipped characterization

[mobius-m-mobius]

Lokius in Loki 2x02 - "Breaking Brad"

#mobius #loki #lokius #mcuedit #lokiedit #marveledit #owen wilson #tom hiddleston #loki spoilers #so for starters everything i said about how easy ep1 was to color came back to bite me tenfold with ep2 😂😂 #but as usual i only care about them so a great time was had again!! GOD loki wants so badly to be there for mobius :'))) #the line about who was following who killed me bc if that isn't their whole relationship in one go but now they've flipped characterization #and mobius in his tux added a million years to my life!! i'm not a bond fanatic for nothing and that was SO the spy who loved me coded 👀 #lastly y'all this set almost knocked me tf OUT lmao i'm not meant for speedy giffing but i'll do it for them #marvel #owenwilsonedit #loki s2 spoilers #dianagifs

[johaerys-writes]

Would you be interested in sharing some of your fav books/scholars/academics/papers on The Iliad?

Hello! And thank you for this ask!! Basically, my research on Homer focuses a lot on Achilles and his relationship with Patroclus; I sometimes read works that are about the Iliad in general, but most of it is with Patroclus and Achilles in mind. But I do often come across interesting works on the Iliad as a whole, so I'll list some of them here. I have a lot of stuff to share, I'll keep it as brief as I can because I don't want to overwhelm anyone lol.

Books

As far as books go, I have several different translations of the Iliad, and most of the time each translation has its own introduction, sometimes by another classicist. Those are a great place to start. My favourites are Caroline Alexander's Iliad translation, and the introduction she wrote herself. I like Caroline Alexander's work in general, including her book on the Iliad The War That Killed Achilles (which my pal Baejax sent me bc I couldn't find it anywhere here <3 <3), because her writing is clear, straightforward and informative. Her translation is my go to translation at the moment because I like how faithful it is to the original Greek, it's the one I keep next to my bedside and which is full of bookmarks and notes LOL.

Another favourite is Robert Fagles' translation, with an introduction by Bernard Knox (who also wrote an excellent introduction to Robert Fagles' translation of the Aeneid). Even though Robert Fagles' translation isn't as close to the original as others, I love it because it is just so beautiful. It is definitely the one with the most staying power if you ask me, some passages are just chef's kiss. Bernard Knox's intro is also super informative (although he doesn't really go into Patroclus' and Achilles' relationship), and when he supplements his analysis with Fagles' gorgeous text it's just a wonderful experience.

Another translation that I recommend to anyone who can read modern Greek is the one by N. Kazantzakis & G. Kakridis, I think it's THE iconic Greek translation if you ask me. It has a lot of idiomatic language and expressions and it might not be as easy to get into as other Greek translations are, but it's truly beautiful and lyrical and it is entirely written in 17-syllable lines in iambic metre, adapting Homer's dactylic hexameter to modern Greek. Verse translations aren't really a thing for most English translations, which is a shame if you ask me. I think it's pretty much the only translation I've read so far that really invites you to read it out loud, as the original work was intended.

I do have Emily Wilson's translation as well but I haven't read it yet (I KNOW, SHAME ON ME), I really want to give it my full attention and I just haven't had the time yet. But I've read bits of the introduction and also parts of the translation and so far I love them. I hope to be back with a more informed opinion once I've actually read it LOL

Scholars

I have to admit that I don't follow any specific scholar religiously. I tend to read whatever catches my interest. That being said, I do love Emily Wilson's work and I've read several of her articles and papers, I think they're really informative and well-written. When she was doing the promotion for her Iliad translation on Twitter I read a lot of the stuff she posted and they were all great. My favourite was her interview with Madeline Miller which you can read here. I also liked this review of her Iliad translation that I read recently, written by Stephanie Mc Carter. Basically, I follow her on Twitter and read the articles she posts, and some are very interesting. I also went to see her in person when she gave a lecture in Athens in October, it was really good but unfortunately it isn't online anymore so I can't link it :(

I also really like watching Madeline Miller interviews on Youtube, I think I've watched every single one that's out there and even though some of them are brief or repetitive because interviewers usually ask her the same questions, I do think she always has something interesting to says both related to her books/writing but also the Iliad and the Odyssey that have inspired her. There are two interviews in particular that I like, this one which is more about TSOA and the Iliad, and this one which is more about Circe and the Odyssey. I genuinely enjoy listening to her a lot, I find it very calming.

My friend @darlingpoppet recently introduced me to the work of Celsiana Warwick, and I've really enjoyed reading her stuff!! Particularly this one which is about conjugal bonds and the homoerotic subtext of the Iliad, and this one which is about gender and kleos in the Iliad. Good stuff, and I look forward to reading more!

Papers

There are a few papers about Achilles and Patroclus that I really like and that I go back to from time to time. I have far too many in my jstor account and can't go through all of them right now, but these spring to mind:

Achilles and Patroclus in Love by W.M. Clarke, it's a very informative analysis of the homoerotic subtext of the Iliad and tries to "prove" in a way that Achilles and Patroclus are in a romantic/erotic relationship. Super interesting!

The Relationship between Achilles and Patroclus according to Chariton of Aphrodisias and Was the Relationship between Achilles and Patroclus Homoerotic? The View of Apollonius Rhodius by Gabriel Laguna-Mariscal and Manuel Sanz-Morales are two very interesting analyses of Achilles and Patroclus' relationship in relation to other ancient works, they're not too long and I found them very fun to read.

Euphorbus and the Death of Achilles by Roberto Nickel is super interesting and has some really cool takes on the deaths of Hector, Achilles and Patroclus and how they are all related.

Some more stuff

Some more videos I've watched and find rather interesting are The Contemporary Relevance of the Iliad by Erwin Cook, Why Homer Matters which is a talk between Adam Nicholson and Paul Cartledge (whose work and lectures on ancient greek history are always super informative!! I love watching his stuff even if they're not directly Iliad-related) I don't vibe with everything that's said in this video honestly nor do I agree with a lot of Nicholson's takes but they did make some interesting points about Homer's relevance and the emphasis on honour/glory in a world without justice and in a war without good leadership, so it might be worth a watch. Lastly, another series of video lectures that I really like is Homer's The Iliad and The Odyssey, it's five lectures in total and a great introduction to the Homeric works which also goes into the historical context a little bit, very informative even for someone who is well versed in Homer.

I hope this helped! I can't think of any more off the top of my head now, and I really should get ready to leave for work lmao, but if I do think of anything else, I'll add it here :D Also, if you're reading this and have something to add feel free to do so!

#patrochilles #achilles #patroclus #the iliad #homer's iliad #greek mythology #greek literature

[reveriesofawriter]

book rambling don't mind me

the book kept saying anharion was his title... so was that also his name? did his name become a title when the Betrayal happened? does "anharion" translate to Betrayer or is that just what he's known as? was it a mistranslation from the old language? edit: I just reread the part where sarcean said he used to be called something else and now I feel like that's going to give away the whole ~is he the sun prince~ thing

I've seen some theories about the Collar and to what extent it actually controls james and like. as much as it would be less big and exciting to see it this way... what if the Collar is mostly symbolic? bc sarcean can talk people into doing what he wants anyway and james was obviously not immune to the charm (it's magnified for him even) well before will knew anything about himself or his powers so what if the collar was just a way to show other people that anharion belonged to him? but GOD if this moral stronghold of not wanting to manipulate james into kissing him and wanting him to do it of his own free will stops these boys from having a lil smooch for the majority of the third book I will Die

I've also seen people try to draw lines between will/sarcean and james/anharion as far as their past/present personalities and the consensus seems to be that will has a more clear line between himself and sarcean but I saw someone say it was more like intrusive thoughts and I think that's fascinating, also that will is seeing james and not anharion the betrayer when he looks at james but james in every sense is this cocky little asshole (affectionate) who flirts and uses his powers to take advantage of people while anharion in the past wasn't like that sooooo I think will isn't Seeing james as who he is I think he's seeing anharion for who he used to be before he turned against sarcean. which is so interesting when you think about will saying people shouldn't be judged by what they've done but what they can do

the tangled web of who hates who is so messy but I trust violet to, if not outright take will's side, then to convince the others to let him go like banish him or whatever instead of killing him right away (even if james's powers would physically protect him from that I just need violet to believe in him)

I'm still thinking about little 6 year old will setting a rich fucker's clothes on fire bc he laid his hands on a woman who was nice to him, how violet saved his life and he's spent every day after that trying to return the favor including using a newfound power he doesn't know how to control yet to set her free from a cage in another country

can't wait to see how the narratives shift when we get other perspectives on what the past was really like bc from what I can tell sarcean and the lady weren't really In Love they just had a fling one time

on that note I thought will was switched out for the girls somehow when they were kids but elizabeth was told her mother had a son before her and she believes that son is will, which would mean will is both blood of the lady and the dark king, which brings to question who his dad is bc they said it wasn't simon but I don't think his birth was a virgin mary situation, also I know sarcean got around but are will and simon's family related any closer than one ancestor thousands of years ago? is sinclair will's father?

I don't think tom and violet will fight to the death, tom may die in another way tho

what's the fourth kingdom and how does that pay into this? bc the first gate was in england the second was underwater somewhere and the third is in italy so the fourth...? on that note there must be more stewards alive who weren't in the hall when it was torn through, people who either left that life behind, or like cyprian at the beginning who didn't drink from the cup but still follow the lifestyle, or maybe like small covens of stewards who never went to the hall bc they found their own communities elsewhere idk it's just very eurocentric to think everyone from everywhere would meet up in this one place when the whole rest of the world exists

will needs some alone time after all this someone give him a safe place to rest and a hot drink

phillip and visander... and the unicorn....... love triangle of the ages... (I wonder if visander will find his way back into a man's body somehow or if he's stuck looking like katherine forever lol) (realistically. I don't think this man fucked his horse. but. metaphorically? metaphysically? whatever they had was probably as erotically charged as that magic scene right?)

#dark rise #dark heir #def some spoilers in here #got two friends now who have said they need to read these books #side note i read it not listened to it. how do you pronounce sarcean? bc in my head i've been saying sar-cean like the second half of ocean #which feels like a very irish way to pronounce it but if the name is rooted in latin it would probs have 3 syllables? sar-say-ən?

[misc-obeyme]

CC 😭😭😭 lesson 30 was a rollercoaster huh. Tbh as a Beel lover, I wasn’t happy w how Belphie was acting here. I asked Beel what he thought of the Angel's Trial and Belphie just cuts him off!! And he made Beel sad and that is unacceptable to me 😤 (he says not to make him mad but no spoilers for og lesson 16 could make me choose not to be a petty bitch when I can) Beel is his own person and too sweet for this shit

Telling Sol his cooking sucks was :((( 0/10 I would've gently reminded him ratios are important especially in baking and just make sure he's not putting anything inedible in there. Or tell him to focus his creativity solely on the plating/presentation bc you eat w your eyes too or smt idk

I kinda found it funny when Sim basically told Luke he was an ugly crier. Poor baby, I hope the egg grants him that wish

I get this was setup for Levi's Little D arc but teasing the truth again makes me wanna bang my head on a wall. I know Lucifer suspects smt abt us. We know Barb knows something

Speaking of Barb, I choose to believe that the Little Ds are gonna be important later and that Beel did eat Number 6 but Barb uh, made sure that didn't happen actually

AHH anon, this lesson KILLED ME. I'm so sorry to everyone who had to read the unhinged post I wrote last night lol.

Okay, see, I was so wrapped up in the Solomon debacle that I forgot about the whole Beel & Belphie thing.

I get that Belphie is being protective, but I also felt like he wasn't really taking Beel's feelings into consideration! I think there's a fine line between being protective and being controlling. And Belphie was right on the edge of that line, imo. When you're being protective to the point that you're ignoring the needs of the person you're supposedly protecting well... it kinda defeats the purpose there, buddy.

I wonder if they're going to kind of expand on that at some point. Have the twins hash it out with each other. Because I think Belphie isn't normally like this, but I think he's still wary of humans. And his concern is overriding his usual consideration of Beel's feelings.

OKAY LET'S TALK SOLOMON AGAIN.

Listen, I've had a little time to calm down, but I am still UPSET.

Now, of course, it's best to remember that this is fiction and nothing in fiction happens the way it would irl. BUT if I had a friend (or romantic interest/boyfriend/etc) who really enjoyed cooking, but for some reason always made gross food, I probably wouldn't lie to them directly. I would do exactly as you suggest, gently remind them of how to follow a recipe and so on. I can't imagine that Solomon has spent all his life trying to learn how to cook and somehow keeps screwing it up? Like considering how much he does it, he should be getting better at it?

And apparently someone told him his cooking tasted bad in season 3 of the OG, but I don't remember that lol. If it's in the hard lessons, that's why I don't remember... I haven't actually finished all the hard lessons of the OG... oops I keep forgetting they exist my bad.

Anyway, my point here is that it doesn't make sense that someone doing something they enjoy all the time wouldn't get better at what they're doing at some point. I get that this is fictional and maybe they have a reason for it, but they need to tell us what it is because I can't take HIS SAD FACE. Normally I'd be like listen sometimes you gotta be honest or whatever, but not like this!! I would've been like what exactly did you do to make the cake taste this way, let's figure it out together... I would help him, not just be all sorry this is gross and leave it at that!

Sorry sorry I'm ranting again. I just love that silly sorcerer so much and his reaction just made me so sad.

I'm so curious about what Luke is finally gonna wish for lol. I feel like Simeon teases him the most out of everybody, he's just so chill and nice about it that it doesn't register as teasing.

I just don't understand why hiding the egg's existence was a good lie while telling Solomon his cake was good wasn't??? Ugh my heart.

AND OH YES LEVI.

I was very upset about that, too!! Like, no you don't understand!! I do need to leave, but I need to get back to you!!

I want to go back, but I don't want to go back! The stress of this is getting to me. Can we please hurry up and be done with this timeline nonsense?! Barb definitely knows something. I just want him to fix things! I think I'd have confronted him about it by now. I don't care what Sol says about not telling people we're from the future, I'd be like Barbatos, my true love, I know you already know, so let's hear it!! What is going on!?!?

I definitely think the Little Ds are going to be important later, too! Something about the fairies seems like it's going to matter as well, but I'm not entirely sure how yet.

Oh no poor Number 6! Even if Barb saved him, I would think being eaten would be rather traumatic lol.

#sorry I kinda devolved into rantings again #I'm still not over this lesson it seems #obey me #obey me nightbringer #obey me solomon #obey me beelzebub #obey me belphegor #obey me simeon #obey me barbatos #obey me luke #obey me leviathan #anon asks #misc answers

[starr-finn]

Hi okay so for ur first tf2 req, I will go with something that isn't too specific lol

- So this can be for all, but you don't have to include Pyro and Heavy if you don't wanna do all

- So the prompt is, Medic has either become sick and can't participate in the fight, or he got an assistant medic (in the case for writing for Medic)

- And Reader is the replacement/assistant medic!

- She's kinda like a medic gf but in a /pos way

- So she's got the med gf outfit (blighted beak, das fantzipantzen, long pleated skirt) with a quick-fix (so she can follow rocket-jumpers and sticky-jumpers)

- She's also very nice and always compliments/thanks her team ('That was an amazing kill/shot' + 'Wow that was impressive' + 'Thanks so much for the dispenser/sandvich') bc yippee kindness

- You know the perennial petals effect? That's her-core (also yes, if needed can reader be fem)

- Here's some her-core photos

AWWWW YEAHHHH FIRST TF2 REQUEST!!! LESSGO!

I will 100% write this for you! This is such a cute request, as per usual! hope you like this one bestie! I won't add pyro because I really don't know how to write pyro lol, also to everyone reading, I'm trying to color code things now! helps me keep focused

TF2 Mercs with a medic GF!

Author's note: all of the Mercs without Pyro because I just can't write him so yay! Hope Y'all like this! I tried to make it super cute, also, just to point this out here too, Fem!Reader, and mentions of food in Heavy's part (Sandvich ofc) PRobably mistranslated russian, and german, the french is pretty damn obvious

Scout

Buddy boy here thinks you're super cool, and he loves having a medic GF!

You're always there when he gets hurt, and he loves it

he loves your constant compliments

"Wow Scout! Nice shot!"

He chuckles softly and smiles "Thanks cutie!"

Scout loves how gentle you are when you patch him up, he thinks its adorable

any time you mention anything about being proud of him for some crazy ass shot he pulled off he almost cries

Full on adores you

Calls you stuff like Cutie and Baby doll

Soldier

Bro gets into so much trouble it's not even funny tbh, dude stresses you out so much

He comes to you for everything because he enjoys how soft you are with him

He loves getting compliments from you, he just loves it

"Wow! great shot!" You smile, nodding softly at him

"Thank you Dearest" he salutes at you and then runs off to kill more people

Soldier will always drop everything to keep you safe (Defend your medics kids)

He gets hurt far to much for your liking but you honestly can't blame him in your job (and brain damage)

he is far too protective over you

Calls you Dearest and love

Demoman

Bro gets hurt sometimes, just because of his explosives, and you're always right there with him

He rambles about how much he loves you and how much he loves how gentle you are when he's drunk

He always basically drops dead when you compliment him

You smile over at him "Nice shot, dear!"

Demo looks down, lightly kicking at the dirt "Aww...thanks love..."

Demo will physically fight anyone that even dares to try anything with you

He loves how you're always there when he's far to drunk to move

Calls you stuff like Love and Darling

Sniper

Sniper doesn't get as hurt as often, he still gets injuries though

He'll keep you in his line of sight all the time and kill anyone that tries attacking you, super protective boy

as an introvert, homie almost loses it everytime you say something nice to him

Like pulls his hat down over his face flustered

"Woah!!! You're really good at that Snipes!" you smile softly and look up at him

Sniper blushes and covers his face with his hat "W-Well thank you"

now, dude will actually go to the ends of the earth to keep you safe

Healing his ass is super easy cuz this hoe stays still the whole time

Rambles about you to anyone who listens

Calls you stuff like "Roo" and "Little Koala"

Engineer (I absolutely adore this fucker)

Engie here is super easy to heal, still as a fucking stone

He likes to keep you safe, he absolutely loves you too much to let you get hurt yourself

He smiles softly and gets all blushy everytime you thank him or say something nice

"Thanks for the dispenser, love!"

He smiles and gently rubs the back of his neck "Awee thanks honey bee!"

Engie will hold your hand every time he's healing you

Helps you patch up some people

Brags that he managed to pull 'The sweetest damn woman alive"

Calls you 'Honey bee' and 'Sugar'

Medic

He's a doctor himself, so you both patch each other up!

actually tortured a guy for shooting at you

He always gets so damn cocky when you get all sweet with him

"Thanks for the heal Doc!" You smile and nod at him before running off

Medic chuckles softly and yells after you "You're welcome Engel!"

He likes when you help him with checkups!

He likes having you as a nurse around the infirmary

He doesn't really brag about you, unless he's like, SUPER drunk

Calls you 'Engel' and 'Schatz'

Heavy

Ok so Heavy gets hurt more than soldier does, he is heavy weapons guy after all

Like all the other mercs, he's super protective

Takes all the thanks, and praise so gracefully

"Thanks for the sandvich dear!" You smile happily chomping down on the sandvich

Heavy gently ruffles your hair before walking off "You're welcome Ангел'

stands in front of you in fights

Definitely towers over you btw

likes when you heal him up after a fight

Calls you stuff like 'Ангел' and 'Родна́я'

Spy

This old ass man is a tryhard with not getting hurt, it still happens

Protective, again

another cocky one with praise and thanks

"Wow! Impressive kill Dearest!" You smile softly looking over at him

He chuckles softly and nods "Thank you, Mon amour"

Shows you off constantly

Brags more than scout does

you're really one of the only people he lets touch him

Calls you 'Mon amour' and that alone

#tf2 x reader #tf2 scout x reader #tf2 soldier x reader #tf2 demo x reader #tf2 sniper x reader #tf2 engineer x reader #tf2 medic x reader #tf2 heavy x reader #tf2 spy x reader #answered requests

[gatalentan]

We love and support your AvaMel side but I always laugh when I see something about them bc I remember that Janelle’s tweet 🤣🤣

Ok so for those who don't know, Janelle got tagged in an AvaMel ship fanvid, and replied to one of the quote retweets on that fanvid. I've censored op here for privacy:

Two things can be true:

1. Janelle is allowed to be weirded out by being tagged/seeing ship content. That's her face & those are her co-workers. She's a very private person who mostly keeps fans at arms-length and that's healthy. Ava isn't Janelle, but she has her face (and so does Lisa), so fanvids in particular when accompanied by an explicit caption I can imagine would be really weird to see. As fans we know the diff between real-person and fictional shipping but from her perspective you can see how that would be more nuanced and complicated. Unfortunately, the Twitter algorithm now puts stuff on your feed - regardless of if you follow them or not - based on how it has pigeonholed you, and as a person who sometimes tweets about Abbott/Ava because it's her job, the algo assumes shes a fan and dishes up Abbott fandom content to her whether she likes it or not, so she sees stuff she doesn't wanna see even if she isn't tagged; she wasn't tagged in that QRT, but she still saw it, so we can see that's what happened here. A big problem there is that seeing stuff that makes them uncomfortable can make actors change how they approach the character(s) in future which sucks for everyone. We can't control the algo but on the whole it's better to not try and expose actors to ship content as much as possible because there's scores of ships where the actors became hostile to shippers as a result of being repeatedly exposed to content they don't want to see, or even just getting fatigued by an unintended ship overshadowing the rest of their acting effort. Unfortunately social media giving a lot of access to celebrities is a very double edged sword and difficult to balance, especially when some actors (cough lisa cough) are so far over the line of what's considered normal fan interactions that it gives unrealistic expectations for celebrities that are more private. Actors aren't your best friends, they don't owe you interactions or unconditional support just because you're a fan, they're strangers and real people with their own thoughts and feelings. Everyone has their own limits and boundaries and are allowed to express that and they're entitled to not be comfortable with fan work that uses their image.

2. Actors/creators not supporting a ship doesn't mean we still shouldn't be allowed to play in the sandbox. Work Wives isn't gonna be canon either, but that's not going to stop me from enjoying it. I'm 32 and if I didn't ship stuff just because it didn't have creator support I'd have spent twenty years with nothing to ship at all. As queers we have to carve our own space out where we can see people like us and make a meal out of scraps because otherwise we wouldn't get to engage with media the same way cishet people take for granted. Unless a show is Queer™️, a vehicle for a character's queerness and a major topic of discussion, we rarely get canon queer characters, let alone characters where it's treated respectfully without one of the pair getting fridged or dying. Even The L Word, Queer™️ as it was, killed off one of a major pairing. We deserve to see ourselves across the whole spectrum of genres, not just in Queer™️ TV, but it simply isn't there, so we make it for ourselves in fanwork. In fanwork you can play with these characters however you want. You can give them a soft landing where they're safe (or the opposite, explore darker themes for a light-hearted show). You can give them the type of stories that would never have the space to breathe in the works they came from. You can take them out of their environment completely and put them somewhere else, you can change one thing that changes their whole dynamic, or you can just write absolute filth. Either way, fundamentally they're fictional characters, they do not exist and they don't have free will, only what you put into them as a viewer. We're not about to make Janelle make out with Lisa, but in fiction, Ava and Mel can, and as fictional characters they represent a dynamic we don't see a ton of with two older women, not teenagers/young adults which is the predominant type of representation we get for WLW in TV. So I'm gonna keep shipping AvaMel, I'm just, y'know. Not gonna put it where Janelle might see it. Easy.

Some good vids on this topic: Is Shipping Gay Culture? (James Somerton) | Artists & Fandoms (Philosophy Tube) | Parasocial Relationships: Strangers Aren't Your Friends (Naomi Cannibal) | An Exhaustive Defense of Fanfiction (Sarah Z) | Why We Ship Characters (The Take)

[blackjackkent]

More explorations in the ruined temple:

Chatted with Roah Moonglow. In-game Rakha succeeded the history check to recognize the Zhentarim logo but I choose to believe this didn't actually happen because why would it. She did shake the little halfling trader down for plenty of info though - most importantly, Roah namedropped Moonrise Towers as another center of the cult's activities, and mentioned "the drow" again as someone who's buying all Roah's smokepowder off her in service of some big upcoming plan. "That glint in her eye is bad news for someone." (This is good for me from a meta perspective, as I want Rakha to go beat up Minthara before getting Halsin and then lighting the whole place up by fighting Ragzlin.)

Stopped in camp to sort some inventory and Gale needed another artifact. D: Fed him the gloves we got off the goblins in the grove. He's worried because it's not having the same effect that the last item did; Rakha is worried because he's worried - and because she doesn't know what the hell is going on in the first place.

Encountered Abdirak in the so-called "Bloodied Shrine". This was an interesting bit that I didn't do with Hector; basically Abdirak serves the goddess of pain and is there to help the goblins torture prisoners. Letting him beat on you for a while grants you a permanent blessing from Loviatar that gives you buffs at low health. His conversation with Rakha was interesting. He mentioned something along the same lines as something Shadowheart said recently - "Pain without purpose is a terrible thing, wouldn't you agree?" Rakha told him, matter-of-factly as always, about her urge to cause pain, to inflict death. His response: "Do not be ashamed, child. What I see in your eyes, in your soul, is only natural. We've all suffered in these dark times. It is little wonder you bear scars of pain and anguish. Let me alleviate this pain." Again that flash of hope - does he know something about what happened to her, about who she is? The alleviation he promises is "penance - administered by my skilled hand". This elicits a dry joke from Shadowheart: "Go ahead. I'm sure you're in need of a little *penance.*" The beast, the dark urge, is unimpressed in Rakha's head by the idea of self-flagellation ("Only the poorest of men need seettle for the spectacle of their own gore," points out the Narrator), but Rakha's curiosity - and the hope for answers - wins out. A strange experience for her. The pain of his blows are crisp and sharp and - she must admit - oddly bracing, but they bring her no clarity. She can smell the blood in the air and lashes out at him, howling back with each blow, demanding he hit harder still. But it isn't what he wants - he (or his goddess) wants her mewling and begging for mercy, crying out in pain, which she was never going to give him. So she leaves, aching and angry and with no more answers than she had before. Shadowheart seemed to enjoy the show. Wyll and Lae'zel... less so.

Saved Volo! This ended up being easy because Rakha just beat the shit out of the goblin guarding him without bothering with the speech checks, bc she was still riled up from the encounter with Abdirak. XD She's pretty bemused by Volo; I suspect it might have actually been Wyll and not her that invited him to go to their camp.

Found one of Aradin's guys strung up and being tortured by the goblins. I suffered a great deal of terrible disappointment that this line is not in character for Rakha:

Interestingly, Shadowheart chimed in without prompting: "Say we'll take over. His work is sloppy - he'll kill the prisoner too quickly." Hints of that Sharran torture training poking through.

We get a fairly nasty bit of Durge content here. Rakha is more than a little distracted by the smell of blood in the whole area and the beast in her head would be happy to watch the torturer finish - or to do the job herself. [PERFORMANCE] "I'm taking over," she says, following Shadowheart's advice. "Your sloppy handiwork is going to kill the prisoner too quickly."

"What?" sputters the goblin. "Think you can do better? HA! Go on then, have at it."

Rakha hisses a breath out between her teeth. "I am going to do something so awful it would scare even you to watch," she says slowly. It isn't even really a threat - more an acknowledgment that her control is slipping, a warning to her companions as much as to the goblin.

"Oh," says the goblin cheerfully. "I'd like to see you try."

Narrator: Face the prisoner, consider the implements provided. Then...

Caress his thighs with the poker's warmth.

She isn't conscious of making the decision, or picking the poker up - only that it is suddenly in her hands and that strange harsh smile is twisting her lips, and the man is screaming, screaming in agony as the hot metal sinks into his leg.

Narrator: The stench of charred flesh wafts over you. You don't know why, but you are *really* good at this. You never want this perfect moment to end.

The beast in her head is purring eagerly, almost blotting out everything else - but at this moment she becomes conscious of Wyll's eyes on her. He looks appalled, disappointed - angry, even. And she feels her jaw set, pushing back suddenly against the dark urge.

Wyll is right. It is like Arabella - this man's pain does not serve them. But the smell is overwhelming, the sound of his screams so brutally sweet...

She drops the poker, watching it clang onto the floor. Stop. A hoarse breath in, a heavy exhale. Attack with purpose.

Don't let yourself fall further into this pit. Attack the goblins and save him.

It is its own kind of satisfaction for the beast to kill the goblins as well, of course. The beast always seems to win, in the end. But Wyll seems pleased, when they open the rack and let the man out onto his feet. And Rakha has a strange feeling in her chest, a mixture of pride and regret that she cannot explain or articulate.

(A/N: She got this very interesting sad sort of look on her face, watching him climb down off the rack...)

The prisoner has little information to offer - but a few useful scraps here and there. The druid Halsin can become a bear. Aradin wanted the Nightsong for a wizard named Lorroakan who is searching for it. And most important of all - the goblins were torturing him to find out where the grove is, so they can attack it.

----

"Good," Wyll says in an undertone as they turn away from the bloody torture device, as the man slips off into the shadows. "I saw that. I saw you fight it."

"You saw me fail to." Her voice is gruff, but her glance flicks to him sharply. How closely has he been watching her?

"And then I saw you succeed." Wyll shrugs. "Not all battles are fought with steel. I know that all too well."

#bjk plays bg3 durge #rakha the dark urge #eyyy durge choices #durge drama #weird durge shit :P #i always think i'm gonna do one of these posts real fast to scoot through the smaller encounters #and then one of them ends up being big anyway XD #oh well

[lazaruspiss]

unorganized fic idea #3

oh this one is a DOOZY. fuckle up buckos. buckle up fuckos. same thing.

Talon Dick fleeing the court by joining the league, Talia takes authority over him to prevent anyone else from taking advantage, catches feelings. Maybe they meet Slade and Dick can woo him as well <3 boy does not know his own charms.

Ok. Exposition. Bruce never goes to Haly's circus. Dick goes to juvie, breaks out, kills Zucco, gets found and snatched up by the court of owls before he can be charged for the murder. He's trained as a Talon, we skip forward and he wants out but unfortunately he's very good at murder so the court isn't letting him go that easy. Where oh where could a kid go where his masters won't follow? To his masters strongest enemies of course! Unfortunately the league of assassins assume hes a spy and torture him for um. Idk a long time. Eventually Talia decides hes telling the truth and that hes a valuable asset, so she trains him and agrees to take responsibility if he turns out to be a spy. Smth smth. I might have a loyalty kink who knows. Dick owes Talia everything and loves her v much. Unlike the rest of the league his loyalty rests solely with Talia, he couldn't care less about Ra's. Dick also has a lot of memory issues bc of the court that Talia helps him with, eventually regaining some of his memories of his parents. Smth smth. Talia hires Slade for something. Maybe patricide. Dick senses chemistry between there two hotties and secretly hopes for them to get together. Maybe nudges and teases Talia a bit. That's side-plot tho so lets ignore that for now and back to the important plot stuff. Bruce gets Talia pregnant, but she doesn't trust him to raise the child with her or to still respect her if she births his son, so she lies and tells him she miscarried. They have a falling out soon after, not just because of the pregnancy but as a result of a lot of long term issues in their relationship. Dick is there through her whole pregnancy, he's essentially her midwife. When Talia gives birth to a boy Ra's starts to show sudden and concerning interest in Talia's personal life due to his search for a male heir. Dick convinces Talia to send him and Damian to live with Bruce so that Damian can grow up semi safe from Ra's and Dick can get revenge against the court.

the amount of editing i have to do to make past me's walls of text readable. i need compensation from whatever made my brain run like this. there were no breaks in the original, i added those. ur welcome.

If i do write this. It'll be a fucking behemoth

no kidding!

i'll also note that the Slade b-plot doesn't line up well timeline wise with the rest of the plot, so i would either rework that quite a bit or just scrap it. also the reasoning for Bruce and Talia's break-up is pretty much my headcanon for most timelines.

#ideas 4 later

[1800duckhotline]

Ok ok so I gotta know, what is Salice's dynamic with everyone in the party? Does she generally get along with them or would she feed them to the wolves if it wasn't for the brain worms?

A/n: This is long. im sorry. this goes under readmore. What playing the game for 2 week straight does to a mf

SO ITS FUNNY. Salice is generally a kind of dry, sarcastic bitch that generally doesn't particularly enjoy 'befriending' people. The only person she's ever been truly friends with is her is her best friend & (previously) colleague Allen Owen, a wizard of the school of conjuration, who she met when she was studying law way long ago, like 10 years or so prior to the start of the story.

At the start she's kind of neutral towards everyone due to the Circumstances. she is kind of a bitch, and rude, but due to the situation (that being, you know, the brainworms and possible transformation into an illithid) she tries to be less of an asshole simply because she does not want to risk being killed by the few people she's met that are sound of mind and not Absolute fanatics

This is also me generally throwing spice on the concept as a whole since the game isn't really full ofliberties in terms of shaping your tav's personality. In general, she tries to do the good thing, but can be a dick about it, and isn't against doing scummy stuff if it means getting to the bottom of things or resolving matters without necessarily risking certain death. This means she's generally more likely to get along with Shadowheart, Wyll, Gale, and even Karlach. I imagine with Lae'zel and Astarion the relationship is definitely on the neutral side. She doesn't really hate anyone but doesn't really like Astarion tbh lol

She has issues with being closed-off and has difficulty opening up to people. She has a full-on machismo complex caused by her father and tends to be very competitive when it comes to putting in show her skills especially when she meets masculine people like her (regardless if they're men or not), HOWEVER...Circumstances make this a little easier to break through.

TO PUT IT SHORT BECAUSE I'M ALREADY RAMBLING:

Wyll: They're pretty good friends by the time of Act 2 (where I've played until now), they bond over the fact that they are warlocks stuck in bad contracts with bitch devils. Unfortunately he's genuinely a fully good person which means she feels too bad to truly talk to him about Her Contract and who Her Patron is bc it's a weird, and not exactly "good-natured" story lol. I imagine he thinks of her as someone he can relate to due to their similar situations but I can't think he'd be exactly approving of the selfish reasons behind her pact.

Gale: I have to be frank she initially finds him weird and awkward but very very fast starts liking him - he's the one she's most likely to get feelings for, truth be told, because Salice has a weakness for nerds of that type. That and it seems fated (to her) that she ends up being chummiest with wizards, for one reason or another. She does not handle her own feelings well tho so if I had to write the whole thing instead of having to follow the way the game does it it'd be a liiiiiiiiiittle complicated.

Also consolidated because of this insane ass line

Because she probably does in fact NOT bathe that much during adventuring. Anyways . I can't fully develop thoughts now. Tl;dr they get along well. Much to everyone's surprise

Astarion: boy she can't stand his ass....she feels sorry for him and everything like it sucks obviously. He had a shitty life. But she honestly sometimes is like "king just because you have been miserable you don't need to make everyone else miserable too. whats with you". The feeling is otherwise mutual I imagine because he also is like "this bitch has the audacity to tell me how to act after 200 years of Torture when she's in a contract with a fucking DEVIL.." which he is right for also. but they can be friendly sometimes. She lets him drink from her and such because she dgaf that much. frenemies. Would hit it if he acted straightforward for once though

Shadowheart: Salice would think she's okay and feels sorry for her that she's devoted to the point of mindlessly accepting her own suffering as part of her devotion. She doesnt care that shadowheart is a follower of Shar, she just thinks she needs to reevaluate at what point her religion should override her own comfort. Another case of damn that sucks on salice's part and Shadowheart also thinks Salice is fine herself, evenif she thinks it's weird that after opening up to her about her own struggle Salice has basically like. Said almost nothing about herself to her. Is considering holding her at knifepoint just to know ANYTHING (this is because salice is paranoid about sharing anything abt herself). But little does she know all she needs is a little alcohol and salice will be babbling in no time

Lae'zel: I think she and Lae'zel are on good terms because of a few things: Salice is cutthroat and can also fight well and LOVES to fight, honestly. they definitely banged once (and fought for dominance while doing it) but salice was like that was awesome but i think im good for a while (clueless about things to come) (Faerun's most sexually repressed woman [in the sense she likes showing off but can't take back what she dishes out]). Salice is just like, nice to Lae'zel because she's like what am i gonna do? Act like a bitch to her when she's helpful and surprisingly refreshing to be around ? Absolutely not. They're good friends who spar sometimes

Karlach: Salice likes Karlach because she thinks she's so Genuine and its so Rare to see . And as a result salice feels a little inadequate to being her friend but, considering everything and their shared passion for fighting, she does what she can to help her out. Even if it ain't the easiest task sometimes. I gotta think about this specific dynamic some more, but in general, they're on friendly terms. But Karlach wishes that salice was a little nicer and less of a cunt at times (not directly at her but at the others & people in general)

(smiles painfully) i think that's it. for now. Anyway. Thank oyu for the question i hope it helps

#asks #oc rambles #salice bg3 #ill tag it like dis for now #If you see me draw cringe oc/canon in the near future...its MY business. OK?

[monstersinthecosmos]

Do you actually like the new show?

Honestly I'm not sure yet?

I'm *enjoying* it and I'm really doing my best to view it as its own independent piece of media, and I'm seeing a few flaws in it that have nothing to do with the books.

Quick examples

I think the score is just, honestly awful lol. imo it ruined the floaty sex scene and Paul's death in particular, both of those moments for me the music was so cheesy that I couldn't tell what tone the show was going for and it was so distracting that it killed the mood for me. The church scene was on thin fuckin ice for me but so much else happened I was like, lol it's fine. (I REALLY love the jazz stuff though.)

They've already created a few plot holes/continuity errors with their own lore, and even divorcing it from book lore because it's its own thing, I don't know how that got through all the writers. The show is clearly being intentional in creating a new universe with new rules, but you have to know the original rules to know what you're changing. RJ keeps claiming that they respect the books so much and that everyone in the writers room read 1-5 but I don't understand how you could familiarize yourself that much with the work and not *notice* lore. (This is about the mind gift error btw like, even me not being MAD about the change went "Oh wow they changed the barrier rule!" when it happened and then 5 minutes later, oh wait what?)

The pacing is so sloppy and confusing and they're doing a lot of telling and not showing. Two episodes in and I'm still not sure *why* they're doing a second interview or why Louis loves Lestat. Like Louis can TELL us he's enthralled all he wants but like in the first episode they turned their courtship into a montage and I would've really liked to see that!!!!!!!! I'm a big fan of reading Loustat as The Worst Ship Ever so like so far for me they're tracking as being extremely toxic and completely anchored in manipulation and I'm enjoying that, but I wanna understand the cute stuff, too. Like this story is really important to me because it shows the complicated grieving process when you lose an abuser/leave an abusive relationship and so far we're not seeing enough of what Louis ENJOYS. So when Lestat inevitably is killed, I don't know what exactly Louis is supposed to be grieving.

On that point, I really really loved how much the first episode shared about Louis's family for that very reason. We got to see how sunny breakfast time was an important part of the family routine, and we got to see how close he was with Paul, so when he loses them we understand what he lost. When he loses Lestat, I'm not sure they're giving us enough to understand why he should miss him. (This might not matter bc the story is so different but, it's what I'm wondering based on the first 2!)

imo the show is really struggling with whether or not it wants the viewer to understand IWTV before they watch, and I think it's kinda fun where they've put in little movie references, I also think they went so far out of their way to say they weren't remaking the movie that it comes off as lazy to me. I get that using these like recognizable icons is going to make it more fun to movie fans who never read the book, but they keep making digs at the movie and saying they're a whole new thing and I'm not exactly sure what they're trying to do here. (This isn't strictly about the quality of the show on its own merits and I'm not sure where to draw the line as whether or not it's a book related complaint LOL, but there's definitely a couple sloppy/unclear world building moments that idk if casuals are gonna be able to follow.)

Other than that, the only things I'm critical about don't have enough context for me to have an opinion yet, but they're on my radar and I'm watching to see how it plays out. IE: Whether or not the incorporation of Covid is tacky, whether or not the marginalized characters are being treated respectfully overall, what is the show's thesis on being ashamed of disability and sexuality and race?

Frankly, the writing on these two episodes (moreso ep2, it feels like they worked extra hard to start ep1 with a bang) has been pretty sloppy at times but I'm happy to stick it out and see how it goes, but idk. And like, there's a lot of awesome enjoyable shows that have sloppy writing moments. I'd still enjoy it if there's enough other cool emotional substance!

Like if this were any other show I might not look this closely but unfortunately I have an extremely neurodivergent relationship with these stupid books and I can't be normal about it. I'm also reviewing it for a podcast so I've been looking very closely to analyze it.

It's a little bit impossible for me not to be disappointed as a book fan, though, and we have to separate here if that's the "show" or if it's the "project" overall. Like, the episodes are fun, it's fine. They've created their own space. At the same time, it's already changed so much of the stuff *I* personally love in VC that like. SHRUG IDK. This is so subjective because everyone has whatever reason they want for liking VC and for some people it's camp & blood & New Orleans and that's fine. But so far a lot of the stuff that I enjoy about the books is simply not here. Honestly it's genuinely unrecognizable to me as an AR piece. And like, I love, honestly--LOVE, the way Sam Reid is playing Lestat, but especially after episode 2 I think he's so HORRIFICALLY out of character I just don't know. It's not Sam's fault bc it's the writing lmfao and he's working with what he's got, but ooof it's rough. It's like he's got all of Lestat's bad qualities and none of his good ones LOL. And I rag on Lestat a LOT but like, I wouldn't like VC if I didn't like Lestat, and this is missing a lot of what I like about Lestat.

And in understanding these new characters I think it's impossible not to use the books as a point of refence to compare & contrast. I think I wouldn't understand Louis on the show nearly as well if I wasn't seeing how intentionally opposite he is from book Louis. That's not a bad thing, in itself, but I find it impossible (for me) not to constantly be looking at the book as a point of comparison to understand the show better.

So it's ALWAYS going to cause a fuss when an adaptation is this radical, you're ALWAYS going to have people who are disappointed if Their Thing gets cut or gets rearranged until it's unrecognizable. That's inevitable. It doesn't make the adaptation bad, it just feels disappointing to losers like myself.

And for me, even letting the show breathe on its own merits, I'm still going to ask if some of these changes help the plot or the characters.

Is it BETTER that Lestat is an edgelord atheist with no respect for humans?

Is it BETTER to closet or straightwash Daniel?

Is it BETTER to change Claudia's story from a grown woman being dependent on others forever because she looks like a child to being about a teenager who can drive and probably be independent if she needed to be?

And if they DON'T help, I'm always going to question why that decision was made. For example, out of the cold if you walk into a vampire show and the interviewer is a random straight guy, no harm no foul. When you know that that was a deliberate creative decision to straightwash a queer character, that's worth criticizing. So I'm not upset as a book purist or anything, in fact I've talked many many many (many, many. Many.) times about how these books wouldn't translate well to TV as a 1:1 faithful adaptation, but when you ask what they ARE changing I think it's fair to make that comparison and ask what it added. A lot of that stuff is subjective, too, so we all might feel differently about it.

so idk.

I'm really trying to be open minded. I'm enjoying it so far but I'm also still super disappointed that they changed so much and it really doesn't feel like IWTV or VC at all to me. I'm, tbh, completely furious about what they're doing to Daniel. I could enjoy it and at the end of the day still be so fucking disappointed that *this* is the version of VC we got after years and years and years of waiting. LIKE YKNOW WHAT I SAW QOTD IN THEATRES AND I WAS JUST ??? DEVASTATED LMFAO. It feels like that all over again. 🤣 And with how long this show might go on and therefore how long AMC retains the rights, it's a very real possibility that this was the only chance in my lifetime to see a faithful adaptation of Armand & Daniel and I can't put into words how upset I am that it's been crushed like this.

It's no secret that my presence in fandom has mostly been as a Devil's Minion nerd so like, idk man. If you were me, how would you feel? I've also never made a secret that Loustat, as a ship, is a little too triggering for me personally to get behind, so like as far as ship content goes and all that fun fandom stuff, this does absolutely nothing for me. RIP :(

So. idk! I'm not sure if I like the new show yet LMAO. I'm enjoying but idk if I "like" it. There's a difference!

#vampire pajama party on amc #<-- that's my salt tag and i don't feel this post is particularly salty #but i'm trying to stay out of the main tags for etiquette reasons #bc everyone is having fun and i'm not tryign to be a jerk!

[narrie]

Centrists are Zionists be fr. If you’re not for Palestine, you’re aiding zionisism and genocide. I love your blog but sometimes I wonder how you can even like Harry given that he represents pretty much everything you rightfully don’t like.

see, i think u gotta be more careful with not making distinctions bc that's similar to the rhetoric ppl use to equal anti-israel = antisemitic and other bs. i think centrism in this case is cowardly and a cop-out without doubt, as well as willfully closing ur eyes to the very clear situation at hand - but some ppl also are more centrist with their positioning bc they have a job to lose for example. in terms of celebs i think 98% of statements and engagements were centrist tbh, as i said it's mostly about PR for these ppl, but then hozier got jumped for being centrist which i didn't get at all. i thought his statement was very pro-palestine, he shared resources, and it's not even the first time he's stood up for palestine either so idk what some ppl are expecting tbh, this is the best u'll get apart from kehlani. florence, who this message was originally about, did share a "violence from both sides is wrong" typa thing at first too but then she signed the artists for ceasefire letter and shared more pro-palestine stuff.

i don't think harry represents everything i don't like but i'm def a more critical fan of him than others bc of my own moral code etc. i know as a woc my views won't always line up with a rich white man - at the same time i also don't look up to celebrities as moral pillars or political figures tho. obvs i wouldn't support someone who's some far-right idiot or whatever but i also don't expect harry to have the exact same values as me and i'm also not like "oh harry posted about supporting koala babies, i'll do that now", like it's insane to me how there was a statistic that [insert percentage here] of young ppl registered to vote bc tswift posted about it, like i don't need a celeb to tell me that, u know what i mean? i think the stan war that some ppl made out of the israel/palestine situation the past few weeks has actually been very crude. for me personally it's more about how these celebs are using their platform rather than my fave singer posting 3 sentences about how killing children isn't right and that's enough activism for the year lol i don't need the validation that i'm "stanning the right person" but it is good for the movement when someone who has millions and millions of ppl following them, some who do look up to them and value their opinion (see: swifties who signed up for voting), bring awareness to the humanitarian emergency and repost important info/voices. especially in this case hollywood voices matter bc it does bother israel a lot, part of their pr has always been to include celebs to spread their propaganda (see: hailee steinfeld taking pictures with the idf). anyway atp i don't expect harry to say anything, at best it would be a very centrist take as well which it pretty much always is when harry dares to say smth (vote with kindness) and it is disappointing bc he has such a die hard fanbase, but i was more worried that he'd say smth very dumb tbh bc so many ppl around him are so openly pro-israel. his activism has always been lackluster at best and again, i'm personally not expecting him to be the spokesperson for every issue in the world or try look for that from him, but idt anyone can be apolitical in this climate and especially not when u built ur whole brand on kindness.

#ask #idk if any of this makes sense i'm very eh eh about the role of celebs in this discourse #which is why it took me so long to reply to this like i don't spend my energy on if xyz has said smth about this situation yet u know?

[propalitetz]

what is going on in your PtH game?

hi sorry for taking a fucking century to get back to you, first i made my friends post some art and then i forgor

it's not my game its my friends game! im just obsessed with it.

also [HEY] everyone [LOOK] at [THE COOL ART] my friends have [DRAWN] for [THIS] game!! <- links to cool art

it takes place in this really prestigious university that's dubbed the 'crucible academy', and its about a band of students coming together as a team and having to like, learn to work together while horrible shit keeps happening around them

essentially, they have to seek out the shackles binding the grim majesties, to imbue them with light once again so that those queens remained sealed away! gotta delve deep in dens of darkness to find them. so far uhh no luck yet - so far it's still in it's 'setting up the main plot' stage, so interpersonal drama has taken the lead

mostly about how one of the player characters, kiandra, has a destiny intertvwined with a much more volatile and dangerous older magi-girl - the destiny says that they're gonna kill each other no matter what, and that theyve done this in their previous reincarnations. which is i mean enough to freak anyone out tbh kiandras goin thru it she tried to reach out to the other girl and its exploded

so far we got hana who is a weeb failgirl thats mostly unstable and not managing her social awkwardness at all, she's got a piece of her past life stuck in her brain and the much more ruthless, experienced magi-girl can take over when transformed so theres tension there

so my love plays kasimir , a polish exchange student severely into HEMA and music (in that universe hema is a big deal and he's on a sword scholarship) and he's like got this whole thing where he sees himself as a knight and a sacrifice and there to take any blows we love that (it's unhealthy) (an endless line of dead bodies in an endless line of wars!!). (he's got his shit together the most its tragic) hes my lil blorboman i love him soooooo much he'll charge at a bunch of scary monsters without blinking but play his music in front of other people??? NOT POSSIBLE

gwen is a babydoll who im also obsessed with shes like a super-rich girlie with HER OWN BUTLER who isn't light touched but they are like, sworn in on all that light shit, theyre a levelheaded person to contrast with gwen's bubbly girliepoppery. she has hidden depths though its kind of terrifying how she can switch from hiiiiiii omg hiiii into like raised-as-a-business mode. she EMAILS her PARENTS to schedule CONVERSATIONS????

speaking of emailing their parents to schedule conversations we have constantine who is another exchange student (greek, and old money loaded) who loves to plan his schedule weeks in advance in a terrifying efficiency that neglects to actually give him like, time to chill or relax. he's an introverted SNIPER MAN and hes a relatively new addition so im excited to see more of his particular brand of insane

and then we have mark who is also a late addition and hes full of secrets. i know the secrets bc im friends with his player but i forget how much is knowledge to the rest of the party (who follow me on tumblr) rn! so lets just say hes a silly goofy boy and fate will NOT let him be silly or goofy :')

#ask #thanks for the ask!

[neverchecking]

That's the word I was looking for! Efficient! Sweetpea is more efficient since while he did have backup, he was/is left on his own a lot and Tia basically pounded it into his head when he first woke up to end fights as quickly as possible. So Sweetpea is more efficient while Sage is more flexible in the way that they fight. Sweetpea prefers to use the same kind of sword and bow while Sage is happily using farming hoe to gut a hinox.

(I like to think this leads to fun little squabbles over what weapon is better. A royal broadsword fused with a dragon's horn or a Moblin club. Aaliyah thinks they're both idiots and proclaims bombs to be the superior weapon. Sage agrees but Sweetpea )

Sweetpea did get the vows and his arm was mostly saved rather than being written off entirely. Instead, Sweetpea got all those bands around the arm that act like magical braces and tourniquet for the gloom. Still hurt and drained him of a lot of his strength (which he got pissed about even with Tia's warning. His appreciation for Tia goes up again when he sees what could've happened.) So he gets to join in on the little sages' secret clubroom.

Tia's Hyrule is absolutely bullying their 'new neighbours' into this community thing because 'we didn't survive the Calamity by being little bitches. Play Nice or Shut the Fuck up :)'

Natura is having her whole world turned upside down and she's blinding herself to it. She tries to order the knights and soldiers around but they all just ignore her because she's not the one who saved them. Some of her original people do listen but they are so out numbered by people who either recognise Tia as the ruler or are so tired of the conflict they follow Tia because she explains and listens.

Not to mention the house in Hateno is now definitely not hers. It's Link's and his sister Ariel's home and several villagers get very protective over their hero's little sister who's only like 14. (I went with the concept art where she looks about 8ish). (Weirdly, Link's twin and sister-in-law live in Tarrey Town. Nice place.) Natura is brought back to the castle until they can get Urbosa.

Tia feels kind bad for dumping her on the former chief but, Urbosa is the only one who'd be able to get through to Natura and is probably the only one who'd have enough patience and understanding to separate Tia's personality from Natura's and vis versa.

Sweetpea probably has more traditional training while Sage's goes as far as 'Fuck around and find out'. Which makes for an...interesting dynamic when it comes to battle fronts. Like when it comes to those pirate ships, Tia's trying to figure out a plan and Sage is going in, flame sword flying with little remorse for the WOODEN SHIPS.

(These are probably more than little squabbles. Like they're trying to scale a mountain and they're throwing rocks at each other to prove a point while the girls are so over their shit. Aaliyah is right, bombs are superior, but Sage will be damned before admitting she's right. He loves her, would kill for her, probably has, but he would be damned by the big three themselves before ever admitting that. That's one line he won't ever cross.)

Sage is glaring at the arm the first time he sees it bc like?? HOW COME HIS ISN'T LIKE THAT?! Aaliyah is just 🙄 the whole time, like 'Suck it up'. And Sweetpea is praising Tia for everything under ythe sun.

THE SAGES SECRET CLUBROOM- I LOVE THAT.

Tia's hyrule is beating the others in submission with kindness. They learned from their princess. They're just :))) 'you don't wanna do that lmao'. And they're just 'Here's a gift basket full of all the nice things you can make if you GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOUR ASS'

Natura is having a bad time. Or she would be if she chose to look at her problems in an effort to fix them. She strikes me as the type to like, throw a fit when things don't go her way. Stomp her foot and yell louder to try and force them to listen. Some of the original soldiers, like you said, do listen, but the other are just 😒'are you done? I have a patrol to get back to.' I like the idea that she almost gets a rebellion going before they see the harmony that comes from Tia ruling. They see the different races finally coexisting, forming relationships beyond just what they can do for the other and are just like 'this is kinda nice'.

And now that house is returned to its rightful owner, it doesn't have as many bad memories! Which is good! Sage and Aaliyah probably visit Hateno a lot more to see Ariel and Sweetpea-- which is good because they like to help out at the farm and bring mushrooms to Cece. And with Natura no longer there, the hostilities between the older generation and the newer one definitely simmer down as well. which works even better.

Urbosa is the best chance to get through to Natura and Riju can report back using her Sage to talk to either Link or even Aaliyah (I think with the Sage of Spirits, she can probably talk to the other Sages through their secret clubroom). So while Tia probably feels bad, she has no reason to. Which Aaliyah and Sage are quick to remind her. Natura is still their Zelda, so while she should be their responsibility, they're not nearly patient enough to deal with her shit.

I also like the idea that the longer and more time Sage and Aaliyah spend with both Tia and Sweetpea, and their Hyrule and their people, the more the kind of mellow out. Like, they won't ever be the prim and proper type, but they don't immediately bite people in a form of defense.

#cinder rambles #switch au #with aaliyah and tia :)

[alltimewhat]

I just finished ST4 Volume 1 and uhm. I'm so sorry but that was literally so smart I'm 🤯. Idek where to start. The way that they so subtly created a through line without us even NOTICING. However when he was talking about hating the way the world works and how he had to kill people to break the world pattern there was this tiny part of me that was like maybe he could've just been some version of straightnt and it would have broken like 2/3 of it? The youngifying technology they used for Little El was a little funky like you could slightly tell but it got the job done good enough. It was so smart how they flipped the What Did You Do line completely around from the first to last episode. Also hate how El gets taken advantage of literally every time tho. Anyways. The way that they flipped the thing with Nancy around was very cool because the way that I literally didn't even think of that still having an a/effect on Nancy. Also also I thought it might feel weird that they're kinda redoing the whole Steve and Nancy thing but it feels kinda natural. Like how if things had been solid with Jonathan, I could totally see Nancy shutting it down and completely ignoring but because it isn't, she's kinda 👀. And the way that they had Eddie tell Steve that Eddie came because he didn't want to be the one that stayed but Nancy did NOT HESITATE. Also glad Steve didn't out Robin when he accidentally could have. Also kinda hate how Dustin has been treating Steve this season tho like that's one of your #1 teammates yknow? Kinda wish we got to see more of the Mike and Will gang in the last episode like we could have had like just a small 5 minute segment of them trying to come up with a plan of what to do when they got there. OH AND when they were digging the hole for Agent Guy and Will just looooked at Mike??? I'm 😥. And then the double conversation they had about Mike being afraid to tell El how he feels because she might not feel the same and that conversation is coming from WILL??? Oh and I like how Murray and Joyce figured out how to flip their situation and find a way in to save Hopper and Im also kinda glad his friend(?) didn't die but also kinda have mixed feelings about it. Oh and I know its a nitpicky thing but they literally say the gd word sooo many times this season. Kinda wish they'd just let them say fuck honestly. Sorry this is literally an entire novel. All in all very good, very much anticipating the last 2 episodes :)

-🙈

YAAAH its reallt crazy how much follows through from ep one to ep seven and im interested to see how things wrap up in the last two episodes. i kinda also feel like they couldve ended it at ep7 anf it wouldve stood alone as a cliffhanger or something LOL. i was really surprised at how fun it was to watch bc i thought it was going to be just kind of confusing and bad after s3 fhdhsghdajs. also i agree abt the dustin/steve thing they made dustin like actually just straight up mean to him and its not fun to watch at all. i kind of wish wed gotten more of henry/one because hes really cool and i like the set up that he specifically chooses people who did something ‘wrong’ to go after and how those things relate to each character. its really interesting overall!!!

#st4 spoilers #my dad wants to watch it with me lol #long post

[queenofnohr]

Not the OG anon, but curious now: would Aias knowing that Zenos survived entirely by accident (he had no idea the Resonant would do that and fully planned to die, the universe just told him no), change his opinion on him, or nah?

EW spoilers below the cut

so, for context, the zenos ask i reblogged earlier was an ask i received and answered wayyyyyy back in like december? when queue times were still abhorrent trying to get in to do endwalker. and i guess that was apparent but also because of that, my answer was basically just sorta pouring whatever aias' feelings in various points of the story would be, though not necessarily chronologically. and i mostly reblogged it because it was really funny how i got Exactly What I Wanted from EW and wanted to rb bc a friend recently completed it who would also appreciate how i wanted (and then received) the Heaven's Feel flavors

and so I suppose this ask is sorta basing it on the last image I left off with, because it was the last time we saw Zenos - that Aias' begrudging and newly burgeoning respect for Zenos would be dashed upon finding out he didn't actually die...... And while I don't really see a point in contemplating "would Aias change his opinion on Zenos based on information he canonically did/would not receive," I thiiiiiiiink this is a good opportunity to follow up on the previous ask?

We'll start at the end. In my previous ask, I said I wanted a Heaven's Feel like Kotomine-Shirou confrontation between Aias and Zenos, where Aias realizes his distaste for Zenos is because he likes him - because they're uncomfortably similar in nature and so they can only end in a mutual destruction from a clashing of similar ways of being, but different ideals, in a completely meaningless battle wherein the fate of [whatever the story stakes are] are no longer on the line, but the simple fact They Must Fight has to be fulfilled. Yet I also mentioned I didn't know where to put it - I toyed with the idea of putting it somewhere that wasn't at the end 1. because I didn't want to cop HF too hard and 2. because I didn't know what EW would have in store for me. However, as it turns out, EW gave me exactly what I wanted for Aias and put it smack at the end, so that's what we end up with.

Even if, in 5.5 knowing Zenos is alive again, Aias loses all respect for him, where he ends up at the end of 6.0 is realizing that he does, in fact, like Zenos.

Now, for the evolution of his opinion.....

First of all, I should start with the fact that Aias himself is pretty even-tempered. He might have moments of very strong feeling that bubbles to the surface, but all-in-all, he's a cup. He's made to hold his emotions well. He might not cope well (see: destroying his body and soul by performing summoning/creation magics to allow his dead friends to use his body and "live" through him once more), but even that's something that was pondered and not like...... a Teen Titans Raven-esque unleashing of power due to grief, yaknow? ANYWAY. a bit tangential, but my main point is that it's actually rare for deep emotion to hold sway over Aias even should he experience it. The second thing about his nature is that he actually does, like, reflect on his adventures and such, and through his reflections his opinions do tend to change. It happened once with Zenos, without any intervention on Zenos' part - Zenos killed himself, Aias' opinion of him was lower than low because of Zenos' projecting onto him, but then he gained respect for him not even finding out new information about him, but contemplating the way that he died and the fact that it could be seen as a type of martyrdom.

So, considering Zenos, I think the next time he actually interacts with him in "In From the Cold," he kind of just sees Zenos as pathetic. Sure Fandaniel does the whole body switcheroo, but to be quite honest, Aias isn't the type of person to be phased by that or Zenos taking his body for a joy ride. He goes with the flow, and even this is no different, because He Is Who He Is and He Can Only Be Himself, no matter what body he's in.

Zenos does try to do the like...... Ultimate betrayal of killing his friends with his body but ultimately doesn't succeed and doesn't even like...... single-mindedly try to continue trying to hurt the scions afterward. Like obviously the little one-two switcheroo happened, but for Zenos' part, aside from Bad Guy Smirk Going To Kill Scions, it's so extremely emotionless - robotic even - that I cannot believe he is deriving any enjoyment from the charade. Sure he tries to play the villain - and that's what it is, a play - but it's so....... He tells you exactly what his plan is after the fact (yaknow. consuming gods and killing your friends so you'll come at him with hate) but there's no oomph to it. he doesn't tell you how bad he wants to see your friends gutted and every horrible thing he wants to do to them - because the fact is, he doesnt actually want to do it. he doesn't not want to do it either - it's just a chore for him to take care of, an unnotable step in a recipe, before he gets his reward. All he wants is a fight! All he wants is to relive that Ala Mhigo confrontation! And Aias sees that this is all just...... the homicidal equivalent of a child acting out to get attention and it's not even a [Lahabrea voice] pathetic, but an act worthy of pity. Aias looks at him and sees a man who knows what he wants, but fumbles around blindly and half-heartedly to get it, not knowing at all how to go about it.

(The fact is - the whole time, the whole time - he could've just asked. He'd have to earn Aias' respect again somehow to be able to actually be his friend (though the magnitude might never match up) because Aias is a cup. Make thine wish unto him and ye shall receive.)

The moon and Garlemald 2 electric boogaloo have Zenos be nothing but a sort of...... nuisance to Aias, akin to how it actually goes but with a mite less intensity your WoL is suppose to show. Really, Aias is like "uhhhh i got other things to do, man," and while he glares in cutscenes, I don't think canonically Aias would even do that. which is probably even more frustrating/disheartening for zenos.

However, during his time in Elpis, when he sees Hermes despairing, asking what the meaning of existence is, being questioned by Venat if his journey was worthwhile, etc. he realizes that...... Zenos is the answer. Not, like, in an intimate way, and it needn't be Zenos specifically, but he thinks about this dude who lives for one singular thing - who has fucking nothing but still goes on living despite dejection and rejection in pursuit of this thing - and he thinks about himself who started his journey on a quest to find a purpose, to find something worth dying for...... And realizes that not only are they the same in their pursuit of something that will eventually result in their death, but that the only meaningful thing about being alive is if you find meaning, if you find something worthwhile, if you find something fun, and that no one can answer that for you.

The only difference is that Aias has grown beyond needing to find something he is willing to die for - has grown beyond his need to display his love in a way that he will give his body and soul for, that the unconditionality of it cannot be questioned. And has, instead, found that while it is more difficult, dedicating his body and soul wholly and unconditionally to someone or something (Asha. it's asha. lest anyone is confused or has not been paying attention) every single day, proving that truth to the universe with every breath he takes, is a deeper proof, a more thorough martyrdom, than simple sacrifice would be.

(and something about the difference between them being that as helpful and warm as Aias was, there was still a distance and cold to him that was only exaggerated by his friendliness even if he didn't mean it - and, after all, desired companionship and love, even though he closed himself off to the possibility that it could be a two-way street, only loving unilaterally, tyrannically, and most importantly - locked away inside his own heart where no one could see how deep his love truly ran - despite all of that the difference between them is in the end Aias did have someone who ardently wished for his return, and Zenos did not care for anyone except (in this case) Aias (but obvs applies to any WoL before anyone jumps down my throat lol) and yet in that situation with both dying at the ends of the universe, it was not Aias that could have saved him even had he wanted to. He, himself, decided nothing else was worthwhile and so anything else that could've so too ardently wished for his salvation likewise found him wanting)

#long post #endwalker spoilers #im writing this out after a stupid long day after a stupid long week so i hooooooooooooope i havent overlooked anything and was like #somewhat coherent at least #is it too much to expect - that i would name the stars for you

[hazelwitch800]

Okay, I clicked on your profile, and it said "Follow", as though I'm not following you. And there was no option to send an ask. So I tapped follow and now I can send an ask. But I was obviously following you, because you're in me feed. So idk man, but I just came to ask questions 😂 7, 11, 32 😘😘

Okay bae, whatever you say 👀 jk, ofc you must have been following me for all the quality content so??? Thank u for giving me an excuse to talk about myself publicly!!!!

7. What is your deepest joy about writing?

Omg Anjum hitting me with the deep and meaningfuls 😩 honestly, what I've realised quite recently is that I feel most joyful when I am writing something really silly or ridiculous that I perceive as funny even though I know anyone who reads it probably doesn't notice or will be like 🤔 I don't think of myself as a funny person irl at all bc my brain just doesn't work fast enough to be witty. So it's an aspect of myself I've uncovered via writing which I probably never would have explored otherwise! (although sometimes trying to be funny feels very forced and I think I should just return to my cave of seriousness).

Also smut. I feel very joyful when writing smut and it's the easiest thing for me to write 😅 I wish I had something more profound to say...

11. Do you believe in the old advice to “kill your darlings?” Are you a ruthless darling assassin? What happens to the darlings you murder? Do you have a darling graveyard? Do you grieve?

Yesss, unfortunately I do 😭 I even used to have a Google doc titled Kill Your Darlings. Now I just have a "cuts" document for every chapter or piece I'm working on, and sooo many passages never make it out of the darling graveyard. Often this is because I just write whatever comes to mind, and that can mean that a passage isn't in the right tone, or doesn't fit with the pacing, or is inconsistent with the characterisation, so it has to go. I often mourn them.

32. What is a line from a poem/novel/fanfic etc that you return to from time and time again? How did you find it? What does it mean to you?

Omg ahhh I am weirdly not a quote person at all, but there are definitely whole sections I come back to. One is a passage from one of my fave fics by Lalazee called Play the Field bc I just absolutely love how evocative it is:

"The article had been rewritten. UA, known for its champion-level baseball team, year in and out for decades, decorated itself from top to bottom in their team colors, banners, the works. Excitement bubbled in the air like a hundred balloons set free to the sky. The heat was oppressive, but the atmosphere was light, giddy, a little drunk with each successive game the boys won on the road to Summer Koshien."

In a small number of words I just feel like it captures a sense of atmosphere so perfectly, which is something I always strive for - I love descriptions like this!

I will work on having some references outside of fic in future too 😅

#Thank you anjum #Getting to talk about myself like I'm writing a memoir is so fun