anneapocalypse

[anneapocalypse]

Another gif set from the archives

[anneapocalypse]

don't trust a word out of anybody that seriously alleges that pornography isn't art btw

[anneapocalypse]

Made some renos to Moni's house this morning - feel free to stop by!

Crystal | Balmung | Goblet | Ward 11 | Plot 6

[anneapocalypse]

*old man voice* back in my day tik tok was a ke$ha song

[anneapocalypse]

[11] What are small things that make them happy? For Merlwaen!

[20] When they’re sad or upset, do they need company or some time alone? For Ariane!

OC Questions meme!

For Merl, catching up with her parents whenever she's back in Limsa really means a lot to her. She's always been close with her moms, and even when she's away for long periods of time sailing or adventuring, she'll smile fondly to think of the tales she'll be able to tell them when she's home again, and how they'll react.

It really depends for Ariane. One thing that's certain is she does not like to be surrounded by people when she's upset. It just stresses her out more. Sometimes she needs alone time; other times, she'd really appreciate the presence of a single trusted confidant. It's difficult for her to reach out when she needs someone, which means she can often self-isolate to an unhealthy extent when she's down. Having someone who regularly checks in with her is important for her equilibrium.

Thanks for the asks!

[anneapocalypse]

ya’ll were really gonna let me live my life in ignorance thinking mr. rogers was straight???

[anneapocalypse]

Curious as to just how many people have watched this fandom juggernaut

[anneapocalypse]

you may crawl

glam pieces here!

[anneapocalypse]

I've had caption-envy long enough!

I've seen some amazing captions accompanying equally amazing gposes and I'm dying to know how others approach captioning their gposes. (If they do)

[anneapocalypse]

This request was sent to us and we made a poll in response to it. Send any Blorbo-related question you want to our inbox and we’ll make a poll on which people can vote with their own Blorbos in minds

[anneapocalypse]

Thanks, Anon!

-submit your poll!-

[anneapocalypse]

“Fyp” we don’t do that here. I mean, Tumblr the app and website tries, but we don't do that here.

“But then how will anyone see it?” peer review.

“How do you get engagement?” by talking and engaging with other people. Or making a devastating typo. Either way.

“But—” Listen, you’re not doing solo stand up anymore. This is a group improv class being held in a SAW dungeon. Good luck.

[anneapocalypse]

Urianger and Moenbryda are clearly set up as polar opposites in so many ways--in personality and temperament, even in the simple fact of her being a tank and he being a caster/healer--but it's especially interesting to me that they're also opposites in their fields of study. Moenbryda is a scientist, Urianger a humanities guy--in modern real-world terms I'd say his specialization in prophecy with the way it's applied in-universe translates roughly to something in between Divinity and Classical Studies. While he no doubt has some general scientific education as I'd assume any Archon would, and he can read an aetherometer as all of them can, he is not a scientist. In fact I'd probably call him one of the least scientifically-minded of the surviving members of the Circle of Knowing. (And it's probably not a coincidence that he's also seemingly the most devout... but that's another post for another day. 😉)

Notably, while Louisoix mentored many of the Archons we know in various ways, Urianger is I think the only one who actually shared Louisoix's specific academic field. (Louisoix was considered Sharlayan's foremost expert on prophecy specifically, and it was his interpretations of prophetic texts that led him to take the Circle of Knowing to Eorzea.) While NPCs' combat classes tend to overshadow their academic fields somewhat in the game itself, it's plain from both Urianger and Moenbryda that this is not always a one-to-one correlation. With some, the two are plainly much more closely correlated, as with Thancred (though it's interesting to note that he was a gladiator and not a rogue in 1.0), and probably also Y'shtola. I am uncertain at this time what specifically Yda (the real Yda) studied, though it doesn't seem unreasonable to guess that her field might have been more tactically-oriented, not unlike Thancred. Papalymo, according to EE1, "indulges his passion by deciphering ancient spell tomes," which doesn't seem far removed from the study of thaumaturgy, though with a distinctly academic bent. His interest in ancient texts seems to me to place him closest to Louisoix and Urianger, and that's probably relevant when considering his moniker of "Louisoix's finest pupil."

Moenbryda's affinity for the axe is unrelated to her academic studies, and according to her dialogue, long preceded them. Urianger seems to have done some notable work in the field of arcanima, with his use of the unique amber carbuncle (though it seems this remains purely a personal accomplishment as no one else has ever been able to replicate his work, which is fascinating in its own right). This seems both secondary and largely unrelated to his work with prophecies, and indeed while he can hold his own when needed, until Shadowbringers it's a rare thing for him to actually take to the field with his companions--either for combat or direct observational research. When he does, it's noted as unusual, as in the 2.3 quest where Urianger actually ventures into the sylphlands to witness Ramuh firsthand, and is rather starry-eyed about it. "Never till this day had I looked upon his visage save in painted renderings, made faint by time..." Urianger's field of expertise is highly esoteric and highly theoretical, his beloved texts always several steps removed from the realities they attempt to describe.

And somehow, I don't think it's a coincidence that only one patch later, he's at last called upon Moenbryda to come join the Scions in Eorzea. Moenbryda the tank, Moenbryda the aetherologist. Moenbryda who is determined to join the Warrior of Light in confronting Shiva until Urianger begs her not to. Moenbryda who likes to be in the thick of things, to observe the world up close and personal. Moenbryda the scientist.

In that light, I can't help seeing something scientific even in the way Moenbryda went about befriending her, as she calls him, "excruciatingly stiff childhood friend": studying him, reading the books he read so as to better understand him. Direct observation.

And what does it say about Louisoix, I wonder, that it was the most scientifically-minded of his followers that he chose to leave behind? It's plain to see how Moenbryda's talents would have been invaluable to the Circle of Knowing in Eorzea. Urianger claims that Master Louisoix merely wanted Moenbryda to "discover her own path, free of the shadow of his influence." Long as I've contemplated that choice, I'm still not really sure what he meant. With so many students from varied backgrounds, why did she, of all of them, need to "discover her own path?" Urianger frames it in terms of Sharlayan politics: Louisoix made a pariah of himself in leaving Sharlayan for the salvation of Eorzea. Moenbryda was one of the few in his circle whom we know had living family in Sharlayan, so I think it is possible his concerns were at least in part for her personal ties. Yet I can't help wondering, also, if he felt some part of her temperament, her approach to learning, might be at odds with the way he meant to carry out his work in Eorzea.

Louisoix's decision, and Urianger's continued devotion to the man, certainly drove something of a wedge between two lifelong friends, but it seems plain to me that there was always a certain friction between them. Moenbryda herself says it was a wonder they got along, and I can only imagine the arguments, the misunderstandings, the dissonance in their ways of thinking over the years. Scientist and theologian, they had such fundamentally different approaches to the world, even as they still clearly cared for one another so deeply.

[anneapocalypse]

The more I think about Urianger and Moenbryda and the more I dig into what little we have of their history in canon the more insane I feel about them. They have been friends since childhood and I cannot get over how messy that relationship must have been over the years. She was his only childhood friend. He deeply admires her work in aetherology. He told her an axe was unbecoming of a scholar. They were both disciples of Louisoix. Their mentor left for Eorzea with one of them and not the other and never even bothered to tell Moenbryda why, leaving her to deal with the vicious rumors about her former mentor alone. Urianger hated to see her hurt, but was so devoted to Louisoix that he went along with this and agreed that sure, Moenbryda needed to "find her own path" aka intuit why her mentor abandoned her and what he wanted her to learn from that by... magic, I guess. She flirts with him openly. He calls her immature. He panics when she hugs him in public. He calls her "my dearest" but only after she's dead. He lets her sacrifice herself, says she "fulfilled her destiny" and then lets the guilt over that choice spiral him deeper and deeper into a lonely and isolated hell of his own making. I love them and they make me want to chew the curtains.

[anneapocalypse]

this one liberal dude on twitter made the (correct) take that parents have overwhelming power over their kids and very often abuse it and restrict children's rights and he was ratio'd by conservatives, communists and liberals alike who made comments like "my kids will have rights when they pay the bills" to "aw are you upset mom and dad didn't you get you a lega set for christmas". way to prove his point lol! any criticism of the power dynamics adults and particularly parents have over kids and how it is often used to abuse kids or refuse to let them exist as themselves is drowned in mockery and the idea that parents have absolute authority over children and that any less than that is actually spoiling them.

i said it before: people only care about Children as an ideal. as property. as something that is Innocent and deserving protection From Evil Traffickers but also something Dumb that barely deserves the status of human with autonomy. and its fucking wild how even the staunchest communists think of this as normal, and how people refuse to understand that this dynamic is how kids are emotionally, physically and sexually abused, as well as robbed of their voices and too scared/ashamed to talk about it.

[anneapocalypse]

forgetting it was maintenance night and staring a gpose at 10 PM lollll I mean what who would do that

[anneapocalypse]

there's a point in your life on the internet where "oh, it's a weird sex thing" becomes reassuring. there's so many worse reasons that people do things. fly your flag mate