babymillennial

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Don't know why I had so much trouble with this boss fight, took till me getting Acheron to beat him

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doodles from the past week

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God is real Hyper Light Breaker just came out Early Access on Steam 5 days before my birthday and I'm about to get very derailed

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Alright today's question. could you get away with naming your kid after your favourite blorbo yes or no

And what I mean is would it work both as a name for an actual child and is it a common actual name or is it something more obscure. And is it from a media where people won't recognize where you got the name depending on whether or not that's a good or bad thing

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Hey heads up for anyone following my fic here, it's my birthday weekend so I'm prolly not posting this Saturday because I will instead be chilling and mentally adjusting to not being in my 20s anymore.

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Two Roads Walked to the Same End, Chapter 9: Homecoming

Still haven't had the time for art so here's a preview from the first scene!

“Makin’ too much a fuss, outlander.” “I assure you, I am not. You cannot leave here looking like that, Ellie.” Claudia turned to look as they entered, blinked when a head of bouncy brown ringlets bobbed past her. It was Ellie, Claudia knew that much even without Aaravos shadowing her, but her wings, tail, and antlers were gone, her dress that matched Aaravos’s robes replaced with sturdy trousers and a leather jacket. She turned on her heels just ahead of the roan and white horse, and Claudia hardly recognized her—a lighter complexion than her true form, striking green eyes that met Aaravos’s gaze with barely tempered irritation. “I donnae need assistance te glamour maself,” Ellie spoke, her voice clipped. “Perhaps not for that form, but you can’t wear that one outside these walls.” Aaravos closed the distance between them as he spoke, but when he brought a hand to her chin, she batted it away, huffed and pulled the hefty travel packs she carried off her shoulders. Claudia felt her face fall into a scowl as she watched the little woman start to strap her bags onto the packsaddle. She was so annoying and belligerent.

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@sn3kb1t35

@lawful-evil-novelist

@spookycooper95

have breb

reblog to give warm bread to your mutuals

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A little preview of a scene in the next chapter of Two Roads because I am bored and feel like sharing, also there's a baby:

Another laugh drew Claudia's attention down, and she noticed the company that led the steeds in—a little boy, no older than six years old, standing at only half the beasts’ heights. He smiled up at Leola, a little grin spread across a pale face mottled with freckles, big green eyes peeked out from a long fringe of loose, apricot ringlets, his hands dirty and clothing earthy to match it, save for his deep red cap and scarf.  “Mornen’, Aster!” he spoke loud, bright and excited.  Leola, for her part, wasn’t paying him any mind, instead she’d busied herself greeting the black horse, holding the beast’s head and pressing her forehead as best she could to the bridge of its nose. “Good mornin’, Pepper. Did ye miss me, lass?” The little boy pouted, cheeks puffed out as he watched her ignore him. “Good Mornen’, Aster!” he repeated, near shouted this time, still cheerful in tone despite the plain irritation in his face.  Leola finally glanced down, an impish smirk dimpled her cheeks. “Hello Hamish. Yer late.” Hamish stomped his feet—pouted in a way that reminded Claudia so much of little Ezran after he’d gotten in a fight with Callum. “Am not!” he shouted. “Came when ye called, like I’s s’posed te!” “You said ye’d be here the second I called. Took ye three.” Hamish scowled. “That’s arguen’ like a fair folk, lass.” “Oh, bite yer tongue,” Leola shot back, smiling as she put one foot into Pepper’s stirrup and hoisted herself up. “See you decorated,” she remarked, thumbing at the little pink flowers weaved into her horses mane. “Moss campion and wood anemone?” Hamish nodded, his scowl melting to a bright smile. Leola wrinkled her nose, but it looked a little forced, shrugged, still smiling as she glanced down at him.  “Hate moss campion and wood anemone.” “No ye don’t! Moss campion an’ woodemone’re yer favorites!” “Who says?” “Ellie says!” Hamish retorted, “Picked ‘em out herself!”

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There's something delightfully fun about writing Aaravos in extremely domestic scenes.

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Two Roads Walked to the Same End, Chapter 8: No Mind to Dream

Eventually I shall get back to drawing art (some time after my buffer has recovered and my roommate and I stop playing totk to a problematic degree) but in the mean time have a tiny clip of Adult Leola's first real conversation with her dad in fourteen centuries:

She has a system for things like this, usually. Things to say when people were sad or happy, how to introduce herself to strangers, a curated list of icebreakers and jokes to tell if the silence ever overstayed its welcome. But how’s a system supposed to help her find the right things to say to her father? What could she possibly say that wouldn’t sound insincere? Robotic and pre-programmed? Something soulless and uncaring? “You sound like her.” Leola blinks, snapping from her own anxious thoughts in an instant. Her eyes flick back to her dad briefly; she looks up, turns the statement over in her head. Decides she doesn’t understand his meaning. “Like who?” “That woman.” Leola snorts, sways a little on her heels, rights herself with her walking stick. “She’s not ‘that woman’, dad, she’s Ellie. Been lookin’ after me since I fell here, through thick and thin. Honestly ought te be grateful to ‘er, donnae think I’d have turned out half as good as I did without…” Leola trails off, noticing late how her dad stiffens, wincing, likely at the reminder that he hadn’t been there for that. Stupid Leola. Making such stupid mistakes. “Sorry,” she mumbles, chewing her lip and rocking on her heels. “That’s not helping, is it?”

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…at the risk of coming off contrarian or being unnecessarily disagreeable…grooming is neither explicitly a sexual act nor is it something that can only be done to children.

I'm inclined to agree that it's a reduction of what's going on with Aaravos and Claudia's relationship and I don't go on fandom twitter because I don't feel like having a conversation with people who want to boil these dynamics down to whatever the character limit is there, but I don't think I'd say they are wrong or are definitely calling it a sex thing.

I think you can make an argument (one that I could honestly go either way on) that what Aaravos is doing to Claudia is a form of political or cult grooming--he is, whether intentionally or not, using Claudia's overwhelming desire for a father figure to isolate her from good influences on her life and push her to the worst extremes of her personality.

With Aaravos as her guiding light, she is meaner, more violent, less remorseful for evil deeds taken, and angrier, because much like with Viren, she reflects the behaviors and mannerisms of him. And I don't think that has to be a bad thing for her character nor like...a disgusting indictment of Aaravos, nor something that takes away from Claudia's character.

For one thing, it's absolutely not the worst thing Aaravos has ever done (not by a long mile, I would in fact argue in some ways his manipulation of Viren was worse), and he can in fact still care about her while doing it.

A strong argument that I would agree with is that Viren did unintentionally mold his daughter into the dark mage she is today, in fact, based on his dream in season 5, I think he'd readily agree that he did that, and also express deep regret in having led her down the wrong path and lacking the power to get her off of it. And Viren adored Claudia, after he saved Soren, she became his favorite child, a fact that persisted even after he tried to mend things with Soren, he loved his daughter.

Which means Aaravos can love her too, and basically be doing the same thing, and that's not hard with Claudia, because...

Well, at the risk of pissing off Claudia fans...I don't think Claudia likes having agency. I don't think she wants an equal power dynamic where she is thinking for herself, I think she tells herself she makes her own decision, but any time she's ever been put in a situation where she has to make a hard choice, she lets someone else make it for her.

When Lisa told her and Soren to choose between her and Viren, Soren and Lisa were the ones who made that choice.

When Soren wanted to convince her to leave their father, she rejected the decision entirely and left Soren to make that choice.

When Aaravos or Viren tell her to do something, she listens, no questions asked, nothing more than token protests if any at all. When they give her excuses for why what they're doing is right, she absorbs them and believes them, no questions asked. She bristles at the slightest pushback, she says she believes she is a good person, but she regularly offloads the moral decision to Viren, and then to Aaravos, once Viren is gone.

I think Claudia can claim this genuinely because in her mind, she's only helping someone she believes is in the right. She's left the decision of right or wrong to them and everything she does in service of their goals, no matter how wicked, is the right thing because they know what's right.

And I love Claudia, I love her relationship with Aaravos, but I think seeing their relationship in this context and not seeing it as a pure and sweet found family thing is...kinda valid, not gonna lie.

Like it can be just a cute, found family bond between the main villain and his henchman.

But it can also be political/cult grooming where an older man with way more experience, power, and wisdom than a younger woman is knowingly or unknowingly using that gap in knowledge to bend her into the person that is most useful to him.

It can also be both, if you're not a coward.

People who say that Aaravos' relationship with Claudia is grooming... hit yourself hard on the head and think about it a few times.

Please do not throw such accusations without thinking and don't use terms you don't understand. These are really serious accusations, even if in the context of fictional relationships. These suggestions are disgusting, stupid and have no basis in reality (Claudia is an adult, the definition of grooming doesn't even fit here).

Think better about why, for you, every relationship between a young woman and a man is reduced to sexual subtext, because I will surprise you... It is not this relationship that is the problem, but you, since that is the first thing that comes to your mind.

God I hate people on Twitter. I'm glad I stopped being active there and went back to Tumblr, because Twitter is a breeding ground for the most toxic fandom people in the world...

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Happy Belated Holidays, Friends!

I was spending time with my family so I have no art for this chapter yet but I shall share the opening snip as a preview because I think it's my favorite opener thus far--

Chapter 7: What's Not Honest

Aaravos wondered now what spell had been cast on him. His eyes scanned the length of Ellie’s true form, a smile curled bitter into his mouth, head cocked slight to one side. He’d seen the lies on her lips from the start, but hadn’t pushed her to share the biggest one. Had she charmed him into disregarding it? No, he thought, as his silver eyes locked to her pink. No, he’d let it slide for a different purpose: because Ellie could be useful. He didn’t know yet if he still had the will to use her.  He hummed, flicked his gaze across her again. “You look like a Startouch Elf,” he remarked, calm, despite his irritation. “I see you were lying from the very beginning.” “Oh, t’is lyin’ te ask questions now, is et?” “Certainly ones you know the answer to.” “An’ who says I knew? Make too many assumptions , outlander,” Ellie said, pulling her hand away from his. “T’is a dangerous thing, takin’ knowledge fer granted. Wise man doesnae speak with confidence on that which he isnae certain , and certainty is the cudgel o’ the fool.” “You made it sound like you had no idea,” Aaravos countered, “That’s the lie, Ellie. Don’t be coy now that your ruse is up.”

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if not good, why hot

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Hey did you know that uhhh we are all of us made of stardust held together by love for an instant?

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Milktea has decided my laptop is his throne now

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Since chapter 6 of my fic is officially up, and Ellie's true form has been revealed to anyone reading (and I trust that you are all reading), I can now share this fun little pic I drew up of the actual height diff between Aaravos and Ellie.

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Leola and her broody buff orpington for the now posted Chapter 6 of Two Roads Walked to the Same End