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some initial notes on Ruhena

She grew up pretty far from Neketaka, on an island small enough that they weren't anyone's political priority, that at the time hadn't been under the Kahanga's influence, and as a result, she never got pulled into Neketaka's temples and her priesthood following Rikuhu was a lot less specialized than it could have been.

She was born to kuaru parents whose trade was midwifery and such an explicit imposition of Rikuhu in Amira's domain was seen as pretty damning. Despite her isolation from her parents as a death godlike + bad omen, she's still got a lot of affection for Amira, the traditions around worship of Amira, and birds. This is gonna be great for her dynamic with Maia and I'm excited for how it'll play out with Pallegina lmao

I'm excited to use her as a lens to form more of an opinion on Xoti, Gaun, and what felt to me in my last playthrough like Eothas' imposition on Berath's domain.

She's quiet by both nature and training, and likes to see how people fill silence when they're given the opportunity to. Both Kana and Durance take a mile when they're given an inch, but at least she's interested in what Kana has to say. She synergizes incredibly well in combat with the Grieving Mother, which. I guess makes it look to the rest of the party like she's gotten extremely powerful very quickly by finding and risking civilians in all her fights?

Touching her is the sensation of not really being able to tell cold from wet. Her godlike growths go through cycles like an actual whale fall. Jury's out on whether her bone worms are real worms. (they're probably not because it's gross but... it could be cool.)

probably going to keep messing around with this portrait since I didn't realize how small the portrait sizes were lol. but here she is. :) whale fall felt like an appropriately nautical symbol of death and renewal.

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probably going to keep messing around with this portrait since I didn't realize how small the portrait sizes were lol. but here she is. :) whale fall felt like an appropriately nautical symbol of death and renewal.

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Maia Rua - I'm coming to break up with you a second time ❤️❤️❤️

And this time with a character with a more intentional trajectory. Last time, she and my Watcher knew what was coming, but I didn't. My party locks were Pallegina, Tekēhu, and Maia, and I fully broke my own heart. This time, everyone knows how this is gonna end. I'm probably gonna have the same party, too. :( my faves. Priest of Rikuhu.

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one of the more bleak things to acknowledge is that if you pirate literally all of your music and then set aside a spotify subscription's worth of money each month to spend on a single pay-what-you-want album, it would almost immediately amount to you supporting those musicians more than streaming does

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Love playing with the Court Augur background and bringing a Weird Vibe™ to the function 🔮

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I love you when you're singing that song

And I got a lump in my throat

'Cause you're gonna sing the words wrong

watercolor illustration for @gothyanki's fic ancient memory because these two and their doomed romance have bewitched me

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Crimes of the Future (2022) // dir. David Cronenberg

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something is happening on the new vegas nexus

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sketching pillars of eternity companions part 3

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in an ideal world, I would've liked Avowed to be more punishing - there were consequences to my Envoy being evasive and noncommittal, but ultimately I caught the vibe pretty early that my envoy could be less clearly defined than my Watcher and not face consequences for wavering, the same way. And that's fine. It was never supposed to be Pillars. The studio's been up front all the way through that it was gonna be a different spin on Eora, and I always knew that part of making a game to hit that companion-centric ARPG spot meant making a game that puts more stock on friendship than commitment to ideals/factions, and that it was going to be more linear.

i still liked it a lot but I prefer it when games give me more reason to cause problems. after choosing to keep my friends around and almost ending the world one time in deadfire I feel like sometimes I get disappointed when I finish a game and it seems like things went well for most characters

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finished avowed! i loved it

Woedica telling Mavis she'd broken her oath to the empire was the turning point. It was what Mavis had spent decades beating herself up about, fearing she wasn't fit to uphold it. Having Woedica herself tell her that was over, it broke her and then it freed her. The conversation with Giatta that I've been drawing is a factor for sure, but she would've had a different arc entirely if Woedica didn't say that so explicitly.

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guy who is a cinephile and it DOES mean he wants to fuck the movies

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I'm really enjoying what feels like growing tension between my envoy and Kai over the course of the main questline. They're still friends but there's already some fracturing. I'm getting a lot out of him questioning her protectiveness over Sapadal. Her defending Sapadal and saying that she believes they can learn compassion is undercut so brutally by the way she's defended Lödwyn so consistently lol. Girl, are you actually confident in this or do you just have blinders on whenever someone treasures you

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I've gotta just acknowledge how much I love this line. I love the way she talks about their history in all the dialogues where it comes up. it's my favorite part of the game. the way she talks about the affection and feelings from the person she was before death. relishing hurting that long-gone person, relishing feeling any hurt at all, just. hell yeah man. wow

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Giatta asking about the envoy's ex (full conversation, all dialogue options)

also like. honestly. i just need to share this conversation because I need to be able to reference the bear trap thing in more places so i need people to see.

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The problem with bluesky is that I already didn't like twitter before all that stuff happened