#//The book was not about safety

[knockknockwhosthereartistism]

The Reverse Grunkles + Bill

[messiahzzz]

it’s been almost a year now… is the bg3 fandom finally ready to talk about how gale’s “hubris” is the sole product of actively feeding his insecurities further and straight up denying him help & guidance when he was at his lowest and needed it most. it’s not one of his core traits and never was. he isn’t some closeted power hungry monster that is just waiting to be enabled. what he wants is admiration, recognition and acceptance. which is also what he sought from mystra before the orb disaster happened. he had no desire whatsoever to become a god himself or challenge her rule, he simply wanted to be seen as sufficient in her eyes (“to serve her better”). to be as equal as he could possibly be in a relationship with a literal deity. he has a deep passion for magic and knowledge that affects almost all areas of his life and enjoys the display thereof. he wants to be the smartest person in the room and enjoys when his work is recognized. he may be perceived as arrogant when it comes to his skill, but he IS NOT hubristic. it truly takes so little for him to be wholly content.

[confused-stars]

shoutout to Jake Animorphs for being kinda uninteresting for like forty books and then hitting you so hard when he fully snaps and steps into his role as a hardened military leader at the age of sixteen

and then suddenly that sweet, stressed-out kid is just gone. he only exists to win wars anymore. it makes you realize too late what was lost

[bitchthefuck1]

I feel like people sometimes have a tendency to paint Inej as a little too wide-eyed and borderline naive and I feel like that's such a misread and disservice to her character, because her faith and hope for a better future isn't some misguided assumption that everything will be okay or that the world isn't so bad. She knows exactly how bad things can be and exactly what kind of evil people are capable of, and she's saying "fuck you, you can take my autonomy and my childhood and maybe I'll never see my family or home again, but I will literally die before I let make me think that the shit I've been through is all there is. The beauty and love I experienced was real and valuable and nothing you do or say will make me let go of that or believe it's not possible for me to have again," and it is genuinely the most incredible and real thing in those books.

Inej has fought tooth and nail for every ounce of goodness she has and she'll keep wringing it out of the world because those things are real and possible no matter what, and there's nothing naive about it.

[glorious-spoon]

the thing about buddie that no one wants to admit is that they are exactly the kind of wholesome couple who would earnestly fill out kink negotiation worksheets together

[twstjam]

Book 7 Spoilers ahead!!!

hmmmmm Lilia x Reader where you're a member of the Silver Owls but you have no loyalty to them so you betray them by secretly playing spy for the fae in exchange for peace, quiet, and safety if you help them win. The fae don't really trust you, especially Lilia, but he knows opportunity when he sees one. They just have to be careful about how much they trust you.

Because of the nature of your agreement you end up meeting up and exchanging letters with the Phantom General of the Briar fae a lot to relay information. At first it's just that and your meetings are all really just pure business, but then Lilia complains about Princess Malenoa and everyone pushing jobs onto him. This spurs you on to complain about Henrik and how all he does is order people around and lounge around all day. The two of you end up bonding over your demanding and tiring jobs and gradually grow closer each letter.

Aside from exchanging information, the two of you begin to exchange stories and tales and knowledge. You begin to know each other on different facets that no one else knows and confide in each other your deepest thoughts, fears, and insecurities. The two of you have a lot in common and understand each other so well that it just makes it so easy and natural and comfortable to be open like this. No one else have ever made either of you feel safe enough to share your most deepest secrets (not even Malenoa and Revan in Lilia's case. They're his best friends but they're also his superiors. There's just some things he can't talk about with them.) so it's so nice to finally find someone that does.

The two of you fall slowly, but you fall hard.

Neither of you admit this to each other of course. A war is no time for something as silly and trivial as love and romance and you both know that neither of you have time for a relationship. So you both pine and yearn in silence, either from your fortresses miles away from each other, or several feet apart on the rare occasions you meet up in person—so close yet still so far.

In one of your letters you relay to Lilia your worry that someone might be catching on. Lilia's heart twists in fear and his mind races with paranoid thoughts and possibilities. He doesn't show any concern in his response aside from acknowledging your worry, but he does tell you to be careful. He reasons that it would be unfortunate for the fae if their most valuable informant were to be discovered. (he activated tsundere mode to cope)

He sends the letter and goes about his duties. Days pass. Weeks. He realises during some off-time that he hasn't heard from you in a while. More time passes. No sign of a response from you.

Lilia says to himself that it's fine. It's nothing. It's no big deal. You're probably just occupied, or finally realised how dangerous it was to keep associating with the enemy. It's fine. The fae forces have managed before without your assistance. It's fine it's fine it's fine

he's not fine

(Part 2)

[cienie-isengardu]

"If you're going to make a habit of abduction, Kal, we really need to invest in a jail."

Walon Vau, Republic Commando: True Colors

[vampire-lord-garfield]

Thinking about that scene where Sebastian was impaled by the Undertaker scythe and then collapses in the boat after fighting off strange dolls.

Imagine if (for some reason) the roles were switched and it was Claude and Alois.

Ciel was shaken but handled the whole situation pretty good for a thirteen years old.

Absolutely won't fly with Alois. He would have like three brakedowns in the span of 15 seconds.

[rjalker]

"but we can't free these slaves, what if they want to get revenge on us?" Will always be a racist argument, no matter what. It doesn't matter that you have robots as the slaves or orcs or literally any other allegory at all.

[fictionadventurer]

"If the structure of your world ever evaporates, I will still be here."

I think The Q might contain one of the greatest declarations of friendship/love ever.

[stromuprisahat]

The first thing they'll tell you, when teaching you first aid, is that you always have to keep yourself safe first.

Don't jump for a drowning person, when torrent's too strong or you can't swim. Don't touch person touching live wire. When helping after car accident, make sure nothing's gonna hit you and put on reflective vest.

So yeah, giving us details about Zoya's aunt just made me less sympathetic.

“I … She tried to help me when the darkness came. She pushed me out of the way so that I could run. If not for her—” ... Brave Liliyana. Of course she had run toward the docks when the screaming began, ready to help. Why couldn’t you be a coward this one time?

King of Scars Chapter 25

Liliyana's basically a civilian running inside unstable, burning building, when even trained firemen with protective geat would be in great danger. That's far beyond the line of brave/stupid, pretty clearly in the stupid area.

If the author wanted me to feel for Zoya and her loss, she should've keep it vague. Or at least refrain from further deductions, because either Zoya's jumping to conclusions, or she's right and her aunt's an (brave) idiot.

[extrasweetcoffee]

K so I just got the twst anthology manga and like:

I totally forgot THIS specific moment was in this volume.

[bookshelf-in-progress]

Maybe the truth at the heart of Shadowstruck is the importance of family. Because the most compelling stories in this universe are about what happens when you tell parents that some of their children have no right to their love, care, and protection. It destroys what should be the strongest and most natural bonds of love, and that simple horrible thing leads to all the complicated problems in their oppressive society.

[whateverafterhigh]

Thinking about Dexter and how his parents thought there might have been a chance of him being the Beast, and wondering what about him growing up must have made them think that it was him (opposed to Daring or any of his many cousins).

Like, I know his “I’ll help anybody who needs it” approach was presented in a “I’m not like other girls” kind of way to Raven, and his agreement that it is unfair that there are people like Raven who never get a happily-ever-after is also framed for Raven’s benefit, and that both these things are there to establish him as a potential love interest. But what if that was expanded on to give him more depth, instead of just being to flag him to the readers as the male love interest?

What if Dexter was already taking this kind of approach to how he goes about solving problems as a hero at home?

For example, what if Dexter’s first reaction to seeing a mob of goblins or orcs walking up the main entrance of Charming Castle was to go out an talk to them? (Which is potentially stupid if they’re armed, and he was almost certainly yelled at for doing it) And while he’s out there he starts thinking, “hey, maybe these people have a point their conditions aren’t fair” but he’s still got to do something about the mob to at least de-escalate the situation somewhat, and so he just... helps them unionise or form a guild? And now the group are protesting legally so you’ll have to negotiate with them instead of attacking them, dad.

This will almost certainly cause friction between him and his parents because a) he’s just walking up to a potentially dangerous group of people who are armed and angry without back-up or a weapon and that’s going to get him killed one day, they’re allowed to be worried for his safety and sanity they’re his parents, and b) that’s not how you’re supposed to heroically solve this kind of thing why can’t you be normal.

Headmaster Grimm will hate it even more because he’s probably not paying the goblin and fairy cleaning staff. He knows full well that one of the differences between Kingdom Management and Kingdom Mismanagement is whether or not you should support your employees unionising, or pay your employees a living wage. Something, something... Grimm doesn’t want people to be too good because it’ll start making him look bad.

But given Rosabella is said to be supporting a new Beast-related charity or cause every week, maybe Dexter’s destiny will be the Beast?

[meadow-roses]

okay kinda random and not really based on the books at all but quick headcanon dump about Jupiter and Lady Glen

Imagine, the new king has recently ascended to the throne. There's a good deal of unrest going on due to the wars within and around the borders. Natalia has not become a fully unified nation yet, despite all the work Walter Good did during his reign. One of the independent warrens see this as their chance to take control. Under the pretense of submitting to the Natalian monarchy, they send an assassin playing the part of ambassador to infiltrate the court, set the stage for a coup, and do away with this upstart-king. The problem is, in order for her to pull this off, she has to become a trusted member of the young king's inner circle. Despite her rigorous childhood training (or maybe because of it) Glen is not immune to the power of friendship, and eventually finds herself in a difficult situation. She can't go back to her old life without completing the mission, and at this point she doesn't want to go back. She's made a place for herself here in the Natalian court, has actually become a member of the friend group, and has fallen in love with the king (however unfortunately irrational that is 😔) She doesn't want to continue living this double life, but if she told them the truth would they believe that she'd truly changed sides? Treason is... a very serious offence that Jupiter as king can't just ignore.

When the warren Glen is from realizes the single assassin is not being successful, the malcontents attempt a more direct attack, and Glen ends up revealing her cool skills to defend the king and prove her loyalty.

[ghafahey]

“Mati en sheva yelu. This action will have no echo. [...] Stop treating your pain like it’s something you imagined. If you see the wound is real, then you can heal it.” A wound? He opened his mouth to deny it, but something stopped him. For all his trouble at the tables and away from them, Jesper had always thought of himself as lucky. Happy, easygoing. The kind of guy people wanted around. But what if he’d been bluffing this whole time? Angry and frightened—that’s what the Fjerdan had called him. What had Matthias and Inej seen in Jesper that he didn’t understand? “I… I’ll try.” It was the most he could offer right now. He took her hand in his, pressed a kiss to her knuckles. “It may take me a while before I can say those words.”

CROOKED KINGDOM, CHAPTER 24 JESPER