#'i want to build my own family'

[mofffun]

preliminary conclusions about Suzume in ep45:

It's entirely the wording.

I don't have a problem with having one domestic-driven woman in an ensemble cast like kingoh's. The problem is when it was Suzume, someone who was so far written as cunning, ambitious and endurant, the transition needs a strong base. Right now, it looks like Suzume is just going with what the men in her life wanted, as we could only interpret she made the choice to stay behind the camera.

I believe Suzume's confession should've been motivated by her sense of home and country. She should've expanded on what a "woman of Toufu" means. Instead of complying to "her brother"'s will, it should've been as a citizen of Toufu, her king trusted her, and she'll gladly take up the mantle even if it means sacrificing her personal happiness.

Her choice to stay by Racules could've come from "home before country". She has found her temple - wants to build her own temple - prove herself in a personal domain before becoming responsible for all families in Toufu. Then it could even tie into Gira's "everyone's a small king" philosophy.

Or she could've rejected the throne because of her ambition. She has wanted the throne for herself, but she knew there's a reason Iroki chose Kaguragi instead of her. She wanted power, but she also wanted her lover. She knew she had to choose between her country or a traitor for a husband, and after years of deception, she doesn't want to lie to the people that she did all this for in the first place. Or that it's her redemption for letting Dugded loose during the six months of the kings' absence, as Queen of a puppet Shugoddom.

This is the elephant in the room. I have more regarding the episode's pacing and contrasts, how the theme of inheritance was handled, as well as Suzume's trajectory in consideration of the whole series. I have nitpicks about both eng subs so an extra paragraph about translation. I want to respond to some other angles but don't know when for now.

[imanes]

some people are truly off their rocker and i don't want to attribute it solely to shit i see on twitter bc I've heard this irl a few times these past couple of weeks but i did see someone on twitter today questioning why Palestinians have children... why the fuck not? these children are the hope for a better future; they're the continuation of aeons old bloodlines; parents have a right to have kids even under apartheid. what your question suggests is nothing short of eugenics imho and truly completely disconnected from the humanity of Palestinians and their rights to full, dignified lives with choices and possibilities. like imagine being pro-choice until one of these choices is "can i have a child if my people are being ethnically cleansed". so long as there is life there is hope and that isn't just a trite little saying it's a way of existing and resisting.

[shorthaltsjester]

the mighty nein - critical role

this is a place where i don't feel alone. this is a place where i feel at home.

[serpentface]

Hibrides and Brakul having the world’s saddest booze-fueled girl’s night, probably a few months before the start of the story.

Anyway here's an extensive rundown of their shared history.

Hibrides Uryashta was the eldest daughter of a chancellor of the imperial city-state of Erubinnos (his lordship Erub Uryashta). She was brought up with great privilege and security, but (like most daughters of noblemen) was destined to be used as a bargaining chip in a political marriage arrangement. She was taken from her friends and family and moved to the city of Wardin at the age of 16 to complete her pledged marriage with Janeys Haidamane, the failson of the trade magnate Haidamane family. Janeys spent about a week poorly attempting to behave like a husband, and then took the first excuse to flee and engage in a petty military campaign against raiders on the Yellowtail trade route. She found herself left alone in his villa for three years with only hired servants for company. She made a few attempts to break into the city's elite social scene, but was quite shy and failed to make any headway.

Brakul had just spent a year and a half in a bit of a whirlwind. He was brought into a skirmish at the behest of an allied clan, who had been raiding the Yellowtail route and now was under attack by combined forces of an enemy clan and Imperial Wardi mercenaries. He killed one of the mercenary commanders and was captured as a prisoner of war, but was spared at Janeys' behest (who fucking hated that guy thought it was awesome that he got killed with a rock) and was ultimately recruited into the group. He had a chance to go back home, but actively chose to deadbeat dad out on his wife and child to be with his newfound lovequest, Janeys. He spent a year and a half as a mercenary, bonded closely with Janeys and swore brotherhood with him, and was eventually brought home to the city of Wardin with him. He found himself in the odd position of being simultaneously scorned as a foreigner and 'heathen', and the legal kin of one of the richest families in the city (and effectively the secret male concubine of their only male heir).

It was in this context that the two of them met, with Hibrides now being 19 and Brakul turning 27.

The two were initially wary of each other (Hibrides was particularly put off by his 'heathen' status) but bonded very quickly, partly due to their mutual states of being unmoored from their old lives, but in large part being just a natural chemistry. They had a lot of common interests and enjoyed learning from each other. Hibrides introduced him to traditional verse poetry (of which she was very fond). Brakul taught her how to ride khait, and even gave her a gelding from his own collection as a gift. They became very close friends over the next couple of years and spent much of their free time together.

A big part of the dynamic was that both of them are gay in a cultural context where there is no concept of Being gay, marriages are usually arranged and always between a man and a woman, and having children is a societal expectation. Each of them began to see the other as an ideal husband/wife, ie "if I had to marry why couldn't it have been him/her?". For Hibrides' part, Brakul had all the traits she would want in a husband: he was a pretty good friend and easy to get along with, he seemed like he'd do an excellent job of fulfilling expected roles as a husband and father (she didn't know about the wife and kid for a while), he treated her as an equal, and, most of all, had no interest whatsoever in fucking her. They were both in a sort of platonic emotional affair, and grew to love each other deeply.

Hibrides was pretty quick to catch on that something was going on between Brakul and Janeys, and found it strange and offputting but ultimately none of her concern. Her husband only being interested in his sworn brother and leaving her to her own devices suited Hibrides just fine, and Brakul always just kinda being There meant she was living with what had become her closest friend.

The stable state of this Feelings Triangle began to change in the wake of the brilliant plan to get Janeys (gay) (probably infertile) children he could pass off as legitimate via a Brakul/Hibrides pregnancy. It was something all three agreed to as a necessity; it was already drawing scrutiny that Janeys and Hibrides had been married for several years without a pregnancy, and producing heirs is a societal expectation and a central point of an arranged marriage between wealthy elites.

It was especially critical in this case, given Janeys was his family's only male child and only hope of continuing the family line, given both his golden-child sister Faiza and black sheep half sister Couya were Odonii, and thus sworn virgins and would never marry. (There's also a level to this that Janeys was regarded as a complete disappointment by his parents, and his mother made damn sure he knew that his only value at this point was to produce a better male heir to inherit the business. So this was a big fucking deal to him, and to Brakul by extension).

This was also not a route any of them wanted to take on any personal level, least of all Hibrides. She consented to the pregnancy and everything it entailed, but it was inevitably a painful and distressing experience all around. She had never wanted to be a mother to begin with (though had long accepted it as an inevitability), and now found herself with an infant daughter, which only meant it would have to happen again (they needed a male heir after all). And it would be utter social suicide and a profound shame upon her if the child's illegitimacy was discovered, which only added to the stress.

To make things worse, her first pregnancy shifted the entire dynamic with her husband and brother-in-law/best friend. Janeys changed from completely indifferent to actively spiteful and hostile towards her, and things had become extremely uncomfortable between Hibrides and Brakul. It only got worse with Brakul (the only one of them who actually WANTS kids) (kind of haunted by skipping out on his first child) finding it unbearable to be so close to HIS daughter and having to keep up an act that she was not his own, having no direct role in the kids life. He desperately wanted to be a father.

Hibrides, who was going through a fucking lot, started to become vindictive towards him for his role in things. She resented him more than Janeys, because Brakul insisted he cared about her and would desperately try to pretend things were normal, while consistently siding with Janeys against her wishes, including in preventing her from getting a divorce. (His excuse is that the children's legitimacy would be interrogated in a legal setting, which Is likely and Would be absolute social suicide with very real consequences. But the real reason on his part is that if she got out of the marriage, he might never see her or the children again). Hibrides began to do everything in her power to prevent him from having any relationship with his bastard children, even in secret or under the guise of a relative. Sort of an “if I have to suffer to keep up this facade so should you” thing.

They had two children in a span of three years, two girls (ruh roh!) named Erubi and Livya. By this point, Hibrides and Brakul were both experiencing what we would now call Clinical Depression and Alcohol Use Disorder (especially in the latter's case). Hibrides started to have affairs with both men and women, which she was sure to be very obvious about to insult Janeys and Brakul, but was mostly out of loneliness. Brakul turned his complete focus to Janeys and started avoiding Hibrides entirely, in hopes that she would become desperate enough to be willing to make amends (shockingly, this did not happen, and the rift only deepened).

In the present, their relationship status is: fucked. Both of them do still love each other on some level, but this is probably beyond repair. What little time they've spent with each other in the past year is sitting around being miserable and getting plastered. And now Hibrides, Janeys, and Brakul are all forced into the public eye on the pilgrimage together, and with a third child on the way. So that's probably going to be everyone's problem.

[elle-thereafter]

Some day hundreds of years from now when Laudna is still an undead, undying witch living in a cottage somewhere, animating objects for funsies to keep her company, an adventuring party rocks up on a quest, sent by the current living de Rolo descendant to kill a hag and retrieve a gem that contains the soul of the de Rolos’ greatest nemesis, the one the family was never quite able to completely defeat.

Maybe it’s just me and my Forever DM brain, but seriously look me in the eye and tell me Laudna’s current situation doesn’t sound exactly like a mid-level adventure hook setup for a future Exandrian D&D source book.

[blueskittlesart]

if you’ve ever wondered why i am the way that i am just know that i was raised by a man who built a 1:1 scale model of mont saint-michel in survival mode minecraft over the course of several years with nothing but google maps screenshots of the place. and he refuses to put the fucking thing on youtube

[zeb-z]

missa, after his self resentment and lamenting about how he doesn’t feel worthy or like he should be accepted, after telling himself and the capybaras that he doesn’t have a home, not really - after all is said and done, he returns to phil & missa, leaving his mini mi in the house on the wall. as if he’d consider anywhere other than the house he shared with phil safe enough. seeking out safety and home brought him right back where he started.

something about how despite his internal conflicts and issues about what he thinks he deserves, he’ll still come back. and for all he worries that he is not enough to be loved in return, his name is still on the warp stone.

[whoslaurapalmer]

thinking about babybea of course and thinking about babybea fic and losing it about this part again

[puppyeared]

Ouhhhh friendship I love friendship……..

[hauntingblue]

Last arcane episode ever..... here we fucking go....

[violettssims]

WIP, a family friendly mid century home

[mellohiizz]

love the spoketech hug/g

spoke has somehow managed to remind minz that he did what he had to to protect spoke and planet tho and theyve been fairly happy and affectionate together/pos/info

meanwhile my crackship us uu!rosplin because listen, my leader might be a martyr but he is cute while he sacrifices himself for us haha/very pos

this isnt a request im just rambling at you haha/clarification

btw do you have names for the species you draw anyone as?

-🔍🏰(f:🦜✨)

that's great! don't worry, i don't mind people rambling in my inbox, i ramble a lot myself, so i get wanting to share something with someone. <3 about species, no, not really. most of the species i make my designs are either based on my own oc lore, or just straight up species from it. (like with spoke) sometimes i just take the inspo from how i write the certain species in my own lore. like with parrot, egg and ro. (i draw ro and egg both as angels, if it wasn't clear. parrot is an avian.) i'm only in the early process of writing it all, so i don't really have actual names for species, and it's not like they're some original species, they're mostly just something i make up on the spot or my interpritations. (my sona is also a species from my oc lore, btw)

[identityquest]

lizzie get two wolves 👍

[atopvisenyashill]

george is so annoying for naming the otherys women bellegere, bellenora, bellonora, and bellegere again. i mean there’s narha too which is a very pretty name but come on. did we have to use bellegere TWICE george. just invent another name!! it can literally just be bellEgere and bellOgere again.

[dragons-and-yellow-roses]

Me, while manically cleaning my room at 3:27am: I should make several large, life-changing, irreversible decisions.

[seagull-scribbles]

From Chapter One of On Mistakes and Birthdaycake by @bemmiecake on AO3

I started reading this fic when it first came out and it’s had such a huge impact on how I think of knuckles and you have definitely seen it’s influence in my art this past year! So it only seemed fair to try do something for the fic itself x