#I can elaborate on that a lot

[h-didanart]

I think it will break him

…

Fuck

Honestly, not surprised, with how much he’s been tormented and all the doubts he had prior to the kidnapping… yeah… yeah it would hit him very hard

Poor guy

As for Clipsy’s side of things, and being fully honest with you here, this is actually pretty accurate with how things go for him, like, his relationship with his creations and siblings. Tragically accurate. My boy is a dumbass with terrible luck

[asteraws]

my clown college grad project from december last year 🎪

[hajihiko]

Sobriety crew gets no mercy from drunk shenanigans

[shorthaltsjester]

Imogen Temult, Exaltant Hope of the Red Storm

Heroes and Monsters by Penny & Sparrow // Critical Role Campaign 3

[turtleplushi]

I need to stop drawing them my god

[buwheal]

OH!!!!! HAVE YOU CHECKED THE CYBER CAFÉ DUMPSTER by any chance? there HAS to be some leftover cake there!!!! i heard there was an event recently!!

[tanadrin]

There’s an interesting tension in complaints about capitalism or executive meddling for marketability purposes ruining tv and film, just because they are two of the most capital-intensive art forms ever devised. You can write a novel for the cost of pen and paper, or more realistically these days a cheap netbook. Painting or sculpture or other static visual media can be more expensive, but the initial capital outlay is like hundreds of bucks, or if you really need particular tools, thousands.

Meanwhile a film on a hilariously small shoestring budget can run tens of thousands of dollars—you gotta pay for actors and equipment rental and stuff. And more ambitious projects basically require the backing of large production companies, who—if they do not concern themselves with marketability—may rapidly cease to be large production companies.

And on top of all this, the scale of such productions means they are inherently collaborative in nature. That’s been true of performance arts for centuries, of course, but when a key element of your production is the Money Guy, it makes sense he has to worry about his ability to be the Money Guy on similar projects in the future. And given the vagaries of show business, and that there are way more consistent ways to make money, I don’t think there are many people in the business of film or TV or for that matter theater production who don’t care about the medium to some degree.

And in some ways capitalism is the ideal system to produce big film and TV productions in, at least for the would be auteur. If capital is allocated solely by private whim, you just need to get one loaded producer on your side to realize your vision—you don’t necessarily need to justify the existence of your art to a philistine public, or to bean-counting government bureaucrats, or to the people who process grant applications at arts funding councils.

Still, loaded producers are in limited supply, and it’s much easier to get their attention for your non commercial vanity project if you are already famous and well respected as a director. It’s not a system optimized for producing really top notch art! But the problem of where to get the money can only be shifted around, while actors and animators and sound technicians and so on and so forth are a finite resource.

(Notably the auteur’s incentives are in many ways directly opposed to the acting and technical staff’s incentives—a world where even big name actors get paid peanuts or are replaced entirely by computers is a world that removes a lot of financial limits on an auteur’s creative vision! Of course a lot of directors and showrunners want their employees to be paid well; they recognize there is more to making TV and film than minimizing costs. But in terms of the labor economy of show business, the auteur or showrunner is management, not labor, and auteur theory is a justification of that arrangement.)

[hollownest-whore]

If they made a bardoon plushie I would buy it

[thebramblewood]

Settle in, folks. It's time for a little story.

Previous / Next

Helena: Do you ever sleep?

Caleb: [distractedly] Rarely. It’s the benefit of an all-plasma diet. Hunting expends more energy than anything else.

Helena: Is that why Lilith always threatens to rip our heads off if we interrupt her beauty sleep?

Caleb: Oh, she barely needs a reason to make threats. What’s keeping you awake?

Helena: Why didn’t you stop me from feeding on that man. You could’ve gotten in my head and told me not to.

Caleb: I can’t be your conscience, Helena. That sort of willpower has to come from within.

Helena: [mutters dejectedly] You say that like it’s easy.

Caleb: Of course it isn’t easy. But it is possible.

Helena: I nearly killed him. She wanted me to go all the way and I almost did.

Caleb: You restrained yourself in the end.

Helena: Only to sit back and watch her finish the job!

Caleb: You’re hardly alone in that regard.

Helena: She tried to push you too?

Caleb: [meditatively] There’s no such thing as a good vampire. You’ll make mistakes, which is why you shouldn't strive to be perfect, just better. The point of no return is to stop believing you can be better.

Helena: I need to understand her — and why you stay with her. Caleb, where did all this begin? I tried to ask how she became a vampire, but she only told me to talk to you.

Caleb: [cagily] I’m not sure it’s my story to tell.

Helena: But she never will, and doesn’t it involve you as much as her?

Caleb: [after a moment’s silence] Focus on my thoughts.

Helena: I’m still not very good at this.

Caleb: Come closer. Physical touch strengthens the bond. Relax, Helena. Close your eyes. Let me show you.

[nanami-is-nanamean]

I imagine that nanami, out of all the sorcerers ever, is so Normal that it circles back to being crazy— i kept thinking abt how gojo says that "every jujutsu sorcerer is some kind of crazy" and started thinking abt nanami and how much he just yearns for a normal life but cant do that because his sense of justice and fulfillment in sorcery is much too strong for him to be in a normal life and caused him to go back and like—yeah no i can see nanami having that special type of crazy, that even other sorcerers would claim is weird KJDFGKSR

if the "crazy" people say ur crazy, then babygirl ur a special one 💖💖

cuz i can see him being like—so dedicated to the idea, that he actually looks fucking nuts abt it. he talks abt his being a sorcerer in terms thatll make you think he's in some kind of freelance work and YEAH SURE HE KIND OF IS I GUESS but also like in vague enough terms that were it not for the fact that the people he usually talks too are sorcerers too, youd think that hes like—a freelance financial advisor, or a freelance bodyguard or, someone who helps run a martial arts/gym space, or a stunt man trainer/choreographer, or something—

like—"my last job? the client was quite happy with the results, there was minimal damages to the asset i was assigned to take care of, and minimal personnel required. overall, I'd say it was one of my smoother jobs."

and you'd think like "oh okay, he's probably some sort of hired security. maybe he was helping transfer some important item to a storage facility"

and in reality—it was actually a cursed object that started to go fucking haywire and attracting crazy cursed spirits to the area. the client was happy because the windows caught it early before any big damage happened to the area—just a couple of broken doors and windows, and like 3 destroyed walls which is actually on the LOWER END of collateral damage concerning curses. ESPECIALLY considering that there was such a large number already gathered there. and nanami's a bit of a self sacrificial bastard (beloved), so you bet ur ASS that he took a direct hit, and broke multiple bones and made the executive decision to not get anyone else involved because DAMMIT if he misses an episode of the great british bake off, he doesnt know what he's gonna do. he cant risk extending the mission too much, he cant let prue leith and paul hollywood down—

every single person he's worked with has, at some point in time, wondered why he just hasnt become an assistant manager instead—the threat to ur life is SIGNIFICANTLY LESS, and there is some overlap between what he did in his salaryman years and what the managers do. HELL, you can even see him training some of the newer managers (with ijichis approval and permission ofc) (hell sometimes ijichi assigns the newer ones to work with him to secretly give them training) (he always fesses up after the mission tho fdkbjgk)

and then while they're chillin in the breakroom, shooting the shit and drinking coffee, someone mentions his salaryman past. and dear LORD the pure vitriol and venom that started spewing out of his mouth when given the opportunity to shit talk having a regular job—if he didnt have such good control over his CE, he wouldve spawned a Special Grade from how much he DESPISED his old job JKHFDLKJhgbLS

and considering the similarities between that old job and being a manager, yeah no—everyone understands why he doesnt become a manager instead LJKSDfhLGJkSDFKLh

[sskk-manifesto]

Bungou Stray Dogs: Dead Apple and how “ability users” (opposite to “normal people”) learning to accept themselves through the acceptance of their own abilities is a queer metaphor of acceptance of own's sexual orientation and gender: an essay by me

[unfortunatelyilikebnha]

Thinking about the KaeyaJeanDiluc friendship where they grew up together and they were CLOSE & sure maybe Jean felt like Diluc & Kaeya were closer since they were brothers & sure maybe Kaeya felt like he had to keep secrets from the two of them bc they would never understand but they were like. A trio! A team!

& then Diluc’s 18th birthday comes around and everything goes to shit and Diluc LEAVES so they’re no longer KaeyaJeanDiluc but just Kaeya & Jean & in some ways Kaeya and Jean get closer because of it but there’s also a pronounced DISTANCE where Jean doesn’t know how to reach Kaeya anymore & Kaeya is even more determined not to tell Jean anything & they both lose themselves in their duties to Mondstadt while also missing Diluc and ALSO, despite everything, offering each other unconditional support

& then Diluc comes BACK & in addition to Kaeya & Jean there’s the shaky reestablishment of Jean & Diluc and Diluc & Kaeya but it’s not THE SAME. they’re no longer KaeyaJeanDiluc; Jean & Kaeya are knights and Diluc will never be a knight again & they all changed while Diluc was away & none of them know how to talk to each other anymore AND YET there’s still an undercurrent of trust!! Not fully, especially between Kaeya & Diluc, but Diluc still calls on Jean during the archon quest, trusting that she will keep their secrets even though as the acting grandmaster she should probably not. Jean says in her about Diluc voiceline that she understands why Diluc hates the knights & is working hard to make them an organization he can trust again. Kaeya covers for Diluc’s darknight hero escapades & fondly reminisces about their childhood in front of him. Diluc invited Kaeya to dinner at the winery & (afaik) never told anyone about Kaeya’s origins. Kaeya tells the traveler that they need to give Jean their full support and planned a birthday party for her. Jean left Kaeya in charge of Mondstadt when she went to the golden apple archipelago! On some level they recognize that their goals still align!! There’s still trust and love there but there’s also this gap between them that none of them know how to cross and I just!!!

[mishy-mashy]

Me if DFO isn't canon

[utilitycaster]

I understand not being a big fan of the appearance of past PCs, and I shared that earlier on, and even shared the argument that I wanted Bells Hells' story to be about them...but I feel like the time for that argument has passed. As we've gone on, that is in fact the story - that they're a bunch of level 8 adventurers who have fallen into an endgame scenario because of little peripheral threads and because of who one of their companions is. The story is, on some level, about not being about them. They've had so little time to drive their own destiny; it's been fetch quests and pursuit from the start, with little in the way of the odd jobs and proper stumblings one would usually expect.

And I hope that after the solstice they'll get to do that! But I think having Keyleth and the Ashari, Beau, and Caleb there hammer the above home: this is so much bigger than Bells Hells is prepared for, and they're here because a few weird things that happened in Jrusar (which is all that Eshteross ever wanted to look into, and all Treshi ever wanted to do) were unbeknownst to them part of a plot Ludinus Da'leth has likely been working on for several centuries; and because Imogen and Fearne are involved through accidents of birth. In many ways, it echoes Laudna's entire story. It's just people who were minding their own business in a town, and someone powerful and ruthless did things beneath it that affected the population at large because of a plan with cosmic ramifications, and they became involved out of an accident of location.

I'll admit - I do prefer a story where people are actively seeking something, or running from something, rather than caught up in bigger and bigger webs of conspiracy, but that's not the one being told right now, and the version in which far more powerful allies don't appear is a tragic and cynical one, whereas one with Keyleth, Beau, and Caleb says "yeah, this is fucked up, and it's not fair that you're here on your own to deal with this rip current of an event."

[styck-figure]

do you have any fic recommendations for ava? gen or rom

Gen

They're Sticks, Probably (Anima Virus) by @hakureiryuu

just take my hand and we'll abandon this world by @zishu-arts

Security Deposit by @inksandpensblog

sin pena ni sin gloria by @nyagrounds

catharsis by @nononameme07

Super Sticks - Arc One by @dynamic-k

romance

this is not a romance, there is no happy ending by @flareboi (vicagent)

like a moth in the night by @/zishu-arts (grapeduo)

I also highly recommend rooting around and finding more fics by these authors that you may like, but these are my favorite fics of all time.

[greghatecrimes]

Okay. Buckle up babes, it's finally Foreteen time and I wrote an essay.

Foreman and Thirteen are so interesting to me in so many ways. You have Foreman, who thrives off of control, and Thirteen, who refuses to be controlled in almost every aspect of her life. In the sense of them as individual people, they both have a lot of their own issues going on. Hot messes, the two of them. But in the sense of them as a couple, I think Foreman specifically is the only one who has issues with the relationship. (Or rather, Thirteen's issues aren't being projected onto the relationship and causing difficulties at the end of s5/beginning of s6, while Foreman's are.)

Foreman's biggest thing, at least in the latter part of their relationship, is control in regards to emotions. After they found Kutner, he coped with everything by isolating himself. A huge part of me thinks that's because this terrible thing just happened, the floor just fell out from both of them in so many ways, and Foreman feels like he doesn't have a grip on anything anymore. The only thing he can control is himself, and how he reacts. So Thirteen? Even though she's his girlfriend and he's worked with her for two years, her emotions and reactions are fundamentally beyond the scope of his control; she's still a wild card. She's not safe. So instead of letting himself lean on Thirteen, letting them grieve together, letting them comfort each other, for his own stability, Foreman chooses to cope (and thus reject Thirteen when she reaches out for support) by retreating into an environment that he's intimately familiar with. He surrounds himself with only variables that he can confidently predict. It's his gut instinct. It's always worked before, so why wouldn't it work this time? Why would it have any reason to cause problems?

In season four and the first half of season five, Thirteen was very much the same way. When things became too overwhelming for her, she repeatedly dealt with them by running, by hiding; by trying to isolate herself from the people who care about her and want to help her. The same base principle drives them both at this point: "what's out of my control is dangerous in some way or another. The only one who's safe to be around is myself, because I am the only person that I can control." But by mid season five, Thirteen has come a long way from that. Slowly she's becoming much more of a "recovering control freak". She's starting to be okay with the fact that she's not always going to have the amount of control that she has right now. She knows that all of it is something she has to come to terms with, and slowly she's getting to a point where she's accepting her diagnosis and working on all the baggage that comes with it.

Thinking about that– the fact that, by mid season five, Thirteen is approaching a point in her life of letting go, of learning to 'go with the flow'; while Foreman is very much still on the side of "I thrive and keep myself safe by controlling every aspect of my life possible"– makes them fundamentally incompatible as a couple from the get-go, even with all of the chemistry they had. Because the moment they get together (the Christmas party in 5x10 "Joy to the World") is right after Thirteen's decided that she doesn't want to die; when she's just starting to process her diagnosis instead of running from it.

Do I think there was/is love there? Yes. They absolutely care about each other, both during and after the relationship.

Do I think they would have worked out long term? The simple answer is "no".

The more complicated answer is that if they had been able to avoid the fiasco of Foreman running the department and then firing Thirteen after House quit, I think they could have made it work. But it would have been rocky, and it would have been especially rough for Foreman. Extremely so if it were to reach a point where they've stayed together for years and years, and Foreman is with Thirteen when she really starts to decline with her Huntington's.

Foreman is Thirteen's friend; he's also seen people slowly wither away from degenerative disease (his mother, with Alzheimer's), and he's a neurologist (and so he knows exactly how she'll decline, down to every last detail). All of those things give him greater emotional stakes in her Huntington's diagnosis beyond what's typical. But specifically in the situation of them facing this as a couple, you have this level of involvement where Foreman– someone who needs a high amount of control to function on a fairly basic level– is in an incredibly intimate relationship with Thirteen, whose entire life is inevitably and actively slipping out of her control. And in that scenario... I think that when the decline does start happening, it would absolutely terrify Foreman. To be the one that's by her side as a partner– seeing all of it firsthand, the pain and grief and sickness? And as her significant other, being the one that would potentially become a medical proxy when she's too sick to advocate for herself, faced with the possibility of making life or death decisions (like whether or not to euthanize the woman he loves)? I think that would have the potential to utterly destroy him.

As a friend, though? ("Ex-partners who have gotten back to a shaky friendship after the breakup, and still care about each other deeply", but "friends" for short.) The entire situation completely changes. I firmly believe that post-canon, if Foreman knows House offered to kill Thirteen before he "died", he would offer to kill her in House's stead in a heartbeat (just like I think Chase does). THAT sort of involvement with Thirteen's decline and care is far less terrifying, because now this is not the decline of someone that he's based his entire future on. This is not someone he's given half of his heart to; this is not someone he's built an entire life with and entwined himself so thoroughly with.

With the way things work out in canon, they're still friends, and they still care about each other; but at the end of the day, they're two separate people with two separate lives, two separate futures. And so Foreman doesn't lose a single ounce of his control as Thirteen's is slowly taken from her, bit by bit. Witnessing that is still a pain that is unimaginable. But for him, it's survivable. And that's the key difference (and why I ship Foreteen during season five and season six, but not post canon).