#I feel like that pepe silvia meme

[sculkshrieking]

dude your hoffstrahmdon is changing my life! have you ever thought about including adam in the mix for the au? ship thing or not i'm just curious about if he gets to live :-)

teehee i'm glad you like them :D!! I had to think about this for a little bit. Adam generally stays dead in my head because i love the guilt and haunting and also because i don't think John with his barbed wire grip on all three apprentices would ever allow his freedom. HOWEVER we love to self indulge in this house and throwing Adam into the mix sounds so chaotic.

Maybe Hoffman plays a part in getting Adam out which is what makes Lawrence feel indebted enough to come and warn him not to go after Jill (which just makes me think of Lawrence and Adam in the makeshift jigsaw hospital room getting tended to by Hoffman while John and Amanda are off getting bloodboarded).

Lawrence and Adam are insanely codependent because I wouldn't have their post-bathroom relationship any other way. They will bite, kick and scream like frightened dogs if you try to separate them.

With Hoffman, Adam probably has some mixed feelings in a "You're horrible and I can't stand you, but you saved me" type way. Mostly the first part, really. Meanwhile, I think Hoffman just finds him annoying and grating as hell, he wants that twink obliterated and all that.

The Strahm and Adam roasting matches are insane. It's a constant PvP zone in there and absolutely no one is safe. There are parallels between them that they're both doing their best to ignore. Also they can smoke out on the balcony together as a treat <33

I don't know what kind of situation would force them all to have to spend a bunch of time together but i personally would love to see the resulting carnage. I also would love for them to kiss, i just have a hard time imagining all of them liking each other </3. Hate sex is absolutely still on the table however <33. Adam how come your mom lets you have THREE big hot middle aged men around you etc etc.

In conclusion:

[windflowerofskellige]

On a decent of madness again because Sapkowski's Foltest was supposed to marry Dalimira of Redania makes me pull my hair out this HAS been bothering me for the last three years it will continue to bother me until the end of time how old is Hedwig of Malleore mother of Dalimira, Milena, and Radvoid? Is she the sister of the Princess Niedamir marched on, married, impregnated, then poisoned? Is she their aunt? How old was Hedwig when Radovid was born in 1255? He was born in 1255 this is one of the few facts we are aware of. He is in fact 12 in the books. See okay when this was written— the Dalimira attempted engagement— Vizmir was still Vizimir of Novigrad. Tretogor as a capital had not come to being yet, Sapkowski hadn't even invented Radovid yet. He hadn't even invented my boy son boy in Blood of Elves. This is entirely a timeline inconsistency plothole that exists because the plans for Redania as a country changed many times on Sapkowski's whims and YET. I still attempt to write stories that make sense and have a sensical timeline HOW OLD IS FOLTEST !!! GUYS!!! GUYS IM GOING INSANE.

[neonbutchery]

noticed something with villain designs in this game. did someone at larian have a grudge towards people with this hairstyle??? do they all go to the same evil hairdresser?????????????????????????

[youz-ink]

I noticed something looking at SQX and HX’s cards from the 4th anniversary video.

SQX has all the phases of the moon in theirs, except for the full moon and new moon. HX has either the full moon or new moon on his. Their cards complete each other!! Beefleaf real!!!!

[takemetodragonstone]

in succession 2x08 dundee when logan says “the past is all made up” i really do think that’s the thesis of the entire show btw.

like, the roy kids’ conflicting memories of their childhoods that are never clarified through any kind of flashbacks or confirmation, the entire fucking cruises scandal and the coverups of major crimes, kendall’s accident and how he even tries to rewrite the past in the finale (“that didn’t happen. I made it up”) as logan so often did in both big and small ways (from denying his knowledge of the cruises crimes before congress to small moments of “I told you this already” and “did I even make contact?”)

the fucking poem Dreamsong 29 by John Berryman that all the season finales are named after. this is just the last stanza:

“But never did Henry, as he thought he did, / end anyone and hacks her body up / and hide the pieces, where they may be found. / He knows: he went over everyone, & nobody’s missing. / Often he reckons, in the dawn, them up. / Nobody is ever missing.”

And we never have real confirmation that logan did know about cruises because the characters (minus kendall) deny it to the last. but we know. we keep our plausible deniability because we don’t know, but we know. the show essentially makes us complicit in the same way that the characters are. most of them don’t know that he knew, because they never had any explicit proof, but as kendall says in season 3 “C’mon. We knew.”

the narrative continually shows us that logan “keeps a watchful eye over his whole empire” with perhaps the best example being how he buries the evidence of kendall’s accident and manslaughter at the end of season 1. that’s a very clear parallel to the cruises situation and that’s so skillfully and subtly woven throughout season 2 when the cruises scandals are coming to light and kendall is still reeling from the accident and his guilt.

and all that’s not even touching on the whole matter of ATN and the debate over how involved logan really is in what news stories and political views his network pushes (which could be a whole separate post of its own). very similar to how the cruises thing is handled, the line is always that logan isn’t involved, while the narrative shows us otherwise.

there are a million other examples both big and small that i could pull but this post is already such a disorganized mess. someday i’ll write an essay about it i swear, or maybe somebody else out there already has, but i just needed to point out how brilliant and subtle the show is about this as i’m rewatching season 2

[soren-apologist]

i wonder if the reason soren can cast magic silently is because of his dragon blood

it’s canon that soren doesn’t actually verbalize his incantations when casting thanks to the fact he was taught magic years before anyone ever bothered to help him learn how to speak, hence the “silent master of winds” moniker. heck, we even see it during lucia’s execution cutscene where soren is visibly mouthing the words for elwind but is entirely inaudible.

considering no one else can apparently do this (based on how the silence staff works, and ignoring the fact that those also affect soren because of gameplay reasons), i’m curious as to what exactly makes soren so special. it’s possible that the sage that taught him magic was the one who gave him this technique, but since soren never mentions him also being able to do this, he may have just figured out how to do it himself since the sage apparently never bothered to teach him how to even speak to begin with.

it’s a given that branded will have unique abilities based on their laguz parentage, but it’s only really ever expanded upon with micaiah, who can heal others at the expense of her own health, read hearts, and has the ability to see events in the future. meanwhile, the only thing we really know about soren is that it’s implied that he has a perfect sense of direction because of scenes like fe9 chapter 17 where he mentions knowing exactly where he was in the burnt serenes forest when even ike was getting confused, as well as it offering an explanation for how, exactly, he was able to track ike all the way to crimea with nothing but a vague memory and a dream.

with that said, i propose that being half-black dragon, the most powerful variant of laguz on the continent, grants soren two other abilities:

1. draconic heart-reading

2. unusually high magical talent

the first thing isn’t really relevant for this specific topic even though it does offer a reason why soren is so “empathetic” despite how prickly and misanthropic he is, but the second gives a possible explanation for how he was able to develop that sort of unique ability at such a young age. (it also gives an in-universe reason for why soren, a teenager, ends up a significantly more powerful mage than characters like calill and bastian who both have decades of experience over him, but growths > bases isn’t exactly important here either lol.) silent casting could just be something soren who was already considered a magical prodigy was able to create all by himself, but i’d argue it’s plausible that if his dragon blood wasn’t directly responsible for him being able to do it, then at the very least it’s the reason why he was so adept at magic to begin with.

to be more specific on that last point, it’s important to keep in mind that laguz heritage not only gives unique, non-beorc abilities, but also affects any sort of natural talents the branded may have. stefan is an incredibly talented and adept swordsman because of the naturally high strength and skill of a lion, while micaiah is a poor combatant but excellent healer because of her heron blood, who themselves are pacifists entirely incapable of fighting but instead heal and energize their allies. as such, black dragons have unusally high magical stats despite their breath attacks using strength, so i’m willing to bet that if one were to use tomes in combat instead of transforming, their solid magic and skill along with their high resistance would make them formidable opponents. those 3 stats are actually all ones soren happens to excel in, so i believe that it wouldn’t be a massive stretch to claim that black dragon blood grants its owners a natural gift for casting magic.

to sum all this up, while i do think it’s possible that soren is literally just so good at magic he was able to pull a toph beifong and invent an entirely new method of casting, it could still be a result of his dragon blood granting him unique abilities— and honestly, with all the bullshit he had to endure just because he has that dragon blood, giving him special powers is the very least it could do for him.

[902186]

thinking about kurapika and chrollo and parallels and this circle of horrors where they are the victims AND the tools of their fates.

they both think they are neither or more like they don't care about it at all. they don't see themselves as victims, and they see absolutely no other way to live other than this role they took upon themselves. kurapika had such a strong sense of identity and what he wanted to do with his life and understands himself perfectly at all times. he was a part of his clan, but he was more an individual than anything else. kuroro, on the other hand, never knowing, never thinking what his motives are, deliberately not understanding himself and desperately holding on to the spider. he can't be an individual but with others, he can be the spider.

and for both of them, it all started on vengeance. kurapika abandoned himself in order to become a tool, a weapon, to avenge his clan, and to collect scarlet eyes. he stopped being himself and became his people. kuroro didn't know his family, didn't know where he actually came from, didn't know who he was or what he was supposed to be. so growing up in meteor city, he held on to his people strongly. and in order to avenge and protect his people, he would become a tool, a weapon, he would give himself to them. he started being himself as he became his people.

kuroro could be something for his people. and kurapika could be nothing for his people.

kurapika took on the role of judgement for vengeance. kuroro took on the role of villain for vengeance. kurapika acted his part by diminishing everything he was, and kuroro acted his part by filling up his identity with it.

but one thing stays clear and fixed with them throughout it all. they would do anything for their people. for whomever they consider their people. "he'll put his friends before his mission." a weakness kuroro sees in kurapika so quickly and so easily. but the same thing he considers a strength in himself. "i am not your top priority. it is the spider that must be kept alive." as long as his people are alive, his identity will live on. and as long as kurapika is alive, his people’s identity will live on.

"now you will get to experience the pain of losing your home." kuroro (and the spiders) killing the kurta clan set this parallel in motion for himself as the circle began for kurapika. and (speculatively) kurta clan hurting his people was what set the circle in motion for kuroro, too. now thinking about where they are in the story and how their end could be, it is very clear that they are finally ending up in a place where they mirror each other (as they have from the beginning) and they can recognise it in each other and themselves. kurapika ending up empty after his mission and kuroro ending up empty after losing spiders. both of them purposeless and with no self left outside of it. in a way, this is how the circle ends. "i can hear that he accepted death." they walk with death every day with no fear and full acceptance and after losing the only thing they live for, not even something they hold on to because they don't see a point in being alive outside of the fact that they must keep going for their people, for their purpose, and if not then there's no reason to exist, they are meaningless.

kuroro's vengeance left kurapika all alone, with everyone he knew dead, and feeling hollow at the end. by fate, he ended up all alone, with everyone he knew dead and feeling hollow at the end.

and at that point, they will have to start a new page and build a new self for themselves.

[serenedash]

BONSOIIR. I HATH A REQUEST

Vanitas and his Unversed playing UNO, OR Just straight up gimme ur Vanitas headcanons. make him a feral lil guy >:)

he's losing (there's going to be an uno unversed now)

[julesnichols]

I think it would do us all good to remember of course that Shaw saw the photo of Root in the library, declared finding her her hobby, declared that next time she saw her she'd shoot her and "not in the knee" implying she meant something more lethal, and then shot Root in the shoulder instead

[theladysherlock]

"That sword is two centuries old! Your father-"

"Can't help us!"

...

"Sorry, Father," he whispered, and threw the ancient saber as hard as he could into the forest.

If I only get one (1) scene that I get to guarantee is in any adaptation of the first book, it's this one. It's so important to me I'm going to scream.

The sword is a precursor to the scroll! The sword is a precursor to the scroll!! Even before he met Deryn, he's throwing away his family and his history for his own survival. This is why the sword scene is crucial. Throwing away his father's ceremonial sword so he doesn't die is foreshadowing for him throwing away the scroll so he can live the life that he wants!!

[not-cool-enough-to-scuba-dive]

actually I would quite like to hear your thoughts on gender philosophy in omegaverse worldbuilding? :3

hm. anon, I fear this is a far larger can of worms than you probably anticipated. I'm going to spare you the worst of it by only giving you a short version, but be careful what you wish for.

I'm also hiding it under a cut because even the short version is embarrassingly long.

I'm hardly a connoisseur of omegaverse content, nor would I consider myself anywhere near an expert. I don't want to speak for all fics as I've admittedly not read many. I did do my master's diss about legal gender recognition, so this is more about gender and philosophically sound worldbuilding than an indictment of any particular writing or story tbh.

the short answer is I find omegaverse worldbuilding really interesting, but I've never fully been able to enjoy it due to the way a/b/o identities tend to have a biological determinist slant to them imo, and tendency for a lack of real world implications of what the omegaverse does to gender and character interactions anywhere outside the bedroom. I'd love to figure out a version that's more inclusive and philosophically/ideologically consistent, both with itself and with my own views on real life gender (basically, I want to make it make more sense, have less biological determinism, and be more inclusive of the wider range of human experiences). this is a big task, and ngl I haven't achieved it and don't anticipate doing so any time soon. I have like, a concept in my head, taking apart all the key pieces and putting them together again but different, but to make it thorough enough would require more effort and time than I have because I'm like, employed 😔

I feel like someday if I ever get invited to a powerpoint night though, this could be It.

[star-critter]

Star-Critter has officially snapped. I have gone insane. Out of all the disturbing things I have learned in this world, trying to comprehend octopus anatomy has sent me over the edge. What the fuck is this. WHAT THE FUCK IS ANY OF THIS- Dear Gaia I can't believe I still want a degree in zoology right now this shit is FUCKING INSANE. I am speechless. I am done. I am taking a break from my research and drawing for the rest of today. For the first time in A VERY LONG TIME, the animal kingdom has truly left me horrified.

[tacktheyak]

oh, I have a headcanon/theory that rocky horror and teen beach movie are in the same universe. might post more about that later

[flying-ham]

spot the difference😔

[lavampira]

the way I’ve fixed my outline and written ~500 new words for this almost 2 year old wip since last night because my oc finally decided to speak up. anyway. consumed by mindrien pining angst hours are upon us

[scionshtola]

i logged out early tonight so i could write and then i did not even attempt to do that. i am however in bed at 10:45pm so i think that’s a win