#I'm Black and I Travel

[dol--blathanna]

Thinking a lot about Orym choosing a rabbit when asked what animal he would pick if cursed with lycanthropy.

Because, it makes sense. Orym is small, quick, agile, jumps well, and is highly perceptive. That definitely evokes rabbit imagery. But a lot of Orym’s identity is also tied up with being a protector – giving people AC bumps, the shield being as much a part of his fighting style as his sword, even his title: Saviour Blade of the Tempest. He wants to be a “Shield that protects Exandria”; his priorities about saving the gods are less about the gods themselves, and more about protecting the people of Exandria from the unintended consequences and bloodshed of releasing Predathos. And it would’ve been very easy to pick a large, strong predator to try and evoke the sense of a protector – a wolf, for example, an animal associated with loyalty and protecting its pack. Yet Orym chose a rabbit.

And I think that’s interesting, because rabbits are often seen as ‘cute’ animals – but they’re also a prey animal. In fact, they’re a common food source for many animals across several ecosystems: foxes, wolves, wild cats, dogs, birds of prey like eagles or owls, coyotes, stoats, and humans (and that’s just off the top of my head). Rabbits are skittish, easily frightened; to be rabbit-hearted is to be timid or cowardly. They are not generally associated with fierceness or prowess in fighting. Mice and rats are prey animals too, but typically seen as vermin (rabbits are sometimes seen as vermin too, but a farmer could eat a rabbit – they wouldn’t eat a rat). Deer are prey, but they have hooves and antlers that bring a danger to hunting them, for any animal – the difficulties of hunting rabbits are more related to their evasiveness, speed and good hearing than any life-threatening danger they might pose. Rabbits are, first and foremost, prey animals. They are killed and eaten, so that another animal might live.

Which made me think a lot about one of Orym’s other key traits: self-sacrifice. Bait and switch doesn’t just bump up his ally’s ACs, it specifically switches their place to put him directly in harm’s way. Goading attack is meant to encourage enemies to attack him instead of his friends. He literally made a deal with a hag, essentially exchanging his own life for power to protect his friends. How many times has he gone down in a fight? He’s not the only tank – but unlike Ashton (and Chetney, who also uses ‘self-sacrifice’ in his fighting style with his blood curses) he has no abilities to reduce the damage from the hits he takes (barbarian rage and the werewolf form).

(Side note: I think it’s pretty interesting that Chetney, the wolf, has attacked Orym, the rabbit, more than anyone else when losing control. That Orym’s facial scar was given to him by a friend, not a foe).

Of course, Orym isn’t the only character with self-sacrificial tendencies (FCG wins by a landslide), but I just can’t stop thinking about how weirdly perfect it is that he chose a rabbit for his animal. Rabbits are prey animals. They are eaten, so that other animals may live. Orym takes the hits, he goads and switches with his team mates to put himself in danger, he makes a deal with a hag at the cost of his own life. He’s a soldier, throwing his life away for a cause over and over again because Ludinus must be stopped, because Keyleth has put her trust in him, because it’s the only way to protect his friends, to protect everyone, because it’s the right thing to do. Orym is a rabbit. He’s always been a rabbit. That day in Zephrah, it could have easily been Orym who died instead of Will and Derrig – “unfortunate but necessary sacrifices”, as Ludinus viewed the attack. It’s unfortunate they had to die, but it was for the greater good, according to Ludinus. It’s unfortunate that a rabbit has to die, but it will feed a family of foxes, or stoats, or even a hungry human, so it’s acceptable, right?

Orym is a rabbit. He is giving himself to a greater cause that could very easily kill him – he already willingly signed his life away to Nana Morri. Because that’s what rabbits do. They die to feed others.

And the theme of being disposable is present across the entire group, not just in Orym – Bell’s Hells has been called a “party of NPCs” before. Aside from FCG’s death, I’d say Laudna perhaps fits this theme the best: she was literally murdered and hung from a tree simply because she looked similar to Vex, acting as a warning to adventurers she had never met before. But FCG’s death was – rightfully – viewed as a terrible tragedy by the group. Laudna’s decision to remove Delilah, finally freeing herself from her abuser and emphasising she is more, and deserves to be more, than just some disposable puppet – this was rightfully viewed as a very good thing! But Orym seems to be embracing this identity of self-sacrifice instead, rather than this mindset being properly challenged or acknowledged as a bad thing. After all, there’s no time. There’s too much at stake. Keyleth, Bell’s Hells, all the memories of those who have died in this fight, all the people who might die if Predathos is released and kickstarts a second Calamity – they’re all relying on him, right? A rabbit feeding so many animals with his sacrifice. And it’s not malicious compared to the way that, say, Delilah killing Laudna was an incredibly evil, fucked up and unnecessary thing to do. If Orym died to save everyone else, well, at least everyone else would be saved, right? Saving lives is good, isn't it? How could he complain?

Because rabbits are prey animals, and Orym is a rabbit too. Destined to die so that another animal may feed.

Except, that’s not true. Rabbits are more than just prey. They’re highly social, and thrive best living with others. They’re playful, they enjoy running around and kicking their legs just to show their enjoyment. They’re inquisitive and mischievous, even being associated with tricksters in some folklore and stories. They’re also associated with innocence, playfulness, spring, youth – all manner of things, depending on the story or culture. And they’re not helpless, either, even if they might be thought of as such. They can bite and scratch and draw blood quite easily if they want to! In fact, freezing up isn’t their only response when being attacked by a predator, they are known to fight back if cornered. They can sprint quickly, they have excellent hearing and senses of smell, they know how to evade predators.

Rabbits are prey, and they are also survivors. They have their own social dynamics, their own habits and dislikes and preferences. They are more than just a wolf’s meal. And Orym is more than a soldier, too. He’s more than a “necessary sacrifice”, he’s more than just a shield and sword. He deserves more than to die for a cause. He deserves a happy ending, just like everyone else. I hope he remembers that.

Orym is a rabbit. And the message isn’t that he shouldn’t be a rabbit. It’s that rabbits are worthy of surviving, too.

[szynkaaa]

I love that in the JTTW source material, Sun Wukong is never shown any romantic interest towards anyone and does occassionally make fun of Zhu Bajie and his escapades, but it's still very clear he loves the people aroud him. We love an aroace monkey king.

But I also really really really love that Black Myth Wukong adds their own twist and gave both Sun Wukong AND the Destined One (or rather his past reincarnation) love stories?? Sun Wukong has the tragedy going on with the White Bone Demon, he struck her three times to kill her (granted she did try to eat his master LOL), but he was never able to let her go and it is one of the many reasons why he wanted to leave buddahood behind and reject the celestial court.

With the Destined One, it is heavily implied in the game that the 4th spider sister was married to the previous Destined One (can I also add, excellent taste monkey, 10/10 I would marry her too), but obviously the prev Destined One carried on with his quest and well, probably never returned lol.

Anyway, I think it's a nice touch that each Destined One isn't just another reincarnation on a quest trying to become the new Sun Wukong, and that they can fall in love and get married too. The game doesn't tell us much about the Destined One's personality, with him being a silent protagonist so it's nice to see details like this.

[wintr-wandr]

Artwork of Bargello that I made for Project Path Action.

[veroinfaciem]

... who could that be? 👀

[sixteenthtry]

It hasn't really set in yet that I'm gonna have to watch half the mcr tour from my phone screen while I'm waiting for my concert. I'm vibrating from excitement months in advance.

[pillowbugs]

month of emmet, day 11: photo

wedgehurst station, june 2000

[noirandchocolate]

Okay a bunch of people on my dash are posting their old art and I want to butt in because I have a funny comparison because I drew the same characters in pretty much the same composition like 15 years apart.

Here's a screenshot redraw of the Almighty Tallest from 2020:

And here's a drawing I did of the Tallest in I believe 2005, possibly 2006? It might be even earlier than that because I've had multiple computers since then (so the "modified" date in the file properties might not be correct) and I cannot read the date I typed on the bottom corner because the picture is too small:

In my defense I drew that interior background with a janky trackball mouse. In NOT my defense, I absolutely drew one Tallest on paper, scanned it in, did the lineart, and then flipped said lineart to get the other Tallest (as if that wasn't obvious). I also followed a tutorial for how to create an exploding planet using Photoshop, and cut the spaceships out of screenshots to stick them onto the exterior background!! 8D;;

I used to draw a lot, but fell out of the hobby because of job taking up all my time and energy loooollllslakfjsalkdfjsalkfj oh wellllllllllllll. But I had a lot of fun making art while I was still doing it.

PS for @firefly-factory here's a Lord of the Rings/Silmarillion dragon I drew in 2004, just because:

[celestialseawitch-ff]

🌹😘

The doors slammed shut behind them. 

“I can’t believe that just happened,” Hermione breathed.

Sirius turned and began to walk away. 

“Sirius, wait!” 

He kept going.

“Padfoot,” she hissed.

Sirius froze. He spun around and pinned the witch – his betrothed – with wide eyes.

“Please, don’t run off.”

He grabbed her hand and tugged her through the house. He shoved her into a closet and slipped in behind her. A magical light floated above them.

“A closet?”

“No one ever goes in the closet,” Sirius returned. “We have house elves for that.”

Hermione’s head tilted. “Clever.”

“Not the only thing I am, sweetheart. But something tells me you know that?”

“Don’t call me sweetheart. And yes. Sort of. I’m from the future.”

“I know. But I didn’t know you knew me. God, don’t tell me you’re my daughter. That’s fucked up even by our standards.”

“Ew! No. I’m a muggle-born.”

Sirius stared at her. “Does my grandfather know that?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. Alphard said they’re going to claim I’m the daughter of a pureblood squib. I don’t know much beyond that.”

His head cocked to the side. “Huh. We knew each other?”

She nodded.

Sirius’ eyes narrowed. “You called me Padfoot.”

“Padfoot, Moony, Prongs… Wormtail. We had the map at one point.”

His lips twitched in amusement. “We?”

“Me and my best friends. Ron Weasley and… Harry Potter.”

Sirius’ grey eyes flickered. “Interesting. I can’t get you home.”

Hermione sighed. “I know. I didn’t ask for this. I never would have said that line if I knew it would have ended here.”

Sirius frowned at that. “Line?”

“In genere providit pudicitiam tutandam esse, eique omnino gratuita.”

His eyes widened. “Who taught you that?”

She raised her eyebrows at him. “You did. You told me to use it if I ever fell back in time.”

“I- what?” Sirius shook his head. “Did I say anything else?”

“Just to use that. Oh! The crest.”

“Crest?”

“This one. Here, on your arm.” She touched his forearm where she knew the tattoo was hidden beneath his robes. “It was your first tattoo. You were ten. You have it, right? And a few others. There was a paw print and leaves. Lots of flowers.”

Sirius stared at her with wide eyes. “You can see my tattoos.”

“Yes.”

He leaned closer. “You have no idea what that means, do you?”

She looked up at him with wide eyes. “What does it mean?”

Sirius kissed her. Hermione squeaked in shock. He pulled back and stared into her wide brown eyes. Sirius opened the closet door and fled.

[every-sanji]

[spigosaur]

I'm currently rewatching nightmare time and right now I'm watching Daddy and- I had totally forgotten that Ted is in that episode and that we do see him die in the nmt2 timeline. And it happens on the day of the honey festival. You know what that means? Pete says he's gonna miss the honey festival because of abstinence camp. Pete is going through everything happening at abstinence camp just to come back and be told that his brother was murdered while he was gone. That scene in abstinence camp where Ted is taking Pete to idontwannabang? That's the last time nmt2!Pete ever sees his brother.

[quaranmine]

i just went to bed, then 15 minutes later got out of bed and turned the lights on, grabbed a pencil and sticky note, and began frantically calculating my total possible annual leave between now and December 2025. Again.

just in case anyone is wondering just how meticulous and obsessive i am over future travel and time off

[heich0e]

Ooh will you pls walk us through your perfume/body wash/lotion collection?

fun fact i actually use gentle/unscented body products so all of my body wash/soaps/lotions/etc are not (or are negligibly) fragranced! my derm put the fear of god into me abt how it can irritate your skin, and since switching years ago i just haven't gone back! i like that it makes whatever fragrance i'm wearing smell cleaner and less muddied too. (my shampoo/conditioner/other hair product is fragranced so that still has a scent, so does my deodorant, and my laundry detergent. w that many scents happening on a regular basis i feel like there's rly no need for scented body cleansers imho.)

[localclownbaby]

Hi there! 👋

'Bout that reincarnation sebaciel fic. I've just posted my first translated chapter which is a prologue! 🎉🥳

Short summary: Post-Canon, ciel is in love with sebastian and kinda gets to travel time and space with the help of a supernatural being to test his true feelings and preconceptions after the contract is technically completed.

Not a native speaker so if you have any notes please send them my way I'll fix it. Hope more people get to enjoy the original work!

[justapathetic-humanbeing]

Woke up in a cold sweat after a dream with Ruikasa and realized that this world needs Torpe/PianistKasa x BloomfestRui.

I'm not going insane. (tags for more ig)

[chiropteracupola]

okay hello everyone. Does anyone know anything about what kind of hat it is that Tharkay has.

[dixidin]

[MAJOR FOR GENSHIN 5.2]

I nearly kms when Capitano revealed his face