#Okay maybe true but

[bacchuschucklefuck]

soon it'll be dawn again

transcript under the cut ⏬

page 01

Fig: no way? - you're still up?

Riz: Wh– yes?

Riz: Why'd I not be.

page 02

Fig: I me~~ean - that took.

Fig: whole day.

Riz: Yeah?

Fig: 'm beat.

Riz: you should sleep.

page 03

Fig: nah. my guy's still up

Fig: I wanna hang out.

page 04

Riz: That's really nice.

Fig: Hah! - Nobody ever expects an Archdevil rockstar to be nice.

Riz: … yeah. - 's just budget work tho. (the stuff I'm working on) - I've heard it's boring.

page 05

Fig: yeah, but you do it…

Riz: It keeps things going, right? - Nothing happens if nobody sits down and - does the thing.

Fig: That's right… - though. Yeah.

page 06

Fig: sometimes it's someone else who - doesn't want the same thing to happen.

Riz: … - mm.

page 07

Riz (off screen): …It took me a long time to get that not everyone likes doing what I do. - 's probably because you guys are so nice– - or. - kind.

Riz (off screen): to anyone too, not just. - the people you /love/.

page 08

Riz: that's not how it is elsewhere. - The world's– not. hostile. - but 's not like it's kind.

Riz: So I'm doing as much as I can now… 

page 09

Fig: Hey.

Riz: ?

Fig: Go dig some dirt with me.

page 10

Riz: [blank speech bubble] - oh you meant like - actual dirt. (not incriminating information)

Fig: o yea.

Fig: there's clay in the backyard soil. - sometimes when I'm sun deficient or something I go touch dirt for a bit.

page 11

Fig: here u go

page 12

Riz: uh

Fig: now we make a thing! - 'm pretty good at freehanding a bowl.

Fig: I'll show u

page 13

Fig: just– yep, flatten that out as evenly as u can, then–! - actually ur nails'd be so good at cutting out the strip. [larger than usual space] wait. - wait. wait u can carve patterns with them! we HAVE to try

Riz: uh - What. do I carve?

Fig: anything!!!

page 14

Fig: and– yep just seal the inside uh. seam?

Fig: yep that works - okay time's up! all contestant hands up

Riz: [blank speech bubble] - okay - wh. what's next?

Fig: haha - watch this.

(sound effect text): FWOO—MP

page 15

Riz: WH– DON'T JUST DO THAT???

Fig: Now it's fired!

Riz: THAT WAS NOT SAFE

Fig: (actually it's just dry. if u add water rn it'll dissolve)

Fig: ok catch!

Riz: [blank speech bubble] - careful!!

Fig: dw no need haha

page 16

Riz (thought bubble): oh - it's warm…

Fig: now I want you to throw this.

page 17

Fig: u gotta do it - c'mon

page 18

Riz: wh– - It's like 3AM right now

Fig: oh it's not /fired/ fired it's not gonna make a loud noise

Riz: And then just? leave a pile out here?

Fig: pour water over it & it'll be gone I told u

Riz: but

page 19

Fig (off screen): RIz.

page 20

Fig: I've done all this before.

Fig: Can you trust that at least?

page 21

Riz: no, I– - I do. - I trust you.

page 23

Riz: okay what happens now

(sound effect text): glob

page 24

Fig: we do it again!

page 25

Riz: wh. [larger than usual space] What do you mean. (this clay's too wet also)

Fig: see! you're already learning

Fig: [blank speech bubble] - there are flows that are futile to fight. - The world changes.

Fig: Things change.

page 26

Fig: I've learned my lessons with "forevers". - But - as an artist

Fig: I can give you one thing: - You can always do it again.

page 27

Fig: most of everything depends on the rest of the world, - but this. - making new. - that's yours as long as you want it.

page 28

Fig: So?

page 29

Riz: Yeah. - Yeah! - let's make another one.

[unicornpopcorn14]

So we all know by now that Dazai is comfortable enough around Chuuya to show nervousness/worry.

Enough times for Chuuya to pick up on that pattern. The pattern, may I remind you, that doesn't have evident correlation to either nervousness or worry to most people. One that can even be interpreted as misplaced given the situation.

Which means that Dazai has done this in front of Chuuya so often, that Chuuya at first was hella confused, before he finally made a connection between when and why it happens. And still remembered that connection after four years of separation. Which gets us to my point:

What if this isn't the only emotion Dazai displays weirdly?

What if he has multiple unconventional patterns he displays for sadness, frustration, content, or disgust? The times he really feels them, and they become too strong for him to just deal with normally? What if these are the only times he's actually being genuine with his emotions?

And Chuuya is the only one who is familiar with them all?

Dazai would be jumping rope and Chuuya would be like, "quit sulking, let's get icecream"

Dazai hanging upside down on the couch and Chuuya going, "It's okay, mackerel. You can cry."

Dazai actually crying, full on heart-wrenching sobs, and Chuuya unironically going, "What, good news?"

It's just... comforting, for one person in Dazai's life to read him like a book. Everyone else would look at him like he's crazy, displaying wrong emotions/behaviors at the wrong time, but Chuuya knows that it's just how he processes feeling properly, and thus he's the only one Dazai can count on to put things into context and understand, which makes him display them even more openly.

Because Chuuya never shamed him for his quirks, as much as Dazai never did his.

[shithowdy]

doctors are so fucking funny; if you go in like "based on my extensive research and corroborations i think i have this Disease" they will immediately go on the defensive and ask you demeaning shit like "how do you even know this Disease exists?" but if you go in and play stupid and say "gee whiz i'm just a silly little bimbo who doesn't know a thing but i have symptom, symptom, symptom, and symptom" they will very eagerly be like "oh wow, that sounds like Disease!"

[forgettable-au]

FORGETTABLE-AU (Page 44-47)

*...

[BEGINNING] [PREVIOUS] [CONTINUE]

[marsafter-dark]

*sigh*

Inspired by a post by @batkidsaremadkids which I cannot locate for the life of me (not for lack of trying)

[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.

[blackkatdraws2]

Whenever Stanley closes his eyes, he can feel the older man's aura surrounding him. [Blank Scripts AU]

[royaltea000]

they should scissor

[art-from-within]

There’s a reddit post on r/eldenringdiscussions called “post-DLC opinion of Mohg” or smthing it talks about how Mohg would have probably been worshipped in the shadow lands and it made me hella sad

The hornsent would have had their horny heads blown off at the mere presence of Mohg because of how unfathomably based he was by their own metrics. fucking LOOK AT HIM BRO. Like, actually let us look at him. Even without the hornsent/golden order "ooh omen divine/evil" propaganda, he alone stands majestic. You could have had no context before entering mohgwyn palace and still come out of that fight thinking "Okay he was definitely a big deal".

A hornsent stands beneath him; He is tall, aloft, his wings like a roof over their world. He delivers, from every angle, the ambience of a divine lord. His drip is immaculate, his horn alignment is omen goals, his bloodboon generous with strength. He is THAT o-MAN. Mf emerges out of a pool of his own blood, blinged out, and slays tarnished trespasser with pitchfork. +100000000 aura. He walks, struts, fights like a born king/lord/god. He is proud too, reveling in the fire of his noble blood. The formless mother of truth herself plays as his godly patron; He is EVERYTHING that would have had that hornsent noble npc frothing from his mouth

I am convinced that, in the shadow lands, he would have been worshipped as a figure of divinity. An irrefutable proof of their own blessed nature. People would have kissed the very grounds he walked on, maybe even make headdresses mimicking the heart shape of his horns. He would have had it ALL, and his mother took that from him. And his father. And the world they brought after. It is tragic man.

[recents]

so we all know astarion was named after the minotaur of greek myth, who, despite widely known as the minotaur (“bull of minos”), was named astarion/asterion (“starry one”) by his mother at birth. asterion the minotaur was trapped in a labyrinth and cursed to devour virginal men and women thrown in there as sacrifices.

”The House of Asterion” is a 1947 short story by Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges that retells the story of the minotaur from the minotaur’s point of view. it’s one of his best early short stories and it’s very short, only 3 pages long. you can read it here.

borges is in my top 3 favorite writers of all time, and “The House of Asterion” obviously deserves to be considered on its own merits, so i feel slightly irreverent connecting this text to a recent video game. but i reread this short story today and there was much to think about, there were many more seeds planted in my mind in terms of interpretations of the minotaur myth and how asterion the minotaur relates to the story of astarion the vampire. i think it will for you, too.

anyway. if you don’t click through and read it, please at least read how it ends, remembering, of course, that the speaker is asterion the minotaur:

:)

[voiddaisy]

“stop calling jason todd a silly guy” has it ever occurred to you that he is a silly guy? he is FOR SURE a murderer and can be so, so cruel, but he still has his moments. he can still be killing people while quoting books he read in high school. he can still be torturing people while humming mitski songs. he can still haunt gotham while making fun of his siblings. let the guy be silly!

[ray935sworld]

So Corinna Schumacher, whose husband is literally the most legendary Ferrari driver and king/ hero/ God of the Tifosi, was in Monza, home of the Tifosi... JUST TO SHOUT AT JAMES VOWLES FOR PUTTING MICK ON THE SPOT LIKE THAT?!?!

LEGEND. YOU DROPPED THIS, QUEEN 👑

[rooksunday]

hi okay so we’re onboard with fox and his droid buddy and all i’m saying is

there’s a universe where the kaminoans weren’t quite as confident in their product and they slid one perfect android into each dispatched division, to report back on defects in the clones in the field. to protect the IP, and all that.

the AD units don’t know what they are. why would they need to know that someone else sees through their eyes? besides, all vode know they are observed from the moment they’re decanted until the moment they die. what would one more set of eyes be, after all that?

anyway what i’m saying is that, in the coruscant guard, those eyes are thorn’s.

but the force is dark on coruscant and it does strange things to thorn’s circuitry. he gets blackouts—but many in the guard experience blackouts. he should report them—he feels strongly that he’s supposed to report them and yet—but it’s probably just the weather. the job. not getting enough fresh air or laps. that’s probably it.

then thorn is lost on scipio, and all his data is lost with him.

(by that point the kaminoans don’t bother issuing new AD units. the war has firmly cemented their galactic reputation.)

time passes. then, one day that resembles every other murky day, a knock comes at fox’s door. it’s honk!, the mouse droid that adopted fox for some absurd reason, and behind him trails—

fox stares. “that’s a b1 in a trench coat.” he jolts to his feet, drawing his blaster in the same motion, and shouts, “that’s a kriffin’ b1 in a karking trench coat! i’m going to hang widget by his toes!”

the clanker dodges the first shot, and the second, and then fox yelps as honk! tases him in the shin and—

“what in haran is going on in here?” stone demands, bullying past the crowd. he stops in the doorway to fox’s office and has to take off his helmet. “i reiterate my question more forcefully.”

fox is hopping, holding onto his shin with one hand, and waving his blaster in the face of a placid b1 droid. a droid wearing a trench coat. a droid with red wings painted on the crest of its chassis.

“honk! is a separatist! arrest these droids!” fox yells. his eyes are wide and his forehead glistens with sweat. he has, stone notes, impeccable balance.

“i’m not a separatist, sir,” the b1 says. “you said they’d never take me, anyway. remember?”

it sounds—

fox’s blaster hand is shaking. “i don’t— i don’t know what you’re— stone! shoot it!”

stone didn’t reach for his blaster. he’d get decommissioned, but he waved off the troopers crowding behind him, and he didn’t reach for his blaster.

at least the clanker would shoot him in the front. stone swallowed.

“sir, i—“

“commander—“ the clanker started.

fox barked a command, underscored with a wave of his blaster. “no!”

a flurry of beeps came from the region of fox’s ankles, loud in the standoff. honk! whirred around fox’s desk and chittered at stone. he glanced at his vambrace, then honk!, then the clank— then the droid. then fox.

fox’s hand was trembling on his blaster. he could’ve shot the droid a dozen times by then but he hadn’t. he didn’t seem able to look away from those red wings for more than seconds at a time.

stone swallowed again.

he’d been wishing for thorn to come back for a long time, and now he finally understood the warning in all those tubie tales. be careful what you wish for didn’t cover even half of it.

[mikkeneko]

watching Jiang antis go, as a Scum Villain reader, never ceases to be kind of wild

[shadow-the-crow]

I think i finally understand how the Distortion works. I mean, i don’t think it’s possible to ever fully understand it, and i don’t know the whole picture yet because i don’t know what Helen will be like, but i feel like i’ve just been granted a glimpse at the lovecraftian (as in ineffable) thing that is this being.

It’s not a person and a creature fighting inside one mind. There’s no Michael clawing himself to the surface to express his emotions and get his revenge.

Michael Shelley is dead. The Distortion became Michael. It sounds so simple, yet a least in my opinion it’s hard to fully understand.

I think what provides the best metaphor is a small thing the Distortion says after becoming Helen: "without a proper mind." The Distortion does not have its own mind. It’s only a what, but in order to really exist in this reality, it needs a who. It needs a body, but also a mind.

So if i understand this right, it’s like this: Michael Shelley is dead. His conciousness is not there anymore. And the Distortion got forced into that mind, an empty mind of a dead person. This doesn’t make it human, it’s still able to understand the impossible, it’s still the thing that was created to scare and kill. But in the mind it’s living in… the previous owner’s furniture is still there. It gets the dead person’s memories. It becomes Michael, in the sense that it has to be someone. Its existence got tied to being Michael, although Michael Shelley is dead.

When Michael got "emotional", that wasn’t Michael Shelley coming through. It was the Distortion grappling with the side effects of being someone - of living in a mind with all the memories and the human emotions that a human mind can’t fully turn off, even when the thing inhabiting it isn’t human at all.

The Distortion was Michael in the sense that it was thinking with Michael Shelley’s mind. When it became Helen, its consciousness, its being stayed the same, but it needed to adapt to this new mind. It could see clearer now, realizing that the windows of the previous house had been dirty, realizing that the wirings of the previous mind had driven it to do something that it actually didn’t want to do. The throat of the Spiral itself getting caught in the spiralling of its own, borrowed mind.

[veryintricaterituals]

Okay, I'm putting on my tinfoil hat and my clown makeup. I'm officially jumping on the insane bandwagon: "Alice", Daniel's wife or girlfriend or something is Armand. She was Armand all along. That's gonna be the twist.

As much as I want old!Daniel devil's minion (and oh how I want it) I feel that it's already happened. I mean they are laying the clues pretty heavily.

"You felt free holding her hand in Paris, I wonder why that was"... And taking into account Louis' comment about his sexuality liberation in 1940's Paris in the last episode, I mean it's foreshadowing for sure. And then, the other thing we know is that Daniel proposed and she said no, immediately Armand says: "She wanted to say yes, but she didn't trust you".

I mean It's all a little too convenient. Also how funny would it be for the twist to be some character being Armand all along... Twice