#The recent conflicts?

[800db-cloud]

i’ve been wanting to do this since day one

[diamond-rozie]

Nightwing's car guy

Dick was doing well to establish himself in Bludhaven. He had an apartment, it was shitty but it was his. He had a day job as police officer, half the people there were in the cartels Nightwing was trying to crack down on, and the other half were in the cartels Nightwing was still trying to trace. He had his suit, still bat-grade, blue instead of the red, yellow, and green Jason got to wear now.

He did't have a cave. Or maybe it should be a nest because the whole bird thing. Burrow? What was the thing owls lived in called? The point is he made due without it. He had his apartment, and he had his supplies stashed away. It wasn't as much as in the Cave, but he didn't have Cave-funding. He could make due.

He didn't have an Oracle in his ear. But that came with the added bonus of not having a Bat either. He could do his own research, find his own information. And it wasn't like he and Babs were totally cut off. It was just only a little weird, because she was technically his ex. Sure she would be in his corner, but she was still his ex. He needed to save some face. Especially since he knew that Bruce and Babs liked to... talk. He could make due.

The only thing Dick was maybe, sorta, just maybe having a little trouble was with his bike. Well it wasn't his bike, it was Nightwing's. Which was precisely the trouble. He'd found a place to stash it, but Dick had never been a car guy... or in this case a bike guy. He would chase his rouges, speeding through the streets, and sure the bike was made for the tight corners and quick turns and the high speeds, and sure it could take a hit or two. But what about three or four? Or five?

Point was Dick needed a car- a bike guy. One that was cheap (he was only a cop), and knew how to not ask questions and keep his mouth shut (again- Nightwing's bike). All that on top of knowing enough on how to fix his bike. (it wasn't exactly the type you could find in store).

But the solution seemed to find him. Which Dick was aware was not generally how it worked, but he would count his blessings. He had been out on patrol, the type that had involved his bike and high speeds. Unfortunately it did not involve the perp in handcuffs and on his way to jail. Dick had been on his tail, could've had him too, if the bike hadn't started sputtering. Dick had done as much as he could for it, but she really needed a pair of eyes that actually knew what they were looking at.

Mumbling curses to himself, Nightwing had been ready to head off to at least catch a dust trail of what operation he'd find himself in next. He could feel the eyes watching him. His hair stood in edge, and when Nightwing turned to look around he couldn't see anyone. Maybe he was being haunted. Trying to arrange his bearings, Nightwing turned back around to get on his bike. When there was suddenly a mop of choppy black hair couched down next to it.

Nightwing blinked at him. How had he managed to get there? "Uh, something you need, man?" Nightwing asked the boy, totally not freaked out.

The boy- teen, he was only a year or two younger than Dick- looked up, large blue eyes staring. As if it was odd for Nightwing to have addressed him. It took him a moment longer to realize that the bike was, in fact, Nightwing's. "You need to change your [important engine part]." He pointed lamely, standing up to his height of only a hair shorter than Dick.

"How do you know that?" Nightwing asked before he could think of the danger the unknown person might pose.

"That's why it was making that sound. It'll put too much pressure on the engine so it won't be able to go as fast it would be otherwise. Which, I take it, would cause you problems." he tipped his head in the direction the rouge had run off in.

Nightwing considered it for just a moment, not wanting the perfect opportunity to get away from him. "Do you know how to fix it?"

The guy looked almost offended, "Yeah."

"I'll pay you." Nightwing jumped at the opportunity, "If you fix it."

Any normal person would've said no to a guy dressed in bullet-proof spandex with a blue bird on his chest and a weird mask. "Sure." He shrugged easily, a glimmer of excitement in his eyes as he eyed the vehicle. After a moment, "Name's Danny, by the way. You'd probably need to know that." Danny eyes his suit, "Who are you, like, blue-jay?"

"Nightwing." He corrected easily, his name hadn't made the streets yet.

"The Robin reject?" Was Danny immediate response, eyebrow arched up in amusement.

"The what?"

Danny grimaced, the laugh never leaving his face, "Ooh, sorry. Touchy subject?"

"I am not a Robin reject." Dick couldn't tell this civilian that he was Robin. Had been.

Nightwing's bike ran better than it had since he had moved to Bludhaven after Danny had gotten his hands on it. And Danny's payment of ("i don't trust ur money, just buy me food") lunch had been a steal in return. Maybe next time they should go somewhere a little nicer.

Because the bike was doing so well, after Danny fixed it.

Not for any other reason.

[kithj]

some stories are written precisely to elicit strong emotions from the reader INCLUDING negative ones. some stories and characters are meant to be upsetting, they are meant to challenge you and make you uncomfortable!! when a story makes you feel Big Feelings sometimes you are meant to sit in those feelings and ask yourself why! fiction is a great space to explore these emotions in a safe environment. you, as the reader, are meant to think critically about the art you are enjoying and that includes asking yourself questions like why has the author presented their art in this way and what are they trying to tell me. and then you get to have fun picking it apart and figuring it out and deciding what, exactly, the art means to you.

[ocelhirapilled]

somehow i still dont know how to draw him

[jonsnowunemploymentera]

Something that’s always missing whenever people talk about Lyanna and the Kingsguard at the Tower of Joy is that these things should always circle back to Jon Snow. He’s our main character here. Rhaegar and Lyanna, as well as the Kingsguard, are all dead. They were dead before this story began. This tiny section of text is meant to give color to Jon — who is alive, and whose story is currently unfolding. The events at the Tower of Joy, told entirely through Ned’s fever dream for a reason, essentially serve as one thing: fantasy protagonist myth building 101. Three wise men, a legendary magical sword, some of the greatest knights of an era, a dying queen lady, the end of an age, a dead prince, a dead king, and then here comes a soon to be completely orphaned prince whose life hangs on the balance and whose survival depends on the compassion of one lord and his wizard friend. GRRM is literally retelling King Arthur’s backstory through Jon. This whole thing is one giant literary allusion to Uther and Igraine and the boy king Arthur, to Lancelot and his Joyous Guard, to Guinevere, and to tragic romances. It reads as an ode to Arthurian fantasy and is meant to backdrop the main protagonist’s fantastical origins. The Kingsguard are there to play into that. Their presence at the Tower, in that moment, was never about Lyanna; not solely, anyway. Their presence is tied to Rhaegar’s last surviving male child, and the language used suggests that they had chosen their king, for better or worse. Any discussion surrounding the Kingsguard’s presence at the Tower that focuses on anyone but Jon completely misses the point imo.

[luckthebard]

I just had a lightbulb moment where I realized that a huge part of what never ended up fully clicking for me about the story in C3 is it kept telling me things without effectively showing them.

[devilart2199-aibi]

I'm done holding onto these...

ShockOp brain... I'm obsessed 😩💔

[demekii]

Arthur you need to shave!!!

[dandelionbeforesnow]

Yes, perhaps the prophecy shouldn’t be fulfilled.

Ik-soo pretty much just told Yona to gather the Four Dragons because it’s her destiny (or something). Right up until Zeno pulled his shit, there wasn’t a peep about the other parts of the prophecy.

And thanks to Zeno, we also learned that Yona wasn’t even the original recipient of the prophecy!

Hiryuu was given the prophecy directly by the Dragon Gods themselves.

Please remember, these gods are not the nice sort. The gods don’t care about the mortal realm or humans. They only cared for Hiryuu. And they want him to come home.

Yona dying and returning to the heavens is a distinct possibility, and is pretty much in line with what the gods want!

The prophecy doesn’t even guarantee peace or a happily ever after.

What is the prophecy even about? And why should we want it fulfilled?

The Final Arc

Are people really surprised that Akatsuki no Yona will come to an end soon? What more is for Yona to do than resolving the issue that continued for about 2000 years? She know is aware of the feelings and secrets of most of her friends (Zeno, the dragon warriors, Hak) and opponents (Soo Won, his followers, Keishuk ect...)...The countries around Kouka are not that much of a problem anymore...

Still....the first image, where Yona is already the Queen of Kouka....the dragon warriors seem to have vanished and I do not see Hak either. Is Soo Won already dead in that time? Is it a definite future or something Yona can still change?...The way how it appeared that this Yona who is already queen seemed to tell the story...

Maybe the prophecy was not supposed to come true...

[queenaeducan]

Idk if there'll ever be a line that failed to live up to its potential more than, "They called me the Dread Wolf. What will they call you when this is over?"

[bornetoblood]

thought too hard about Walter's callsign being different while he was actively piloting so here's that

[sun-marie]

BG3 has two of the most thoughtful, unapologetic, no holds barred depictions of men with abusive female partners I've every seen (Wyll + Mizora and Gale + Mystra), which is so rare to see in any media but especially video games, and some of the Larian writers seem determined to convince me it was 100% by accident

[verdemoth]

ok anyway. Spanner time!!! funny lil mirror-dreamworld false-sun snake autism changeling. Of all my flondon/sskies characters I think they're definitely having the most fun, they are just thriving and vibing forever. The High Wilderness is a playground full of such interesting flora with a lot of fascinating stories to tell!

After aging out of the Regiment gang, Spanner and Kerry spent some time on zailing crews. In the High Wilderness conflicts they pretty quickly sided with the Tacketies. Adaptable and surprisingly effective, they proved themselves very useful to the cause, albeit quite eccentric. The duo earned their shared position, after a few attempts to utilize their skillsets on separate crews proved that - as much as they tend to egg each other on in making impulsive reckless decisions - not having the other to balance them out creates disasters much worse for everyone involved!

Text Transcripts:

In the top left are some quick details. In the style of other Fallen London characters, Spanner's epithet is 'the Incandescent Mirror'. Spanner uses they/them mostly but also any other pronouns, they're around 20 years old and around 5 feet 6 inches tall. They're not human, but a mysterious one-of-a-kind Parabola hybrid. Their role is as co-captain of a Tackety locomotive.

Near the main illustration are these notes: "Spanner's penchant for wearing blue is a holdover from the uniforms of the Regiment, the urchin gang in which they grew up alongside their adoptive brother Kerry. Kerry is the other captain of their shared train, Spanner's best friend, and the basis for their human appearance."

Above the two panels of Spanner hissing with a cat is this note: "Cats and Spanner don't tend to get along... Felines always seem to recognize the 'Parabolan serpent' in them, and no amount of negotiation has ever convinced a cat that Spanner has absolutely no allegiance to any fingerkings. And no connection at all, probably."

The last notes are next to the illustrations of Spanner with their inner metalwork and sunshine showing + Spanner chatting with plants: "Beneath the human veneer is a skeleton of metal, glass, and cosmogone. Their body is malleable and fluid, able to take on new forms at will. Spanner's been 'human' for most of their life, so they're very used to and comfortable with this shape. Their first and other default resembles some sort of constricting snake. Anything radically different than these requires a lot of study and practice to convincingly mimic. They don't inherently know where the joints should be."

"Even when not visible, Spanner is constantly exuding cosmogone radiation. To humans, it's a little chillier than true sunlight. To plants, it's about as good as or better than the real deal, and fungi benefit too. It vastly enhances their growth, and they draw closer to hungrily feast on the raw energy. Spanner is content with this, given their fascination with all flora & funga."

"Through an innate, automatic ability to Absorb Ambient Vibes (taking in residual, surface level feelings/emotions/senses around them), Spanner is uniquely able to communicate with plantlife. They are VERY excited to be in the Reach, where growing things are so abundant, although... Reach flora tend to be quite intense and volatile, flourishing aggressively and clamouring for the slightest hint og sunlight. In Spanner's hands, a verdant seed becomes a bomb. Not that this will stop them from greeting the local greenery =)"

End of text transcripts.

[iinryer]

strike’s over time to post weird little doodles from this summer

[scarapanna]

[WIP] Some more updates!!!

I've been quiet recently, but got a bunch of stuff in the works for y'all!!

I'm still working on those paper puppets for a little project regarding intertwined opposites (Possibly one of the most ambitious things I've ever worked on so far) and found a proper way to introduce that new au I'm working on!!

Here are two more paper puppets for the big pmv

And a few sneak peaks for the new au!!

(Doodles+notes alongside a silly little meme with a sprite edit of pewpaw)

I'm working on an info post for it, progress has been slow however since I wanna prioritize the pmv again (Started it on june, stagnated a long period, and went back to work on it. I'm dead set on finishing it this summer AND stubborn/silly).

[Personal reminder: Beetle stop starting wips when you're already busy/silly]

[kaurwreck]

the below is excerpted from Ivan's conversation with Satan in The Brothers Karamazov, Sec. 4.11.9 (The Devil. Ivan Fyodorvich's Nightmare):

I, for instance, demand simply and directly that I be destroyed. No, they say, live, because without you there would be nothing. If everything on earth were sensible, nothing would happen. Without you there would be no events, and there must be events. And so I serve grudgingly, for the sake of events, and I do the unreasonble on others. People take this whole comedy for something serious, despite all their undeniable intelligence. That is their tragedy. Well, they suffer, of course, but...still, they live, they live really, not in fantasy; for suffering is life. Without suffering, what pleasure would there be in it—everything would turn into an endless prayer service: holy, but a bit dull. And me? I suffer, and still do not live. I am an x in an indeterminte equation. I am some sort of ghost of life that has lost all ends and beginnings, and I've finally even forgotten what to call myself. [...] Mephistopheles, when he comes to Faust, testifies of himself that he desires evil, yet does only good. Well, let him do as he likes, it's quite the opposite with me. I am perhaps the only man in all of nature who loves the truth and sincerely desires good.

oh, so bsd!fyodor isn't a christ figure. he's a satanic figure, as projected by ivan karamazov. which makes sense, considering everyone calls him a demon. and how he behaves. and his role as an instigator and adversary. and his schism between selves. and his comment that perfection is boring because he can't observe man's karma through perfection. and his aspect on earth as a parasite incarnated in and through those who've killed. and that he suffers but does not live. and that time he convinced ace to hang himself. okay.

(natsume is a buddhist, and also a cat, for whom there is levity and significance in embracing the absence of inherent existence and nature. so i can understand, now, why V was so concerned with him in The Untold Origins.)