#Varya rambles

[varyathevillain]

thinking about how the scene where Izzy shoots himself and misses isn't actually just about "haha, see, he's not dead, he just missed", it's about how it is about Izzy Hands dying. it's about how old Izzy Hands, the toxic, tragic image of a golden age pirate, is dead; it's about how he had to kill the part that was perpetuating the horrors and the abuse to save the crew.

had he not done that, Izzy Hands wouldn't have been able to get up on the deck, because old Izzy Hands would have to abide by the rules of common sense and reality. he'd have to die tragically at the hands of the man he loves. he'd have to rot for what he's done. but he does the one thing that he wouldn't in season 1: he becomes part of the crew, and that crew never abided by real life logic. Izzy Hands climbs to the deck on one leg with a poorly treated festering stump and stands as tall as he can, in the most unrealistic fashion, and he lives.

[cottonsoriginalcharacters]

At times, you just gotta hold onto your bestie for dear life and kinda cry about it.

Jerrik and Varya's relationship is complex. At times, they're the best of friends, at other times, each other's rival. Sometimes there's romantic undertones with them, at other times there's nothing but platonic intentions between them.

Jerrik loves Varya since she tells him how it is and she tells it to him straight. Varya loves Jerrik because he's honest with how he's feeling 90% of the time, and when he isn't for that 10% she knows there's a reason behind it.

They're probably the closest out of my OCs, even closer than Jerrik and the mother of his son.

[macethelaboratoryrat]

Finished Reading the Idiot

I'm not sure if I like it... but I also love it?? It's so interesting and complex, and I feel like even the stuff I dislike about it has a lot of meaning.

Below is a lot of rambling, so I feel like I need to put the cut here so that the post isn't too long. And since the cut is here, I can say: Spoilers for _The Idiot_ ahead!

First off: not enough Nastasya Fillipovna. It feels like she's described very frequently, by characters and the narrator in a way that demonstrates that she has a deep and interesting character. But her character choices after part one are repetitive and redundant, in a way that makes her character seem much more shallow than it was initially presented.

Secondly: Not enough Rogozhin. I love Rogozhin, he's my favorite character. He's so strange and interesting. I'm not sure I like how mysterious he is, like how he follows people around, but I think that's a personal opinion. (sidebar: everyone is taking the whole love question like it's life or death and I found that very silly *most of the time*) It seemed like he went to prison completely alone, which was really sad. There was something very lonesome about his sentence and him being sent off. There's something very lonesome about Rogozhin in general, despite his "band" of friends or whatever.

I suppose it was good for Dostoevsky to remind us that this whole time, Myshkin is not good nor morally righteous. I think him being "innocent", sickly and "cute" gave off the sense that he could do no wrong. And then he opened his mouth. First with the ranting about Catholics, which was hateful. And then he betrayed Aglaya. So it was a good reminder.

I'm so sad about the Aglaya thing. I didn't think I liked her as a character. Unlike Nastasya Fillipovna, who is presented with depth and proves to be somewhat shallow, Aglaya Ivanovna is presented as a shallow character (the pretty one, without any other virtues) and proceeds to be a very deep and complex character. The point being, I love Aglaya and I feel like she was mistreated, not only by Myshkin, but by her family as well. I don't think this is the Epanchins' fault, I think they were just trying to help and support her. I know Myshkin had better intentions, and he tried to make amends, but he was so committed to her, and he promised he was committed to her, and then essentially abandoned her at a critical moment. This was especially hard for Aglaya because she struggled with her feelings so much-- we can see that by how aloof she is, and how she constantly denies him. I don't necessarily think they should have gotten married, but the way she was treated wasn't fair. I think if Myshkin really was the pathetic little sick boy, who was unrelentingly submitted and in love with her as he presented, and as everyone thought he was, they could have been good together. I feel like we are made to believe, and the characters suggest, that prince Myshkin is shallow, hollow, and childish. In a sense, his character is merely babyish and cute, and his only weaknesses are his stupidity and his illness. But that isn't true. I don't think saying Myshkin has "a dark side" is an accurate description, but he definitely in a grown man, and a realistic human, who is flawed just as an adult man is.

Everyone seems to be running around screaming and then we have Varya and Ptitsyn. I love the normal couple who just decided they were fine being a normal couple. They're just regular people and I love that for them. Varya has such a level head with all this madness.

I thought the hedgehog bit was so funny. Of course Kolya showed up with a hedgehog, that's such a Kolya thing to do. And it wasn't even theirs. What happened to it after everything blew over? I don't know. A hedgehog.

I love Alexandra Ivanovna. She's so funny to me. She doesn't even want to get married. She's just chilling and she's so cute.

Ippolit attempted suicide and everybody said he faked it and did it for attention. That hurt my feelings.

The meaning of life... anyway

I was surprised by the murder, which seems silly in hindsight, given there's always murder. I was actually slightly disinterested through most of the main conflict, because the "who marries who?" didn't interest me. Anyway, that was sad too.

Rogozhin and Myshkin. Their interactions are so interesting. The tension between them is always so high. I love when they interact. I'm struggling to find words to describe it.

Back to Nastasya Fillipovna, I feel like they dropped a lot of her character development after part one. Even Totsky disappeared like it wasn't important.

Why does Lebedev insist that his infant child was born in lawful wedlock? No one asked him. Now it's suspicious.

I'm not sure I know what a "fancier of the female sex" is. Is that a womanizer? A male slut as it were? Because they ask Myshkin if he is one, and he says "no", and I was thinking "haha gay" or whatever. (I know that's not what he was referring to). Anyway, I just shrugged it off until the gathering at the Epanchin's where one of the guests was "a fancier of the female sex". Just wondering the difference between that and a typical heterosexual. I assume it refers to the extent... anyway, small detail, not particularly important.

Again, I wasn't necessarily invested in the tension over their romantic relationships. I haven't made it over to _The Idiot_ tumblr yet (I had tags filtered to prevent spoilers), so what I'm about to suggest is probably already there, and already well tread upon: Nastasya Fillipovna x Rogozhin x Myshkin. Yes, the three of them. I think it would be better if Aglaya stayed out of it. The three of them are a mess and I think they should be contained.

Wild how they made General Ivolgin a tragic character. That was interesting.

This one felt personal, I will say that. It definitely had things to say and... it said them. I think it reads as being very sensationalist, which makes sense because it's a commentary on sensationalism. *my interpretation. The idea of appearances, and not wanting to be "ordinary", but not wanting to be "eccentric" either. I did appreciate the "people will go out of their way to be 'not like other girls', even when they are like other girls. Case in point: Ganya" (inaccurate quote). It was also really a call-out.

I appreciate _The Idiot_, I definitely find it interesting. None of this is meant to read as "this book is bad" or "this character is bad", but more to share my opinion on reading the work and what I gleaned from it. I'll probably read it again. While I was reading it, I was having trouble concentrating, which has nothing to do with the novel itself, just that I may have missed something. I still like TBK and C&P better, because I find the topics more interesting. But yeah, still a good one.

[young-vannois]

Listen, I do have plans to write. ore Official and In-Depth story lore but goddamn I wanna ramble now so we’re doing Cliff Notes while High!

- varya! THIS guy goes by the title ‘His Eminence’ cause he united several clans under one and blah blah blah but now he’s decided to start an empire

- he wasn’t always this way

- he was just some farm kid who survived a raid and wanted to end the conflict

- quickly grew from folk hero to savior in a matter of years

- but he’s been so lost in the politics and back stabbing of court that he’s lost sight of who he was

- has started wondering about uniting all of sornieth bc he realizes the peace he thinks he’s brought means so little

- not your classic sadist villain but he’s certainly something. One of those villains that’s driven by a ‘good’ cause that ppl go wild for.

- STEFAN

- this character used to be a classic edgy vampire and now… he’s an edgy vampire (classic? debatable)

- turned vamp against his will but killed his master and escaped

- was practically feral when Varya dragged him from the woods

- got offered a job from varya but the kind of job you cant turn down? (varya: what no, im not a bad guy)

- actually wasnt too bad… he got a nice room, fresh animal blood, and varya was pretty nice after that

- creeped out by everyone in court. he’s still not used to being around people and prefers to hide his face

- caught wind of varya changing for the worse early

- grew suspicious when varya mentioned wanting an heir

- stefan wasn’t opposed to possibly carrying a child for varya but he’d never talked about kids ever

- finally learns that varya wants an heir to rule his future empire and this is where he Canonically demands stefan call him “your emenince”

- figured out varya’s closest advisor memnoch is going to help varya conceive an heir via some magic ritual shit

- steals the egg(s) and runs off into the wild to keep varya a little further from power

[varyathevillain]

if it's "required to read", then they should be posting these comics as an in-game first day content within Dragon Age: Dreadwolf, the way that Genesis was with the Mass Effect series. voiced version of The Missing interspersed with background information on the world that allowed you to build your own previous DA protagonists? that would at least be something I'd be willing to pay the predicted exuberant price of Dreadwolf.

Article that was retweeted by BioWare: 'The Missing Comic is Required Reading Before Dragon Age: Dreadwolf'

Dragon Age: The Missing is the most recent story in Thedas and poses all new questions and plots for the final showdown in Dragon Age: Dreadwolf.

[source and full article]

[consumedkings-archive]

Carry Your Throne, pt. 9

Title: Carry Your Throne

Pairings: Roman Sionis x Original Female Character, possibly others down the road. This is going to be multi-chaptered!

Chapter Summary: The gang gets unexpected visitors; Roman and Ilarion continue their pissing contest.

A/N: So it's been a hot min since I was functioning enough to actually write something worthwhile. Hopefully this chapter will make up for it! Thank you again (always) to the incredibly lovely @empirics who has, on more than one occasion, suffered through my nonsensical 1AM ramblings about these dumb idiots even though she doesn't know anything about the BoP fandom. She also consistently edits my dumb shit and turns it into the polish you see now. ♡

I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! I had a real good time writing it and and even BETTER time writing the next one, so I hope it shows!! ♡♡ Oh, and if you're wondering what song is playing in this next scene to really immerse yourself - it's the Swan Lake, Op. 20, the waltz.

Warnings: Blood, swearing, implied attempted sexual assault. A lot of blood. Did I mention there's like, a lot of blood?

Now, as they parked and climbed out of the car, Roman found he didn’t have the stomach to walk through the club - if he did go, he would inevitably be stopped. Everyone needed him there. What he needed were answers from Varya--assurances that this dumpster fire of a contract wasn’t really what her brother was bringing to the table, that this was either an elaborate prank or a promise that she’d had no knowledge of in the first place.

“He’s a fucking nutjob if he thinks this is how things are going to go,” Roman hissed to no one in particular, but mostly to Zsasz. “I’ll fucking show him. I’ll fuck his sister, I’ll take his guns, and I’ll light his dumbfuck contract on fire while I do it.”

[varyathevillain]

gonna keep thinking about how Gabriel went back to straightening out his posture and a certain booming and superior tone to his voice when he got his memories back... until he looked at Beelzebub. and then he crossed hands over his chest, breathed out, music kicked in... and it's as if a weight fell off him: his whole body became looser and less rigid, his voice turned oh so soft, even his face shown the way we only saw from Amnesiac!Gabriel - open and happy and in love with the world. in this case, his whole world. absolutely fantastic acting from Jon Hamm to convey just how much Gabriel's love for Beelzebub meant to him, how it breaks his shell of official pompousness immediately.

[varyathevillain]

who people expected to be an ineffable husbands honorary child before trailers: Muriel

who people started to expect as an honorary child after trailers: Gabriel

who actually was the child they bickered over the most and had the most parental feelings towards within the series: ...Bentley

[varyathevillain]

Ancient Rome Sidequest Mapping

here's a post of something interesting I've found ages back, and posted on (X)Twitter, concerning the Ancient Rome Sidequest. needed to save this because I am nuking/closing my accounts there.

this is following Sasha and Grizzop's path step by step, and how, back then, the GM mastery made my jaw drop.

when describing the room (or more like a hall) in RQG126, it's mentioned being lit by braziers, and that Zop and Sasha fall down onto a mosaic floor, the same one which is broken in present time. the closest imagined restoration of the Ancient Rome including intricate mosaic? Domus Transitoria. It was Nero's first palace, which, according to Seutonius, spanned all the way from the Palatine to the Esquiline, and according to historians had floor and wall mosaics, and in these times mosaics were restricted to only being on walls and floors. when the palace was replaced by Domus Aurea, mosaics were instead placed onto the vaulted ceilings, changing the art of future and partially influencing future mosaic art. there is also a 'gardened avenue' towards temples, which fits the path Sasha and Grizzop take. not to mention that Templo di Apollo lies *very close* to Domus Transitoria (the previous statements are backed up by following articles, in Italian, because I couldn't find English ones that didn't butcher the things I wanted to show)

romanoimpero.com/2020/05/domus-transitoria-di-nerone.html https://romanoimpero.com/2010/09/tempio

they get into a temple district (temple of Diana and then down the Palatium towards Aventinus, with actual real life temples somewhat applicable to the ones we hear about in the podcast), and that's how they figure out that there are still corresponding gods in Rome. the distance between the temples described? that they 'don’t have any sort of distance between them, next to each other on the streets', unlike the modern ones; which makes sense as Palatine Hill is very... compact in the building placement, even in ancient times.

there isn't much left from the actual temples except from preserved ruins by Italian archelogists, but there are skilful, artful depictions of how temples could've looked like in ancient times, for example temples of Apollo and Cybele in Palatine:

then we get to see the untouched Servian wall, which is then magicked by whoever is in charge (I don't think we get to know if that's just the Mars people, or several sources, or something else) to protect the city.

(Servian wall is in black here)

Servian wall is the first defence of the city of Rome, constructed around it in the early 4th century BCE. later on it would be succeeded by superior Aurelian walls; but by that moment in history (late 3rd century AD) in RQG that city did NOT exist as a bastion anymore. then, after they visit the temples of 'Pluto' (meet Cicero) and Mars, all three of them through the districts with human population, which corresponds to the parts close to Forum Romanum, also where, coincidentally, real life Cicero resided for some time!

and then, Cicero takes Grizzop and Sasha down into the sewers, which makes perfect sense because that district is where the Cloaca Maxima goes through!! there are several historical suggestions about how the system was formed, from an open air canal into underground sewers. BUT! that isn't what is interesting to us! what is interesting is that the passage partially connects the temples, which makes sense, because in this case temples are also in need of water system for the non-godly treatment of their residents and patients.

and then the three of them move towards the underground part/inner workings of temple of Jupiter, which, in fact, completely corresponds with position of the temple of Jupiter Stator!

depicted here in yellow, information of it referenced per this article

per "Rambles in Rome", the temple of Jupiter Stator, vowed by Romulus when his army was fleeing before the Sabines, if Jupiter would stay their flight; hence the name. "Romulus built a temple to Jupiter near the Porta Mugonia" (Dionysius, ii. 30). It was restored by Scipio, A.U.C. 459 (Livy, x. 37). It was in this temple that Cicero made his first oration against Catiline (Plutarch). Cicero says that here the goods of Pompey were offered for sale.

Rambles in Rome, as referenced

and the temple of Jupiter Stator like a light walk away from where the Colosseum would stand. only there is no Colosseum. there is the domed hall in which the big Mars vs Jupiter battle happens, the other part of which they can't even see, being underground and so far away. then, as dragons escape and Sasha and Ciciero are free to go, they trace their steps back out the Cloaca Maxima until they reach dead end and have to reach outside to gatehouse near Pons Subilicus (the temporary bridge dated ~1AD), just outside Forum Boarium

and that's why when they get out of the sewers they can 1) see the destruction of the walls 2) see the destruction of the palace in which Grizzop and Sasha were dropped 3) be only steps away from going away from inner city, while also technically being on Rome territory.

they have also, in my opinion, crossed Tiber afterwards and started going Northwest, because after some time it's mentioned that people flocking to necropolis, which, at that point, were on Trans Tiberim/more North and closer to Vatican/Campus Vaticanus, ergo, on the other side of Tiber.

"The Vaticanum, or Campus Vaticanus was originally a level area between the Vaticanus Mons and the Tiber. During the Republican era, it was an unwholesome site frequented by the destitute. Caligula and Nero used the area for chariot exercises, and renewal was encouraged by the building of the Circus of Nero, also known as the Circus Vaticanus or simply the Vaticanum. The location of tombs near the Circus Vaticanus is mentioned in a few late sources."

I am not in any way shape or form the One and True source on this, and will gladly take critique from people more versed in the topic than I am; this was made originally for my personal use, and then I figured out hey, this is really interesting! and also I wanted to save this for everyone else who used this for their musings/fics.

[varyathevillain]

hey you all. been busy with work (got an actual physical job instead of my usual freelance from home), fandom works (old and new) and playing No Man's Sky when not working on either of previous two, but maybe I'll finally come back to social media now that I'm not an intern on the stable job and have a bit more actual free time.

a lot of you will probably unsubscribe when I start posting about my current main fandom, but that's a risk I am willing to take. if it's holding my mental health together, it goes on the fucking blog that I am doing for myself.

anyway. hope the lot of you are doing well.

[varyathevillain]

as someone who got said bad boys (the ineffable husbands and the ineffable bureaucracy ones) - THEY'RE AMAZING. highly recommend to all my Good Omens mutuals and followers! here are some pictures of mine, no editing.

the paper is nice and doesn't fold on itself easily, colours pop exactly like on their digital versions, and you also get autographs from afrych, who is a wonderful artist whom you should praise and, if possible, commission. this was a good present to myself I must say 💜

These bad boys are up for sale on Etsy now!! They are really high quality and I’m absolutely in love 

Yay, go check them out at https://www.etsy.com/shop/afrych  

the photos are b a d, but the prints themselves look exactly like their digital versions

[varyathevillain]

Happy 8th Birthday, Rusty Quill Gaming! 💛

[varyathevillain]

"he - she - they - cool hat" mugs picture, but it's Gabriel, V2, V1 and MDK

[varyathevillain]

happy RQG finale second anniversary from my timezone, dearest fandom.

[varyathevillain]

here's how Samuel Bellamy can still appear in Our Flag Means Death [points @ nonsensical red string board where the only words you can figure out is FRENCHIE = PRINCE OF PIRATES]

[varyathevillain]

the fact that I'd currently feel safer at Hawke's (Amell) family estate, in a city constantly besieged by dangers from templars to demons to blood mages to qunari and general madness, in a world that is almost constantly in a state of slow (post-)apocalypse deterioration, says a lot either about me or the state of the current world. or both!