#and it will be a hard choice to make

[edwardsdeathcabcd]

i've said it before but it will forever and always make me insane that jacob's ending is to join the cullens for the sake of bella not having to give anything up. they find out jake will be immortal & tied to renesmee forever, so bella gets to smile & say "my family is finally complete! ^-^" but jake already HAS a family. he has a father and 2 sisters. quil, embry, seth and sam are like his brothers. jacob and leah were planning to run away together. he's always been welcome in emily's home, sue has been a family friend since before his birth. bella abandons her mortality by choice because she feels no connection to the people around her, but jacob has really strong bonds. it's clear that every character we meet in la push is like family to him, he's an active member of the community. jake would've graduated high school and been a mechanic, would've grown into a young man. a good friend, a fun uncle, a present son. he's set up to have such a rich life. and he's just magically compelled to give that up. beyond his control, he loses sight of everything, because his high school crush's baby is now the singular most important thing to him. he's perpetually 18 with his perpetually 18 year old girlfriend, running around vancouver or alaska or wherever with the girl who friendzoned him at 16 & her in-laws (who were antagonistic to him for months). and i'm just supposed to say omg yay now he doesn't have to let go of bella! everyone is happy! it's complete madness

[heartorbit]

figure skating set right now please. thanks

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Not beating the allegations.

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[mossy-rock-in-a-field]

Several weeks ago, my retirement-age mother requested that I play Baldur’s Gate 3 for her because she has trouble with controllers/keyboards and wanted “to see what all the fuss is about with that cute wizard boy.” For context, my mother and I have done this sort of thing in the past with certain RPGs (dragon age, mass effect, etc.), but it’s been a few years since she’s personally requested a game like this. Basically, I control her Tav but let her make all the choices so she can determine how the story plays out without worrying about mechanics. She treats it like a choose-your-own-adventure book.

Anyway, here is a list of some of the things my mother has said and/or chosen to do throughout the course of BG3 in no particular order:

She is (obviously) romancing Gale. She is quite smitten with him and his passion for books and learning; she also thinks he’s polite and qualifies as “relationship material.” She also REALLY likes the things he’s said about his cat so far (my mom is a cat lady), so I know she’s gonna flip shit when we meet Tara in Act III.

She’s playing a normal druid Tav with a generally good alignment. Her favorite spell is Spike Growth because she thinks it’s hilarious whenever enemies walk into the AOE and die. I usually end up having to cast it at least once per battle per her request. Sometimes twice.

Contrary to her alignment, my mother tasks me with robbing every single chest, crate, barrel, and burlap sack we come across; this also includes people and their pockets. The party is always at max carrying capacity. ALWAYS. She doesn’t like selling things because “what if I need them.” The camp stash is in literal shambles. There is no hope of organizing it. She’s got like fifty seven sets of rags and a billion pieces of random silverware.

She MUST talk to every animal and corpse in the game. I think five hours of her total playtime so far (47ish) has been spent speaking to animals as many times as humanly possible. Like, I was thorough in my own playthroughs, but this is on a whole other level.

She did NOT get Volo’s lobotomy, but she did let Auntie Ethel take her eye in hopes of a cure for the tadpole. I did not understand the logic then. I still do not understand it now.

She is far more interested in fashion than equipment stats. Do you have any idea how much gold I’ve had to spend on dyes just to make things match? SO much. Same vibe as that “please someone help me balance my finances my family is starving” tweet but instead of candles it’s thirty thousand fucking bottles of black and furnace red dye.

We broke the prisoners out of Moonrise, but they got on the boat too early and bugged the fight by leaving Astarion and Karlach behind. Wulbren Bongle somehow got stuck in combat mode even after engaging the cutscene on the docks below Last Light; he he kept trying to run ALL THE WAY BACK TO MOONRISE nine fucking meters at a time while I frantically tried to finish the fight with the Warden, otherwise Wulbren would have run straight into the shadow curse. (I would’ve let him go; fuck Wulbren Bongle, all my homies hate Wulbren Bongle. But my mom didn’t know that, and she wanted to keep him safe. So.)

She had me reload a save like eighteen times to save the giant eagles on top of Rosymorn Monastery. Wouldn’t even let me do non-lethal damage just to get past things. I think getting that warhammer for the dawnmaster puzzle took us like an hour and a half alone. (Yes, I know you can use any warhammer, but SHE didn’t.)

She’s started keeping an irl notebook to keep track of her quests between play sessions. She writes down ideas and strategies when she thinks of them during the week, then brings them to her next game session at my house. I think she wrote about three pages on possible approaches to the goblin fortress alone.

She insists that I pet Scratch and the owlbear cub before every single long rest, no exceptions. Sometimes I have to do it multiple times until she is absolutely sure that the animals know exactly how much she loves and cherishes them. She has also commissioned a crocheted owlbear plush from a friend of hers and is very excited.

I’m sure there’s a bunch of stuff I’m forgetting, but those are some fun things I thought of. She’s enjoying the game and is telling all of her retired friends to get it and play it for themselves. She asked me “what is Discord” yesterday and I think my life flashed before my eyes.

anyway shout out to my mom for being neat

Part 2 — Part 3 — Part 4 — Part 5

[bevioletskies]

Being with you is what I do for myself. THAMEPO HEART THAT SKIPS A BEAT (2024-2025)

[magicpiano]

Bruce Wayne had a child that was somehow kidnapped right out of the hospital just hours after being born. He of them ever stopped looking despite how cold the trail had grown.

Years later there is some rouge attack and a civilian child was injured and taken to the hospital. Bruce does a DNA test on the blood found at the scene and concludes that the child is actually his long lost kid.

Dani was planning to sneak out of the hospital the moment the doctors stopped looking at her. Then Bruce Wayne of all people comes in and claims that she is his long lost child. She knows that this is very impossible because she is a clone, but Bruce won't listen to her and she really doesn't want to explain the clone thing to a "normal" stranger.

This does brings up a lot of questions about how Danny ended up living with the Fentons though.

[flowersforthemachines]

Thinking about Rook and Harding's relationship through the lens of Varric's death like. It's crystal clear it has a big impact on Lace - she's angry and distraught in its aftermath, has to psych herself up just to approach the ritual site ("You need to do it, Lace, it needs to be done"). When Rook suggests that she can use her powers to protect people, the first thing she thinks about is that she could've used them to protect people who mattered to her.

But she sees none of that in Rook. Rook comes across as standoffish at best. "Varric knew the danger." There's no in-game chance to reach out to Harding to share that grief, talk about how it affected them.

But it's not like Rook has to do that, right? Maybe they are not that kind of person. Maybe they grieve, but they don't show it, maybe Harding realises she and Rook just aren't as close as she thought they were, and that kind of stings, but you know. What can she do?

But then things happen in the plot. Weisshaupt happens, Shathann, Cyrian. There are so many chances for Rook to express how sorry they are about someone's passing, the loss of life (and Warden Rook especially does not just observe loss, they experience it and don't have to hide it). Harding sees that Rook can reach out to friends in difficult times. They attend the funeral with Bellara, comfort Taash when they need it. They can grieve, and they can help someone through grieving.

And there's that certain feeling of misunderstanding, maybe a hint of resentment, that Harding, a people pleaser, wouldn't dare to confront. What can she say, even? Why are you mourning all those people and not our common friend? Why not Varric? Why not Varric?

Then, she either dies, never finding out the truth, or finds out the truth so late that the rift between her and Rook has become so big they can't just fill it in. She can't undo the way she had been feeling, feeling about something Rook had no idea about. Tricked by Solas, manipulated to think that Varric was alive. Robbed of the chance to grieve a friend together, time lost forever.

[askfordoodles]

Emmrich finally elaborates on the no-meat diet thing

[mobius-m-mobius]

Lokius + never saying goodbye

[lhunuial]

I think this sums it up quite nicely.

[scribefindegil]

Thinking again about how many disabled people end up getting shunted into art/craft work because like. You can technically do it. Sometimes. Yeah you make a pittance at best and are almost certainly going to make your physical health worse by pushing yourself to get things done, but what else are you gonna do? You're too sick for anyone to hire you. You're "not sick enough" to qualify for benefits. Just devote every scrap of time and energy you have to a chronically underpaid, low-prestige, incredibly labor-intensive industry. A few people manage to make it work with luck and help and the right skills. Many people don't. Everyone gets pressured to monetize their hobbies, but it's especially insidious if you're disabled because any tiny thing you manage to accomplish to bring yourself joy gets twisted into proof that you should somehow be able to work.

[pigeonpalacade]

This review always struck me as something Adam would say

[novelconcepts]

Thinking on how the surviving Yellowjackets are present for one another’s deaths and talk themselves out of culpability. Thinking on how Lottie’s distraction contributed to Travis’ death, how she continued to believe and insist she didn’t kill him. Thinking on how Misty’s injection resulted in Natalie’s death, how she continues to distance herself from fault. Thinking on how Lottie is now dead. Thinking on how Taissa might have been there, but not in control, how that might feel like she wasn’t responsible even if her hands did the pushing. Thinking, thinking, thinking on how they learned this early. We didn’t kill Jackie; the cold did. We didn’t kill Javi; the lake did. We weren’t going to shoot Ben; the Other was. Thinking thinking thinking on how impossible it is to forgive yourself for heinous actions (or inaction) if you refuse to admit to it in the first place.

Thinking thinking thinking on how Natalie was the only one to fully accept the knife in her hand, the blood on her skin, the choice resulting in a man’s death. Thinking on how she came the closest to actually healing. Thinking on how she, from the start, refused the blinders the others need to survive.

[isbergillustration]

Look Deeper

[opens-up-4-nobody]

:-0

[jessicas-pi]

me: *writes a meta, posts it hoping it'll get a little bit of notice possibly?*

Selene: *meta's right back at me in a reblog so hard that i have to sit and stare into space for a minute or two because You. You Get It.*

I didn't think about it until you put it into words, but now that I do think about it, the idea of holding on vs. letting go is, like... kinda the core theme of this AU? At least one of the core themes. I might need to write a part 3 meta about that. No scratch that, I'm definitely writing a part 3 meta about that. because I don't think I can even scratch the surface of that idea less than 500 words at least. Stay tuned for that one~~~

Oh. Oh. Oh, man. Yeah, that's---ok I may go off on a tangent here. forgive me. I'm a little bit nuts about this.

you're SO RIGHT about Sabine thinking it could go on like it is. Like, in this AU, Sabine is never going to have a Denial Phase. She's become too in-touch with her own feelings for that---though she was hardly out-of-touch with them before, really. Sure, she's going to ignore things. She's going to avoid talking about things. But she'll never be in denial. and maybe that's why it's so scary, really, for her to hear the truth from him. Because when he says nothing, she can ignore it. But now he told her, and she can do her best to forget it, but it's still there. It's in the open. And when it wasn't in the open, she can believe that there's only the one outcome, the one where they're always friends and nothing more, because if he hides it, that means he thinks it'll go away someday, right? But then he's dying, and he tells her. And every possibility opens up right when their story seems to end. And she can't and she WON'T deny it. But she wants to believe nothing will change, and when he dies, she knows nothing will ever change for them.

But then he comes back.

And now there's this other Ezra. And his relationship with Sabine isn't what it had become in the last minutes of the first Ezra's life. Not in a bad way, but in a... well, a different way.

Buuuuuut that's Ramble Part 2 stuff, so I'll save it.

I'm so so glad you liked this and thank you so incredibly much for taking the time to meta right back at me!! It's such a delight to hear your thoughts on my thoughts and i'm sitting here and kicking my feet happily about it. (And it's really a relief to know that it's not coming off too strong! I'm really trying to take it slow through the fic but all my other slowburns have crashed and burned in a gasoline fire of getting-together-ages-before-they-were-supposed-to and this fic has already had a love confession so i get paranoid. lol) Also thank you for giving me even more thoughts about this because i think i may need to write at least 2 more rambles after this conversation XD

The Time Heals 'verse meta, part one: take two!

First, some explanation. A few days ago, I decided to spontaneously post a meta about my fic. Then I overthought it, decided it was Absolute Garbage and erased it from the face of the earth. What was I thinking? Beats me! I slept for like three hours the night before, I don't take responsibility for those actions. Anyway, three days ago someone mentioned to me that they were actually interested in it! So, last night, with my ego boosted and my hubris restored, I hunted down the reblog the post got before I deleted it, and I reread it, expecting to cringe. And I was like "Hey, wait a second! This isn't garbage! In fact, this is fairly mediocre!" And so I copied it into a document and edited it up just a bit it make it even mediocre-er and now I'm reposting it. Because I can. And because cringe isn't dead, but I persevere nonetheless.

So here we are, right back where we started!

Let’s try this again, shall we?

(Warning: this post will Massively Spoil plot points from the Time Heals 'verse.)

So this meta has been brewing in my brain because, in writing the Time Heals 'verse, I had to think a lot about the relationship dynamic between two characters who will never ever sit down and talk about their feelings until something absolutely forces them to. And having all these things thought out, but knowing that they'll mostly just be subtext and that I'll never be able to outright explain the nuance behind their relationship in the narrative, is absolutely killing me.

It's also been circulating in my thoughts because it occurred to me as I was writing this, just how fundamentally different this fic is from all my other published Sabezra fics. Because in those fics, it either picks up at a point in time where the Feelings Realization has already happened for Sabine, or where the realization happens midway through, and she's doing the Feelings What Feelings thing before then. But the Time Heals 'verse is a slowburn. The Feelings aren’t THERE when we start off. Their relationship is complicated and deep and changing and full of messy feelings that they Will Not Discuss…

…and it all starts with The Line.

You know. The Line. From The Scene. The Line That Was Never Quite Revealed. THE Line.

That one? You know the one? 

No?

Well, then. Let's talk about it!

(Hold on tight, folks. I'm about to go absolutely feral.)

He said something she couldn’t or maybe didn’t want to understand, and she held on tighter, trying to memorize the sound of his voice.

she doesn't want to understand it!! the Feelings Realization moment, the Feelings What Feelings denial phase---neither of those exist in this AU, because for Sabine, right now, those Feelings aren't there. And that's why she can't, why she doesn't want to understand it. because until that moment, he didn't want her to understand it either. it was unspoken and it was ignored. And that was the way it was supposed to be always. He would hide it and she would ignore it and it would fade and go away (it would, it has to) and when that happened, some day in the future, they could forget it ever existed and be happy as friends.

But Ezra is dying.

There is no future.

So there's nothing to hide anymore. And he tells her. And in the kindest world, she could say it back to him. Maybe, somewhere inside, she wants to say it back to him (it's all she can do, he's dying and she can't save him, and he is so very dear to her, the least she could say is me, too) but she doesn't (he is so very dear, but in a way just different enough that me, too would be a lie, and he is too dear to lie to) because she can't.

But he didn't tell her, expecting her to say it back. He's not asking for a “me, too.” Ezra knows there's no me, too. He tells her because he's dying, and to Sabine, it is her dearest friend slipping away in her arms, but to Ezra, the one holding him is more than dear, so terribly much more (You don't know. You're holding me to your heart and you don't know. You might not hold me if you did.) so he tells her because he has to. (I'm sorry. Please don't let me go.)

Sabine holds him tighter, and does the only thing she can do for him.

“Yeah,” she murmured. “I know.”

(But I do know. I knew it before I took you in my arms, you see? It won't make me let you go. It never could.)

Four words from him.

Three words from her.

That's all.

But they say so much more than that. Because he loves her (there! I said it! Because maybe Sabine can't even bring herself to think about it, but I can, and I do!) and she loves him (she does, you know. painfully so.) but it's a different kind of love (and that matters) but it doesn't matter because he is dying in her arms, and in that moment, they realize that they will never know how they would have loved. Maybe he'd have gotten over it and loved her as a dear friend. Maybe she'd have fallen just as in love with him as he is with her. They won't know what the future could have brought for them, so it stops mattering. And Sabine loves him. (But she doesn't.) But she does, and she tells him so in the only way she can. And they say so little. But they say everything.

Sabine? I love you.

Yeah. I know.

She loves him. And she holds him. When he offers his fading heart, she takes the fragile thing and cradles it close, and she kisses his bloody fingers good-bye. She holds him so tightly that when she is yanked away from him and out of the dream-place, she pulls his red-stained orange jacket with her. She never lets him go.

So Ezra dies with a smile, because he loves her.

And Sabine screams, because she loved him.