#and you are in the middle of the ocean about it

[felassan]

WBUR article: ''Dragon Age: The Veilguard' creators on their new vision for the fantasy series'

Rest of post under cut due to length and possible spoilers.

“Expectations are so high — whether from the fans of the franchise or the perspective of the company — there’s tremendous pressure.” says game director Corinne Busche. “One thing I’ll say about this team: They really rise to the occasion.” [...] “We sort of lost our way in a couple of previous titles, moving away from that character-focused storytelling that made ‘Mass Effect’ and ‘Dragon Age’ a success,” says John Epler, “Dragon Age” series creative director. “This project really coalesced when we consciously identified that central aspect of the experience: the characters.” “Veilguard” puts players in the shoes of an unlikely leader to a small band of rebels — think “Oceans 11” meets “The Fellowship of the Ring.” “It’s a deeply personal experience,” says Busche. “You’re creating your own character and that might be a representation of you, that might be reflective of the kinds of choices you'd like to make.” For the first time in BioWare history, that customizability allows player avatars to be transgender and access unique dialogue options around that identity. There’s also a prominent storyline about a party member coming out as nonbinary. “I'm an openly queer trans woman — I really believe that representation matters,” says Busche. “Everyone is welcome in ‘Dragon Age,’ and we want people to see themselves and feel like they can have a heroic place here.” [...]"

"4 questions for Corinne Busche and John Epler What makes “Dragon Age” stand apart from other fantasy games? Corinne Busche: “‘Dragon Age’ is a franchise that’s fundamentally always been about this really authentic team of companions that come together to take on insurmountable challenges. It's about people. It touches on some pretty deep themes as well. Injustices. The burdens of leadership. It really is about establishing this sense of found family to take on these challenges that lay ahead.” What feels different from previous iterations? John Epler: “I'd say this version of the game is much bigger in its storytelling, in its scope. We really wanted to put you in every one of the big story moments. So as an example, it's the difference between watching the Battle of Minis Tirith versus being someone who's fighting in the middle of it. You're much more participatory in it. We wanted you to feel like you were part of these big world-changing events. You were right in the thick of it and really focusing on making the story that is so big and epic feel personal just by how you interact with it.” What sort of hero is the player character, Rook?  Epler: “One thing we wanted to steer away from very consciously was the sense of them being a chosen one because that's something we've done previously. They are the right person in the right place at the right time. But there is always a core personality to them. They are always going to be someone who needs to pull together this small but somewhat dysfunctional group and really lead them in a way that makes sense for that team.” Busche: “And it's one of the interesting aspects of each new game having a different protagonist. We do have a true blank slate, some say in ‘Dragon Age: Origins.’ I would put the Inquisitor in that category. Whereas Hawke in ‘Dragon Age 2’ has a very bespoke identity. So we kind of strike a balance between that. One of the defining properties of Rook, who they are as a character, is this idea of someone who's very competent, but as a leader, they're learning how to shoulder this responsibility.” You’ve put a lot of blood and sweat into this game. It’s nearly out. Have people already been telling you stories about how they connect with it? Busche: “Absolutely. One of the reasons that I felt so honored, so privileged to be able to join this team and work on this franchise is so rarely have I seen a game or a piece of media, for that matter, that connects with people so deeply. There's a real sense of ownership and an affinity for the franchise. It's a rare thing.” Epler: “I'll share a very personal anecdote about this game and people connecting. So I wrote the follower Bellara. Early on while we were making this game, I got a diagnosis of ADHD. So I'm writing this character who has a lot of the same mannerisms, a lot of the same views of the world, in a very specific way. And hearing people online, connecting to this character in the way she speaks and the way she interacts, they were able to point to and say, ‘That's me, that's how I deal with the world.’ And it's just such a cool feeling to have someone connect with a character you create and be able to say, ‘I felt seen in a way that I've never felt seen in a game before.’”"

[source]

[the-sun-and-the-sea]

annie cresta headcanons that i love

I feel like we talk a lot about interpretations of Annie that don't resonate with us, so I want to talk about interpretations that I enjoy! Some of these will contradict each other and that's because the possibilities are endless and that's the fun of it

I think it's a truth universally accepted that annie has curly hair. like yes she does

But if you are a straight haired annie believer then I love that too. I think what matters is that her hair is beautiful

She also has beautiful eyes sorry I don't make the rules

Any variation of musician!annie has my heart forever (I hc that she plays the piano but any musicianship at all is so awesome)

I think music in particular would be really therapeutic for victors in general

It's so important to me that Annie and Finnick have a platonic bond before they have a romantic bond

For me this is usually built after her Games but I've also seen wonderful childhood odesta takes

I also love how many Annie fancasts i have seen! It’s so cool how many different ways there are to imagine her

Playing with the career!annie debate is so fun! There’s so much nuance to work with there

Headcanons about Annie’s family life are also so fun. does she have siblings? how many? who knows? I certainly can’t decide

I have seen many many headcanons about what Annie’s full name is. I’m obsessed with them all

An ocean related name like Anemone? awesome!!

A Greek/roman name like Andromeda? love it!!

A name where ‘Annie’ comes from the middle, like Savanna? so cool!!

Also so many headcanons on what she names her baby. They all offer such cool insight into her character and i think that’s awesome

Anyway this is just some odesta fandom appreciation. I’m sure i forgot some headcanons so please feel free to reblog if there’s anything you want to add! A big part of the fun of thinking about Annie (and Finnick to some extent) is that her story is so open and there’s so much we can do with it. You are all so creative and i love what you bring to the table <3

[codenameregnar]

So maybe this is all just cope and the real answer really is just homophobia, but I think the whole Garak/Ziyal thing actually makes so much sense.

When Ziyal first came to the station, Garak was especially lonely, this is around the time him and Julian had started growing apart, and there was finally someone on the station who was at least partially Cardassian. Someone who could remind him of home, even just a little. I think he genuinely set out to just be a friend and a bit of a father figure to her, especially since her actual father sucks so bad. But Ziyal is young and impressionable and shes never really had anyone just be nice to her with no ulterior motive (other than Kira, different hc tho lol) so when you combine that with her weird and mixed up feelings about Dukat, of course she ended up wanting to be more than friends with Garak. And initially I think he’s kinda creeped out by it (I mean he’s 30 years older than her after all) if flattered. Not only does he sincerely believe that he’s not deserving of any sort of intimacy, but shes so young that surely she has no idea what shes signing herself up for. But christ, he is so utterly lonely. And one thing about Garak is he is absolutely incapable of not devouring every scrap of softness and comfort that he’s given, even if he hates himself for it. And he also realizes that she needs that comfort just as much as he does. That shes in a very similar position to his. They both have no one. And in that way she makes him feel so much less alone. The cherry on top of all of this being that he now has a new way to piss Dukat off. So he allows a relationship to form between them. Because he genuinely cares about her, and he needs her.

Idk, I just think they work really well together actually. They’re just two people cast adrift in the middle of the ocean, holding on to each other so as not to drown. And I think they did love each other if only for that shared experience of loneliness and the respite from it that they provided for one another. Whenever I see posts about how he only ever viewed their relationship as a familial one, I can’t help but think that thats not the whole picture.

[daisy-mooon]

Portraiture;

Portraits of the Emperors, and what those portraits mean to them.

Portrait Three - Lizzie

Lizzie is older than written history itself. Granted, she spent hundreds of those years, maybe even millennia, at the bottom of the ocean, but that doesn't change the fact that she is irreversibly and unforgettably old. 

They have archoelogists at the Crystal Cliffs, a whole array of wizards and not-wizards combing through libraries and ruins. Many things changed throughout the ancient histories of the land, things she knows from living through them and things she knows from reading the papers the Cliffs are always publishing. With such frantic enthusiasm, too. They ask her for clarification on Oceanic events, and she happily provides them. Lizzie is cited on thousands of journals and books, from anything from history to language to religion and mythology and magic and even biology, although that required a lot of weird poking on Gem's part. 

But... 

Her throat catches a little as she stares at the research that Gem is presenting too her. Or rather, the fresco.

A fresco that, with a little help from an ingenious magical theft from millennia go, went from ancient Pixandria to the primitive-Codlands to Mythland occupied Gilded Helianthia, then all the way into the heart of the modern Crystal Cliffs. She is sitting at one side, and on the other is Jimmy. Both of them are children. And in the middle of them both is... their mother.

Their mother died before they were born. Lizzie swallows. Hard. She supposes that the ancient worshippers who made this fresco- Gem tells her that they were a primitive but artistic and extensive civilisation on the shores of the Pixandrian desert- did not know that her mother was dead when they painted this. But then Gem is telling her something different-

"It was painted based on a prophecy, we think," Gem says, awe flooding every depth and tone of her voice. "Isn't it incredible? They were able to capture such a likeness of you and Jimmy before the two of you were even born!"

Lizzie stares at it. Her mother's artistic, horrifically monstrous form stares back. She's never thought about what her mother looked like- she's always been focused more on the fact that her mother was dead, her titanic godly form picked apart by sea creatures before she hatched. But she now realises that this is the only realistic recreation of her mother she has ever seen, not the flimsy carvings and sculptures that were clearly based on muses. And it is too damaged to know what her face looked like.

On the way home, it occurs to Lizzie that she has never, not once, had an official portrait made of herself. Oh, she's had portraits and paintings and frescos and mosaics and sculptures, half of which are accredited to Joel. But there are other artworks of her, who aren't as careful and adoring as Joel, and she begins to feel the overwhelming seep of panic that one day she might end up like her mother, reduced to artistic fragments and nothing else-

"Would you like to make an official painting of me?" Lizzie asks Joel tentatively. 

It is the dead of Mezalean night when she asks this, and they are both awake. Joel blinks at her. He looks adorable like this, his pyjamas crumpled and hair smushed and eyes only half open. He's still half asleep, bless him.

"Already have," he hums, and then promptly curls up next to her and falls right back asleep. He's snoring before she can even count to five.

The next day, when he is actually awake, she asks him again. Joel says yes in a heartbeat, and then hesitates. He asks how large he can make it. Lizzie hesitates, because whilst she loves seeing Joel go nuts in his artwork, she would also like an official portrait to be a little, well, official, so she says big but not too big, symbolic but not too ladened with symbolism, creative but-

Joel has her stand in one of the collonaded towers that overlooks the ocean, and begins his painting. The canvas is portable (thank the gods, thank her Mother, actually) but still huge and large enough that he needs a stool to paint the top. What on Earth is he going to do with it?

Lizzie doesn't really need to stand for as long as she does, Joel tells her. He's painted and sculpted her face so many times that he could paint her face with his eyes closed. Her heart flutters a little at that, but she stands anyway, just so that he can get the shadows right, and then longer so he can get the fabric right, and then a little longer because she loves to see him work. The way his eyebrows furrow. The way he takes in each and every detail and recreates them with such mastery-

The finished product is... a masterpiece. Painted Lizzie is the exact height as Lizzie herself, wearing the exact clothing of that day. She is depicted in glory, standing over the magnificent ocean ("To signify how much you rule," Joel informs her) staring head-on into the viewer's eyes. Even the tiniest, tiniest details have been reproduced - a tiny flicker in her iris, the refraction of light off the carvings of the quartz floors, the tiny crinkle of her lip that she'd been unable to hold back as she watched him. She isn't the Ocean Queen, isn't the demi-god of the ocean, she's Lizzie.

No, it is almost scary how lifelike it is. Lizzie's breath is stolen in a heartbeat.

"Don't touch it!" Joel shrieks as she almost pokes her finger at it. She grins at him sheepishly. He starts to whine "It's oil paint- and the good oil paint too. The not-magic but crazy oil paints. Best I have. And I prepped the canvas with egg yolk too, so it's kind of-

Lizzie leans forward and kisses him. He kisses back. When he pulls away for hair, gasping, cheeks flushed, she kisses him all over - forehead, cheeks, nose, hairline-

"I love you," she whispers. The painting seems to ripple in the corner of her eye. She only has eyes for the artist.

-

Historians note: Ocean Queen Lizzie, prima et novissima (first and last) might be one of the oldest beings to ever exist. The first reference to her is in the prophecy of the blue axolotl, which is believed to have existed in oral tradition for millennia before any of the primitive cultures from the archaic-era. The first known image of her is The Goddess and Her Spawn a badly damaged fresco dating from dozens of thousands of years before the golden age and end of her reign, depicting her sitting next to her Mother, the ancient goddess of Old Deep Fear, and her brother, Codfather Jimmy, ruler of the Codlands prima et novissima (first and last). It was likely made by the first civilisations of the primitive, coast-dwelling pre-Pixandrians. 

During her millennia-long reign (historians are unsure as to when her reign began, although it ended at the Rapture), the Ocean Queen had hundreds of thousands of artworks of her produced. Although her birth and ascendancy remain unclear, for this reason, she is the most well-documented being to ever exist. A substantial chunk of this artwork was produced by her husband, the Mad King Joel, (referred to as Joel of Mezalea by himself in his artistic depictions), and thus is extremely lifelike. The best-known painting of the Ocean Queen is uncreatively but accurately titled Official Portrait of Ocean Queen Lizzie by Her Husband, Joel of Mezalea. Despite her millennia-long reign over the Ocean Empire, the Ocean Queen only ever had one lover, Joel of Mezalea, who is the only artist to produce an "official" painting of her. Some minor damage was sustained after the Ocean Queens disappearance post-Rapture when the Mad King tried to burn it, but he reportedly "broke down in such a storm of tears that the palace flooded the warm mesa air became cold, and the hard clay and sand became grass and dirt. All fires were put out, and no fire would burn for a hundred years. The water never left." Although this is a dramatised account, the painting remains undamaged other than a singular, tiny burn in one corner, and some historians theorise that the Evermoor was situated on geologically altered borders of Mezalea.

Unlike a variety of pre-raptures which were rediscovered, this painting has been circulating the post-Rapture art world for millennia. It now sits in Kruoma National Museum alongside a large collection of Oceanic, Codish and Mezalean art. 

[chasedeys]

*whispers like a ghoul* You should write Joe’marr on a boat (maybe it’s Joes first time and he’s panicking) (MAYBE it’s their honeymoon)

*makes dying moose sound* god i really shouldddd just IMAGINEEE

joe's probably stoically uneasy wearing his eye searing tie dye swimming shorts and bright fucking orange life vest and stupid little expensive ass sunnies while ja'marr's rocking nothing but his tattoos and little black booty shorts he chose specifically for that day and demanding joe to loosen up but! no.

and ja'marr's just laughing at him because joe keeps answering in short sentences five words maximum in a tight voice very obviously bothered out of his mind but won't admit shit and then ja'marr is just yelling at the captain not to go so fast it's baby's first time (they're literally just static in the middle of the ocean) and joe finds it in himself to let go of the tight grip he has on the boat seats to leap up at ja'marr and try to throw him overboard and the captain is shouting at them to knock it off he will not be an accessory to murder aren't you both newlyweds???

they're given those wide inflatable pool float things to float on water so they can explore off the boat and they just lazily float on by in the ocean breeze tangled together making out in intervals and poking at each other's belly trying to tip the other off the float and talking (whispering really because they're tangled so close to each other they barely have to raise their voice sigh) about new floor plans and their turn to host team get togethers and what to get tee for his birthday (joint presents! ahaha) etc etc being so grossly comfortable in each other's space and In Love oughhhuhghuhh.

also. do you think they're the type of men to actually wear sunscreen. are they. or are they stupid.

[bluestarlett]

Mmmm I don't fucking know,,

What were your thoughts while making the cosmic character designs??

HELLO OMG HI HI HI hELLO OMG so

their designs are over a year old and frankly have changed a LOT since their earliest designs HOWEVER i will talk about their current designs :]

I suppose I'll talk about Seraph's first so... Everythng from this point forward will be under the cut so I don't bore everyone <3

So first of all hi this is Seraph he's my beloved beautiful fat angel man

ANYWAY:

there are a lot of small details in all of the Starcatchers' designs which reflect their personalities! Seraph, for one, does not like being constricted or held in place. Hence why he always wears pretty loose-fitting clothing! His belt is meant to represent Selene (his mom) as well as Gaea. (the symbol in the middle is the star of gaea, which is a symbol that shows up repeatedly in every cosmic design. The only ones who do not have a star of Gaea in their designs are Saturn and Scylla! [given that saturn holds no respect for the gods, and scylla is not a god.])

SECONDLY!

The reason his heart is exposed is based off of the phrases, "Home is where the heart is" as well as "heart in the wrong place". In a very early loop, he attempted to take his heart out of his chest, given that he never necessarily felt 'at home', and told himself that was his own fault.

He has scars practically all over him (to symbolize his endurance and perseverance), especially on his hands. Originally, the reason for this was based off of my FRIEND Heart (@apollodoesnotpost ) because his hands are very rough and calloused but have always been very warm and comforting to me, which is very similar to Seraph's character. Additionally, this gained some extra symbolism with the release of RIProducer's Language of the Lost, specifically with the lyric "These fingers and these palms, full of love despite the scars".

Also! The eyes on his halos are meant to look like moons! Black scleras, white irises, and the shapes of his irises change along with the moon phases! It's really the only way for the Stars to keep track of the state of the moon, given it's kind of... crashed into the ocean? (result of the Juno Incident.)

NEXT UP saturn

Hi hi!! so uhh hehe... saturn is kind of just self-indulgent, really. at face value there isn't a bunch hidden in their design however there's still a few things I can talk about :3

first of all, their shapes! Seraph is a very round and relaxed character whilst Saturn is much stiffer and sharper. Their coat, for one, is meant to make their shoulders appear much broader and stiffer than they normally would be. Funnily enough, in contrast to their appearance, Saturn is a very languid and slinky character. (For reference; I have a few rules I have to follow when I write the Starcatchers, specifically when they move. Seraph is often described as 'waltzing' or 'dancing' when he walks given he is very musical and upbeat, saturn is described as 'slithering' or 'slinking' given that they move the way an actual octopus does, and aster 'creeps' and 'trudges' because she is very stiff and rigid due to how anxious she usually is.)

As you might notice, NONE of the clocks in their design read the same time. I promise you this is intentional, i am NOT stupid. The only clock on their body that reads the correct time is the one in their eye! However, they tend to keep that one covered, since when they look at people through it, they kinda are subject to. severely traumatic prophetic visions (aka, they watch Seraph and Aster die over and again in future loops and can do nothing to stop it because they cannot stop the passage of time.)

Also! It's not in their reference, but in almost all of my drawings of them, Saturn's clock eye reads as 3:33! :]

Another little neat detail! The tubes on Saturn's arm are NOT A BOMB. The blue liquid running through them is the blood of Scylla! Modern technology doesn't work all that well on Tycho, and while gears and switches can be helpful with some things, magic tends to be more efficient. Also, you can't see it in this ref, but Saturn's arms are osseointegration prosthetics! (aka, they are prosthetics attached directly to their bones as opposed to socket prosthetics.)

The little snake pin on their collar is a reference to their earliest concept design! In BETA beta, Saturn was meant to be a snake! They had medusa hair :] unfortunately, I can't find any of my concept sketches from this time though.

Next is Aster!

So first of all.

Her similarities to Rapunzel were in NO WAY intentional, however they absolutely make sense given that she is very princess-trapped-in-tower coded.

First of all, her earrings! You cannot see it in this reference because I accidentally messed up </3 however her earrings are supposed to be Stars of Gaea. Right now they are just normal stars because I FORGOT.

Secondly, the star mesh fabric actually plays an extremely important role in her design! All of the gods (and ONLY the gods) have that mesh fabric incorporated into their designs. (For example, Gaea has his sash, Charon's cloak, Selene's sleeves, etc etc.) This is meant to hint at the fact that she is connected to the gods in some way and that she was one at some point.

Another thing! All of the characters in Cosmic have their shoulder markings, usually connecting to Gaea or the other gods in some way. (Example; All sirens have teardrop markings which bear resemblance to Scylla's marks, all seraphim have moons which are Selene's markings. Gaea has 4 pointed stars with one point facing directly up whilst Charon has hourglasses like that of a black widow!) All of these markings glow white, however, you might notice that Aster's do not! This is because her markings are meant to resemble scars to represent the way in which her divinity was ripped from her. Have fun with that ^_^

She also has the most grey hairs out of the Starcatchers (both because she's the oldest- or, well, second oldest- as well as a way to symbolize her emotional exhaustion. The more absolutely fucking broken the stars are, the more aged they look in some ways lol)

This isn't relevant whatsoever, but her lashes are Not based off of Furina? I actually know nothing about genshin impact. her lashes are based off of the Jellylashes item on Gaiaonline!

(these!)

ok that's it im not talkign about gaea because he doesnt deserve it

[sanguineterrain]

love episode 3x13 bc it's a prime example of peter being powerless against brunette cuties with big blue eyes. el neal and mozzie come up with the plan for peter to see that their neighbors are criminals and he discovers el in the middle of picking a lock while neal guides her from outside of the window. peter's like are you kidding me rn. el you used me as a patsy and neal wHAT have i said about using your criminal wiles—

and el and neal just bat their beautiful ocean orbs at peter like "will you do a background check on him now 🥺" and peter completely forgets to be mad

[impernaway]

5+6. the tentacle beast / the monster's hide

The walkways are with rain again, the drizzle reducing the limited visibility yet further as twilight slowly encroaches. Even before the sunset, the world out here had been hazy. Not that there'd really been anything to look at: There's nothing out here but the still ocean stretching out in every direction around the floating research platform.

Officially, the station Rhys is manning alone is Seapoint Piscium Delta. He likes to call her Fishfood Four instead. He's made it to week nine of a six month placement - by the end of week one, he'd already understood why they'd been reluctant to schedule him for even that much on his first posting. Sure, he gets to video call the team whenever he wants, but at the end of the night when they all go home? He's still out here in his flotel.

On the other hand, the pay is really good. If he can stick it out without losing his mind, he's looking at a hefty sum at the end. And he doesn't have to pay rent out here either. Plus he doesn't have to deal with the fallout of how things went with Jess. So like, that's a perk!

He checks the door for the lab is firmly shut, rattling the large door-locking circle on the bulkhead door to make sure it's fully in place. It's his last wind-down task before retreating back to his room again. The whole place is pretty much fully automated, but the doors aren't part of that. It's what he's there for. Somebody has to oversee everything just in case it goes wrong, you know? Plus doing the actual analysis on what the sensors feed back.

Last stop is the drone room. The repair and maintenance room takes up nearly as much space as the lab does, but it's also pulling double duty as the power room so it kind of makes sense. Not like the drones themselves need all this room. All they do is just slowly rise and sink through the ocean, sending regular little updates to tell them about the ocean. Things like how temperature it is, what the pH level and salinity is like, what's going on with the currents, the odd sample from the sea bed if the pre-programmed route takes them down that far - all the things that help them work out what's been going on out here lately. He pauses as he tests the door. It's not resisting as much as it should.

He pushes the hatch open anyway, stepping through into the dark room. The lights are off, which is how it should be, but he didn't - It's not like him to shut everything down but forget something like the door lock.

....Fuck it. It's not like anybody else will know if he doesn't say anything, right? And he caught it. No harm, no foul. That's what the double-check is for. He seals the hatch, twisting the ring around firmly and listening to the bolts all sliding home. He can investigate the door lock tomorrow when he's officially clocked in again.

Rhys carries on along his way, wiping the rain off his face before he shimmies up the ladder that takes him back to his living quarters. He makes a point of wiping his feet off at the welcome mat he asked for. There's enough ocean around here already without him bringing it in here with him as well. His nose wrinkles as he shucks the lab coat and drops it off on it's hook, hand reaching for the pull-cord for the light.

"God," he says, "It reeks in here. Did I leave a window open or something? Come on Rhys. Get it the fuck together, mate."

The delivery of fresh food isn't coming for another week, so it's another night of deciding between mash potato from a powder mix or tinned soup. He finally finds the pull-cord, blinking at the bright sudden light. Something is making the back of his neck prickle like he's being watched. The smell is, somehow, even worse now. His eye darts around the room to try and figure it out-

His eyes land on the table crammed into the kitchen, a can of diet pepsi knocked over on it from where he'd left it there that morning. The dark brown carbonation is still fizzing gently even as it drips down onto the linoleum flooring.

There's been no wind today. Barely any tides. Fishfood's been stable all day. Something primal in his brain screams at him, and it drives Rhys to slowly turn around. He's the only one here, but he's not. He's really, really not.

The wall moves.

He screams as he throws himself back, legs failing to catch or support him as his eyes move up and up and up. Up along the tentacle that is rapidly changing colour to stop mimicing the white of his walls, up along the torso of the thing clinging to the ceiling, up and into the large yellow eyes of something that is baring teeth at him. He scrambles across the floor before instinct kicks in and has him roll over to push himself up and back onto his feet and away away AWAY from the fucking octopus monster that is dropping down and coming after him.

Somehow, he makes it to the bedroom door first and slams it shut behind him, leaning against it as something on the other side roars. Fumbling hands shove the lock bolt into place as it begins hammering on the door.

"Oh my god," he chokes, legs going weak again. "Oh my god."

It - did it have claws? He doesn't think so. The hammering on the wood tapers off, and he wheezes in fear as his heart keeps up the rhythm. Wide eyes tear across the room as Rhys looks for something - anything, God, please - that isn't nailed to the floor or the wall to make sure it can't get capsised overnight. Nothing. Nothing to barracade with. Behind him, the doorknob rattles but the lock holds. He holds his breath until it stops again. The window is too small and can't open more than an inch, and this is the only door. There has to be something. Some way out. Surely there must be-

Something brushes his ankle and he jumps out of his skin as he pushes off from the door and falls a second time. He looks down at the tentacle slowly pushing its way through the gap at the bottom of the door. It - it's too small. It can't figure out the door, and now it must be trying to see if it can get under. It's too big though, surely. Surely.

Rhys watches, frozen in place as the tentacle pushes through further and further, the strange muscle twisting and unfurling as it works its way through the gap. It takes all his effort to scoot back further until his back is up against the side of the bed, legs tucked as close as they can be to his body. The tentacle continues to feel around blindly for him, and he watches. Maybe he can just - just wait it out. Wait for it to decide he isn't worth the effort.

He whimpers as the tentacle instead starts to slowly feel its way up the door.

"No," he says, his fingers going numb as he watches. "Fucking no, please, stop it."

Everything is silent. He cannot move. There is no escape. He can only watch. The tentacle keeps going, impossibly still coming. He watches as it reaches up. Slowly, almost tauntingly, it reaches the slide lock where it sits, just below the handle, and pulls it out of the way before dropping to the floor.

The door swings open, revealing the large hand pushing it and the larger yet figure behind it, a man down to the waist and then all octopus limbs below that, and Rhys once again finds his eyes dragged unstoppably upwards towards its face. The light in the living room backlights it, enough that he just about see it. It's smirking at him, mocking and cruel, and it slowly ducks its head as it pushes its way into the corner he's trapped himself in.

It's just Rhys, the ocean, and the monster pushing the door shut behind it again.

[emry-stars-art]

sorry to bother you, but….

if statled jelly!niel stings, does sleeping jelly!niel sting? Because it seems to be a conscious effort for niel to not sting? Or did I misunderstand this?

what are the scientific implications of sleepy jelly cuddles?

Great question! Thank you for letting me put on my more beach-appropriate baseball cap and do more mer research hehe

So I asked the shark and he told me to mind my business I think.

Unfortunately for him, the manta ray will spill just about anything in exchange for pretty human stuff and I am great at taking notes.

Basically? It seems to me like it’s expected touch vs unexpected, combined with the jelly’s maturing self-awareness. When it’s younger, a jelly mer will start getting control of its sting by ‘turning it off’ consciously. As they get older, it can become closer to “will not sting unless actively startled or for good reason” as the jelly chooses! Think of the sting response like a knee-jerk, throwing-elbows response. Anything less startling isn't worth the effort. Or in jellyneil's case, maybe more of a nervous person's flinch response.

So at this age when jellyneil is awake, it generally won’t sting unless really startled - unfortunately for most mers, the poor thing is a little jumpy and most unexpected touches are startling 🥲

When jellyneil is asleep, there’s more of a “base state” idea happening - however it goes to sleep is how it’ll peacefully stay. So if it falls sleep with someone else touching it, no stings! If it falls sleep in traditional jelly fashion (wedged between rocks or otherwise anchored down) the tentacles and stingers are instinctively in defense mode and I cannot advise getting too close.

If it gets startled awake though? I can only assume it would sting then as well but I can't tell you for sure because the whale and the one shark twin are usually very good about not letting that happen.

There’s some point to be made here about the fact that the stinging is only ‘turned off’ while cuddling/sleeping on other mers - clearly, brushing up against rocks doesn’t desensitize the stingers to other outside stimuli. In open water, the sleeping jelly knows to fend for itself. The presence of another mer seems to be instinctively calming.

But I am not here to wax poetic about it, that’s your job, I just provide the research 🤲

Find the mer au masterpost here 💕

[little-pup-pip]

hii can i please req a board based off of monkey d. luffy from one piece? boyre-themed, aged around 8-12 please (no paci!)!! other than that nything thats sort of pirate/marine themed added in would be awesome

ghank you!!! ahh

Yes!!

[tuungaq]

ain’t it a kick in the teeth that the real buck cleven lost both marge and bucky by the time he was 43

[good-beanswrites]

Where is Milgram?

I'm working on a fic, and I know a few of the theories about Milgram's actual building/location that have been passed around, but could you reblog with/send me your ideas on how the prison is physically set up in relation to the world? I want to write something encompassing a range of possibilities, not just my own headcanons. Any kind of theory -- with or without evidence, with or without every little detail worked out, just whatever you've been picturing or would like to see when the project ends :3

(Even if my fic doesn't pan out, I'll post the collection of theories I get for anyone else's research purposes👍)

[hussyknee]

Whenever Brits are like "tea is our national drink, our culture, our personality, our mental health" I think of our hill country blanketed in a patchwork quilt of human suffering and ongoing violent colonialism and want to smash all their tea cups. Your genocidal leaf juice is nothing to be proud of. The present day tea pluckers are the descendants of the Indians you enslaved and they still live in unthinkable poverty in the line houses you built to house them like cattle. The families whose farmlands you robbed have been starving for generations. Every sip of your leaf juice is soaked in blood and you drink it like vampires.

Tea will never belong to you. It's our legacy of grief, and your shame.

Drink your tea and shut the fuck up.

[spiderziege]

i wanna try to do a bit of oc art this october, using @oc-tober2023's prompt list! the first prompt is Home. So the town they live in is made up of three valleys, the first one is where most of the actual town is and where most of them live, the second valley is mostly uninhabited marshland and a lake and then the third one is farmland, and that's where Lucky & Maurice grow up.

I'm not sure how much i'll do for this cause i still wanna do fanart mostly, but i'll try to do sketches like these whenever i feel like it :] just to get a bit of inspiration going

[sevensees7]

i need to yap about scylla and why it's the best song in all of epic the musical for a moment. i'm not knowledgable with music theory nor am i a lyricist, i know absolutely nothing about music other than 'it sounds good,' so sorry if i use the wrong music terms here!

not lyric related like the rest of this post, but can we just appreciate how the song tries to lull you into a sense of security with the light instrumental and vocals at the beginning, yet the synth adds a strange sense that something's not quite right? no? just me?

what's so awesome is that every. single. lyric. in this song is negative. not a single thing is positive.

SO STARTING FROM THE BEGINNING:

"the lair of scylla" we tend to associate lair with villain, aka a dangerous thing/place, so just from that word you know something is wrong.

"this is our only way home" implies that this path they must go through is dangerous, something bad is gonna happen

"you're quiet today" "not much to say" trying to be kind and bring up the mood -> immediately shot down. OR being passive aggressive -> mood is down from the start. depends on how you interpret it honestly.

"you hide a reason for shame" you're ashamed by your secret and the way eurylocus immediately says "i have a secret i can no longer keep" (which is also implied to be negative based on the increasingly desperate tone) proves that.

"you know that we are the same" you + implied monster = same, probably not great.

even if you hadn't listened to any other song, due to the 'drop' and "i am so sorry," you know that eurylocus opening the wind bag was a massive mistake in some way.

"leaving them feeling betrayed, breaking the bonds that you've made, there is no price we won't pay, we both know what it takes to survive" = you betrayed and deeply hurt those around you for your own survival, selfish motivations.

"forgive me" no response, again no positivity allowed, despite how much eury tries!

THEN, THEN THE FUCKING FULL SPEED AHEAD PART

in full speed ahead, it's hopeful and happy! "ithacas waiting, my kingdom is waiting, penelopes waiting for me so full speed ahead!" = i wanna see my people, and most importantly my loved ones, as soon as i can so row fast! everyone is desperate to get to ithaca and you can hear it in their voices, ody almost sounds like he's tearing up at the idea. the last big full speed ahead, it's all coordinated, all the crew members are harmonizing, they wanna get the island over and done with so they can get home and see their own loved ones too, just like ody!

but in scylla, at first they try to harmonize again like before, but they mess up, they've gone through so much that they're hearts just arent in it as much as they used to be. they're tired, they want to get home, it's just that now that wish seems so far away. they stumble and say "full speed ahead" over each other to show how uncoordinated they are, HOW DISTRUSTFUL THEY ARE OF NOT ONLY ODY BUT QUITE POSSIBLY THE OTHER CREW MEMBERS! cause who knows what they were thinking when eurylocus confessed he opened the bag! did they know he opened it and were upset the truth finally came to light by the man himself? were they unaware and thus surprised at the confession, adding even more chaos to their attempted harmony? both??

"deep down, we only care for ourselves" speaking to both ody and eury, we're all selfish inside. we care only for our survival at the end of the day. ody will do whatever it takes to get himself home, foreshadowing later events, while eurylocus was deeply selfish in wanting to know what was in the bag (and possibly hinting toward mutiny?)

"eurylocus, light up six torches" despite being said in a somewhat ominous tone, you can't really dechipher the intentions behind this order. it's mysterious with said with no emotion, like ody is already disassociating and running on autopilot. he's making himself as emotionless as possible as to not feel guilty of his actions. he needs to do this, he can't regret it for even a second, he can't second guess himself and wonder if this is the right option, he just needs to do it.

"deep down, we're lonely demons from hell" i don't think i really need to explain this. we're selfish, we're cruel, and we're lonely, especially the crew on the ship - they've been away from their families for a decade, trust in their captain is getting weaker, and they don't realize scylla is warning the crew of both her and odysseus' intentions. they haven't accepted themselves to be monsters, they're oblivious to her words, hence why they only sing "deep down." she is telling everyone that he's selfish and will betray them if it benefits him.

scylla and ody have accepted they're monsters, they're one in the same. he's gonna sacrifice six of his crew so he can get home, and she's gonna accept those sacrifices, both doing so for their own personal, selfish desire to survive.

"captain, something approaches" very...neutral, but based on everything so far, you know it can't be good. interesting note: something approaches, not someone approaches. you're never told what scylla looks like, all you know is that she doesn't appear human enough to warrant a someone. i adore the immediate contrast between her polite "hello" and the imposing instrumentals that follow, like something terrible, whatever just greeted us, is revealing itself. her voice isn't as human as it was previously, but she's still somewhat kind. perhaps she has some humanity still in her, but scylla, like odysseus, has let her monsterous side practically consume her. once more, they're the same - they don't want to do this, but will anyway. OR she's mocking them, saying "hello" as a way to show she's intelligent, a cunning monster just like ody is.

the fact that we're never given a hint as to what this monster looks like other than she's an intelligent and can growl is perfect horror, there's nothing more terrifying to a human than the unknown. "row for your lives!" two directions could be taken with this line: either ody is genuinely scared or simply pretending. either way, i think that in this moment, odysseus is trying to get the ship out of there so no more lives are taken then necessary. if it's the first option, he didn't know more about scylla other than a cost needed to be made so actually seeing her made him forget his goal and focus on the survival of him and his crew for a moment. if not, then this line may have also been him being selfish, you row for your lives so i can get home. fully up to interpretation! one more thing with this, i find it interesting how odysseus doesn't say full speed ahead? now this could absolutely be a stretch, but i think there's a reason he doesn't; he is so disconnected from his crew, so set on a selfish goal that him never saying "full speed ahead" (like that section tries to set up) is a betrayal in and of itself. his goals aren't aligned with the crews anymore - "i want to get home" vs "we want to get home." NOW WE GET TO SCYLLAS PART - credits to a comment i read in the song's comment section (written by thomasdeclerc18310) cause i would have never realized this if not for that. screenshot of that comment is below the cut! in her first verse, she's talking to the crew:

"drown in your sorrow and fears" they feel sorrow as their own captain willingly, unbeknownst to them, sacrifices them. they feel fear when being attacked by a nightmarish monster. "choke on your blood and your tears" exactly what it sounds like, they're crying from the betrayal as she kills them.

"bleed 'till you run out of years" they die, maybe even bleeding out on the ship or in her stomach as we aren't told what's happening. we can hear the screams of the crew, we know she's attacking, but the how is a complete mystery. "we must do what it takes to survive" scylla is selfish, she must do what it takes to survive. she's speaking for all monsters here, as well as her other heads (though if you know nothing about her, you wouldn't know this).

in the second verse? now she's talking to odysseus:

"give up your honor and faith" ody is officially letting go of his morals both as a king and a captain when he sacrifices them, he loses his personal honor and faith in himself, as does the crew. "live up your live as a wraith" ody will live the rest of his life crushed by guilt and regret. he will be a ghost of his former self when he returns to ithaca.

"die in the blood where you bathe" odysseus is portrayed to be bathing in the blood of all the dead men he's gotten killed. as well, she could be speaking to the dying crew and eurylocus, as the latter's actions got 557 men killed by poseidon. "we must do what it takes to survive" both odysseus and scylla.

then as the last man is murdered, the intrumentals relax. we think we're finally safe until we hear scylla one last time: "we are the same you and i." once more, she's repeating that she and odysseus are the same. and he agrees, he synchronizes with her, admitting he is a monster... but not completely, all he says is "i." despite his insistence that he is like her, he still can't quite say it. they're both monsters, but maybe ody hasn't accepted it as much as we're led to believe.

i am convinced that scylla is the PEAK of epic the musical, and nothing will ever come close. from the extremely thought out lyrics to the absolutely incredible instrumental, this song deserves it's own tier ngl. yes, other songs sound good and have clever lyrics and such, but scylla is just everything great about the musical shoved into one song. every lyric has a meaning, a double meaning in some cases. the intrumentals tell a story of their own, trying to lead you into a false sense of security. the vocal performances are some of the best in the musical. i adore this song, and hopefully this makes you appreciate it too :D

anyway, thanks for reading all my autistic yapping if you made it this far.

here's that original comment:

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

honestly wally is stronger than atlas. if i had to constantly calibrate to the nature of my reality w/ full consciousness i would simply lose my fucking mind