#at the very least get some closure

[citrusai]

taash said "they were doing it" and people ran with the interpretation of an npc that doesn't know solas or the history of the elvhenan even when bellara interjected and said, no, that's not right. that's not how it was for the elvhenan. they formed bonds before they had physical bodies. and people ran to doompost or create weird anti-solavellan shit even though mythal & solas refer to each other as old friends and when she releases him there is no tenderness or love in it. it is the act of unchaining a dog from his post, the stepping down of a general. but to each their own ig.

[storywestistrash]

watched mouthwashing finally. the fact that i saw people be more aggressive towards curly than jimmy is kinda strange. kinda real weird

[tsunael]

(Count)down to Dawntrail. 6/22

To preserve the dawn's light, the heroes journeyed north, Their hearts filled with hope and eyes fixed heavensward.

[salsa-di-pomodoro]

(I. ran out of space in the tags 🥲 Read those first then the post. Also sorry if i sound odd or repeat a lot the same words, i tend to already think in circles on my own for Reasons (i am getting a diagnosis), so all this talk of repeating cycles is hard to think about while keeping a clear mind (and i am not a native english speaker). Also it's a hard thing to explain and i already have trouble explaining myself normally because i go on tangents i will otherwise forget lol. Which doesn't help here. I got overwhelmed by outside forces too which definetly didn't help.)

What i think is everything that could happen during a cycle has happened/will happen/is happening but if saint ascends you then that's the only thing that will happen regardless. That cycle doesn't change for you it's the only one that. Stops cycling? It's the only one that isn't a cycle and therefore it's impossible for it to have different outcomes, in your current timeline that stemmed from a particular version of a previous cycle. In other timelines it IS different but only because the cycle was different before your last one.

Basically it's. I don't think that's the right name for it but i'd call it a singularity. While every moment previous to that could create a different timeline, ascension by saint is the one thing that when it happens, it is the only thing that doesn't branch off into different timelines. Everything that happens after that can again start to branch off but you'll still be ascended in every possible following moment of every timeline since that. I'm still not making sense. i would draw a diagram but i can't draw

As for saint themself, i'm not sure what their fare means, but it think they are indeed an echo and in that they keep waking up in the same cycle that they already passed, though this time without very clear memories (like they know what happened but they don't recall it as something that has happened. So they do it again with the knowledge that they already have but they keep doing it because they haven't really, not in this version of the cycle), but then a different version of them also just. Moves on. It's not original saint maybe, but considering they're the only one that can't have the end they're granting others, i think that's a given. The other version i'm not sure of the logistics but they probably keep on going back to the physical world to continue their mission in every coming cycle. It's a different saint since it goes forward in time, but it's also the same one, just in a future cycle. They seem to want to ascend the iterators and they can understand them (i like to think its because a mark of communication would carry over if you came back from the void sea, even if it technically hasn't happened yet or might not happen this time).

So yeah in conclusion saint is the only one who is very very aware of every cycle they've ever lived and also the only one who is seemingly cursed to never be able to ascend. Their cycle isn't much different than everyone else's except instead of reincarnating when they die they just wake up again in the cycle they died in without going forward in any way like i said the others do in the tags (so it isn't possible for a timeline where saint has died to exist because it doesn't branch off. Because saint goes back). And the only way they sort of go forward in any way is by reincarnating back into themself after ascending and moving to ascend another iterator and therefore starting it all all over again, while the other version of them becomes an echo and starts the same cycle all over again, and they're aware of all of it. I think that's the terrible fate Pebbles, Moon and the echoes were talking about, and also the reason they can't see saint's beginning or end. In their perspective there isn't one, because the cycle has ended for them and they are unable to see anything other than that one. They cannot see anything but saint repeating the same cycle over and over again. I am not sure if they can see that they will go forward in other versions of themself but they sure are confused about it.

Not sure about the part where they doubt that it's real but seeing everything like that would probably not feel real to me either. Though it IS real to them. Having ascended, they will not wake up again, dream or not, real or not. Saint cannot ever truly ascend, and therefore will, and needs to wake up again. They crossed the point of no return, but even so they just end up back where they started. By taking a step back and choosing to wake up they are able to control it, i think? They don't just go back, they also go forward. If they didn't wake up again they would just become an echo. When they choose to wake up they go from echo to real again and what i said before can happen. If they didn't, they would just be an echo until they chose to wake up anyway.

Again sorry if i sound confusing or confused. I very much am confused but i wanted to at least try to even vaguely convey in what way exactly i (respectfully!) disagree. I hope i succeeded even a little bit.

Also. I'm glad you enjoy my rambles! I promise they're never going to be this long ever again. I hope :')

@salsa-di-pomodoro i do not mind and it's pretty interesting to read your takes.

[salsa-di-pomodoro]

If Artificer-centered angst bothers you, please read the tags.

The way the Artificer's entire story is told gives me the fucking shivers. The way they let you piece it all together and the feeling of confusion you have turns into dread rising with each dream you witness... the way you can see her grief turning into an obsession for violence with those last few dreams, when she stops dreaming of her pups and just continues her carnage even in her sleep. The grief is still there, obviously, but it has taken a backseat to her simple wish to get her anger out on the scavengers. It's no longer about her children, by then.

She wants to heal so badly, and yet i know by then she would not take the chance to stop her carnage if it was given. (In the chieftain ending, it was given multiple times and we all saw how that went.) I suppose after a certain point the idea of breaking the cycle was more painful than the cycle itself.

[cowboyskeletons]

thinking about my au where after the trial the dads are actually just transported into another universe where jodie was transplanted and they replaced their alt-universe selves.

so there are small details that the kids notice (except for nicholas) that are kinda... off, but it's not big enough of a shift to notice until reminiscing about childhood memories and like it doesn't matter (it does matter but that's only half of the story)

point is that without them, their home universe kinda crumbles, as the narrative is about Them and why even exist if there's no purpose? so everyone kinda just fades away over a short span of time (thinking around a week) as the world loses its flavor.

....buuuut nick's still there.

because the dads are The Dads, right. it's their defining characteristic. they need to have children to be dads (if the child is dead it doesn't matter, just needs to exist in the universe). the children are... kind of like anchors.

so if their children stopped existing, what then? well, it was a simple solution-- they got linked to the new verse kids. done done. new anchor, continued existence, "forever" relevance, hoorah.

only problem is that glenn doesn't have a kid. and he's not a dad anymore. so like, what's the point of his being there? nicholas is technically completely unrelated to him. in the new verse, it's said that he's darryl's friend who's just. there. in-auniverse and in a more meta concept sense, he really shouldn't have been there.

(eventually, glenn won't need an anchor anymore because of the relationship he develops with nicky but for now he needs a weight to assert his existence in the narrative)

erasing him from existence kind of goes against the court ruling because then why all the shenanigans. so he still has an anchor, though the new universe is unaware of it

so nick is still there.

nick is... not fully what he used to be. he seems overall the same, but he's in a sort of... stasis? like the most obvious effect is not aging but there are mental effects too. his and glenn's relationship and place in the world can't really change, so he doesn't.

he's like an ice sculpture now metaphorically-- fading like the rest of the world, but his process is slower because he's connected to glenn and he's still important to the story. he has approximately until the s1 finale until he starts getting into the danger zone. the worlds aren't exactly synced up time-wise, but time shifts and flows and the universes drift so there's never a concrete ratio-- usually worlds sync by story beat but. yea

so he's just wandering the world as it breaks apart. he's the only reason that it's still there, actually-- it becomes weaker as he does, as it loses its purpose completely.

by some chance, nicholas manages to contact nick then Stuff Happens.

cue shenanigans, primarily with nicholas and nick but several other people come into play too like glenn and jodie and morgan

(yes nick still dies in the end but there is Closure with the family okay. can't spell closure without close. do you get it)

[relicsongmel]

Today marks the three-year anniversary of the day I lost my mom to breast cancer.

She wasn't perfect—no one is, as a person, or as a mother—but I loved her all the same, and I deeply mourn the fact that our relationship was cut short before it truly had a chance to blossom. I've felt a sense of directionlessness that's only grown in intensity since her passing, but I know in my heart she'd be proud of me and all the growing up I've done since then regardless.

This is the last year I'll be living in the house we shared, but her heart will always be with me wherever I go. Wherever she is now, may she find rest and solace.

[ayakashibackstreet]

You know what, joining that Discord show club was a great idea, like half of my favourite PKC folks are there. And is there anything more wholesome than someone going '1!! hey, I remember that dog!! she's adorable, I'm glad she's doing well!' about a little pixel friend they made for you years ago?

[designernishiki]

well. finished yakuza 5.

[ayyponine]

girl help im going back n forth on whether or not i should send an email to thank the beautiful man fr letting me join the drawing session last week (more info on that entire situation here and here) and letting him know i probably wont be back but appreciate having had the experience either way. great or horrible idea leave a comment or DM to lmk.

[milo-is-rambling]

Day whatever it is recap!

[terpia]

I think I may finally be ready to read Assassin's Fate. Reading The Left Hand of Darkness made my ROTE brainworms return something fierce, and as a result I started re-reading all my fav parts of all the Fitz books, as happens periodically. However this time, I'm mentally set to find out how his adventure ends (I mean do already have a general idea of how it ends because I've never been that careful about avoiding spoilers, but I don't know that much about specifics).

The only issue with that is a self-imposed one. I created the foolinandfitzin sideblog to document my way through re-reading the first eight Fitz books in the series before getting to the final one (as well as the Rain Wild Chronicles, which I also still haven't read - more on this in a sec). However, my liveblog abruptly stopped in the middle of book 3 - I tried picking it up again, however I decided I won't publish more posts until I'm fully done with the book and can be sure I will actually finish the liveblog this time.

I don't want that to stop me from reading Assassin's Fate, however I still would like to liveblog at least some of my experience of reading it for the first time. So my plan is this - I will read Assassin's Fate now and make posts as I go along (although you probs won't see them until I'm mostly/fully done with the book anyway). This will satisfy my current itch, but will not be a fully complete experience - since I haven't read the Rain Wild Chronicles yet, I expect I will be quite confused/lost by some of the things going on with the characters related to that series. THEN, after I finished Assassin's Fate, I will go back to the other books in the series, including the Chronicles, so that when I get to the Assassin's Fate again I can do a re-read with the full context of what happened in the Rain Wild books.

At least that's my plan for now - I definitely still want to finish my book 3 liveblog since I don't like leaving it unfinished, but may very well decide that I'm done with liveblogging the books after that, at least for a while.

[revvywevvy]

yknow i've mentioned before that chelly is very capable of being violent and explosive. however the most ever angry i've ever drawn her is mildly upset. plus there was the memey-ish thing with chelly literally begging chip to let her bite maim kill people for him.

i kinda wanna draw chelly completely snapping. chelly getting a little too silly.

[theophagie-remade]

Being angry at someone and carrying all that anger and frustration with you every day and that person not even knowing because they never registered what they did or said to you as wrong or impactful and not getting why you're the way that you are with them is the worst

[wishbonedean]

Supernatural *is* a horror show first and foremost.

it has been said before but i feel the need to state again that the finale of supernatural is not only the most insane case of accidentally making a soul crushing psychological horror while trying to make a satisfying conclusion but the only case of that happening ever (at least to my knowledge.) i’ve seen bad tv endings, but never a tv ending that was trying to be comforting instead telling me that all of my worst nightmares are true and that me and the ones i hold close will never ever love openly without fear. again, so many before me have made this point but god. they killed him on rebar. he never got to be free

[misskamelie]

This longing and yearning are so fake because I know they're a byproduct of over-romanticization and idealization, but they feel so real it makes me want to scream. This house of cards can't fall fast enough fr