#because this isn't a love letter

[lafaiette]

So basically one of Solas' murals

is the Crestwood scene, but with reversed roles. Solas is the rejected one, Mythal is the one who walks away, leaving him alone in what I presume was a glade at night, judging from the environmental sounds and hushed tones we can hear.

And, to be honest, I don't know how I feel about it - it feels like it cheapens the Crestwood scene, repeating an abusive pattern, stripping away the romance and softness of that scene. It's, once again, something Solas already went through with Mythal, not something he shares with Lavellan only. It's Weekes saying yet again that Solas saw Mythal in Lavellan, and that's why he fell in love with her. Not because she was Lavellan, but because she reminded him of Mythal and gave him hope that all elves could return to that "level" of wisdom.

What we learn in this game also ruins the kiss scene on the balcony, where Solas say "You have showed wisdom I have not seen since... since my deepest journeys into the ancient memories of the Fade."

Most of us believed he meant "Wisdom I have not seen since my ancient days in Elvhenan", but it's basically confirmed at this point that he meant "Wisdom I have not seen since Mythal".

A month ago, someone here mentioned how Weekes had said there was a specific reason why Solas had falled for Lavellan. I never found the interview where they said so, but I saw many believed it had something to do with reincarnation, lost soulmates finding each other again etc., but once again, it's clear what Weekes meant, and it's bad, cheap writing.

They could have written a god finally learning the error of his ways thanks to his love for a mortal - a love completely different from that of who was basically an abuser, a parent-like figure forcing him to take form and serve -, but instead they went for the easy route: a god still loving another god, feeling love for a mortal who reminds him of her, and changing his mind only because his god finally gives him permission to be free.

The mortal who supposedly "changes everything" serves no purpose - she actually tells him "There is no fate but the love we share" after he's been "freed" from his service, which in this context, in this situation, sounds more like a punishment, another yoke, some sort of "I finally got you, you can't run from me anymore".

I don't know what happened to Weekes' writing - either they were forced to make these decisions due to various constraints, or they completely changed their style/ideas during development, because this is not the Solas, this is not the Solavellan romance, we got in DA:I.

[benevolenterrancy]

("Always. Continuously. With increasing apprehension, and decreasing hope. I will love you if I never see you again, and I will love you if I see you every Tuesday. I will love you as a corpse loves the beak of the vulture. I will love you no matter what happens to you, and no matter how I discover what happens to you, and no matter what happens to me as I discover this." -- paraphrased from The Beatrice Letters, Lemony Snicket)

[starwarjotta]

Day 5 - caf since my scribbles can be totally illegible, here’s a transcript Obi-Wan: Here you go, Cody Cody: Oh, thanks, sir Cody: this... it’s caf? Obi-Wan: Ah, yes! I’ve noticed my teas are not really to your tastes, so I stocked up some caf for you instead! I hope it’s okay Cody: ... oh Cody: ...thank you.

[blorboindulgence]

Love Letter Memes 3

I wanted to get these out of the way before working on the actual drawing for chapter 22. I am using a lil demon and angel symbolism for it and I remembered one of my favorite memes: "I could be your angle - or yuor devil"

Love Letter by @lunarleonardo

[tathrin]

I was thinking about the weirdness of LaCE and the whole sex=soul-marriage thing again (as you do) and a thought struck me:

what if the way it works in cases of assault (or is believed to work by the elves; in this case it doesn't matter if it's actually what happens of just what they think) is that you don't end up with a full-on bond, no, but you do get bits of connection, like hooks stuck in your soul from the other person(s)?

And—if we run with the worst interpretation of the Celebrían situation—what if that's what motivates Elladan and Elrohir to be so determined to hunt down every single orc in Middle-earth?

If Celebrían left because she couldn't bear the feeling or thought or those orc-hooks in her soul (or the ptsd flashbacks and trauma that made it easy to assume the stories were true, and that's what was happening to cause her misery) and hoped that crossing the Sundering Sea would cut them off, or at least blunt them and let the scars heal...

Well, the twins know that you can't really sail back, of course they do. They know!

But Glorfindel did. And a whole host of elves came once, during the War of Wrath. So it's not that nobody has, ever. (They can look up and see their grandfather sailing in the sky every night, out of the Undying Lands. Maybe somebody could hitch a ride...?)

If they can make Middle-earth safe for her again...well, maybe she won't come home. But at least then she could, if a chance ever came to leave and cross the Sea again. She could.

And even if she doesn't, at least when they Sail*, they can tell her that they slew her nightmares, finally.

And maybe that will be enough.

[kaurwreck]

oh, i figured out aya's skill.

[butterflieswhisper]

thoughtabout the minecraft end poem again. man. man. a minecraft movie is just. so. it's so. man. "and the universe said everything you need is within you" "you. you. you are alive" "to tell them how to live is to prevent living" "to see you, player. to know you. to be known." "does it know that we love it? that the universe is kind?" "and the universe said i love you because you are love" it's so. man ... man .......

[seaofreverie]

Sparkstember Day 25: Hippopotamus (What The Hell Is It This Time?)

My Hippopotamus rant is here. I love Hippo and I think this was one of the best examples of how putting something off for later can be a very good idea sometimes. So I didn't hear most of it until this summer, and hearing the whole album then was one of the biggest highlights of that time. Thank you modern era Sparks for always bringing us the awesomest music ever.

[invinciblerodent]

Y'know, puttering around with my recordings, I think I really am going to give Davrin's romance with Ver a pretty serious twisting around. Rewrite some things a bit, change things around, keep most of the "slow burn" of it intact- but also add in the "friends with benefits" elements that I feel match what he says in the check-in scene after the point of no return better.

I think I have a post from like, months before release, when all we knew about the character was "charming Warden (who may or may not have been the Storm Coast team's commander in '41)", about how I sort of expected his to be the romance that starts off more casual (with the expiration date all Wardens have, it's not surprising that someone who's been one for at least ten years would be hesitant to enter any genuine emotional entanglements, platonic or romantic), and then for him to find himself falling for Rook unexpectedly (and kind of against his will) anyway.

And from some of that late dialogue, I still think that that may have been the exact intention, initially, but maybe they didn't want to create too big a disparity between the different romance paths, or like they didn't want for it to come off like they weren't taking him as seriously as the rest, so the path sort of ended up getting a bit... I don't wanna say "subdued", but I can't think of a better word lol. Brought to match the pacing of the others and the overall story more, that's more like what I mean.

.... Anyway, I kinda think I wanna have them sleep together for the first time either after his personal quest (no more distractions, clearly established romantic interest in- and some commitment to one another, but with still an opportunity to angst about everything else) or preferably, that night after drinking with Lucanis.

I'm leaning towards the latter thought, specifically because it'd be clearly a very, very bad idea.

It'd be far too fast, far too early, I got that scene like right after the Cauldron, so deep in the thick of his personal quest- plus, the mutual interest was barely expressed like one day prior to it, and there was alcohol involved. Which all kind of makes it perfect, because it's an awful time to toss that complication in there.

But, it gives me an opportunity to have the both of them keep thinking that it being just a casual, physical thing is what the other wants (despite the "well, I could see us heading somewhere, someday" of it), and to have their feelings developing sort of in the background of it-- and then!!!!! that forest kiss can also take a role more like another complicating factor, with the "heart of a halla" line being a bit more ambiguous.

Like, casually kissing your booty call/situationship/FWB you've been secretly falling for, it's a bit more touchy-feely than the previously established [they were not established] guidelines [there are no guidelines] suggest is appropriate [none of this is appropriate], but it feels right, and that alone makes it feel weird and confusing, ykwim?

But, then the whole "Most of my life, I've gone it alone. With you... I never want to go back." thing makes more sense being where it is, after his personal quest, to me at least. Because that sounds like a confession, and with being free from worries and the griffons safe (with Eldrin, in that game), there's a great time to have a long-ish, actually serious conversation about what this is and where it's going.

.... That would also mean that some of the bed scene dialogue doesn't make as much sense ("Is this all just for show"? "Just like I imagined"? Girl you know exactly if it's for show and what his hands feel like, you've been getting dicked down semi-regularly for weeks), but I can work with some tweaks to that lol. The final parts of it, about planning the future and getting soppy still make perfect sense, it's just those lines in the leadup that need some minor tweaking.

Idk, I really liked the in-game experience I had, and I love me a good slow burn, but I can't deny that it's more my style when "slow burn" doesn't also mean ".... so sex is a thing that happens only at the very end, when all feelings are resolved". I like it adding more uncertainty and confusion into the mix, and giving a sort of "oh, this is different now" feel to that first time once the feelings are also resolved.

(The date though, I wanna keep where and how it is exactly, because he mentions he got the tip for the picnic from Evka and Antoine, and I find it really cute to imagine him just sort of looking at them after speaking with Valya like.... "... they probably have the right idea of it, don't they. While we're here, let... let me just go ask. How to, uh. Do this whole. Romance thing, I guess. Make it sound, idk, casual. And chill. We're... chill." Never mind that Evka and Antoine are literally one of the most romantic couples any of them know, but yknow, nbd.)

(And then it goes all the way sideways? Love it. Love the "hey so this tea I thought would be a fun, cute thing for us to try made her trip absolute balls for a while, so maybe this outing is not a great opportunity to like, talk. Seriously. About how I may or may not be falling a little bit in love with her. And by 'little bit', I mean 'up to the very tips of my ears'. Nbd, just gonna... postpone, spilling my guts out for her perusal, I guess." of it all. A+, no notes.)

[lilacerull0]

elena greco my favourite architect of emotion

[kawaiichibiart]

[peppermintmochafem]

what did the process of realizing you were stone look like for you, if you’re comfortable sharing?

so to be honest realizing I am stone was not easy for me and I don't think I handled it particularly well but I guess that is just to acknowledge that it isn’t always easy.

Realizing I'm stone looked like a lot of things. Mostly I was having the sex I used to have and it just felt Wrong. And sex felt Wrong but I was still enjoying and craving that type of intimacy so I realized it wasn't sex that felt Wrong it must be something I was doing. So i kept trying and thought there must be something Wrong with my body or with my mind or with my gender. So I kept trying and would just disassociate during/after. When I was trying to find what was Wrong I literally made a pie chart of what percentage each thing could be. So on mine it was like body pain, body dysphoria, triggering, etc. but once I graphed those percentages I realized there was still a large portion left that I didn't know what it was. And that was really helpful in realizing I don't have to identify the reasons I can just not like it. I think there is a lot of narrative around being stone that it like it's okay to not bottom IF it's x,y,z so I was trying to fill in those blanks to make it okay. And i don't think that was particularly helpful or even healthy for me. It is simply a boundary I have to make sex feel good because it is a boundary I have to make sex feel good for me!

There was a long period after I realized I was stoned that I actually started enforcing that boundary.

During that period I thought that even though bottoming was triggering/physically painful/took me out of the moment/any other reason/literally just dont like it, it was just me who would be uncomfortable and I would be you know satisfying whoever I was with. Once I realized that it isnt enjoyable to have a partner do something they clearly aren't liking it was truly out of respect for others that I started enforcing it because I didn't want to put anyone in a position where they would be feeling bad about something they did.

It is still complicated for me to navigate but it has gotten easier and finding dynamics that work within those boundaries has been extremely helpful!

[tearsonmarz]

A letter to you - Scarian

Season 10 Scarian blurb :)

As Grian made his way up to his house, he grabbed the letters that were peeking out of the mail box. As he skimmed through them, he noticed one of them was distinctly different from the rest. A small brown craft envelope with the words, “Open when alone :)”. As he stepped inside his house, he set down his things and opened it. Before he could even get past the first sentence, he instinctively knew it Scar.

“Hey Grian,

I know things have been a bit hectic lately. And we haven’t exactly talked since we kissed.”

Not beating around the bush, that was a surprised. It had been about a week since he and Scar has kissed. The memory replayed in his head often as he wondered why they hadn’t talked about it since.

“I know that a letter won’t cut it, but I was hoping this would give me a little more confidence to admit it. I wanted to let you know that I like you. You’ve probably been worrying yourself with needless thoughts about it. Or maybe I'm the one whose been obsessing over it. But the point is, that I’ve been thinking about it. And it meant more to me than I thought. So, I was hoping that you’d go out with me if you felt the same way. You don’t have to decide now, but I’ll be in town later this week. Hopefully, you’ll have an answer for me by then.

Yours truly, Scar.

Ps. I was hoping you wouldn't rush to call me before you've taken the chance to sort out how you feel about all of this. Don't feel like you have to rush it. :)”

"Idiot" Grian whispered to himself as a smile spread across his face having finished the letter. He shook his head and sat down, rereading the letter, hoping that it wasn’t his imagination.

[gayofthefae]

Max signed her letter to Billy "love". Brenner told El he loved her. What does that say about Mike. What are they trying to say for how easy it SHOULD be.

They are employing everything they have to say "this isn't about El, there has to be something big holding him back". Big and unique. Not your classic slapped together fear of vulnerability plot line.

[redstringraven]

I SO wanna see your WIP of Splinter gaming with the turtles, I love the way you draw them. 🥺

;-; auhuhgdf first of all THANK YOU and second of all, i'm so sorry to potentially disappoint but this is one of those WIP situations where i like... made the file so i'd have incentive to pursue it, touched it five times(?) and have been too distracted or otherwise busy to touch it again since. <xD leeeeet's see what we got here.

yeah, looks like i might've tried to do something with it back in february, but it wouldn't surprise me if i didn't get far because i was in a bad headspace that month and was in full perfectionist-procrastination mode as my 9w1 is want to do.

AYE. just extreme roughs. but that's honestly more than i was expecting! i was fully bracing for it to have just been that i saved the reference image in a canvas so it'd be a visual reminder to return to it. glad i at least have SOMETHING to show. ewe;;;

also if you're reading this and you DIDN'T see tatortart's take on the reference photo, pls go look at it. look at it with your own two eyes. this is a threat. don't make me come over there.

[danielleargentino]

I feel a bit bad for saying this but if you ship narumayo, cykesquill or kayworth please don't follow me. I can't stop you from interacting, but just don't go further than that.

Also go away if you're a proshipper, or a loli/shotacon. I don't think I have to clarify that but just in case.

This post isn't for you to try to explain to me why you think there's nothing wrong with any of these ships, you have your opinions and i have mine, all i want is for my boundaries to be respected.