#but it was good. (derogatory) (affectionate)

[vaguely-concerned]

My two cents on how much of Mind!Varric is Rook’s mind trying to fill the blank space and how much is Solas actively talking through a convenient blood magic paper doll of the mind: I think it's a mix of both, a truly collaborative psychosocial horrorshow if you would, but waaaay more towards the second. It feels too directed and tactical at times to be anything else. Rook's mind is willing to go along with the denial phase as far as it can fucking carry them to not have to face the grief and regret and does its part in papering over details that don’t make any sense, the way brains will strive to create coherent meaning even out of deeply confusing input, but to my understanding it's a collaborateur in how that plays out, not the instigator or control center. Solas is using it as a path to agency and to gather insight into Rook as a person unguarded as he can't count on in his own guise. (That stoic option that leads to him being like 'oh I see you're cautiously denying me access to your inner life. well. at least you still have Varric to talk to. y'know as an outlet :)'. You absolute BITCH Solas! That alone convinced me that he HAS to have an active hand in it on some level.)

My guess is that it takes considerable effort on Solas’ part to make Mind!Varric do anything more involved or complicated than seeming to sit up in bed and give casual commentary, and that’s why he keeps having eerie five minute shallow pep talks with you before he announces he conveniently needs a nap aaanyway good luck kid you got this haha. When he’s just spouting NPC lines from his bedrest, I’m ready to believe that could be Rook’s mind being allowed to improv lines for him more freely because it’s less about Solas trying to get something out of them or working an angle and more ‘Still here! Still totally alive and fine and the mentor figure you know and love and trust :) don’t even worry about it! Thankfully there is no war in Ba Sing Sei, as we all know’ upkeep work lol. Rook’s mind is allowed to set the tone of Varric, the outlines, but not always the content. 

AND, on a (beautifully fucked up) character psychology level, I feel like Solas is indulging in actually getting to be the good supportive mentor figure to Rook with one hand to assuage the guilt he feels about what he's done -- and what he's going to do -- to them with the other. Same internal logic as he uses in Trespasser about the Qun. ‘Almost everyone is going to die from the course of action I’m doggedly pursuing eventually. But at least I can make their last years happier and freer and kinder than they would have been otherwise. and that kind of makes up for it right. a little bit. doesn't it. doesn't that make it better at least. I need that to make it better)'. Did I really take your beloved mentor and friend from you if you don’t know yet that I did? Some philosophers would argue not really! So it’s probably almost ok actually. Isn’t it even a little noble that I’m taking all this grief and guilt on myself and shielding you for now. With undertones that I’m not sure he would realize himself (and might be mortified by if he did) that he is so incredibly lonely, and even a dishonest and indirect emotional connection is more than nothing when you’re that desperate. In this setup he gets idk. Both the control he craves so incredibly badly in relationships and over himself, and the scraps, the fading afterimages, of intimacy and warmth and companionship, even second hand. The one thing Solas and Rook agree on deep deep down is that they really wish Varric weren't gone. They're handshake memeing this in the saddest and most creepy way possible.

I think an important element too is that Solas needs Rook and their team to *succeed* —  up to a certain point. He needs someone to hold the two other elven mean girls off until he can get out of here. Ideally, in a perfect world, even do all the hard work of killing them so he can swoop in at the end and do his thing when both sides are exhausted and out of resources to stop him, and then Bob’s your uncle! Same logic as he was using with Corypheus, and after that worked out so well, too! King of choosing to never learn from a single solitary mistake he’s ever made even though i fully believe he could have the capacity to Fen’Harel <3 The underlying idea isn’t flawed, you see, it was just unforeseen circumstances getting in the way. This time for sure it’ll all work out the way I cleverly imagined it in my head beforehand. Cue By Talos this can’t be happening etc. in the form of a statue almost crushing him like a bug. 

So he's providing guidance and forging Rook into a leader from two angles: one Rook might not trust, and one they probably will. Shaping them into what he needs slowly and carefully. He’s helping you hone your team into their most effective state, as he might have done with his own agents back in the day, setting up his chess pieces even if he has to squint through two glimpsed realities to do it haha. Pincer maneuver of an insidious stealth mentor you never asked for. Also… at one point mind Varric gives you a whole little monologue about how Solas' problem is that he’s always seen his interpersonal connections as flaws and see where it’s landed him, all alone and the worst part? it hasn’t even worked. it’s all been for nothing he’s back where he began with nothing to show for it but his mistakes. Like...that has such strong 'uh okay happy to play your therapist from two rooms away here what the fuck kind of traumadump is this' energy to me, I’m not sure Rook like. Thinks that much about Solas as a private person. So much of Solas' self-loathing and futile insights into his own flaws seem to shine through in Mind!Varric's dialogue all the time — I just can't believe that there's no guiding hand behind it as it were. 

Most of all. I feel like people underestimate the degree to which Solas is incredibly funny. As in, he has a very consistent and recognizable sense of humour. It’s one of my very favourite things about him. We must remember — it is crucial that we always keep in mind — Orlesian accent and wig Solas from May The Dread Wolf Take You (my beloved, the explanation for why I love this dude even with the. All of the everything else. No one does it quite like him). He is not at all above doing things or adding little flourishes for his own obscure amusement, in fact that seems to me to be one of his most consistent traits. The Randy Dowager Quarterly comment Varric has? The ‘Maybe this is the Dread Wolf’s revenge. Forcing us to house sit for him’ thing? To Me this is 100% Solas amusing himself in his boring Fade jail surrounded by the screaming hellscape of all his regrets. Source: it came to me as divine revelation through pure vibes trust me bro 

If nothing else I find it much more narratively interesting personally if the connection between Rook and Solas really is that defenselessly intimate and entwined (and so unbalanced!), and the sense of violation and invasion and betrayal afterwards consequently all the more nauseatingly intense. Even if you kept him at arm’s length in the open, he’s been under your skin the whole time, looking around, gathering what he needs to destroy you, wearing the face of a friend. Regretfully, probably, but choosing to do it every step of the way anyway. (Sound familiar, Inquisitor? Solas doesn’t have that many tricks when you actually look at it, he keeps returning to old tried and true ones like a dog with a bone haha.) Maybe he even genuinely meant some of it as mercy, which only makes it so much worse. It makes his sin against his own core principles of autonomy and the freedom of all beings in mind, spirit and body so much more juicily grave if it’s something he pursues actively and consistently, rather than it half-falling into his lap as a happy accident mainly orchestrated by Rook’s own subconscious. Solas, too, is at his very lowest point, the closest to giving in and becoming his own antithesis fully that he’s ever been, and it makes the choice of whether you still reach out your hand to him one last time or not all the more impactful and difficult.

[fearandhatred]

i love how neil said crowley calling aziraphale "angel" isn't actually that endearing because it's like someone calling us "human". and we all collectively decided to completely ignore that

[needanaccount2readarcaneposts]

being an OG zaundads shipper is such a conflicting time right now. we've gone mainstream, but at what cost? the absolutely brutal silco & vander character assassinations of S2? that are how newbies are getting into the ship? genuinely tragic.

zaundads fandom needs you 👇to resist S2 propaganda

make S1 zaundads great again

[weirdly-specific-but-ok]

i wonder what the outside world thinks about tumblr

you see glimpses of it on pinterest (where i found this) but man imagine the dead bird site... facebook if that's still a thing... the REAL WORLD *gay gasp*

do they think we're as insane as we think they're useless

[kitamars]

downtime

[hyacinthsdiamonds]

I know we joke Lawrence Stroll is basically a bond villain, but my god, I have to take off my hat to him. Man joined this sport purely to support his son's career and dreams, and has seemingly just managed (not officially confirmed as yet) to nab the key to achieving those dreams in certified freaking car genius Adrian Newey, the man behind car designs that won 6 constructors' championships, 7 drivers championships, and earned 120 podiums to date for red bull alone. He's won 12 constructors' championships in total with 3 different Formula One teams (red bull, williams & mclaren). And now, he's apparently chasing Max too. I have to admire this man's sheer commitment, I now need him to win (sign newey & Max when the time comes) so badly now to see him rub the entire paddocks nose in it lmao.

[zkretchy]

It's 2am and I can't sleep, have this silly doodle

[annoyingcinephile]

going through the longlegs tag on here is not for the weak there are way more people thirsting over longlegs than I thought (which was zero)

[proudfreakmetarusonikku]

do people know i created the primeboys (derogatory) tag lmao

[niaerinisms]

And if I say Cas and Gabe already have feeings for each other? And that Cas fell first (not that they know) and Gabe fell harder (kinda knows but it has them crying throwing up pulling out their hair sobbing)?

[vee-lociraptor]

ask game for jarthur, go.

[personallbest]

Want You Back

PNC Live Studio Session

[psalmsofpsychosis]

Hello~~

Do you think that it is absolutely insane to start watching 'Gotham' just because I might be interested in the BatJokes situationship?! 'cause I do have other shows queued and some sort of life going on so the timing isn't that right but smh I feel like I need to do something for my curiosity, tho I'd like some of advice lol

Thank you anyway ;)

LMAO hi, i mean, i started watching Gotham just because i was interested in the batjokes situationship, so *cheerily honks clown nose*

hmm, i dont quite know your context, so i dont know what kind of "advice" are you looking for exactly, but some general notes would be; This is a 100 episode 5 season prison sentence home arrest show. The batjokes situationship/s start from season 3-ish OR near the end of S4 depending on your definition of batjokes lmao, so you're kinda looking at a long pretty batjokesless ride here. Personally i knew that information going in, so i was like "i'm gonna try Gotham for flavour, and if it sticks, then i guess i'm in for the ride." And boy i wasn't ready for how well it sticks, one of the worst industrial grade glues i have ever had the misfortune of being subjected to in my life 34.6/10 experience would do it again.

Gotham TV is such distinct and paculiar and singular Batman production, it sacrified being an official part of canon continuity in order to portray some of the most bizarre, deranged, delightful, heartfelt and heartbreaking moments in live action Batman media, and the batjokes situationship is absolutely a part of this throne, if not the crown jewel. So like, prepare to have your life be lost on you if you ever decide to give it a try 😂❤️ i got into it for batjokes, but i absolutely stayed for *motions hand in the direction of everything* the whole circus. It's such an unexpected live action Batmanverse experience with a very distinct quality of storytelling, and you'll know if you like it by the pilot episode alone, you dont have to wait on the narrative to grow on you.

[mo-ok]

Bird Boys and Monkey Business

[weirdly-specific-but-ok]

how tf am i supposed to explain my tumblr.

My options:

UHHH SO I GOT KIDNAPPED BY A QUEER SAD MASOCHISTIC FANDOM OF A COMEDY CALLED GOOD OMENS AND I AM NOW ITS MASCOT AND ALSO GO WATCH IT YES NOW

SUCH A BLOG SITE VERY BLOG AM BLOGGING

I HAVE A FANDOM OF MY OWN THAT IS DEFINITELY NOT A CULT AND DEFINTELY IS NOT INCESTUOUS OR CANNIBALISTIC

PEOPLE FUNNY SHITPOST BLOG YES THIS IS HELLSITE

WE CELEBRATE THE IDES OF MARCH AND ALSO GOT HALLOWEEN TRENDING ON CHRISTMAS

I NOW HAVE A FAMILY OF PEOPLE I'VE NEVER MET BUT WOULD KILL FOR

UH. NEIL GAIMAN IS ON THE SITE.

i'm out of options i'm afraid

[khihi]

imo joker out are balkan kpop men

this made me laugh but i cannot tell if this is (derogatory) or (affectionate)... also i dont know enough about kpop to actually draw any similarities, sorry :( other than the fact they're in their modelling era at the moment

if u meant this in an affectionate/funny way pls come back and explain the similarities lol