#but it’s never failed me yet!

[desire-mona]

wanna know the rsl photo that haunts me most? yes you do its this one

why do u have a doohickey vest. put those toes away this is a conceal carry household. like this is unnecessary

[reunitedinterlude]

promise me (2024 // 2021)

[dol--blathanna]

Thinking a lot about Orym choosing a rabbit when asked what animal he would pick if cursed with lycanthropy.

Because, it makes sense. Orym is small, quick, agile, jumps well, and is highly perceptive. That definitely evokes rabbit imagery. But a lot of Orym’s identity is also tied up with being a protector – giving people AC bumps, the shield being as much a part of his fighting style as his sword, even his title: Saviour Blade of the Tempest. He wants to be a “Shield that protects Exandria”; his priorities about saving the gods are less about the gods themselves, and more about protecting the people of Exandria from the unintended consequences and bloodshed of releasing Predathos. And it would’ve been very easy to pick a large, strong predator to try and evoke the sense of a protector – a wolf, for example, an animal associated with loyalty and protecting its pack. Yet Orym chose a rabbit.

And I think that’s interesting, because rabbits are often seen as ‘cute’ animals – but they’re also a prey animal. In fact, they’re a common food source for many animals across several ecosystems: foxes, wolves, wild cats, dogs, birds of prey like eagles or owls, coyotes, stoats, and humans (and that’s just off the top of my head). Rabbits are skittish, easily frightened; to be rabbit-hearted is to be timid or cowardly. They are not generally associated with fierceness or prowess in fighting. Mice and rats are prey animals too, but typically seen as vermin (rabbits are sometimes seen as vermin too, but a farmer could eat a rabbit – they wouldn’t eat a rat). Deer are prey, but they have hooves and antlers that bring a danger to hunting them, for any animal – the difficulties of hunting rabbits are more related to their evasiveness, speed and good hearing than any life-threatening danger they might pose. Rabbits are, first and foremost, prey animals. They are killed and eaten, so that another animal might live.

Which made me think a lot about one of Orym’s other key traits: self-sacrifice. Bait and switch doesn’t just bump up his ally’s ACs, it specifically switches their place to put him directly in harm’s way. Goading attack is meant to encourage enemies to attack him instead of his friends. He literally made a deal with a hag, essentially exchanging his own life for power to protect his friends. How many times has he gone down in a fight? He’s not the only tank – but unlike Ashton (and Chetney, who also uses ‘self-sacrifice’ in his fighting style with his blood curses) he has no abilities to reduce the damage from the hits he takes (barbarian rage and the werewolf form).

(Side note: I think it’s pretty interesting that Chetney, the wolf, has attacked Orym, the rabbit, more than anyone else when losing control. That Orym’s facial scar was given to him by a friend, not a foe).

Of course, Orym isn’t the only character with self-sacrificial tendencies (FCG wins by a landslide), but I just can’t stop thinking about how weirdly perfect it is that he chose a rabbit for his animal. Rabbits are prey animals. They are eaten, so that other animals may live. Orym takes the hits, he goads and switches with his team mates to put himself in danger, he makes a deal with a hag at the cost of his own life. He’s a soldier, throwing his life away for a cause over and over again because Ludinus must be stopped, because Keyleth has put her trust in him, because it’s the only way to protect his friends, to protect everyone, because it’s the right thing to do. Orym is a rabbit. He’s always been a rabbit. That day in Zephrah, it could have easily been Orym who died instead of Will and Derrig – “unfortunate but necessary sacrifices”, as Ludinus viewed the attack. It’s unfortunate they had to die, but it was for the greater good, according to Ludinus. It’s unfortunate that a rabbit has to die, but it will feed a family of foxes, or stoats, or even a hungry human, so it’s acceptable, right?

Orym is a rabbit. He is giving himself to a greater cause that could very easily kill him – he already willingly signed his life away to Nana Morri. Because that’s what rabbits do. They die to feed others.

And the theme of being disposable is present across the entire group, not just in Orym – Bell’s Hells has been called a “party of NPCs” before. Aside from FCG’s death, I’d say Laudna perhaps fits this theme the best: she was literally murdered and hung from a tree simply because she looked similar to Vex, acting as a warning to adventurers she had never met before. But FCG’s death was – rightfully – viewed as a terrible tragedy by the group. Laudna’s decision to remove Delilah, finally freeing herself from her abuser and emphasising she is more, and deserves to be more, than just some disposable puppet – this was rightfully viewed as a very good thing! But Orym seems to be embracing this identity of self-sacrifice instead, rather than this mindset being properly challenged or acknowledged as a bad thing. After all, there’s no time. There’s too much at stake. Keyleth, Bell’s Hells, all the memories of those who have died in this fight, all the people who might die if Predathos is released and kickstarts a second Calamity – they’re all relying on him, right? A rabbit feeding so many animals with his sacrifice. And it’s not malicious compared to the way that, say, Delilah killing Laudna was an incredibly evil, fucked up and unnecessary thing to do. If Orym died to save everyone else, well, at least everyone else would be saved, right? Saving lives is good, isn't it? How could he complain?

Because rabbits are prey animals, and Orym is a rabbit too. Destined to die so that another animal may feed.

Except, that’s not true. Rabbits are more than just prey. They’re highly social, and thrive best living with others. They’re playful, they enjoy running around and kicking their legs just to show their enjoyment. They’re inquisitive and mischievous, even being associated with tricksters in some folklore and stories. They’re also associated with innocence, playfulness, spring, youth – all manner of things, depending on the story or culture. And they’re not helpless, either, even if they might be thought of as such. They can bite and scratch and draw blood quite easily if they want to! In fact, freezing up isn’t their only response when being attacked by a predator, they are known to fight back if cornered. They can sprint quickly, they have excellent hearing and senses of smell, they know how to evade predators.

Rabbits are prey, and they are also survivors. They have their own social dynamics, their own habits and dislikes and preferences. They are more than just a wolf’s meal. And Orym is more than a soldier, too. He’s more than a “necessary sacrifice”, he’s more than just a shield and sword. He deserves more than to die for a cause. He deserves a happy ending, just like everyone else. I hope he remembers that.

Orym is a rabbit. And the message isn’t that he shouldn’t be a rabbit. It’s that rabbits are worthy of surviving, too.

[lunian]

okay, nevermind, thats the funniest reaction to Dark Urge

[mitsundere]

guess who watched all of the jackcarly moments again

[cosmosnout]

Low quality MarcoShanks propaganda

[aliquidether]

Let him cook‼️

[reineydraws]

Is the renkaza a crackship?

nope! on ao3, they're the third biggest kny ship and the biggest kyojuro ship, actually--not that popularity automatically means a ship can't be crack? hm.

the definition of crackship is debateable lol but to me they're not cracky 'cuz the things akaza was saying during their mugen train fight and akaza's human backstory provide a lot of give in terms of connection points to kyojuro.

they're a ship for all the people who love enemies/rivals-to-lovers plots, and ships that involve a lot of physical fighting and/or searching for humanity, which are some of my fave things to look for haha. they can also just be deeply convoluted and toxic when romantically involved, which is its own brand of fun! (tho i personally tend to look for stuff that ends more wholesomely. angst with a happy ending my beloved. 💞)

i will say that while they're not a crackship, the au's where akaza just fucks off completely (like my au comic haha) or where kyo goes all-in on being a demon right away can come off cracky, but i think that's less "crackship" and more "crack taken seriously".

i hope this makes sense!

[moonviewer]

"I will keep going forward, no matter how hopeless it might seem."

(please do not repost my art and just leave a link to it if you'd like to share instead, thank you!)

[heyimcelery]

Eyefestation sketches!!

Might colour it another time but for now that's all I have in me

[yellowymellon]

So threshold 4 cooked me good but on the bright side I got to hear Acheron's sped up skill more than I'd like to admit, she says : "everything will vanish some day"

And that sounds awfully like what a follower of finality would say. So it made me think (again) about Herta who wonders why nanook has to exist when finality already does....

we established that nanook is the youngest aeon but SIKE it's terminus. The logic is very simple, terminus speaks of the prophecy of the end, the doomed world of the future, while traversing the past. It's because nanook's ultimate destruction gave birth to terminus to begin with. I think it's further implied by elegy :

And now the question is, what is this importune slug trying to achieve by going to the past if they're not trying to change the future? I'm glad that even the follower's of finality understand how messy their aeon is and question their actions. But if we take in consideration that finality ascends in the future it answers some of elegy's questions, like "why bring the apocalypse if they want to salvage everything"

If you noticed, unlike other aeons, Finality has never even done anything in the "name" of finality. e.g fuli collecting memories, the propagation propagates, even Qlipoth is doing something no matter how stupid it looks. But time powers? HOW IS THAT FINALITY

Part of the reason I'm a terminus bully

I'm trying to say that terminus isn't the harbinger of the apocalypse, they're a byproduct themselves. So wanting to salvage everything is unrelated.

Elegy also says this :

We can interpret it as: amber to rupture (Qlipoth) immortality to wither (Yaoshi) music to mute (Xipe) light arrows to dim (Lan) Dark sun (IX) tavern (Aha) and lastly Nanook (ty user hereistori for ur help!)

I don't think nanook will single handedly kill every aeon, but this implies that finality will at the end. It's also the reason why the equilibrium won't stop nanook because it's an equal clash between them and finality who already knows what will happen.

Imo terminus isn't necessarily good, I think they just tell the future as a matter of fact and let you deal with it however you wish, in that sense they're even better than nous who has caLcULaTeD eVeRyThiNg (not a nous hater they bbg)

But then elegy says that terminus has TB joining them in their journey soon, which might imply terminus is on our side actually. And since we confirmed that SH follow terminus -even if the database didn't update it yet- I can confidently (and somewhat disappointedly) say that Elio is their emanator. Not only that but the favoritism is real, because terminus is close by his side. Elegy (once again) says the TB received their grace, hmmm, this paragraph points at one thing, remember Kafka's truth? An unknown aeon modified TB's body to host a stellaron. Srsly terminus does everything that isn't finality

You know what will be the craziest paradox tho? It's Elio being terminus pre ascension who went back to give human him the ability to see the future (plays 5D chess). This could also explain why elio is focused on killing nanook when he was basically forced into this role. It explains his motivation and his means + his grand plan of making TB in the likeness of nanook for some reason NO IM NOT CRAZY HEAR ME OU-

I mean it makes more sense than elio is akivili or nanook (those are legit ones, I don't agree with)

Anyway, elegy....says "what is the meaning of our existence if everything is bound to be reduced to nothingness in the end" (you can tell I like her and elio a lot lol *bats my eyes cutely*) which sounds awfully similar to Acheron's. Déjà vu? So how do we explain the connection between finality and nihility ? Idk- if you have any thoughts share them pls! I'm chronically obsessed with IX!!!

At least we know that IX existed before terminus did, and I was just saying that terminus will end nihility, so maybe Acheron's answer lies in finality like ppl speculated at first, interesting don't you think?

I've been thinking that some day PLS I BEG Elio would come in touch with Acheron, if she's able to sever paths, she'll definitely come in handy against nanook.

But I gotta say, terminus is a cruel existence to IX, an aeon that believes that the fate of the universe is nothingness, and is proven right.

Also, an emanator is like a mirror to an aeon, we may be fundamentally misunderstanding smth... finality isn't connected to nihility, but it looks like it because we don't have the full picture. Elio believes the book to end, but for the story to have a million ways to play out. He doesn't refuse finally, nor does he think it's worthless to try. Terminus must be the same, they may have nothing to do with nihility, but I know nihilism to be connected to Finality.

THANKS FOR READING! 💟

[insomniac-arrest]

If Reddit goes quiet, how're we going to find answers from real people anymore?? Most search engines are unusable due to SEO grifts. Quora is an annoying hellscape with a distracting layout. Yahoo Answers, Yahoo Answers . . . *starts weeping openly on her grave*

Humanity has been removed from our virtual human playground.

[anghraine]

ladytharen replied to this post:

I love ascending beyond gender with the 'dr' title

Right?? I didn't like "Ms" or "Mx" or really anything except sooooort of "Miss," and that's so tied in with blinking neon gender signs, meh. But "Dr" is a fantastic gender! It conveys no information beyond "this person knows quite a bit about some kind of subject area", just the way I like it.

[ccbatman]

forever thinking about how she didn't just say, "me too", here btw. if you even care.

{World's Finest 2009 #3}

[oconist]

galex + this post

Caroline Walker Bynum, Women Mystics and Eucharistic Devotion in the Thirteenth Century / Nicole Homer, Pecking Order / Caroline Walker Bynum, Holy Feast and Holy Fast / Romeo Oriogun, The Origin of Butterflies

[odysseys-blood]

literally how i feel any time i read this line. absolutely NOT

i think he's a great mirror type character for the mc depending on how much you draw on the default ra-on and their characterization, but more specifically their feeling of inferiority to solomon (which i take for my mc loyal). both the mc and bael are stuck filling in for a role for a king that neither feels they're well equipped for or were even born to hold and the fact that bael's so used to taking the fall that he's automatically ready to do it for you too is just. man. orz