#but then I thought about dragon

[lewiscarrolatemybrain]

Rereading Take The World By Storm has me thinking about how Luffy (and honestly all the East Blue squad + Chopper) is like, genuinely The Most Adoptable Child On The Seas, and now I desperately want a fic that’s just Jinbe defending his custody rights with his life.

Like, obviously Robin, Brook and Franky are also co-parenting these kids but more importantly: none of them are Important Political Figures in the World Government’s eyes. Shanks is staying hands-off. Whitebeard got turned down when he offered Luffy a place on his crew. Hawkeye can claim Zoro but Luffy is too independent for him to call his own just yet, he has a plan to wear the kid down slowly.

Then all of a sudden Jinbe of all fucking people is walking around with pictures of Luffy in his wallet and everyone is appalled.

Where did he come from? Since when is he even a competitor?? How did he win the game when he’s barely even played it??? He better realize this means war.

News that all these Emperors and Warlords are fighting over the Strawhats gets back to the East Blue, and Red Leg Zeff comes out of retirement and sails the Grand Line again to track them down because fuck you, that’s his little Eggplant’s crew, and if anybody has a claim on any of these kids it should be him!

Dragon watches all of this from afar and is torn between elation that his son is loved by so many people and soul-crushing grief that he doesn’t get to be one of them. (He knew he was sacrificing any right to Luffy’s life when he left, and Luffy being alive today proves it was the right choice to make. But god does he wish he could meet him, speak with him. See for himself what it is that makes him so special. He already loves Luffy as his son, but it would be nice, he thinks, to be able to love Luffy as Luffy, too.)

[kavaleyre]

• The Hanged Man •

“Compared to what Falin went through? This is nothing.”

[kradogsrats]

this is SO stupid and low-effort but I can't get that one tiktok out of my head

they're making s6 juice

[verflares]

(click for higher quality!) draconified link concept ive been chipping away at this past week ..... here's my funny little compendium concept for him:

"A heroic spirit has taken the form of this bestial dragon. Unlike it's kin, this creature exhibits an extremely aggressive disposition. It appears highly territorial, and will relentlessly chase down those who disturb its skywide patrols - of which it seems to be endlessly searching for either a long-time vassal or foe. Unfortunately, it seems the spirit within has long since forgotten exactly who it was looking for���"

[flowerandblood]

[chalkrub]

reminiscing about childhood books after that ask - all due respect to cool sleek movie toothless....but to me, he will always be a mean little gremlin

[egophiliac]

I've had a beast of a cold for the last few days, but I wanted to get this out before the new year! while I've sort of made my peace with my first take on Lilia's UM poster, I really wanted to do a version with the new context that chapter 6 gave us. because. c'mon.

(don't worry, Lilia can carry ALL HIS KIDS AT ONCE)

[kemalamalam]

I HAVE FIGURED IT OUT

[triaelf9]

"how do you enjoy *insert fandom here* I hear they're the worst"

Find the ppl who enjoy the thing you like the way you do. Ignore, mute or block the ppl who don't.

Ta-Da~

[vaguely-concerned]

I understand and agree with a lot of the frustrations about the shortcomings of Inquisition as a story. but sometimes when I hear people complain about the chosen one narrative in it I do want to just be like... you know it's a deconstruction of the concept more than anything, right. the inquisitor isn't actually chosen by anything except stumbling into the wrong (right?) room at the right (wrong?) time because they like, heard a noise or whatever. or if you think they are chosen, as many do in-universe, that's something you have to take on faith, the maker-or-whoever moves in mysterious ways indeed-style. the Inquisitor isn't actually a Destined Chosen One, they're a Just Some Guy in a fancy hat, self-delusions of grandeur to taste as you'd prefer.

a running thread that goes through all of the personal quests of the companions is the concept of a comforting lie vs. an uncomfortable truth, upholding old corrupt structures vs. disrupting them, and the role of faith in navigating that. (blackwall the warden vs. thom rainier the liar and murderer. hissrad vs. the iron bull, or is that the other way around? cassandra and the seekers -- do we tell the truth about what we find, even if it means dismantling the old order of the world? and so on.) and your inquisitor IS at the same time a comforting lie (a necessary one, in dark times? the game seems to ask) and an uncomfortable truth (we are the result of random fickle chance, no protective hand is held over the universe, it's on us to make a better world because the maker sure as hell won't lift a divine finger to help anyone, should he against all odds exist). faith wielded for political power... where's the point that it crosses the line into ugliness? is it before it even begins? what's the alternative? will anyone listen to the truth, if you tell it?

interesting how you also get a mix of companion agency in this -- you have characters like dorian who ALWAYS choose one side of the comforting lie vs. uncomfortable truth dichotomy. he will always make up his own mind to go back to tevinter and try to dismantle the corruption of the old system no matter what you say, or how you try to influence him. meanwhile iron bull is on the complete opposite side of the spectrum -- so psychologically trapped and mangled, caught in an impossible spiritual catch-22, that his sense of identity is left entirely to you and your mercy. you cannot change dorian in any way that matters; you can be his friend or not, support him or not, but he is whole no matter what. you are given incredible and potentially destructive-to-him power over bull's soul. it's really cool (and heartbreaking) to think about.

this is a game about how history will eat you even while you're still alive, and shape you into whatever image it pleases to serve it, and for all your incredible power right now you are powerless in the face of the gravitational force of time -- of more than time, of History. you won't recognize yourself in what History will make of you, because you belong to it now. you don't belong to yourself anymore and you never will again. the further you were from what it needs from you to begin with, the more you will find yourself distorted in its funhouse mirror. (why hello there inquisitor ameridan, same hat!)

and to me this is so much the core of what Dragon Age is about right from the Origins days -- how and by whom history gets written, the inherent unreliable narration of it all. I hope you like stories, Inquisitor. You are one now.

I do think it's probably still the weakest of the games narratively, and it's hampered by its structure and bloated systems. but I also find it disingenous to say that there's nothing deeper or actually interesting going on with it, thematically. if you're willing to engage with it there is Some Real Shit going on under the high fantasy-tinted surface.

[artoflevity]

runs in the family.

[bishicat]

You believe me like a god I'll destroy you like I am

:-).

[timethehobo]

Emmrich is tired of Rook constantly pissing him off.

Voiceline is Shaw from COD BO4 Zombies (also voiced by Nick Boraine). Just wanted to practice some animation before I get rusty and thought to use Emmy and his VA’s closest voice for fun.

[ash-and-starlight]

one day, in a thousand years

[legokingfisher]

Little kids who are samurai x fans not being able to pronounce “Pixal” so she gets called “Pickle” by them instead and she just embraces it once she learns about it. Pickles and pickle emojis are now associated with samurai x in online spaces. Pix tells her dad and he thinks it’s funny. Some of the ninja include pickle emojis in her contact in their phones

[undeadoracle]

There's something I can't quite put my finger on about sebastian and his relationship to gender. how all of his conversations with the women companions are thoughtful and respectful even when they clash on the subject matter, but his conversations with the men companions are mostly just him getting mocked or berated. how every single figure of significance in his personal quest is a woman: Mrs Harriman, flora, elthina, even leliana. The chantry is a matriarchal environment where men aren't allowed to rise past a certain rank or perform certain jobs, and he seems completely unbothered by that.

he canonically used to spend a lot of time in brothels, but never mentions having any male friends. part of the trauma of his upbringing is that being born a boy made him irrelevant and unwanted at home. he's the only romanceable companion with no desire for men. Isabela asks if he used to be a woman, and varric accuses him of being a crossdresser. he's not interested in learning to use a sword; he wants to learn how to cook. the only time he ever speaks with any fondness for any man is his grandfather. i'm not really saying he's trans coded, i don't get that vibe from him, but the fraught relationship he has with manhood + his clear preference for the company of women over other men is . . . something.