#cast down imaginations

[precariouswizardry]

[dwuerch-blog]

No Longer Held Captive

CAPTIVE?? That’s a word that conjures up the vision of a person or animal that has been taken prisoner and is now confined or detained. And, it doesn’t have to be in a prison or cage or trap. Being held captive by our negative thoughts can render us emotionally bound. Ever spent your days wondering why your thoughts wander to a place of negativity? You aren’t just held captive but are in…

[guardian-angle22]

HAYDEN CHRISTENSEN. Actor and Tea Connoisseur.

[meamiki]

5% of a color headcanon.... two versions since b&w emphasizes the dagger more i think but i still like the warm tones ASFSADA

i am not biased towards rainbow daggers whatsoever i promise (lie)

((also friend is streaming now and im there too!! bit more info linked here, its rated mature tho))

[anomura]

callum is so touchy with everyone huh how much of that shit w austin do we think was scripted and how much was it him just being. him

[dark-elf-writes]

Anyway Modern AU where Thranduil is a recently widowed model who cannot keep a babysitter for more than like two hours because 1) Legolas is a weird little guy 2) those that could handle Legolas’ weirdness cannot handle the force that is a six year old coming to terms with grief and the resulting crippling fear of losing his dad 3) Thranduil is famous and that brings in a lot of weirdos and he has already set his lawyer on three different nannies that posted pictures of Legolas online. All this to say he shows up late to a photo shoot with Legolas crying in his arms after yet another babysitter fell through and his agent refused to let him reschedule again only for the photographer to also be a widower who is great with kids and is incredibly kind and attractive and (god he’s in trouble)

Bard was going to be annoyed that the model he was working with was late until he saw a reflection of himself a few years before trying his best to get back on his feet after losing his wife and he cant not help. And really Legolas is such a sweet kid who really likes bugs and rocks and lizards all of which Bard is practically an expert in after three children’s worth of hyperfixations

[cherriko-art]

I go from not drawing for months to being hit with inspiration at midnight when I'm supposed to be studying and furiously sketching like a man possessed

[mazojo]

Me too the fuck

[alphawave-writes]

WIP of my versions of a masculine Asynchronous suit for Darling/repsaC and a Polaris-themed outfit for Jesse, complete with Service Spear

[poebrey]

I think what threw me off with the epilogue now that I’ve had time to digest it is that it felt so final for Michael. I’m so used to seeing everything through her eyes in real time as she lives her life as the protagonist that when we fast forwarded to the middle I guess it felt like skipping a few chapters of a book. I get why they did it, there may not be any opportunities to see her in the future so they wanted to take what they could get, but until then a part of me was in denial that the show was ending. It just felt like maybe they would pick up again next week and we would start all this over again

[givehimthemedicine]

🛹🛼

lots of talk about why Mike reacted so negatively to this when he reacted so positively to this:

can we talk about how the Rinkomania reaction started in between those two things? right here:

at mid-season-2, all the times Mike has seen El use force against people have been super justified because there were lives at stake (or at very least, like in the case of tossing Lucas in the junkyard, she thought there were)

then Max wipes out, and goes "ooh it was like a magnet pulled on my board" and instead of taking that the way anyone would - that this annoying girl fell due to lack of skill and is trying to save face with a stupid excuse - INSTANTLY Mike suspects El. El, who's currently dead or lost in another dimension or whatever, must actually be lurking around here with nothing better to do than trip Max.

ok 100% accurate but I'm offended nonetheless

why did he jump to that conclusion?

the last time some inexplicable, physical but nonlethal hijinks befell someone he was talking to, he turned around and saw who was responsible:

so when Max fell, in that same gym btw, of course his brain goes turn around, look at what you seee

this was Mike learning that, oh, El isn't Superman and doesn't reserve her powers only for perfectly morally justified situations, but can in fact lash out about anything that bothers her, like the disturbed child she is.

BUT I don't think he actually processed that at that moment. he wasn't thinking about how Max did absolutely nothing that could be misinterpreted as a threat, and didn't deserve this. at that moment, any thought of justice for Max, or scrutiny of El's motives, was easily and completely drowned out by excitement that El might be there.

so later Mike sees Angela screaming on the ground with El standing over her, and remembers he has already seen El respond to a non-life-threatening situation with a level of force that didn't make sense to him.

plus he has that whole protection thing and I think seeing anyone get hurt is paladin catnip to him (see him rushing to Max's aid two seconds after telling her she's annoying). he has that instinct to support whoever's been knocked down undeservedly - yeah he knows Angela is an asshole, but El's response seems overboard to him, so while he doesn't go as far as rushing to Angela's side, he doesn't rush to El's side either.

he keeps distance between himself and El at the rink and leaves her sitting alone in the most literal demonstration of not wanting to take her side. he seems irritated in the car and downright pissed at the dinner table. I think it's true that he was overwhelmed in the moment and scared not of El but of the situation, but I don't think that's all of it, because then why would he be pissed.

maybe he's seeing patterns and thinking back on how Max didn't deserve that at all, and how neither of these things were very Superman of El and he's a bit disillusioned that she doesn't live up to the flawless superhero moral code he assigns her in his mind.

while the Angela thing seems WAY harsher than the Max thing, can I also say that a lot of that is due to circumstances?

Angela's pouring blood, wailing, an ambulance has to come, there's lots of witnesses. it looks baaaad. Max isn't injured, isn't too bothered, and there are no witnesses or real consequences. shrug. but it easily could've gone down much more like Angela. you can absolutely break a bone or get a concussion from a spill like Max's.

Max isn't hurt, so Mike just leaves the room, and nothing ever comes of it. compare to Mike watching an inevitably-to-be-arrested El sit stewing in the aftermath as dozens of Angela's sympathizers watch her get checked for brain damage by EMTs.

it's little wonder Mike has such a different reaction in the moment, even though El's actions in these two scenes actually isn't totally night and day.

El's force was more deliberately focused on Angela, and I think El did intend to hurt Angela in a way she didn't intend to hurt Max (El yoinked the skateboard rather than bodily targeting Max herself, but her intent was still to make Max fall, and she could have been comparably injured as a result).

like, up til the point of "El gets mad and lashes out" these are similar - the way the aftermath unfolds just happens to take the best and worst possible paths, respectively.

and before you want to point out that the Angela thing was a reaction of anger and the Max was just about puppy love jealousy, no, that was anger. Max is literally the first thing El thinks of when Kali says to think of something that angers her.

tldr; rinkomania is just a nightmare remix of the gym scene to Mike

[st-peculiar]

Thinking about Ted singular from midnight burger podcast.. what a guy

[allenwalkersworld]

I heard it got canceled on Manny’s birthday. Is this true???? Istg DISNEY WHEN I CATCH YOUR MF—

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

YES HIGH-SEA ADVENTURES!!! I love the idea of them coming across a kraken or something of that nature

Sally's at the front of the line like "FOR GLORY" meanwhile others are freaking out or trying to keep the ship(and themselves, but mostly Eddie) stable

Also the bit with Eddie and Frank😭<3 so good

Sally, Julie, Frank: throwing themselves at the kraken

Eddie: attempting to back them up, failing <3

Wally: getting snatched by said kraken

Barnaby: holding onto Wally's ankle with one paw & holding onto the ship w/ the other

Poppy: dragging Howdy's deliriously sick self into a corner for "safety" & screaming

[rubiatinctorum]

I often like to imagine my characters talking together. It entertains me, such as when I'd imagine characters guessing what the price of a grocery order would be when I worked as a cashier.

ME: Okay everyone, what does it look like this one will be?

A PROFESSOR: (shrugging) $277.60

HIS ASSISTANT (planned for a book I never did write; the extent of his existence was confined, then, to their grocery games): I think it's going to be closer to $163.45

(I scan the groceries. The grocery total comes to $250.09.)

ASSISTANT: You win this round again.

PROFESSOR: I suppose I'm not half bad at this.

But after years, last night I stumbled upon a new scenario while trying to fall asleep. I was testing new pillows, which did not happen to be comfortable compared to my usual ones.

In this scenario, each of the protagonists of their respective books were sitting at a table having a meeting. The protagonist of the upcoming book, let's call her 9 (because she's in the 9th book) was being welcomed into the committee as the new discussion leader, a role she would take over from 8, who had served her time for nearly three years. (In return, 7 gave 8 the task of keeping the minutes for the meetings, which I think 8 preferred a lot more).

(9 takes the highest seat at the table, and asks what concerns the other protagonists, responsible for managing their respective book casts, have brought this week)

1: (presenting a slideshow) S and Z are fighting in public. It's going to ruin our reputation. What should I do?

(the slideshow changes to a new slide, depicting a crashing stocks graph in a big red arrow line.)

9: Now taking suggestions on behalf of 1's inquiry.

3: (Raises his hand)

9: Yes?

3: Let them duke it out. One of them will eventually win, then the fighting will stop.

9: No.

6: I second that motion.

4: Conflict of interest.

9: What?

(Whispers of 'oh bless her heart' and 'she really is new here' flow across the table)

7: 6 is 3's daughter.

2: Then why are either of them answering? 3 is, after all, 1's grandson.

(9 looks at 3, then at 1, confused at how the youngest member of the committee even has a grandson.)

9: Any other suggestions?

2: How bad is it? You might have to shut down operations for a while.

1: Shutting down operations is not an option. Only you could do that more than once, 2.

5: Ride it out until the problem blows over?

8: Have you tried talking to them?

1: -_- what do you think.

9: Just keep them to themselves for a while. I'll see what I can do about the (gestures at the stocks graph). Anything else?

(1 returns to her seat. 8 rises.)

8: [Supporting cast member vampire] keeps biting people.

2: (Recalling when she shared a story with him pre-novel era and experienced his bites firsthand) Oh, he would.

[valeriefauxnom]

Yo, since you brought it up, what's the interpretation of Abyss's ending you like the most?

Going for blood, huh, anon? I'll bite!

I'm on the side of 'technically I think it should be Asch in Luke's body' side even if I acknowledge it's ultimately ambiguous.

The Contamination sidequest, of course, is the principle foundation for this argument, as it spells out pretty clearly: Asch will die, but Asch will assume Luke's body as a backup. Luke will remain in body but not spirit, further twisting the knife to Jade, who no longer would want his dream of 'replicas as a replacement body' to come true as he wished for Nebilim.

We also see an example of the effect with Star in Ortion cavern. The group comes back to see that the original cheagle has died, and the replica remains. But when Jade interviews the cheagle via Mieu, he finds out that it is the original in the replica's body, who felt weak, passed out, and woke up in another body.

More arguably, but I also might look to Jade's immediate response after he learns of Asch's death. He starts asking Luke about how it feels and all that, likely trying to get a gauge on what's happening, if there's any chance Luke is escaping the Big Bang, etc. He wants Luke to escape this with his life, no matter how dismal the odds even without Asch's death.

...And he doesn't seem pleased with the response he gets.

There's also his response at Tataroo itself, which, okay, very arguable, but to me is not a pleased look from Jade. I'm not claiming to be any kind of expert on reading emotions, but Jade's to me looks like one more of grief and/or disappointment than of happiness, especially in the anime, which could have more expressiveness than the original PS2 graphics in a game that had some notably poorly cutscenes.

And while yes, the mysterious figure does have more visual hints to Luke than Asch, and does reference a 'promise', I will say that to the latter both of the redheads were chucking around promises to everyone and is ambiguous. Luke's promise to Guy, to Tear, Asch's to Luke, etc.

Also, I just think it could be a unique and sad ending if Asch, who has utterly loathed replicas and the concept of one, from Van's grooming and his own trauma regarding Luke's replacement, finds himself a 'replica' in the new world, in his counterpart's body, and has to start trying to figure out what to do and who to be in the new world while puppeting around what's effectively the corpse of another person. It's just uniquely horrifying a concept that I would have loved to see explored. Heck, maybe even a postgame or game about the Jade Gang dealing with the impending fonon crisis while maybe trying to find a way to get Luke back and all the drama that could result would have been fun.

...But, as always, this is a very cursory summary of some of the most common arguments for Asch. We could dissect the Contamination Effect and Big Bang and all that all day, but to me, I personally don't see any evidence that it is not working as prescribed on Eldrant, or 'reversed' as some people argue. The one example we see is it working as intended, and Jade doesn't seem all that pleased when it seems like it's starting to kick up with Luke.

However, I'd like to throw a much rarer argument into the works as a thing to consider, just for fun.

What if it's not Asch in Luke's body or the reverse, or a merging of the two into one mind/body...But Lorelei?

To this, I'd like to point out that Lorelei has a sworn duty to answer the Grand Fonic Hymn of Yulia. And what was Tear signing right before this mysterious person popped up randomly in a field when Luke nor Asch show a particular skill in stealth? Well I mean Luke says he's good at hide and seek but still

Uh-huh, Grand Fonic Hymn. This could also explain the 'promised' quote. Lorelei is fulfilling its covenant with Yulia in heeding her descendant's call.

The mysterious person's speech and behavior, for however short we see it, is...ethereal? For lack of a better word? Detached? Both Luke and Asch are very emotional people and don't tend to speak in such a even, neutral tone. Lorelei, however, is a fonic sentience (well, so is Luke, but Luke is a mini chunk of Lorelei) and is not human at the end of the day. What few lines we do get from it in game are 'indirect' and otherwise formatted in a manner humans don't usually use when speaking. To me, the more detached 'This place has a nice view of Hod' compared to anything Luke or Asch might have said normally, even a greeting, is more aligned with Lorelei's potential behavior.

So yeah. Perhaps it's Lorelei, come to Auldrant after heeding Tear's call, perhaps in its' scions' visages, attempting to honor them both by assuming elements of both now that they (or at least Luke) have re-assimilated into the greater whole of Lorelei. Lorelei certainly seems to like its scions.

In the end I can just summarize: scientifically, I think it's Asch, canonically, it's ambiguous. No matter what side of the debate one is on, I dislike people trying to insist that it is absolute fact that x happened. I think part of the ambiguity is intended to reflect the fact that the Score is gone, the future is no longer set. Notice also how all the text boxes are gone after the Score is repealed. What they're saying- what's happening is no longer has a single canonical answer. So even if I do think more of the rules of the Abyss world point to Asch, it's ultimately up in the air.