#change is painful yes

[gascreates]

a new star

[puppyeared]

obsessive

[evansboyfriend]

idk if buddie shippers know this but buck and eddie don't need to date for buck and eddie and chris to be a family like that's how non-nuclear families work. even if buck is dating tommy and if and when they start a family that doesn't negate the fact that eddie has leaned on buck or that he's an important person in christopher's life. and more importantly that doesn't mean buck isn't allowed to create his own family with tommy.

one thing 911 has got right again and again is showing non-nuclear families. eddie has been a single father with a solid support system including buck, carla, tia pepa and his abuela, since season 2. that's a non nuclear family.

there's also athena and michael divorcing and coparenting may and harry with bobby and david as sort-of stepdads. that's a blended queer family. (and i know that michael and david are no longer part of the show but if you're looking for a childless queer couple...)

hen and karen adopted denny and fostered nia, fostered other kids short-term, fostered mara with the intention to adopt - then when that fuckass ortiz got mara removed from her family, chimney and maddie, biological parents to jee-yun, stepped in and are fostering mara until hen and karen can sort out the matter.

there's literally not a single "mom and dad and two kids and a half kids and a cat and a dog" nuclear family portrayal on the show. it's great.

[dykealloy]

ripple effect legacy // my tears are becoming a sea, M83

[nova-rpv]

could you draw hyper knuckles with a ponytail? I love fanart of him with his hair tied back

ill do you one better: string worm hyper knuckles with a ponytail

hope you enjoy this silly echinda, echidna enjoyer

[anzuhan]

aw hell naw who allowed women in ensemble star

aka anzu's most insane day spent fully just to self insert 👊 transparents for the rest v

[haunted-xander]

Sometimes I think about Urianger's role in and feelings on the Thancred-Ryne dynamic and I think watching it kills him a bit inside. For several reasons.

Like, to begin with there's the guilt he's been carrying with him since he ushered Minfilia to the first, how he effectively killed the person Thancred cared about the most in the world and who's "death" ended up causing Ryne's entire Situation. He looks at what's happening between them and can only think "I caused this" even though that's not really true. No one person is responsible for this outcome, it's a culmination of several circumstances and the consequences of them. Logically, Urianger knows this. But it doesn't matter, because his guilt is overpowering his logic.

And also, like. What Thancred is doing here, the way he's knowingly letting Ryne be and stay hurt because he literally cannot bring himself to tell her his feelings, is the exact same mistake Urianger made with Moenbryda. Of course, the circumstances are vastly different, and the potential consequences to Thancred telling Ryne the wrong things or her misinterperating it is far greater (being a matter of literal life or death), it's still the same sort of paralysis they are trapped in.

And he knows it. He sees it. But he can't say or do anything about it, he doesn't have the right to. He acknowledges the mistake, but he hasn't really improved upon it yet. He still doesn't voice his thoughts and feelings as he should. He's also non-confrontational by nature, he doesn't argue or try to change peoples minds, he probably doesn't think he has any place to.

So, he tries to help in what little ways he can. Because he doesn't want it to become Monebryda again, he doesn't want to know he stole not one but two people from Thancred. So he does what he can. He tells Ryne little tidbits about Thancred, things that help her understand him but are safe to share. Nothing too deep, nothing too personal. Just small things, things that are purely factual, because he can't afford to give her a false image of who Thancred is. He teacher her fun and interesting things, because Thancred isn't in the mindset to provide her with non-essential skills.

I like to think Urianger has brought it up with Thancred at least once, during one of his stays. But nothing would've come of it. Not really. Unlike Y'shtola, Urianger isn't pushy, he'll bring it up once or twice and when he sees this won't go anywhere, he gives up. He wants to help, but he knows that persistance only does do much, and he is not the person who has the resiliance needed to push and push until Thancred finally budges (because he won't budge, it won't help anything but to sour things further by adding aditional stress to an already strained dynamic).

And like. Urianger gets it. He gets it because he's been the same way- not saying what he should to someone he loves more than anything else because she was meant to figure her life out herself, and 'steering' her in any direction by telling her his feelings (regardless of if the 'steering' is intention or not) will go against that. He gets it. He gets it and it's all the more painful for it. He knows it can't just be fixed by acknowledging it or with encouragement, something needs to happen to break the stasis.

I think this is probably why he stayed behind while they went off to Nabaath Areng. This is the very last chance they have to say what they want to, and he can't afford to be the anchor anymore. This is about them, not him, he can't let their resolution be buffed by his presence, so he stays behind. Which was probably for the best. Ryne got nervous when Urianger said he's staying behind, probably not too excited about being alone with Thancred (well, not alone, but WoL doesn't count) so soon after she had ran away crying. But she needs to be nervous. For anything positive to come out of this Thancred and Ryne both can't afford to be too relaxed. As sad as it is, the stress is necessary for anything to happen. He knows it. Does he like it? Absolutely not, but nor does he like his other plots. At least no one dies this time if it goes right.

[an-established-butt-dent]

At home in the shadows. Forgotten dreams.

Solas: Dragon age

Ink on paper

[lezabeththetheodoraimposter]

charles rowland please for the love of all things good KEEP EDWIN AWAY FROM MAURICE

[nostalgia-is-liar]

[hualianisms]

finally got a copy of the revised tgcf novels and skimmed book 4 and the fenglian breakup hurts so much more in the revised version... fx's whole line about "i really don't know, then why have i followed you all this time" is removed. instead what happens is, right after xl says "no, it was the past me who was crazy", xl directly tells fx to leave:

XL: "You should go." FX: "What?" XL: "I said, I don't need you anymore, you should go."

all the other parts of the scene are the same. these revised lines, though, are so painful... it also makes it obvious that fx did not abandon xl, he only left bc xl literally dismissed him as a servant and directly told him to leave 😭 fx doesn't even have that line questioning why he followed xl anymore.

[starflungwaddledee]

little guy big city! 7 inch plushie magolor had a fun time on our errand yesterday. he even finally got to do the classic "oh nooo the statue of a Creature is eating me"!

[sqwdkllr]

Heya,,, hello,,, Just wanted to say I'm in LOVE with the art you make Squid. Your style and designs always manage to hit so nicely and its so unique to me <3 Your QSMP art and ESPECIALLY ones of miss Baribal are some of my FAVORITES and drives me (and a friend) bonkers over her and I thought I'd show appreciation for the content you provide of she-bear Baribal 🫡 I always look forward to seeing more of your art posted on here <3 Other than that, I wish you a good day, Squid! ^^

THIS IS SUCH AN OLD ASK BUT I DONT CARE IM ANSWERING THEM NOW

I’m so so glad you and ur friend like em !! THE FEM BARIBAL PROPAGANDA IS STRONG !! Do you really love a character if you haven’t evolved far from canon and changed their design hundreds of times ?

[nix-nihili]

half-dead charles meeting ghost ballet dancer edwin anyone?

Because when he catches sight of his face, of the slope of his nose and the furrow of his brow and the eyelids that flutter open and shut with each note, each step, each planned move as if he’s done this hundreds of times before, Charles thinks he could stay here and watch this forever. Then, the ballerina – or is it ballerino? He vaguely recalls the right term – smiles, bright and burning, filled with so much warmth that Charles forgets about the cold wracking his body and the headache thumping behind his temple.

He must've gasped, or his breath must've stuttered, because as soon as the smile flits across the dancer’s face, it’s gone, slipping away. The music goes silent and the boy on stage stills, a deer caught in headlights and ready to buck away into the forest that lies beyond the closing curtains.

or

Charles finds solace in what seems to be an empty theatre after a difficult night. Turns out the theatre isn't as empty as he thinks.

(many thanks to @featherandstorm for telling me bout the ghost light <3)

[earlgodwin]

It's so bittersweet that Juan was the only one who felt Cesare's constant pain, and he was glad he found something to relate to with his brother, with a relieved smile. He found solace in the fact that he could empathize with him as he endured pain all the time as well, albeit for different reasons. I wonder if he ever knew whether Cesare's suffering stemmed from being trapped in a cardinal's robe and not having a career as a soldier. Also, you can see the frustration and conflict on Cesare's face, as if he doesn't want to kill his brother but he has to since Juan became a liability and would eventually bring the family down with him, especially after Juan's descent into addiction, illness, and madness. Cesare is driven by the desire to preserve the family and because he wanted Juan's undeserved position as a Gonfaloniere. All in all, these two tormented brothers were trapped in their father's vicious cycle of favoritism and ambitions, which caused the tragic ending of their brotherhood when they could have been brothers in arms.

[maxphilippa]

i think that the major misinterpretation that people have with taco is that she didn't get attached to mic because of her sad face in the end wanted to show regret because "she hurted her friend". like. no, she wasn't sad because she regretted what she did. she was sad because she's alone again, but she knows very well at the end that she had it coming. the reason as to why taco was so desperate of wanting mic to tell her that she did gain something is because. she SAW pickle in mic, but of course their situation is very different. "Oh but Taco couldn't have done what she did to Mic to Pickle, Mic was fully aware" but she did do that. Mic herself says it. That is pretty much what II is telling you. Taco isn't a good friend, and is not exactly a good person either. Mic was aware that Taco was/is a bad person, but Mic's nature makes her believe in whoever acknowledges her. Taco made Mic feel like she needed her, just the way she made Pickle feel back in s1.

she didn't really change thanks to mic. her faces of "regret" aren't her actually lamenting all of the stuff she did to microphone, but rather just her realizing that she proved what everyone said about her as a result. i will give it to that she might've tried to change, but not because of mic. she wanted to win the prize so she could prove others wrong on her being a loser and a coward, by being a loser and a coward. if anything, mic made her realize that she hasn't changed. she pretty much just ruined everything for everyone who saw her as a friend, and for herself.

taco's whole arc is constantly just downgraded to questionable takes and listen. i do agree that she is heavily flawed as a character. she is morally gray, but ii doesn't portray her as a good person with good intentions, nor she should be really be treated as if she was. neither she had those good intentions with mic at all, i mean, their "friendship" pretty much started because of taco wanting the prize money, taking a part of microphone's prize if she made mic won, you know, an offer. she would get the prize and mic would get recognition. but everyone seems to forget that probably, the main reason as to why she's doing all of this, is because she does regret how she acted on s1. she doesn't exactly regret doing all of that to microphone, and even if she does, it's for the wrong reasons. (that's because she did the exact same thing to you know, pickle, her once best friend, the only person she truly ever cared about)

people do tend to forget that taco keeps sending letters to pickle, and that's often just used for pickle angst and making it his only character trait, but. it's not that. it's the fact that taco keeps on writing those letters, despite fully knowing that she did hurt pickle because of her actions. taco's biggest flaw is that she can't accept that she has ruined everything and wants so desperately to be back on pickle's life because she ended up caring about him deeply as a person. as a friend. but she was never there at all, either.

taco can't seem to understand that she has hurted people badly. sure, she seemed like a "friend" to microphone, and you can argue whatever you want but a fact is that taco IS smart, and she knew that the only way to possibly keep mic by her side is pretending to want to be better, you know, the same way she pretended to be just a odd fella so pickle and her could remain together and have an advance at the game. she played with both of them. because both pickle and mic believed in her but were just used by her for the game.

however, taco does seem to regret the way everything went during-post s1. you can see how she yearns for another chance and is saddened about not getting it, but that's not only for comedic purposes, but that's because the writing is telling you that she won't get a second chance. at least not here.

what i want people to understand is that, yes, taco is a complex character, however trying to sugarcoat what she did is pretty much missing the point of her writing as a whole. she isn't a good person neither was she a good friend. she hasn't grown because she was never able to let go of something that she thinks that she can fix with some words and a prize. she thinks that she can still fix her friendship with pickle, she thinks that she can clear her name (even if she was the one who tainted it), but she only ended up proving knife right. she proved everyone right. she hasn't changed. a morally gray character is that. they're not exactly fully bad or fully good, but it's taco's actions that speak a lot. words are cheap, and taco's title is "The Liar", and that says a lot, because she kept on lying to microphone and to pickle on both of their games. she won't heal unless she lets go.

and i want to be clear here: i do think that taco can go through redemption. i do think that taco can become a better person, but not in the way people portray her to do so. because it just pretty much goes against what her arc has settled in for us, and the other arcs that were involved in hers as well.

taco's arc is meant to be somewhat a parallel with nickel's in a way. hell, even with knife's arc if anything. she treats knife as a simple bully, but when she saw that he became smarter and way more emotionally aware than what she had expected, she felt attacked by that, because he was stable. he became a better person and he was rubbing that on her, and it made her feelings of anger way worse regarding him, but it is true. knife is pretty much everything that taco wants to be, but here's the thing that made them so different:

knife stayed. taco didn't stay.

knife is accepted by everyone in the hotel because meanwhile he hasn't explicitly said that he had a change of heart, he has shown it through actions and a big difference too is that he was there for pickle, even if they weren't close in s1, and taco is on the woods because deep down she is aware that she can't go back. not if she doesn't have something to offer as an direct apology, but here's the problem. whether or not she got the prize, she still wouldn't get forgiven by anyone due to what she said that day.

again. her problem is not being able to let go and to accept when she has messed up badly. she has been lying to everyone but she has also been lying to herself as a whole. she can't keep on doing this because it's just hurting everyone and herself. keeping grudges and holding onto past friendships that were doomed to fall is just hurting her. she is not on the state to keep on trying, she wasn't at all ever.

taco's arc most likely will have closure on a way that fits her character, and i feel like that would be with her letting go of inanimate insanity as a whole and of what she can't fix anymore. her trying to find herself after years of lying to everyone and to herself. she's not a good person. but she can become one. only if she knows what she did was wrong and that her second chance isn't there, and never will be, and if she recognizes that meanwhile she did that damage, she can still become a better person. just not there.

pickle and mic don't owe her anything, especially pickle. taco does owe them an apology, but they won't accept that. the least she could do is to accept their wishes, understand that she needs to leave them and grow to be a better person. maybe, if she does that, she would actually heal.

she doesn't need anyone to fix her. she needs to fix herself.