#depression press

[pheere]

The Embroiderer's Alphabet (cr. Depression Press on Flicker)

[simonh]

REX by K. James

[arkangelo-7]

I need Battison to have a Robin.

I need him to carry around a little bundle of joy in his arms. I need him to risk his life saving him from the movie’s big bad. I need him to hold his tiny hands or cradle his tiny face. I need him to crack the smallest of smiles when Robin makes a pun.

I need him to walk into the penthouse, tired and angry and sad, and see his little Robin sprawled across the floor, giggling as his crayons draw him and Alfie and B—their little family.

I him to crawl out of the darkness with Robin. His Robin.

[winepresswrath]

I am still obsessed with how fucking rude Armand's little script notes were. "We need an animation here to convey how bad the hoarding was," bitch that is your boyfriend you are selling to his death. It's that necessary for you to let a whole theatre of humans know how bad his depression cave got?

[lizzybeeee]

Me watching my Inquisitor walk off with Solas at the end of the game like :) "aw cute ..hey if Mythal hadn't told you to stop would you have murdered her,," (I haven't played the other endings yet).

This!!!

(Obviously, not murdered her personally, but he absolutely had no qualms about doing the ritual once more - knowing the consequences of it.)

Let me preempt this by saying that I wanted there to be a happy/fulfilling ending to Solas and Lavellan. I'm not a blind hater! Just someone who finds it very hard to put my own Lavellan in the place of the 'Lavellan' provided to us in DATV.

The Solas/Lavellan relationship already was kind of iffy (power imbalance, constantly dragging her culture, removing her vallaslin/then dumping her, constantly lying to her, etc...) but DAI did a great job of making you feel sympathetic towards his plight - especially after Trespasser! He woke up in a world so divorced from his own that it was unrecognizable - the people he had done so much for were suffering from the consequences of his actions, justified as they may have been at the time (stopping the evanuris). His actions led to great suffering in the pursuit of preventing even greater suffering.

Even after we learned of his plans in Trespasser, it was very much: "cool motive, still murder."

I felt sympathetic towards Solas and the implication that we could change his mind, given to us in Trespasser, gave me hope that we would be able to convince him of another path. That he could find a place in Thedas as it is now and look to the future. That was why I chose the option to try and get through to Solas, despite knowing that his plan would lead to mass death/terror if it went ahead.

I always expected the Veil to fall at some point, but i was hoping there'd be some more nuance to it than: veil gone, demons everywhere, lots of people die. Well, I was very wrong lmao.

But, if anything, the game made me entirely unsympathetic towards Solas.

The moment he started his ritual he chose the old elven empire over Lavellan - over her family, friends, home, culture, and anything else she may have loved/valued.

And he did this twice.

He chose to pursue lowering the Veil - knowing that thousands would likely die. For all his insistence of 'minimizing the damage' he went in knowing that many more people would die because of his actions. There was no justification of stopping the evanuris this time either - no excuse of not knowing the potential consequences of his actions like the first time.

He chose to begin the ritual that ended up releasing the Elven Gods - knowing full well the risks it entailed.

He killed Varric - whether by accident or not, it was by his hand.

He chose to use blood magic to manipulate Rook into thinking that Varric was alive - puppeting his corpse around in Rook's eyes and putting his words into Varric's mouth.

He chose to manipulate, mold, and guilt Rook into the old 'switcheroo' in his mind palace/regret prison

He chose to 'free' the elven people by bringing down the Veil - regardless of their feelings about it (elven Rook can call him out on this!), never mind the consequences or ramifications of a bunch of people suddenly having their bodily autonomy overwritten by now being magic/having immortality.

He looked at the devastation caused the by the Gods and still went ahead with trying to bring down the veil again.

These are the thing he does in-game - not even mentioning making the dwarves/titans tranquil, creating the blight, started the chain of events that led to SOUTHERN THEDAS BEING DESTROYED, and taking my good gear from Inquisition!

Aside from the 'all lore leads to Solas' reveal just being really dull it also does nothing to help with making me sympathetic to him as a character. The audacity of this man to say: "it was like walking in a world of tranquil" when he fucking lobotomized the dwarves/titans is wild in retrospect.

If he didn't do the ritual at the beginning, if something else went wrong and that resulted in the God's being released, I could understand why a Lavellan would still want to get through to him. It would make sense - she could stop him from doing it again at the end too! You can still have him conflicted and torn between the restoring the past or pursuing the future - but this doesn't happen!

He never chose Lavellan in this game! Hell, it's Mythal who convinces him to stop?!! He owes her nothing! He's learned nothing from this!!! He's only stopped because Mythal 'pardoned/freed' him - once again showing that he values the ancient elves/mythal over her!!!

How impactful would it have been to have him choose Lavellan over Mythal! To show us this! Mythal, who 'crawled through the ages for a reckoning' (which was retconned to her being sad about the elves lmao) telling Solas to go through with the ritual and him touching grass and saying 'no'.

It's something I feel was wildly out of character for him as well - he never came across in DAI as being subservient to Mythal, if anything the ending cutscene gave me the impression they were equals?!

After everything he did in this game - after all we learn about what he did in the past - I had no interest in reasoning/appealing with his ass. None whatsoever. My inquisitor/Lavellan asking if Solas can be reasoned with only made me regret making that choice - perhaps other people's inquisitor's would say that, but mine would not, especially after everything that happened in game.

She came across as delusional: standing on the ruins of a blighted Minrathous, the south blighted to hell, dead all around them, blight tentacles everywhere, a gaping hole in the Fade right next to them:

Lavellan: "I forgive you! All you have to do is stop." Solas: "But I cannot."

Boom! There it is.

At this point it's not romantic, it's just sad! Sad that she's spent 10 years pining after a man who seemed to learn nothing at all from what happened in DAI.

------------------------

There should have been some sort of a dialogue option with Lavellan right before you go into the big fight - she can ask you what you think of Solas, if he's truly regretful for everything that happened, and then you can give her an answer that can 'change' her approach to Solas in the end - giving the player some agency as to how their Inquisitor would actually respond to this.

Ending One: Bye Bye Bye

Rook: "HE'S A GUY."

alternatively, "Look around you! Look at what Solas has done - what he's threatening to do even now after all of this! You gave him every chance to turn away from this path. So did Varric...and look at what he did!"

Lavellan is bitter/angry with Solas: "It seems we never were people to you after all."

Refers to him as 'Fen'harel' and not Solas - dig the knife in deeper, give us angst!

"Just go. You love the Fade, don't you? Enough to do all this - enough to kill Varric for your pride in a dead world that no longer exists. We were never 'real' to you, were we?"

Solas says his goodbyes, expresses his love, and Lavellan steps back.

Solas leaves voluntarily, his 'situation-ship very much over', to stew in his regrets for the rest of his life.

Ending Two: Bittersweet Goodbye

Rook: "Girl, it's been 10 years."

alternatively, "You loved him once, perhaps you still do even now - after all he's done - but love wasn't enough. Love does not excuse this."

Lavellan is firm with Solas, does not excuse his actions, but has a bitter sweet farewell: "I had hoped…it doesn't matter what I hoped. You made your choice - it wasn't me. It wasn't our friends. It wasn't this world. You can make a choice now - if I ever mattered you. If I, if our friends, were ever real to you."

They can have a final goodbye, a goodbye smooch, and then he can go off to the Fade.

Bittersweet ending - acknowledge what they had and then provide closure.

Ending Three: Happy Ending (?)

Rook: "He didn't mean it babe. He's tots sorry."

alternatively, "He seems to regret what's happened - I've seen his memories, his regrets. He believes this is the only path he has. Perhaps you can convince him to find another."

Default Lavellan ending basically

"There is no fate but the love we share" blah blah blah

As happy an ending as it can be when you have Lavellan fuck off to the Fade - leaving behind her life, friends, family, and whatever remains of the world for an eternity.

I'm being mean but I genuinely wanted a happy/fulfilling ending for them both too - despite the fact that this game seems to want that ending as well, it did little to convince me of that. :(

I genuinely liked Solas in DAI - despite his flaws, I thought his romance was compelling and I was hoping to be able to convince him to change/alter his path. I can see what they were trying to do with him in DATV but it's so hard to feel sympathy for him when we see/know the results of his actions. The story in this game is doing anything but convincing me to give him a 'happy ending'.

'Love' can't excuse what he did and neither would my Lavellan.

Also RIP Sandal's Prophecy about the Fade lmao

[heyitsrink]

I'm on my first read through of Realm of the Elderlings and as a little personal project for myself, I'm taking a scene or small moment from each book in the series and turning it into a comic spread.

• • •

I think I'll forever be chasing the high I felt while reading Fool's Errand for the first time. I could have chosen any number of scenes to panel but it just had to be The Reunion. Pg 99-105 changed my brain chemistry.

• • •

He was a slender youth, but just as the lightness of his horse prompted one to think of swiftness, so did his slimness call to mind agility rather than fragility. His skin was a sun-kissed gold, as was his hair, and his features were fine. The tawny man approached silently save for the rhythmic striking of his horse's hooves. When he drew near, he reined in his beast with a touch, and sat looking on me with amber eyes. He smiled.

Something turned over in my heart.

[mahoushoujoindisguise]

The Path of Hell: A Curly Retrospective

So I decided to make a follow-up of this post because the idea has not left my mind and I do not plan to suffer alone.

((it should be noted that this analysis is purely my own interpretation. It is not my intention to say that my analysis is the definitive one, feel free to add something if you wish))

((Also to clarify that I am using screenshots of ManlyBadassHero's Gameplay for this analysis))

The Ladder Scene:

One of the main scenes that motivated me to make this post was the iconic scene of the broken stairs in the red ocean. Because I noticed how whenever I watched YouTube channels playing the game or analyzing it, the majority seemed to interpret the stairs scene as another of Jimmy's hallucinations, alluding to his comment in the cockpit.

But I dont think those images are from Jimmy's head.

But from Curly's.

The broken stairs that leave him stuck in the water to drown, the warning signs up on the sky, the chilling sound of the alarm, the supposed sun in the distance, getting closer and closer...

Those are the last things Curly saw/felt before the crash.

Now everyone will be thinking: "wait, if this is supposed to refer to the crash, why does it happen right when its Jimmy's Psych Eval?"

Simple, because this is not only a flashback of the game, but Curly remembering the first thing that unleashed everything while he is alone in medical

That man is literally trapped in those four walls if no one comes to check on him. Completely alone with his thoughts plus the effects of painkillers to keep him company, you can only imagine what is going through his head.

Can you imagine him repeating every decision, every inaction, every word he said in those last weeks before the crash on a loop?

Was he thinking about all the times Jimmy abused his good will? Or was he trying to rationalize his actions? Refusing the idea of thinking badly of Jimmy until the very end.

After all, he should have prevented this, this was his fault duty.

He was the Captain, this was his responsibility

((Take responsibility))

.

"Perhaps I should have opened up more to Anya..."

Not him.

((Take responsibility))

.

"I should have listened to what she was trying to tell me..."

Why didn't I take her seriously...?

((Take responsibility))

.

"Fuck, did he say something I overlooked...?"

((Take responsibility))

.

"I shouldn't have told them so soon..."

Was that what set him off...?

((Take responsibility))

"Is that what she wanted to tell me..?"

.

"I say Anything, did I...?"

.

"But I didn't give her the gun..."

Why didn't I?

God...

What the fuck did You (I) do?

.

.

.

"I guess..."

"that doesn't really matter anymore..."

[incorrect-soc]

Godly Parents: SoC edition

(Lil disclaimer: This is not necessarily PJO's meaning of Godly Parent. It's just basically a "Which God is your godly parent" buzzfeed quiz but with actual information-)

Kaz: Nemesis, Goddess of indignation against, and retribution for, evil deeds and undeserved good fortune. Kaz spent the entire two books and the bigger part of his life holding grudges and planning his revenge on an arrogant man who got away with destroying a bunch of people's lives. He makes it his life mission to make him pay for his crimes.

Inej: Hermes, Messenger of the gods; god of travel, commerce, communication, borders, eloquence, diplomacy and thieves. First of all, Inej is Suli. Suli people are known to be "nomads", travelling from place to place. Second, Kaz hired her to be his spider, to collect and deliver important information, a messenger of some kind. And a detail I particularly liked is the whole thing with the shoes. Hermes most characteristic item are his flying sandals; and Inej is also particularly fond of her climbing leather slippers.

Jesper: Hephaestus, God of the forge, craftsmanship, invention, fire, metallurgy and volcanoes, craftsman of the gods. Yeah, yeah. The obvious reason is in fact because Jesper is a Fabrikator. He literally controls metal. If it's parental issues we're talking about, well, we all know how that went for both of them.

Wylan: Apollo, God of Sun, light, prophecy, philosophy, archery, truth, inspiration, poetry, music, arts, manly beauty, medicine, healing, and plague. "Because of Wylan Van Suns-?" *slap* Shut up, that was literally sarcasm. Wylan's story and latter fate begins because of a music conservatory, and music really played such a big part in his own story as well as his story with Jesper (ehem, piano incident). Also, bit of a fun fact, Apollo is supposedly the creator of the flute so there you go. Another literal thing is that he created a fake plague to help Kaz.

Nina: Hecate, Goddess of the dead's souls, witchcraft and divination. (Matthias would be so happy for the whole witchcraft thing). I don't think I have to elaborate on this one, but just a reminder that Nina can in fact control dead bodies.

Matthias: Hestia, Goddess of the hearth, fire and of the right ordering of domesticity and the family. *Introduces really gut-wrenching line from chapter 40 of Crooked Kingdom about how he finally could go back home*. I know it's kinda ironic that Matthias is from an icy country and Hestia is the Goddess of the fire, but no one said this was a perfect analysis (do I look like Rick Riordan to you?). Matthias was all about family values and homeland really, even if they meant different things at the beginning and at the end of Matthias' story. First it was his bio family, whose death ignited his hatred for the Grisha and his home was Fjerda. But in the end, the Crows became his family, the family he gave his life for, the same way Nina became his home.

[tinseltownie]

33 16 44 interviews and they’re all sounding like a typical Lando self deprecating therapy session. Meanwhile Lando is cutely getting his ring measured and spilling to Pierre about his not gf asking for a dog and Kimi Antonelli is saying he’s fulfilled his childhood dream while he’s still in the MIDDLE of said childhood with Toto clutching him like a wayward 9 yr old in the garage and also it’s Carlos’s birthday tomo. And oh. Oscar’s naming rubber ducks Skippy and MAMA freaking Skippy this sport is so freaking unserious

[sunshine-and-moonshine]

Embrace cringe. Accept that there is fun to be had in it. Write the most out of character cracked up bullshit known to man and laugh yourself silly while doing so. Life is far too short to be worrying about things like “this character wouldn’t say that”

[collegeboysam]

we now have the modern devil's minion au detail that whenever armandaniel break up daniel would be calling louis to ask him if armand has posted any sad stories about missing him on instagram (since they mutually unfollowed and blocked each other, as they usually do after every fight)

[littledemo0n]

Like bffr... leave the poor child alone

[bearhound]

felt like absolute shit hell crap on the sole of a shein boot today but then i lifted weights and went for a jog and now im gods most powerful and beautiful and radiant baby goat

[basicallyanotherwitchesthing]

Nancy Anne Smith - Winter Past - IVP (Inter-Varsity Press) - 1978

[concise-cyan]

so like i think i want to write jayvik fanfic but like i'm so devastated everytime i think of them and i have no idea how to write anything that doesn't end in tragedy which is not what i want

still not over them :sob emoji:

[daz4i]

sometimes i'm like "i dunno i can't be sure if i have ocd 🥺 i've been told i have compulsive tendencies but that's it 🥺" then i find myself repeating the same illogical action for. some reason. who knows. i feel all itchy and tense if i don't. which could mean anything. and i obsessively rephrase every opinion i post to make sure i got all my bases covered and no one would be able to misread them (it doesn't always work. also sometimes i'm too tired to notice everything). which could mean anything. and then i get mad and/or uncomfortable if i use the wrong silverware or type of plate or if i put on my shoes in the wrong order. which could, of course, mean anything. and then the skin on my hands is cracked and bleeding bc i wash them or use sanitizer spray to clean them too often. which, you guessed it, can absolutely mean anything. it is truly a mystery