#even if she’s faceless

[eloise175]

Speaking of the greenhouse scene, it’s alluded that Callisto gets reminded of his late mother when he hears the crying of women, does that mean we’ll get flashbacks of the late Empress??? 🥹

Please I’ll do anything for crumbs of this woman, SHOW ME HER

[teleportationmagic]

The thing about Jayce and Mel is that like. She does not view him as an investment. That is just certifiably false. You have to skip over all her scenes to believe that.

In the beginning she does! She absolutely does! She conceives of their relationship as a business one - where she makes profit off his inventions, and he profits from her business and political acumen, both monetarily and powerwise. And overall, she believes she's fulfilled her half of the bargain.

It's only when he comes back to her after Viktor gets sick that she realizes he believes this is something deeper. And it's notable that she responds to that emotion - she opens up about herself too, comforts him, and expresses real emotionality about it. It's then that we see his ideals start to influence her - especially reawakening in her a desire for nonviolence.

Wanting to do things peacefully is something that's been with her since she was a child. It is what guides her away from Noxus, because her pacifism just does not fit there. It's why she loved Piltover so - they aren't a violent expansionist empire, which is a really low bar, but that's what she's grown up in.

She never finds the violence in Zaun, because she never goes looking for it. This is her fault, and her flaw, let me make that clear. She has some of the most power in the city, and should know about what kind of violence is holding up, and work to resolve it, truly. But she doesn't, because she's focused on her own exploits, and has so insulated herself away from the class struggle that it does not register for her until it grows to violence.

And then, once that violence comes, she maintains that pacifism with an iron grip, more than Jayce himself. It is Jayce who constructs (almost) all the HexTech weapons that are used in the Undercity, in Caitlyn's police squadron. He betrays the oaths that he's made to his partner, where Mel keeps the promise she's made to her's. She is the only politician left to try to tamp down on the worst of Ambessa's instincts, and her removal from Piltover is what marks it's descent into militarism.

She is ultimately a complicated woman, with a bunch of interesting relationships to Piltover and Zaun. I think you can divide Piltover as a city neatly between her, Jayce, and Caitlyn - each of them standing for some of Piltover's best instincts, and some of its worst.

[fromtheseventhhell]

I want to make a longer post about this someday but: I think Arya's TWOW arc is going to include her coming to terms with her identity as a Lady. This has been an ongoing conflict with her since her first chapter and I think her flowering in winds is going to mark a turning point. The theory of her having an apprenticeship with the courtesans holds a lot of weight and the idea of Arya going through puberty among a group of unconventional women she's fostered a positive relationship with is just too perfect. It would really have an impact on Arya reconciling her personal idea of what a Lady should be. There's also a lot that she could learn from them in terms of courtesies, communication, appearances, body-language, etc. that would elevate her current skill-set and ways her relationship with them could push the plot.

Not to mention she will undoubtedly reclaim her identity as Arya Stark, and her being a Lady is inseparable from that. Arya Stark is a Lady Stark and being a Lady is a social position, not a measure of how well someone preforms feminine tasks. She shouldn't have to relinquish her position because she doesn't fit patriarchal standards. That's not to say that she's ever going to be the perfect example of a traditional Lady but what I think will happen is that she becomes capable of playing the part. She plays several identities throughout the series but she's always been Arya underneath, so I think it's appropriate that she learns to adopt a "persona" that's part of her. Her remembering Ned putting on his "Lord's face" (+ the various examples of other characters being separate from their ruling persona) makes me think that Arya will be donning her "Lady's face" when she makes a return to Westeros.

[sallytwo]

... The poem may be an elegy for childhood losses.

(On Dream Song 29, Thomas Travisano)

[cowboyinternist]

The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives In Your Home please?

i’d vote for her

[cent-scratchnsniff]

face

[throwawayasoiafaccount]

god tywin lannister deserved worse

just remembering elias death and i wanna puke and the way tywin talks about elia and what happened is so damn gross

but rip tommen and myrcella we all know what’s about to happen in the next book :/

the cycle of violence just keeps spinning and damn you tywin for beginning it

(i got a bit crazy in the tags 💀)

[kara-knuckles]

I'm honestly baffled by how many people seem to get "Manfred is freethinker, Ascalon is sheeple" from Babel and "Manfred outsmarted Hoederer" from 14. I can at least begrudgingly understand the former, because the narrative goes out of its way to invalidate Ascalon's every decision so you need to be invested enough to take a step back and see it's actually bullshit, but with the latter W outright mocks Manfred for acting exactly like Hoederer predicted, and this is despite Ulsulah's advanced warnings about the situation on Lifebone. Hell, the fact that Hoederer doesn't even try to fight (presumably because he is acting as a bait and this minimizes his potential injuries) and complete lack of reaction from everyone else suggest that everything was still proceeding according to plan B (separate Manfred from his men so you don't fight them at the same time), even if plan A (intercept him) got Damazti'd.

[2hoothoots]

because i'm predictable, what're bobby and chloe up to in the villain au? or how's the dynamic between sam and dogen since he's taken psychoisolation to the extreme?

Bobby's in a pretty similar position to the regular timeline - at least, at first glance. he's overworked and underpaid, constantly crunching to try and keep on top of the ever-growing mountain of paperwork his superiors keep handing down to him.

but i think the trajectory of his character looks pretty different? he never really met Raz at Whispering Rock. he never got humbled by him, never had to suffer the embarrassment of his spot as top dog being yanked away by some new kid... but he also never really got to go through a lot of the character growth from their ensuing rivalry? he's definitely mellower than he was as a kid, but he's got a lot of unresolved issues bubbling under the surface - anger problems, poor self-esteem, a tendency to lash out at authority figures...

he still really believes in the work he's doing, and wants the Psychonauts to be the force for good he knows they can be. but he's carrying a growing burden of stress and exhaustion, stuck in a toxic work environment that's more likely to change him (or just make him snap) than he is to change it.

his only real friend at the Motherlobe is Chloe. Chloe is... well! again, first-glance, not that much has changed. she works the same job in the Motherlobe's engineering and aerospace department, and she still gets to pursue her childhood fascination with space.

but the harsher work culture and the more pragmatic, efficient environment have exacerbated some of her less personable traits. she's blunt, rude, and almost fanatically devoted to her work, to the exception of basically everything else. her workplace safety standards are lax, and her ethics laxer. she'd sell the Psychonauts out for one corn chip if she thought it'd get her better funding for her pet projects

[fromtheseventhhell]

I don't think anyone who believes Arya is focused on revenge has ever actually read her chapters, it's just been one long game of telephone where people repeat a take they heard so they can pretend they know what they're talking about

[matsumus]

hey are your balls HEAVY? do i have a solution for you! oakie here LOOOOOVES breeding. you should go ham. just sayin’. 🤭

Appreciate the tip friend. But I had already a guess when she was sittin’ pretty on my cock the other night and she kept whinin’ about.. hmm what did she say exactly— Ah, yes. She said somethin’ along the lines of, “It’s already in! Why can’t you just fill me up too? So annoying Tsumu..”

Isn’t that right, princess? @luvoakie

[labyrynth]

so…somehow topaz is not only managing to embody “rampant capitalist” but also “insidious colonizer”???

like babe maybe try not launching an armed alien invasion of their home threatening to extract every single resource of potential value. or like. dumping a 700yr old debt on a planet that has been entirely isolated for most of that.

hey speaking of how it’s been 700 years since this supposed loan was made—why are you sweeping in to demand hundreds of years of interest on a loan you didn’t care enough to collect more than 400 years ago…conveniently AFTER you decided that maybe there was something to exploit here after all?

like goddamn when they announced “topaz and numby” i thought the pig was supposed to be NUMBY and yet Here We Are

[cryptidjeepers]

Its so weird that whenever people strike, people immediately start blaming the strikers for the casualties (janitors, catering, other professionals tha wont be able to work) instead of the corporations that are the reason theyre striking. Im sorry that you dont think people have the right to strike and negotiate, but why is it fair to place the blame on people that are also being exploited instead of the people that could have ended the strike MONTHS AGO. They're the ones prelonging it

[storytellering]

I really, REALLY hope that CAPCOM never reveals who Nero's mother is. I don't think I can take losing all the steamy Dante/Vergil Mpreg fanfiction and fanart!😥

Oh anon, I highly doubt the art and fanfic would disappear just because capcom gave a face to nero's mom! Even if they were to actually make her a character, I think me and everyone else who's deep in the hc would just keep going as if nothing had happened - after all, I highly doubt Vergil being Nero's actual mother would ever be made canon, so why care about what canon says on the matter? It fits incredibly well with his character and with the general vibe all of the spardas have that make them so close, at least in my experience, to the (specifically transmasc) non-cis experience, but it's one of those things that was likely just a happy accident and as such will probably never be recognized by the creators, even. Though while I think it's clear that the official intent of purely canonverse is to imply Vergil had a ONS with a random woman who got pregnant with Nero, I personally don't think it would serve the narrative to make her a full fledged character - something like that would muddle the story a bit too much. I think it works perfectly as a "yeah this thing happened but how or the details don't matter, what matters is that now Nero exists" thing rather than having its own detailed branching off plot. I just don't think DMC is the franchise to explore that - and besides, I think capcom, so far, hasn't seemed too interested in exploring that, which honestly I appreciate not just as a shipper (because again, like I said, at the end of the day what canon says matters relatively little) but from a narrative perspective.

[maulfucker]

once again thiunking about my g.h.posting and man. if i were a millionair I would pay to have that entire book as an audiobook in maul's voice.

[usagimen]

Thanks to Ren’s influence, Sayuri would marry into the Stark lineage, if you are born in the family && have auburn hair; congrats, you won her genetics. It does make sense considering her high honor, loyalty, along with dedication to family. Then, it plays into her symbology of being a winter like queen in her own right. There’s something lovely about this where in the beginning it was just, well, if Sayuri dies at least she goes out on her own accord to now growing old surrounded by her children who replace the faceless effigy with her brilliant emerald eyes && sunny smile. The contrast where she is displayed as a fearsome woman in her youth to surrounded by her loved ones in furs in her later years, Sayuri being one of few to escape the dance more profitable? Spicy.