#evil baking

[nhura]

QUICK NO ONE'S LOOKING

(See readmore for thoughts, cope, bonus, etc.)

Anyone else up thinking about Ratio's big, strong, secure arms and how warm and all-consuming they could be in a hug or embrace. :/ Anyway

I just wanted to draw them being cute and seizing a sliver of a moment where they could have some PDA silly time without actually having any eyes on them. They're public figures and working adults with very clear boundaries between public persona and private life (to varying degrees of "in a sad way"), so while it may be in Aventurine's nature to constantly blur lines for various agendas and self-preservation (read: play "the flirt" without an aligned goal), I believe that in an actual relationship they'd be fairly private.

It's kind of fun to break your own rules, though! Ratio would be more upset about the consequences, though. He's a little bit of a hypocrite, which is devastating for someone of such discipline, but nobody's perfect.

I'm of the mentality of, "If you're tired of working on it, then just post it!", so here are some fun peripherals that I didn't feel like adding:

Some staff in the background sweeping up to evoke a blended sense of fragile privacy and liminal time.

A laptop on the aquarium/bar/counter because there's something fascinating about seeing people on their work laptops in public.

The rest of their clothes (casual friday)

[braisedhoney]

fighting back? against who? they're so happy—they've been waiting for you.

you are wonderful. don't you know that?

bonus: they play sims together :)

[springfurcalico]

lil dondon doodle, gonna post more doodles

[crumb-crumblet-s-crumbington]

based off a manga panel i saw for death island where chris was wearing the tightest shirt possible for no reason and me and all my friends all made fun of him for buying XS shirts just to show off his muscles

[inkskinned]

as we enter the start of a semester and the dreaded Hour of Making Friends us upon us... if ur ever at a loss for what to say in one of those weird social situations where you only vaguely-know people, one of my favorite questions to ask is "what is your favorite food crime." a food crime is like the food combination that you love that other people find revolting. press them to take it further than pineapple on pizza, that's rote. food crimes is a good topic that has many benefits as it turns out all people are degenerates and also it will give you some cool ideas to try out later in the privacy of your own degenerate kitchen

the other good thing to ask is "okay but has anyone here ever been someplace haunted" bc it turns out if you ask most people directly they don't believe in ghosts, but many people are like "oh yeah i lived in a haunted house. ghosts aren't real tho"

[nellasbookplanet]

In the wake of FCG' fate I've been thinking about death in ttrpgs, and how it kind of exists on three levels:

There’s the gameplay level, where it only makes sense for a combat-heavy, pc-based game to have a tool for resurrection because the characters are going to die a lot and players get attached to them and their plotlines.

Then there’s the narrative level, where you sort of need permanent death on occasion so as not to lose all tension and realism. On this level, sometimes the player will let their character remain dead because they find it more interesting despite there being options of resurrection, or maybe the dice simply won’t allow the resurrection to succeed.

Then, of course, there’s the in-universe level, which is the one that really twists my mind. This is a world where actual resurrection of the actual dead is entirely obtainable, often without any ill effects (I mean, they'll be traumatized, but unless you ask a necromancer to do the resurrection they won’t come back as a zombie or vampire or otherwise wrong). It’s so normal that many adventurers will have gone through it multiple times. Like, imagine actually living in a world where all that keeps you from getting a missing loved one back is the funds to buy a diamond and hire a cleric. As viewers we felt that of course Pike should bring Laudna, a complete stranger, back when asked, but how often does she get this question? How many parents have come and begged her to return their child to them? How many lovers lost but still within reach? When and how does she decide who she saves and who she doesn’t?

From this perspective, I feel like every other adventurer should have the motive/backstory of 'I lost a loved one and am working to obtain the level of power/wealth to get them back'. But of course this is a game, and resurrection is just a game mechanic meant to be practically useful.

Anyway. A story-based actual play kind of has to find a way to balance these three levels. From a narrative perspective letting FCG remain dead makes sense, respects their sacrifice, and ends their arc on a highlight. From a gameplay level it is possible to bring them back but a lot more complicated than a simple revivify. But on an in-universe level, when do you decide if you should let someone remain dead or not? Is the party selfish if they don’t choose to pursue his resurrection the way they did for Laudna? Do they even know, as characters, that it’s technically possible to save someone who's been blown to smithereens? Back in campaign 2, the moment the m9 gained access to higher level resurrection they went to get Molly back (and only failed because his body had been taken back by Lucien). At the end of c1, half the party were in denial about Vax and still looking for ways to save him, because they had always been able to before (and had the game continued longer it wouldn’t have surprised me had they found a way). Deanna was brought back decades after her death (and was kind of fucked up because of it). Bringing someone back could be saving them, showing them just how loved and appreciated they are. Or it could be saving you, forcing someone back from rest and peace into a world that's kept moving without them because you can’t handle the guilt of knowing you let them stay gone when you didn’t have to. How do you know? How would you ever know?

[siena-sevenwits]

When I was a kid, I used to tell my little sister so many versions of Rumpelstiltskin off the top of my head as bedtime stories.I just remembered one version I came up with that certainly wasn't incredible by any standard, but which I really enjoyed telling at the time. I don't remember every single detail, but here's the best I can remember with some cobbling to hold it together:

The king's son, much more kindhearted than his father, has always had a hidden talent for turning things into gold. So when he hears that the king has brought a miller's daughter back to the castle to test her ability to spin straw into gold, threatening death if she fails, he jumps in to help. He disguises himself in strange clothes with a low hood, and hunches over, and offers to help the girl spin straw into gold. Turns out that she's very lovely to talk to - they have a wonderful time getting to know each other through the night as they work. But the prince knows he's in disguise and cannot act on his attraction, so he merely asks for her for something to remember the evening by, and she gives her necklace. He helps her the same way the next night, and she gives him a ring, without his even asking for it, and blushes prettily as she does so.

The third day, the king says that if she can spin the straw into gold a third night, she will marry his son. Though the prince has been falling in love with her, he of course protests that his father cannot force her to marry anyone. But he gets shut down. That night when he comes to help her, he plans to tell her his true identity, but this time guards are in the room, as the king suspects some trick. She weeps, for she has no more jewellery to give him - in fact her only hope at this point would be to barter away her first born child like in a fairy tale. He's aghast, and waves it away, saying he'll certainly help her, but she thinks that he understood it to mean she WAS promising her firstborn. But she's afraid to unsay it, fearing he won't help her. He keeps trying to find a moment to confess the truth, but something always happens to prevent it. They finish spinning the straw into gold with hardly a moment for the prince to slip away and change into his own clothes.

In the morning, the king arrives at the door of the room full of straw, with a priest to marry them on one hand, and an executioner with axe in hand on the other. He is delighted to see there is gold after all, even with the guards watching, and calls for the wedding. The girl is willing enough to wed a prince - I mean, he's a prince but there's also something gentle and kind, and almost as if she *knows* him, though she doesn't see how she could.

The wedding is rushed through, and it's not till the bride and groom are left alone that both of them try to burst out with a terrible confession to make. She manages to gasp hers out - that she's happy to marry the prince, and she'll be as faithful and true as he could wish, but there's something terrible she must tell him. She was helped in spinning the gold, by a strange man with a hooded face, and... she may have accidentally bargained their firstborn child for his help.

The prince pauses, and says something like, "But isn't it true that with these magical sorts, knowing their name frees you from their power? If you could guess his real name, perhaps it would solve everything!"

She despairs - with all the names in the world, how could she possibly guess it?

He smiles and encourages her to try to guess.

"But what's the good of guessing now? How am I to know if I guessed it or not until he comes back for what I owe him? And then it will be too late!"

"Are you sure you can't guess his name, my love?"

And he takes out the necklace and the ring.

And joy, and laughter, and all's well that ends well, and even more rejoicing when she gives him their firstborn a year later.

[garblegarden]

A lineup of phosses that I never posted. I love this guy

[tooturtly]

I’m being so kind when I say: if you’re anti Caitlyn just bc she’s evil (which like, put a pin in it for now) you can’t handle the locked tomb.

Everyone in tlt is morally grey. Nobody is “good” except maybe like, a handful of children. (And even then there’s complexity bc the children are individuals of complicated backgrounds and personalities but I digress)

A core aspect of both stories is how fucked up the political systems are. Nobody born into an empire which sees the “other” as undeserving of existence/self governance can be totally morally “good”. Nobody who has to fight daily for their survival always has the privilege of taking the moral high ground. But that’s exactly what makes each character so interesting: the way they each respond to and interpret the standards they have been raised to believe, the values they have been taught to hold, the perspectives of certain individuals and their value as people.

Liking media or characters with this complexity does not mean anything about you as an individual, from a moral perspective.

We can talk about how Caitlyn never saw true repercussions for her actions and what that says about the themes Arcane ultimately ends up expressing. Or how the very overt political themes got dropped in season 2 (which I have many many thoughts on). But the locked tomb so far is a series that is deeply political and messy.

Do not enter the locked tomb thinking it’s only about snarky lesbians and wholesome relationships. Tlt makes whatever Jayce and Viktor had going on look so normal (look to campal and also the Tridentarii). It is stuffed with characters who have unhealthy codependencies, toxic family dynamics, and shitty empirial ideals, and that’s why I love it.

[tarpiteyes]

evil cakes of bicuriosity that probably taste like dirt

[feng-shui71]

Alvi and Junior reference sheets

[darlingdespairstims]

CG! Lady Dimitrescu Stimboard

🪦-💄-🪦

🍼-🧸-🍼

🪦-💄-🪦

[starflungwaddledee]

they're not like other waddle dees (for @gemapples)

[doostyauditalkz]

She's so beautiful...............

[walks-the-ages]

"*scoffs* "There's no propoganda in Transformers One, what are you talking about? It's not that deep! Megatron is totally a villain; he's not justified in any way for killing Sentinel, and it fact it's bad that he killed him. TFOne has no propoganda in it at all except as toy advertisement!"

The "unjustified villain" in question, in one of his evilest moments after he's gone "fully evil" according to this "propoganda-free movie" :

[ID: A screenshot from Transformers One, showing Megatron standing on an arch over a cheering crowd of hundreds of bots, both of his arms raised in the air as the people gleefully cheer him on, shouting "Rise up!" to the crowd of formely-enslaved workers. End ID]

If you think a movie that is literally doing textbook propaganda "can't possibly have propaganda in it because its for kids" ..... idk what to tell you except that's not how that works, and is, in fact, how propaganda itself works.

If you can acknowledge the deep-seated problem with Marvel movies and shows having their villain be "People who want to make the world a better place and do so with Clear Leftist Politics like Inclusivity, Diversity, and Mutual Aid like Arthur Harrow in Moon Knight with his Walkable Neighborhood, Safe Space and Vegan-Friendly Multicultural food nights.... and he also Wants To Kill Babies and Little Old Ladies",

but you refuse to see this level of propaganda when its staring you in the face and shouting in your face what the message is??

Like, why are you even trying to argue with anyone if you can see the message in the movie but still deny and complain that people are going to be on Megatron's side because Orion is trying to maintain the status quo and that the movie is upholding the divine right of kings? When that's literally what it's doing?

Like, it's perfectly fine for Orion and Bumblebee to go around violently slaughtering guards, because just like in Marvel, the little guys don't matter, you can throw those grunts out of five story buildings or slam them through concrete walls all you want, or chop them in half and stab them through the head with a knife-hand on screen as long as you're framed as being either cool or silly and excitable while doing it:

no one will bat an eye and will in fact find you slicing someone in half vertically amusing and light hearted!

but if someone wants to kill the Big Bad Himself?

The literal Baby-Maimer In Chief ?

Oh, no, suddenly, you can't do that!

That's what villains do! Only evil, corrupt, power-hungry people go after the literal fascist dictator who's kept everyone as slaves for their entire lives! /sarcasm

Megatron is one of the only characters in this film voiced by a Black person. He is an enslaved worker finding out the truth and leading a rebellion against a fascist dictator, and when he successfully kills that dictator (despite the best efforts of his so-called friends), and when he wants to tear down the monuments to this Fascist Dictator Baby Maimer in Chief, he's described as "wanting to kill everyone".

Like. Okay. So Bumblebee can go around deliberately terrorizing people and destroying important infrastructure for funsies because he's on a power trip from killing half a dozen guards,

but the second Megatron, who has just killed the Slaver Baby Maimer In Chief wants to destroy the monuments to that fascist?

Oh, suddenly, this is horrifying and destorying the city and 'going to kill everyone!'

As though this is not a clear and direct parallel to monuments to racist, slave-owning "war heroes" in the south being torn down by activists, and the framing of such action as being terror attacks and "wanting to destory the city and their heritage" ?

Yeah, Megatron shooting the monument to a fascist dictator causes stuff to fall and make random bystanders flee in terror...... because it has to, because that is part of the propaganda that tearing down monuments to fascists makes you just as bad or worse than the fascists.

Optimus even flat out says the above in the movie:

We were given the power to change our world, and you chose to destroy it. Just like Sentinel

Optimus literally, flat out, explicitly says that Megatron is just as bad as Sentinel Prime, because Megatron

killed the fascist slaver dictator in question in one-on-one combat no less, just minutes after Sentinel got done branding him like a slave

wants to tear down the monuments to said dictator.

Yeah, sure, Megatron shot Optimus........only because Optimus literally jumped in front of the bullet meant for the Literal Fascist Dictator.

If Orion hadn't of done that, and simply let Megatron kill the Literal Fascist Dictator like Orion and Bumblebee were going around killing guards left right and center, they would never have split factions, or caused a ~civil war~ or had The Divine Right Of Kings choose a new Godly Appointed Dictator of the Entire Planet.

They would have simply started a rebellion and succeeded, and could have rebuilt Cybertron together, for all.

Instead, Optimus decided to jump in front of a bullet to save a Fascist.

And we're supposed to see this action as heroic and for the Greater Good, because while it's apparently perfectly fine to go around killing lowly nobodies (nameless guards), it's the Ultimate Evil to kill Fascist Dictators. 🤦

Oh, and for anyone who missed it, everyone was cheering on Megatron for killing Sentinel Prime.

Everyone except for the three protagonists.

The entire enslaved-miner, noble, and working classes of Cybertron was united in their hatred and loathing of Sentinel Prime and were united in their newfound freedom from a fascist dictator...

... except the heroes of the story, who are terrified and dismayed to see their fellow workers cheering

"Rise Up! Rise Up! Rise Up!"

And, of course, our heroes are rewarded for their Hard Work of Stopping A New Evil Dictator by.......

becoming the new Godly Appointed Rulers of the entire planet with no one else having any say whatsoever in this decision:

The people of Cybertron chose Megatron as their leader, for leading them to freedom and killing the man who kept them enslaved and mutilated them before they were even alive.

The Divine Right of Kings said "no", and instead forced them by Divine Will to have a new leader who thinks that, actually, killing fascists is bad when other people do it, and only they themselves are allowed to go around indescriminately slaughtering people they view as dangerous.

Hey. Do you see any real-world parallels in the messaging and all here?

Does "The people choose one thing and a system designed to take choice away from the people takes that choice away from the people" ring any bells?

Does "It's okay for US to go around killing Nameless Evil People Who Are Evil but if you try to go after A Literal Fascist Dictator, you're actually the real terrorist and you're secretly a dictator here" ring any bells??

anyways as a parting shot I'll just leave you this.

Meanwhile, 5 minutes earlier...

*Brutally eviscerates a bunch of guards, laughs about it while joking about brutally killing some more guards, then abandons D-16 to fight Sentinel Prime on his own without a thought*

[pyjamacryptid]

I'm currently rewatching the dark tower for reasons (fic reasons), and when Gwen said "Morgana's enchanted it to protect me," it rang an alarm bell, this time 'round.

"[...]to protect me."

hm. huh. you don't say. interesting. As in, the knights are the enemy not the rescuers? hm. curious.

Maybe I'm reading too much into it (i mean, hey, that's the fun of it), but that choice of language stood out to me.