#ez theory

[raayllum]

AARON: I mean, like you kill a Magma Titan and take its heart. You saved, you know, thousands and thousands of starving people. Like, maybe that's worth it. Maybe you make that trade, or maybe, maybe it's wrong. No matter, there's no way to put a you know—it's trolley problems, right? It's like, you know...

KUNO: Yeah, it's a trolley problem.

AARON:  But yeah, I think you're—you're right in characterizing it as it's certainly a more complex, you know, justification that is required to pursue dark magic. And there are some people who would not accept that justification. But what's interesting about it is, you know, the questions, there are questions, you can you can come out on either side of it. You know, there are cases, you know, would Rayla have died if Callum hadn’t used dark magic? Yeah. I think she would have.  So did he have to? Are we thankful that he did? Thank goodness—well yes, we love Rayla! Well of course we needed him to do that. You know what I mean? Then there’s some kind of morality that sometimes is based on your attachment. Now if you said, should Callum use dark magic to save one person, knowing that he'll—he may be corrupted for the long term and his potential to be, you know, a hero in the future may be altered and his potential to be manipulated or you know, go down the wrong path, all that risk to save one person? Well, now you might say, “Oh no he shouldn’t—for one person?” But then if I go, “But it was Rayla!” then you go “Oh no, [laughs] yeah, he needs to do it!” [KUNO laughs] So I don’t know. But it’s also even that, right? It comes down to “well, in that moment, what did he do?” Well in that moment, he took like a—I-I think the ingredient is a piece of a snake rattle—

KUNO: Or something. Yeah, something like that.

AARON: “He didn’t even kill it, it was already dead, it was already dead man, what did he do?” Well, I don’t know. He supported the system, so it is complex. It’s worth arguing about, a bit. There’s not a clear right or wrong. There are risks. There are long term consequences. Those are baked into it. But I don't know. When—when it’s your Mom in trouble, what do you do? You do the dark magic! You save Mom, right? I do.

—Hot Brown Morning Potion Podcast interview with Aaron Ehasz and Villads Spansberg

[watermel0ns-dumb-cringe]

Princess and the War Crimes is the silliest working title for a musical/play ive heard today helpe/pos

[jankwritten]

why are my hyperfixations never on anything cheap, bro. it's always gotta be ENAMEL PINS or MECHANICAL KEYBOARDS or BOOKS or ARTWORK and PENS. and broken glass. i guess that one is kinda cheap.

[yukinyaminyato]

me before exam: this is it. this is the time im gonna fail fr 😔😔😔 oh well

me after exam: actually it wasn't that bad 🤡

[eonars]

fuck it dog i am so miserable + stressed + constantly in a zyrtec hole from this high pollen count im gonna treat myself EXTREMELY tonight and put on a nighmarishly long granular wow theorycrafting video and nosh some reeses pieces while i crack into one of those 1913 french filet crochet patterns 

[1roentgen]

.

[krawlernyannyan]

HSR 6-20-24

6x rounds at the Iron Cavalry Cavern. Found an ATK% chestpiece with a Break Effect substat and thought it was gonna be an early pickup but then the buffs went to everything except BE.

Tried out Apocalyptic Shadow today! The first half was pretty enjoyable but Cocolia feels way overtuned. It's just, really not fun waiting to see if your team lives through the 10+ attacks the opposing side gets before you get to actually do anything. Argenti was solid though, fun upgrade to his mechanics.

Did some more DU after that, and got up to Synchronicity 18.

Five-Star Fund: 91/180

[thingswhatareawesome]

just could not get that 12th star in pure fiction. have retried so many times, ended up playing until way fucking longer than i should have. and yet i see people clearing the whole thing with fucking 70s. partly this is what i get for not having prioritized traces on my buffing characters. also this i guess is what i get for not pulling every single uber ranked 5 star even though part of it is getting fucked over by rng (I SEE YOU STANDARD WARP AND GEPARD AND FX). but also i guess this is what i get for rng fucking me over on so many halfassed to lousy relics? i think that's what gets me--is that it's just never enough. never enough 5* never enough pulling the RIGHT ones, never enough traces done never enough truly good relics bc the game won't GIVE me them

and it's not that i'm ftp anymore, i'm doing that little monthly jades subscription and the occasional bp here and there. but it's just never ENOUGH.

[raayllum]

so Aaravos really hates the other Startouch elves. And presumably a lot of his current plan ("when everything they've built lies shattered") will devastate and infuriate them (although what he hopes to shatter is unclear, since most seem pretty indifferent to humans / other Xadians). But either way, it will, presumably, get their attention if not their ire, and they may not be as 'merciful' a second time to just 'let' him be exiled but otherwise left alone. What's Aaravos' plan for past that point?

Well, it seems he's pleased the prison was 1) found by the Dragang and 2) is being brought to the Starscraper. Where the Nova Blade is.

The thing that can kill other Startouch elves. Something that would be very useful for Aaravos to have and incentive to wield.

Impending heavenly bloodbath then?

[prodigal-explorer]

as much as i don’t like the “(insert side) turns into a dark side” type theories, i love everything else about this post and i hope it happens omg-

i would especially love to see something with roman and virgil and janus, as if it’s like both of them trying to decide where their loyalties lie because they’ve both been scarred by janus before, but maybe janus is right this time about whatever the episode is about. i just think it’s an interesting thing for them to go through together because their situations are now so similar.

y'all wait stop cause what if when janus gets his song it's like a tango or something?? and he goes around and dances with the other sides. if he does that i want to see him dip either roman, logan, or virgil. because him dipping roman could be a good opportunity to see the little bits of manipulative flirting jan did in svs, if logan becomes a dark side like the theory goes, or at least keeps up whatever connection he has to orange, it could be a metaphor for him controlling lo, and if it's virgil he could taunt him about his past as a dark side.

what's great is that through use of special effects, stunt doubles, and camera angles, this could be a great editing trick and could TOTALLY work. i mean we had the clock that was just zooming in accepting anxiety 2, and the remus face thing on two silhouettes at once in dwit during forbidden fruit, so masking like this has been done before and can be done again if they need to show two faces at once. and of course if they can't mask it they can always use split screens too, they just have to choreograph it just right so that's possible.

i'm just saying.. if there's any side that's gonna try and dance with others, it's janus. him or roman, but roman's too depressed for that.

[dontexpectmuch]

hiii

can you do a oneshot of jude being clingy all day to the female reader?

thank uu

your limbs felt heavy, almost like you were tied down to your bed, your chest the only thing that’s moving as it moves up and down, deep breaths leaving your nose as you slowly but surely come back to your senses.

you try to open your eyes, the brightness of your room making it harder than it needed to be. taking a nap during the day was definitely one of your favorite activities, especially after a long university day. and though your room is already filled with warmth radiating from the heater, you feel almost uncomfortably hot.

that is when you realize another source of warmth behind you, chest moving against your back as he deeply breathes in and out. not only is your body being covered with his body heat, no, jude also has his arms wrapped around your head, kind of like a deadlock, your cheeks being squished between his biceps.

you want to enjoy it, really, but with the heating on, the blanket over your bodies and judes naturally warm body, you feel stuffy.

his grip around your head isn’t tight, you could easily slip away, which you try, though you feel his arms tightening around you, now his leg thrown over yours under the blanket.

you tap his arm, voice low as your throat feels dry, “jude.”

you hear him mumble something under his breath, meaning he was awake, though he wouldn’t let you go. instead, he nuzzles his cheek against the top of your head, his body pressing against your back even more.

you try again, “jude, please, it’s warm.”

“five minutes.” his deep voice sends shivers down your back, and if it wasn’t for the heat surrounding you and your bladder reminding you that it needs to be emptied, you’d happily comply.

so, you do what any person in your position would do, you bite his arm, hard.

“dude.” jude whines, removing his arms from your head and turning to lay on his back, nose scrunching and eyebrows furrowed.

you laugh at his your expression, pressing one last kiss on his bare chest before getting up, heading to the bathroom.

the sound of the pasta boiling in the pot next to you feels the kitchen, drowning your voice as you hum long a song that was stuck in your head all day long. though you decided to take a break, you can`t help but think about all the studying that needed to be done. your shoulders feel tense, your head is pounding from the mere thought of sitting in front of all those books and understanding all those theories from your professor.

only when jude rests his head on your shoulder, his strong arms around your waist and his body pressed against your back, you relax, sighing as you lean against his body, lazily stirring the sauce in the pan.

“lets cuddle.” his breath feels hot against your neck, goosebumps feathering your skin.

you turn your head to look at your boyfriends face, smile gracing your lips, “lemme finish this, babe, we can cuddle afterwards.”

jude groans, lightly bumping his head against yours, “wanna cuddle now, miss you.”

if it wasn’t for the water in the pot that was threatening to spill over, you would have given in. but you quickly step out of his hold, moving forward to stir the pasta in the pot.

“i will come as soon as i am finished, babe, `kay?”

“but i want you now, it`s so boring without you, babe.” jude moved his hand up to your neck, thumb drawing circles against your skin.

yo take his hand to press a kiss against bis knuckles, a subtle way to apologize, “food needs to finished first.”

“`m not that hungry anyway!”

“jude.”

“fine.”

“where are you goin`?” jude immediately sits up as he watches you get up from the couch, stretching your arms above your head. his eyes are wide, all the sleepiness he felt a minute ago vanished.

“gotta pee.” you chuckle at his behaviour, “and, uh, you?” your ezes follow him as he, too, gets up, blanket abandoned on the couch.

“let`s go.” is all he says, holding your cold hand in his warm one, guiding the two of you to the bathroom. you are at a loss for words as you watch him take a seat on the side of the bathtub, opening the lid of the toilet seat, signaling you to, well, do your business. with him. watching you (?)

you don`t know why, but you decide to wait a minute, hoping that he will get up and leave you alone to do your business, though it never happens.

“babe?” jude looks at you confused, “everything okay?”

you sigh, “well, uhm, i was waiting for you to get out, y`know?”

jude giggles, shaking his head, “c`mon, `t`s not like i`ve never seen you naked.”

you scoff, taking his hand to make him stand up before you push him out of the bathroom, “still, i wanna do this, eh, in private. go back to the couch, won`t take long.” you shut the door behind you, judes big eyes looking at you pleadingly being your last sight of him.

as soon as you`re done, you open the door, eyes landing on jude who seems to have stayed on the same spot, waiting for you.

you laugh, “babe, for real?”

he shrugs, his hand finding yours once more as you walk back to your living room, taking place under the blanket again, his arms now around your waist and your head on his warm chest.

“i missed you.” he sighs, his cheek resting against your head.

you decide to not comment on his weird behavior today, enjoying his presence, “i missed you, too.”

exams are a pain in the ass, hope u still like this one though it is a bit short.

good night. 🥹

[lil-tachyon]

For the last couple weeks I've been drawing logos / designs for local-ish (mostly NJ, some PA and NY) bands as warmups in the morning. Here's what I've come up with! Massive post below the break explaining each logo + where to find each band and listen to their music.

Teenage Halloween- a staple of New Jersey basements for probably about a decade now and finally getting wider recognition in the last couple years. Pop punk / power pop with a killer horn section. First time I saw them was in New Brunswick playing with Walter Etc. and Blowout. They played a killer cover "Build Me Up Buttercup" and my wife got a black eye in the pit. Recommended tracks: "Brain Song," "666," "Clarity." Their first EP is on a separate bandcamp page btw, check it out here it's great.

Sweet Pill - They will call themselves a Philly band but in my heart they'll always be from Glassboro. Definitely one of the more recognizable names on this list. Emo revival - early stuff is more twinkly, more recent stuff is heavier. All of it's great. Recommended tracks "Nephew," "High Hopes."

Shark Club - Central Jersey's finest. I'm very biased because I actually know these dudes and they did the music for my wedding. Some of the best pop punk you'll hear and the nicest people you'll meet. Recommended tracks: "Game Theory," "Bill Murray," "Heavens to Betsy."

Rest Ashore - My favorite band for the last (oh God I'm old now) eight years. From gut-wrenching emo ballads to virtuoso math-rock instrumentals they do it all. One time I got to sing vocals on "Lucy's Theme" at a house show- thank you Erica! Recommended tracks: "Hjarta," "Chinese Opera," "Devotion," "Soyuz Sweetheart." Too many bangers to name honestly, just deep dive their discography.

Morus Alba - First band I ever went to see at a house show and still one of my absolute favorites. Their music feels like the bridge between the best pitchfork, /mu/ alt rock bands and high energy basement emo. I mean that as a compliment and I hope it comes off as one lol. I should note that since 2019 Morus Alba has morphed from a band into an experimental hip-hop project so later releases sound radically different and basically disconnected from the earlier stuff. Also my favorite release from them, Live at Isabelle's, has been scrubbed from the internet but if you'd like the files just email me. Recommended tracks: "Skyscraper," "Human Resources," "The Goodnight Waltz."

Have a Good Season - another Jersey mainstay that's still going strong. Emo revival in their earlier releases, now with more 70s power pop influences in their newer stuff. See them live, they put on a fantastic show and usually play some great covers in addition to their original music. HaGS guys if you're reading this, please put your version of "Since You've Been Gone" online, I'm begging you. Recommended tracks: "Joseph / Shel Silverstein," (you have to listen to them together for the drop, so good) , "Gum, "Gleaux / Scab." Also, frontman Nic Palermo interviewed me once.

Elephant Jake - If you see any of these bands live make it EJ, they put on such a damn good show. Electrifying indie punk from the Empire State. Recommended tracks: "F.D.C." "Sarah Moyer," "Goodness to Honest," and of course you gotta learn "Sebastien Bauer" for the singalongs.

Blind Lion - Sadly one of the greats that we lost along the way. Defunct since about 2017. I only got to see them once but it was a great performance. Alongside their own stuff they played some killer covers of "Bad Moon Rising" and "Moonage Daydream." I had trouble doing a logo design for them because I actually really like the composition, if not the "Ed Hardy-ness," of their existing logo so what you see here are two separate attempts, neither of which feels entirely satisfying to me. Frontperson Larry Flately currently plays in Nematode and also handled production of Bradley Gardens joke hiphop group The Breakfast Boiz under the moniker "DJ Ova EZ." Recommended tracks: "Brumous," "Dinner."

Fighting Seasons - A band that I sadly found out about too late (via a sticker under the bridge in my town which has since been painted over). 2010s pop punk that packs a helluva punch, especially considering that I'm pretty sure the members were high schoolers for most of the band's existence. I think some members may have gone on to form Sawce (FFO Chon, Polyphia, that type of music) but I can't remember where I read/heard that so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Recommended tracks: "Fighting Seasons," "Oil on Canvas"

Milkmen- Another fallen giant, officially disbanded in 2019. Like Morus Alba, they played the very first house show I attended and their few releases remain on constant rotation in my home. Used to put on a great show and were one of the bands I always thought would make it big until suddenly they weren't around anymore. Frontman Ben Thieberger contributed guitar and vocals to Covid quarantine project Kin if you're looking for a bit of an extra fix but beyond that I don't know what these guys are up to these days, sadly. Recommended tracks: "Ramus," "Johnny Dangerously," "how sieves catch breeze," "K.O.T.H."

Stand and Wave - New York (now Philly) pop punkers delivering instant dopamine hits with every track. Another great live act, see them with EJ if you can! They often play shows together. Recommended tracks: "Convos," "Mrs. Dash," "Splashton Kutcher," "Michael Collins."

My Chemical Romance - You know who they are. While I was drawing all these other logos I ran a poll on Patreon to decide which famous New Jersey band should also be graced with a drawing from me. MCR won the poll by a hefty margin so unfortunately you won't get to see me do an illegible black metal take on Hoboken's Yo La Tengo. I ended up doing two versions: the one with the halo is the first, the one with the bats was the second. I tried to do something kind of thin and elegant with the first one and I don't think it's terrible but I also wasn't quite satisfied with it. For the 2nd attempt I tried to lean into the kind of pulpy, almost horror punk aesthetic of early MCR and I think that one looks better even if it's less original.

Anyway if you took the time to read through all this, thank you very much! And please support these bands! Also If any of the links aren't working please let me know.

-Logan

[questionablecuttlefish]

Ezreal's kinda great actually.

Ez is a champ I used to love to hate, but he grew on me because once you get past his arrogant showboating e-boy wannabe shonen protagonist energy (and boy is it a lot) the fact that his entire ... the above thing is a masquerade for a lonely young man who blames himself for being abandoned by his parents is....wow ouch.

His backstory…oof, give that boy a hug. IDC what Christian Linke says, he would be fine in an Arcane-like show if you leaned into his bravado being a mask for loss.

I know we all rag on his crush on Lux, it's basically a running joke at this point but it's also an interesting bit of characterization…like the rest of his cocky adventurer persona it's completely superficial, he doesn't know anything about her except that she's blonde and pretty, and she doesn't know who he is.

And ofc they can't really work as a romance because Lux has SO MUCH GOING ON that has nothing to do with Ezreal, and her story is firmly grounded in Demacia, her family, and the plight of the Demacian mages, while Ezreal's story is all about his globetrotting adventures, his tomb raiding, his search for his parents.

If he stays with her, his story ends, if she goes with him, her story ends. They could in theory be a cute Disney protagonist romance, but the incompatibility of their storylines and the way Riot has spent probably over a decade now playing his feelings for laughs as a cringe, nigh-stalkery crush and her complete disinterest doesn't bode well for any kind of actual relationship coming of it.

It's not an evilbadtoxic ship by any means, it's just, imo, a bit of a nothingburger without enough actual connection or chemistry to make it worth sacrificing both characters for 'the ship'.

So the crush is funny (and Jarro Lightfeather is hysterical) but a critical part of an Ezreal character arc would be getting over it and moving on, imo. You don't give a guy a shallow stalker crush and then reward him with 'getting the girl' and call it character development, it's only character development if he doesn't.

Ez is at his most interesting when you can see the glimmers of him getting over himself and being the genuine hero he could be. (turning back to help Kai'Sa in Warriors is a good example).

I could really, really enjoy an Ezreal show where he ends up in a fun little D&D party with Kai'Sa and Taliyah running around Shurima exploring ancient ruins and battling Void horrors. I would LIVE for the comedic value of Ezreal being the most annoying showboaty jackass he possibly could be ("Ha ha! It's ALL skill") trying to impress the intimidatingly baddass Kai'Sa, whilst she's just so deadpan Raised By Wolves socially awkward killing-machine-trying-to-reconnect-to-humanity that she just takes him completely in stride.

Ez getting increasingly ridiculous in his antics and just completely failing to either impress OR annoy Kai'Sa would be just comedy gold, imo. Alternatively, getting back into the 'canon bi route' and my Ezko agenda, he he, Ezreal and Ekko actually make a really interesting pairing in the main timeline because

They've got a LITTLE bit of that oil-and-water energy with Ezreal being a Piltie, but he's an adventurous, inquisitive Piltie who isn't afraid to get his hands dirty, so Ekko would appreciate that even as he was giving the guy MASSIVE sideeye for all the cultural theft.

Ezreal would annoy the shit out of Ekko, since he's such a damn poser and Ekko is such a genuine, grounded guy.

They're both very, very intelligent, though, and they're both big fat nerds. Ekko is much more on the genius tinkerer and inventor science nerd end and Ezreal much more on the lore, culture, history nerd end, but they are both big nerds.

I think Ezreal would be just in awe of Ekko from the moment they met. 'This guy is so f'cking COOL how do i get him to think I'm COOL' and then drive Ekko up the wall overcompensating trying to get his attention/approval but coming off as being hypercompetitive and showboaty.

But if Ekko (especially League Ekko, whose parents are such a big part of his story) gets a whiff of Ezreal's past and his parents, he's going to start seeing through Ez's masquerade very quick, and if there's one thing Ekko is, it's a compassionate person, a carer, who just wants to help.

The boys could bond over shared adventurers plumbing the depths of Zaun for some secret mystery hidden in the ruins of Oshra Va'Zaun that could potentially be a threat to Zaun or the Firelights, and that Ezreal has an archaeologist's interest in.

You get all the back-and-forth dynamic, conflict, bickering, and slow burn affection that make Ezko a fantastic ship.

I might just write this.

[chussy]

however. this next cup of matcha migjt fix me. benefits of green tea, antioxidants and all that. plus with matcha, the tea. powder. shit. stays in the drink right unlike normal green tea so that's like, nutrients. like those fuck ass green powders people put in their smoothies for no reason, but good.

fucking god damned worst migraine in my life fuck. if someone dares ask how they can help me they'll get the standard answers: either put me down or get me on a nice controlled prescription of fentanyl i fear anything else is too mild

[our-hextech-dream]

listen, as a timebomb shipper of course i am sad about how arcane ended. however as an ezko shipper i'm pretty excited by the potential for ezreal to be the one to heal ekko's broken heart and help him move on to something new and exciting.

i am still going by nebulous canon that they meet while ezreal is researching oshra va'zaun. (which i will never give up no matter what arcane says, how else would a temple to janna, a shuriman goddess, have ended up in the depths of zaun-)

just imagine. ekko all prickly and unhelpful until ezreal proves that he has no intent to exploit zaun for anything and is genuinely just in it for the thrill of the adventure and to prove his uncle's theories correct. ekko would be loathe to admit it at first but it would be pretty cool to dig up an important piece of zaun's heritage and to retain complete control over it. yes, ez wants to bring at least one artefact home to prove a point to the academy, but that still leaves the entire vault of resplendent hollies and everything in it with zaun. and let's be real, with the barest amount of suggestion ezreal would absolutely be down to rob zaunite artefacts from piltovan museums and give them to ekko. he has no loyalty to piltover whatsoever.

ez and ekko pulling late nights pouring over ezreal's notes, half of which are in ancient shuriman, and ekko's maps and insider knowledge of the layout of zaun... the eureka moment when they realize together that they might have found an entrance... ekko realizing that despite everything he suddenly feels a little anxious about letting ezreal go off by himself to maybe get killed because he accidentally got a bit attached to this birdbrain's wellbeing... 🥰

[dress-and-impress]

MY THEORY ON WHO WILL DIE IN SEASON 7

Ok I’m going to get so much hatred for saying this but… I feel like Ezran isn’t gonna make it to the end of season 7…

Ez is trying his best to rule Katolis in the most calming and respectful way possible. So when the land that his father once ruled gets compliant ruined he’s lost all hope of goodness…. He needs to fight for it… no lore Mr nice guy…

Ezran becomes so driven in anger and rage by being walked all over he actually fights… physically

And it’ll ultimately result in his death.