#hated the bugs though

[littler3d]

👀 Interesting thing I noticed in this episode, most of the stories we hear about are about people being altered/altering themselves. Harriet’s husband has his whole thing going on, The artist is changing their body with the magic tattoo, and now Doctor dude is changing into a plant thingy. 👀

[utilitycaster]

sometimes I will encounter rampant hate towards Matt Mercer out in the larger internet world and I cannot find where it comes from. some people just fucking hate him PASSIONATELY for no reason that I can discover and it's like have you considered. therapy. or recreational drugs.

[spitblaze]

This is going to sound mean but I mean this in the most sincere and compassionate way I possibly can:

If you see a comment on the internet that is transphobic towards your group and your first assumption is that the person who wrote it is a different kind of transgender and not cis, especially if that comment is completely removed from all context or anonymous, no avatar or username or anything, take that as a sign to log off for a few days or pick up a new hobby.

[boopshoops]

The Watcher of the Great Pine Tree

TW!!! this is fucked up- warnings for child death/injury, descriptions of decomposition with bugs- and just bugs in general. srsly gross I warned you. Also unreliable narrator. I do my best to handle these topics with respect!

Let's see... what year was it? Ah, yes.

I died in the late 1830s. A few years after, locomotive trains finally made their way to the Land of Dawning. I was a considered a lucky charm prior to that, all of my parent's other children had died. Now now, settle- that wasn't uncommon back then. Even up till the 1870s, half of the amount of children birthed died prior to the age of five. At least those from families without magic.

Lucky me, I made it to six.

Quite the oddity compared to today, no? Nonetheless, as you can see, I have long since made up for it.

I loved to watch the trains. They astonished my little mind. I wasn't a very smart one by any means, but I wanted to know everything about them. How the wheels turned, and the whistle blew... how something that big was able to move at all. In a way, I wanted to BE the train, hah! Me and the other children would always play by the tracks whenever we were free from our studies. Every time the train went past, I was there.

Then, I fell.

What, were you expecting something more climactic?

No. I got a concussion while playing by the railroad tracks like the wreckless scamp I was. It took me awhile to learn the terms to understand- as well as most medicinal studies at the time, but fluid pressed on my brain more as the days went by, and I had a stroke.

That was when I first became a spirit, but I was not dead yet. My brain was practically nonfunctional. I could see it all like it was from the eyes of another, tethered closely to my body.

My father put me out of my misery with a mallet.

I watched him bury my body by the railroad, and I remained tethered there as all the life in the surrounding woods hummed a tune.

How did I feel? Oh, why of course I was absolutely beside myself. I feel anyone would be, but I was lucky- I had a comfort:

The crickets.

Their lovely song thrummed through my spirit along with the whistle of the train. They were there the entire time, soothing me. Family and friends visited, of course, but the bugs... the bugs were the only ones who truly spoke to me.

So when they began to consume my body, I felt betrayed. However- I learned that this was yet another blessing in disguise.

They all carried parts of my flesh. I was valuable to them. I was such a divine blessing for them. To feed the hoard. The masses. To continue to hear them sing. To untether me from my grave. I was free. I had done something. For the first time in my life, I was something greater than myself. There was nothing left of me there, but I was more than I ever had been. Yet, foolishly, I still grieved.

I followed those bugs out into the woods, to the tree. The old pine tree- I believe it was later called the Great Pine in the years to come. With magic buried deep in its roots. I practically raised myself out there in an abandoned old cottage, a place where I could keep an eye on my nests of friends where my body sustained them.

Despite what I had done for them, as years went by, I knew I wanted to live.

I wanted to live more than anyone else who had ever visited that pine tree.

More than anyone who was already alive.

So I watched. And I learned about that tree. For decades.

At the time, I was quite a sentimental fool- I got very wrapped up in it all. In how I felt, so much so that I forgot completely the feelings of others. Not that I ever had much experience with it in the first place, having passed on so young. I truly only ever thought of myself or my small critter friends. I used to excuse what I did with my death. Now I don't bother. In truth, I don't regret what I did either way.

Because I get to live.

I get to live a life no one else can.

A life of feeling. A life of being more than simply myself. I get to repay the generations and generations of creatures that fed from me. Now I can care for them forever.

So, no, I don't regret taking that girl's wooden frame.

Because now, that exact frame is home to so much more.

Wouldn't she be grateful? To have your very being become an ecosystem?

To be reunited with the very being that once bit into you? To become a part of their lives?

Maybe not. Either way, I am happy. I did feel guilty, mind you, I wasn't completely out of my wits yet, haha! It did eventually happen, though. Wits have been loss, I'm aware by how you are staring at me. Feel free to hate me, I've long since moved on to bigger things.

Suppose around two hundred years will do that to you. I almost miss the guilt.

I almost miss the feeling.

*(sorta) prequel to "The Dolls of the Great Pine Tree" from the pov of that mysterious pal.

tags!

@lowcallyfruity @skriblee-ksk @justm3di0cr3 @cecilebutcher @kitwasnothere

@beneathsakurashade @qsoap @prince-kallisto @kathxrat-01 @twsted-canvas

@scint1llat3 @the-trinket-witch @thehollowwriter @distant-velleity @techno-danger

@sillyslipperybananapeel @gimmeurmoneyagh @tixdixl @twstinginthewind

[housederiva]

i think veilguard feels short because the story is very barebones? when you take out quests about acquiring the companions and later on the companions quests there's not much plot related quests to go on (like the first 20 hours of the game is just getting the companions,), compared to earlier games where even if you only got the first three default companions there was a lot of stuff to do

I agree dear listener. I think the best way I've come to explaining what it is like when you walk past what you think is a really cool oil painting and then you stop and realise it's a print with textured glaze. It's such a beautiful world and Veilguard's story is really interesting, there's just no meat in the sandwich... you eat it but you're not full afterwards

I'm trying (not always succeeding) to not to compare Veilguard to the earlier games because it's a fine game it's just not a good dragon age game, you know?

[bittercappuccinu]

tried drawing a wallpaper for myself :)

shadow alone below because i like how he looks more

[sainteclectic]

you know. I'm always a little nervous posting wholesoul that "seems romantic" like kissing or whatever, but actually. in my beautiful world kissing isn't romantic because nothing is inherently romantic. it's just an expression of closeness and they're very close! {some would even say their level of closeness is "unhealthy" and "incredibly concerning"}

so Basically even if i talk about them making out, they are not dating nor friends but a secret third thing. cosmically entwined <3

[mugzymiik]

have i ever mentioned that i like super paper mario

[phantasper]

NOBODY FUCKING TOLD ME NEZU AND SAIKI HAD THE SAME DUB VA?? HELLO????

[schmweed]

[asexuallucanisdellamorte]

if bioware do make a dlc for veilguard i will only accept a mass effect citadel style one. Rook and co can't go back into the fade so the inquisitor gifts them skyhold and the entire dlc is just inviting every single one of dragon age's previous characters to a massive party

[bonefall]

I'm thinking of writing a Grey Wing redemption/pissed off fic where Grey is the one who kills Clear Sky/Skystar (a la Scourge) after he threatens Thunder/Thunderstar and another of Grey's adopted kits.

But idk how Grey gets that pissed. Thoughts?

Idk anon I'm gonna be honest, that feels really unlike Gray Wing. I'd say to use Thunder for a plot like that, tbh, the character that canonically makes several loud and angry rejections of Clear Sky's violence.

I don't like Gray Wing but he's very well characterized, y'know? Even at his absolutely most pissed moment in-canon he can only taunt Clear Sky into killing him with his Star Line. He's verbal, not physical.

He's able to land a little hit on people here and there, but he usually requires an entire group to do damage (Tom the Wifebeater and One Eye). Overall he's really bad at fighting. Good hunter, bad fighter. Even before his asthma he was kinda pathetic; killed Fox with a lucky hit, tried to attack Clear Sky over Jagged Peak and got curbstomped

And like, on that "verbal" thing, he's incredibly nasty and catty when he's upset. Barking at Turtle Tail for having the wrong friend, smugly watching Bumble get dragged off, shouting at Thunder several times over various things, the... whatever the hell the Erins thought they were doing with Jagged Peak (i still maintain that gray was actually totally right to scream at him that One Time, fuck u jagged peak).

I feel pretty strongly that his anger is primarily vocal. He's more likely to start yelling than hitting. If it does come down to an actual death match, he's more likely to get turned into tomato paste lmaoooo

So if he ever DID kill Clear Sky, I'd suggest it be an accident or as a result of one of his plans. In addition to his lack of physical capacity, honestly? I think Gray Wing would buckle if he had to make that choice.

He'd have his claw on his throat and be unable to pull down. Might be able to start screaming, "YOU TOOK MY BROTHER FROM ME!" or make a really harsh speech, maybe even cast Vicious Mockery. But I don't think he could ever ACTUALLY do a Yellowfang, let alone a Scourge. Not even if he saw Clear personally kill someone he loves.

If he ever actually did get Clear Sky killed, he'd also, honestly, probably change immensely for the negative. OR AT LEAST needing a long time to recover and accept he had no choice. I can't imagine him being able to live with the "guilt" very well, it would weigh on him. The "gentleness" would melt away as he becomes overall quite miserable and snappish, like he usually is when he's not happy.

(Could be very interesting to give someone else the kill after Gray can't bring himself to do it. Like Thunder jumped in to save his life, but it causes their relationship to fall apart completely.)

Overall I'd treat the premise as more of a "tragedy" than a "catharsis." Not based in anger, but immense pain and frustration.

[oceandiagonale]

Actually, Guzman is his spanish name.

OH YEAH some other folks pointed that out too, makes sense since it's an irl Spanish name (probably why I see it around a lot!) 😳

(normally it's a surname, I've only seen it used as a first name once in a blue moon -- but also in the pokemon world it's pretty clear that naming conventions aren't the same lol)

[thechekhov]

Hello I have started reading Gideon the Ninth because of you and I am really really REALLY enjoying it!!! I have only 116 pages in but... I do not like Harrow

I'm sure I'll like her later, based on the art you've drawn of her, but I am with Gideon and her burning hatred of Harrow. (And I am also looking forward to the time where I like Harrow!)

Right now though? She does a lot of things that just seen pointless and very mean. At least with Gideon whenever she does something mean to Harrow I can understand it because we're reading the book through her perspective, but whenever Harrow does anything seemingly cruel I can't help but wonder why.

Oh yes, I won't lie to you - for a lot of the book, Harrow isn't meant to be LIKABLE. She's a tiny gremlin in the meat-suit of a tinier gremlin and she is weighed down by glorious purpose to the Ninth. All the things she does do have reasoning behind them, but the reasoning isn't always morally sound, and it often so knotted and complicated it takes you to the end of the THIRD BOOK to comprehend it.

I won't fault you for disliking her at all - that's not the purpose of the first half of the book! I think I was only merely very amused by her, the same way I am amused by a beautiful bug that crawls across my window in the middle of the night as though it is scheming a way to get inside.

[raionmimi]

Mom said his siblings could come on his date with Satya

[mr-leach]

Hey so me & Malcolm's cell service got shut down today. I was going to pay for it to be restored but unfortunately the copay for my emergency dental work was just under $100 and I'm completely broke.

The good news is I do get paid tomorrow, but because I was only in for one day last week, I won't have enough to get groceries, pay for transit to and from work next week, and pay off my phone bill, as well as the copay for the last bit of dental work I need done Saturday & any meds they prescribe. So I thought I would at least try and ask if anyone out there would be willing to help out, even a little.

Thank you for reading/sharing/donating if you're able to help.