#hopefully that was coherent

[nerdalmighty]

hey, sorry for randomly sliding into your inbox but! i just wanted to tell you that i'm about to start act 3 of bg3, would've started it sooner but i didn't get to play for a couple weeks as i was waiting to be able to upgrade my hard drive. and over the course of playing i've ended up changing several details of my tav's backstory as well as really fleshing out their character and getting into the roleplay, and i'm so attached to them by now that i almost don't want to finish my playthrough lol. i'm thinking of starting a gale origin playthrough once i do finish just so i can see more of tara. and i noticed that you're close to finishing the game as well! can i ask how birdie's adventure is going?

AHHHHHH DON'T APOLOGIZE!!!!!! I love talking BG3 :)

I am INCREDIBLY close to finishing the game. Like, about to go to the Nether Brain for the final battle close.

I've been putting it off FOR WEEKS because I'm so incredibly attached to Birdie and the companions and their relationships to each other and I don't want it to end!!

Since last we spoke, Birdie and the gang had just done the Iron Throne mission (breaking people out of jail). She decided NOT to go confront the other Wave Servants; that chapter in her life has closed. I won't spoil more of Act 3 since you're just getting into it, but I did I think maybe three other Big Plot Things and now it's time to actually do the damn thing and beat the game.

I'm a little nervous about some of the endings I may have gotten for myself (I'm concerned I may have accidentally condemned Gale to godhood) and I know there are some things I missed, purely because it was my first playthrough and I didn't know any better (I didn't get to know Rolan, didn't save Minthara, didn't get the Githyanki egg, etc), but I'm honestly excited for the epilogue sequence. Is it mostly because of happy/soft Astarion? YES! I LOVE THAT GUY! SUE ME!

My roommate and I have been playing the game at pretty much the same pace this whole time, so I'm about to watch HER beat the game this Friday. She's playing as a Gloom Stalker Ranger named "Sevyn" (yes, like the number 😂) who's romancing Gale, but we've made relatively similar choices throughout the whole thing.

I'm not too worried about spoilers since I know a lot of the outcomes, I just don't know how it happens or what the final battle looks like. But like I explained in my previous Birdie post, I like to look things up beforehand/during certain events because I like having help. Similarly, I love watching my roommate play and learning from/with her so I don't feel as in the dark when it's my turn. Granted, I played a lot without her during Acts 1, 2 and 3, but since we're getting to the end, I've slowed WAY down and have let her go first with most big things. It's not for everyone, but it's how I like to play!

I'm so attached to Birdie and this save file that I'm thinking of creating an entirely new account on my PS5 just to start a new game so that I don't have to save over previous Birdie saves.

Like, what if in a new patch, they add a new scene to Astarion's plot line? A new action (hug/kiss)? New camp idle animations? I want to be able to go in with Birdie and do those things, should they ever come up. Yes I COULD romance Astarion again (and probably will because I'm a weak woman) but as you said about your Tav and I've been saying about mine, I'm really attached to Birdie and I'm invested in who she is and how she fits into the world of BG3.

ALSO! Apparently they're adding mods at some point to the PS5 version? It's been taking everything in me not to buy it on my computer just for some of the mods even though I LOATHE sitting at my desk for hours on end. If mods come into play, I'll definitely want to see what kind of fun things I can make happen for Birdie and the gang. Additionally, one of my friends told me that people modded Skyrim to the point where they were adding new plot points and quest lines? If that happens, and they add like some sort of masquerade ball or event where I can dress up like a princess? You bet you're ass I'm going back to Birdie to let her do that 😂 I'd want to play new paths with Birdie in general, but I'm a sucker for a royal ball sequence 🥸

So basically, Birdie's story in Baldur's Gate may be coming to an end fairly soon. I don't know exactly when yet, but I've been having a blast and can't wait to play the game again and again and again. Right now that's hard to imagine, but I know I'll pick it up with a new Tav eventually because it's such a good game and you can't help falling in love with the world and the writing and the characters. I shall grieve the loss of this particular story, but I plan on keeping Birdie around for as long as I can.

[beneathsilverstars]

i think if you’re doing mirabelle’s rpg. you have to put isat right in the middle. i think it should go like… she goes through vaugarde collecting the orbs and noticing all these mysteries about her companions and mourning all the frozen towns, and she wants to get to know her friends better, and figure out what’s bothering them and help with it, and go do fun touristy things with them, etc etc, but they have a country to save. there’s no time, and everything is frozen. if that wasn’t the case, they wouldn’t even be traveling together at all! and the whole time mirabelle’s struggling with anxiety and imposter syndrome and the weight of being The Savior. she has to fix things but she can’t, she wants to help her friends but she can’t, she has to change but she doesn’t want to. she’s getting a bad grade in rpg protagonist!!!

but then we hit isat. and you expect it to be the culmination of mirabelle’s arc, but she’s not ready for that yet, just like she’s felt unprepared and unworthy all game, stuck in this role, under the weight of everyone’s expectations — of course doing the thing everyone wants her to do can’t be mirabelle’s defining moment, no matter how much she also believes in the importance of the quest. when she vanquishes the king, it doesn’t actually fix any of her personal problems. it wasn’t even really about her.

instead, the focus of this event is on siffrin, since it turns out the unchanging king was his foil all along, not mirabelle’s. mysteries are answered about both siffrin and the king, but more importantly — this is the turning point for everyone. the result of the most seemingly-stand-offish character’s arc is the key to making progress in everyone else’s: the party admits they care about each other and decides to keep traveling together.

the second half of the game, then, is going backwards through vaugarde, visiting all the same places again. and now that they’re not on their blessed quest in the name of change, they DO have time and they ARE all officially friends. everyone gets a little arc, echoing the five orbs, starting with isat as siffrin’s. they’re still clearing out sadnesses — and there’s some really strong ones as everyone takes stock of how much time has passed and how much damage has been done — but they don’t respawn anymore. people are starting to recover! and instead of dungeon puzzles, there’s fetch quests and mini games as the party helps vaugarde rebuild. a lot of the quests relate to things they saw while frozen, a bunch of mysteries and tragedies that they can finally DO something about. and in the same way, the family can finally get closer and talk about important things and meet each other’s friends/family and share their interests etc etc, all these old mysteries and maybe-some-days getting resolved!

and then, finally. mirabelle has been doing work that she CHOSE, helping vaugarde rebuild. and sometimes people use the opportunity to rebuild differently, but sometimes people just want the same familiar things back, and that’s not actually bad, it’s nothing like being frozen. you can keep living in the same house but making new memories, fixing things as needed, both different and the same. and mirabelle realizes that she doesn’t need to change. she realizes she has changed, and she will keep changing, but she can stay the same the whole time too. she doesn’t need to be what people expect, not the perfect housemaiden or the rpg protagonist savior. she can just strive to be the best version of herself!!

and that’s the end of the game, bc mirabelle isn’t trying to figure out how to do everything right to win the game anymore. she’s just living ^^

[lynsstrange]

i think one of the things the pjo show has understood the best so far is specifically the isolation and insecurities that come with being neurodivergent, and how it reflects onto percy. the book touches on it a lot, but i think rick really wanted to push percy's own internal struggles more obviously to the forefront for the show.

Percy references again and again how inattentive and zoned out he is constantly, and how he blames himself for being stuck in his own world. He feels crazy and misjudged by everyone around him just for having what everyone else presumes is a very active imagination, hyperactivity, and a brain that works differently. and when people do acknowledge his differences, even attempting to spin them positively to him, like Sally and "Mr. Brunner," it only makes him feel worse, because again the only thing they can tell him is that he's "special," inherently other, something he's come to associate with being an embarrassing and shameful thing, with Nancy calling him "special" as an insult. I've seen "special" thrown at nd kids as an insult by their peers over and over again since I was little. So Percy can't help but believe it's a negative thing, no matter what the adults that do support him in his life try to tell him, because it's been internalized that he's just different in a way that's bad and inferior, and that that there's a reason he's lonely and troubled and delinquent. Even if it was a positive thing, like Sally and "Mr. Brunner" insist to him, he feels inherently isolated and confused and wrong in the mortal world for being different, and like there's nothing that can change that or make him normal.

We see Percy break down in front of Sally after being expelled about how he's terrified something's irrevocably wrong inside him now. And his immediate reaction of rage and confusion when the only thing she can tell him, once again, is that he's special. And I think that is really going to resonate with a generation of nd people who've experienced these types of scenarios.

[madeline-kahn]

@pscentral event 34: parallels + event 35: take three (arcs | favorite character | growth)

Downton Abbey 1.01 || Downton Abbey: A New Era (2022)

[soup-mother]

I know it's not really a novel observation but it really really stands out to me how in literally every single thing they do, US soldiers are constantly expecting to be attacked. distributing aid from a helicopter like they're ready to take off at any moment, allegedly doing disaster relief like they're patrolling a front line. they treat civilian populations as people to occupy and as potential threats. meanwhile actual casualty rates of US soldiers are tragically very very low.

it certainly plays a role in why their cops are like that too, retired soldiers carry that combat alertness in a civilian setting and treat everyone as a threat to put down (and of course even the non soldier ones act like that too, it seems like a wider thing than just unique to the army).

notably both internationally and domestically it's hard not to see that in black communities especially, like with Haiti or parts of the southern US in the wake of floods and cyclones, a constant occupation of communities they're allegedly there to protect and the much lauded "disaster relief" being treated as a combat mission.

idk, it just really stands out to me in basically any photo or video i see of them. there's like the faintest sliver of self awareness that people might not like them, but they act like that around desperate people reliant on them for aid. if the world was even half as out to get them as they constantly act then it'd be a much better world

[voidpidgeon]

Heyo @the-final-sif, I am your pinchhitter! I hope you enjoy this ^^

I really liked your prompts, but I did not know how to put them into one drawing. And even as short comic I did not fit all the aspect I wanted into it, but alas I did not have that much time, so I tried to make it work fdkjjhk

Hope you don't mind me sharing the prompt for context!

Hybrids aren't born hybrids, but rather traits show up as they grow up. They can appear at a pretty wide range of ages, and not all traits show up at once. Stress can delay when they show up, just like any other form of growth. Generally, most traits show up before or during puberty, but they can even turn up as late as early adulthood :).

c!Dream is an Ender Dragon hybrid, though he doesn't know it just yet. It's been a few days since c!Quackity came by, but he's been feeling very strange. Like something's growing out of him.

It all hits at once, and the next moment he's got wings, big claws, sharp teeth, purple fire coming from his mouth and the lava isn't burning him anymore. He barely has time to take this all in before he hears c!Quackity's singsong voice on the other side of the lava, and in a moment his new instincts take over, ready for revenge.

[antivan-sprig]

Rook Literary Device Asks

I’m taking your Rooks back to Language and Literature class with these asks. I added a few examples to questions I found vague or difficult to explain. Hopefully it’s not too gratuitous!

These are based on common literary devices. I tried to pick more recognizable ones, or at least ones that autocorrect will pick up 📝

I’m considering doing a strictly NSFW one next. Lemme know if that appeals to you or not 💐

Dreams

I elect that Dwarven Rooks should still answer even if they don’t apply/aren’t canon. It can be theoretical for character exploration.

Allegory: What does Rook dream about?

Repetition: What are Rook’s nightmares? Did/does this change with age?

Cliffhanger: If a spirit wanted to trap your Rook in the fade, what would their best plan be?

Ex: Illusions of their past/wants, trapping them behind an emotion? (hello regret 🥚😔), promising them help in achieving their goals?

Tragicomedy: Would Rook make a deal with a demon? If no, what about a more benevolent spirit, would they make a deal with them?

Symbolism: The team is trying to rescue Rook from the fade. What five items do they use to do a summoning ritual?

Surrealism: How adept is Rook at navigating the Fade in dreams?

I believe it’s typically a sliding scale between these three points: no control (non mage) to some control (mage) to a lot of control (dreamer) but outliers definitely occur.

Morality

Hyperbole: Rook encounters two injured people. One a random npc citizen with a moderate but not life threatening injury and the other a venatori with a life threatening injury. As far as they can tell the Venatori was not actively involved in anything nefarious at this moment. Who does Rook help first (or at all)?

Foreshadowing: What does Rook think about Solas sacrificing the spirits of chaos and disorder? Would their opinion change if Solas had explained to the spirits that this was a mission they wouldn’t come back from?

Motif: What’s Rook’s opinion on the rite of tranquility? Is there ever a circumstance that could change this?

I know the fandom’s general opinion on tranquility is to absolutely admonish it, which is totally fair. But I also think OCs can and sometimes should have bad opinions or limited perspectives

Epigraph: What situation(s) would make Rook compromise their morals? How would Rook feel about this?

Point of View: Does Rook judge others for choices they made under duress?

Paradox: What’s Rook’s opinion on Blood magic?

Would they/have they ever participated in Blood magic (casting it, providing blood for it, was it their own or someone else’s etc.)

Personification: What’s Rook’s opinion on Necromancy? If your Rook is a necromancer, do they consider it a form of blood magic?

(AFAIK it canonically is, but that’s not an opinion held by all in Thedas)

Self Reflection

Anaphora: What lie is central to Rook’s worldview? How does this affect them?

Ex: Lisel thinks she can never regain the family she lost, so she neglects new relationships.

Extended metaphor: What inspires hope in Rook?

Dramatic Irony: Does Rook wonder why they’re the main character?

(As in, why they are in charge, why Varric picked them, why they’re connected to Solas etc.)

Do they have an explanation for why they are the main character? Fate? Chance? Skill? Maybe they don’t actually think they’re the mc?

Ex: Lise eventually comes to see taking the Evanuris down as a poetic justice. She dedicated her early (and happiest) life to worshiping Sylaise and feels it’s her responsibility to bring the remaining pantheon down. If they were ever the kind deities they claimed to be, she recognizes that they certainly aren’t now.

Exposition: What would Rook think of younger Rook? What would they tell them if given the chance?

Flashback: What past act is Rook most ashamed of?

Omniscient: Are there any secrets Rook is hiding? From others? From themselves?

Allusion: Who does Rook blame for their trauma, misplaced or not? Do they keep this a secret?

Physicality

Onomatopoeia: Describe how Rook speaks.

(Possible topics: Word choice, volume, phrasing, vocabulary, accents, tones, emotional intonation, speech impediments, etc!)

Isocolon: Describe how your Rook walks/runs.

(Possible topics: speed, agility, spatial awareness, grace, loud vs quiet steps, endurance, etc!)

Style: How does Rook sleep?

Archetype: Describe what another character might notice about your Rook physically.

Vignette: Describe the first time Rook got very injured. What was their reaction?

Juxtaposition: What’s their most prominent physical weakness and strength?

Bonus

Soliloquy: List/describe the most self indulgent headcanon/fic you’ve thought of for your Rook.

[chantillyxlacey]

i've seen a lot of takes (i am using the word 'take' absolutely neutrally here; and i'm specifying neutrality bc i have started to see that word as having inherently negative connotations in this context and i have no idea if that's just a Me Problem but i figured specificity couldn't hurt)

okay, that got away from me, let me start again

i've seen a lot of takes about The Damsel that have to do with idealization being another kind of dehumanization and how she's Like She Is because you/TLQ are projecting a fantasy onto her and sanding away any traits that don't fit into that fantasy and rendering her into little more than a vessel for your/TLQ's wish fulfillment

and i don't necessarily think that's *wrong* either-- but i think that's also not the complete picture, and that only looking that that half of the image does kind of tend to paint TLQ in an unfairly bad light

because the thing is, in The Damsel's route, TLQ is ALSO being reduced to an archetype just as much as The Damsel herself is! The Princess becomes the quintessential fairytale fair-maiden-in-distress that exists only to be rescued by a knight-in-shining-armor; and TLQ-- if you allow them to be guided entirely by The Smitten-- becomes that quintessential fairytale knight-in-shining-armor that only exists to rescue the fair-maiden-in-distress

The Damsel says over and over, explicitly, that "I just want to make you happy!" and The Smitten in this route is equally preoccupied with making HER happy-- he even says it directly if you start deconstructing her. every other part of his identity has been subsumed to revolve entirely around her just as much as the reverse is true for her.

(speaking of the Deconstructed Damsel, i've also seen Smitten's reaction to that touted as him not caring about her agency-- but again, i always read that as him being unable to see any flaws in her rather than being pleased with the idea of her being biddable, specifically. if you halt the deconstruction his reaction is "she's ALWAYS been perfect" -- he'd think that no matter what she did or said, because his identity revolves around her the exact way that hers revolves around him/TLQ)

even the actions that lead to HEA fit into this, i think-- i read that moment as less The Smitten lashing out at her because she didn't live up to his fantasy-- it still happens even after she's said "i guess we can stay, if that's what you want"-- she's giving The Smitten what he wants, but he's still distressed because SHE'S not happy

i think it's more The Smitten feeling that HE hadn't lived up to HIS half of their shared fantasy. if she's not happy with the idea of "all we need is each other" then it must be because HE failed somehow. if she needs or wants more than him, it must be because HE is not enough.

if he was just better at playing his part, if he just offered her more, if he was just clearer about his devotion--

"if we just showed her the contents of our heart, she'd be happy"

that's not to say that what The Smitten does in HEA isn't incredibly toxic for both of them-- it definitely is, and it clearly makes both the Princess and TLQ miserable. "everything she doesn't know she wants" is a bad mindset to approach a relationship with, whether that mindset is reached through controlling selfishness or a desperation to appease (and i definitely think Smitten is motivated by the latter-- it's no coincidence that we arrive at HEA through a literal and fatal act of self mutilation)

he's definitely the antagonist of HEA, in that he is what TLQ and the Princess and the player need to overcome, but he's not a VILLAIN (which i think is most clearly illustrated in the moment where the Princess admits she's unhappy, that she's never been happy here, and his reaction is to GIVE UP instead of lash out harder)

i never got the sense that The Smitten was ever putting any blame on The Damsel-- he always considered *himself* to be the problem-- he puppeteers TLQ just as much as he does the Princess, even if we can't hear him while she can, and he asks TLQ/the player through her "isn't this enough? isn't this what you wanted?"

which in and of itself is an unhealthy way to approach a relationship-- blaming oneself for every bit of conflict or lapse in synchronicity is just as harmful as laying all the blame on the other person. there IS no blame-- sometimes people disagree or have conflicting needs or desires, and that's not anybody's "fault" because that's just how people and relationships WORK.

...can you believe i wrote out all of this when my original intention was to lay out an entirely different point about a read on The Damsel/HEA routes that wasn't about relationships at all?

OKAY!

THAT GOT AWAY FROM ME LET ME START AGAIN

so i don't think that looking at The Damsel/HEA through a lens of "what does this say about relationships and expectations and respecting other people's agency" is incorrect-- clearly i have a lot of thoughts about that lens!

but i wanted to offer another one that i haven't seen yet:

The Damsel/HEA route as a commentary on what makes a satisfying narrative

if you play out The Damsel route just single-mindedly taking actions to free her-- it's kinda dull, isn't it? like-- it's not without its charms! The Smitten is silly and entertaining and the Narrator's exaggerated pettiness is very funny! but ultimately, that's about it.

potential sources of conflict are brushed aside-- if you took the blade with you, you just drop it and it gets forgotten; the Damsel's hand slips right out of the manacle with no effort or harm; when the Narrator locks the basement door, every 'choice' you make just magically unlocks it right away. and then you're outside, what you wanted to do from the start. ...so what do we do now?

nothing, actually. the chapter ends, and there is no chapter 3. the game itself continues, but that ending feels about as substantial as the Narrator's "Good Ending" where you follow his instructions without question and accomplish his goal immediately.

if you DON'T take either of the actions that lead to one of Damsel's chapter 3's, there's very little variation in The Damsel's story-- pretty much all of it comes down to slight differences in dialogue. there's no "the princess kills you" outcome. the closest thing to an alternate end to The Damsel is if you deconstruct her-- and even then, it feels like less an "alternate route" and more like-- a cheeky acknowledgement of the lack of substance, because that isn't a bug, it's a feature!

but if you introduce conflict-- either in the more direct sense by slaying The Damsel or in the more interpersonal sense by highlighting a mis-match in her and TLQ's desires-- suddenly the story opens up! there are a bunch of new possibilities and a bunch of new outcomes, and all of them are more interesting than "you achieve your goal with trivial effort, hooray!"

Even if you wind up finishing HEA on a note that is superficially very similar to the easy end of The Damsel's route-- you leave hand in hand with her, the narrator conceding defeat, and the last image of her before TSM takes her is a warm, tender smile-- it FEELS so much more like a genuine happy ending-- even though the Princess' face is still streaked and stained from her tears. BECAUSE of that.

it's one of the most heartwarming moments in the game, and one that has made me misty eyed every time i've seen it, and it's BECAUSE of the conflict you had to go through to get there.

conflict is what drives a compelling narrative, is the takeaway. it precludes PERFECT endings, perhaps, but not happy endings-- it's what makes those imperfect happy endings feel substantial and earned.

even the dinner and the board game contribute to the idea-- the description of the food is some really lovely writing, to the point where i sat through and listened to it all again even though i knew nothing really happens during it-- but *nothing really happens during it*. it doesn't move the narrative forward-- you're just as hungry as you were when you started. it just stalls the story in place, and every time you go through it again it's less satisfying until it's outright unpleasant. the description of the meal also notably gets simpler each time, and less detailed-- there's only so much that you can say about it before you run out of things to describe.

the board game is similar-- the way that it's described the first time you play even sounds like the description of an exciting story! and then the board resets, and you do it all again just the same. and so on. the game/story stops being exciting and the wins or losses stop feeling like they mean anything-- because is conflict really conflict, is a challenge really a challenge, if you're always tracing the same path, always making moves where you already know the outcome? it becomes "a slog towards the end"

and this is how i tie the idea of "what Damsel/HEA has to say about relationships" and "what Damsel/HEA has to say about narratives" together:

ultimately, the statements can be summarized the same way "whether in a narrative or a relationship, 'perfection' is unattainable, but you wouldn't actually want it anyway"

conflict, substance, variety

in a relationship there will always be differences of opinion, differing goals etc-- variety between the members of the relationship, knowing and sharing this substantial and non-superficial information about one another, navigating the resultant conflict-- that's what allows the relationship to grow and deepen, and what allows the people in it to grow as individuals as well.

in a narrative, or in Narratives, as a whole, conflict is what makes things HAPPEN, substance makes them feel like what happens MATTERS, like something is being communicated, variety means that you're learning or considering something new-- and those are what make a narrative capable of impacting a person, of changing them, of being remembered

[ofmiceandfiends]

Oh, nothing.

Just thinking about Emmrich and Rook raising a(nother) child post-game who grows into the perfect blend of them both. Who inherits Emmrich’s even temperament and Rook’s unwavering resolve. Who delights in learning alongside their best friend and older sibling, Manfred. Who holds their breath and hangs onto every last word when people speak about how their parents saved all of Thedas.

And even though Emmrich still recognizes and resents his own mortality. Even though he looks upon his little family with so much love and, occasionally, guilt. Even though he catches himself wondering about the futures he will never see. Even though.

I have to imagine when he hears his children laugh or notices the twinkle in their eyes (quite literally with Manfred lol), he is awestruck by all the life he had to give. And maybe, just maybe, he is comforted by the thought part of him will always live on. Through them.

Nothing. It’s nothing.

[azen13]

CW: Yandere Themes,

⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆

Just a quick thought: Yandere!Sunday who is a galactic pop superstar.

He sees you at one of his concerts during a slower song when he looks up from the piano keys, floating in a sea of faces. Instantly you stand out to him. There's something chimerical in this moment, he thinks.

When he finishes up the set, quickly moving backstage to prepare for the next set, he makes a decision: he has to know more.

You get invited backstage after the concert, truly a dream. He sits on a plush light grey sofa, calmly smiling at you as he does to all his fans, but his golden eyes glitter and swirl with unreadable emotions. You've intrigued him.

Every moment that passes after this meeting seems to topple over like dominoes placed by a steady and swift hand. Invites to secret sessions turn into tickets offered over social media. Slowly, Sunday pulls you into his world, makes you his greatest muse. When the songs on his latest album are picked apart, atom by atom, the analysts surmise that there must be someone. And when Sunday responds to these allegations at a concert with a sly smile and a glint in his eyes, his fanbase erupts, demanding to know more.

But they will know nothing, Sunday thinks as he walks backstage, taking off his mic and his opulent outfit. He returns to his hotel room that evening to see you, safe and sound, your breathtaking eyes still painted in strange shades and hues from when he sung songs meant just for you.

He asks you if you would like to go to Penacony with him to watch him sing in the Charmony Festival, and you reply with bright eyes and a smile on your face.

One day very soon, Sunday will sing a song that will send the entire universe into an eternal dream. But in this moment, your beautiful, foolish mind completely ensnared by his siren-like voice, he feels like he is dreaming.

[stardustanddaffodils]

(wild life finale spoilers)

jimmys reaction when scar died was SO GOOD like... being (one of) the first out in all the other series, he's never had to mourn a teammate before... this was the first time. seeing his expressions i just like. yeah. for the first time he knows how it feels to mourn rather than being the one mourned

[unfamiliaris]

was just thinking about how fitzjames begs to be fed to his men when he's dead, and goodsir lives in constant fear of the cannibals he's surrounded by. and yet their suicide methods are the same. even though fitzjames wanted his body to he made use of, the meat was all poisoned anyway. and just like colonialism eats away at the people it displaces, so too does it devour the very men who uphold it. the meat is all poisoned.

[dredgenbane]

been having major artblock lately, so i decided to redraw my old KIY thing and attempt to make it more coherent this time (lol)

[marimeigh]

was for ShuAke Week of 2023 <3

[avadaniels]

LOVE & SEX as SPIRITUALITY Fellow Travelers (2023) / Richard Siken / Mark Doty / Patricia Smith

[mistinajar]

hey hetalians. hws australia’s canon birthday is coming up this january but please be respectful in regards to ‘australia day’. the history of this day is terribly horrible. in my area we all call it mourning day, but otherwise it’s generally referred to as invasion day

for our aboriginals, invasion day ‘celebrates’ the loss of their sovereign rights to their land, the mass killing of their families, and their loss of the right to practice their culture.

you dont have to disregard hws australia’s birthday of course, if you want to celebrate without any historical aspect or if you want to support our aboriginals without knowing an extensive amount of our history, you could always change his birthdate. (there are alternate days you can find online if you want to use those).

it is not the biggest issue in australia, nor is it the smallest, but acknowledging and understanding the day is important.

hetalia is so malleable you could change or interpret anything differently if you so desire, and there’s nothing stopping you from celebrating or creating in the way you wish, but please remember what this day means to us and please, over everything, be respectful