#however dirty it is

[icouldbeluckyagain]

.

[benevolenterrancy]

what I'm learning is that MXTX series really have ☆*: .｡The Range｡.:*☆ and that my first impressions often don't survive for very long...

MDZS, initial impression: ooh revived necromancer that everyone fears, this is going to be dark and revenge-fuelled

MDZS, subsequent impression: these are Silly Lil Guys off on a romcom murder mystery

SVSSS first impression: nerd who got isekai'd into a shitty novel, crybaby puppy dog imprints on him

SVSSS subsequent impression: how many times now has the love interest tortured the main character? should I start a tally?

(i've only just finished SVSSS bk2, please no spoilers!!)

[dirty-bear-rick-sanchez]

Like grandfather, like goddamn grandson!

[saturdayschwartz]

so happy for the new Jackpot and I hope she gets to vigilante with her girlfriend

[flora-gray]

When you find out ur not turtley enough for the Turtle Club 😔

(X)

(Credit to @les-gnossiennes-fantomatiques for spotting these twins)

[dungeons-and-dragon-age]

Hiii everyone, say, how do your Hawkes go go about sharing their estate? If they do it at all? Is everyone free to come and go or are they more private? Or do they only invite their LI to stay? I'm curious!! :)

[falconfate]

Hello ranger’s apprentice fandom can we talk real quick about the stupidest thing Flanagan ever wrote

It’s about the bows. Yanno, the rangers’ Iconique™️ main weapon. That one. You know the one.

Flanagan. Flanagan why are your rangers using longbows.

“uh well recurve arrows drop faster” BUT DO THEY. FLANAGAN. DO THEY.

the answer is no they don’t. Compared to a MODERN, COMPOUND (aka cheating) bow, yes, but compared to a longbow? Y’know, what the rangers use in canon? Yeah no a recurve actually has a FLATTER trajectory. It drops LATER.

This from an article comparing the two:

“Both a longbow and a recurve bow, when equipped with the right arrow and broadhead combination, are capable of taking down big game animals. Afterall, hunters have been doing it for centuries with both types of bows.

However, generally speaking and all things equal, a recurve bow will offer more arrow speed, creating a flatter flight trajectory and retain more kinetic energy at impact.

The archers draw length, along with the weight of the arrow also affect speed and kinetic energy. However, the curved design of the limbs on a recurve adds to its output of force.”

It doesn’t actually mention ANY distance in range! And this is from a resource for bow hunting, which, presumably, WOULD CARE ABOUT THAT SORT OF THING!

Okay so that’s just. That’s just the first thing.

The MAIN thing is that even accounting for “hur dur recurves drop faster” LONGBOWS ARE STILL THE STUPID OPTION.

Longbows, particularly and especially ENGLISH longbows, are—as their name suggests—very long. English longbows in particular are often as tall or taller than their wielder even while strung, but especially when unstrung. An unstrung longbow is a very long and expensive stick, one that will GLADLY entangle itself in nearby trees, other people’s clothes, and any doorway you’re passing through.

And yes, there are shorter longbows, but at that point if you’re shortening your longbow, just get a goddamn recurve. And Flanagan makes a point to compare his rangers’ bows to the Very Long English Longbow.

Oh, do you know how the Very Long English Longbow was mostly historically militarily used? BY ON-FOOT ARCHER UNITS. Do you know what they’re TERRIBLE for? MOUNTED ARCHERY.

Trust me. Go look up right now “mounted archery longbow.” You’ll find MAYBE one or two pictures of some guy on a horse struggling with a big stick; mostly you will actually see either mounted archers with RECURVES, or comparisons of Roman longbow archers to Mongolian horse archers (which are neat, can’t lie, I love comparing archery styles like that).

Anyway. Why are longbows terrible for mounted archery? Because they’re so damn long. Think about it: imagine you’re on a horse. You’re straddling a beast that can think for itself and moves at your command, but ultimately independently of you; if you’re both well-trained enough, you’re barely paying attention to your horse except to give it commands. And you have a bow in your hands. If your target is close enough to you that you know, from years of shooting experience, you will need to actually angle your bow down to hit it because of your equine height advantage, guess what? If you have a longbow, YOU CAN’T! YOUR HORSE IS IN THE WAY BECAUSE YOUR BOW IS TOO LONG! Worse, it’s probably going to get in the general area of your horse’s shoulder or legs, aka moving parts, which WILL injure your horse AND your bow and leave you fresh out of both a getaway vehicle and a ranged weapon. It’s stupid. Don’t do it.

A recurve, on the other hand, is short. It was literally made for horse archers. You have SO much range of motion with a recurve on horseback; and if you’re REALLY good, you know how to give yourself even more, with techniques like Jamarkee, a Turkish technique where you LITERALLY CAN AIM BACKWARDS.

For your viewing enjoyment, Serena Lynn of Texas demonstrating Jamarkee:

Yes, that’s real! This type of draw style is INCREDIBLY versatile: you can shoot backwards on horseback, straight down from a parapet or sally port without exposing yourself as a target, or from low to the ground to keep stealthy without banging your bow against the ground. And, while I’m sure you could attempt it with a longbow, I wouldn’t recommend it: a recurve’s smaller size makes it far more maneuverable up and over your head to actually get it into position for a Jamarkee shot.

A recurve just makes so much more SENSE. It’s not a baby bow! It’s not the longbow’s lesser cousin! It’s a COMPLETELY different instrument made to be used in a completely different context! For the rangers of Araluen, who put soooo much stock in being stealthy and their strong bonds with their horses, a recurve is the perfect fit! It’s small and easily transportable, it’s more maneuverable in combat and especially on horseback, it offers more power than a longbow of the same draw weight—really, truly, the only advantage in this case that a longbow has over the recurve is that longbows are quicker and easier to make. But we KNOW the rangers don’t care about that, their KNIVES use a forging technique (folding) that takes several times as long as standard Araluen forging practices at the time!

Okay.

Okay I think I’m done. For now.

[rush-the-stars]

i do really like the idea of isagi and rin both sorta pining after you and escalating to a v weird and tense masturbation session together about you..,..

[whipbogard]

Timelapse of the bestest boy

[nohr-selphias]

listen,,,, when my inquisitor mentions josie she better be referring to her as her WIFE. do not play w me bioware

[scribefindegil]

Me in high school: salty about the Lord of the Rings movies because I thought that the only worthwhile adaptation was something that cleaved to the source material 100% faithfully in every respect.

Me as an adult: enlightened, aware that adapting a story to a new medium requires thoughtful choices about what to keep and what to transform in order to take advantage of the strengths of the medium being used, very interested in how people tackle this complex and nuanced problem . . . . and also still salty about the Lord of the Rings movies, because some of their adaptational choices were simply Not Good.

[too-many-rooks]

[giddlygoat]

i like to think that even in recovery fidds still prefers to go shoeless. ford convinces him to at least wear sandals in rocky terrain but if he can help it that mf is dogs out 24/7

[weirdly-specific-but-ok]

Because the bedsheet ask was so random, I have another random ask…

When you wash cups, do you let them air dry or dry them with a towel…

How did 2024 get me to this point?

Now, listen up, maggots. Picture this:

There you are, posed in front of the sink (no dishwashers please, I'm too broke to know how dishwashers work, I've only read about them in Drarry fanfics). You stand there, and wipe the sweat from your forehead with the back of your hand.

Your cup, that you drank tea from but it was actually spiked with alcohol because your third cousin gossiped about your sister's husband to her mother-in-law and you're the go-between, is in your hand. You have just washed it.

The drops of water glisten in the noon sun. You wonder, briefly, why adulthood has you drinking before 1 pm. Then you brush that thought away like you did your sweat. Some things are best ignored.

What is important is the cup. You look at it, so wet and glistening and ready for you, and you wonder how to do it justice. Should you take the towel and gently rub it until it's dry and clean? Surely you should! You look around for the towel.

There hangs the towel, on the hook by the sink. It is coarse, and off-white, like eggified precome. Have you been reading too much fanfiction? No. Anyway, you reach for the towel, but pause midway.

The towel has been hanging there, moist from the last rubbing, fermented with bacteria and protozoans that yearn to feel its wetness and consume it. The fungi have not arrived yet, you take care to wash the towel enough for that. Or do you?

You hesitate, you do not remember the last time you washed the towel. Aftercare is a lost art, fading away like handweaving and ironworking and the knowledge that crumbled in Alexandria.

You look down at your darling cup, cradling so trustingly in the palm of your hand, still wet but not so much anymore, warming in the sunlight.

No, you decide. You will not sully your cup. You lay it aside to airdry, and cast one lingering glance at it before walking away.

The towel still remains on the hook, hanged for its crimes, left to its fate. Always to clean, never to be cleaned.

You have made the right choice. The cup will be pristine. The towel wilts in the noon sun, before hardening like plaster. A statue, a work of permanence, the mortification of the filth in flesh that the first ascetic Christians who settled in Ancient Rome preached.

All is well.

[random-fireworks]

I just finished season 3 of Bridgerton and wow. I'm blown away. I loved every single episode and I realized why at the end: it was about love in all its forms.

Romantic love sure, but it wasn't the predominant one. Love for your peers, love for your family, love for your friends, love for yourself.

Can we also talk about the redemption arcs and the complex thoughts and actions of the characters, their growth?