#i didnt think that was possible but here we are

[shadow-kid-cole]

ok i didnt think this would get. any amount of notes. but i’m still thinking about this and the idea of all your secrets laid bare regardless of how you feel about it and, in fact, maybe without your knowledge depending on how lost in the prison you are. we saw with inner demons (and with quests from other games, such as the one with feynriel in da2) that when people are stuck in the fade it’s very much the same as being stuck in their own minds (as above so below, fade reflects reality, etc etc.)they often don’t see the same thing as others. they may not even know that they’re trapped, or might not be able to tell what’s real or not.

depending on who your rook is, there’s so many different ways this could go. how long would it take them to realize, what would be the missing piece that makes everything click into place, how would they react? what would they feel? guilt, shame, anger, even a misplaced sense of betrayal as a protective instinct against the sudden realization of unwilling vulnerability? if they’re already someone without the resilience or adaptability to confront their regrets and escape on their own, chances are they’re not the best at handling their emotions to begin with.

my rook, for example, has a tenuous grip on reality in the first place. i decided that if they’ve been hallucinating varric all this time, which other people from past traumas might they be hallucinating? they’ve spent most of their life hallucinating their dead sister, people they’ve killed, people that have wronged them and vice versa. i think being pulled into the regret prison - and hearing the voices of their companions confirming every insecurity they’ve ever had to boot - would completely break their sense of reality. it would take a Lot of convincing to even get them to go with the team, to even try to escape - because for all they know, multiple people are dead and those that lived hate them. these kind visions of their friends aren’t real. it’s just the same as it’s always been. what’s a few more ghosts to haunt them? (as a lucanis romancer, i think my rook fully believes he’s dead and that’s the last straw that makes them truly give up, and it’s only once he’s there, close enough to actually make physical contact, that my rook could even let themself think about the possibility of hoping none of this is real.)

even after everything, i think my rook would have one moment of true vulnerability, knowing that their team knows everything and has seen them at their worst, and they hate it but everyone’s still here, so they let themself cry and be fussed over and then the moment they’re back at the lighthouse they hide from all that as much as they can and absolutely do not mention it ever again.

but that’s honestly best case scenario. for another rook, how might the guilt and shame of the mortifying ordeal of being known manifest for them? some might handle it well, let themselves love and be loved in return, might secretly be grateful they don’t have to do the hard work of revealing things themselves. others, though. others might react like a feral animal offered a gentle hand in its worst moment, and we all know how that goes.

thinking about the cage for gods quest and a rook that might be too lost in regret to make it out on their own (a la inner demons) and the team having to figure out not only how to tear open the fade but go through the layers of their rook’s psyche as challenges to finally find them frightened and alone and bring them home while experiencing every horrible thing that’s ever happened to them that they never told anyone about along the way. something something keeping your distance as a leader only for your team to witness every horrible broken part of you and rescue you anyway. if you even care.

[pandorashearts]

been playing yttd over the course of the last few days and it's really good and also if ANYTHING ever happens to gin again i will commit crimes

[umblrspectrum]

hi heres art so you pay attention to me now go read the tags

[kanjichris]

"why don't you want him to know how much you love him?" "that's a little personal. he knows." "uh-huh."

[kelocitta]

In honor of the @rw-ship-showdown I wanted to write about Artihunter as someone who jokingly slapped them together pre-downpour and still thinks they are actually very compelling. Just not in the super soft love wins kinda way (Although I get why people like that more) And the only way I know how to do that is talking too much so heres a far too long slug essay-

Obviously the slugcats don't offer a ton of characterization but theres not nothing to work with. Their stories, whether by their roles in it or the overarching themes do provide a backbone to work with. Even gameplay itself can provide a bit. (for some more than others) Hunter, to me, is ultimately a story about selflessness. The goal is to revive Moon, which is very much an act of kindness from both Hunter and NSH. But the weight of that action is much more significant for Hunter- Hunter is deeply sick. They're on the clock, and for all their skill in combat none of that will ultimately help them to survive longer than their body can hold out. Moon is a close friend of NSH but that means little Hunter- Hunter really gets next to nothing out of helping them, and ultimately pays quiet a bit spending their limited time alive fighting to deliver that neuron so that someone else can live.

To spend ones limited days on helping another, in a game that very much stresses the unwavering cruelty of the world and nature- is pretty notable. (And you could even say that Hunter being the Hardmode of Rain World adds another layer to this)

And then we have Artificer. A storyline that very much stands out to people as more… villainous (so to speak) than the other slugcats. Artificer's story covers a lot of things. Trauma, violence, revenge, etc. Revenge is a bit of a selfish desire- That need to see someone hurt as they have hurt you. A punishment that ultimately does not fix whatever harm was done- but feels good to see because you were hurt and now those responsible share that pain.

Artificer's actions are founded in that need for revenge, their pups killed for overstepping boundaries they didn't know existed. Is it not fair for them to be angry at that, to punish the scavengers for their violence with their own? Why should the scavengers ever be forgiven when they and their pups were not? And that's how you get that loop- Harm for harm over and over.

The original action has been lost in a spiral of violence for violence. And here stands Artificer- their very spirit scarred. Not just because they sought revenge, but because they never ceased trying to scratch that itch for violence as an answer. Artificer only has two paths for their story- killing the scavenger king (Someone who, really, has little to do with the original 'crime' of the scavengers, but represents an important individual to them- as did the slugpups to Artificer), locking themselves as karma one for good and spending the rest of their life chasing creatures that no longer even fight back in a warped sense of closure- or to dissolve themselves in the acids of the void sea because they're too far gone to find any real peace.

They can't meaningfully recover from that state, not alone, twisting in on themselves. Even if they halt their actions, they've been using violence as a feeble defense against their own pain- violence that no longer has any real direction or basis. Artificer gets no real closure from killing the scavenger king. All they can do is continue the cycle, or try to scrub it away. No real peace in a prison of their own making. So you have a creature, who even with a strict timer on their life- a body that will crumble to disease, spends its last bit of time on saving another. And another who was so caught up in the pain of loss that were eaten alive by their own anger, poisoned their own soul on such a deep level even self-proclaimed gods have no solution for them. What peace can they offer each other? For Hunter, its only a fleeting moment of happiness- of selfish love, before their own body fails them. A bit of indulgence in something for themself. For Artificer, its a single, comforting thread to ground them again, something tangible to protect and care about again. But thats a thread that will ultimately be snapped under the cruel indifference of the world. Hunters timer will tick down regardless of if it takes another with it. Its a tragedy- its doomed to end badly. Whatever good it offers to either of them to find each other will only provide the fleeting comfort of a band-aid that will be ripped away too early. But all that can be worth indulging in anyway, if only for the moment. It doesn't change the ending, but the ending was never going to be happy. Its can so yuri

[cptn-jtk]

good omens fans: "the gays are winning!"

the gays:

[rwby-confess]

Confession #385

[skitskatdacat63]

Hey do you remember all those videos of Fernando smelling flowers? Haha yeah....

[sardonicheir]

the thing thats disgusting me the most about all this is david jenkins saying that izzy was like a "father figure" to ed. because like where??? idk i cant put my thoughts together too well rn but like. theres always been a very clear power imbalance on ed's side with ed being izzy's boss and all. in season one izzy states multiple times that ed has always been a brilliant sailor and fighter and he was honored to work for him, when he (presumably for the first time ever) threatens ed he gets the tables flipped on him almost immediately, he suffers continuous abuse at the hands of ed, etc. and that to me makes it impossible to place izzy in a mentor/father figure role because a father figure is supposed to have strength and autonomy and its only after izzy has been freed from ed that he gets to experience those. idk its such an odd and mischaracterizing statement that david (from what he said) based his entire decision to kill off izzy off of. not to even mention him teasing edizzy and steddyhands all throughout his interviews for the season to then turn around and say izzy was a father figure all along? mf did u forget u had this father figure sing the soundtrack to the main couple's first time literally two eps ago?? im so so disgusted

[soranker0]

bro is dead next chapter

[opens-up-4-nobody]

...

[all-thestories-aretrue]

Episode 91 Nara to Neil: Is it because you know, because you know that my affection is a means to an end or do you feel something for Wynn and don't know how to say it?

Episode 95 Neil to Wynn: If this is a moment where there’s a line in the sand about us staying together, you know I’ll follow you to go die.

Episode 91 Neil to Nara: I haven’t known these things maybe for a long time, and so I just sit in inaction because I don’t know.

Episode 95 Narration of Neil by Rob: When Wynn confirms to Britta that she’s in love with Kabir, Neil goes stock still.

[stuck-in-the-ghost-zone]

OKAY. OKAY. WINTERS FAMILY TORMENT NEXUS. as i've said before this is all REALLY vague rough outlines bc i wanted to bounce it all back n forth with u. but. what i have:

>winters family (mark & ashe & fridged mom/wife) live in a location hit by the simurgh

>mark is at work when she arrives. something horrific happens at home. maybe his wife is injured or hurt, but not killed. ashe (7/8/9) triggers. whatever his powers are, they. do Not help heal his mom. in fact the opposite.

>mark tears back home asap instead of leaving as soon as he hears her song, actively choosing to stay in her effect zone for his family. finds newly triggered baby ashe & the rest of that scene.

>theyve spent too long in the affected zone to be allowed to go free, especially since ashe triggered from it. mark nukes his whole past life & ashe's to escape without undergoing all the protocols. he spends ages doing shit work to support him & ashe bc theyre both legally dead, ends up working for overlord, manages to get enough of a fake past to get through cauldron background checks & get powers? it'll pay so much better than the grunt work he's doing now & he has to support ashe (powered)(legally dead)(would probably be executed if anyone Found Out)....

anyway to me the trickster is like. the endgame of this specific simurgh rube goldberg. somehow it doesn't end horrifically, for once! but it gets. bad. the fact that they're simurgh survivors is always looming over their heads. its why mark fucking freaks out when ashe joins the wards. literally have nothing more specific than this though u gotta help me put meat on these bones!!!!! STOP "being responsible" and "doing work" and stuff START thinking incessantly abt nhw ashe!!!!! i don't even know his powers bc i have no clue how he triggered!!!! augh. god. them..... mods torture that blonde man in the most narratively satisfying and fucked up way possible!!!!

QUIT YOUR JOB JOIN MY EMO WARDS !!!!!!!!!!!!! god dude god dude I'm gonna be thinking about this all fucking DAY . who needs to be responsible and have a job. not me!!!! FUCK !!!!!!!! dude im just. thinking abt mark being at work getting the notice to evacuate and starting to hear the song and. bc it's important to me that he's a little bit of a coward. it takes him longer than he will ever admit to decide to go back to his family. he definitely hesitates and hates himself for it because. what if he had gotten there 10 minutes earlier! who fucking knows! he never will!!

god man I'm just thinking about. that scene where they're in the hospital waiting to hear back about noelle and the person (ai?) at the desk is giving them the rundown of all the containment procedures and handing them paperwork and asking them if they can pay for the medical care. how fucked up would that be to hear after you're in the midst of losing everything. mark winters the universes most hated man. I looooooove the satisfaction in thinking about that snap decision where he goes from "relatively normal if a little emotionally repressed but otherwise does his best suburban dad" to "my wife is dead and my son is fucked up and there's this fucking sound in my head that won't go away I'm about to erase everything and break several laws in order to get us out of here" and how that eventually leads into. supervillain. it's just soooooooo. sickos haha yessss the downfall of this fucking miserable blonde guy. when do you think he consciously made that choice. he heard "you're never going to get out of here and live a normal life again" do you think he just . sat with that for a while. ashe unresponsive either due to shock or fear or the trauma of triggering/whatever his powers are and mark just has to sit there. by himself. like what the fuck am I gonna do now. auaghghghghhhh I need 2 make him so miserable forever. fuck that guy i hate his ass (<< me when I lie)

I THINK . I NEED TO SIT FOR A WHILE AND FINISH THESE NEXT COUPLE CHAPTERS AND PROCESS A LITTLE MORE BEFORE I MAKE A SOLID DECISION ON ASHES POWERS. but you knowwwww it's gonna be some fucked up horror shit. it has to be. it has to be something fucked up enough that mark forbids him from using his powers and keeps him . at home isolated for his own good. but not TOO fucked that he wouldn't be able to join the wards.

actually speaking of. HOW THE FUCK DOES HE JOIN THE WARDS. I know mark basically fucking erased their whole identity and everything but. there's noooo way the prt would let this kid join them. right?????? right????. how the hell would that even be a possibility with all the precautions in place for simurgh survivors. THEY EXPLODED THAT ONE CAPE GUYS HEAD BECAUSE HE STAYED IN PROXIMITY FOR A LITTLE BIT TOO LONG. maybe it's unofficial. maybe he never Officially joins them but he sneaks out while mark is gone and meets the boys somewhere and they become friends out of costume first. and then they learn about his powers and ashe is like "I can help!" and helps them like. as a rogue or something. but hes never registered as an official cape. is this anything. im thinking about him so much what the fuuuuuck have we done. what have we done !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[13eyond13]

actually stunned by how gay The Beatles has been all this time and I just never knew

[jesbiblesworld]

Okay but the REAL question is: How do we work Love Sea into the Love in the Air/Kinnporsche (and sometimes Pit Babe) crossover universe???

[heart-of-ep]

So deep in my Elvis feels right now. Literally sobbed my eyes out and now it's 3am and idk what to do with myself. 😭