#i don't want it to end either

[bstandsforbabydaddy]

*peter lets the Venom suit cover him again, waiting on the mask. They're both still a little gooey but he's really gotta run. He wraps Nuke in a big hug and kisses him.*

I dunno if I helped any, but I hope you're feeling a little better, at least?

I'm on my porch. Nice night out.

@bstandsforbabydaddy

He immediately teleported to Peter, stretching out and sighing some.

"Oh, yeah it actually is. Not too bad out."

[orenji-iro-no-sora]

I have also been dreading the end, Lorsan.

You're my favourite! ❤️

[lucabyte]

On autonomy, and what it means to be Obliged to Help.

Bonus:

[outofcontextgarf]

[quaranmine]

btw guys, you can do spoiler text on AO3! here's the html:

<details><summary>the text you want people to see</summary>The text you want to spoiler or hide</details>

it turns it into a little toggleable drop down that shows things and then hides them. it's great for content warnings in ao3 notes if you're worried about spoiling your fic--people who feel like they can proceed without any specific warnings can do so but people who want to see a warning or spoiler can choose to.

i tried it on firewatch au chapter three, it works:

if that html doesn't work, then here's the reddit comment i got it from by an r/ao3 moderator and former ao3 staff memeber. I copied it from here and it worked perfectly, but it didn't paste into tumblr so I manually typed it.

[somegrumpynerd]

I need to become a writer I just had the silliest idea

Okay so girls used to be the word for all children right? And Nightmare and Dream are Old and don't realise the meanings have changed, so imagine Cross one day trying to come out to Nightmare by saying how he "used to be a girl" and Nightmare responding "Well yes but that's no cause for guilt, we all were at some point" and accidentally giving Cross the impression that the entire gang is trans. And then every time he goes to one of the others and tries to subtly bring it up they think he's talking about something else and it keeps the bit going

[scoriarose]

She came up with a new activity

[rosietrace]

The way I avoid angsty non-mc-reader fics like the PLAGUE bc I know damn well I'm gonna cry my eyes out

.... And I STILL end up reading them

[wolfsong-the-bloody-beast]

I'm kind of obsessed with Blackwall's idealized ideas about the Wardens. He was once picked up by a Warden and lulled by the promise of atoning for his crimes and turning his life around, only for that opportunity to slip away when the Warden not only saved him, but sacrificed his own life to do it. This whole experience makes our Blackwall become a Warden in heart, if not in blood, but with his own ideas of what a Grey Warden should be - noble, brave, inspiring, heroic, self-sacrificial. Everything he now wants to embody. He knows well that he's not there, but he wants nothing more than to start from scratch and be that.

In his beliefs, he reminds me a bit of Wynne in Origins who tells the Warden at some point that the Grey Wardens are supposed to be more than killing machines and weapons against the blight.

“There’s more to being a Grey Warden than killing darkspawn and saving the world from the Blight. Ultimately, being a Grey Warden is about serving others, about serving all people, whether elves or dwarves or men. As a Grey Warden, you are a guardian of men. And you guard them because their continued existence is more important than you are.”

However, we know that's not exactly how it works. That's what they want the Wardens to be. The light against darkness. The shield against monsters.

Although it's not entirely wrong, either, I suppose, all things considered. The more darkspawn they obliterate and push back, the more people are protected from them. Of course, sacrificing their lives to fight literal monsters, which means those same monsters don't eat everybody's kids, ultimately is heroic, and it's something that must have been born out of the need to protect the world and its inhabitants (from the Blight). But to have idealized opinions of the Wardens to this degree, you have to ignore all the other shady stuff and the mentality we, as players, also know the Wardens for. The fact that the Wardens are primarily weapons to slay darkspawn, prevent and end Blights, by any means necessary. The last part is important. After all, they are the Grey Wardens, not the White Wardens. They recruit from all walks of life and are famous for taking in criminals. Not to redeem themselves and get a second chance at life, but because they usually have nowhere to go and nothing left to lose. It's not a coincidence that each of the Origins gets chosen by Duncan, not only because he sees them as capable, but also because they are in a situation they can't escape from. Either they join the Wardens, or they're done for.

We know the Wardens from a few games now, but does the public in the setting even know? Does the average person have any idea how far the Wardens are willing to go? Besides grand stories of slaying monsters in the dark and preventing the end of the world? Probably not. The order is very secretive. And it explains a lot. The Wardens end up sounding almost romantic, when being a Warden is anything but. Is it ignorance talking out of these characters? Perhaps.

It once again shows us this aspect of Dragon Age where you can't take everything a character says as a fact, because the setting is full of people who have no idea what they're talking about, but who are absolutely convinced that they do.

And yet, I can't help but also like Wynne's and Blackwall's romantic ideas about what the Wardens are or should be, almost knights in shining armour and all that. They're fairy tales, but they're beautiful fairy tales. And I can't fault the characters for wanting to believe it or even live it. Especially in case of Blackwall, who sees it as a way to make up for the crimes he committed, somewhat. In the end, this might actually be a bigger draw to join the Wardens than, "Got nowhere to go? Come suffer horribly and probably die gruesomely with us!" It all sounds great on paper, though. I can't fault Davrin for trying to find purpose in life by becoming a monster hunter, either.

And maybe a little bit of idealism doesn't hurt. Not only it's good motivation, but in the end, doing things by "any means necessary" doesn't always pay off, either. It led the Wardens into all kinds of trouble, like getting tricked into employing dangerous forms of blood magic and demon summoning, basically into doing their enemy's work for them. In their determination to win at any cost, they helped trigger a cataclysmic event. Maybe having some principles isn't so bad after all.

In the end, I can appreciate that we get to see the clash of the old and new blood in Veilguard, where there's hope for the order to transform into an organization that's less secretive, less exclusive, and hopefully less prone to letting corruption spread through its ranks and make other devastating mistakes. Duncan once said that letting people join the Wardens isn't an "act of charity", and I like how Evka and Antoine go, "Yeah, you know what? Fuck that." And that likely inspires more loyalty. I imagine Blackwall would like that.

[iizuumi]

silly silly guys

[antivancathedral]

Surprise t'was I that asked the question! Major spoilers below.

I've been thinking on it again since I got the scene again for my second go around. It's kind of funny thinking about the near kiss from Spite's point of view. Thinking Lucanis would be pleased at having hurt or disappointed Rook is silly to a human person, sure, but for a demon who has spent the majority of his time on the mortal plane wanting revenge against his torturers?

I wish badly we could've seen the aftermath of that scene. This I think would've been Spite's first real clear indication of the categories Lucanis puts people into (that is, "family, enemies, or contracts"). Did Lucanis have to explain to him exactly which people fit into the first category? How did he frame it? Would he have had to say that the Venatori wouldn't want him to have anyone else at his side for Spite to get it? Or did he say that having Rook would make him happy, and that something he couldn't explain was denying him what he wanted?

I don't personally subscribe to the idea that the wings in the final romance scene was all Lucanis when he's denied having control of it before. I want to know how the progression from Spite's confusion at turning away from a kiss turned to shielding Rook's body after the Fade entrapment. I want to know about the progression from Spite's confusion to the explicit trust he showed Rook by pulling them into Lucanis's mind, to Rook being Spite's favorite.

What about just after Solas seals Rook away? Did Spite feel like something he considered his, the way Lucanis is his, got taken away from him? His favorite? When Lucanis calls for Rook as the gang pulls them out of the fade, is the lurch of his heart only his own?

I wish so much we could've seen more emotional displays from all the companions but especially something from Spite. I've said so before but I don't think Spirits can't feel things outside of their scope of emotion because it's just impossible for different kinds of emotions to not overlap and intersect, and I would've given anything to see Spite actually learn to recognize what Lucanis felt for Rook, and maybe even come to understand or even empathize with it.

[piecesofchess]

Tartarus is still a little broken and that's Fun !

[lafaiette]

Weekes answered some Solavellan questions on bluesky, collected here by the user Kala

And the romance sounds and looks way better when framed this way! I'm actually relieved, but god, I would have loved to see it displayed and explained like this in the game, not through a series of tweets.

[5a-alf]

I fear Kevin Day is the type of person whose struggle always came second. He funcioned enough that while everyone knew he wasn't alright, it was also nobody's problem, as someone else was actively having a harder time and they took precedence. He internalises all his problems and keeps going and going but he is fueled by alchool and sheer desperation a 100% of the time. If he were to stop for even a second he wouldn't know how to start again.

Did he ever, at somepoint in his life -away from the ex foxes, a pro player, married to Thea- wish he had it worse, just so that maybe it would have been his turn being saved? Being first? How badly would he feel, just one second after thinking it, because he knows damn well he has enough trauma to fill a stadium and he isn't actually jealous of his friends that had it worse, he isn't . That's a fucked up thing to think, stop it, stop it.

Would he still drink himself into a stupor to shoote the ache, to banish the thought? That's the help he got, when he was at his worst, a drink, and then two, and then a thousand. And it worked, it made him go, it picked him up when he was down, and now he can't get down without crashing.

Did he wish to be saved? Did he hope somebody, anybody, took the time and put in the effort to help him, just because they saw him down, not because he begged, but because they noticed he could use a hand. Or two, actually. Was it torment, to always be under the spotlight, yet never been seen? Did he run toward fame hoping the more eyes on him meant it would be easier to be noticed?

[front-facing-pokemon]

[thursdayinspace]

This moment. This kiss. The amount of things going on here. It packs such a punch. This is a turning point, and this is an instance where they are not communicating their true feelings and know about it. Because what they need to say is simply too difficult. They are well aware of the cracks in their relationship, but they love each other too damned much to deal with them. Which is so human. I mean, do I like the fact that they're heading towards separation? Of course not. Do I buy it? Absolutely.

They have been through so much. Trauma heaped upon trauma. Death, death scares, abductions, the loss of their child, everything they've seen and done. On top of that now, there is his isolation. Nobody can carry somebody else's happiness on their shoulders all on their own. It breaks you. It's too much. But those two have always been there for each other. Always. And the very fact that they only have each other means they can't acknowledge the fragility of what they have, not even their own fragility, because they're aware of the other one's wounds and don't want to burden them with theirs, for fear of breaking the only thing they have.

And at this point, they know they have been quiet for too long. They have arrived at a point where talking simply won't fix it anymore. And what is so painful about that is that they love each other more than ever. All of that is in this moment. He tells her they can go away, just the two of them. He's begging her to stay, to turn their backs on everything and start over. She looks at him like she wants to believe him so badly, wants to believe that they can run from the darkness.

That kiss is so heartbreaking and beautiful because it's hope and despair at the same time. He's telling her that he knows things are broken between them, but they're still them, they've always made it through everything together. And she's telling him that this isn't them anymore. She wants to stay, but she just can't see how. The one thing they agree on: they don't want this to end.

The way she's crying into the kiss. The way he is so gentle with her. It looks like a kiss goodbye from her, and from him it looks almost like a wedding kiss, as if he'd just promised her forever. And in a way, he has. And in a way, she has too. It's an affirmation of love, of undying devotion, and of clinging with all their strength to something that they can feel slipping away.

They are still so desperately in love with each other, and they can't imagine being apart for even just a day. But the sad truth is that love is not always enough. They have taken terrible care of themselves. Just like you're supposed to put on your own oxygen mask first in the event of a loss of cabin pressure, you have to take care of your own well-being if you want to be able to take care of somebody else. They need each other like they need air. But they also can't go on like this.

I firmly believe that post-revival, they will be together forever. They will get their happy ending. But after everything they've been through and after years of pretending like they can take care of themselves and each other, it makes sense for them to arrive at this point. And still it is heartbreaking to see. They are it for each other. They're each other's person. But sometimes, that is not enough. (And sometimes, you still find your way back to each other and finally find a way to make it work. And they will.)