#i love so many elements of all of my stories
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Cozy Fantasy and Why It Doesn't Work
I think I am among many who feel like they should love cozy fantasy and have found it an incredibly lacking genre.
This newly branded "cozy fantasy" genre that has taken readers by storm since 2020 and while it is new that books are now marketed as cozy, the genre itself isn't new. Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones is a great example of the genre before it was labeled and also how to make it work.
Cozy fantasy is defined by many as fantasy with low stakes. Fantasy aesthetic but less sword fights. On paper, it sounds great. But the execution has been less than stellar for readers like me. The lack of physical stakes has also impacted the emotional stakes of these books, creating forgettable characters with boring problems. As a romance reader, I find this frustrating. Romance is known for being a predictable and formulaic genre, the now defunct Romance Writers of America defined romances as needing happy endings, a term romances have continued to follow. Yet these romance texts manage to have low physical stakes (how to date your neighbor, how to confront your toxic friends, etc) while still maintaining high personal stakes that keep readers invested and begging for more. So I was initially confused why cozy fantasy authors struggle to write texts that connect to readers like me.
I think I have found the answer which is the genre is just here for vibes. It is all about aesthetic, not even worldbuilding that fantasy is known for as most cozy fantasy I read have so many problems as soon as you ask one question. It is hard to acknowledge that a genre that is pitched to work for readers like me doesn't work for many of us. Especially because occasionally there is one that works beautifully to my taste.
I often say my favorite cozy fantasies that are more contemporary are short and visual, which I plays into the idea of the genre being an aesthetic. The Bakery Dragon by Devin Elle Kurtz is a good example because it is a simple story that is given the perfect amount of pages and gorgeous visuals without dragging on when the message is very clear and easy to understand. Books like The Phoenix Keeper and Legends and Lattes have absolutely nothing for me, their very clear message hitting the reader over and over so the readers don't miss it and focusing on the aesthetic of worldbuilding rather than the reality of the fantastic elements within the world.
I guess my point is. . . I realize this genre isn't for me since I have realized it is more of an aesthetic than anything. .. .but I want it to be. Should I let it go and put my efforts elsewhere? Or should I keep exploring this new trend and find the hidden gems?
#cozy fantasy#cosy fantasy#booklr#sorry for this kind of negative post#but i think people in my circle will vibe
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So, the ABC feedback part.
What else is there to say? Honestly, I struggle to find anymore words around this topic. It's like an old wound. It hurts but at a certain point how many different ways can you say that?
I put what I wrote beneath the cut to spare the poor eyes of those who don't want to spend their Christmas/Christmas eve assaulted by reading. I tried to keep it cheerful.
Anyway, hope everyone has a great holiday.
It’s the holiday season and I don’t want to spend too much time on bitterness. I’ll keep things as cheap and cheerful as I can, which could possibly mean this is quite a short little message. Firstly, merry Christmas and happy holidays. Secondly, I wanted to pass on my thanks to the show for the gift that was Tommy’s character, and Buck’s relationship with him. It’s been said a lot, but I’ll say it again that I thought Tommy was a wonderful addition to the show, that he brought excellent potential to the story, and that I felt a great affinity with the character as an older gay man who has struggled with his sexuality in the past and continues to do so today. I relate to a lot of those aspects of the character and it was lovely to see all those elements on such a popular TV show, even if they weren’t explored as much as I wanted them to be. It was also great to see Buck’s relationship with him. I guess I should explain the reasons why but honestly, I’m not sure what else to say. It made me feel seen, it made me feel hopeful… honestly, it just made me feel happy. They had an intimacy and connection I hope to find myself one day. It shone a light in a world where things look increasingly bleak and dark for marginalized people, particularly LGBT+ people. Whilst I wasn’t happy about the Confessions episode or the way it ended, I won’t belabor that point. I’m happy that we got something, even if I’m not happy that’s all we got. While I hope there may be more to their relationship to come, I’m also not expecting anything more from this show. I can’t imagine any other love interest of Buck’s measuring up and I don’t intend to stick around and watch the show make any attempts to replicate such success. I would be remiss if I failed to mention how beautifully I thought Lou Ferrigno Jr. played the role. I am now a huge fan of his, and plan to follow his career to wherever he goes next, even if that isn’t 9-1-1. If Confessions was his last time on 9-1-1, and subsequently my last time watching the show, I think I can take that as an even trade. That said, I'd be lying if I didn't hope with all my heart that he does return in the new year. And that's why #alliwantforchristmasislou Best of luck and I hope everyone enjoys their Christmas and New Year.
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Someone recommended to me the show Jentry Chau vs. The Underworld, and I figured it looked interesting so I watched it. And I have some thoughts.
It is the most obvious lesson on why not giving stories enough time to play out messes with the pacing so badly. In this day and age of "you'll get about eight episodes per season and there's no guarantee you'll even get renewed, and it's more than likely it'll just get dumped", if creators want their story to be for sure be told onscreen without cancellation cliffhangers, they gotta cram it into as little time onscreen as possible. And the art suffers for it.
In my opinion, Jentry Chau vs. the Underworld is a genuinely good and compelling show. But it's good, not great. And that's because of the pacing. Almost every single glaring flaw (mostly the character arcs and dynamics, and a ton of loose ends), boiled down to an issue of the story not being allowed to play out long enough. It feels rushed and cramped, and it's basically the perfect object lesson on why stories need to be given enough time to play out.
There are many stories I adore that get cut short, that despite having a loving and dedicated fanbase, were left on a cliffhanger with no resolution. A lot of that being because they were Netflix originals. Which Jentry Chau vs the Underworld is. And this is the result of that threat. And that's depressing.
Jentry Chau vs the Underworld is a good story, with many elements to it that I absolutely love. But it's so, so cramped, and the obvious result of trying to get a story told in a little time as possible, in order to try and get it finished at all.
The love for the project is obvious. There's so much there to be expanded upon and allowed to give their aspects of the story so much more weight. But they just don't have the time to make that impact.
:(
(Also I didn't watch the trailer, but after finishing the show I saw it out of curiosity. Now, I'm no expert, but IMO that's Bad Advertising. Honestly, if I had watched that before the show itself, I might've just dismissed it right then and there.)
(Fuck you, Netflix. For many reasons. One of them being this.)
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First of all, I just wanted to say how much I love your Arcane fics. I’ve been following FnF since I stumbled across it at 10 chapters long, and it’s been a wild ride since! Like a lot of people I’ve been all over the place with my feelings regarding season 2, but as far as I’m concerned FnF is my season 2 (and 3, 4, etc.) lol. You’re a gift to this fandom. Thank you for sharing your brilliant mind and imagination with us readers ❤️
You’ve answered some what-if asks and shared other Arcane thoughts on this blog before, so I have two questions for your consideration, but no pressure to answer either of them!
1. As a fellow writer, I’m in awe of the scale of FnF and the amount of planning/outlining that must be involved—HOLY SHIT! Are there any elements of s2 that have inspired you as you continue to write FnF? Have you considered adapting any s2 elements into later chapters (beyond what you’ve already predicted), or have you held fast to a specific Vision throughout the duration of this writing project?
2. Not sure if you’ve been asked this in the past, but what the hell would a living Silco’s reaction be to Vander’s hellish resuscitation as Warwick, assuming he isn’t immediately mauled in a confrontation?? Is Singed (assuming he’s the culprit) definitely fired??? This feels like such a MESSY terrible horrible no-good very bad situation for everyone involved lmao, and I would love to know your thoughts.
Aaaaah thank you so much! I'm super happy you're enjoying the story! I've been having a lot of fun with it, and I'm glad so many other folks are having fun with it as well <333
Also deeply honored you'd consider FnF in any way adjacent to canon material; that means so much T_T Especially since my own feelings on s2 are pretty mixed, and I'm not really sure what I would even do with those ideas, except maybe throw them out as a one-shot sometime down the road.
1. In terms of the s2 inspiration, I will say I was not the biggest fan of the plot's coherence/cohesion as a whole (too much stuff going on in too little time, too many threads left dangling etc). However, I was very gratified by the thematic journeys of the characters in S2, as in FnF they're actually following a similar trajectory (except for Silco who is, well, dead), and a lot of the same conflicts and themes are coming up. There was a happy sense of vindication that came from that, like, "Oh, so this was actually important, and not just me making a fanficcy mountain out of a molehill."
I will say though, that FnF has its own pretty airtight-ish plot, with many aspects already sketched out in advance, so I'm not going to go re-plotting things to match s2's direction unless and until it becomes necessary. In some ways, tbh, there's a sense of gleeful overlap, as a lot of the plot beats do mirror one another. (The Black Rose make an appearance by Act VII, there's a greater emphasis on magic and high fantasy going forward, Jinx is in the grip of an identity/existential crisis and Vi is stuck at a crossroads, Jayce has become disillusioned and split with Mel, Viktor has retreated underground and will be withdrawing deeper into his work, Ekko will be the one to snap Jinx out of a critical juncture and save Zaun in the long term, Sevika will take a greater leadership role etc...) All of the parallels if not the outright similarities were pretty satisfying.
As for how that's manifesting, a lot of the major developments and character arcs going forward are largely set in stone, but I do have a few key S2 events/details I've been mulling over in the background that I can see myself weaving into the plot at some point. But the rest is probably best kept as a surprise :>
2. As for the hellish resuscitation, well, I'd be lying if I said I haven't been thinking about that one a lot hehehe...
But long story short:
Singed is 100% fired because there is NO WAY Silco would sanction such a thing - and if it occured in the FnF universe, then Singed was absolutely doing it behind Silco's back and will now face the full consequences.
As for Warwick himself - he'd 100% retreat to Silco and Vander's little Brokeback bunk in the mines. And Silco would 100% don his old mining duds and dustry greatcoat and go looking for him, because he needs to be SURE it's not just a rumor, and also because he does, subconsciously, desperately want it to be his Vander. And Vander, who has a good measure of the old Vander's memories, and is 100% aware it's not a rumor, because hello: deranged wolfman, will 100% run towards Silco with every intention of tearing him to pieces.
And that is where the similarities end.
Because Vander is too deeply trapped within Warwick's killer shell, and is therefore incapable of having an emotional reunion with anyone, and because Silco is not an idiot and would never go into a skirmish without a loaded gun and an escape route, the end result would be bloody, messy and tragic.
Worst case scenario: both men would kill each other, and in their final death throes, find boyhood memories resurfacing. They'd die in tears, messily and bloodily entwined, but finally at peace with their own demons - which is how Jinx and Vi, teaming up similar to S2, would find them.
Best case scenario: Silco would find Warwick and be forced to try and capture and contain him. He'd enlist Sevika's help and succeed, but when Jinx finds out, she'd be appalled and retraumatized, and convinced Silco is trying to erase her dead dad and supplant him in every sense. She'd go off the rails and have a complete breakdown, and Vi would be the one she'd run to, because Vi is the only person who understands and cares. The sisters would end up teaming against Silco to try and bust WarVander out, and this would cause an irreparable rift between Silco and Jinx.
Cue mass destruction and an epic family feud.
Sevika, who'd be the only person left in Silco's circle of trust, would have to make the call to have Warwick quietly killed in order to save the city from a war, and then lie to Silco, telling him Vander succumbed to his own madness and perished. This would cause Silco's mental state to completely disintegrate. He'd lose what little sanity he had left, and would descend into a pit of guilt and grief.
Either way, it's a pretty awful tragedy on both sides, and it would take the entire remaining plot of FnF to resolve the fallout, and for Jinx and Vi to find any kind of peace.
So you can see why I've been mulling a lot, but also left it alone haha.
But who knows?
Maybe the story will change my mind, or I'll be struck by some miraculous idea and figure a way out, though I'm doubtful.
Thanks again for the lovely words and thoughtful questions! They really mean a lot <3
#arcane#arcane league of legends#arcane silco#silco#asks#forward but never forget/xoxo#forward (never forget)/xoxo#arcane jinx#jinx#arcane vi#vi#arcane vander#warwick#vander#zaundads#vanco#silco x vander#violet#arcane sevika#sevika
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Aside from the fact that I think I might be the only person on the planet who could genuinely be interested in the Executors (I say "could" because my faith in good storytelling from BW is on shaky ground), I fully agree with this post.
And I say this as someone who wasn't sure that the Veil coming down was the right move. But whether someone thinks the Veil should come down or stay up is immaterial. The whole point is that no arguments for the validity of either claim were really ever truly examined. The only reasoning in the game that we get for the Veil remaining intact is that its collapse would "drown the world in demons." Which is... almost a fallacy on its own. Aside from naturally occurring malign spirits (that we learn about from the Mournwatch), demons exist as a direct result of the Veil simply existing.
Perhaps the danger is in not knowing what would happen to all of the mundane, unmagical folk when confronted with the full power of all the raw, unfiltered, chaotic magic of the Fade. But that's still thinking of magic within the confines of the Fade itself. We have no perspective, outside of Solas, on what magic really looks like when the Fade and the mundane world combine. Does it change? Is it still dangerous? Who does it endanger? Are we wrong? Are we right? Who knows? The whole point is that there's never an opportunity to ask those questions. And we have at least three characters fully immersed and available in the story who could provide concrete, first-person, lived and experienced answers.
But we never ask.
We have a spirit of Wisdom who loves answering questions.
And we never ask.
Hell, in addition, we have two dwarves that are connected, isatunolly, with the Titans, who were also there before the Veil.
And we don't get to really ask anything of great value. Even our characters are canonically frustrated with how little we get to ask.
I just think it's very interesting that this game was called Dreadwolf for so long, and then it wasn't. The game we got has very little to do with, and makes very little use of, the Dread Wolf at all. So the game is called The Veilguard. But at no point does the Veilguard really ever.... guard... the Veil. Or make any mention of guarding the Veil. Or have any discussion on why guarding the Veil is so super important or what it even means, especially considering that, in the first 20min of the game, the only real element threatening the Veil is neutralized until the last 10min.
The game, called The Veilguard, isn't about the Veil at all.
In my humble opinion? This game should have been given a title that had more to do with the Blight or the gods or something. Or, given how many times it gets said in game, it could've just been called, "Dragon Age: It's Just So Hard." Even on a meta level, that's a title I could've believed, lol.
All this without even mentioning that one mural memory. We all know the one. The one that falls somewhere between a shameful, textbook retcon and a blatant attempt at gaslighting.
Whoops. I mentioned it, didn't I? Maybe I'll make a longer post about that someday. That's the part of this game that really grinds my gears, the status of the Veil notwithstanding.
In short, I firmly believe that the vilification of Solas is purely based on a retcon (and one that makes no logical sense when properly examined) and it's a hill I'm prepared to die on.
Anyhoops, if someone told me that, even though this game had been in development for 10yrs, the final version of this game was produced from start to finish in 16mos or less, I'd honestly believe it. I also feel like they were 100% shooting for a game that would have DLC afterwards and were told late in their development cycle that there wouldn't be so they tried to gift wrap everything with the ribbons and bows that they had. Like... go to the Halls of Valor and tell me that this is a fully finished game that was intended to be complete from the very beginning.
Castles in the Fade, or What Was the Point of the Veil Anyway
Something that will now haunt me until the end of time is why was the concept of the Veil ever introduced into this series.
We’ve been hearing about it since the very first game. There’s a codex entry about tears in the Veil in Origins. Tamlen mentions a thin spot in the Veil if you play a Dalish elf. Sandal has a prophecy in Dragon Age 2: “One day the magic will come back—all of it. Everyone will be just like they were. The shadows will part and the skies will open wide. When he rises, everyone will see.” Admittedly, this is just one line said by a character who often says odd things, but it hinted to the fact they were planning to do something with the Veil from the very beginning. The state of the Veil is repeatedly brought up. It all had to mean something! Or so I thought.
When I saw “The Dread Wolf Rises” quest in Veilguard, I said, “Oh, here we go!” The Veil is coming down, magic is coming back, and it’s going to set up such an interesting story for the next game.
Alas, no.
I hadn’t really enjoyed my time playing Veilguard up until this point. It felt like the game was ducking and dodging every bit of world building and lore that could possibly bring nuance or complexity to the story. Every returning character or faction was a cardboard cutout of themself. They shoved Solas is a time-out box and gave him nothing to do. They refused to let him have any impact or influence on the story when he had been set up to be our main antagonist back in Trespasser. This game used to be called Dreadwolf! And while we learn about his past… we never talk to him about it. In the present, he’s in stasis.
Elgar’nan and Ghilan’nain are our villains. And they are your typical evil for evil’s sake villains. They are mad, bad, and only as dangerous as the narrative will allow as to not give Rook and co too much trouble. They are surprisingly patient while Rook fixes all their companions’ problems… until Elgar’nan moves the moon to cause an eclipse. A vital component in making his own lyrium dagger. For some reason. This guy can move a satellite!? And he just let Rook walk away in previous encounters… twice. Ok. Sure.
The Evil Duo need their own dagger ostensibly to tear down the Veil, because they want to unleash the full force of the Blight onto the world. Because they are evil. And they were thwarted last time they tried to Blight the entire world. Why do they think Blighting the world is a good idea? What’s the point of ruling a world if everyone is dead? I guess they haven’t thought that through, because of the madness and the evilness.
Ok, I thought. Perhaps the gods will be the one to tear down the Veil. Or maybe we’ll have a choice to let Solas do it his way before they can, which will be less chaotic and less full of Blight. Because the Veil has to be coming down one way or another? Why introduce the concept of the Veil, especially a Veil that has been thinning and failing since the series began, if it’s just going to… stay.
There is a principle in storytelling called Chekov’s gun. If something is mentioned in a story, it must have a purpose. If you keeping mentioning that gun hanging on the wall over the fireplace, it’s because at some point in the story, someone is going to take it down and use it. The Veil felt like Chekov’s gun to me. Chekov’s Veil, if you will. It’s been here from the beginning of our tale, the spectre hanging over our protagonists’ heads for multiple games.
The Veil has been a character unto itself. It was the central focus of the third game, and its dissolution was set up to be the core conflict of the fourth game. We learn everything we thought we knew about the Veil was a lie. It was not created by the Maker to separate the Fade from this world because of jealous spirits, it was created by a guy named Solas to trap the elven gods and the Blight from destroying the world. Also, the elven gods were never gods, and they are also evil.
This reveal will surely throw the Andrastian religion into chaos! This puts the very existence of the Maker into question! The Evanuris are a lie; it’s only fair Catholicism—oh, I mean—the Chantry is a lie too. We briefly touch on that in Veilguard… then it is quietly discarded. Religious crisis averted.
But I digress.
When the title of the fourth game was changed from Dreadwolf to Veilguard, I started to see the writing on the wall. Still, I held out hope the Veil would have some greater purpose in the story. That its introduction as a concept was for a reason. That something in this world would change.
Instead, from the get-go, the question of the Veil is no question at all. We only get Solas and Varric making oblique or catastrophizing statements about it. Solas says little beyond he has a plan. If I ever wanted to hear a villain monologue about their plan, it was now! Varric, on the other hand, decries Solas’s plan. He warns that should the Veil fall, it will destroy the world and drown it in demons. And that’s that.
We never really learn why Solas wants to tear the Veil down, or why he thinks it will help anyone. “The Veil is a wound inflicted upon this world. It must be healed,” he says. And that’s basically all he says about it in Veilguard. In Inquisition and Trespasser, we learn it took the immortality from the elves. It cut most of magic off from the world. Spirits are trapped and are being corrupted into demons, and most of what we know about spirits and demons is wrong. There are ancient elves possibly asleep? That part is left vague, but ancient elves are still about. We meet some in Mythal’s temple. There seems to have been some merit in bringing it down, because elves were flocking to Solas’s cause at the end of Trespasser. He had agents working for him already. What do they know that we don’t know?
Apparently nothing, because by the time Veilguard rolls around, there are no mention of agents. He is working alone. His only motivation now seems to be he’s too deep in his sunk-cost fallacy. The Veil is unnatural, so it must be removed—consequences be damned. We are never given any reason to think Solas has a leg to stand on in his pursuit of tearing down the Veil. We never hear any kind of counter argument from anyone, not even Solas, as to why the Veil should come down. We are only told it will destroy the world. It will drown the world in demons. This is all Solas’s fault.
There is no nuance. No complexity. No moral quandary to mull over. The game gives us vague warnings with no explanation as to what exactly is so world-annihilating about the Veil coming down. We must take Varric’s word at face value. We’re the heroes; Solas is the villain. Stop him.
It makes me wonder why Solas was ever a companion in Inquisition, let alone a romance option. Solas was presented to us as a complicated character in Inquisition. We had the potential throughout the game to make him see the value of this world, to help him realize he was wrong about it. “We aren’t even people to you,” the Inquisitor says in Trespasser. Solas replies, “Not at first. You showed me that I was wrong...again.” He began the third game viewing the world as tranquil, seeing the people in it as nothing more than figments in a nightmare, just as we saw our companions in the In Hushed Whispers quest. He ends the game having made friends, having recognized he was mistaken. He might have even fallen in love. (Or he may still seen no merit in this world if the Inquisitor antagonized him the entirety of their time together.) But something makes him continue with his plan to tear down the Veil, despite recognizing this world is real. He must know something we don’t. Something we’ll learn about in the next game.
We’ve been hearing about the Veil for three games now. We’ve set up our complex antivillain for the next installment, and he’s going to tear the Veil down. We swear to stop him or save him. But it has to be more complex than that. It can’t be so straightforward. Uncomplicated. Simple. Boring. Right? Right?
Nope. He really is just the villain, mustache-twirling and all. He apparently had no greater motivation, no as of yet unrevealed knowledge that would put this whole Veil thing into a new context. It was really as simple as the Veil falling will destroy the world, so Solas must be stopped. There is no new information that is revealed which makes us question what we are doing. Solas is never given any nuance or complexity to his actions. Nuance and complexity have actively been taken away. Both him and the Veil are looking like they are the worst things to be in a story: pointless. Why introduce the Veil if it’s just going to remain unchanged? Why introduce a character like Solas, bother humanizing him (for lack of a better term), giving us his backstory, setting him up as a cunning antagonist, only to make him look stupid, then put him on a shelf until the last ten minutes of your game?
Solas was the trickster archetype of this tale. He was our version of Loki from Norse mythology. What is the role of the trickster archetype? To challenge the status quo. To bring about events of extreme change, like say, the tearing down of a Veil that holds back all of magic. Loki is a huge contributing factor in Ragnarök. Through his manipulation, he causes the death of the beloved god, Baldr. This ushers in a long winter, which signifies the beginning of the end. Loki is imprisoned for this crime. When the final battle between gods and giants begins, the sun and moon are swallowed, plunging the earth into darkness. The earth shakes and Loki is freed to fight on the side of the giants. The world burns in raw chaos, falls beneath the sea, and is reborn. The world is remade, and a new realm of the gods and a new, better earth is formed.
It really felt like this was the setup they were going for. Solas causes the death of Mythal, and this is his catalyst for creating the Veil, which ushers in a world without magic. This could be seen as equivalent to the long winter. Solas falls asleep, trapped in dreams. He wakes and sets in motion bringing about the apocalypse. It’s not a perfect one to one, but it’s there if you squint. We have a war against the gods in Veilguard. I was expecting a few remaining Titans to wake and join the fight. But we don’t get any of that. There is a final battle, but it does not end in the end of the world. Or a better world. It just ends, and everything is the same.
It seems our trickster god caused his apocalypse thousands of years before our story started, when he created the Veil. His role in this tale was over before ours began, and he really is just some relic from a long-past age. He has no role, no purpose in this story. He is here to be thwarted. He is no Loki at all.
If you can’t tell, I wanted the Veil to come down. Did I think the Veil coming down would be painless? Have no negative consequences? No. Of course not. But keeping it up has negative consequences too. And it made for an interesting story. Or at least it could have. But we never explore that. The game presents no counter argument to having the Veil stay up, which, again, begs the question: what was the point of introducing the concept of the Veil at all?
Did I think the Veil coming down was actually the best solution to help Thedas become a better place? I don’t know, and I never will, because the game never argues for it one way or another. It just tells you to want it in place and to stop asking questions. In real life, a catastrophic event is not the best way to solve any of the world’s problems. But this is the realm of fiction. We have gods and monsters, magic and myth. We have introduced the status quo of Thedas, recognized it needs to change, then our trickster god appears ready to fulfill his role in the narrative.
Instead, it all comes to nothing.
I got to the end of Veilguard… and everything was more or less the same as it was at the start of Origins. Veilguard actually tries its hardest to pretend any previously mentioned problems don’t exist, so of course the Veil coming down has no merit. There are no problems to solve in this world, apparently. Solas is just stuck in the past and can’t get with the times. Silly Solas.
The Veil isn’t even a permanent solution. It wasn’t to begin with. It was some duct tape wrapped around a broken pipe, and we’ve just slapped an extra piece of tape on it. It’s still leaking. It is still unnatural, and will fall eventually one way or another. Large amounts of bloodshed weaken it, so I guess Thedas better achieve world peace real quick to avoid any battles. There were seven super-powered mages holding it together… now there is just one. Ironically, the Veil was going to fall after two more Blights anyway. The Wardens were doing Solas’s work for him! It would also have released the full force of the Blight at that time… which Solas was trying to avoid, I presume.
It feels like keeping the Veil up just pushed a big problem onto Thedas’ future generations. We’ll keep slapping bandaids on it until it all falls apart. Someone else can deal with the fallout, but we’ll be dead by then, so who cares.
Primarily, I wanted the Veil to come down from a storytelling perspective. The Veil was an interesting concept and I wanted the story to do something interesting with it. Conflict is what makes stories stories and the Veil coming down could create so much compelling and complex conflict. And the Fade is weird, and I like weird. Stories are also about change, and I wanted to see Thedas change. Yet, Veilguard is over, and barely anything has changed. Instead of magic coming back being a conflict for the next game, they went with Fantasy Illuminati. Oh.
The Veil turned out to be a nothing-burger, and no problems in this world are even close to being solved. Slavery is still rampant in Tevinter. The elven people are still oppressed everywhere. Mages have no more rights in the South than they did in Origins. Spirits are still trapped and being corrupted. The Calling still exists, though might be different somehow now? They don’t really get into that. The Chantry’s validity is still not allowed to be questioned. The Blight still exists in some form, but again it’s vague. Oh, and we learn the dwarves have been gravely wronged, and the Titans are still tranquil. At least if you redeem Solas and a romanced Lavellan joins him, they can work together on healing the Blight and helping the Titans. Oh, good. One problem is being acknowledged and some action will be taken. Offscreen. Hurray? Solas doesn’t have a really great track record of fixing problems, so Lavellan is definitely going to need to be there to make sure he doesn’t fuck it up.
For some reason, this game seemed terrified of letting us think about anything for more than two seconds. It shied away from complexity or nuance at every turn. The game is called The Veilguard—ironically, that word is never uttered in the game—but we are given no real motive for guarding the Veil. We’re unquestionably the hero. The villains are uncomplicatedly evil. Save the world… never wonder what you are doing or why.
I wanted the game to make me question if the Veil staying up or coming down was the right choice. I needed to be given a real counter argument. Convince me the alternative would actually be better or worse, because as I mentioned… things suck quite a bit in Thedas already for a lot of people right now. Let the Veil’s fate be a difficult choice to make. If the conflict cannot be what to do about the Veil, it should be am I doing the right thing about the Veil. If the heart of your game is so thin on motive, everything else falls apart around it.
I hoped they were setting up a complex, Thedas-sized existential conflict for this game in Trespasser, but no. I wanted something to happen, but nothing did.
I want to feel challenged and changed by a story, not left feeling empty. I’m tired of superficial entertainment. I want to sink my teeth into a narrative that doesn’t paint the world in broad strokes of black and white, good and evil, heroes and villains.
Ultimately, I think my issue is why even introduce a concept like The Veil if you’re not going to do anything interesting with it. Or anything at all. What I thought was Chekov’s Veil turned out to just be a MacGuffin. And that’s disappointing.
#dragon age#veilguard#dragon age the veilguard#bioware critical#veilguard critical#I promise though that there were also things I really loved about the game too#I'll still play it a buhzillion times#I just feel like I know these people can do so much better#I've seen these same people craft amazing stories#I just wonder what happened#there's likely a lot of drama we're not privy to#that we'll never know
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Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. (If you feel like it, no pressure.) Spread the self-love ❤️
Ah! My babies! Thank you so much for encouraging me to love on my stories. Technically, I'm pretty sure I only have 5 "real" fics/series in my masterlist, so I guess I'll recommend the parts of each that are my personal favorites.
Slasher Handler - Honestly Part 5.5 has a special place in my heart. It's the only part, so far, from Simon's POV and I loved playing with the expanded view of the situation. Autumn Embers - The third installment, Oakmoss, really felt like a great exploration of character. The Work Introductions chapter was really fun, but I feel like Oakmoss does a lot to establish the world. Honorable mention for THE CAKE, for obvious reasons.
Really Good Neighbors - The part that's published, I guess! But I'd say specifically, I like where the reader spins in a circle trying to figure out what to do first. Transferrable Skills - The art that @mi-i-zori made for Part 2 automatically makes part 2 my favorite part. But I also like part 2 for the communication protocol between Simon and Bambi. GhostGaz Week - How do I choose? I love all of these stories so much. I think I'll go with Friendly Competition // Honest Mistake because I like the energy between the two of them. I love Simon being so confident and then having to be coaxed closer.
#coffeeshop chats#having friends is very nice#dragonnarrativewrites fanfiction#i love so many elements of all of my stories#and I have SO MANY MORE as unpublished drafts
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i feel like im not making any sense but does anyone else feel like there are stories that let u run with them and ones that spell everything out for you
#im reading that post that says artists are directors of audience reaction and not its dictator:#'you cannot guarantee that everyone viewing your work will react as you are trying t make them react. a good artist knows that this is what#allows work to breath. by definition you cannot have art where the viewer brings nothing to the table ... this is why you have to let go of#the urge to plainly state in text exactly how you think the work should be interpreted ... its better to be misinterpreted sometimes than#to talk down to your audience. you wont even gain any control that way; people will still develop their opinions no matter what you do#im thinking abt this again cuz i was thinking maybe the thing that lets adventure time work so well the way it does is cuz it doesnt#take itself too seriously that it gives the audience enough room to fuck with subtext and then fuck with them back yknow. i think it was#mentioned somewhere that they werent even planning to run with the postapocalyptic elements that are hinted in the show but changed their#mind after the one off with the frozen businessmen and dominoed into marcy and simons backstory. on the other side there are stories that#explain too much to let the story speak for itself and i think it ends up having to do more with the crew trying to lead ppl in a certain#direction than expand on what they have and i see a lot of this with miraculous. like when interviews and tweets are used as word of god in#arguments and it becomes a little stifling to play around with it knowing the creator can just interject. u can say its the crews effort to#engage with its audience but it feels more like micromanaging. and none of this is to say there ISNT room for stories that spell things out#theyre just suited for different things. if sesame street tried abstract approaches to themes and nuance itd be counterproductive#a lot of things fly over my head so i need help picking things apart to get it- but it doesnt have to be from the story itself. ive picked#picked up or built on my own interpretations listening to other ppl share their thoughts which creates conversation around the same thing#sometimes stories will spell things out for you without being so obvious abt it that it feels like its woven into the text. my fav example#for this might be ATLA using younger characters as its main cast but instead of feeling like its dumbed down for kids to understand why war#is bad its framed from a childs point of view so younger audiences can pick up on it by relating to the characters. maybe an 8 year old#wont get how geopolitics works but at least they get 'hey the world is a little more complicated than everyone vs. fire nation'. same for#steven universe bc its like theyre trying to describe and put feelings into words that kids might not have so they have smth to start with#especially with the metaphors around relationships bc even if it looks unfamiliar as a kid now maybe the hope is for it to be smth you can#look back to. thats why it feels like these shows grew up with me.. instead of saving difficult topics for 'when im ready for it'#as if its preparing me for high school it gave me smth to turn in my hands and revisit again and again as i grow. stories that never#treated u as dumb all along. just someone who could learn and come back to it as many times as u need to. i loved SU for the longest time#but i felt guilty for enjoying it hearing the way ppl bash it. bc i was a kid and thought other ppl understood it better than me and made#feel bad for leaning into the message of paying forward kindness and not questioning why steven didnt punish the diamonds or hold them#accountable. but im rewatching it now and going oh. i still love this show and what it was trying to teach me#yapping#diary
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Out of curiosity, do you think your Gemini fan kids could exist in the shows canon universe? Marsh and Lake are seriously so adorable I’ve low key accepted as Donnie’s kids in the shows future canon. Also how does the krang apocalypse play out in the Gemini AU? Is it prevented or is there maybe Gemini bad timeline?
Gosh, I dunno-- I guess I don't see why not! :3c I hadn't ever thought about it too much, but there really isn't a ton of reason that they couldn't, assuming Donnie and Sorrel still meet!
Also, there are Kraang in the Gemiverse! I haven't exactly sorted out all the details yet, but what I do know is that there's no good future/bad future... there's just one timeline! The Kraang do invade and Gems and Co. do kick it in the Apocalyptic Warzone for a while... but the whole fam survives and they do eventually win the war!!! (because anything else made me too sad ; w ; and I realized at some point that it's my au so i can just do whatever I want :D yay)
#i hemmed and hawwed on it for a while and considered just like#not touching the kraang at all#but gosh the whole Apocalypse thing comes with so many fun story elements and possibilities...#but thinking about the family losing each other and falling apart made me very sad#i dont like family death in my stories v much unless in very specific context (like my grief comic series) coz#it just... makes me very ; _ ; and stresses me out#but then i realized like. oh wait i could just... take out the part i dont like if i want. and keep the bits i do. theres nothing stoppin m#for the record marsh and lake are fully apocalypse babies#kame is not because leo isnt willing to have a warzone child and then the second the fucking war is over hes like#[grabs usagi] I WANT A BABY TOO ; _ ;#usagi: ... like... right now?#leo: i love you SO much... :') dont say stupid things like that to me rn or i s2g--#asks#anon#gemini au asks#gemini asks
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I'm not sure why is this STILL a topic since 2020, when some fucking ass idiot callout drama addict decided to make up lies both about Theodore and the old ship of Neighbor/Player (faust storyline, two adult men) because wah wah they shipped something else and they also admittedly wanted the man DEAD.
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it's so fucking crazy that people even consider this thing. plot-wise it's absolutely unnecessary. and a story is being written here in the first place, by writers who are either hired for money, or the creators themselves(Nikita). it's not only unnecessary plot element, this game is 12+ at max and such topic can only be brought up in 18+ or 21+ games. and the actions. You could rather push such accusations on purple guy/ William Afton who used to be a literal child murderer ONLY EXCLUSIVELY, A CREEP, in canon. but Theodore?!?!!?!! if he's got to know about such topic, he'd murder the creep with his own hands.
and third and most weighted detail: Nikita NEVER meant to discuss this thing. HN covered many important topics, but never this one. there's enough shit happening in the lore anyway, there's zero reason to include such horrible topic which btw does trigger people in real life. this topic, if included anywhere, needs to be put on the table carefully and shown to the audience of a media with caution and a clear message of it being horrible. and HN isn't the game for that. never was and never will be.
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just as OP (ig); I'm also fucking tired of some people of gen z/alpha screaming the p word whenever they run into someone they dislike, fictional or real user, doesn't matter for them. fucking nonsense and it just erases the real weight of that word. crying wolf for absolutely fucking nothing.
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and lastly, the AS has horrible character and scene writing. someone from the writers has ABSOLUTELY DOGSHIT humor, this isn't even considered funny in the present world and never was. jokes like "do you like kids" by Trinity in the first episode, or Theodore's speech with the cookies in hand make me FURIOUS. it's BADLY written. it's not his character. certain elements shouldn't be in the cartoon because 1) it's not HN at all its ooc as fuck 2) it can be misunderstood easily, especially by younger audiences.
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I'd give my soul to Theodore, i know he's not gonna do anything bad, he used to be the loving father of two children as shown in Hide and Seek. he's forced into horrible decisions along the way, but the real Neighbor is absolutely entirely fine. there's nothing more to discuss there.
in addition, before someone finds another post, he didn't abuse anyone, he didn't hit anyone. Nicky injured and made himself dirty by trying to escape and sitting in a basement for two months. Aaron legit has bandages on his injuries, and a room with a bed and toys, showing that there IS care, it's just faulty, due to the situation. he's trying to escape as well AS SHOWN. Theodore is barely keeping himself together, last thing in his mind is "hm let's hit some kids" holy fuck
go outside I'm begging
how's this shit still topic
Alright, so, I was scrolling trough someone's tumblr and I wanna talk about this (no hate, it's just my opinion)
Theodore Peterson is NOT a pedophile, if he was, Aaron would also be traumatised in the game, and would probably hate his father. I feel like people tend to forget that an adult smiling in a weird way can also mean that they're planning to kidnap or kill the kid. Plus the reason of why he grabbed Trinity in ep 6 s1 was because he wanted to at least make sure Trinity wouldn't tell ANYONE about the kidnapping. Theodore is NOT a good person, but he would NEVER go this far. He has a son, Theo has a bit of decenty in him, he knows to NOT grape (without the G) kids.
It's just my opinion tho
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seeing more lore/alt. verse posting from my moots has made me realize the awkward position i put myself in regarding my own lore....
#💔 ˚₊ · 𝖔𝖚𝖙 𝖔𝖋 𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖗𝖆𝖈𝖙𝖊𝖗 ✗ long lost words whisper slowly to me. ❞#possible vent?? it's more neutral than that KJGFJDKG but.#i feel like i have a lot of content with my AU that can spark some interesting questions and interactions.#esp with like... everything surrounding eggman. nikki's psyche and mental health. how everything in her verse is vs canon. etc. etc.#even outside of “girl sonic” nikki is like... meant to be noticeably Not Okay and depicts some concerning behaviors LMAO.#but i feel like not many really... Care? i guess??#i know this is partially my fault b/c i'm often Funnyposting with her. this is due to a combination of;#IC-wise her downplaying her issues with deadpan humor. granted i do try and write her dialogue with an underlying layer of Concerning lol.#and OOC i try to bring in some lightheartedness between all the angst.#since ppl tend to get a cramp in their ass when you have your tragic character be TOO tragic from my experience. x__x#and i know the answer here is 'make more lore/story/worldbuilding posts' but i feel like the times that i DO there's just... Crickets.#so instead i work on all that by myself/infodump about it to friends on disc and just post whatever here lolol.#idk... maybe i'll put more effort into this blog. i've been meaning to fix up the carrd to include side muses;#and a more updated version of her story... as well as bring in some elements i wrote there over to the blog finally.#like did u know nikki is meant to have an old version of the eggmobile that she fixed up...#and how she also has not only theia/metal sonic at her side but also orbot and cubot (they haven't been activated yet but DFJGFDKJ)#cuz i forgot until i re-read my own carrd LMAO.#anyways i guess just... tl;dr: is anyone actually interested in nikki's lore aside from her being a funny girl sonic /genq#i know some of u are and i love & appreciate y'all <3.#i'll stop typing now because these tags are reaching 'why didn't i put all this under a readmore' length lolol.
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acv hate on my dash and i can't even be mad about it because they make some good points 😶
#like yes it was extremely fucking weird to have us play as a viking with all the violence that entails#while conveniently sidestepping any real consequences for that violence or contending with the results of that violence#because you're too afraid that lingering on it for too long might make your protag look bad#it's like they suddenly decided that their audience is too stupid to deal with moral ambiguity. in the moral ambiguity franchise.#this is once again drifting towards my forever argument that making these games rpgs was a mistake#or rather making these games *half-assed* rpgs was a mistake#and weakens the narrative bc there's never any meaningful follow through for any decisions#including some of the decisions that we the player don't even get to make ourselves#like i think having a set narrative would eliminate a lot of the problems with this game's writing#because they clearly weren't willing to take the rpg elements all the way#also just... make it smaller. there's too many arcs and too many diversions from the main narrative#which while a lot of them admittedly have some fun character moments they probably should not have been required to advance the main story#and with no mission replay or ng+ it's just so prohibitive to replay unless you're like me (deeply mentally ill and in love with eivor)#the point being that dissonance has always bugged me about this game. i could fix her i could fix her i could fix her#anyway. hi i'm gonna go do that ask game now ajdgjhdsf#the nerve pain last night was making it difficult to be on the computer. tbh it also is right now but we soldier on 🫠#ky posts text#ac.txt
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#finished my Penny Dreadful rewatch#oh man I would have loved that ending so so much if it had had three more seasons to it#it's really beautiful in its tragedy. it's a good one because it's so wrong#they make so many wrong decisions for all the right reasons. but they're still wrong#I love love love the core element of a cosmic guard dog solely destined to accompany and serve his ward. and then he can't#because he made the wrong choices out of desperate confusion. because everyone in this show is so human#cosmic level destiny being fucked up by the sheer human-ness of its agents is a wonderful thing when done tragically#and suddenly the only options left for an ending are the worst ones#that is such a great story#oh how I wish they would have had the time to tell it right#because this last season is so cheap in so many ways#what you can make out through the rubble and the bullshit is beautiful#but sadly just that#edit I am not done#this show does dog tropes so well it made me cry real tears#Ethan sitting in Vanessa's room all day just. watching where she used to be#peak mourning dog behavior#I don't even like dogs#but that trope#I'll eat it up whole#credits to Josh Hartnett though he was born for that duality#I love that man's layered performances. he has the ability to make paradoxes seem as naturally human as they are#it's everything to me
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youtube
this is not the exact one I watched but I saw one of these "dish scape" things at someone's house who actually has TV (like they pay for dish/cable instead of just watching stuff online) and I think they're meant to be relaxing atmospheric stuff that you mostly ignore, but I sat there for 35 minutes watching absolutely engrossed.. further proof that I genuinely think my brain is incapable of experiencing boredom lol..
#IT'S BECAUSE there's so many little details that like you can spend minutes just scanning every corner of the image and taking it all in and#you keep finding new things! like 'oh I didn't know that blade of grass moved!' or 'I didnt see that bucket before!'. And then on top of#so many details - some things genuinely do change. The one I saw was a Beach house scene and sometimes a bird would fly by or ONE TIME kite#came out of nowhere. a sandcastle built and unbuilt itself. there's a firepit and it comes on when the sky changes from day to afternoon!!#this is like watching a sports game to me. I need weird detail oriented friends who will sit for 20 minutes staring at a barely moving pict#ure & cheer and clap with me when a seagull flies across the screen ghgj.. THERE HE IS!!!! etc!! and there's just so much to think about!!#Like how the images are layered or animated and the choices that were made (like I think the sunrise and sunset sky background images for t#e beachouse are just the same picture flipped and recolored) and trying to predict what's going to happen next (will the lights in the hous#turn off for night time? will another bird show up??) etc! I even got up at one point to walk close to the screen and get a better view of#hese paintings that were visible through the beachhouse windows. and then thinking about building a similar home in the sims! OR ALSO THIS#WOULD BE SUCH A COOL medium I think to tell a story! Like you upload a video to youtube that is framed just as a completely average moving#screensaver ambiance type of thing. It's like 7 hours long and mostly loops the same still image. However. over time at certain points you#can see some thing happen like watching characters interact through the windows. animals or people walk across the screen. certain elements#in the environment morph or change. etc. In such a way that an entire like plot is conveyed. maybe like fantasy mystery sort of thing. I WI#SH I could do this style of art / had friends who could or had money to pay somebody to. I would LOVE to collaborate on a weird surreal#It's Just Your Average Slowly Looping Moving Screensaver Video I Promise' type story.. jjhhgHH.. Or even just making one of these set in so#me of my fantasy world environments. not as a secret thing with easter eggs that tell a story but just literally an image like this tha#moves over time and etc. HHRRGRGHhhhhGG.. ANYWay!! I had to actually turn it off not because I was bored but because it was distracting me#. which is funny since again. I think for most people it's meant to be a 'just leave it on in the background' type of thing that's bland an#neutral . But it was just making me think too much ghjgh.. This is why I can't go to amusement parks or nightclubs bars or concerts like..#a moving screensaver image is too overstimulating to my brain. Could you imagine me going to an environment just full of sensory informatio#like loud noises poeple talking flashing lights etc. etc. ? hghghb... Visiting a grocery store at a slightly busy hour is like my upper lim#it... Anyway.. everything is just so interesting to me. Even if I was locked in a room alone I would have plenty to think about & amu#se myself. I am also a hater definitely like I'm a very analytical person who is critical of society and systems & everything that exists#and even generally am just very opionated and have distinct preferences - so just because everything is INTERESTING does not mean I LIKE or#enjoy everything or never get tired of/annoyed by situations or ideas or etc. But it's more just like.. I literally dont think I could ever#be bored because of the way my brain works and also I approach life with elements of childlike whimsy and constant obsessive curiosity and#attention to detail. so as much as I am an analytical bore I also love everything and the world is fascinating at all times. lol.. duality#of man. if you get it then you get it. ANYWAY.. wanted to ramble abt it. I don't like the above video as much as the one I actually saw but#I couldn't find the beach one online.. BUt.. aaHH! best viewed whilst talking to yourself narrating/cheering! ALSO I want to make one!!!
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@maingoes created a tag game, here is the description:
"Topic is covers of books that definitely changed your brain on some sort of minuscule but permanent level or that you think your childhood experience would’ve have been different without (longest title of a tag game ever I know) my only 2 rules are u should have read the book before age 10 and you cannot include the HP series"
Here are my books:
I shall tag @j-purplesunsets-rainydays @jesperfaheygf @cancara @mostlykind @captainjanegay @holdingontozouis and anyone else who sees this and wants to do this! Also pls do not do if you do not wanna ❤️❤️❤️
#about me#hello time for me to overshare in the tags you are welcome once again#so elmer i just always loved because colourful elephant ooo#story about how being different is ok ooo#the rainbow magic fairies. genuinely were like my whole world as a little kid i was obsessed#i used to colour in the pages and one time i coloured in a picture and gave it to my teacher as a present lmao#i still have an edition of the seven rainbow fairies that i got gifted as a young kid#thats why i chose that specific pic#i think my fav was maybe izzy? which lmao cause look at me now#i loved all of them though honestly#dork diaries again i used to colour in all the pictures and i think thats like the first proper books i can remember buying and actively#keeping up with as new books came out#mr men i used to love and still love like t shirts and stuff of. we never actually owned many of the books though because tbh they are#expensive but yeah lmao. i even kept my old lightswitch that has two of the characters on it.#biff chip and kipper were books used to learn how to read but i do remember really liking them and the magic key is the one i remember most#and FINALLY#Where's spot i mostly added because i used to go to the library a lot as a kid and every single time id pick up that book and any other#that had any sort of interactive element tbh. so i added that one more because it reminded me of like when i first went to the library#so ja : D
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Best Mate and I were discussing Paul Atreides (as you do) and the point she expertly made really is that the Greek tragedy is quite structurally foreign now. The pathos and unfairness you're meant to feel for someone who is a victim and perpetrator of the tragic cycle is read as like, misdeveloped character, rather than a feeling to engage with and derive catharsis from.
Why is it unfair? Why does it hurt so much? It's not about what they could've done, it's not a tragedy that you could change by not being an idiot or by making a better decision here or there, it's something more essential than that. I think that's part of the modern misdirection (in say, mainstream media) because the fault line isn't one decision or one slip of bad writing.
In some ways it feels like a personal betrayal narratively.
#perhaps I'm dismissive#of how people grapple with that#because I can think of many characters with Greek tragedy-lite elements whose fandoms are the subject of my ire#I can hear the 'but you like Cinder who obviously has a tragic story' you know nothing#'you complain about Ben's death' there's a time place and genre#for tragedy#mindless cynicism and breaking the myth is not it#tragedy is a celebration for me#Paul's tragedy saddens me... but I love him#and his story#it's a celebration of despair#it feels like a party#it's so cathartic#the end of Messiah made me cry... it was all he could do#he had terrified me#I was scared of him#and then he was kind to me and Did That#I still want him back though hahahahahahha
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Gray skies will chase the light away
No longer
I fought the fight, now only dark remains
Forever
Divided, I will stand
And I will let this end
~Breaking Benjamin, Angels Fall
#Was Born To Lead#My OCs#Valerio Álvarez#My edit#An absolutely random aesthetic because I accidentally came across the pictures I used for this edit in my drafts#and I was in a Valerio mood today so this is how it happened#An eagle because this is a very important symbolic element in Valerio’s story#A quote about ‘dark past’ because this is basically the core part of his story#Chess because he’s into chess#A random man putting on gloves because gloves are like Valerio’s second skin now#Damn it was so hard to find a gloves pic…#But I couldn’t not to include it so I tried to choose at least something#Anyway to assure he certainly doesn’t wear leather gloves I’d feel bad for his hands considering their climate#Now when I think about it I realize I have no idea how his gloves look like#The only thing I can say is that he wears them over the shirt sleeves because it looks fancier and he also has several pairs of gloves#An inspirational quote because Valerio is all about encouraging others and stuff#Old books to illustrate his passion to history#And something like a ‘lending a helping hand’ thing because Valerio is people-oriented#And a Breaking Benjamin song because I love this band and it has so many songs fitting Valerio#Honestly this is a very self-indulgent edit and I don’t expect it to get even a one note#but I’m posting it just because I think it turned out pretty and I adore Rio <3#It was quite quick even though I had to play with filters a little#(which is probably noticeable)#to make the pics look better with each other#Akjandk my mom says I have a good sense for design so it probably implies I’m supposed to be good at making aesthetics :’D#There are also so many aesthetic ideas for him since I also could include the fire the scars something beach related just anything really#WAIT#I’ve just realized I can create aesthetics for my characters’ birthdays#so I can celebrate it somehow#Yoooo I love this idea
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