#ibs baby

[speciouspessimism]

when ronan misses declan he dreams and wakes up with hundreds of bottles of pepto-bismol.

[fauvester]

little moshang fan kid <3

spoiled, aloof, a bit of a bitch, terminally 'weak constitution'-ed, lowkey lazy, prefers reading his dailies in the office and pretending to do paperwork to fighting

[maiooo-0]

Rare non-splatoon post

[gristlegrinder]

part of what makes IBS so fascinating to me is its position both within the world of Tyria and the story it was trying to tell, and the larger metatextual circumstances surrounding its development. because, like, The Icebrood Saga is a story that's, IMO, largely about placing individual actions in complex systems of power, and what happens when those systems begin to unravel.

-> Can you help us deal with Bangar? Aurene: He's a part of a larger web. Strands connecting to strands. Cut one out and nothing changes, not really. Aurene: It's hard to explain. But seeing how those strands connect... Taking one life won't solve your problems. (x)

so, like, you have Ryland, who talks about "playing his cards right" but has really been dealt a bad hand from the start and can only keep playing bad cards - the one decent play he gets in Turnabout to try and get out of the game gets interrupted by an arrogant bastard killing Cinder, and it's downhill from there. it's not necessarily that it was always going to end the way it did with him, but you're fighting an uphill battle against his upbringing, against his relationship with Bangar, against all cultural context. he insists that Jormag didn't coerce him into anything, and that's true; he ends up as Jormag's champion because, at least from Ryland's perspective, there's really no other option by the time he has the bow in his paws.

likewise, you have Braham, wrestling with being the norn of prophecy, slowly (slower if Champions didn't have to be rushed out of the door, I imagine) coming to terms with what exactly that means. he knows from the beginning that either Jormag dies, or he dies. he knows this, and knows that it's always going to end one way or the other. the prophecy unfurls, and Jormag awakens, and it becomes more and more obvious how it's supposed to go. He bonds with Primordus, because there's really no other option by the time Jormag is threatening to freeze the world ten times over to ice their brother out of existence. and sure, it might still destroy him even if Jormag doesn't kill him, but he doesn't get the luxury of thinking about that.

and then you have the Commander, who should be in control of the narrative, because in-universe they're the Commander and out-of-universe they're the player character, but there are multiple points where that agency is taken away from you - Smodur bombs the bunker and interrupts your negotiation, Ryland puts a bullet through Smodur's skull. you're always going to try and save the farm, but not every problem has an easy solution. the Legions are built on centuries of war and violence and hypervigilance against external threats; Bangar is not an isolated bad actor but a product of that system, and the gears of the war machine churn on both sides of Drizzlewood. you (and Aurene) are largely an audience to the family tragedy - tragedies, plural, both the relationships between Rytlock/Crecia/Ryland and Jormag/Primordus - as they break down.

"The Balance" isn't sustainable in its current state, but there isn't really a good alternative at this point. you can't back down when you're three dragons in (we tried that after Mordremoth, and Balthazar wouldn't have it and Kralkatorrik couldn't stomach it), and Jormag and Primordus (mostly Jormag) are threatening to escalate as the encroaching void eats away at them both. there's this real sense that they just have to make the best of a bad situation, and hope that the damage is minimal. the universe itself is on a cresting wave and it's about to crash, heading into End of Dragons.

so you have all of that, and it's also the chapter of GW2 where the developers are hit with major studio-disrupting internal problems and a fucking global lockdown. your story gets interrupted, there's not much you can do about it, but you have to keep going and make the best of it, even when the fate of arenanet itself seems uncertain.

what happens in the aftermath, after the dragonstorm clears?

[doomspaniels]

this dog

[chiquilines]

Its been ages,,, i missed them

[mintychisps]

My babies-

Their soooooooooooo cuteeee!

I love them sm

[stage-3-autism]

i thought of it and now im sad

[ouppypio]

IB X MP100 AU WOOOOOOOOO

[saltavenegar]

Very emotional thinking abt ib tn. Had to draw the fav before going to bed

[angel-bun12]

Baby bill

[glenglam324]

Lack of brain

[that-one-reploid-genesis]

[grrlvalentine]

Happi little snow seal!! (Another art repost) ^_^

[honeysuckleporridge]

Insta: honeysuckleporridge

Y u treatin me like ur #2?

Mixed media

[cosmicyellow]

I JUST GOT A NOTIFICATION FROM BOOKING.COM (I didn't even know I had the app) ABOUT A TRIP TO PARIS, THINKING IT WAS A SPAM/PROMO MESSAGE I SHOWED MY PARTNER AND HE GOES "well that's not how I wanted you to find out but surprise!!! We're going to Paris for a week next week!!" AND OH MY GODDDDD!!!!!!!!!!!! MY TUMMY HURTS SOOOOO BAD (/VVVPOS) !!!!!!!!!!!!! I'M GOING TO PARIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THIS IS SO EXCITING IM GONNA HAVE ANXIETY POOPS FOR THE NEXT 5 DAYS!!!!!!!!! AHHAHAHEIMAOFKAOFNAORNSKMVOAMFAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA