#ignore that last part.

[skunkes]

[himulrai]

never getting over the fact that tfp op literally pulls up with a GIANT MACHINE GUN AND NO ONE QUESTIONS IT??????

[tacc0yak1]

hair holds memories

[hyohaehyuk]

Just want to remind everyone that loustat had their 1st time on Valentines Day. Lestat the last romantic 🤭

[zombolouge]

The thing is, it's not about the Therapy Speak. It's not that everyone who disliked DAV hates healthy communication as a dynamic in fiction. It's not even about only being allowed to be a good guy, really, because most of us did do that anyways (though the option not being there is a loss I grieve even if I never chose it myself, but that's another rant for another day).

It's that DAV does all that stuff at the expense of being believable. At the expense of characters being permitted to have personalities. At the expense of emotions behaving the way emotions actually work for people. At the expense of letting the plot build tension through the stakes we're forced to grapple with.

Half the fics out there take the conflicts between the characters in the previous games and resolve them. I do it myself ALL THE TIME because I like to find a path to resolution through just about any conflict, that's what fascinates me about telling these stories. But the higher the stakes, the harder a conflict is to resolve. You CAN resolve any conflict, you CAN communicate healthily through any emotion, but you can't skip the time it takes to process it all to even be able to communicate it. As someone whose got CPTSD and recovered from many Traumas, I can tell you that the TIME it takes to work through it is not something you can fast track, and the ups and downs of your emotions on that journey can't be skipped. It doesn't matter if you know exactly how to do it, exactly how it's going to feel, or exactly what the end state will be, you CAN'T speedrun it.

DAV has stakes that are astronomical, but nobody treats them that way. Nobody experiences denial - a common psychological reaction to being presented with information that shatters your worldview. Nobody expresses any distrust in the establishments handing out this information - something common among cultures that have at times been at war, even if those wars are "resolved" in the present. Nobody really ever breaks down - something that any person is capable of under extreme circumstances, especially when facing multiple crises of faith that challenge everything they thought they knew about themselves. Nobody blows their lid because they've been repressing the hell out of everything. Nobody grieves for southern Thedas, the entire thing dying off screen and giving you, the player, NO way to engage with it in any way.

Not to mention there are barely any inter-party conflicts, when there should be a lot more. Why is everyone (except Spite) fine with it if Emmrich sacrifices Manfred to become a lich? Why is everyone fine with Illario potentially being set free if he was working with the venatori and Elgar'nan, two sources that have actively attacked everyone in the party? Why doesn't Neve resent Lucanis if Treviso is picked? Why doesn't Harding get pissed off at Nevarra for having a secret society of liches that never helped during the Inquisition's war against the breach and corypheus? Why doesn't Harding feel ANYTHING about Ferelden and the rest of the south? Shouldn't Harding resent the fact that she's stuck in the north while her home dies?

All of these conflicts ARE resolvable, but not easily. And it's not believable that they're never brought up. It's not believable that these characters skip through everything that happens with like, barely a frowny face most of the time. In DAO, Alistair leaves if you don't treat his conflicts with respect. In DA2, your party members try to kill each other if you don't pay attention to their conflicts/emotional needs. In DAI, people can leave or betray you, Cassandra throws a chair at Varric and tries to body him out a window. ALL of these can be resolved but it takes effort, and the characters get to SHOW that they're bothered by them and struggling the way a person would when faced with those emotions.

The problem isn't the therapy speak, or that everyone is loyal and won't leave, or that they aren't mean to each other enough. It's that it's toxic positivity. It's toxic as fuck to imply that anger or grief should be smiled over or else you're giving up, and it's damaging to people to avoid engaging with their own negative emotional responses to extremely negative stimuli. It's pasting optimism over very real, very weighty issues, sweeping it all under the rug, and you keep waiting for the lid to blow off the pressure cooker that creates, but it never does. It never becomes anything that emulates real emotions, which is why the whole damn thing feels hollow. Everything's dying and nobody cares, not even about themselves, and that's NOT healthy communication.

It's bullshit, half-assed storytelling that didn't tell us the actual story, just the vague idea of what it could have been.

[pipperoo]

i think all of their choero should be spins actually

[demaparbat-hp]

On your most recent From the Couch post... is that a dragon tattoo I see poking out of Zuko's collar? ...................may we see more of it?

You may see all of it.

[conspicuous-clown-car]

uhhh this is really messy and took me like 8 hours, but i feel like if i don’t finish this whole 6 minute animation im never gonna share a single thing of it, so im making sure i do not do that

[dandeleon]

he fiddle my ford til i friday

[ladyblackbirdart]

Okay insta really liked this one so I’ll post it, albeit a few days late 😝

“𝐈’𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮.”

“𝘠𝘦𝘴, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭.”

INKTOBER DAY 1: Hunt

Yay it’s finally October!!! Buckle up because I have a nearly full calendar month of TLOU themed pieces! I don’t have a piece for every day and not every piece will be fully fleshed out BUT I had so much fun with this and hope you do too! Today’s piece accidentally took on the story of Sköll and Hati which I found to be fitting. If you’re unfamiliar, Sköll and Hati are from Norse mythology. They are two wolves that chase the sun and moon with the intention of “eating/defeating” the two celestial bodies, creating day and night.

[makiswirl]

he just killed joseph

[duskier]

Cyber stalker Laswell who meets you as a server in a fancy restaurant. The bill she pays without a blink of her eye is about a week's worth of your pay.

You're obviously attracted to her from the second she's seated, how your eyes follow the silver necklace she's wearing down between the open buttons of her silk collared shirt. How then your eyes flick to her hands, pupils dilating when you find her ring finger bare. It's like the general sitting across from Laswell doesn't even exist. She immediately likes that about you, how quickly and easily she's able to capture your full attention.

She watches your tongue behind your teeth move as you take her order, determined not to fuck it up. You were still new to this job, but the authoritative aura Laswell gave off had you at attention. Even her little smiles and nods when you confirmed her order felt like rewards. Like a dog being clicker trained.

Laswell tests you- she doesn't like pets who are obedient just because they can't think for themselves. She asks you to pick out a wine for her. You offer to have the sommelier come by, but she just shakes her head. You feel like a deer caught in headlights.

When you bring her the wine, a glass of '91 Penfold Grange, you can't help but watch her take a sip. Raptured at the sight of her rolling the taste in her mouth, lost in the idea of licking it off of her tongue. Laswell looks you right in your eyes when she thanks you, tells you that it was an excellent choice. She might as well have bent you over the table and fucked you right there, it made you melt. How could she make you feel so much with so little said?

(When you went to the back, her empty glass in hand, no one noticed when you licked at the stains on the rim where her mouth was. The wine tasted fucking fantastic.)

She left you a tip well over what was necessary. More than what the bill actually was, a number with one too many zeroes that made you gasp. She wrote out that it was a thank you for your service, and you shove the note in your pocket.

...Your heart sunk at the fact that she hadn't left her number though. Of course she wouldn't, a classy older woman such as herself? She probably only entertained you out of pity, because you were working and she was a professional.

You went home in a needy daze, her note burning in your pocket. You could still smell her perfume, the scent inoffensive but strong. If you fingered yourself with the note held in your other hand, Laswell's looping blue-ink cursive making you clench on your fingers every time you glanced at it, you didn't feel shame for it. Too busy lost in her pretty eyes, the thought of sitting naked in her lap, the idea of her voice praising and guiding you to orgasm.

...

What a pretty show, Laswell thought. Before she'd even gotten home, she'd had connections find everything about you. For such a smart person, you put much too much about yourself online. Not to mention, an open laptop on your desk, right across from your bed? You're lucky Laswell is looking out for you, remotely setting up security so no one else could see through that camera. Only she should see how your pretty thighs clench and jerk as you cum, only she should hear her name on your lips like that.

You were perfect for Laswell, exactly her type. Smart, pretty thing just waiting for someone to scoop them up, take care of them properly and teach them how to be a good pet.

[inquisitor-apologist]

Thinking about how, at the end of the day, at the fatal moment, the sunset of the Republic, it wasn’t Yoda, or Obi-Wan, or even the Chosen One himself standing in the way of Palpatine. It was Mace Windu.

Mace Windu, the inventor of Vaapad and Master of Form VII, the Jedi's strongest duelist, the only person to ever defeat Palpatine in combat. Mace Windu, Master of the Jedi Council and the youngest Master ever appointed to it, the revered leader of the Order. Mace Windu, who forgave even those who tried to kill him, who risked his life over and over again for his troops, who, after 3 years of desperate war, tried to negotiate with battle droids. Mace Windu, who knew the clones were created by the Sith and chose to trust them, who saw every Shatterpoint in the Republic, and loved it still, and fought for it until his last breath, until he was betrayed by Anakin, who he believed in and trusted despite everything.

Mace Windu, High General and hero of the Republic, the embodiment of the Light, the last and greatest champion of the Order, the best Jedi to ever live.

[vice-like]

bonus for May issue of Lala magazine with natsume, tanuma and nyanko-sensei

[knockknockwhosthereartistism]

Finally watched “Return to the Bunker”

[mapofyourstars]

magneto in x-men: the last stand