#it was not her best self basically

[ncfan-1]

I have a few wants for Mae’s story next season, with the hope that she gets her memory back relatively quickly being a pretty important one, but it’s not the only want I have for the way things go for Mae that I consider important. There’s something else that feels even more important: namely, that Mae find people in her life that deeply love and prioritize her.

There’s something very pointed going on in Season 1. “Everyone seems to want you,” Qimir says to Osha, but by comparison, nobody ever seems to want Mae. When they’re children, Sol professes a connection to Osha, and Mae is little more than an afterthought; as an adult, Sol ultimately leaves nothing for her but the worst parts of himself. Qimir is visibly fascinated with Osha from first sight, and ultimately doesn’t seem to have thought much of Mae even before she attempted to desert his side; he seems to brush her off the way you’d brush a speck of dust off of you.

And don’t get me wrong, I don’t think that Osha should have chosen to stay with Mae in Episode 8. It doesn’t make sense from a storytelling standpoint, not at this juncture. This is the culmination of Mae’s character arc this season, where she is finally able to stop clinging to Osha, to accept that what she wants more than anything is for Osha to be happy, even if she isn’t with her. For Osha to choose to stay with Mae at that point would feel wrong, for Mae has to prove to the audience that she has reached this kind of peace regarding her relationship with her sister by accepting that Osha doesn’t want to stay with her without bitterness. As for Osha, this is the culmination of her character arc this season, which has been about taking her life and her power into her own hands, and it would be strange for her to stay with Mae when Qimir has offered to help her do what she wants. It wouldn’t feel right from a storytelling standpoint; for things to make sense, they have to part ways at the end of Season 1.

But even if Osha frames it as making sure that Mae is safe from any reprisals on Qimir’s part, and even if it’s what make sense from a storytelling perspective, what it ultimately amounts to is that Osha doesn’t choose Mae, either. Nobody ever chooses Mae.

And it’s so uneven. I’m not saying I want Osha to be this alone, too—I don’t. But it’s wrenching to watch this woman who has nothing and no one at the beginning of the season still have nothing and no one at the end of the season, because even the memory of Osha forgiving her and loving her again has been taken away from her. Even her memory of the one person she had left who actually loved her has been taken away from her. She had nothing then, and she has nothing now.

Like I said, it feels pointed, the way Mae is never chosen, and what I’m hoping is that this means that it won’t be the case anymore in Season 2. Vernestra, you say, and yeah, I have high hopes for that dynamic, but no matter how things shake out between Mae and Vernestra, that is never going to be a relationship of equals, and I don’t think it’s ultimately going to be the kind of relationship where Vernestra would choose Mae, not meaningfully. Not over every other option.

That’s what I want for Mae, really. Someone who will love her deeply and choose her over everyone else, every time. With her memories and without. Knowing what she’s done, the good and the bad, knowing what she’s capable of, the good and the bad, knowing her past, knowing her faults and knowing that those faults aren’t all of who she is. Someone who would choose her without a second thought.

Because I feel like there’s going to be a scene like the one in Episode 8, where this time, it’s Mae who chooses. But Osha had more than one option. Either Qimir or Mae were viable options. Osha had a solid foundation to rely on, whatever she decided to do. But as it stands, Mae only has Osha. Osha is all Mae has. And if we do get a moment like that in Season 2, where this time it’s Osha asking Mae what she wants, if she wants to go with her or not, if Mae’s options are still “Osha” or “be completely alone,” then it's not the meaningful choice that Osha had, is it? My point is, I want Mae, whatever she decides, to have actually had a meaningful choice. To not be completely dependent on Osha for love and acceptance. To have someone else she could turn to if she decided that she didn’t want to go with Osha. To not have her choices be: Osha—or no one.

[broken-clover]

...somehow the thought only occurs to me now that since Venom is returning tHAT MEANS VENOM RIVAL FIGHT PLEASE VENOM BEDMAN RIVAL FIGHT PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE WE DON'T NEED TO RETREAD THE ASSASSIN SUBPLOT PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD GIVE THESE TWO SOME CLOSURE LET THEM INTERACT PLEEEEEASEEEE

[project-catgirlpillar]

I think Viewing Monika as some Kind of evil Mastermind does her character a huge disservice for multiple reasons but also Just cause it ascribes her a Level of competence she simply does Not display

[lonisaiou]

errr hey guys im not dead! Ive been busy studying for my finals and trying to finish way to many wips at once, so enjoy the small glimpses of the stuff im working on currently (many related to shuichi, I wonder why)

[mewtwo24]

You know idk if it's just me being oblivious af but mxtx sure does enjoy putting her protags through the trolley problem when it comes to her works huh /j

[ocdhuacheng]

I love kabru like he’s established as this manipulative and shady person with ulterior motives who could be a major threat to laios’s party, but he also is one of the most empathetic and kind characters in the series and does his best to try and help everyone bc he is one of the people who understands the situation the best. and I think ppl are too focused on the first part they forget the second part. (Anime onlies are ok bc you guys haven’t gotten his character development yet ^^)

Also his party getting wiped out constantly in the beginning was funny as fuck

[athingfromtheforest]

who else thinks bear is possibly the most traumatised character in sweet tooth

[fromtheseventhhell]

Sometimes I see people misinterpreting Arya's character and honestly, all it does is make me appreciate her that much more. George could've easily written her into as a basic archetype and instead, he gave us one of the most complex and well-developed characters in the series and I'm forever grateful for that 🫶🏾

[faaun]

i feel rly sad and conflicted abt one of my best friends on earth but idk who to ask for advice bc i usually would have consulted her in this situation lmao

[glacialswordsman]

[the-jam-to-the-unicorn]

BBC Ze Documentary - Episode 1: Olena about what kind of a man Ze is; Volena about falling in love; Ze about one of the best moments in his life

[anders-hawke]

only mystra would go "yes i am the source of all of your problems and am the reason you couldn't reach your full potential <3 but now you're free of me so you can do that now <3 i'm so smart and nice and am definitely a good-aligned goddess!!"

[fuzzbuns]

Arlecchino discourse is really awkward because both sides are so convinced they are right and that the other side just lacks media literacy but 9 times out of 10 the take in question is also wrong and it leaves me scratching my head a little bit….

[expatesque]

Bought my first backpack since I was 10 years old. -15 psychological damage taken.

[dreampearls]

colleis personality functionally being left to the ether because her webtoon iteration is at such fundamental odds with her game iteration that any attempts to temper between the two just range so dramatically

[greyias]

The Continuing Adventures of my Dumbass Minstrel Paladin

I keep forgetting to record or even get screenshots of some of the more hilarious shenanigans Aravyn and the Tadpole Gang are getting up to. So last night after spending an hour gleefully running all over the map to make Gale infinitely recast "Speak with the Dead" on all of the glowing corpses with our new shiny necklace loot we got from the chapel, I realized I hadn't gotten a trigger for a quest I remembered from early access regarding mean druid lady being suspiciously mean and after referencing some ancient texts (see: walkthroughs), I realized I needed to head back to the grove to do some poking around.

After spending like fifteen minutes poking around rooms, eventually I started throwing up dancing light cantrips at all of the dark corners. And eventually doing this I find the little dark hole that leads back to a hidden area where there's a chest marked in red.

Just imagine, you're a xenophobic druid who is ready to cut yourself off from the outside world forever, and this stupid paladin who talked your homicidal new boss lady out from letting some kid get eaten by a snake is now going around to all of the dark corners of your comfy dark underground hidey hole muttering to herself and throwing up sparkles in all of the shadows. Nothing suspicious there. She's just lighting up the world. It's what Sylvanus would want, I suppose.

Well, going into sneak mode reveals that the angry elf druid guy who keeps telling me to get lost is looking right at the chest, and so that's a problem. What's the Tadpole Gang to do? My paladin has a negative on stealth checks, and I don't know if stealing will technically break her oath, but if I'm staying true to character she probably wouldn't like it. But, clearly the group needs a distraction that will get everyone's attention in one area, so that an enterprising sneakthief can go pick the lock on that chest and take a little peekaboo.

It's time for a Mini-Heist

"Surely this won't work," I tell myself, and get the group gathered just in between all of the NPCs in the grove, toggle party mode, and position my rogueiest vampire suspiciously near where he needs to be.

Then Aravyn starts strumming away -- and lo and behold--

Gathers a crowd. Literally everyone stops what they're doing to come gather around and in the distance I hear them all cheering her on and complimenting the tune. "That's a great song!" says Kagha who moments before was sneering at us. Apparently, she's a lover of music. THE WOLF even comes over and starts listening, I think it's a possibility the rats even stopped scurrying around to listen.

There is cheering going off in the distance as Astarion quickly and effortlessly picks the lock on Kagha's chest and loots all of the contents. Then casually saunters back to the rest of the group as the NPCs are still happily bopping along to Ari's rendition of "Bard Dance".

She finishes her song, Kagha starts throwing gold at her feet. An NPC literally just paid me to rob her 🤣 We quickly pick up our three hard earned gold (look look it's not important however much Astarion has in his pocketses okay), and the party shuffles on out where everyone is still chanting their ritual and quickly go off to the secluded area just beyond the chanting circle to look at the evidence and continue their quest, having successfully completed their tiny heist.

And now I'm imagining now imagining this scene where Astarion throws his arms around his pal(adin)'s shoulder and is like "Look at all these dour faces. Darling, why don't you perform that utterly delightful ditty you couldn't stop playing around the fire at camp last night. I'm sure it would raise everyone's spirits", and then casually strolls off as she starts plucking at strings and the crowd begins gathering, then whistling along with the tune as he walks back up and congratulates everyone on the impromptu concert and then quickly steering his party back outside. "Man, that outsider sparkle-making Paladin sure is a bitch," says Marcoryl, who keeps complaining about not killing a small tiefling child (so you know his opinion is to be trusted), "but she sure can play a lute."