#its a tactic

[allastoredeer]

The fact there's 'leading the dance' promt in top Alastor week is so telling. That's why I mute/block anyone who draw him leading the dance with Lucifer. It's stinks with heteronormativity and - what a surprise - it's always from people who 'Alastor have sex to show dominance! He never bottom!' and who usually portray Lucifer as this helpless blushing lamb.

Oh, I forgot top!Alastor week was this week, thank you for the reminder! Imma block the tag before I go to bed.

I'm...not exactly sure how being the one to lead in a dance signifies being a top, but aight.

Although, heheh the phrasing of 'Alastor having sex to show dominance' is actually so funny to me and I like it. I've accepted it into my psyche.

[arcanegifs]

Nightmare on Reroll Street: Part 2 | Into the Arcane Launch Cinematic - Teamfight Tactics

[batsyheere]

The unreliable narrator that is Shang Qinghua haunts my thoughts almost daily because he quite literally wrote ten thousand words a day? He survived this long in a world he half remembers, managed to make it as a spy and peak lord, had plans and ideas that were somewhat coherent and worked out in the long run even if not fully in tact, and he still had the audacity to think himself on the lesser end of characters in the world.

??? Buddy. This is poor self-esteem and a life of survival mindset that has you comparing your competency to others. You are, in fact, one of the more dangerous beings on the mountain.

[umanta]

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, S3E12 Past Tense, Part II

this episode is about an anti-governmental revolution in 2024 btw. just in case anyone was looking for ideas

[95-6qrsk2rx9uq42069nnnnnjthewolf]

i think tim is high maintenance the way a boarder collie or austrialian shepherd is. like you have to make sure they're not only given space to expend energy but you have to specifically let them get the herding instinct out and challenge them intellectually or they start destroying ur home

[sea-buns]

I don't think I've really sat down and let enough sink in about how brutally real Riz's whole deal is this season. It's a kid raised by his single mother, reckoning with his father's absence, who never had any true friends until this gang of bumblefucks. And now he's faced with a future where his friends failing school is not the problem, no, what's really stressing him out is figuring out how the hell he gets it to where they all end up in the same place. How does he keep them together. Because at the end of the day simply passing isn't gonna cut it if they all go down different roads and he ends up alone all over again.

The feeling of being a kid who has been bullied their entire life, finally acquiring good friends who make you happy, and then the nauseating dread and panic when you start to realize that it can't last forever. Murph you fucking criminal.

[usertoxicyaoi]

"They despised you, trampled on you and cursed you, just because you don't belong to the same race as them. How did it feel? Don't you hate them? Don't you feel aggrieved? You're not a sinner, but they still hate you."

FANGS OF FORTUNE (2024). EPISODE TWENTY FIVE.

[vigilskeep]

when you first start the cousland origin, you can have some conversations with arl howe, teyrn cousland, and duncan that shed some interesting light on the political situation in ferelden. it’s definitely the origin where you get the most context on the rebellion and on cailan and his father. while howe isn’t exactly the most trustworthy of sources, he is also one of the most openly critical of cailan that we have access to, which i think is worthy of interest

howe remembers maric with what the toolset describes as “genuine fondness”: “your father hasn’t spoken of our time with him? that man took care of his friends. as they say, he was large as life and twice as tall!” i think we should pay particular attention to that man took care of his friends.

what howe’s talking about is a really important aspect of kingship, where you win the consent and enthusiasm of the nobility for your rule by offering rewards like wealth, land, and prestige to the loyal. kingship is always less stable than it’s portrayed, and this is one of the ways that kings must essentially sell to the nobility that answering to them is worth their time, which would be especially important in ferelden given everything we know about its culture. fereldans believe someone only has power when it is given by the loyalty of those below them, who have the right to freely rescind that loyalty. the dao codex says that “the sight of [fereldan kings] asking for—and working to win—the support of ‘lesser’ men is a source of constant wonder to foreign ambassadors.”

i suspect howe is remembering a maric fresh from the victories of the rebellion, who was able to reward those who had followed him with the spoils of those victories. at the end of the stolen throne, we see that in the final days of the rebellion, maric was killing those who had betrayed his mother to the orlesians even when they arrived under truce to meet him on holy ground. in dao, we see no lingering orlesian nobility except for those who married in and continue to be met with marked hostility. i think we can safely surmise that maric elected to make no conciliatory measures and give everything to those who had followed him; with the orlesians on the run and his people out for blood, he was in a strong enough position to do so, and it certainly served to win the fond memories of men like howe.

by contrast, howe goes on to say, “it’s too bad cailan isn’t half that.” the toolset notes establish very clearly that it’s the same issue, elaborating on howe’s thoughts: “bitter turn, i don’t get as much from the current king”, and “disdainful, i have no use for him, he does me no favours”. this isn’t a minor character detail, if howe’s last words when killed by the player are anything to go by. “maker spit on you... i deserved... more...” whatever it is that howe feels he should have been given, by the crown or anyone else, it characterises his actions and his defining treachery.

it’s in these same conversations that we see another side of this demonstrated. there are two points where howe can openly criticise the king, and bryce immediately admonishes him for both. one even has the toolset note: “speaks sharply, as a lord to a lesser man, not a friend to an equal”. it definitely comes across that way; the way he tells howe “that’s enough” is not far off the voice he uses when the player, his child, displeases him. bryce can’t tolerate any criticism of cailan, as the couslands in dao are ardent supporters of the king. to venture some hc, i suspect that this is not merely royalist fervour, and that howe’s resentment for having been given less is matched by bryce’s awareness of the precariousness of having more.

over the centuries, the theirins have consolidated their power and eradicated almost all the teyrns (the noble rank that is second only to the king). with the only other lingering teyrn being loghain, who is essentially part and parcel of the royal family, the couslands stand alone as the only real rivals to theirin power within ferelden. there are rumours that bryce was once considered for king instead of the theirins; he too could have decided to believe he “deserved more”. but unlike howe, and perhaps understandably given his strong position and happy growing family, he is satisfied with what he has. he will not take the risk of even the slightest challenge being made within his hall

(i expect that bryce’s satisfaction with the current situation further spurred howe’s dissatisfaction to its heights, given the complicated cousland-howe history and the fact that he was expected to accept a friend he had fought beside as a superior for the rest of his life.)

i don’t think howe’s judgement on cailan is likely to be without basis. we don’t hear about any victories the young king has to his name, from which he could have passed around spoils. (to be fair, cailan had harder luck than maric in this regard. a king who raises a successful rebellion gets to bring glory and prestige to everyone who follows him, whereas a king trying to rebuild after that rebellion mostly gets to bring, uh, taxes probably. especially on wealthy centres of trade like howe’s amaranthine, one might assume.) cailan also takes a far more diplomatic approach to the question of orlais, which perhaps predictably did not win over many nobles of howe’s generation. it makes sense that cailan’s strongest supporters would instead be men like bryce who hope for things to simply continue, peacefully, as they are. perhaps in another world where cailan had won the battle of ostagar, he might have earned wider respect. (you could actually argue on this basis that there’s more sense and purpose to cailan’s glory-seeking than he usually gets credit for.) but howe already acts before ostagar, which can only demonstrate his certainty in cailan’s failings at this point: his belief that even if cailan could win, he would not be stable enough to pursue justice for the couslands

[tma-themed-brain]

Taking the word "queerbaiting" away from deadpool and wolverine fans and putting it on a shelf because what on earth are you people on about

[poorlydrawninstarsandtime]

hey guys i think somethings up with that octoling on the other team. they seem kinda out of it, maybe we should call a halftime and- is that a fucking knife.

[id in alt]

[tealgoat]

SIFFRIN BLAST

For context because we can't have Odile blast in this au... Siffrin is literally just climbing up giant Odile

[arcanegifs]

New Arcane Vi and Caitlyn Chibi Tacticians for Teamfight Tactics | source

[yesterdayiwrote]

The most fucking annoying thing about all the "conflict of interest" gate is it's going to be F1 Academy and Susie that suffer as a result of it.

They're not going to lobby for Toto to move on and dissociate from Mercedes, they'll want Susie fired, so F1 Academy will lose the person spearheading it, despite her clearly being the best qualified person for the role right now. Just as the series is finally going to get an opportunity to take off, it will lose its rudder and get derailed before its begun.

And even if they DON'T find anything of note, it's Susie's reputation that will end up being tarnished, because its always women that bear the brunt of these things, despite F1 and 'conflict of interest' going hand in hand since records began.

And all this for a tabloid magazine article by someone who not only is banned from the paddock, but has been on the receiving end of numerous libel cases from people inside the paddock.

The FIA are trying to appear like they're being 'fair and thorough and authoritative' but they're not, they're just legitimising the accusations when it's not really their issue to investigate. It's shameful politicking and it's yet another example of the FIAs internalised misogyny. Where was their investigation into the allegations about Mohammed Ben Sulayem? Or is it only when it suits them?

[itseghost]

sketch of my warden :] really enjoying origins so far

[gaymelie]

Once again saw someone yell on here about how "nobody is going to report this aaah the media is evil", closed this app and not even a minute later saw a report with that exact content on a major news platform. Ngl this phrasing is rapidly being added to the list of things i won't reblog on principle.

[thethespacecoyote]

contemplating what exactly it was about ford that made bill feel important now