#just me rambling into the void

[the-witchhunter]

When talking about DnD and TTRPGs, the thing that immediately tells me I should not take someone seriously is if they say something along the lines of "typical 5e player behavior"

say what you want about 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons, it has some problems, all systems do. I really like playing other systems myself and think learning multiple is fun and can be an enriching experience, but talking about typical 5e players is such a bad faith take

Mostly it's just "not like other girls" or i guess "not like other Table Top Player" reactivism to the popular thing. But also it always seems to be about stuff I've literally never seen a normal 5e player do. Like, the concept of the "that guy" has been around for ages. This isn't a new thing or limited to 5e, the only reason you see so many is that idiots are loud and noticeable and 5e is incredibly popular.

rant over, yes there was a post and some of the replies prompted this, no it was not even about 5e DnD yet people were commenting about typical 5e player behavior. Sometimes a bad player is just a bad player

[inastarlesssky]

I just read a Dramione fic that left me a little 👀😶.

I think I decided dark!Draco/Hermione is not my cup of tea.

[lackpenny]

a broken man's last effort, all for nothing

[chalkrub]

thank you for a great art fight! here's some of my final attacks. had a blast, already missing it - see you next year!

[fryday]

I think it's been generally accepted that the simplest answer to people asking if dnp are a couple is, "well they built a house together, so make of that what you will" because that's the only really concrete fact we know of that speaks to their current relationship status. but sometimes I think - damn, is that even just an important *clue* to the status of things? or is that kind of *it*? is there anything more you need to know about two people than that, at the end of every day, the only people they'd want to completely let their walls down around is each other? that only the two of them know what the other looks like first thing in the morning, still in their pyjamas & before coffee; or at the end of a rough day, cranky and stomping around and eventually tired and soft enough to say goodnight; or frustrated to hell over the menial tasks needed to keep a household going like doing the taxes or getting the right groceries..... I could keep going on. we might really never know whether dnp call each other husbands or partners or boyfriends or best friends or housemates, or if they're exclusive or open, whatever. but what we do know without any doubt is that they are It for each other. they are each other's no. 1 most important person. and that is most indisputably shown through the fact that they built a house together. they chose to create their own little world within the world. the place where they can be 100% who they are, 100% of the time. and they want to share that place with each other.

what more is there to know?

[midnightfrappe]

i've been pondering lately,,

[12am-motivation]

i think i'm going to cry-

[thus-it-is-proclaimed]

God but think about the whiplash Phoenix experiences between Miles and Dahlia.

When it’s said and done, and whenever they do finally cut the shit and get together, him being in the midst of feelings and it makes him scared.

Why wouldn’t it? To our knowledge he never has another serious partner (though Dahlia wasn’t exactly a serious one, it can be argued Phoenix in his Young Dumb Obsessiveness absolutely felt like it was) between her and the idea he does get together with Miles. (Kristoph we will put aside for terms of discussion.)

But to imagine an older, more jaded Phoenix who is looking at Miles Edgeworth and feeling that old swell of absurdly strong feelings. The echo of his tendency for reckless devotion, for putting the people around him on a pedestal, the all encompassing love he has inside his heart. Imagining that he feels that swooping sensation before the plummet into immersion and it. Scares the SHIT out of him.

Because realistically? He has almost only ever been hurt by this pattern. He must know it’s unhealthy and dangerous, even on a subconscious level. And despite all he has been through, it’s still there. He can still feel it.

Phoenix Wright, loving Miles so much it hurts, being for once absolutely terrified that it will all come to crash down on him again. He was almost killed, framed, and injured by Dahlia while she was alive. She came back to literally haunt him and cause havoc on his life, threatening those he loves, resulting in the situation that sent him falling through a burning bridge in effort to save his family. Because his ability to LOVE. His willingness to sacrifice everything to protect the people he clings to around him.

Just thinking of this realization, and how Miles can meet it not as a savior or a saint, but proof that even those who have hurt Phoenix at some points could still be eventually trusted with his heart. Miles, who goes through such an arc of growth and maturity, at a point he can promise Phoenix to take care with his feelings. To be able to be trusted, and trust in turn. That though they may argue, may hurt one another, at the end of the day Miles is not another devastating chapter in Phoenix’s list of reasons to never allow himself to show his full heart to another.

He is proof that Phoenix can trust someone who knows of this tendency. Who won’t use it to manipulate or gut him. Who doesn’t secretly despise every breath he takes. Maya and Pearl and Trucy and Apollo and Athena are all people in Phoenix’s growing family, who stick around and support.

But Miles Edgeworth has seen Phoenix through hell, tribulation, and devastating lows on both sides. He knows Phoenix has such intense depth of feeling. And if they come together into a relationship, Miles taking this onboard and loving Phoenix for it. His passion and kindness and selflessness and drive.

[madamemiz]

votv is really clever in how it makes you care about dr. kel as a protagonist despite that he barely has a tangible presence in the game

for the first few days, aside from a name in an email, you don't have much to go on. there are what appear to be fun/nerdy stickers on his suitcase and he brought emergency toilet paper and a plushy with him to his solitary job in the middle of nowhere. so he's maybe a bit practical, a little quirky, but those are just crumbs of information, and these sort of first person games tend to lean a little more on the self-insert side anyway. without much else to go on, the next handful of quiet days proceed with you easily slipping into his shoes, forgetting he exists as the protagonist. you're doing the job, you're cleaning your base, you're getting creeped out by every random noise. you live here now. the game is clever about making you care about the base too, but that's a post for another day

time passes, and little by little, you notice small details that add up. the strange and specific nightmares about work and drowning and mannequins. the roaches you can eat with no ill effects that give you a food boost to boot. the clumsy tendency to trip and fall over pretty much anything, the pickiness over food

you save up enough to get a kerfur, have the bright idea to check their camera while they're in the room with you, and there you see it in the camera; not you, but him. maybe he looks the way you imaged, maybe he looks completely different, but suddenly you're very aware that dr. kel exists

then you start to get a glimpse of how other people perceive him--croissants snuck on the drone for him by a friend who brags about her cooking, sushi snuck to you by another friend who calls him an asshole and says she misses him, both of whom are presumably his colleagues and both of whom seem worried for him. the smiling plushie of him the arirals gift if he gets on their good side, their note calling him cute attached to it along with an ominius offer of help in bad times. kerfur calling him a dumbass if he makes them do the reports twice, but also leaning down to his eye level to happily get pets

he's endearing in an odd sort of way, and people in-universe care about him. you start to care about him, which makes it all the more troubling when he makes pained sounds when he falls from too high, or starts coughing out of the blue. makes you wince when he falls off the radio tower or gets launched from the atv. makes it downright horrifying when he's caught by a wisp and torn apart limb by limb while you as the player can do nothing but watch

you find yourself wanting him to succeed, to be safe, to get out of the situation he's found himself in. or at least, i do. there isn't a ton to go on aside from some environmental storytelling and a breadcrumb trail of personality tidbits, but I personally find that trail to lead to an interesting and compelling character with enough wiggle room for further interpretation. i'm very excited to see what else we learn in future updates

[warrenwaskilledbyadeer]

Why is it so hard for aroace people to just get basic respect

[platoniclace]

You Ever Have Those Realizations?

You're just sitting, doing your thing, maybe reading, and suddenly, you are hit in the face with the steel baseball bat of epiphany. You have now realized why you love that one character *so much.*

Yeah, so anyways, I was reading Uncanny Spider-Man last night, as you do, because I was curious about this little mini-series. Overall, not a bad series. A little rushed, but ah well. A little odd, too, but this is X-Men; what isn't a little odd? Not the point, though. Here I was reading when I got to this panel:

And, okay, ow. Were the writers of this comic present in my therapy session yesterday?

Needless to say, alongside this panel appeared the aforementioned steel baseball bat.

To the face.

(but not the groin, that's a different metaphor of mine that doesn't quite fit here)

But it just hit me all at once. Kurt is a character that's been beaten down by life in more ways than one. He's tried, he's tried *a lot,* and he has great reason to be angry or bitter or resentful. It would make complete sense for a character like him to hit a point and give up entirely, and his rant here about deserving to stop really hits home.

And yet he's none of those things. He absolutely has his moments (like above), but who doesn't? Overall, Kurt's character is consistently depicted as someone full of hope, someone who tries to see the best, who clings to his faith and keeps pushing forward because he believes it's all ultimately worth it. And good Lord if I don't feel that. I just got done telling my therapist how I'm just so tired, how I want it all to stop, how I want to stop putting on that brave face and pushing on like a good little soldier. And yet here I am praying to God Almighty for strength to keep going because He definitely knows I have none left.

Anyways, all this to say, I love Nightcrawler a lot for quite a few different reasons, and I'm quietly talking myself off the cliff of immediately tattooing this furry elf onto my body with money I don't have.

Have a lovely day, friend :)

P.S. Extra Kurt panel that I also vibe with 1000% as a reward for reading my little ramble

[amaraudermind]

Anyway sooo normal about Duke being the Signal. The bat-signal is Gotham's permanent fixture of hope and the bat, Signal is Batman's personal symbol of hope. All other reasons for it being his name is secondary. Bruce has been fighting this fight for so long that he's losing sight of the goal, he's losing sight of the fact that this was always about the groundwork, about saving the city from itself and giving it the chance to be better.

And here's Duke Thomas, back in Bruce's life and reminding him that Batman may be justice, he may be fear to the criminals of Gotham, but to it's people Batman is meant to be hope. Is hope. Can still be hope.

Hhhhh Duke is the Signal because he's putting Batman back on track. He's lighting the way. He's hope.

[luck-of-the-drawings]

ANCIENT wip that i finally got around to splashin color onto. NO idea where this colorin style came from n it WONT happen again!! anyway i LOOOVE the general dynamic between arthur n emizel. both are so cool and so awesome and yet SO silly...

[autumnwhistles]

(note: this is purely from a character perspective, not a comment on CCs.)

grian and scar have now both been in opposite positions to the original 'cactus ring', and it's so interesting to compare their attitudes to sacrifice on both ends. whether or not scar threw the fight in the cactus ring, he did offer for grian to kill him before it began. grian declined this, but was clearly fighting with the intention to win during the fight itself – he's giving scar a chance, but not sacrificing.

in secret life, scar's on the other end of things. he's fighting another winner – who herself has been sacrificed for previously – and, like grian, is going into what he assumes to be a fair fight... but which is in his favour due to the others' willingness to sacrifice themselves for him. this is a common pattern for winners: in whichever order, they take the win once, and are once willing to sacrifice themselves to let another take it.

cut to wild life.

this time, it's grian in the final two once more, yet again against an – albeit more distant – ally. he's got a win under his belt already, so you might expect him to do what pearl did, what scott did, right? sacrifice their chance at glory to let another taste it for the first time.

and yet:

"I'm going to have to kill Joel"

"Can I win this? I worked so hard on this series, I'd love to win it!"

because here's an important thing about life series!grian: though he's willing to even the playing field, he's not willing to sacrifice – not when it matters. pledge your loyalty to right a wrong, yes; give lives to gain allies hours, yes; refuse others' sacrifices to fight on fair terms, yes. but in the end, no matter how much he wants to stick with friends, no matter how bad he feels about it, no matter how may "i'm so sorry"s he gives – he will put his own life first, in the end.

there's a reason he's the reason for so many of his allies' deaths, after all. and in its contrast, the wild life finale showcases this beautifully.

(and for the record, i don't see anything wrong with this from an out-of-univere perspective – it's been 5 seasons and 3.5 years since Grian's last win, and even if it hadn't been, it's the CCs place to judge fairness, not ours.)

[staticymaticyyourlifeisatravesty]

Cursed thought born from this post:

What if Sanguinius growled when you try to pry him off your cunt while he's eating you out on your period? Just goes feral, and very overstimulating, and once he's done he's licking his lips as if having tasted the sweetest of ambrosia, while you're just trembling from it all-

[glitter-glue-from-the-void]

Alice saying "bussin" was not on my Magnus Protocol bingo card.