#just needs to be guided

[teecupangel]

If the "Desmond is Jennifer's son during her time in TopKapi palace" route is further developed, won't people outside of Ziio's tribe start to think that Desmond is Ratonhnhaké:ton's real father? (I can see Desmond quite embarrassed but enjoying the mess with Ziio and Jenny after Haytham finds out about the rumours)

The idea of Desmond being reborn as Jennifer Scott’s son here.

Okay… So let’s see if this would work… math-wise.

Since Jennifer was sent to Topkapı in 1735 and Ratonhnhaké:ton is born in 1756 (with Haytham saving Jennifer in 1757), that means that Desmond would have to be born around 1736~1740 for people to think that, yeah, he could totally be Ratonhnhaké:ton’s father. It is also possible for 1741~1743 but that’s like the iffy questionable age group.

In other words, yes, this could work.

You know what would be funny?

If Desmond knew Haytham would be coming to save his mother but not when. So he’s been preparing, even has a failsafe in case Haytham took too long and he needed an exit strategy soon.

His plan?

To frame Haytham Kenway for murdering the sultan’s favorite son and that son’s mother.

Desmond needed to fake his and his mother’s death and, as much as Desmond knew that Haytham had a sucky childhood, and he was truly coming to save his mother, Haytham Kenway was still a dangerous Templar who willingly tried to kill his own son...

Said son is also one of the few people Desmond cared about, either out of his own freewill or because of the Bleeding Effect doesn’t matter to Desmond...

He embraced his Bleeding Effect and Haytham is a danger to Ratonhnhaké:ton regardless of what noble intentions he may have in saving his mother.

Also, Desmond was still annoyed by Haytham’s backseat sailing from that memory, and he knew that Haytham would be able to survive this.

… he might be forever hunted down by the Ottomans but Desmond sees that as a good thing. Gonna be hard to do Templar shit in Desmond’s territory now, right?

I’m just imagining that Desmond had his mother taken out by the Assassins already and is wearing a guard’s outfit. Two bodies that are quite similar to them, both Templars or allies of the Order, are staged into a bloody massacre and Desmond made sure that they would be indistinguishable even by modern means, and he looks Haytham dead in the eyes as he said, “Hello, uncle.”

With fake politeness he had learned as a son of a sultan, he said, “I am quite glad that you have come to save my mother. And, if you truly do care for her, then you must know what role you have to play.”

Haytham doesn’t get a chance to say anything as Desmond puts on the guard’s helmet and shouts, “Intruder! The intruder has killed the prince!!!”

And like the guards have been stationed to be near Desmond and his mother’s rooms, they all get there quickly and find Haytham standing in a bloody room while Desmond pretends to be injured, clutching his arm with bloody hands that were actually from the two fake bodies he had prepared, “He did this! He killed both the prince and his mother!”

And Haytham plays along because he has seen Desmond’s face, know that he is his nephew and everyone here knows how much he loves his mother. If he was being used to finally get away from this place then he will simply applaud his nephew’s audacity and play along.

Only to finally get a headache when it turned out that his nephew and sister has sailed back to the colonies, and he had to learn that from an Assassin who went, “On behalf of the Ottoman Brotherhood, we thank you, Grand Master Haytham Kenway, for becoming a pawn to our mentor’s escape plan.”

For a brief moment, he wondered if it was Jennifer. If Jennifer had managed to become an Assassin and a mentor while stuck in the harem but then the Assassin continues, “The mentor told us to let you go this time as a sign of his thanks to his mostly absent uncle. He did leave you a message: ‘See you in the colonies.’”

And Haytham realized that, if anyone was succeeding his father as the goddamn Kenway Assassin, it would be his devious nephew.

Sidebar: Holden was knocked out by the Assassins because he saw them taking Jennifer to safety but, because Desmond insisted there will be no deaths, they had to take Holden with them and gave him back to Haytham (unharmed other than the ropemarks on his wrists and the bump on his head) when the Assassin came to give Haytham Desmond's message.

Smashcut to Desmond unintentionally undermining Achilles’ mentorship and questioning the Colonial Brotherhood’s actions against Shay Cormac. By the time Haytham gets there, Desmond had already made contact with Shay and was trying to appear as a kind of Assassin inspector and that Achilles’ actions have come into scrutiny and the Brotherhood wishes to hear Shay’s side of the story.

So now, whatever kindness Monro showed to Shay (whether genuine or not) takes the backburn as this becomes a tug of war between Desmond and Haytham to sway Shay to their side with Haytham going for “you know how the Assassins are now, can you truly trust him?” while Desmond is going for “This is not what the Brotherhood is meant to do, Shay, you know that. Help me make this right.”

Then that’s when we smack Haytham with news that Desmond has a child (with a ‘savage’) and Haytham knows he couldn’t have one. The timeline doesn't fit.

He sees Desmond with Ratonhnhaké:ton and he grows suspicious…

Then he hears Ratonhnhaké:ton call Kaniehtí:io mother and…

Desmond raised his head to look at where he had been spying at them and waved at Haytham.

And Haytham just knew…

His nephew certainly got the audacity and the deviousness of a true Kenway.

(Meanwhile, Jennifer is enjoying her retirement in the homestead. She has nothing to add to whatever drama is happening in the Brotherhood but she’s not inclined to help Haytham as well because, as much as her heart warms at the thought that Haytham came to save her even though it was a bit too late, he still became one of them. One of the people who killed their father and Jennifer may not hate him for it because she understands the circumstances that led to it but, at the same time, she feels no desire to reunite with a Templar)

[stump-not-found]

early days shenanigans

shameless fic plug

[lily-on-the-fence]

oh to be a shivering little floret in my Mistress's vines~

all drugged out and soft on Class A's

suddenly my mistress chuckles "oh pet! We haven't given you your Class G's yet today have we?"

And she holds her flower just above my arm, just barely touching skin

"Do you want them, petal? Why don't you take them?"

and I try to lift my arm up so the needle breaks the skin but then my Mistress's writhe underneath me and I fall, useless and limp against them again.

She looks at me with so much love and asks "oh pet, what's the matter? I thought you liked your new body?"

All I can do is look up at her and whisper "please..." my whisper drawing out into a whine as my Mistress shudders and plunges herself into me, flower petals wrapped around my arm so I couldn't shake it even I wanted to, pumping me so full of girl juice.

"What a good little pet, begging so sweetly," she croons. "You're going to be such a good little girl for me~"

[stunfiskz]

brain rotting about how fucked it is to be a darkner again lately. how do you care about being abandoned by your gods if they never seemed to care that much about you in the first place

[larkoneironaut]

POV: You’re on a date with Zevran Arainai 🍷

[onionowt]

I've been wanting to unleash this headcanon from my mind for too long. I love nesting guide

They don't communicate very well hehehe

[afterthelambs]

i adore Maruki as a character because he's simultaneously the most relatable depressing character that will make you cry with empathy, and the goofiest wettest cat loser in the game like what do you mean youre a licensed therapist and your first response to trauma is to brainwash a girl, project ur relationship issues onto a 17 yr old boy, and then rule the world in a golden leotard? bro went from 0 to 100 so fast??? anyway he's like 30% of the reason why p5r works as well as it does

[taiistired]

mean gills doodles from my limlife rewatch!!

[starryeyed-seer]

me: I'm not a bat

Mr pages: (stuffing novels under its robe): I must abscond

[chalkrub]

mockley time it's mockley time will you have some mockleys of mine

[ruporas]

can’t talk about it

[ID: Black and white comic of Vash and Wolfwood from Trigun Maximum. The comic starts with the sounds "thud, thud, click". Vash, mid-action of peeling an apple, turns to the sound, noticing who it was that entered, and says, "Oh, Wolfwood, you're back." He resumes back to his apple in the next panel as he speaks, "Where'd you go? You snuck out of bed quickly this morning..." Wolfwood's hand then enters the panel, hovering over Vash's cheek and Vash looks up as Wolfwood asks, "Can I?" Vash responds, "Not going to talk about it?" while using a hand to gently hold Wolfwood's hovering hand and presses a kiss to his inner palm.

Vash then gets up fully, setting down the knife down on the table and the apple onto a plate, He leans into Wolfwood as Wolfwood explains, "Had to meet someone. Nothing interesting to talk about." Vash kisses Wolfwood's left cheek and a hand moves to cup his other cheek while muttering, "You're being vague." Wolfwood says neutrally, "If yer really that curious, keep askin'. We  can talk about that instead of doing this." Vash leans back and responds, "Let's talk after, since... You look so tired."

The panel pans to a close up of Wolfwood's downcast eyes, bags heavy underneath his eyes. He doesn't allow Vash to sit in that moment for long though, then saying, "Yer not helping, Spikey. Being all slow with it... I could fall asleep right now." He moves his hand to start unclasping Vash's coat, starting from his collar. Vash with red cheeks, responds briskly, "Oh, shut up. I'm worried about you. I can't be worried?"

The final shot shows Wolfwood's back to the viewer while Vash's softened expression can be seen as he holds gently onto the side of Wolfwood's face and a hand firm on his waist. Wolfwood responds, "I'm fine, seriously," pausing for a moment before continuing, "Is it okay to still..?" Vash responds, "Yeah, it's okay."

The next image is a shot from later that night after the previous comic. Vash and Wolfwood are now in bed, half naked. Wolfwood's buries his face into Vash's chest, his arms wrapped around him, while Vash is petting at his hair. Vash reminds him, "Hey. You said we'd talk about it." Wolfwood pauses for a moment before piping up, "In the morning? I'm sleepy." Vash says, "Okay..."

The next two pages start from the morning after. Wolfwood is already fully awake, pulling on his outer jacket as he says to Vash, whos' still bundled in his blankets, "Breakfast is on the table. Make sure to eat it. I'm going to grab some things in town and then we're leavin'. Got it?" Vash says, "Mh." Wolfwood responds, "Good. See ya in a bit." The dialogue starts to shift into Vash's inner thoughts now, as he gets up and eats toast, thinking, "Wait. Weren't we supposed to... talk about it?" The next shot then shows him fully up, meeting Wolfwood in town. He carries a half worried expression with him while Wolfwood slides on his glasses for him. A quick panel shows Wolfwood's tired expression from the night before and quickly juxtaposes with Wolfwood in front of him who's smiling gently, the shades covering his eye bags. Wolfwood asks him, "Still not awake yet?" Vash pauses, his thoughts stirring, thinking, "Oh. I guess I was getting ahead of myself... thinking you owe me that kind of honesty." He smiles at Wolfwood and responds, "I'm awake!" His thoughts continue, "Maybe one day, you'd trust me enough to share your burdens."

The final image shows Wolfwood pulling at Vash's cheek and Vash complains, "Owwwww why..." Wolfwood quickly says, "You were thinking something stupid, right? It's all over yer face." Vash mutters, "Nooo, I wasn't..." END ID]

[stump-not-found]

i think they're gonna make it, guys

src

[angelsdean]

Dean's desk, Summer 1997

To commemorate the end of SOTW Season, I bring you a still from Spirit of the West: The Major Motion Picture--er, sort of.

While there's never a scene in the story where Dean would have all these things out on his desk (or occasion where he might have taken some of those photos), I wanted to make something that encompasses his summer with references to various points in the story.

I made it in the style of my "I Spy" edits which also means you can play a little game if you'd like:

Try to spy all 10 horses throughout the image!

And if you haven't already, go check out Spirit of the West by @urne-buriall

[essektheylyss]

One thing that I feel is really interesting and often forgotten about Essek is that fundamentally, his characterization has been from the start based upon his desperation for external perspectives and connection, which, along with much of his narrative and mechanical positioning, means that he actually has an extraordinary and almost (but not actually, as I'll show) counterintuitive capacity for both growth and trust.

(Buckle in. This is a long one.)

In particular, I would argue, knowing now that many places where the plot touches Ludinus have long been marked for connecting back into the current plot, that he was quite possibly built as a prime candidate for radicalization by the Ruby Vanguard. He felt isolated from his culture, he was desperate for other connection, and he was certainly of the type to believe he was too smart to be drawn into such a thing, given his initial belief that he could control the situation and the fallout. If things had gone any other way, he easily could've been on the other side by now.

As such, he has been hallmarked by being fairly open to suggestion, perhaps for this reason, but the thing about that kind of trait is that it is both how people are radicalized and deradicalized. This is certainly true of Essek, who experienced genuine kindness and quite frankly strangeness from the Nein and was able to move from the isolation the Assembly had engendered to meaningful and genuine connection, largely propelled by his own internal reflection. By the time Nein are aware of his crimes, he's already begun to express regret to an extent and, furthermore, doubt in the Assembly, including explicitly drawing a line against Ludinus, even in a position where he was on his own and probably quite vulnerable.

Similarly, when the Nein reach the Vurmas Outpost some weeks later, he has moved from regret for the position he's ended up carrying a heavy remorse. This makes sense! He's fairly introspective, seems used to spending a lot of time in his own head, and was left with plenty to mull over. It's not some kind of retcon for him to have progressed well past where the Nein left him; it just means he's an active participant in the world who has done his own work in the meantime.

This is another interesting aspect to him. I've talked about this a bit before but I cannot find the post so I'll recap here: antagonists in D&D have significantly more agency than allied NPCs. Antagonists are active forces, against which the party is meant to struggle; allies are meant to support the PCs, which means they tend to be more passive in both their actions and their character growth. Essek was both built as an antagonist, in a position that gives him significant agency, and also was then given significant opportunity to grow specifically to act as a narrative mirror for Caleb's arc. Even when he becomes a more traditional D&D ally, he still retains much of that, though he occupies a supporting role.

I believe that this is especially true because of the nature of Caleb's arc, which I've already written on; the tl;dr of this post is that Caleb is both convinced that he is permanently ruined and also desperate to prove that change is possible. Essek is that proof, because he is simply the character in a position to do so. But this also means that his propensity for introspection and openness is accentuated! He has to do the legwork on his own, for the most part, because that's where he is in the meantime.

But he still ends the campaign necessarily constricted; he is under significant scrutiny, he's at risk from the Assembly, and he goes on the run fairly soon after the story ends. He spends most of the final arc anxious and paranoid, which is valid given the crushing reality of his situation. It would be very easy to extrapolate that seven years into this reality, he would be insular, closed off, and suspicious of strangers, even in spite of the lessons he's learned from the Nein and their long term exposure.

So seeing his openness and lightness now is surprising, but at the same time, given this combination of factors in his position in the narrative over time and his defining traits, it's not by any means unreasonable.

But one thing that I found so delightful is how much trust he exhibits, which is obviously a wild thing to say about Essek in particular, given much of what he learns is both earning and offering trust, which was something he says explicitly in 2x124 that he's never really experienced: "I've never really been trusted and so I did not trust." It makes up much of the progression of his relationship with Caleb, and the trust that he is offered by the Nein in walking off the ship is the impetus he needs to grow.

But I think it's easy to talk about trust when it comes to people who have proven themselves to you or to whom you've ingratiated yourself, and that's really the most we can say about Essek by the time he leaves the Blooming Grove. There is this sense in a lot of discussion of trust (not solely in this fandom) that it is only related to either naivete or love, but there's far more to it. Trust at its best is deliberate—cultivating an openness to the world at large is a great way to combat cynicism and beget connection instead. It allows a person to maintain curiosity and be open to experience, but it can be incredibly difficult to hold onto.

It is clear that the Essek we meet now is a very pointedly and intentionally trusting individual. He trusts Caleb and by extension Caleb's trust in Keyleth, as he shows up and picks up a group of strangers from a foreign military encampment and walks in without issue. He trusts the Hells to follow his lead moving through Zadash and to exhibit enough discretion so as to avoid bringing suspicion upon all of them. He trusts that Astrid will respond well to his entrance, but he also trusts himself and the Hells enough to execute a back-up plan in the case that she doesn't. In the end, he even trusts them enough to give them his name and identity.

He doesn't scan as someone who has spent half a dozen years living like a prey animal, afraid of any shadow he runs across in an alley, withdrawn into himself and an insular family, which would've been an easy route for him to take. He scans as someone who has learned the kind of trust borne of learned confidence and a trained eye for good will and kindness, which are crucial weapons one would need for staving off cynicism in his circumstances—as if he has survived thanks more to connection and kindness than paranoia and isolation. (If we want to be saccharine about it, he scans quite poignantly as a member of the Mighty Nein.)

So it is easy to imagine this trust and openness as a natural progression of his initial search for perspectives external to his own cultural knowledge. Though he makes those first connections with the Assembly to try to vindicate his personal hypotheses, he finds in them exposure to the deepest corruption among Exandrian mortals, which could've—and did, for a time—turned him further down that same dark path.

But it's also this same openness to exposure from the wider world that allows the Nein to influence him for the better, and in spite of the challenges he's certainly faced simply surviving over the past seven years, he seems to have held onto this openness enough to move through the world with self-assurance and a willingness to extend the kinds of trust and good will that he has been shown.

(I would be remiss not to mention that I was reminded about my thoughts on this by this lovely post from sky-scribbles and their use in the tags of 'light' to describe Essek's demeanor this episode, which is really such an apt word for it.)

[catcrumbled]

still thinking about dream in dexerto’s video he looked so perfectly soft and huggable :(( 🫂🩵

[smile-files]

a blackhole of happiness, greedy for the light it cannot give back