#look at that wall of fucking text

[ash-and-starlight]

Sokka baulked. "I'm not getting on that." "That," said Zuko, "is my baby." Zuko's baby, a fifty foot dragon, huffed. Great white plumes of smoke issued out of his nostrils and buffeted around Sokka. "Play nice, Druk," said Zuko, laughing

for The Mercy of Magpies chapter 2!

as always written by thee wonderful showstopping incredible @ranilla-bean ✨

chapter post || cover || map and characters

[28ms28]

its been a while since i did lestappen text posts so here you go

all other parts here

[itsmeezra]

actually can we talk about how truly doomed by the narrative Jayce and Viktor are?

Jayce would’ve died in that snowstorm as a child had the mage (who we later learn IS Viktor through some time and space foolery) not intervened. He later would’ve killed himself had main timeline Viktor not intervened. Viktor ALSO would’ve later killed himself had Jayce not intervened.

Viktor was in fact supposed to die in the explosion, he said it himself. We see a split second frame where his spine is snapped in half, he was DEAD dead and Jayce resurrected him, only to later kill him, which is THEE big trigger event for Viktor fully becoming Herald.

in every universe where Herald Viktor exists, he turns the entire world into those robot things, Jayce included. Even when Herald Viktor survives indefinitely/reaches immortality after this, he’s alone. We’re TOLD this is not a nice solitude thing, he eventually ends up miserable about it.

hell, even in the alternate reality Ekko goes to we don’t see Jayce because the events of the main timeline don’t play out the same; he very likely did go through with killing himself. Vi died in the explosion, so Jayce would’ve stood even LESS of a chance in his trial, and honestly? Viktor prob wouldn’t have intervened here, it’s makes the arcane look even riskier and that’s a dead child from Zaun. We don’t even SEE Viktor here because hextech doesn’t exist, he never would’ve created the hexcore/a method of healing himself to the same degree and likely died to his illness by this point

the main timeline/ending we got? They die together. That’s it. All of that back and forth of the two of them dodging death, often at the hands of one saving the other, and the only ending they could’ve gotten that doesn’t doom everyone else is one where they’re both gone. No matter how the events of Arcane played out, Jayce and Viktor were always going to die, one way or another.

this makes the ending we got the ‘happiest’ ending for them btw. they chose to be together for it, while in any other option they would’ve been alone.

[givemedamage]

ultimately!

[bitegore]

if you're an egotistical artist, you should use alt text.

hear me out. you want to show people your art, right? you want them to see the important details, the shit they should be blown away with... right? so they know how to compliment you and what they should be focusing on, no? and you want everyone to see it?

put a description in the alt text.

not just "my oc standing in front of a background" no get descriptive. focus on that shit. "a woman with beautiful eyes and an ornate hammer" better. what'd you spend three hours detailing? "wearing a shirt with an ornate lace pattern" better! what are you aiming for? "it looks like a classical portrait" THERE.

and having the alt text button means people who can see might click on it too. and then be like "wow i didn't notice half of these details". its true. happens to me pretty often. half the time they're like "this owns, omg, you guys should look at the alt text" because i did a good job describing it and there's details even they didn't catch until they read it and looked back over it.

if you like when people stroke the hell out of your ego and catch all the cool things in your art. and you want everyone to see your art. put some alt text on that thing. for serious.

[smokinghorse]

tagged by @bloodanddiscoballs Rules: without naming them, post a gif from ten of your favorite films and then tag ten people to do the same. This looks fun!

I'm a really big fan of very old black and white movies but I didn't want to dominate the list with them lmao. Not tagging anyone in particular but whoever sees this and thinks this would be fun I'd love to see! :]

[bloomshore]

Look at my s/i boy. (They/she) They're putting weird nonbinary bitches in your Three Houses LOOK OUT!

[narfin-frood]

oh yeah no i'm aware of the point of this au being that their personalities are more or less the same, just the roles they place in the story. i just forgot the word 'redeemed' and was unsure how to word it without it being to clutter-y. i usually try not to swarm inboxes with my ramblings😅

this point is actually what fascinates me in your au so much! like, it gives so much room to play around with, yet still stays true to the show :) IT'S SUCH A GOOD AU!!

(also nooo😭😭😭 touch grass was not aimed at you, i was just repeating what i saw in your post-reply to me. like, hater saying this to sylvia. im sorry for being unclear)

and yay! thanks so much! i'm swamped w work/projects atm so i'm like. UNSURE. when the promised art will happen. but it will.

/stares at the unedited 5k beast abt deprogramming swap!dominator/ i'm talking abt YOU SPECIFICALLY.

the thing abt fears is what makes this wander so fascinating to me. cults lowkey freak me out + the forced "must never move bc ITS BETTER FOR EVERYONE THAT WAY" oof. a lot of potential.

anyway, hope you're having a day! sometimes just a day is enough. though good is preferred obv

ohhh i apologize i got a little confused!!! you can ramble as much as you need to it's no big deal to me. i'll read it! i am notoriously The Rambler, and i like to hear what people think about the things i make!!!

if i'm understanding right now, you are/were asking how wander gets redeemed, or how it would go down when he does (sorry if that's still not really your question)? because i have plans i cannot share with you lest my enemies (the creatures in my brain that keep me from actively doing anything) try to strike me down... but the event would be ermmm Power of friendship, to be as vague as possible, and it would have to do with the strength of the bond between meteor and peepers and esp the bond between sylvia and wander..... i want to say more but i cant without spoiling what im cooking......

and thank you very much!!! believe me i get being ultra busy (i am also ultra busy, i'm just an expert procrastinator and i hate getting off my ass to do things) and i do not Slash will never expect anything of anybody!!! pls do it on your own time and have fun with it if you do end up doing it. no worries whatsoever if you don't. i'm forever psyched to see what you come up with, and also, do not let that be the pressure that breaks it for you!! theres no pressure at all :)

(also deprogramming dominator fic thats so FUN !!!! thats so fun)

i hope you also have a good day!! i've been having a decent weekend myself

[no1ryomafan]

I decide to change my pic to this fuck ass ryoma frame and I would say I have a new related ramble to accompany this but instead my brain has continuously wander back to the smallest detail of “how many fucking years was arma ryoma actually in jail” and I wish it didn’t because it’s so insignificant to the plot but my brain REFUSES to let it go.

[aggressionbread]

I'm still thinking about this fucked up BBQ Chicken bacon pizza we got from Papa John's like two years ago. So egregious I've held a grudge against Papa John ever since.

So first, there's so much fucking barbecue sauce on the thing that in some places, its completely drowning out all the other flavors. You can see it pooling out from underneath the cheese in some areas. By the end i had resorted to lifting up the cheese layer and scraping off the excess sauce, but it was still too much.

Which brings us to the second point, the elephant on the pizza. I do not think this is standard for Papa John's. I have never seen them do this before, nor since (since i've never been back) but i would like to direct your attention to the big spiral of bbq sauce on top. Was there not enough sauce for you already??? Did you need to add more sauce?

[igbylicious]

Helo.. Sorry if it's been said in the story already and i just forgor, but what is Wooyoung's job in Whichever Way? :3

haiiiii ♡ omg Isak i can’t with how incredible your timing is alskdjkasdj the next chapter opens with the reader visiting Wooyoung and his coworker Seonghwa at work (ᵔ◡ᵔ)

it hasn’t really come up before, there was only a tiny lil ‘blink and you miss it’ mention in chapter 7; Wooyoung works at a flower shop (◕‿◕✿)

[cosmogyros]

life is all about trying as hard as you can to be your truest most genuine self, again and again and again, every day forever

[gunstellations]

when your bf is a human radiator and the night is cold but he has the audacity to tell you to move because he has to sleep

[lovesickeros]

This is a little out of the blue, but I genuinely really enjoy hearing your tsaritsa lore and character breakdowns. She's hasn't been someone I'm terribly invested in getting to know as a character, but reading your thoughts on her has really piqued my interest. I've never considered what being the goddess of love could mean I guess

Anyway, all this to say I've been really enjoying your tsaritsa/fatui hype :) it's contagious

THIS IS SO GOOD TO HEAR i love going into deep dive breakdowns of characters especially ones who don't really have a lot of content, because it provides wiggle room for a lot of interpretations. not that i can blame you for not being too invested in her, considering we've never actually seen her, and only hear about from a few sources (venti, who doens't really say much, and childe + arle who also technically dont say much in the grand scheme of things but understanding their characters to see how it changes their view of the tsaritsa and where it overlaps is a good chunk of it)

so its my job to do what hoyo doesn't and hype the hell out of her /j. ive been writing her since i joined sagau around when it first started snowballing into popularity i dont think i could leave if i tried

[nabaath-areng]

I feel so strange thinking about how I considered myself "new" in FFXIV for the longest time, as when I started playing there were so many legacy players around. I saw their mounts and their titles, I talked to them, played with them, and to me they were the experienced ones teaching me how to play my first MMO. For years I considered myself a newbie.

And then, just the other day, I see in the chat of an FC I was invited to on an alt, people talking about having played for a long time, and their longest playing member having been around for 5 years. It hit me just how long of a time that is, and how much longer passed before I'd even realized it.

I ask others if they remember various things from the past, and I can count on one hand the amount of people I meet in recent years who do. So many things I still consider new and flashy, like Gpose and job gauges for instance, have now been in the game far longer than they have not. It's a strange situation caused by me losing about a decade's worth of memories and life (due to mental health issues that practically broke me) as well as the normal feeling ot time passing without me really thinking about it. Less and less did I see the legacy titles and mounts, but I didn't pay much heed. Until one day I suddenly stop and look around, realizing that I haven't seen any legacy players at all for a while. I'm certain they're out there, but most likely not in the same sheer abundance as before.

It's a bit similar to real life, where my home was once just an old, secluded village that have now become geographically closer to the city without ever moving. Where the others I used to surround myself with have all moved on in slow trickles over the years, and where I cannot expect everyone to remember the same things that I do. So many new people everywhere, some that cause lines in the grocery store that can afford to keep running after all these years, and some that fail to load in on my weak little laptop's screen.

It's like I have two homes mirroring each other, and obviously that means I age in both of them. I bought this game as a gift for myself on my 18th birthday... and here I am 10 years later, turning 28 today, and realizing that I'm still here in both places despite everything. Waiting for another expansion all over again, just like when I was staying alive just because I wanted to play Heavensward so bad.

I can't even begin to count just how many people I've known and interacted with throughout the years in this game. There are memories that my years of paranoia and psychosis stole from me (something which I only shook off the last remnants of half a year ago), of people who I know were important to me but who I'm also unable recall much about beyond their names, which is something which fills me with both deep shame and sorrow. Some I remain in touch with to this day, and some I am mutuals with on various sites, even if we don't chat regularly anymore.

There's a lot that I don't remember, or that I even memorized in the first place. Things have changed time and again for both better and worse. But FFXIV has remained a constant throughout it all, even when I've been unsubbed due to lack of a PC and just on a general break.

I don't know what my point is with all of this really, but I guess I just really wanted to get it off my chest. It's not all sunshine and rainbows these days either, but my mental health is better than it's ever been, I have a partner and friends and family who all mean the world to me, and even though some things will forever be less than ideal, I am so so so happy that I didn't give up. Staying alive really was the best decision I ever made ❤️

[seafoam-taide]

Weird having an actual favorite band and knowing it. I don't really have many favorites it is hard to understand my feelings and even harder to pinpoint a 'better and more' feeling about one specific thing. But I know all of their songs, I listen to them all in a big playlist and never get bored, I am always happy to hear any song by them, I have every song's lyrics memorized, like ... they are my unequivocal favorite. There is nothing like it. Yes, I can get really into other songs, there are probably singular songs I can say I like more than any one song by this band. But I guess having a favorite is like what people say about getting married. I'm not explaining myself on that one actually I do have a point there that's an actual metaphor but I've decided explaining it is a bad use of my time. It's one of those artists that are popular enough and artsy enough that they can crop up as fic titles occasionally and no matter the lyric or song it comes from I can always tell immediately. I don't remember what the point of this post was I'm deep in my panic phase and it's 4 am and I was just sitting there singing I Have Made Mistakes to myself bc I can just do that, the whole song, and because it is very funny to go I have made mistakes I have made mistakes and I will continue to make them while in the middle of freaking the fuck out about existing or something. Bc you know yeah im one spoon away from setting the ends of my hair in fire because if I'm kindling for a little while at least I'll feel of use ????????? Yeah this post for sure had a point and it's devolved.