#new version appearance

[anretoga]

Secret Garden chapter 1

“You’re absolutely enough”

[folklorefearlessts]

I can do it with a broken heart 🌚❤️

[tritoch]

i know a lot of people (very understandably) dislike the paladin job quests in ffxiv, particularly HW, but i do think it's fun that, now that the pre-ShB MSQ revamp is complete, paladins now have a very cool and thematic in-game storyline that happens without a word being spoken: the development of passage of arms.

none of the below is directly stated in the script, but imo it's a fairly obvious gloss on what the game presents, if you assume a paladin warrior of light. spoilers for all expansions through the end of 6.X.

in the new version of steps of faith, as vishap breaks through each ward protecting ishgard from attack, lucia mounts a final desperate effort to hold him back, with a very familiar looking animation:

but even lucia can't hold back vishap's flame alone, so the temple knights surge forward to assist her. their efforts make the shield visually more powerful and larger. the temple knights here band together in defense of ishgard, and their knightly resolve to protect their home is the difference between victory and defeat.

lucia and the knights do ultimately succeed in defending the last ward, as you have to defeat vishap before their shield falls or you lose.

later in heavensward, obviously, we will get ffxiv's most famous (failed) attempt at blocking something with a shield.

this moment can be read as fairly impactful on the warrior of light's development; as i've noted elsewhere, after the trauma of watching haurchefant bleed out in their arms at level 57, at level 58 paladins learn to channel their magic into healing (and it's called "clemency," or mercy. mercy for whom? who was guilty?), and as someone pointed out on that post, at level 58 dark knights used to get "sole survivor", letting them heal in response to a marked target's death.

for a time, you literally carry haurchefant's shield with you, and 3.3 very much literalizes in genre fashion the idea that even when you are standing alone, your fallen friends stand with you. you don't need to call any allies to stand at your side and raise their shields with you because they are already there, in spirit.

stormblood marks a pretty important turning point in the warrior of light as a combatant, in my opinion, and the text makes this clear in several ways. first, in pretty much all your jobs, you've now far exceeded your trainers and are pioneering new techniques. this is no less true of paladin, which for 60-70 abandons any trainers at all for you to show off your peerless skills in a tournament.

second, stormblood is straight up a story about you getting stronger. at level 61, zenos kicks your ass. at level 70, you kick his ass. why? because you fought and got stronger and developed incredible new techniques and became a one-man army.

for a lot of classes, this story lines up nicely with the big rotation changes or flashy new finishers on the way from 60 to 70. SMN is now busting out bahamut and casting akh morn; RDM gets verflare and verholy; DRG starts harnessing nidhogg's power directly through dragon sight and nastrond.

the tanks are divided in two: warriors and gunbreakers get huge damaging upgrades at 70 in the form of inner release and continuation, each of which lets them hit the same button many times for lots of damage and satisfying animations. paladin and dark knight get more protective abilities; dark knight gets the blackest night, and there's been plenty said about that already by pretty much everyone.

paladins get passage of arms. instead of a relentless new attack (and you get requiescat at 68, which is a way bigger deal for your dps rotation), your big reveal at 70 for zenos in your fight in ala mhigo is a superior way to protect your party, a shield that lets you stand for your allies so they never have to fall for you again. it's lucia's same shield, except you need no allies' shields to reinforce you, proof of your martial prowess and your ability to transcend limits, and perhaps in truth a reminder that you never really stand alone.

in many respects passage of arms should really feel like a paladin signature move to you now if you are playing it at this point, because you should be popping it in pretty much every fight (you are using your mits, right...?). basically every FFXIV fight has at least one big AOE with downtime that warrants passage of arms usage, usually after the mid-fight add phase with slowly filling bar. since that AOE usually drops during downtime, there's no reason not to pop passage of arms (which otherwise restricts your movement and actions), and even on normal, sometimes every little bit counts on a damage check even if it means dropping DPS (thinking here of harrowing hell P10N on release, which was...less consistent for a lot of roulette parties than you might hope).

so from 70 onward, passage of arms is in a sense a paladin warrior of light's signature move, and certainly the one a player gets to most actually enjoy (since if you're using it, you're by necessity not doing anything besides moving your camera and admiring your sick animation). it doesn't have any competition in terms of spectacle until confiteor, and those you're usually throwing out in the middle of movement.

it's such a signature, in fact, that the only other person shown using your one-person version of passage of arms is your greatest admirer, who studied your legend for over a century.

and it's when he fails (should've popped arm's length, bud) that the warrior of light decides they can't let their friends fall for them, and sends them away with the transporter beacon. this is all wrong: you were meant to die for them, not the other way around. yours is the shield that stands between your allies and defeat. it is you who will win this passage of arms and break your opponents lance. and you do.

and then later, when they need to quickly establish zero's domain as a place of fallen grandeur, the home of someone who once believed in heroes but is now a cool and cynical vampire hunter d, what do they use? a decayed statue of someone in the paladin endwalker gear doing the passage of arms animation, of course.

from a visible instantiation of knighthood as a joint effort to defend what is sacred, to a tribute to the fallen friends whose memories stand by you and animate you, to a symbol of the wol's power as emulated by their allies or darkly mirrored in other shards.

not bad for a mit button you hit once per fight and otherwise never think about!

[chimerical-daydreams]

Art therapy.

I put Loop through too much already, they deserve a decent coping mechanism.

[heshemejoshi]

going west

[mariocki]

RIP Christopher Benjamin (27.12.1934 - 15.1.2025)

"That was another reason, in a way, that I decided to give [stage acting] up, because I was getting a bit - a bit dicey with the lines. People sort of wrote down, quite often, the things I said... instead of the things I should have said. They were known as my bloopers: 'Benjamin bloopers'. Some of my inventions were very good, I must admit. My feeling was, if I dried, I had to say something - and so that something was something that amused the rest of the cast considerably, quite often."

[mod-jesse]

i love them a lot (this took too long)

( psst you should reblog if you think this is cool )

[catguangcorner]

body for rent (at the end of the line)

(or a VeiFei ficlet in which Xia Fei agrees, to something. it's all subtext and suggestion, really — read into it however you like)

The underground roars as the train cuts through a long tunnel and engulfs the train carriage in momentary darkness — Vein's stare like a laser piercing Xia Fei's skull, intruding, unyielding; he says something Xia Fei doesn't catch, something swallowed by the screech of the train.

His ears pop from the air pressure. Vein's hand settles on Xia Fei's knee, like it has always belonged there. Still, the carriage shrouded in little light, still, the words caught in his throat — he swallows them with an easy smile. Vein's cool cologne — eucalyptus? — dizzying him as he leans in close, fingers pressing and digging into his jeans. Xia Fei tips his head closer, until Vein's lips ghost the shell of his ear, breath warm, words low:

"I said, just how willing are you, sweetheart?" his voice drips with sweet venom.

"Well... I'll do exactly as you like, Vein." 

At that, he grins, wide enough that the yellow flickering lights catching his too sharp canines. The glint in his eye is animal, Xia Fei knows. But he can't stand to look away. Under Vein's watchful, hungry gaze, he might just shine. Might be seen. 

"A-Xiao was right — you are the perfect little doll."

Out of the dark now, bouts of daylight fall in and out the near empty carriage. They're coming towards the end of the line.

Xia Fei does know the risk, but he leans in anyway, eager for the reward.

[skeletonpendeja]

Nothing Girl! But... Different!

Designs for a hypothetical Nothing Girl comic drawn in a more traditional format. Smiles an actual raggedy doll, Bad Seed is a bit more rooted and things are a bit sweeter and harsher

[vaguely-concerned]

I just *clenches fist with tears in my eyes* love the grand necropolis so much

[rosesandalfazemas]

Watch your tone when you're talking to me...

[liauditore]

new suicide squad anime got me thinking about the genderbend batman au i made when i was 16 again.

extra (nsfw??? body horror + shirtless doodle lol) art under the cut + drabble.

A mysterious actress appears in Gotham!

Production for the long-anticipated remake of the 1930s classic horror film, "The Clay", is saved in part thanks to the audition of one woman with no credits to her name, just a face and demeanor identical of the late leading actress of the original film.

However, the cast and crew have bigger worries than their limited budget and endless demands from their producers -- everyone involved seems to be disappearing one by one!

While the average gothammite worries that the cult classic's "cursed" reputation might be a little more than an urban legend, The Batman refuses to entertain such unfounded silliness and aims to get to the bottom of this crime against cinema!

presenting BATMAN '63 - THE RISE OF CLAYFACE coming not actually ever lmao

(her hair is brown now because I like the idea of her appearance never being fully consistent lol. shapeshifters gotta do their thing)

[shadowed-dancer]

Friendly reminder that if you don't know who to wish for first in Natlan, it's a better idea to prioritize Citlali and Capitano (if you want them) because they're both cryo and apparently cryo characters don't get reruns anymore :)

[restinpeacesensei]

traditional style 💖

[roamingswtor]

Converted Lana's shadow of revan hair and outfit, and Theron's outfit to the sims 4!

Theron's Hair by cursedbeasts-cc, Theron's Cybernetics by PristinePastel

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

The Challenge of Doubt

24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.

25 The other disciples therefore said to him, We have seen the Lord! But he said to them, Unless I see in His hands the mark of the nails and put my finger into the mark of the nails and put my hand into His side, I will by no means believe.

26 And after eight days, His disciples were again within, and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, though the doors were shut, and stood in the midst and said, Peace be to you.

27 Then He said to Thomas, Bring your finger here and see My hands, and bring your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing.

28 Thomas answered and said to Him, My Lord and my God!

29 Jesus said to him, Because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.

30 Moreover indeed many other signs also Jesus did before His disciples, which are not written in this book.

31 But these have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing, you may have life in His name. — John 20:24-31 | Recovery Version (REC) The Recovery Version of the Holy Bible © 2009 Living Stream Ministry. All rights reserved. Cross References: Psalm 22:16; Matthew 4:3; Matthew 10:3; Matthew 13:16; Mark 16:11; Mark 16:14; Luke 1:35; Luke 24:36; Luke 24:39-40; John 2:11; John 6:2; John 6:67; 1 Peter 1:8

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How can I avoid being a doubting Thomas?