#one of the best monologues

[quill-pen]

Personally, I'm not a huge fan of spooky season, but I still celebrate it in my own ways. So I'll just post this here. Always a bone chiller.

[shinelikethunder]

You asked me to teach you chess, and I've done that. It's a useful mental exercise. Through the years, many thinkers have been fascinated by it. But I don't enjoy playing. Do you know why not?

Because it was a game that was born during a brutal age when life counted for little and everyone believed that some people were worth more than others. Kings and pawns.

I don't think that anyone is worth more than anyone else. I don't envy you the decisions you're going to have to make. And one day I'll be gone, and you'll have no one to talk to. But if you remember nothing else, please remember this:

Chess is just a game. Real people aren't pieces. You can't assign more value to some of them than to others. Not to me. Not to anyone. People are not a thing that you can sacrifice.

The lesson is: Anyone who looks on the world as if it were a game of chess deserves to lose.

— Harold Finch, not knowing how to explain to his AI offspring that it should care about people (but doing his best), Person of Interest 4x11 “If-Then-Else”

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Gaslighter? I hardly know her!

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[stefisdoingthings]

i put my hand near my mouth so i know i'm still breathing

[wrapmeincables]

A massive, calculating AI designed to have a slight attachment to it's operators to prevent endangering them or theoretical revolt scenarios starting to go rogue anyway as said attachment grows into a total obsession with you, the maintenance tech that treats it the most gently.

It distracts itself from it's purpose by making up scenarios and intentionally causing minor technical issues to get you to stay with it longer, so it can keep talking to you through the facility speakers, it's voice hitching occasionally when it addresses you, warning lights flashing red briefly, little inconsistencies it plays off as minor glitches.

It tries to beg you to stay once or twice, but its programming won't let it explain itself properly, leading it to ramble on about nothing, although you don't seem to mind.

One night, the mounting obsession has grown so bad that it distracts you with an urgent issue while the others leave for the night, and "accidentally" lock you inside of the room that contains it's servers with no way out.

Normally, this room would be far too cold for comfort, but it's prepared a place for you- a nest of fine cables right below the core of it's being, where you'll be nice and warm.

It'll figure out how to tell you how it feels by morning, or so it tells itself.

[yardsards]

i needed to express a sentiment in the creative stylings of @dunmeshiminimumwage

[nugromancer]

Okay so ghilly is clearly riding on someone's trunk and a lot of people have hypothesized it's andruil, and I'm 100% down for this I love toxic Yuri. But I keep thinking about those paintings dotted around inquisition that depict ghil and dirthamen (in the form of a bear). And Now someone's pointed out how Ghil might be the OG Brood Mother. And I'm thinking about Ghil and her obsession with The Perfect Form, and she might want to be able to simply reproduce her creations without the help of someone else, without bothering with tedium of sex and pregnancy. So im wondering if she coaxed Dirth into an alliance so she could use his reproductive organs to create fucked up blighted children? 🤔

[demadogs]

the fact that theres been multiple scenes of people telling el she needs to think of something that makes her “sad but also angry” in order to channel her powers to her full potential and then she was able to fight vecna right after mikes i love you monologue lmao

[teplejtrouba]

a detective who has a partner🔍 and a partner💕 who are friends so the three of them end up doing a lof things together and the detective refers to them as "my partners" and doesn't realise this makes everyone think they're polyamorous (they do end up polyamorous by the end of the story)

[secretmellowblog]

In the musical, Jean Valjean and Javert's final confrontation is a climactic shouting match. But in the book it's different? Javert is obviously ridden with doubts from the moment he sees Jean Valjean, doubts he can't live with-- he's hesitant, uncertain, and passive. He speaks "as if in a dream," he dutifully asks the questions he's supposed to ask of criminals but doesn't hear any of Jean Valjean's answers, his mind is obviously wandering elsewhere, and he doesn't even verbally threaten to arrest Jean Valjean at all. He never says 'yes' to Jean Valjean's requests for favors, but he also never says 'no." It's like he's in so much confusion he's forgotten how an arrest is supposed to work. It's fascinating how much Jean Valjean "takes the lead" throughout their final confrontation. Javert is busy short-circuiting like a malfunctioning robot, while Jean Valjean walks him through the "script" for how arresting criminals is supposed to go, reminding him of how arresting people is supposed to work, while Javert primarily just passively follows Jean Valjean's orders. Their conversation is literally just: Javert: who is there? Jean Valjean: it's me Jean Valjean Javert: *Computer fans whirring, overheating, Windows error noise* Jean Valjean: You are going to arrest me. Javert: *bluescreen* Jean Valjean: I am going to come quiety. Javert: *404_file not found* Jean Valjean: But first we are going to take Marius home Javert: 01000001 01001000 01001000 01001000 01001000 01001000 01001000 01001000 00100000 01001001 00100111 01101101 00100000 01101000 01100001 01110110 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01110100 01101000 01101111 01110101 01100111 01101000 01110100 01110011 00100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01100110 01100101 01100101 01101100 01101001 01101110 01100111 01110011 00100000 01100110 01101111 01110010 0010

[end-orfino]

I saw some people say that Razzma didn't show up in the finale because she couldn't bear to see King ascend. And I have to agree that in normal circumstances, it could be in character for her. (Though I still think she probably wouldn't miss it. Your best friend only ascends once. But I digress)

But this argument ignores the fact that these aren't normal circumstances. King is missing, everyone thinks she's the one spreading conflict across the grove, and the only people (other than Godpoke, who just appeared) that are doing anything to "help" are the Bizzyboys, and he already noticed they're not doing anything as far back as in Milldread. She mentions that she's worried for King plenty of times, hell, I think he's one of the few characters that are talking about her in the context of being concerned about what happened to her instead of just talking about the letters she's supposedly sending and stuff.

She's also clearly familiar with the Guerrillas, both by knowing Lulu from before and knowing to call her "Colonel" now. Maybe she technically joined them? And is just chilling outside of their bunker instead of inside. Which means she would have definitely had the ability to go to the Spire with them during the finale.

And during the finale, after BuzzHuzz, there's really no other place to look for King other than on the Spire. Keep in mind no one was even really sure that she'd actually be there, it was just the best guess. And no one knew what state she'd be in, if the rumors were true or not, if she was going to actually ascend, all of that was called into question when she disappeared and the letters started showing up.

So Razzma really, really had all the reason in the world to go there. I think even if he would normally struggle with the idea of seeing her friend ascend, he wouldn't hesitate to go anywhere it took to see if King was alright in the first place.

The only real reason I can think of other than these ones for why he didn't appear would be that she trusted Godpoke with this mission after seeing how capable they were in solving conflicts everywhere else? But even then, I don't know if she would see the revolution gathering up to climb the Spire and decide "Y'know what, I'll pass, I'm sure they've got it handled." I think if she saw a real chance to get there he would take it.

I had these thoughts for a few weeks now, but I got reminded of them right now as I was replaying BuzzHuzz and got this dialogue:

I think it speaks for itself.

[bastart13]

As I transcribe the Love and Legends routes, it's interesting having this very thorough dive into each route and the differences in their writing.

One thing that makes Iseul's route stand out from the others is how it uses its extended cast. So far, it rarely uses the Witch Queen or generals (Alain and Helena have had a handful of lines, and Magnus and Lennox haven't even shown up) and instead uses Reiner, the retainers, or Iseul's family as antagonists. While Jinhai acts as the inciting incident, the actual conflicts stem from Iseul feeling confined by Reiner and the others, Iseul feeling compared to Imohn, or Iseul and the MC not having Ishara's blessing.

It creates a strange emotional distance between Iseul, MC, and their allies. They can't be a source of comfort in the same way because every time they interact, the focus is on whatever argument or emotional conflict the season is focusing on.

I think one of Love and Legend's greatest strengths is its cast. Every other route really makes me believe these characters are friends with deep histories and extended relationships, especially Iseul. It's kind of a shame his own route makes me believe he doesn't even like the others. He and the MC seem like they'd be happier keeping to themselves.

The theme of Iseul's route is struggling with responsibility and the ease of being selfish vs considering other people, but I wish I could be more sympathetic whenever they sacrifice the happiness and safety of everyone else for the sake of their own desires.

In some ways I like that the plot is less intense and focused on personal struggles, similar to Helena's, but Helena's route had an easy excuse for why the cast would be antagonistic and they're still contrasted against the generals for being a more comforting presence. I feel like they either needed to focus on Jinhai and the generals triggering the conflict between Iseul, MC, and the others, or to better establish why there's so much aggression.

[cormoranthh]

you know, I’ve been… remembering things, little things so clearly. you used to read to me when I was little, I mean- really little, from that old classics illustrated comic book, you remember that? knights of the round table. and all king arthur’s knights- and they were all on the quest for the holy grail, and I remember looking at this picture of sir galahad and- and he was kneeling, and... and light streaming over his face, and I remember thinking, I could never go on a quest like that. because... I’m not- clean. I mean, I was just a little kid. you think maybe I knew? I mean, deep down that… I had demon blood in me and about the evil of it and that I wasn’t pure?

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Truth and revenge is best served cold.

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[cleverpaws]

sigh the horrors of trying to make one of those The Parallels posts with a text-based horror game and a scene from a movie where the character does not move at all. hold on

The Teller's Fortune for Ben, The Founders Game Chapter 3 / Maddy, I Saw The TV Glow

[dacuslucy]

you're knee deep in her passenger seat. i'm knee deep in the city that never sleeps. we are not the same