#plus what's the worse thing that can happen?

[weaselle]

Early human match ups with animals

Wolves: have a very similar social structure and lifestyle as early humans, benefit greatly from group dynamics -- teaming up with humans allows them greater access to food at less risk, safer sleeping, higher pup survival rate, better protection from the environment. One wolf eats about as much food as one person, so it's a normal member to add to the group in terms of resources.

Cats: have some amount of social overlap (cat sisters often help raise each other's kittens, and grouping approaches common in some cat species, notably in lions, but also for example in cheetahs, where brother cheetahs often stay together for life in groups of up to 4). Humans are HUGE prey attractors for them, drawing in rodents in large numbers - also meaning people don't have to give up their own food to feed them. Human housing is safer from the elements, keeps competitors and dangers like snakes and larger cat species away. Associating with humans gains special grooming and healing unavailable to wild species, such as draining and cleaning abscesses caused by infected bug bites or, very importantly, feeding and caring through a major illness or injury. A wild cat with a broken leg will often die, a human's cat with a broken leg will live to hunt again.

Goats (which we actually turned into Sheep): Herd structure similar enough to human social structure as to be compatible. Guaranteed food during winter and other times of scarcity -- and none of it is human food. Higher offspring survival rate, robust protection from predators and the elements. Horses : same. Cows: same. Deer/caribou: same but a little less so, actually surprisingly good at both fight and flight (cows, specialize in fight, horses specialize in flight) often travel more distance for resources so have better access during lean times; can match but less beneficial to the deer.

Other animals be like

Big cats like Tigers: Why the fuck are there so many of you in one place. This cold doesn't bother me at all because i'm so big my core stays warm. Just what do you think i need protection from? I'm super capable of feeding myself, and even if food is scarce? you have to sacrifice enough food to feed several people to keep me fed, which is a bummer for your group if food is scarce, and i cannot eat your stored food like dried fruits and grains. Your lifestyle is incompatible with mine, i hate everything about being forced to live with you and also it doesn't benefit me at all. Lions: yeah, plus I already have all the group dynamic benefits you could offer me, you're actually the weakest link in my group, be careful or we might outnumber you, being near us all the time greatly increases the number of times murderous male lions attack this group

Bears: Listen. Even if i get injured i'll just eat something that doesn't run from me until i heal (some brown bear populations spend a couple months a year mainly eating moth colonies, they will eat anything, including moss and fungus). This makes me a direct competitor for ALL you food, btw. Speaking of which it takes like 15 people's worth of food to keep me fed. If i get angry someone is definitely going to die. Protection? from what? The most dangerous thing to a bear is another bear, so also you can't really have more than a couple of me in any group, and staying near me greatly increases the chance of some territorial wild bear rolling up to camp with murder on their mind. What do you meeeean keep wandering around actively instead of sleeping in one spot for months at a time? My life is literally worse with you than without you, and your life is probably worse with me around too.

Weasels: Fuck off you can't keep up with me i eat half my body weight in food every day and bite everything near me. Try to contain me and see what happens i'm made out of teeth and murder and cleverness, and destruction of property and theft are my favorite games and i'm basically always bored unless i'm hunting or fighting or fucking with something. What do you meeeean hold still for 30 seconds now i'm mad and you'll basically have to kill me to stop me from going after whatever i want forever. I will absolutely try to murder every other animal you associate with no matter what size it is, and i will totally also eat all of your other food too because i love fruits and fungus and anything else you like to eat probably - you can't keep me out of your food stores and what i don't eat in the moment i'll steal and hide in my own stash for later. Excuse me now i have to sleep for 18 hours i do not understand why you want to keep doing things for so much of the day.

Don't ask me about ferrets they must have been bought with rodent hunting opportunities like the cats, total fluke if you ask me (ferrets are, in fact, domesticated, after more than two thousand years of human intervention. And it's kind of weird that it happened but i think they were the exact right size to make it work)

I think it's a common misconception that domesticating animals is somewhat like enslaving them. It really is more of a symbiotic relationship. No wild animal would have willingly put up with early humans if they didn't get something out of it. Wolves wouldn't have stayed with us and become dogs if they weren't getting food and safety out of it. Many large herbivores that are now domesticated could and would have easily trampled their early human captors or broken their enclosures open if they didn't have a reason to stay. Sometimes individual animals still do if we don't give them what they need.

The animals that have stayed with us for thousands of years have evolved to cooperate with us better. Dogs have additional facial muscles around their eyes that wolves lack in order to mimic human facial expressions. Sheep grow their wool perpetually while their wild counterparts don't because a bigger fleece means they're more likely to be allowed to breed and be kept around. Domestic dairy cows produce much more milk than wild bovine species and domestic hens lay more eggs. Do you know how energy costly producing eggs or milk is for an animal? It's pretty intense! They wouldn't be able to do that if we hadn't given them the food and safety from predators and the elements to.

And we really need to show these animals respect and gratitude for what they give us by taking excellent care of them. They gave up a lot to be with us, often including the means to take care of themselves in the wild. That's a huge reason why I'm not against using animal products, but I hate factory farming. They are still living, breathing creatures with needs and feelings. They deserve a comfortable life and, when the time comes, a humane death.

[rosesradio]

Hey, I've got questions about your stance against ai

In writing, ik you are against Ai "writing your fic"

But are there ways ai can be used in writing fics that you are okay with?

Like obviously saying "Hey chatgpt, write a (insert fandom) fic where (insert plot) happens" then just copy pasting it, is wrong

But what about getting ideas from ai? Like prompts, or titles (like i did with 1 fic) or having ai re-write like a sentence to make it sound better or other stuff

tbh i don’t think it’s good to use AI like that for anything related to the creation of art. the brain is a muscle, and in order to hone your skills, you need to step out of your comfort zone. i for one hate titling my fics, but i’d rather struggle & then come to the satisfaction of finding a title on my own than asking a bot to spit a title back at me. plus, i’ve titled over 50+ fics, so that skill is strengthened with repetition.

(plus i’m pretty sure chatgpt is regenerative, meaning that if you send it your fic to give a title to, it can use your work as data to write other people’s fics :/)

prompts are even worse tbh. fandom thrives from conversation. if you’re looking for something to write, explore certain tags and post in them, i promise a real person will have an idea you’re interested in, and maybe you can make a new friend in fandom by talking about that idea together.

also, using AI for rewriting is probably the worst thing you can do. again with strengthening the muscle of your mind and honing the skill. you need to reread your work, reach out to others & maybe get an editor/beta reader. you can and should find writing blogs written by real people, and read books to find writing that intrigues you. that’s crucial to the human experience.

of course, i don’t mean any offense when i say this. i can’t stop you. but i for one would never turn to something non-human to aid in something i consider very human & vulnerable, and i don’t think you should either.

[pixeldolly]

The Sacrifice - Part 11 - The End

"How are they, Tess?"

"I've treated Roman's injuries and he's resting now. I've also given him antibiotics and painkillers, so he should be comfortable...as much as he can be, given the circumstances."

"As for Evelyn, I've done all I could for the moment, but we'll have to wait for the morning change before I can perform a full examination. Her wounds seem to be healing remarkably fast though."

"Is it because she's a werewolf?"

"Yes, although I do want to take a closer look at that bite, in case it's at risk of becoming infected. I admit I don't have any experience treating demon-inflicted wounds."

"They are prone to infection."

"I still can't wrap my head around the idea that anyone would do something like this! To their own child, no less!"

"It shocked me as well."

"You took such a risk in confronting her, Fiona! The inhabitants of the Hellplanes are not to be trifled with!"

"I'm aware of that, Dad. Would you rather I'd let Jacob and Evelyn go in there alone?"

"Of course not - what you did was very brave - but we can't help worrying. The whole thing could've gone so much worse."

"Well, it worked out fine, so you can let it go now."

It was Abby who brought the conversation back on track.

"Is Roman going to be all right?"

"Physically? Probably. He had a number of deep gashes that needed stitches, several broken bones including two ribs, a bruised lung, plus the...runes carved into his back, which will be uncomfortable for a while. Assuming there are no complications, these should heal in time."

"Mentally, it's a different matter. I'm not an expert, but I don't think the kind of trauma he's been through is something he'll be able to just shrug off. Speaking to therapist might help him."

"May we go in and see them?"

"You may, but just for a little while. Jacob is with Roman already; he hasn't left his bedside since I brought him back to the ward."

"Mr Stigfinnare is with his wife as well. He's been worried sick about her, prowling around the waiting room like a caged wolf."

"I'm surprised he didn't kick the door down."

"He might've done, if I hadn't let him in."

The trio - together with Ulf, who refused to be parted from Evelyn - gathered around Roman's bed.

Roman was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to sleep and forget, but he forced a smile on his face as he looked at each of the people who had risked their lives to save him.

In truth, he could hardly believe it.

"I don't know what to say. I owe you my life - no, more than my life. My soul. 'Thank you' doesn't seem like enough..."

"This is the second time I had to help save your ass, Turner! You'd better not make a habit out of it!"

Evelyn's cheerful tone helped defuse some of the tension, although Ulf kept his arm wrapped protectively around his wife. She was putting up a brave front, but he could tell she was hurting more than she was letting on. He hated it!

"It's over now."

"Maybe...maybe not."

"Fiona...? What do you mean?"

"The ritual circle carved into his back. The Nameless One may be have been banished, but those runes are magic. He's tied to the Hellplanes now."

"WHAT?!"

Roman sat up so fast that white stars burst before his eyes and his injuries flared painfully despite the medication keeping the worst of it at bay. He felt the cold panic rising like a tide.

"Are you saying it can come back?"

"Fuck. You're not, are you?"

"There are many doors between the planes, and things have a way of slipping through the cracks. That sigil is one such door; closed for the moment, but not locked."

"But you can remove it, right?! Or...render it inert, or something?"

"I...I'll do some research. Ask around."

Roman looked so crestfallen, Jacob's heart twinged in sympathy.

"Guys? Can you give us a moment, please?"

"Please try not to think about it, all right? If anything happens, my whole family are witches; they'll help. You need to focus on getting better."

Roman smiled humorlessly; it was hard not to think about the interdimensional door to Hell itself he carried around on his back, but he was so very tired. Sleep beckoned, demons or no demons.

But first, there was something he needed to say to Jacob.

"I have to admit, I didn't expect you to come to my rescue. Considering how things are between us..."

"Look, just because we broke up doesn't mean I don't still lo- care about you. Besides, I didn't actually do much, it was mostly Evelyn and Fiona."

"Still. Facing down demons and witches when you're just a regular person with no special powers took guts."

"I did have an axe."

Something happened then that Roman did not expect: he burst into laughter. Which hurt, but it was worth it, and his heart felt lighter for it.

"I think I'd like to sleep now..."

"Yes, you should. I'll be back to see you in the morning."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

As Roman sank into the cottonwool depths of drug-induced sleep, a smile fluttered on his lips.

The End!

Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed the story!

[austenpoppy]

Guys, I love both Dickory and Dickbabs. Everybody hates Annual 2 because, 1) it spits on Dick's character, 2) it spits at us in the face, 3) it makes a mockery of all ships, 4) the timing doesn't make any freaking sense. If you read New Titans, there is just no way Dick would or could have cheated in that moment in time, not after what happened with Mirage, when he was blaming himself for being raped and not recognizing Mirage was posing as Kory, when he was holding on to his relationship with Kory so tightly as his last source of happiness after losing Joey, Raven, Danny, Arabella, Vic in many ways, and there was also something going on with Clark (was he believed dead ?).

But let's not stump on poor Dick during that time in New Titans. Please. Let's not make up things that weren't there. And let me convince you there was no domestic abuse involved.

The images I put below are, at least the way I interpreted them, a dream sequence imagined by Kory in her sleep, which we know because right after, before the scene itself ends, there's an image of Kory waking up in her bed in the middle of the night due to Dick's incessant ringing. Plus, the very tone of that sequence seems off, exaggerated - like a dream would be.

New Titans #99

And if you're wondering about Dick's tattered costume when he comes in Kory's flat, let's just say the art is inconsistent - Dick had, as you can see, no visible hole in his costume after Kory blasted him if that sequence were real, so I don't see why we should consider this a real scene on that basis alone.

As for the random strangers, they're...not random strangers ? The guy Dick punches in the face is a paparazzi who was photographing him along with other paparazzi right after Kory broke up with him, and were harassing him and taunting him/making fun of him - they heard Dick shouting after Kory.

New Titans #97

Yeah, if you look at it I guess it's still assault under US law, but frankly you'd have to be a saint not to punch one of those slimy buggers in the face after everything that went down. Also, Dick doesn't seem to like paparazzi much - years later, he was less than pleasant to the people harassing Alfred in the Vesper Fairchild murder.

Part of the Bruce Wayne: murderer ? story arc

Do I hate that Kory broke up with Dick that way and blamed him for what went on with Mirage ? Heck yeah. Do I hate that Dick proposed to Kory as a last resort not to lose her ? Also yes. But I wouldn't say those issues were worse than Annual 2. It goes downhill after (you can guess I'm still fuming about many things that went on after that wedding, including but not limited to Kory's character progression being erased, and Dick shouldering the entire blame of their relationship's end and thinking he was too "self-absorbed" in the whole Mirage episode).

Thinking about shipping problematic pairs from last night…

Something that really annoys me is how everyone goes off on Nightwing Annual 2, but mention Dick and Kory’s wedding as a shitstorm of epic proportions, and you get crickets.

I own Nightwing Annual 2. In print. I paid above the cover price for it. (And I read comics digitally. I don’t own single issues in print much at all - couldn’t even fill a short box with my collection. Trades, yes, issues no.) Yes, it is heinously out of character for Dick to have cheated on Kory with Babs, no question. And the scene when Babs comes to the door to see Dick and is lied to by Kory, and leaves in tears and then Kory lies to Dick about it? Also very out of character for both of those women. Both of those moments are really serious missteps of writing, that is for sure.

Aside from those two parts, which I pretty much skip over when I read it anyway, I really like the book. Joe Bennett and Jack Jadson’s art is beautiful. It always is, but Bennett’s Babs is extra stunning and an A+ to them for remembering how tall Kory is. (Their run on Birds of Prey is also my favorite art on that book.) In terms of story, I love the rest of the memories Dick and Babs recount - getting locked in the safe together, Babs POV of when Dick tried to tell her how he felt about her, and the ending is heartbreaking and beautiful.

But, I mean, really. To like this book publicly is to rain down a storm of fandom haterade on yourself. Which, to be honest, fine. That kind of thing doesn’t really bother me in and of itself. It’s just the hypocrisy of it all. New Teen Titans 97-101 is at least as bad - worse, IMO - in terms of characterization for Dick and Kory and no one ever says boo about it. Dick hits total random strangers because fighting with Kory makes him angry. He gets physical with her, and she blasts him with starbolts. Straight up domestic violence. And still, crickets! I have a 13-page NOVEL about how many problems I have with the way DickKory has been written, at least half of which revolves around that engagement/wedding… (a lot of which is really angry and I hesitate to publish but had to write out for myself.)

But why? Is it because - other than TT!RobStar - there aren’t many real DickKory shippers left to either excuse or renounce it? Is it that DickBabs is an “actively sailing ship” and all of us shippers feel like we have to trip all over ourselves to make an exception of Nightwing Annual 2 so that people won’t hate our ship?

Like, what’s the deal here?

[lyramundana]

WIPS

I mentioned before that I came up with a full story about my ocs with members of Skz years ago, but it’s all in my head and it hasn’t seen the light. Since I’m still polishing it and considering if I should start posting bits about it, I’ll leave the plot here.

The oldest was Olivia and her love interest was Christopher Bang. The story was a childhood pen-pals/friends to co-workers to lovers. She lived in Australia for a while with her family and they befriended the Bang family. She was three years younger than him and had this puppy crush on him, and in return, he was very caring towards her and they often played together, sharing the burden of being both the oldest siblings. When she returned to Spain, her native country, they remained in contact through cute messages. Olivia had relatives in Australia, so they still travelled there from time to time, and each they had to meet up with the Bang family at least twice. She was heartbroken when he left to Seoul to follow his dream, but as time passed by and they lost contact, she moved on and stopped thinking much about him. She took upon herself to treat Hannah and Lucas like her own younger siblings to somehow deal with it. Olivia was gifted with a beautiful voice and had a talent for singing, which pushed her to become interested in songwriting and music producing. I recall she was involved in sports and that was the reason she went to Seoul for a while, but she had trouble adapting and mantenaining herself there, specially since she was keeping the situation hidden from her parents for some reason. She was offered a job in JYP until it was her time to move out and she took it. She knew Christopher became a trainee, but she never got to know which company, and so when they meet again, it was a cute moment. There’s a lot more, but I want to keep it short.

Violeta, or Vivi, was the second sister, two years younger than Olivia,and she was paired with Minho and Han, who were a couple in my work. She was fascinated by dancing as soon as she could walk and so started practising really young. Her dedication and passion moved her to become a professional and achieve a lot at a young age, pretty much like Olivia. I remember she had to use a prosthetic forearm due to a tragic accident in her childhood that was actually one of the major points in her character. She was captain of her own crew, member of a prestigious artistic academy and a “bad girl” type. A chaotic, extroverted troublemaker. She had a hard life and her biggest comfort was her dancing career, in which she excelled at. She travelled overseas in competitions, won, starred some scandals here and there, and gained a certain reputation as a professional who always owned the stage. Her plot started when Olivia and Chris were already a established couple, and her relationship with Minsung is full with ups and downs. I think it’s the most dramatic romance out of all. I know she used Vivi as a nickname for non-hispanic people that had trouble pronouncing her full name.

Then it was Melisa or Mel, Violeta’s twin, and her love interest was Hyunjin. This one I explicitily remember it was a full enemies to lovers one, with the enemies as one-sided because Hyunjin didn’t actually despise her. Aside from not really looking like Vivi, she was shorter than her, which was an important detail connected to their birth. She was the first introvert to appear, since the first two are the opposite. She had a talent for arts, like painting and photography, and she was in the same academy as Vivi as the brain behind the recordings, the edition and etc. She was an audiovisual artist. She was a rather innocent and sweet girl, but far from naïve. If pushed enough, she had a vicious bite, which was how she met Hyunjin. It was an unfortunate encounter, btw. Due to past experiences, she had the rule to never trust pretty faces, specially those who work in the entertainment industry. She was the type to observe things fold from the side and act upon them from behind, only intervening when she deemed it absolutely necessary. 

The three of them are, obviously, spanish, and they were all very confident girls (because at that point I was sick of always reading the same patron of timid, insecure Y/Ns and I wanted to see something different). Olivia and Violeta could often seem like straight up egocentrics about it, while Mel just kept it to herself. Which makes this wip so dear to me is not because it’s a skz fanfic, but because it started sorely as self-insert oc for my fantasies with Christopher Bang and it developed into a full fledged story about generational trauma, friendship, growing up, copying mechanisms and multiple personal hardships the girls went through, both together and individually. I got so inmersed in their characters that they became their own people, with their own backstories and motives. They weren’t just self-inserts no more, they were fictional characters on their right with their goals and traumas aside from the boys. Literally, the romance with the boys was brushed a side a bit in favour of the girl’s development, because I got really into their personal stories that had nothing to do with the guys. I admit that I self-reflected a lot sometimes on them, writing them to let out my own emotions. 

Anyway, my mind is full of headcanons about it, so that’s why I’m starting to post shit up here. I don’t know if I’ll have the courage to write the whole thing, but posting small things about it makes me feel better.

@channieandhisgoonsquad since you’re the only one that knew something about my specific, secret wip, opinions??

[cangrellesteponme]

i don't think wonderland is ready for those alices

[death-limes]

As someone who loves Hazbin.... I agree with you, the show gets way more credibility than it should. I have watched the show a dozen times and there are still details I miss because the pacing of the animation is god awful. The animation gets praise because the characters are over animated while standing around - but during action scenes it goes by so fast you can't see anything!!

Please keep the hate up, fans need to be humbled.

incredibly rare W for the hazbin fandom, you are an inspiration to us all 🫡 thank you for being Based and also Very Cash-Money, i will continue hating as normal

(but seriously thank you, that first sentence scared the shit out of me so I'm glad to be pleasantly surprised ^^ i'm ashamed to admit that i STILL have not actually sat down and watched the show because I only JUST got over my obsession with it & idk if i wanna risk summoning the brain fungus again)

[anim-ttrpgs]

More rambling On the subject of TTRPGs as a disrespected artform.

There’s a bunch of reasons for this disrespect being present that I could get into but I’m going to focus on the most relevant one to this topic: TTRPGs are helpless.

To explain what I mean I’m going to make a comparison to video games, or at least action-adventure type video games. Those have a lot of similarity to “trad” and “neo-trad” TTRPGs, which are nominally the most popular style of TTRPG (even though it seems like half the player base would rather be playing something else but again another tangent). Both of these are usually about protagonists using abilities to avoid or defeat adversaries and avoid traps and progress through a series of hazardous areas.

Video games are not helpless. They can assert themselves on the player. When you lose in a video game and you’re like “Aw no way, I didn’t want that to happen!” The video game can say “No, Mario fell in the pit, Master Chief got blown up by a grenade, Pac-man got caught by a ghost, you lose. According to the rules of the game, you have to try again from a checkpoint.” And you have to do it. The game forces you to start over.

In a TTRPG, if your guy gets killed and you object to that, the TTRPG can at most offer a weak textual protest as you or the game master flips the die over to a more favorable number.

Of course plenty of video games have cheat codes, hacks, mods, etc. that can remove that power from the video game to force you to follow the rules of the game, but not everyone has the knowledge or skills to use those, whereas everyone can flip a die over or just lie about the number. Plus, doing this is looked upon less favorably in the culture of video games than in the culture of ttrpgs. I mean, it’s in the name. “Cheat” codes. You’re cheating.

If somebody brags about how they beat Elden Ring with no deaths but then you mention that you hacked the game to give your character infinite HP, people will go “hey wait a minute,” but if you brag about how your character was so badass when they defeated a hundred cultists at once in D&D5e, because the DM kept saying the cultists missed every time the rules say they should’ve hit and you kept saying your character hits every time the rules say their attack should miss, nobody bats an eye. It’s even more accepted and expected that a DMPC will materialize out of thin air to kill everything every time the party picks a fight they can’t win.

Ultimately, a lot of the urge to cheat like this I think comes from the fact that people are introduced to neo-trad TTRPGs like D&D5e through critical role and also its playerbase’s general fixation on pre-planned plots and heavily scripted scenes that rely on characters never dying(which was not invented by critical role but was heavily bolstered by them). The only way that these goals can be achieved is by cheating, since D&D5e really doesn’t support that kind of thing, so they get into a habit of cheating. They get into the mindset that the rules don’t matter and can only get in the way of their intended gameplay. Which is of course because their intended gameplay is not something D&D5e was made for.

Then gradually they trickle into other games besides D&D5e, and assume that those games’ rules don’t matter either, completely deflecting and disregarding the experience that the designer intended players to have with their art. Or worse, they become TTRPG designers themselves, and write their own rules based on the assumption that the rules don’t matter which not only results in shitty gameplay experiences for people who are trying to follow these thoughtlessly-written rules, but also further reinforces the infectious idea that TTRPG rules don’t matter. But dude. TTRPGs aren’t anything *but* rules. The rules text is the whole game. Saying the rules don’t matter is like saying the paint on the canvas doesn’t matter! Yes! It matters because those colors of paint in those places placed there intentionally by the artists are what makes it a painting and make up the whole experience of experiencing the painting!

So we have a huge demographic in the TTRPG fanbase that thinks that the very artform itself is, at best, valueless and at worst actively bad!

Reading comprehension check!

Things I did not say in this post:

“We need to expel any particular demographic and never let them play.” (But maybe if they don’t like our artform, they should try to find one more suited to their needs instead of twisting another artform into something else.)

“You’re never allowed to adjust or homebrew a rule to fit the intentional gameplay experience you’re going for.” (But if you find yourself doing this all the time, either before you have even played the game normally, or constantly on the fly in most or all sessions, maybe you need to find a different game altogether.)

Exerpt from Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy. (with art by @theblackwarden )

[memento-morri-writes]

I've been thinking a lot about how Rook's reunion with his former mentor, Zara, is going to go, and since I can't predict what the DM is going to have her do or say, I can only dwell on what I know is going to happen. Which happens to include taking off the illusion ring that's been hiding his injuries from her. So have a snippet of the description I have planned for that moment:

tw for description of (mostly healed) injuries

He hesitates, twisting a ring on his finger. Looking at it more closely, she can tell it’s very finely crafted, and must have been very expensive. A large emerald is set into the band. Rook sighs, and pulls the ring off his finger in one quick motion.  Immediately she’s struck by the difference in his appearance as the illusion melts away. He looks awful. His warm, healthy skin fades to a dull and sickly grey. There’s huge bags under his deeply sunken eyes, and his cheeks are hollowed, as though they have been carved out by an overeager sculptor. He looks like he’s recently risen from the grave.  While he was thin before, now she can see his ribs under the skin, and his collarbones are exaggeratedly pronounce. Thin white lines left by dozens upon dozens of recently healed cuts are scattered across his body. On top of that, faded bruises cover most of his visible skin, a mottled mosaic of purple and yellow. They’re clearly days, maybe weeks old, and she can only begin to imagine what they must have looked like when fresh. Bandages are barely visible under his shirt, wrapping around his back, hinting at even more injuries.

[unproduciblesmackdown]

omgg lol [guy who won't stop going "more like scapeGOATED" voice] now hold! on!! lmao [same guy just saw encanto voice] Hold on!!!

[barissoffee]

Hi i was just wondering why do you want barris so much? I mean, ı liked her too but she blamed ahsoka. well she was right jedi were corrupted but ahsoka was her friend. I don't like jedi counsil either but i can't forgive her not yet at least.

I've always loved her character since the first time I saw her in the original clone wars animation that came out in 2003. And I've always wanted to know what happened to her after tcw s5. Yes, what she did to Ahsoka was pretty shitty, and I wished the writers handle her character and the arc differently, but they needed Ahsoka to leave the jedi order and unfortunately they chose Barriss to be the cause of it. And personally I believe the whole wrong jedi plot was out of character for Barriss, but like I said they needed Ahsoka to leave the order.

And Yes, maybe we can't forgive her yet for what she did (eventhough it was 10 years ago), but characters can make mistakes and they can reflect on their actions to grow and change. I have no idea what the writers have planned for her in tales of the empire, will they show that she regrets what she did? maybe. Who knows. I hope they will because I think she does regret what she did, and I believe she really did care about Ahsoka. I've always wanted a redemption arc for her since the wrong jedi came out, because I believe she's a good person. Either way I am happy she is back and excited to see what happens in Tales of the Empire.

[warspun]

her home seems designed for more than just her,  yet really it seems like she’s the only one living here. he hadn’t seen a ring on her finger,  a good sign,  not that it would’ve stopped him really. the logical conclusion,  an absent father. something of which has experience with,  mentally absent and physically absent.  he’s suffered through both,  though the physically absent had been his doing and for a second there it had looked like he would’ve had to run back to him for help had things not played out the way they had. surprisingly,  when that time had come he hadn’t returned back to him.  instead, like the universe was not working against him for once, another man had stepped up.  a man he owes his extended life to.  leon holds his curious tongue though,  he didn’t come here to discuss her living or family situation.

nor does he want to ruin this moment,  because frankly he doesn’t want to talk about his own situation despite how monumentally better it is from just a simple decade prior.  he had been dying,  but now he was the picture-perfect form of his species and of humans.  however, there’s not making up with his late father,   no closure for himself.  that trauma will stay with him for the rest of his life,  unsure of really how to recover from it  ⸻  almost worse than the nature of war,  almost worse than serving in europe,  almost.  she gazes at him as if he’d put the sun in the sky and he doesn’t want that gaze to turn sour.  plus its really none of his business so he’ll bask in this instead.    “shhhh...” he replies, letting his thumb brush over her lips,  “you don’t need to think about that…  about what would’ve happened,  focus on what did happen.”  on what was happening now,   something he had told himself during much of the war,  focus on what you can control.

her lips part and thumb moves graciously back to her cheek.  the pattering of her rapid heart-beat is something he can’t ignore.  it’s a familiar beating he hears, one of the things he’s still learning to tune out from his enhanced hearing.  but it fills him with a sense of pride,  because he’s the one increased her heart-rate,  making her blood warmer underneath the skin.   “maritza,”  he echoes back,  “maritza guerrero.”  pause,  “guerrero,  I know that name.  oh.  so you’re that maritza.  heard about you from your old man.”  so that’s whose house he was currently standing in.  makes sense,  only one run-in with her father but the names are hard to forget.  “he didn’t mention what a beautiful young woman you are.”  lips purse,   “captain vought,” he answered plainly,  “I would offer my name miss but then I’d have to kill you.”  only one person besides himself knew his real name,  and now it’s something vought needs to keep hush-hush, as much as he wanted to tell her his real name.  to take his mask off,  was not out of the question though.  his helmeted head cocked, feeling a warm pleasant buzz at the sound of her finger outlining the bottom rim of his helmet.  reluctantly he pulls his hand away from her face,  his other one also rising to take hold of either side of his helmet and pulling it off.  his body stayed inches from hers. his helmet hair that has grown out a bit flops out.

ㅤㅤmost of maritza's bright life had been spent in the dark. gender rendered her untrustworthy in her father's eyes, even more so after the tragic and untimely passing of her mother and older brother. he'd come back from the war a changed man, but their deaths had only furthered his change, and now they hardly spoke. he sends letters, dotes on her from afar, but he never mentions work. all maritza knows is that the return-address kept changing, and so she never knows where her father truly is, but she was smart enough to know that his government job meant that he was of some level of importance. if only he'd tell her what. maybe then she would have some leads to follow on her own botched attempt at figuring out what happened on that fateful night. he didn't like to talk about that, either. he kept his secrets, and so she kept her own.

ㅤㅤit was hard to look on with anything but admiration as he answered, glossy petals agape whilst she gazed up at her hero. he was so handsome, quite literally built like the gods his powers threatened to upset; with a jaw so defined that she wanted to reach out and touch it. she'd seen him on the tv's at the diner, but the real thing has her weak in the knees... and his voice was so strong, so captivating, that she finds herself nodding along, agreeing to pretty much everything that came out of his mouth — science be damned. " it's more like the right place, right time if you ask me, mister. if it wasn't for you... " voice trailed off, gentle hold tightening as her fingers squeezed at his biceps, heart racing from both adrenaline and attraction as she buried her fears of the what if's in favour of focusing on what is somehow now her crazy reality. a mundane waitress with a real-life superhero, right here, in her own home.

ㅤㅤplump petals parted to speak, to sing more praise to his strength, but she found herself frozen in place; heart leaping into her throat when his gloved palm but bare fingers cradled her soft, rosy cheek. the hand against his bicep shifted some, snaking underneath his to rest against his armoured chest. could only imagine how it would feel to have his real muscles beneath her palm rather than his charming suit. her other hand was gripping onto the fabric of her skirt, thumb grinding against the fabric as she tries to play it cool. " my name's maritza, maritza guerrero. " surname is spoken with a sense of pride, more for her families memory than her father's work. " soldier boy— or do you prefer captain vaught? i'd ask your real name, but i bet you're not allowed to tell... " the hand in her skirt lifts, soft and perfectly manicured fingers gently tracing along the outline of his mask — pearly whites briefly toying with her bottom lip as she builds up the courage to ask. " are you allowed to take the mask off? i'd like to get a proper look at my saviour, if that's alright. "

[stop-breaking-my-heart-dragonage]

Aveline is one of those companions in Dragon Age that makes me say, "God, you're such a bitch... tell me more right now."

I don't hate Aveline; honestly, I don't hate any of the companions from any of the games, their flaws and negative aspects make them interesting... but oh my god, Aveline is infuriating and sometimes I just want to grab and shake her.

She's such a hypocrite. She believes she's so lawful good and would never fall to corruption but she absolutely does?? Just because it's not the same sort of corruption as Jeven doesn't mean it's not corruption??

The Magistrate's Orders quest where you go to find Kelder who has a history of kidnapping and killing elven children? Aveline strongly agrees with bringing down hard justice on Kelder. When one of the guards there says Kelder's father will have Hawke's head, she says, "Only if it's reported."

If you kill Kelder, Aveline gives you Friendship +5 because she understands that if you let Kelder go, he'll never face justice for his crimes because his father won't let him. If you let him go, she gives Rivalry +5. In this situation, Aveline is more approving of Hawke killing him because yeah, it's bad that Kelder is killing these elves and everyone is just covering it up.

Fast forward to the end of Act 2 where Aveline comes to Hawke like, "The qunari are harboring two fugitives, we can't let them do that, it'll be real bad if people think they can avoid punishment by hiding with the qunari, come help me."

But then you get there and the two fugitives are a pair of elves who admit they killed a guard who forced himself onto their sister because no one did anything when they reported it. So they took matters into their own hands... and Aveline has the balls to say, "That doesn't excuse murder."

What are you talking about??? And if Hawke asks her if it's true, she hesitates and says there were rumors and she'll investigate and I'm just.... what do you mean you'll investigate??? you heard rumors?? did you not investigate before??

Aveline "I don't coddle my men" Vallen, you KNEW someone reported this about that guard and what? You didn't investigate because?? Because nooo, not one of your men?? Aveline, just because you're in charge now doesn't mean ALL of the guard are as lawful and good as you supposedly are! There's always going to be corrupt guards and a good Guard-Captain would do everything in their power to seed out those guards for the betterment and safety of the people! They would take those accusations seriously! But the elves say no one did ANYTHING.

Then the part that really gets me, right? Is if Hawke says they would've done the same thing, Aveline gets pissed and says, "Hawke! That's not helping!"

But that's the thing- If it WAS one of Hawke's siblings in this exact situation instead of a nameless elf, Aveline would've taken it seriously. If the same guard forced himself onto Bethany or Carver and Hawke killed him for it, Aveline wouldn't be stomping around like, "That doesn't excuse murder, Hawke! How could you? You need to face justice!" No, she would've been all for killing the guard because it's Hawke and their sibling.

Aveline cares about Hawke and has a bias for them, so it's okay for them to do that but a couple of elves who, like Elren from the Magistrate's Orders quest, are sick of no one helping them when they need it do it.... Noooo, that doesn't excuse murder!

It's like Aveline can't ever admit she's in the wrong, either. She never takes accountability for this. Even if she just admitted that she should've investigated and she'll make an effort to be better for the sake of ALL people in Kirkwall [because Aveline believes "I stand for all of us!" so strongly that it's something she consistently says in battle] moving forward then I would be less what the fuck about it, but she just doesn't.

It's like with Emeric and the murders happening... she and her men supposedly investigate Emeric's claims that all these murders happening in Kirkwall are connected, but Aveline keeps dismissing him that there isn't enough evidence.... except there's SO MUCH EVIDENCE when Hawke goes to investigate DuPuis, funny enough.

It's takes Leandra going missing before Aveline takes the case seriously. Even Emeric dying is like.... "oh no, he's dead, he was right... let's not do anything about it." It's takes Leandra dying for Quinton to be caught and killed, and my Hawke always lashes out at her for this and she just.... stands there like "Okay. Nothing I can say will make it better. Sorry for your loss."

but actually, yes, you COULD say you'll learn from this and do what you can to be better.... but again, Aveline just doesn't want to hear it?? then the qunari shit happens after!

And I get it. Aveline is only one person. She's Guard-Captain but she can't be everywhere at once and sometimes there really isn't enough evidence to convict someone of a crime. I'm sure she has a lot of work and stress in her position... but god, it's her inability to face the fact that she isn't this great embodiment of lawful good and that she IS corrupt in a lot of ways.

Turning a blind eye to the corruption in your guard, coddling your men and getting pissy when Hawke comes to you like, "So, Cullen sent me a letter that there are complaints about you and he wants me to investigate because he's scared of you and really don't want your job so.... are you coddling your men?" and having your husband, someone completely biased in your favor, vouch for you like.... that's being a little corrupt, Aveline??? a little dishonest?? a little abuse of your power?? why are you so frustrating???

I have a lot of criticism of her [like don't even get me started on how she ruined Carver's opportunity with the guard when that absolutely was not in her right to do] but I still find her to be interesting in a complicated, frustrating way. I have theories about why she's Like This that stem from her father and upbringing, but that's an analysis for another day. I just needed to get these thoughts out because I'm replaying DA2 and Aveline always hits a nerve.

[appreciatingtokrev]

the thing abt the pain my scoliosis/kyphosis causes me (mostly left side of my ribcage, then left side of my back, then left shoulder, then it slowly starts spreading to the right side + my hip, the more physical anything apart from lying i do the worse it gets) is that it started and worsened so slowly that i just. didn’t realise it. now it’s been a normal part of my life for a few years and. i hardly notice it. i hardly notice that half of my body aches. it’s normal. now that my knees hurt i’m truly aware of it for the first time in months, and— that’s not normal. it shouldn’t be normal that my ribcage & back hurt every day just because i go to school. what the hell. what the fucking hell.

[thethingything]

it's been just under 3 days since we took that antibiotic and our brain still doesn't feel right.

all I can do is wait it out and hope it goes away soon, but we've barely been able to do anything for the last few days and honestly until the med fucked us up I wasn't even sure we could get less functional in terms of how bad our dissociation and stuff was but here we are.

I have things I need to do. I have things I was meant to organise. I'm gonna have to explain a bunch of stuff at that oral surgery consultation on Thursday and I have to hope the side effects have eased off by then because with the way our brain currently is, I'm not actually sure I'd be able to explain the things I need to or remember to ask about things I need to bring up.

I've missed doses of my regular meds because of both the brain fog and our sleep schedule getting fucked up because the medication side effects triggered a fatigue flare and we're back to randomly falling asleep and repeatedly getting stuck in a loop of falling asleep and then waking up just enough to register that we need to do something but not enough to actually open our eyes and do the thing before falling asleep again several times over the course of a few hours and having really vivid dreams that kind of blur together with reality so we wake up really disoriented.

I'm simultaneously overwhelmed, and too brain foggy and dissociated to really register what's making me overwhelmed, but then I think about something that I know has been stressing me out and I just kind of feel apathetic? I guess? and I've had the same thing with stuff I'd normally be really excited/enthusiastic about no matter how bad our depression gets. it's horrible because it's like, I know I care about this thing, I know I feel strongly about it, but I can't access any of those feelings and it's making me feel like I'm not properly myself and that's freaking me out really badly

[pulchrasilva]

Having people you care about who are suicidal while you're not suicidal is truly a special torture I think I want to go back to wanting to kill myself im gonna throw up