#she tells me what changes to make

[applejarjar]

My Boss: you're taking too long to do things, if you run into issues tell me immediately

Me: ok, will do

My Boss: so how are things going, did you make progress on the thing?

Me: I'm having issues, the only way I can get it to work is if I do X

Boss: we can't do X anymore

Me: well in that case I cannot do the thing and need help

Boss: how about you mess with the thing some more until it works and then come back to me

Me *internally*: I just told you I cannot do the thing no matter what I try but you want me to continue to screw around with it and then come back to you later to cry for help when I've already made it clear that I'm incapable of completing the task without assistance and need help now >:[

Me *externally*: ok, I will keep working on it

[wu-does-art]

I fcking loved the sally face au where the gang knew each other since kids, please post more of this au (also, ur art is so cool!!)

:]

ask and you shall receive!

[torchstelechos]

I love that In Stars and Time gives the nonconsensual kiss a proper horrified reaction, by the way. Most media where a character can kiss someone out of no where either make it a funny thing or the "romantic" thing, but here Siffrin kisses without permission out of no where and Isabeau reacts correctly! He pushed them away! Because thats surprising, and fucked up to do to someone with no lead up and no permission! Isabeau had no context, and at the time when the kiss happened, was under the impression that Siffrin didn't like touch which can have a variety of horrible reasons for it. Not only that but... We don't know what face Siffrin was pulling and I don't think it was a nice one. Which, again, means that we don't have all the context either! This is a horrible event that has horrible consequences and I love that it does. Because it's something that is horrible and objectively one of the worst things Siffrin did to one of the others in the loops, so I'm just!!! So excited it had bad consequences!!!

[ambigrueity]

Incredibly long post about Trey and Riddle's Relationship that I vaguely said I'd do in the tags of my posts somewhere

Disclaimer: this is not intended to be shipping in any way I very much view them as family, even more so after these updates. To start with I'm going to separate their relationship into 3 distinct stages and focus on their perceptions of each other at each stage. I think their relationship is wonderfully written As usual, I ramble so sorry in advance, but I really want to analyze how complex they are.

Stage one: Childhood: ||Riddle|| A friend: Trey and Chenya were Riddle's first friends. Riddle had spent his whole life knowing the four walls of his home and his mother and both Trey and Chenya were his gateway to experiencing the world outside his windows. As such, they're immensely valuable to him. Under his mother he had no other way to grow socially, so when provided with a logical reason for going out and playing (Chenya stated his grandpa believed play is a form of study) he jumped at it because he wanted that connection. Trey specifically was his ideal. I think he looked up to him a lot. Normal home life. His mother didn't confine or trap him in any way. And he could eat whatever he liked. That's why when Trey said that one or two slices of tart wouldn't hurt, it was good enough to sway Riddle. All his life he'd grown up hearing about sweets being poison. But Trey seems happy and fulfilled so surely it's not as bad. However, breaking his mother's rule made him lose everything. The momentary friendship he'd built and any chance of freedom. It impressed upon him the importance of following the rules because breaking them lead to loss. And on top of that, it left him with guilt. I talk a lot about Trey's guilt in this situation (and I will talk more) but Riddle has his own guilt too that just manifested in a different way. More on that later.

||Trey|| A brother: While Riddle might have viewed Trey as a friend (no doubt because he was an isolated only child with a different perception and a lot of baggage tied to the world family), Trey saw him as a brother. He expressly states in his dream that Riddle was smart enough to identify plants and flowers and had enough magic control to get their soccer ball out of the trees, and he felt proud to have a smart little brother. And this sort of label is easier for him because he comes from a rather healthy family with siblings and has a blood brother around Riddle's age. Instinctively, Riddle became someone he wanted to care for, spoil, and cherish. That's why after knowing Riddle wanted to try a tart he wanted to let him. Later on, he tries to dismiss or come to terms with his actions in various ways, stating that it was not his place and of course anyone would get upset if their house rules and dietary restrictions weren't being respected. He tries to make it out into a joke, saying it's become a family incident of sorts that they just laugh about. "Who gets that mad at children playing." But underneath all those attempts to bury his own trauma, lies guilt. Because he feels, deep down, that as a brother he should have protected Riddle better. And instead, after just 2 months, he had to see everything that made Riddle happy stripped away again. More on this later. Stage 2: Riddle's First Year

||Riddle|| A stranger. Riddle's changed. He's developed some of his mother's anger. He's been confined for years. And because of that one incident with the tart, he firmly believes that growth and by extension fulfillment can only happen under the rules. Moreover, since Trey represents that period of his life where he learned that lesson rather harshly, he ices Trey out, pretending he barely knows him. After all, they might as well be strangers after all these years. Especially since Trey is banned from his house. This is a result of the guilt I mentioned earlier. He failed to follow his mother's rules and the punishment put Trey and his peaceful family that he looked up to in the crossfire. I think a part of him doesn't know how to face Trey after all that, worried that he might hate him. However, he cannot fully erase his own memories. So it is Trey he consults when he asks how to challenge a dorm leader for the seat. Even if he's distancing himself by calling him "Clover-senpai" Trey still remains someone he trusts to a degree. After Riddle takes the throne he makes a decision I find interesting. He doesn't select a vice, instead he leaves it to the popular vote. This could be read two ways IMO. Either, he didn't feel the need to have a vice because he was so confident in his own skills, but was aware that it was customary to have one so it didn't matter to him who it was. Or, deep down, he was afraid that no one would be willing to work with him. After seeing his dream, I do think it might be the latter. All of the darkness versions of his card soldiers showed some form of disloyalty. Willing to go along with the idea that they might jump ship, or that Riddle could be overpowered. It's this insecurity born from his own fear of his mother. He knows he's become a reflection of her, and he's worried how other people might react to it. In the end, he's still chasing those relationships from childhood, but is stuck believing that rules are the only way to keep what little happiness he has which alienates him from Trey to a degree. ||Trey|| A brother still: Despite the years, Trey's feelings about Riddle hadn't changed much other than being swamped with underlying guilt. Upon realizing that Riddle was going to attend NRC, his first instinct was to create a space for him. Trey generally, is introverted but excited to see his childhood friend again, he ends up talking to the people around him saying that Riddle was a quiet but studious boy and he hopes that people will welcome him. That was at least, before he saw what Riddle had become (he ended up fighting Floyd at the entrance ceremony) leaving Trey with the realization that this was not the boy he knew anymore. And worse, he was pretending not to know him. I'm sure it hurt, but even so, when RIddle asked about dueling the housewarden, he did try to accommodate him (after getting over his initial shock). The thing that gets me the most, however, is that Trey still saw the good in him. Trey in the rose maze part of Riddle's dream tells Ortho that the first thing Riddle did when he became housewarden was tend to the roses. To him that was a sign that Riddle was still somewhere in there and he was willing to support that. He would have been resigned to accepting that he was a stranger to Riddle if he hadn't been elected vice, but regardless of how Riddle felt, Trey still felt responsible for him. Both out of guilt and because he was still family.

[fortune-maiden]

Thinking about Shao Yuanyuan and her wildcard potential and it hit me today... just how much does she know? Does she live in a time loop similar to Lu Guang or does she hop in and out of the past like Cheng Xiaoshi? Does she know that Cheng Xiaoshi also has a death node?

It suddenly occurred to me to that the Shao Yuanyuan we likely saw during the fire in Ep 4, was either a time leaping SYY from the future or at least one who had information from her future self to know to be in Bridon at this point in time and also a Shao Yuanyuan who might have just realized Cheng Xiaoshi had awakened his own powers.

Given her meeting with Cheng Xiaoshi in Ep 6 where she acts like Cheng Xiaoshi should be aware of how this all works, I suspect that it's because the version of Shao Yuanyuan from Ep 4 arranged this meeting because she encountered Cheng Xiaoshi during the fire and thus knew he would show up in Bridon and go searching for them through Wang Qing. She needed to set up that meeting so she could tell Cheng Xiaoshi face to face not to pursue her anymore (and make things more complicated).

I also think that was her second attempt at doing so - the first being to go back years earlier to tell the Qiao family not to let him go to Bridon. But the future refused to change so she found another opportunity to try again.

And based on Lu Guang's comments it sounds like she would have also failed again in the original timeline. It's not clear how her conversation with CXS went last time (if there was one) but at the very least she might not have had time to make CXS promise not to chase after her anymore, and that would have likely sealed his fate. If anything, a sudden interrupted meeting like that might have even encouraged him further.

And this is all coming from a Shao Yuanyuan from an unknown point in the future...

Anyway this is a lot of words to say where in time is Shao Yuanyuan?

And what the heck does the timeline look like from her perspective?

[pasdetrois]

also re: the earlier deleted lines post, i'm also thinking about this more heavily emphasized spiritual thread in the original script..

[deoidesign]

Hm... I'm feeling benevolent...

[vaxxildamn]

idk maybe it's the hopeless romantic stupidly hopeful part of me talking right now, but I feel like Matt has been intentionally vague when speaking as the Matron concerning Vax and his commitment to be her champion that... i think there's a possibility of him returning. or that the matron is already considering it maybe (ah that feels crazy actually, but walk with me here)

despite loving keyleth and his sister SO much that'd he give his life or accept a burden of champion-hood to save them, vax loved his goddess too, and honored his commitment to her at the end of C1, agreeing to move on from this life so early in his life.

but my mind's on the scene where the Matron spoke with Bell's Hell's about him, and she expressed being so moved by his love for keyleth, by him no longer being who he once was, and having been an onmiscient psychopomp for 30 years, and yet still loving keyleth so much he defied his agreement to the Matron to save her.

and this was the same conversation where she told them about how she once loved someone so much, she defied the laws of who could be a god, and took on an eternity of loneliness and burden by ascending, just to give him peace.

and that was the same conversation where she said she was curious to see, and would welcome, the idea of mortals deciding their own fate. even if it meant her laws and domains and existence were no longer needed. mortals should have the choice.

so when vax (or liam? i can't remember if the question was OOC) asked "did you mean I have only one night," she was like "the night is yours," which is not the same. she told him to choose where he wanted to be (even if that one was truly for one night, she gave him the choice! that means something to me idk!). and Matt said vax got the feeling that it was a gift on the precipice of everything ending. very much, 'fuck it, we ball, the rules might not even apply tomorrow, so take the night off' or fully 'it's up to you. it's your choice. i can't see your fate, it's yours alone.'

[corpium]

Ansur!Tav fic in which Ansur reincarnates as Tav and slowly realizes his dream guardian is awfully familiar in the worst fucking way. This could be a horribly dramatic, tragic story.

however, I propose instead... comedy!

Let the companions suffer through them constantly bitching at each other. Maybe somehow Ansur is still an undead spirit posessing Tav so Emps is like "who's the abomination now??" and Astarion's like "now wait just a second, there's nothing wrong with being undead" and Minthara's casually dropping super wise truth bombs on them about their relationship and Karlach and Wyll ship it

[dykedvonte]

A crazy thing about Mouthwashing is that Pony Express lost communication with one of its freighters for months and didn’t send anyone to check.

A genuinely reputable company, or at the very least a decent one, would have sent someone, something out to check after about two weeks of silence. Two months is when the crew start questioning if they are even being looked for which implies they were already expecting it to take a while cause P.E just doesn’t care.

They don’t care about who they hire. They don’t care about the conditions they place their crew in or how safe the safety measures actually are. They just don’t care, made rules and regulations so they can care less and succeed in getting away with it with how little those ideas are discussed.

[angermango]

"Oh, I know very well. How the puzzles beckon so sweetly...

As expected of you, Layton.

Only an honest death will cure you now."

...

expanding on that Lady Maria vibe for Descole from the first Laytonborne post, and that famous boss intro.

Descole would make a hellish boss fight, i know it. i mean have you SEEN how he moved during Eternal Diva and with that big ass sword? now imagine that with Soulsborne-scale strength and possible other additional powers.

plus his theme could be pretty easily adapted into a Bloodborne boss style piece I think, just add more orchestra heavy brass and cellos and some ominous Latin chanting choir and presto. that organ goes so hard too.

[ka1omi]

unedited screenies of chioma's apartment in soho. largely inspired by @cocoelleansims and some of the paintings are by @kikovanitysimmer

[bonus: accidental shot cause i love her & this little corner of her room in her @yuyulie sweater and THE BOW IN HER IN HAIR UGH]

[lliquidllyrium]

Brainstorming a post canon story where Lucanis is adjusting to life as the first Talon under Caterina’s watchful eye and juggling that with his and Rook’s relationship. Thinking Caterina will be a hardass as usual and criticizing most things Rook does (works with a De Riva but might be even more fitting with a Rook unfamiliar with the politics of the Crows) while Rook is trying Very Hard to earn her approval for Lu’s sake because despite his tense relationship with his grandmother she is important to him.

Culminates in Caterina speaking with Rook alone one night and out of nowhere Caterina swipes their cheek with her cane, leaving a very precise but shallow cut. She tells Rook that had it been an attack from an assassin truly meaning to take their life they would already be dead, and that being the lover of the First Talon requires someone vigilant and able to care for themselves.

Lu returns to their room that night (stressed as he normally is these days) and Rook tries to keep that side of their face angled away from him but Spite catches the scent of dried blood and tips him off. He’s worried and furious of course, but Rook is reluctant to tell him who did it and when they finally do Lu goes to storm out and confront Caterina. Rook stops him and asks if it’s him or Spite and Lu is a little taken aback and hurt that Rook assumes that because it is Caterina who did this he would somehow be less willing to react. He swears that Rook is family, and if Illario is not exempt from consequences for harming family Caterina is at least going to get an earful. Rook apologizes for assuming he wouldn’t stand up for them against his grandmother, and for treating Spite as a rabid animal with no self control. Cue sweet moment with hugs from both arms and wings.

Lu takes a moment to clean the wound up gently, also collecting his thoughts and calming himself down. Rook realizes somewhere in the middle of this that the clever old hag had meant for this all along. Harm Rook superficially after weeks of building tension -> get Lucanis mad enough to confront her in a blind rage -> pontificate on lessons about allowing judgment to be blinded when it comes to Rook. It was a test to see if he would charge in blindly to defend their honor or if he would take a moment to think and plan. He had almost failed, and would have if not for Rook.

He isn’t thrilled that it makes some sort of sense, but she is a 70-something year old assassin who was First Talon until recently so she obviously knows her shit. He approaches her later and insists that both he and Rook had heard her loud and clear, but any further lessons or advice for him will be delivered via verbal communication and counsel. Caterina agrees, looking as proud as a stoic old bat can. She may not be happy with the tone that he takes but something can be said about the fact that he is willing to take it with her after all this time.

She explains that it is crucial that if he as First Talon is to take a lover he must accept that he will not always be able to protect them from the dangers this life entails. They must be able to defend themselves against all threats, but even more important is that if something should happen to them, Lucanis will keep a level head. His enemies will expect him to be blinded by grief and rage, sloppy and prone to leaving himself unguarded. A true First Talon will keep his head about him and make his enemies suffer. A true First Talon will honor a loved one’s memory with the blood of their enemies, not by falling on a sword in their name.

[mcytegg]

watched the vod where devotions tell ro they destroyed spawn in s4 and im miserable i feel Terrible i miss ro even more

[mochi-kitty]

Alright now that I’ve finished Yj 98.. and what an abrupt ending it was… (another post for another time) I gotta admit a hot take here.

I did not like how the girls were handled in #38 with robin and barts departure.

I understand they were upset and dealing with what happened on apokolips in their own way but arguably I’m peeved at their shitty attitudes. No one trusted robins judgement, fought him every step of the way even though he’s team leader until it actually became a physical fight, leading to their split, which led to their capture. Imo he had every right to leave. What’s the point in being team leader if this is how they treat him in a disaster? And even if he hadn’t up and quit, if he stayed team leader or even let someone else take the role earlier than canon… how could he stay on this team knowing they wouldn’t listen to him no matter his position? Or stay knowing that this same fight will absolutely start again if he rolled over and they didn’t talk about it? Then there was the “guilt by his association to Batman..” Was it shitty to break his promise to Greta? Yeah sure, but her bringing up her one sided delusional cat fight with spoiler like some jealous ex even though robin had no idea how she really felt? Shitty. As if spoiler had anything to do with this AT ALL. And don’t get me started on Cassie’s “apology.” That was downright disrespectful. Downplaying the situation and his feelings about it just so she can get him to stay for their own gain… Shitty.

Then there’s Bart. Fresh off losing Carol and his mom again, watches AND feels his scout get obliterated, falls into shock and then is immediately captured and put in a VR nightmare illusion by granny where he relives the same moment of death over and over on a loop. When they break him out he’s still in shock and goes comatose for an entire week and even with his speed healing, “takes a few weeks to get back on his feet.” After that he can’t even get himself to put on his costume, much less run even casually with Max. So he quits and the girls reactions are pretty much: “you’re being a coward after 1 bad event and we won’t have it.” Like??? Cissie quit when she nearly killed a man and yeah they fought that decision too but they didn’t question her judgement or god forbid make her feel bad for it and let her go while still keeping in the loop with her. HELL BY THIS POINT SHE’S STILL RETIRED!? But no it’s “you’re leaving because you’re a coward. We’re not afraid of dying so you quitting because you ACTUALLY saw and felt yourself die, a trauma explained by max to be more than the word could be defined, is unsupported.” AND THEN LITTLE LOBO, WHO CAN’T ACTUALLY QUIT THIS TEAM BECAUSE HE’D HAVE NOWHERE TO GO BEING THE WEAK END OF THE GENE POOL,,, HIS OUTBURST AND WANTING TO BE LEFT ALONE IS SUPPORTED BY ANITA EVEN THOUGH ITS FOR LITERALLY THE SAME REASON AS BART?? They both want to be left alone because they both died and now are scared of their own mortality but only 1 is supported because….why?? Is it Anita’s crush on lil lobo or what? Bart “can’t quit” because being impulse is “who he is,” COMPLETELY contradicting the years (by this point) of lessons Max has been trying to teach Bart about enjoying some normality outside of his hero life. I am 100% sure that when he said “I’m trying out a new lifestyle” he was thinking of Max. Implying that he can’t be ANYTHING other than Impulse, erasing Bart and his feelings as a whole person, is so shitty.

Idk I usually love the girls but this issue man. They had me wanting to jump the screen.

[boku-no-anime-phase]

When Frieren said the time we have matters. It's not too late. No love however brief is wasted. We love what we love because of who we love. Life is worth living when we spend it with one another. Love is being proud of each other. Love is bearing with each other. Love is keeping your promises. Love is cherishing their memory. Love is meeting them where they are. Love is going after them. Love is outgrowing yourself to become the person they need you to be. Love is letting them show you the way.