#she's got a lot to process

[twinklecupcake]

What if Mengying's father knew it was specifically a dragon prince who wanted to marry his daughter?

"You gave me away?" "Dear, they said he was a prince. This will never happen to us again!" "A... prince..." "And a dragon, at that, imagine the--" "You gave me to a dragon prince?"

[chloesimaginationthings]

Vanny finally meets FNAF tape girl in person...

[winterblues]

i really wish we got to see a little bit of the time ketricken and the fool spent on the run together after shrewd’s death

[pikhachu]

sighh late night extra bc i got pissed off and what i feel she feels

[spiderh0rse]

remember that the moral of look outside is that blue people live in montreal

[vendettapandav]

there are two wolves inside me.

one looks at novik’s character and sees a king who has been betrayed and embittered by the loss of his wife and is rightfully cautious, especially given the gift that his daughter has. It sees Novik’s distrust of the Slayer as natural, as well as the way he slowly begins to understand and accept that the Slayer fights bc he cares— and bc of how he can protect them all so easily, maybe even a small part of him wishes that something would happen between the Slayer and Thira purely to know that in the worst case scenario, Thira would be safe.

the other looks at the Slayer and understands that he has no chemistry with Thira. Because if he did, he wouldn’t have given Novik the artifact to return Thira’s heart to her. He would have done it himself as a gesture of devotion. But he didn’t. His gentleness, his consideration, and his determination to save Thira and stop the invasion without stripping her of her power or killing her wasn’t driven by romantic feelings or interest. It was done bc that’s just who he is. he values all human life, and he is loyal to the sentinels not bc he’s one of them- he knows he isn’t and never will be. Not truly. But they’re still humans and he fights so that none of them might have to experience the loss that he has. His love for people is innate and just a part of him. Thira was no exception. And they both understood that.

[shroomerr]

Wham bam bam! Couple of Agent stuff!! I was initially just going to post the two images but then it felt a bit empty, so I decided to doodle an interaction between Agent and Mysterion.

More process drawings under the cut for those interested!!

[claypigeonpottery]

a harpy!

please ignore the scissors, sponges and can of shaving cream lmao, they’re there to brace her while she dries

[lunarharp]

bits n bobs..new chapter

[vaguely-concerned]

I stumbled my way through some pseudo-milestone social and personal stuff today and you know what? it was incredibly nice and a good experience and I'm proud of myself, actually. needless to say my nervous system in the immediate aftermath is also humming at at a pitch that could break glass and kill dolphins, and I feel faintly like three day old sunkissed roadkill, but sometimes you just have to tank that shit because that seems to happen whether what's going on is good or bad lmao

[aeolianblues]

pop stars aren't born in the 70s anymore like they used to be. These days they're born in a year uncomfortably close to my own which makes me clutch my chest and cry out

[bigcats-birds-and-books]

Books of 2025: GHOST OF THE NEON GOD by T. R. Napper.

This caught my eye while browsing idly at the bookstore, but I was Strong and told myself, "no, don't impulse buy that; check reviews and if it's still here next time you're physically in the shop you can MAYBE get it."

Well! The reviews were Intriguing, and the oversaturated bright cover was calling to me, and it was indeed still on the shelf when I went back in for indie bookstore day, so! I yoinked it posthaste, put it in the daisychain lineup, and read it in a day (novella, 112 pages).

It is, delightfully, a weird and funny and fucked up little book. Near future cyberpunk thriller set in Australia, featuring petty criminal Jack Nguyen who trips (literally) into Very Advanced Tech and finds himself on the run from hired killers and dirty cops and a government or two, trapped on a lethal road trip through the outback with a university student he scammed a ride from.

The Very Advanced Tech turns out to be exactly my catnip, and also a HUGE spoiler, but your honor I love Oondiri, and Sally, and Jack, and horrible Quinlan, and poor philosophizing Col. Very violent, but it also had me inflicting dialogue exchanges on my mother (who happened to be sitting nearby) and giggling to myself intermittently--all around a fun horrible time. Four stars!

If you have a favorite fictional AI, you should definitely check this out.

[katyspersonal]

who do you think fucked up worse…gehrman or maria?

This is an interesting question, and I kind of didn't think of it before! Time to take a closer look at their crimes I guess. Some of these will be held on the possibilities and 'safe assumptions' though and addressed for the full picture!

1) Both were involved in Fishing Hamlet massacre!

With Maria, we can conclude as much because she discarded her weapons in the well at the place specifically. Her version in the Nightmare realm, a Hunter again, is supposed to be what punishes her, and she is focused on keeping Kos/OoK away from rummaging through. Considering the nature of the Nightmare, as well as the Doll who has spiritual connection with her, it should come from her guilt and regrets rather than.. I dunno, discarding the hunt over natural 'character development' and just picking a cool place to forsaken her past!

Gehrman sleeps better according to the dialogue Doll has after you kill OoK and free it's soul, so if it tortured him so, I think it is safe to say he had to be personally involved too rather than stay back while his students did the job:

They both were involved with Byrgenwerth, following their quest for obtaining the eyes of the dwellers from their skulls, and I suppose cord of OoK?

The thing about this point is that the description is written as though it was Gehrman's curiosity which ruined Maria's "idealisation" of him, or WOULD ruin it had she learned of it! This makes me wonder whether she was really involved in Byrgenwerth all that much, or whether she was aware of the real purpose of Fishing Hamlet massacre beforehand? Her goal, within the Nightmare, is stated to mercy-kill us so we don't allow that curiousity corrupt us to the point of "rummaging through corpse" and similar things, further supported by her visceral attack being an embrace if it is lethal!

I am just saying that here the balance might slightly shift towards making Gehrman 'worse' than her. Maybe she was not aware that it all was not just killing "monsters" but also a pregnant mother with her divine baby, but "well you didn't ask :/". Maybe Gehrman deceived her to use her aid. Maybe he didn't think it would be a big deal for her seeing that Maria was also interested in evolution through talking with Great Ones, and assumed she'd be just as callous about which means to accomplish the goals with?

2) Both were grave-robbing, or at least okay with that!

This one is a little less obvious, but Tomb Prospectors were not the first to go to the Chalice Dungeons! ...It were actually Willem, Dores and Gatekeeper lol:

BUT ALSO it were Old Hunters! We can see the remnants of it by Old Hunter Vitus being one the summons in Chalice Dungeons, hear Gehrman encourage us to go into the Chalice Dungeons to become stronger as via "tradition" of the Old Hunters,

and the fact that one of the things that torture Maria (again, remember that Nightmare Realm is Hell that punishes) is a Chalice:

(A video ( x ) for a better look at the Chalice from a figure)

I'd say that it is not very nice to disturb the undead Pthumerians just struggling in remains of their civilisation! Interesting thing: we can conclude they are even staying there to protect the Great Ones or their remains!

There has been some sort of civil war between ancient great-ones-respecting Pthumerians and who late became Cainhurst nobles! Maria, ironically, fell onto the side of "entitled guys" descendants! But yes, I could see why bullying zombie guys to get more history and archeology relics from them might not seem like much for her at start. Experience in the Fishing Hamlet likely retroactively ruined this period of her life for her: delving into Chalice Dungeons was likewise 'not leaving the corpse alone'. The remaining Pthumerians were right having some honour and dignity. So, that came to haunt her in the form of Pthumeru Chalice. Gehrman is.. well he's here too I guess dfshfdhs

3) Both knew a little too much about Laurence's shady business and did nothing?

Old Hunters used to be friends with Healing Church's Hunters and even had their workshops located close to one another! Gehrman was friends with Laurence and Ludwig, who are both quite strongly involved with Moon Presence (Ludwig's sword and guidance, Laurence's affiliation being known since Byrgenwerth times), as well as the key figure in creation of Hunter's Dream:

This was most likely a bait-and-switch, seeing how the cord itself is still in the real Workshop, and not in the grasp of Moon Presence (unlike, say, Wet Nurse taking Mergo's cord)! I think the purpose of creation of the Hunter's Dream was to "buy time" for the research conceived by the scientists! Remember: Gehrman was known to have "madness of curiosity" that Maria resented, or at least would resent had she known! He might have been fully aware of what Laurence wanted to do and support it! My point here, that with such proximity, he must have known of all Laurence's crimes and agreed with them!

Maria was at least overseer of the Clocktower's Research Hall, which, again, was just beta!Choir.

This last line IS a bit confusing, because it makes it sound as though the nerds looking for the Eyes Inside and the Blood Ministers got split. Laurence and Ludwig make it weird, as Moon Presence is also an Eldrich creature and Ludwig is for sure full of eyes! What also makes it strange is that Choir, and then School of Mensis, are both upper echelons of the Healing Church, but Laurence is supposed to be above both of them.

I think this can be worked with! Let's say what if Choir formed after Laurence's death, which also happened after Maria's death, and Vicars after him were somewhat "powerless" and walked over by Choir and Mensis, only leaders in the name! But that still leaves the bit that the mentioned "division" happened after Choir was formed! Maria and Adeline, however, are locked to the existence of the Research Hall, so, the timeframe when doctors and blood ministers were 100% working together! We find the Eye Pendant that opens the access to the Research Hall in Laurence's hand, and human Skull of Laurence on the platform that hides the secret elevator to that Research Hall. Again, by the Nightmare Logic, they must be connected with Laurence's sins: he started this research, or sponsored it, or was overseeing it, and so on.

This point is not an absolute thing though, because one or both of them might be freed from guilt here. Maybe Gehrman was not as informed and agreeable as we could assume and Laurence did lead him around? Maybe Maria wanted but could not do anything being caught in the web of complicated connections, blackmail and risks for the people she cared about?

4) Both are willingly involved in questionable practices (Maria with research, Gehrman with the cycle of Dream and Hunt)

This point I feel like transcends the morality a little bit, as it touches the matter of 'it is bad if you do it, but it is also bad if you DON'T do it'. I really love Soulsborne universes for having guts to say "you can't win, just pick your poison", but I think it is still worth addressing!

It is up to interpretation in which quantity Maria is involved with the Research Hall! Nothing states whether she founded it, joined in the research later, stepped in and turned the tides (ba dum tss) of the research, or simply was a caretaker/nurse/etc of the broken mess while Research Hall was getting ready for a bit of rebranding. She can be very guilty, or she can be barely guilty but in either case if that was her "redemption arc" that was a pretty bad way to go about it. ...or was it?

Fauxsefka turns people into Celestial Emissaries so they physically can't become beasts instead, and is even stated to be a hero / heroic researcher by Miyazaki:

First, I don't do Death of the Author (in terms of interpreting media I mean, not in terms of a style of writing)! Like, nope. Never. It is just not for me. Creator's word is the final for me; Fauxsefka is the good guy in the story, apparently, and it makes sense considering the fundamentally broken place characters are in! Maria has similarities with Fauxsefka: not only both of them have Cainhurst roots, but also both of them seem to favour 'Stars' line of evolution for humans!

Whereas other patients are afraid of the horrors of the Deep Sea, a concept Miyazaki could not get over well into DS3, Adeline desires them! Other patients seems to have gotten it right, and you can see one of them also clings to Maria mentally to "not drown"; Adeline "didn't understand"! The balcony that Maria wants Adeline to go to so she can forsaken the Deep Sea and seek something "happier" holds unique kind of patients who can shoot cosmic arcane spells:

Herself, Maria is associated with these lumenflowers: their petals are all over her boss arena, and the way to her lays through a much bigger batch of flowers, where Living Failures, other 'Stars' Kin are, whose song lyrics also feature lines 'ave stellar' and 'ave Maria'!

So, how this is different from what Fauxsefka is doing, who is stated to be as much of a good person as possible within this context and with the burden of her knowledge? Fauxsefka was doing more or less rinse-and-repeat practice, with maybe a few patients not surviving the procedure but we don't know what happened: maybe that person was already at the brink of death and she tried to make them live like this.

^ This guy I mean. Maria, on the other hand, is in the time period where the doctors and scientists were only testing the waters (BA DUM TSSS) (ok I will stop) and it was not SO certain what was at the stake, what were the alternatives, what was awaiting the humanity. It is even possible that the beasts problem was not yet bad to the point of "you'll either become a beast, be eaten by a beast or become a Kin, humanity is DONE for!" ! This was an unethical research at the cost of real people! The weight of Maria's sin here really depends on the interpretation, though

As for the cycle of Dream and Hunt, this is complicated and lingers on one's interpretation of what the purpose of the Dream even IS! Its existence provides two things: 1) a hunter who is immortal for the night, thus can sustain the beasts with efficiency like no other, but also effect the continuity of the night ( x ) and 2) supposed sustenance to the Great One Flora of the Moon, who holds the hunt as a concept!

I used to be a bit more set on the idea that if beasts are not sustained and hunted, they will simply overpower those who are yet humans and eat them! It is a self-feeding cycle of people needing to self-defend from beasts, thus having to consume the blood as urgent means of healing and power-up since beasts are too strong, thus risking to become beasts themselves because the blood they consumed during that hunt corrupts them. So, the Hunter's Dream would be a good thing, as it'd help to 'buy time' during nights of the hunt in which not only beasts are more active but Great Ones too! While the Dreaming Hunter holds everything together, the greatest minds of the Healing Church can efficiently study the ways to end beasthood, or ANY problem of humanity, once and for all! It is just better to throw the hunting resources on the Dream, so the scientists don't worry about the beasts and can focus on research. However, I almost forgot that:

This implies that had there not been Mensis Ritual ongoing, people WOULD have the chance to simply 'wait away' the beasthood problem. That, since Rom is not stopping Mensis Ritual but just conceals it, what really makes the inner beast within everyone who consumed the blood inevitably come out is Mergo's cry that draws the Bloodmoon close!

So yeah, the point about Hunter's Dream being helpful for the research of evolution still stands, especially under assumption that the deal with Moon Presence helped to bring more Eldrich Arcane close for "feeding" her. The point about how if the beasts are not hunted they'll simply eat everyone, though, is vague. It is safer to assume that the Hunter's Dream and Research Hall both are both example of hubris of man even if approached differently. Attempts to draw in something dangerous and horrifying, but it is "justified risk" because if you manage to 'tame' arcane/blood, sure, humanity will prosper!

Like... yeah, sure, there IS dangerous and undesireable nature of man that ruins everything and might or might not still linger in humanoids' genes after Loran. But did humanity ASK any of you guys to keep trying to fix it with so many victims and sacrifices? Like, was it WORTH it?

This point is closely tied to 'knowing Laurence's bad antics and doing nothing', yeah. Maria didn't seem to like blood ministration very much, as she disapproved of Adeline becoming a Blood Saint, but she also didn't even approve of blood antics of her own clan! I am not sure what would be her opinion on the Hunter's Dream had she lived to the point when it was created, just that she herself is not willing to ever hunt, so I am leaving this point aside. Is this just blood ministration that she opposes but proximity with a Great One Moon Presence would be something she can see the potential of? Or would she and Gehrman have a pointless cat fight about whose methods are better when they are both hubris of man? In both versions they are 'guilty'! Besides:

In the end none of THIS matters either and everyone was fooled ( x ). The blood offering is a blood offering in any way; whether it is through spilling blood violently during the hunt, or offering the blood's 'red' with how celestial Kin all bleed red. Moon doesn't care what paints it red, in the end.

___________________________________

My conclusion is: both of these characters fucked up almost equally! I think the balance shifts just a little bit and Maria is slightly better than Gehrman since she had some limitations set on how far she was willing to go. Her motivation was not in "curiosity" but strictly in helping humanity, even if in unfair ways, which is apparently not the case for Gehrman?

I'll say this though, NOW I am hooked on the idea of Maria and Gehrman being petty "rivals" ideologically (for as long as they could before Maria's own demons caught up with her). Especially since neither approach is better than the other and they are both cringe loosers! Again, lost comedy gold over Fromsoft making Gehrman's tender and warm feelings for her before and after her death plain. What is not lost, however, is the fact that the two should just kick Laurence and go home :pensive:

[rantsofabookworm]

tadc e5 spoilers below

i have Many Thoughts.

so I've seen a lot of people talking about jax and ragatha ofc. bunnydoll shippers yeah but also a surprising number of theories that they're siblings.

if im gonna be completely honest I can see the sibling dynamic angle there but I don't think thats the case here??

that being said they definitely have some kind of relationship thats different than with the other characters. it seems like they know each other more closely than anyone else--theres a level of casualty in their interactions and in their reactions to what the other person says to the rest of the group sometimes.

like for example the bar scene when ragatha is talking about her mom and jax looks away. im sure that means something. he knows something else about that info that ragatha isn't sharing with the rest of the group. and then again when ragatha brings up jaxs friend (dont worry ill talk about them in a minute) and apologizes for it later? theres history there obviously but also. they know how to hurt each other in a way that I don't think they can with anyone else in the show. jax gives everyone shit but its always like. generic. its not personal in the way that ragathas jab at him in the fireflies scene was. and before that when he's talking to pomni about her. he's saying real things about ragatha (and then catches himself and finishes with lol she's Dumb and she Looks Weird haha) and

idk it just seems a lot more personal between them than other characters but its Way too antagonistic to be a ship imo. so I have constructed a working theory that they are exes. they used to date and theyre still kind of trying to be friends? just because. theres only like six people to talk to in the circus and whatever. so theyre semi amicable out of necessity but theres still that conflict there, beneath all the layers of bullshit jax and ragatha keep putting on over their real selves. they hate each other. but theyre also the only ones who really know each other.

ANYWAY

lets talk about ribbit :)

obviously they were jaxs friend. maybe his only friend? and they abstracted. what actually happened there isn't clear but I think it was jaxs fault based on his reactions when ribbit is mentioned or that part where their door is shown in the intermission.

so there are some interesting layers to that theory.

now if jax caused ribbit to abstract (like kinger potentially caused queenie to abstract? which is why he doesn't remember it cause he blocked it out) he's probably really guilty about it. maybe not consciously but every time ribbit comes up he gets quiet.

maybe he knows it was his fault. and he feels guilty and all that. or maybe that only exists in his subconscious--maybe he believes that he didn't do anything, and he acts out and. is a dick. to suppress the part of his brain that feels guilty. Either way this has the grounds for a complete breakdown if he's pushed in just the right way.

now it gets a bit interesting. maybe jax got close with ribbit after breaking up with ragatha? maybe they were friends before, but after that breakup ribbit became jaxs Only friend.

or the more fun (not fun for jax) option: Ragatha Blames Jax. after ribbit abstracted, ragatha confronted him and broke up with him because of what he did/said to ribbit.

lets pivot a little bit!

people seem to think ragatha is heading in the direction of abstracting next. there are mixed feelings about this perceived outcome in the show, but I think theyre right.

ragatha has been slowly breaking down over the course of the show as her optimistic facade is getting dismissed more and more. this episode, we got to see her leave it behind a little bit, in her jabs at jax but also opening up at the bar a little bit and opening up to pomni in the dugout. pomni encourages her to drop the facade more and show her negative side.

at the end of the episode ragatha is alone. this is where she sees the effects of her optimism and fake cheer and how theyre driving everyone away. whether this drives her to finally ditch the optimism and express her real personality or whether she doubles down on it to try and get people back on her side is still up in the air but either way I think we're heading for a total ragatha breakdown in the next episode or two. she's been suppressing herself for so long that I think any expression of negative emotion atp is going to explode in everyone's face like it did with jax and pomni in the dugout, only on a larger scale. and when that outburst happens, it could be just enough to tip her over into abstraction. and on the flip side, if she doubles down and keeps herself suppressed and people-pleasing to win the group over? that wont hold forever. and when she finally cracks, she'll crack hard.

now the actual abstracting itself? I think it'll be everyone's fault. they all have a hand in abandoning her, undervaluing her, dismissing her. but the thing to really push her over is going to be jax. we all know it'll be jax. they've been highlighting a jax vs ragatha conflict since the very first episode and we've seen time and time again that they are better than anyone at getting under each other's skin.

so ragatha will explode at everyone. and jax says or does something that Just pushes her over the line, and thats it. she's gone. she abstracts.

so yeah the next couple episodes should be fun :)

[rxttenfish]

honestly i just sit and think sometimes over like, miravi isn't toxic yuri or anything, they're DEEPLY functional with each other and it's much moreso a cheetah and dog situation where they both get a lot more stable with someone to balance them out.

but the way it looks like is often a lot of arguing and them not being afraid to snipe at each other or call the other out on bullshit. and i keep feeling like everything about the current shipping Moment would suggest that this is toxic — even though this quality, in of itself, is what they like in their relationship and what helps them best. which is a form of relationship that very much works for people! and works well! there's a lot of benefit in having someone you can be upset with and show that upset with without them taking it personally, or in using it as a means to immediately point out and begin working out problems in a constructive manner, problems that would have become a lot worse if allowed to simmer, and the emotional vulnerability needed to do this in a constructive way with someone else! it's actually my preferred form of relationship, because i'm bossy and mean and contrary and i like not being forced to dull my edges and having someone who can dish it as well as they can take it.

it's a bit like arguing for fun, i think. for those who like it and find it really works for them, there's no hard feelings at the end, it's just a way to get everything on the table and debate over a solution. it feels good, giving the high of the exertion but coming back down with emotional reassurance to ensure it's really not any hard feelings. but, for the majority of people, it's so deeply concerning and distressing that they can't even imagine someone like that, that something has to be wrong because they cannot imagine ever doing it constructively, or they cannot ever imagine not taking it personally.

and it's just very odd sometimes, as someone who has a ship like this as a main ship, that people don't understand that kind of dynamic.

[kabutoden]

i look at you and my eyes are so so so wet like with tears tears of pure emotion and extend out my closed fist and then I open up my hand and you see her. my troll oc. the greatest oc. from 2013. I brought her back and redesigned her and im insane about her again. i begin sobbing on the ground. she’s so small. itty bitty……….