#she’s very insane in a good way

[trauma-bot]

sin eater

[recent-rose]

yknowwww there is something... deeply uncomfortable about the way mel never speaks directly to viktor in the 'build hextech weapons' scene. she really only speaks to jayce. plenty of people have pointed this out already but like the one scene they actually share a meaningful interaction and she treats him like he's beneath her. all this after jayce has emphasized how important viktor is, that hextech is theirs, together. she unequivocally ices him out, there's no other way to interpret this scene. the way it's shot too - from viktor's perspective, looking up at her, as though to reinforce the same belief in him. like he doesn't even bother expecting respect from her - or anyone from the upper echelon of piltover. he's fully accustomed to being dehumanized by everyone around him at this point. sometimes even by jayce, despite the trust they clearly have in each other.

then of course after this scene is viktor experimenting on himself. it's pretty clear that he has internalized his own dehumanization. crazy.

[borkthemork]

One of the things about Kirigiri and Naegi's dynamic that breaks my heart a bit is how confused Kirigiri gets over Naegi wanting to talk to her and being able to hangout with her.

She's a very lonely person. She has lived her life having guardian figures who left her at a young age or worked her to the bone to become a detective rather than a person. The people she did care about either betrayed her at some point, or used her for their own goals due to how intense her field of work is. So when Naegi hangs out with her or tries to reach out, she finds him an enigma she is trying really hard to understand, because the idea of being unconditionally loved in this way is still a new concept to her.

And she doesn't realize how much she wants this goofball by her side whenever he does ask for her time.

Some of her beginning dialogue before the FTEs start is her trying to give him an out to leave while giving him the option to stay to hang out. It's subtle, since we know Kirigiri can decline this guy at any time and seems to be more focused on the mystery than making friends, but even when she is silent or she talks with him akin to an information exchange, she lets him in through indirect language.

In her second FTE, she even gave Naegi a quiz to see if he is as trusting and loving as he seems, because she's so hyper vigilant over getting close to someone who might have ulterior motives. They're in a Killing Game, it makes sense, but there's this personal wariness of wanting to be close and yet being so hurt from past experiences that she has to test the waters bit by bit.

At some point in her fourth FTE, even when she admits that she isn't the kind to get emotionally involved with people and tried to rudely ask if they can finish the convo, she still makes a transition into talking about her gloves anyway.

She is continually testing how far and loyal Makoto is to being her friend that she indirectly tries to reach out about her own experiences.

She hasn't had someone to confide in about her worries and struggles at all in this school, after all. She doesn't even know how to make small talk or conversation without it being related to stuff such as the investigations or the mystery. Her social skills are very bad, she is serious all the time, and her sense of trust is continuously changing out of fear of getting hurt. Most of her and Naegi's hanging out during FTEs is them walking through the school in silence while she looks around, drinking tea, or doing nothing in particular. She doesn't know what to do with some guy who is okay with being in her presence for the sake of just...being there.

So when Naegi talks to her, it leaves her in this weird liminal space of wanting him close and yet far away. She tells him to go away, and yet comes to him for assistance. She uses him and breaks his trust, and then gets upset when he doesn't trust her back. She says she doesn't want to tell him about herself, and then quizzes him so that he can learn more about her.

She lets him into her space in small different ways, and it adds context as to how much more open Kirigiri is to talking to him in Chapter Six.

She has been wanting to tell someone about what she found for so long, and when Naegi showed how much he trusted her due to the Chapter Five trial, the dam opens. The moment they are away from cameras, she shows how emotional and vulnerable she can get. She had him in the room where her father's bones are, she tried to remain calm while asking Naegi to give her space to mourn her father, she talked to him about how uncertain her feelings are now, and basically everything that has been on her mind.

She's like an abused cat who befriended an emotional support dog, trying to get used to the fact that someone unconditionally cares for her

[hanzajesthanza]

one thing about cahir is that he does not run away from shit. even when he really really should. he is brave and noble to the point of idiocy. isengrim was like ok i am taking you back to nilfgaard to probably be executed for treason and cahir was like “ok” and didn’t even fight back and let them tie him up and put him in a box because he knew he fucked up again and that was the consequence. i’m not calling him a bootlicker because he literally rebels against mentioned evil empire and fights them on the battlefield, but there is something funny about him entirely accepting evil and unfair authority even when it means his demise. he loses the deal he’s made with emhyr like “ok. you can break me on the wheel now. because i failed.” it wouldn’t be honorable to chicken out of his fate, so he won’t run. because he doesn’t want to. it’s all about honor with this guy. i mean regis barely asks milva who is this man, and cahir interjects to straight up tells regis his entire full name. even though that’s sensitive information and he is literally on the imperial wanted list at the moment. like no one fucking asked dude. cahir is literally the kind of guy to respond to a lukewarm online comment with his full name and address (which btw is in vicovaro). because he wears his honor and his name like a badge. he could have stfu as geralt accused and berated him, but instead he defends his honor by fistfighting a witcher (an injured and disabled witcher, but still a witcher who he has witnessed fight and kill coldly and calmly with superhuman agility and speed). and finally, we all know how he met bonhart. like no fuck you it’s my destiny to die by your blade. cahir was just comfortable with speedrunning death. i love how fascinating he is as this deconstruction of chivalry and knightly masculinity.

because sapkowski also tangles with this idea of “the knight” in the hussite trilogy and he also talks about it in historia i fantastyka and świat króla artura (a little bit) about how historical knights were essentially bandits sanctioned by law, and the romance and chivalry was a literary invention, and cahir gets to do both, because he’s just combining these elements of the modern, real world and fairytale. but unlike everyone else, who goes from fairytale to real—although cahir is set up as the black knight and this Evil Guy Hunting Innocent Princess, which is very fairytale—cahir goes from real to fairytale, because the invasion of cintra is so very real, and cahir’s journey is to leave behind this reality of violent knighthood, to become a kind of virtuous literary knight instead.

because i love how his persistance and determination in his pursuit of ciri, which is initially set up as evil and villainous, becomes part of his honor. because it’s his persistance to follow her down as he was tasked with as the black knight, which transforms into the noble pursuit of her as in a rescue as a truely knightly endeavor. which is just as powerful and insane as the darksided version of it. geralt tells him to fuck off multiple times and he even gets jumped and he still pursues geralt’s company because the only thing that matters is to find ciri. and i feel like he had even more persistence when seeking her for good, rather than when he was working for evil. maybe because this time it was personal and not a punchclock motivation. and that noble calling to find ciri held out even when geralt’s fatherly devotion lost hope. in tower of the swallow, he wouldn’t believe in her death even when he sensed it as much as geralt did. because that’s the same overconfident youth we saw in blood of elves, smirking when emhyr discussed this second chance with him. like no i don’t care what anyone says, even my own premonitions or the emperor i serve. we are gonna find this fucking girl—

like just really a masterclass in how to take a character from villain to hero, keeping his same motivations and obsessions and self-image, and at the same time make it relevant thematically with the whole story, setting, and historical and literary connections that have already been established.

[jessmalia]

Mal's Avatar: The Last Airbender rewatch: The beach 3.05

[creativesparkz]

theres a light in your eyes that never goes out

[sha-brytols]

i am literally not even halfway done with the book but so far i'm not super sure i actually agree with that fandom consensus that celene/briala belong in the "bioware writers are weird about gay women" category. so far the only thing celene has in common with marjolaine and branka is that she was a VERY BAD lover

[moonsongs-medicine-den]

any vylad headcanons to share with the class?

*looks around* me? um, certainly.

*pulls out my power point presentation*

As the third and youngest Ro’meave son, he was properly cared for and treated like the baby of the family, but he definitely felt the difference in the way his parents treated him versus Zane and Garroth, so it was almost like being an only child. 

Each Ro’meave child experienced their fair share of assassination attempts, so Lady Zianna kept Zane and Vylad as close to her as possible and they were very isolated from court life (she tried to do the same with Garroth, but Garte was very insistent on his eldest son to be by his side). Zane always felt he had to compete with Vylad for attention from Zianna and compete with Garroth for Garte attention (middle child syndrome fr). 

Vylad was one of those kids who didn’t speak unless he really had something to say and he was always really well spoken when he blessed everyone with whatever he was thinking. Garroth found that any books about nature, like animals and wildlife, really got Vylad interested and talking. Garroth and Vylad exchanged frequent letters while Garroth was at guard academy; Vylad used those as his encouragement to step out of his comfort zone as he got older. 

Vylad was tutored in diplomacy. Garte was one of those father’s who planned out every moment of his children’s future: Garroth would train to be head guard of O’khasis until he would inevitably be Lord, Zane would train in politics and theology to enter the ranks of the Faith of the Lady Irene, and Vylad would be a diplomat for the family’s interests. Vylad actually really liked the idea of being able to travel and see other places (he hated that he would have to charm strangers though, true introvert after my own heart). 

Vylad was assassinated a week before his 18th birthday. He had suspected he was going to be killed for a while, especially as he became aware of more of his father's behaviors toward him. Vylad had hoped he would be able to evade it until he began travelling in his new career. He was killed in his mother’s favorite garden. 

Garte hired the assassin. They strangled Vylad using a garrote wire type weapon that was easily concealed as a mundane item. The assassin still works in the Ro’Meave castle for Garte. (I think canonically he said he was stabbed in the back, but I interpreted that as a metaphor for being betrayed.) 

The last time Garroth saw his family was at Vylad’s funeral. He returned to the Guard Academy to complete his final testing and then he ran away. He decided to never return because he received Vylad’s last letter the night before the rankings were announced. 

Vylad was personally reaped by the Shadow Lord to be turned. There are two ways for souls to turned into Shadow Knights: through manipulation and then rigorous torture of the living body into fiery death, or through unconventional means of death (especially like murder or execution); Vylad was the latter. 

Vylad's favorite place in the nether is the (newish) biome The Warped Forest. He was the one who discovered it and was the one to start classifying all the “living” things there. He really likes all the green there because it reminds him of home (not that he would ever admit that to himself, in fact every time he does actively think about it, all he really remembers is his death). 

Shadow Knights can rise through the ranks by either proving their loyalty by extreme violence of their own means or by fine-tuning their special talent. Not every Shadow Knight has a special talent, but it usually reflects something from your time of living (Gene’s is his ability to alter memories, Sasha can transfigure items from the overworld into elements of the Nether, Zenix can control fire). Vylad can disappear/blend into shadows completely by magical means and he can move unnaturally fast when he’s in the shadows. He proved himself very quickly to be a competent and ruthless Shadow Knight because of this skill. 

Vylad has a reputation of being very unnerving due to his appearance and his coldness. He rarely talks, he still looks young but with very dead eyes, you can never hear him approach you until he right beside you, 

The Shadow Lord specially selected Gene, Vylad, Sasha, and Zenix to team up in the overworld. They were specifically given the Brightport/Metalli region to start the uprising of shadow knights killing their lords due to all their skills. They all dislike working with Vylad so they love when he spontaneously disappears for a few days without explanation, because they don't want to be around him more than necessary. 

Vylad didn’t immediately recognize Garroth in Phoenix Drop until he was charged with the task of getting the head guard to turn towards the dark urges of the shadow lord, to figure out exactly the best way to manipulate him to kill the lord. Vylad convinced the others that Phoenix Drop didn’t have enough political power to keep around and that the head guard wasn’t a good fit for any usual manipulation tactic that is typically used. Instead they all get to have a “bit of fun”; Zenix gets to commit arson on the Lord’s house, Gene places a bit of a memory spell on the village’s inhabitants to placate them, and Sasha gets to supervise the village for a bit and cause any kind of trouble she wants (including throwing random potions on hamsters). 

Vylad only decides to visit Hyria in the twilight forest once, mainly to see whether the magical forest would still recognize him as his mother’s child and not as a shadow knight. Seeing his brother again filled him with a long-gone emotion that he was trying to crush: hope. Hyria knew of the growing dark forces on the continent and worried that without Irene, Shad would rise again. She gave Vylad the staff thinking he would go to the nether, a place that would most need Irene’s help. Instead, he chose the place his brother was, the place he just destroyed. 

Nobody ever suspected cold, unnerving, loyal, shadowknight Vylad to have betrayed the Shadow Lord’s order so flippantly. But Vylad was never that loyal, in fact, the moment he was in the overworld, he just did whatever felt like the logical thing to do. 

He saved the Lady of Phoenix Drop, Matilda, not because it was the “right” thing to do, but because there was no logical reason for her to die. He hid her, imprisoned her, in Scaleswind, to keep her safe. He saved Levin and brought him back to Phoenix Drop, not because Matilda asked him to, but because the last place someone would look is right under everyone’s noses. 

Zenix is the one to figure Vylad is playing both sides and imprisons him in the nether. This begins Zenix’s disillusionment with the Shadow Knight order and why he “goes mad” and begins playing by his own rules. He refuses to side with Vylad though. 

Vylad is proficient in a variety of weapons, including a bow (when in camouflage) and the standard shadow knight blade (when transformed), but his favorite is a walking stick that functions as a bo staff weapon (he only uses it when he is disguised as a traveler). 

Vylad still “worked” for the Shadow Lord until Aphmau found him guarding the nether portal near Bright Port. He found that as long as he isn’t in the nether, he can strengthen his free will and finds himself more in tune with the overworld again. He doesn’t fully turn against the order until Aphmau finds him and reveals where Garroth is and that she's trying to rescue him.

Vylad doesn't consider himself a good person at all, but he finds that as long as he does the logical thing, good things tend to happen. He tries really hard to teach his "zen" ways to Laurance, but it doesn't really work. Unfortunately, Laurance just does not have the uncanny ability to disguise oneself so well that he hides from his own mind like Vylad can.

After Garroth is freed from the Irene Dimension, the two brothers hang out by the docks of phoenix drop and they fish together. They decide to use this time together as a second chance to be brothers again, no matter what happened in the past.

*power point ends*

so yeah, that all I've thought of :3

[isalabells]

- And we pulled that stupid prank on you. - Wiener schnitzel and sauerkraut. - Yeah, we thought we were so clever. Eva von Braun, right? But you– you just set it aside, and you put your head down and got to work.

FOR ALL MANKIND 1.02 He Built the Saturn V || 3.03 All In

[carlyraejepsans]

I'm gonna need falin to come back and do some wild yuri shit with marcille as soon as possible because laios and marcille's dynamic is written specifically to make me insane

[widowshill]

— And do you or do you not have difficulty remembering such simple instructions? — Only during thunderstorms, sir.

THE SOUND OF MUSIC (1965) / DARK SHADOWS (1966)

[tvckerwash]

I like to think that during pfl (using his s9 characterization, not s10) wash is the guy you go to when you want to know something (ah la a line in the fall of reach novel I believe where chief says the enlisted personnel always seem to know stuff bc wash is clearly enlisted).

he's in a position where he's privy to information from the higher-ups, and he's friendly enough with the lower rungs that he knows the gossip going around. as a bonus though, wash ain't no narc, so if you want that information you need to offer him something of equivalent exchange (consequently fueling the 'guy who knows things' thing). for example, north had to tell him about using equipment in the field in order to get him to tell him what his meeting with internals was about.

wash isn't the only guy who knows things, of course, but he's the guy who has the widest base of general knowledge. ct is also someone who knows things, but she's a lot more specific, and what she lacks in scale she more than makes up for with how in-depth her knowledge is. wash is where you learn about something from, ct is where you get all the juicy details (to the point of it almost being tmi). she also has an equivalent exchange policy, but people tend to be a bit more reluctant to get information from her because of what her knowledge is (and the borderline 'insane conspiracy theorist' energy doesn't help either).

florida? well...you don't wanna know what he knows. the cost is simply too high.

[aliusfrater]

x

[jibanyans-chocobar]

In Spanish class we were asked to make a story by ourselves, and guess what? I made mine be about Sasusaku. It's basically the first oneshot I've ever written about them and I'm kinda proud about that tbh because it wasn't that bad!!

Also the teacher proofread all of our stories' drafts today! She said mine was great and that I didn't have to change anything about it so I'm happy. Today I just have to draw whatever stuff I'm gonna put related to it cuz it's illustrated which means I'm probably gonna post some drawings hehe 😼

[webbelzebub]

thinkin abt the line "you think the time that i was chaste was being waste on a holy mission?" her defining characteristic throughout the show is her devotion to her religion, only for her to describe it all as a waste in the end

imagine you spend your entire life being good, being so so good, faithful- only for that faith and all of your goodness to be the direct cause of your downfall. if she didn't feel so much shame and anger in regards to her attraction to max, she never would have come up with the plan to prank him, which never would have led to his death, which never would have led to her having to give up her chastity after his resurrection.

imagine all of your doubts and fears becoming real. and in your darkest moment, at your rock bottom, when you are completely alone, abandoned by the very god you've pledged your life to, you find a new set of gods. gods that are real, gods that are tangible. gods that can give you back the power that you lost. gods that can give you back your purpose.

[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.