#specifically tearing apart

[pastelcrow]

[mystery-salad]

The world is safe now.

You tell yourself that as Zhaitan clings to a tower of decay, crumbling beneath its claws as the canons aim true. The shots hit, cheers raise as the dragon topples down. Falling from view through the miasma it created below. No one can hear it hit the ground over the relieved shouts of victory ringing across the airships. But everyone feels it in a resounding rumble that shouldn't have carried through the air like that. The celebrating falters, confusion rising but not fast enough to prepare for what follows. The shockwave hits like nothing you've ever felt. Everything goes dark as the screams begin.

The world is safe now, Orr is not.

You wake up in the rubble as survivors try to make sense of what happened. The dragon is dead, but no one accounted for where all the consumed magic had to go. No one planned for this despite generations of preparation. Perhaps there's a reason for the dragons, you hear murmurs through the tents. But you didn't come this far to call it quits, and one land riddled with a decaying radiation can't stop the mission. The contamination in your blood won't stop you.

The world is safe now. Orr is gone.

Mordremoth stares you down from within his mind. You're like a weed that won't die, small and foreign but resilient and ready to take everything. The odds are against you with the team sent away, you can't face the gaze of the dead like last time. They're safe at a distance, you have to hope they got far enough as you defy the odds and strike another dragon down.

The world is safe, but there's a catch.

Trahearne shudders as your mind returns to your body, as you look around in wonder that there isn't a shockwave like last time. He's so calm as he explains the truth of it, defying how terrified he is of dying, of asking a friend to do this and stand at ground zero once again. But you stand just as calm, picking up the blade and telling him to close his eyes. You hope he'll rest well, wherever his life takes him next. As the blade cuts through, you know it's real as the shockwave begins just like last time. You brace for impact as much as you can.

The world is safe now. The desert is gone.

It's almost tempting to let Balthazar handle the rest, let the god walk a path of destruction to each dragon, sparing yourself further damage. But his path leaves so much unnecessary devastation...so here you are alone with another dragon. Well, not completely alone now. You have Aurene, though you're still not sure if that's truly a blessing any more. The two of you corner Kralkatorrik, the perfect trap laid deep underground in old sunspear ruins.

The world is safe now, until the dragon takes a last stand.

Waking up in wreckage is becoming normal to you. When did that happen, when did the panic vanish? No time to think on it as new plans have to be laid out. You chase him down, you and your dragon, to kill her grandfather and save the world again. Setbacks are numerous. It's harder to work alone on this one, so many soldiers are ready to see it to the end with you. You tell them they don't know what they're asking for and send them away again. Aurene, still a child, fights the dragon's minions nearly overwhelmed as you get to his heart and strike. You've never seen the explosion from inside before. It's so bright.

The world is safe now. The island is gone.

Is it worth it all? It has to be, you tell yourself, as people celebrate your victories in a shrinking world. Refugees who have fled the fallout zones don't seem to agree, but at least they're alive right? And you know you're almost done. Jormag and Primordus, opposites and twins, rise together and somehow feel like childsplay after the last one. Perhaps it's because aurene is an equal to them now. You don't dare to think of the devastation that would be left if she were to die now. Thankfully you don't have to as the siblings tear each other apart.

The world is safe now. The mountains are gone.

No one has seen the final dragon in ages, hidden away deep underwater until you stumble into the truth while chasing a lesser threat. Soo Won was so gentle once, but the void ravages all. It feasts on the magic you released so willingly into the world, your devastations have paved the way for this chaos.

The world is safe now, for the void to reform.

You've survived so much despite the odds, held together by the very magic degrading your bones and poisoning your blood. The void pulls at those strings as it taunts you through the voice of the dragon who started it all. It's the hardest fight you've ever faced. As Aurene pumps you full of power to survive, you wonder if your death would bring destruction too in this moment. But it's left a mystery as Soo Won falls and the void fades. There's a moment of peacefulness you've never felt before, the grandmother hanging on long enough to comfort her granddaughter. But she can't prevent the state of her death. The jade sea shatters beneath your feet as she dies.

The world is safe now. But how much of it is left?

[meatsex]

Do Vlinny or V-Dub or the other streamers have dog variants or is it just Vinny?

probably the worst bunch of dogs to have around in your place

[imminent-danger-came]

"Even if it all leads to pain—it's ours!" and "Whether it's better or worse, we only get to find out because of you." has been in my head all day

[yvesolade]

“I couldn’t find the light switches, and I forgot how to make food, so I ate cheese slices in the dark. No, it wasn’t that bad. I ate cheese slices in the moonlight.”

Richard Siken, “On Perplexity: Chrysanthemum” in Poetry Magazine, October 2023

[bookshelf-in-progress]

Having story thoughts about the fourth wall:

It defines the difference between allegory and applicability. An allegorical story leans on our world to find its full meaning. Ideas, characters, settings, all symbolize something else that's in our world, thus obliterating the fourth wall and bringing the two worlds together. This can be useful for a message-forward story, but it has the side effect of making the world and characters seem less real, because it's not a place with its own independent existence--it relies on our world.

In an applicable story, the fourth wall is firmly in place. The character is a character. The setting is its own setting. They have an independent existence within their own little world. We can draw parallels to our world, but even without that meaning, the characters and setting still feel like they exist in a real, independent world.

An applicable story often has more impact and a stronger message, because the message comes out of the story and character, rather than being pulled from our world and pasted on top of the story.

As an example--I was thinking about this because I saw Ratatouille recently. In Remy's situation, there are a lot of parallels that can be drawn between his world and ours--an oppressed subculture, a life of poverty--but instead of trying to map that onto a specific real-world situation, they're still just rats, living in this weird version of Paris where sometimes the worldbuilding elements are just weird. The actual message of the movie is about art, which comes from character, not from the way the world is built. Compare this to something like Elemental, which started out as a way to explore real-world racism and the immigrant experience. Because the message is built into the world, commentators get distracted by the ways it doesn't map onto our world, and have a harder time connecting to the characters.

The fourth wall is also important to romance. The reason so much of the romance genre feels so fake and unreal is because it's so often concerned with the effect the story has on the reader--reaching through the fourth wall to give the reader things the reader finds romantic or arousing, regardless of anything that's specific to the characters or world of the book.

In a well-done romance, the fourth wall is firmly in place. The characters are not avatars for the reader and their romantic ideal, but people with their own independent existence and relationship. They live in a well-built world that has shaped both of their personalities and affects their relationships. The development of their romance is specific to these two people, and would exist independent of any audience reading about it. The story has more impact on the reader, because it's coming from outside our world and gives the reader unique characters to love, instead of just pulling the reader's desires out of our world and pasting them on top of the story.

[10underoot2]

The way I cannot express how this scene makes me laugh each time. Haein tired 3 times but boi is so denseeeee. She even said 'Busman rode bus number 372 and is you'. How did he still not get it after this?! 😭 The way she starts by teasing him and he gets all worked up over it. Like boi PLEASE put 2 and 2 together 💀

I'm mentally living in Hyunwoo's laugh of sheer joy and arrogance followed by his disbelieving questions to Hae in;

'Was it really me? I'm your first love?'

The scene is even cuter when it cuts to them after the secretaries. 🥹🫶🏼

Gif credits: @jcpostsobsessions

[fisherrprince]

Conan does a lot of Odd Things but it’s really funny that from a way outsiders perspective his Kid heists are by far the most well-known thing he does so if you’ve never seen him except for TV this mellow-looking 7 year old suddenly starts barking and snarling and running directly into traffic when he sees a white cape kind of like a weird tiny bull dog

[zappedbyzabka]

[alexandraisyes]

God what if I wrote a short fic about Lunar and Eclipse and toxic codependency because I've been going insane all night and I feel an urgent need to explore just how fucking reliant they were on each other to the point that even after Eclipse killed Lunar in canon he still felt like he needed Eclipse like

God that's so tragic and fucked up what if I wrote about that

(They remind me so much of Sun and Moon)

[thescrapwitch]

Watching a video about archeology (specifically debunking a terrible pseudo-archeology show) while knitting and all I can think is how cool history is. Look at all those things people made! Look at what I’m making! Humans are so neat!

It’s a very cozy feeling.

(Also if anyone else has archeology video/podcast recs please let me know I want to listen to more while I craft thank you!)

[thermodynamic-comedian]

consider: Elias going "Of COURSE I'm still in power. I will not pretend otherwise. I will take away her hunt's illusion of power, the only tool she has to try to hurt me, by NOT running away or crying. I will just stand here smugly." then Daisy rips him apart with her teeth anyways. Hunt totally irrelevant, he was just being that biteable

daisy's literally me when i fucking get him

[deadeery]

a lot of people accepted that yamato didn’t join but NOT ME. I’m living in my delusion where yamato did join and he’s still here present with every update and I’m waving and cheering at him. He’s having so much fun good for him 💞💞💞💞💞

[solid-white]

WHY ARE ALL MY FAVOURITE CHARACTERS THE ONES NOT TREATED PROPERLY BY THE FANDOM OR BY THEIR CREATORS?

[bumblebi713]

Doc x Trick is an interesting ship to see! What made you ship them together? (if I'm reading into the pictures right lol)

Hello,

Sorry for the late reply! I'm still recovering from a surgery (I'm okay, just tired).

Prior to Trickster/Doctor, I've never really had a romantic ship where I looked at two characters and went, "they're so perfect for one another...they're soulmates," but I do think those two are basically evil soulmates.

They have a very similar way of thinking and enjoy subjecting their victims to similar levels of torture and torment. I think that they would see in one another a person who truly gets them, someone who is actually on the same level as they see themselves.

I know that to some, their similarities would be reason to suggest that they would instead butt heads, however, I cannot take that argument seriously when Trickster's most popular killer/killer pairing is with GHOSTFACE of all people. If there's anyone who would hate the Trickster remotely as much as Yun Jin does, it'd be Mr. Johnson.

Mr. Johnson grew up with an absolute dick of a father, who was so cruel and controlling that Danny killed him in a fit of sudden rage....rages that would continue on into his adulthood, as we learned from his tome lore. I think his temper would put him at odds with Trickster, who, like Doctor, is a lot more composed. I mean, when Trickster's attempted murder of the Brazilian musician went wrong because of Yun Jin's meddling, he resolved the problem swiftly in a way that absolved him of any potential blame. When Danny's plan to punish those responsible for the article that mocked Ghostace went wrong? He became so violent that he utterly mutilated his victim, and was so careless as to let one of the other men see his face. I just do not think that he and Trickster are compatible personality wise. Mr. Johnson's also broke, and I can't imagine he'd have much respect for the rich when his Jed Olsen alias is meant to mock the expectations of the typical "good American."

Doctor simply seems like the best match for Trickster to me. He's cruel and calculating, just like Mr. Hak is. So, I think they would respect each other's intellect and they way they employ it when torturing and killing. Trickster incorporating his victims' screams into his music would absolutely impress Doctor, I would argue. Like, it's something he personally has never done before...or even thought of. BUT he does use music to torture his victims, so I think he'd appreciate Trickster's angle and would absolutely be down to help him "compose" new tracks. Not only that, but I think Doc would be impressed by Trickster's incredibly successful career and how he manages to maintain it alongside all the brutal murders he commits. It's so similar to what Doc himself does...it's just that Trickster doesn't have any endorsement from the government to torture people, making what he does even riskier. And in turn, I think Trickster would be thoroughly impressed by Doc's accomplishments...the way he gained such a position of authority, and how he used his understanding of human psyche and extensive knowledge of torture methods to achieve complete domination over his workplace, including his colleagues. And of course, he'd be fascinated by all the unique methods of torture Mr. Carter's used on his victims. All those sounds of pain that he's never heard, because he's never tortured someone like that. All this interest in one another's experiences... I think they would just be naturally drawn to each other. Add that they are both rather privileged, controlling, handsome men? They're like...your stereotypical rich, evil cartoon couple...just significantly more terrible and violent. A match made in hell.

[stevethehairington]

lonely is the muse by halsey goes sooooo hard