#stuff's happening. things.

[carabas]

Dragon Age Veilguard liveblogging -

Why did they make the ghostly Fen'harel ritual wolves so cute, and yet make them disappear as soon as we get close enough to see them. Deeply unfair.

Just a little guy!

Elgar'nan talking about potential traps in the Crossroads: "Fen'harel's spite is endless and his trickery not easily overcome." I'm paying close attention any time our spirit companion's name comes up in lowercase form, since compassion and justice were pretty much the defining themes of their respective games - I'm kind of surprised that our companion this time is Spite and not Regret, actually. They've been hammering home the regret theme pretty hard! But I guess spite's not exactly unrelated.

And then at the Halls of Valor, both Isabela and Seer Rowan referring to Spite not as a demon but as a Spirit of Determination - I love this, I want to chew on this.

INQUISITOR!!

Harding going through a crisis about the Chant being a lie! Everybody gets to have a religious crisis! It's equality!

I already had collected all five wolf statues before Lavellan's visit so we're going through the restored images of Solas's regrets one right after the other, all these big theories being confirmed all at once, and it feels like the moment at the end of a mystery story where the detective gathers everyone together - the kind of story where the ending isn't an attempt to catch the audience off guard with a surprise twist, it's the satisfying payoff of spotting the clues and putting them together. The way these games are written feels so rewarding.

And then I go confront the Formless One, the last of the four Forbidden Ones, we've met them all now across the four games, and it's hitting me that this has to be the final Dragon Age game, right? I mean, you could tell endless stories in this setting if you wanted, but the story they have been building for four games is coming to a conclusion here. Everything from the big foundational lore mysteries right down to this one reoccurring side quest is wrapping up. I wonder if this game will have a cliffhanger the way every previous Dragon Age has, or if there will finally be a proper ending. (Don't tell me.)

Also, while visiting the Necropolis:

Harding: This doesn't look like wine. Emmrich: Oh, grave-mist isn't a wine. It's magically infused vapors captured near tombs where spirits dwell. I don't partake myself, but it's supposedly quite invigorating.

...Making a note of that one for fanfic purposes.

[krysmcscience]

I have some questions about karaoke night, Alex Hirsch. Very Important Questions. Which I will happily scream at a poor hapless baby triangle who can have no answers for me, and possibly also does not have object permanence yet.

Follow-up that is I guess suggestive, but let's be real here, Bill's a fucking triangle:

Dude slipped right into his birthday suit, lmao

this is so stupid :D

Anyway, I don't care what anyone says, this brilliant individual knows what's up - Bill is absolutely way more of a monsterfucker than Ford could or ever will be, full stop.

[gigireece16]

“how do you plot / plan your book?” very bold of you to assume i do that.

[lopsaii]

Ongoing stepladder debate

[acidgirl]

[hinamie]

unconditionally

[pangur-and-grim]

Belphie got to join me on an important business call today

[inkskinned]

we were sitting on the floor and i was cutting out tiny pictures to make a collage for a friend's birthday. you were on your phone and you laughed about something, and i was still in love with you then, so i asked what had you giggling.

"sorry. i was just..." you took a moment and went back to texting. "i was telling someone about how you're afraid of the dark."

i'm afraid of the dark because something bad happened. "oh." i felt a little slinky of shame crawl down my throat.

you glanced up, and maybe it showed on my face, because you rolled your eyes and held the phone to the side casually so i could see the group chat. "what? was it a secret?"

i looked down to the scissors in my hand. "i just..." no, it's not a secret. it just felt like something private, something serious. saying why would you tell someone that just feels like an accusation. it's unfair. i honestly am not even ashamed of it, it's just a fact about my person that i don't usually share.

what a strange experience. is this a human thing or a generational thing? for our grandparents: did they need to worry about how quickly someone can just... share your personal information? again, i didn't even really have a true objection. what could i say? i want any person in my life to feel they can be honest with their friends. it's not like i said don't tell anyone this.

i cut out another letter to complete the rainbow happy birthday, started hunting for the exclamation mark. i heard you sigh dramatically.

"don't make a big deal about this," you said.

this entire conversation was a pattern for us, and this was when we got to my least favorite part of the pattern. i would get my feelings hurt in some oblique not-technically-terrible way, and then it would be making a big deal about something. you'd get frustrated for me for being soft, but i was born soft. you knew i was soft when you pierced me. it's one of the things that made controlling me so easy.

"i'm not," i felt my voice crack. the question came without my wanting. "why are you guys talking about me?" and why are you saying that thing? why not like - i'm telling them how you're generous and kind and pretty.

you let out this low, tragic groan. "oh my god." you tossed the phone away from your body. "there, see? i just won't talk to them if you don't like it."

the rest of the hour went the way it always went, between us: i said i don't actually mind if you talk to your friends but -, you found a way to call my minor expression of discomfort "being dramatic." you got upset that i had been offended. i ended up apologizing, even though i hadn't actually done anything.

afterwards, you picked up the phone again. after texting for a little bit, you snorted. "okay," you said, "but it is kind of funny you're afraid of the dark. i mean, when you think about it."

[keeskiwi]

So much more of the natural world feels close and accessible now. When I started birding, I remember thinking that I’d never see most of the species in my field guide. Sure, backyard birds like robins and western bluebirds would be easy, but not black skimmers or peregrine falcons or loggerhead shrikes. I had internalized the idea of nature as distant and remote — the province of nature documentaries and far-flung vacations. But in the past six months, I’ve seen soaring golden eagles, heard duetting great horned owls, watched dancing sandhill cranes and marveled at diving Pacific loons, all within an hour of my house. “I’ll never see that” has turned into “Where can I find that?”

-Ed Yong, When I Became a Birder, Almost Everything Else Fell Into Place

[zeldamacgregor]

I made this to call myself out but please feel free to hold up a mirror if you need one also.

[courtesanofdeath]

Vash with Wolfwood's Punisher + Wolfwood with Vash's glasses

[fauvester]

something something seeing things through different eyes

[collieii]

someone probably said this already but in spiderverse i think it's interesting how when pavitr was first introduced everyone thought something bad was gonna happen to him bc of how confident and optimistic he was. and then in the actual movie we see that something bad was supposed to happen to him (police chief dying!) but it doesn't! miles stops it! and miguel berates miles for this, says it's going to cause the universe to collapse or whatever.

there's this idea that tragedy is inherent to spidermans growth, and while it's true that some spiderpeople learn important lessons through loss, no one stops to ask, is it really necessary? yeah, maybe the chief was supposed to die. but why does spiderman have to be formed through tragedy? why do we (as heroes) have to let people die? pavitr didn't lose anyone, and he's still a good spiderman! maybe, if he doesn't suffer, he'll end up better off for it!

so while miguel is arguing for all this big picture stuff about saving the multiverse he's lost sight of what it really means to be a spiderman, he's not looking out for the real individual people. yeah it's just one person who would die, but that one person means something to someone. shrugging and saying "stuff just sucks sometimes, we can't do anything about it" is the opposite of what superheroes do. pretty obviously, miles arc is also a reflection of the struggles people face in real life, working within unequal systems, where it's easy to shrug and say "that's just the way it is" and not ask "but why does it need be this way? can't we do something about it?"

miguel is arguing that you can't have your cake and eat it too. presumably, miles and co. are going to find a way to get around that and change things for the better (and maybe that's why miles has that line about two cakes in the advisors office!)

[egophiliac]

just thinking about hair and faces

[cj-the-random-artist]

Here's a Cult of the Lamb comic that I scripted on a whim and then spent. Actual time on.

I hope y'all like this cuz it was fun to make and. I spent actual time on it lmfao

(Also for the "brought Narinder back" line. I started a new save and I swear between my two saves he's died three times. This guy. Goodness gracious.)

[buwheal]

Mfers when they want your personal information (I said no)