#the reason why is the real mystery

[icewindandboringhorror]

I made a few new wax seal stamps out of clay (like the ones I did for my worldbuilding stuff forever ago), this time just of random symbols that I thought might look good done in the style of painting over the raised part of the wax or etc. :0c Some of them aren't carved deep enough to really show up that well, but overall they worked okay for being clay lol

[opera-ghost]

phantom of the opera + twitter

[where-the-water-flows]

canon divergence where the poison kicks in earlier/harder, and so instead of having their Dramatique Divorce Hatefuck Fight in the east sea, Di Feisheng gets to whatever beach he's going to storm the sigu sect/fight Xiangyi on etc, and finds Li Xiangyi face down in the sand, poisoned to shit and barely breathing, clearly in zero state to fight because of the near death experience he is currently, uh, experiencing.

no worries though, Di Feisheng has medicine demon on call. Clearly whatever the fuck is going on here is uhhhh Incredibly Sus, given someone has now tried to murder both of the leaders of Sigu sect and apparently actually succeeded killing 1/2, but honestly, not really Di Feisheng's problem! his problem is getting Xiangyi back into fighting shape and then, y'know, fighting him. best of luck to the Sigu sect but he's different.

except of course he -- and everyone else on the boat, one assumes -- rock back up to medicine demon's weird offsite lab living situation, and medicine demon is like good news boss I recognise this poison! bad news boss it's super ultra fatal and also the poison is coming from inside the house alliance

which is very extremely no bueno, both because uhhh who the fuck betrayed him like this he needs their heads on spikes yesterday, and also because what the fuck do you mean there's no cure, fucking work one out!

long story short: di feisheng spends the next mmmmm several years laying low, maybe kinda faking his death/seclusion a little by implication of dropping off the map after a big duel was meant to happen, while he and the few people he's sure he can trust go right the hell through the Jinyuan alliance trying to find all the people who betrayed him.

and also playing the world's scariest nurse/buddy cop duo to Li xiangyi, who is not yet dead of poison thanks to medicine demon's questionable approach to medical ethics and informed patient consent, is very fucking angry about life, and very fucking determined to find out who murdered his shixiong and made him break the treaty under false pretences.

(and also poisoned him, he guesses).

[lunarharp]

Very important conferences.

[earlgodwin]

From your obedient brother, Juan. Duca di Gandía. Valencia, October 13, (1493) // From your brother who loves you as he loves himself, César Cardinal de Valencia. Rome, April 18, (1494)

[sciderman]

Sometimes i remember a comics moment i randomly came across somewhere, where Sam Wilson mentiones a musical and Steve Rodgers says he doesn't like musicals, to whitch Sam goes "Guess that means you really are straight" and even tho i don't care about Cap America or the Avengers, the moment stuck in me for that quote by Sam. And like....Sci, any ideas if straight men actually don't like musicals or is that bullshit?

actually i think i know more gay men who hate musicals than i know straight men who hate musicals. i've had a drag queen stop me point blank when i was about to sing a barbra streisand song, and i know so many gays who pointedly hate abba. so based on my experience i think the inverse is true. most of the straight men i know are kind of impartial about musicals, but gay men? hate.

my theory is that a lot of gay men don't want to fall into stereotypes, maybe. but thaaaaat's just a theory! a gay theory.

[trans-mephisto]

Blue Exorcist fan theories are always like "THEORY: Mephisto is secretly evil because he's OLD AND UGLY and SMILES A LOT" and everyone cheers

[angorwhosebabyisthis]

trying to lay out my interpretation of why brad and judy are simultaneously awful and really goddamn sad, beyond just having lost their baby under traumatic circumstances as already-traumatized autistic young adults with zero support system left but each other, is wild because it includes in full seriousness the word 'sheepnado'

[radical-rapscallion]

just finished book three! what the fuck

[inosukes-boar-mask]

honestly why the fuck am i not struggling when I draw other cc characters

but when it comes to my chinese bae i struggle a lot like aksskkswowoskks any tips on how to draw monolid eyes? 👉🏻👈🏻

[izzythehutt]

Walt is the least sympathetic of all the BrBa criminals/anti-heroes/rogues gallery because he's the one (major) character who doesn't have a clear and unambiguous "reason" for being the way he is. There is an unflinching refusal to give this character a "Freudian excuse" for his behavior and I just...love that.

It is not only an extremely brave choice from a writing perspective for your protagonist (and really only works because Bryan Cranston can somehow wring sympathy out of this dry husk amoral sponge of a person), but also makes him the most realistic portrayal of what evil really is. Walt feels the least like a television version of how a person becomes bad because there's not one reason it happens, and there's an aspect to his moral descent that's both mundane and mysterious—his motives unfold gradually, they change, and the show never really seeks to outright explain why it happened beyond the obvious inciting event—his cancer diagnosis. Was there something in him always not quite "right" or was there just a unique confluence of circumstances that caused Walt's complete moral transformation? In his own words—he liked it, he was good at it, and it made him feel alive. Maybe it is just as simple as that. Evil is actually a lot less interesting than people give it credit for.

There are so many things about his personality that are just never explained but must have some explanation, surely. For example: Walt's hang-ups about money—his obsession with being the one who provides it for his family and his reactive disdain for charity (even Saul points out there's clearly deep-seated issues there lol.) You could very easily see a different writer backstory dumping a lot of explicit childhood trauma with Walt and his single mother being poor and him getting bullied and this being where his weird inferiority complex about hand-outs come from. Instead this is just a huge part of his personality that has no obvious singular explanation. Why is he like this? Who the hell knows!

Which I personally really like, because regardless of whether that happened to him as a kid (I have to assume something like that was going on with child Walt because he has really specific neurosis) it has no ultimate bearing on the morality of his actions. There is no excuse for what he does, ultimately, and I just love that the show gives you very few reasons to feel sorry for him, at least as far as his backstory goes. Even the merits of his Gretchen and Elliot resentment is called into question (though left vague.)

In a weird, counter-intuitive way this lack of explanation for his behavior makes me feel more sympathy for him (again, Cranston acting magic pulling its weight.) But it's such a subjective thing with him. How you feel about Walt hinges on the performance, the character's actions in the story itself and what the viewer chooses to extrapolate from both. I can't blame people for thinking he's just kind of a low-empathy asshole, though I personally find that explanation reductive and less interesting, I cannot argue with it as a valid read. He is very, very hate-able for so many reasons. There's something refreshing about how unapologetic the writing for him is in that way.

[ryuseitai]

euuuuouuueeuuouuuuouueuueeu

[averagecatdoodlesenjoyer]

back when i used to have friends i spoke to on a regular basis we would chat about stuff and they would say something like "i wonder how that works" which made me curious as well so i would go do research on the topic and send them articles about it and share what ive learned and then they would just ignore me. nostalgic!

[doctorweebmd]

afa;ldf;lakdflk;asdf urgh sorry i've been MIA i unexpectedly got super busy with the grant and my grand rounds and having to pick up shifts for people with emergencies/illnesses/moving PLUS my 'graduation' is tomorrow so i'm all over the place AHHHHH

[dwellerinroots]

On the Nature of Thalmor Support

Originally, this was reblog commentary, but it evolved into it's own thing! Interesting(?) semi-lore-ish musings below the cut! Not included: my thoughts on Getter Romebo Big Brass Boi the Numidium, which boiled down to 'why does numidium two have bones' and went quite nowhere.

As of my years tending to the garden of words, I have noticed an increasingly insidious kind of thought that invades as a weed, not unlike creeping Netchvine.

This thought, if it is to be called as such, conflates all Altmer with the government of Alinor, and Alinor with the Thalmor. Retired as I am from Legionary life, it would be compelling to simply nod my head, agree, and move on. Nevertheless, when allowed to spread, thoughts - like strong roots - bury themselves deep where they cannot be seen, much less removed...

With their influence reaching far, and wide.

I would be willing to confidently state that the highest echelons of the Thalmor either believe entirely in the cause and an end, or not at all - only being interested in their position for temporal power. This is common amongst all authoritarian power structures.

Given the extreme nature of the Thalmor and their end goal, I would assume the latter outnumber the former but everyone assumes their peers are serious, so - the work continues, even though only a few desire the actual outcome.

Amongst the populace, though?

I imagine there is a degree of fanatical support that has nothing to do with prior wrongs and everything to do with hurting people for no other reason - justified or no - than cruelty being good, and for many, enjoyable. This, too, is common.

Nevertheless, it's always important to remember that even if a plurality or a great majority support the actions of a cruel government or force, there are also those present who do not agree, agree but have forgiven, do not care, or would agree entirely but leave us out of this awful business and are horrified at the outcome of their thoughts put into action; as well as many whose loyalties are conditional, and whose ability to be persuaded are necessary for the dismantling of any force, whether one wishes it were so or not.

Even limiting this to only elves who consider themselves Thalmor, there will be varying degrees of support for the actions of the state, just as there are varying degrees of support for any action. Consider; the family who has deep ties to Imperial culture, and would rather not see blood shed, but believes that a network of client states is necessary to secure the 'purity' of independent peoples. You may have two exceptionally long-lived forebears who see the conflict as regrettable, are deeply aware of Thalmor policy as it is guided by religious doctrine, but do not think the repeated spoken and implied end-states are serious. There may also be a much more devoted child, who enjoys the power and privilege that come with being in ascension, and perhaps another relation who is opposed, but whose opposition ultimately plays into the power of the state - their execution proving that 'Imperial' sympathisers are everywhere. Consider; an Altmer who hates the Empire, or perhaps even just one people outside of Alinor. But, this Altmer has no interest in expansionism, let alone policy rooted in religious dogma. They cannot bring themselves to oppose the state, because that means tacitly aiding (real, or perceived) enemies. Nevertheless, they may spread information to Bosmer or Khajiiti auxiliaries, who then return it to us. Yet - in public - they do much to praise the regime, which does help it gain power, as no state (however ruled by force) rules alone. Perfect absolutism, as the philosophers will remind you, does not exist. Consider; Altmer who have travelled far and married into distant families, Beast, Men, or other Mer. They are content to live in peace alone, but their very existence living independently and detached from Thalmor policy is a repudiation of everything the Thalmor stand for. It is thus of vital importance that the state not only destroy them, but their families and relatives, any who can attest that their way of life existed. To do otherwise would allow for the proof that not only is their policy not universally adored, but that it is not necessary. And - if it is not necessary - then many of those whose loyalties are conditional might ask: Are we fools..? In living content and humble lives, this quiet defiance is in some ways more of a resistance and threat than any one act within Alinor. Thus, it is here we see some of the harshest punishments, including extrajudicial assassinations and massacres on ostensibly sovereign soil. Whether these are refugees[1] to the Empire who were attacked for daring to leave, or simply independent souls, it's very difficult to imagine what people living in Alinor think of them at this juncture. I know that goes without saying, but it can be easy to forget that Mer are as complex as any Men or Beast; one can ascribe a motive to a people no more then one can ascribe a name to the ocean or an end to the stars. People, cruel and kind, do evil things all the time; and, sometimes, those capable of great cruelty or committed to what we find abhorrent do good. Kustified or no, these things happen. Understanding why is important - in stories and in history. [1] This is from an Imperial Legate in Skyrim, whose name I forget, but his story sticks with me, about the 'Night of Green Fire.' Sources, biases, etc, but I tend to accept it as true because it tracks with what we know of all movements that seek ideological and doctrinal purity. - Iulius Ennius

[zombolouge]

“every scene in your story should be advancing the plot" factoid actualy (sic) just statistical error. average story scene needs to do nothing. Mystery Story Georg, whose every scene needs to be doing 3-8 things, is an outlier adn should not have been counted