#the trust the connection

[cementcornfield]

[Jerry Rice] said if he could have he would have dated you...

Joe will tell you, sometimes a receiver comes along that just... there's something easy about him...

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Happy one year anniversary to In Stars and Time!

[inkskinned]

you know, you know. no gods, no masters, no kings on pedestals. everyone is fallible. death of the author. you know! you are balanced about your intake of media - you allow the wiggle room, the grace, the gratitude, the skepticism. nobody above criticism.

but still. a weird gut-punch feeling, something akin to betrayal. you read the article. surprise! an author you love is actually: a serial fucking predator.

well, shit. what now. no, you knew he was a person (all people are), but now you're wondering - what have i overlooked by accident? what messages have i internalized that are strange and cruel? and also, like, what the fuck?

his actions lay a thick glaze on top of everything. like each place is now ruined, opaque in a new way. but okay, fine, you've done this before. you knew better, right? you've been betrayed by many a cherished childhood author.

still, this stickiness. fuck. can you pick up that book again. will you read it to your children. you've recommended it to others - will you ever do that again? and of course, of course, no parasocial relationships. you were theoretically above this kind of sentiment. but the artist informs the art, right.

so it's not something as clear-cut as feeling he owed you, specifically (a stranger) better behavior - just that you kind of, in a distant and odd way... sort of trusted him to do better. it's not like a real trust or something speakable, just the faint hope that the product (good books) was a thin representation of the soul. now it feels like the product (good? books?) was a mask. in some small or insignificant way, your previous support of this person lent them power. your money and your time and your laughter.

and the thing is - you have this terrible, echoing sensation. how many times will this happen? over and over. you find out that the singer you love is actually a predator. you learn over drinks that your favorite high school english teacher is in jail for what he did to her. you listen to the news idly and suddenly discover that a woman you used to idolize has been abusing her kids for an actual eon.

what can you touch without the static melting off. you can't even really complain about it too much (you were supposed to know better, and besides, you don't want the same re-split "it's not your fault, love what you love" basic advice), but now it's here. somehow, it feels like - you let him into your life.

it's not that things need to be pure or an artist has to be like, endlessly perfect, mindful. demure. it's more just this terrible truth that has been replayed through your veins so often it feels criminally vain. power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. did you want any one person to be worth that power?

it's just that he wrote books where he seemed to understand that. he seemed to know about hierarchies and unfair systems and bigotry and privilege. you thought they were books about what it means to struggle. you thought they were about having power and still using it for good rather than for control. he spooned you a narrative of being a good guy, a kind soul. you fucking bought what that fucking monster sold.

maybe that's why they were fantasies, after all.

[beccawise7]

There is nothing quite as beautiful as being openly yourself with another and completely accepted for who you are.

~beccawise7 💜🖤

[edorazzi]

Page 47 of my Miraculous Mentor AU comic A Matter of Trust! In which Felix takes the risk of opening up to his uncle and dragging old wounds to the surface... 💔🩹

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Weekly updates each Sunday! You can also read ahead early on Patreon, and/or buy me a Ko-fi if you'd like to support my work! 💖

[archerdepartures116]

omg I can finally spill my guts about my Liu Qingge headcannons

He's not the one who does his hair most of the time, cause if it was left to him he would only have a fuckass ponytail, no long bang or braid in sight. Liu Mingyan definitely comes over to help him out in the morning (and by morning I mena like 4 in the morning cause the Liu sibs both seem like the type to be morning people)

Also when he's feeling really really irritated, he hunts down Binghe to spar with him (aka beat the shit out of him with no repercussions haha)

i just thought of this ask as this

(he definitely does seek out Luo Binghe like that dog that wants to nip your ankels everytime it sees you)

[egophiliac]

so on the subject of the "Crowley is secretly Revaan/Laverne/Levin/please Twst give us his name" theory, I think my feelings are best summed up as "I don't really buy it, but it's funny". like, in all seriousness, I'm not opposed to it; I have enjoyed the writing in Twst so far and I'm willing to trust that whatever happens will, you know, make sense and not be terrible. but I'm just not really convinced by the current evidence! maybe that'll change once we learn more, we'll see!

with that said, may I propose a few alternate theories about the possible Crowley/Revaan connection:

[iliothermia]

Jewish friends.. Stay safe, I love you, please take care of yourself, keep doing your best even though it's hard so often lately. You deserve good days, mutual respect, care and love.

[littlecrittereli]

Guardianship au,,,,,save me guardianship au,,,,,,,

If you don’t mind the questions, how’d the Tortuga gang react to Chris tagging along? I assume they understood Chris would be joining them early on into Martin being accepted, but I imagine the situation was more like. Martin snagging a new job on the Tortuga >> realizing he can’t take this job and leave his brother alone >> Chris says don’t worry just take me with you >> Martin nervously asking heyyyyyyyy is it cool if my little brother comes with?

Obviously everyone had to be cool with it eventually, but do you know what Aviva, Koki, and Jimmy had going through their heads when a mildly emo, 14yo Chris rolled in with a deeply anxiety-ridden Martin?

This is kinda the awkward phase of the team's relationship where they know Martin is struggling, but he's not willing to let them help just yet.

The second Chris finds out about the Tortuga it becomes his life-mission to convince Martin to let him go on the trip (it will not be difficult at all to convince him)

Martin is just hesitant because he wants to make sure he's not being selfish in his decision to join the team. Of course Chris wants to go too, but Martin is trying to think of his best interest.

Of course, he eventually realizes that the team genuinely cares about them and he's willing to let them help out with Chris, and then the found-family can commence!!!

[blorbologist]

Y'know, I think I figured out why the Hells still feel like a new low-level party to me, even though they're level 13 and almost 100 episodes in.

I don't quite think it's the lack of conversations, or the fact half the party's plot hooks are big ties to past campaigns - though that definitely plays a part.

... Bell's Hells still primarily rely on quest givers.

Most of their goals are given to them and do not feel organic to the party, and constantly remind us that the Hells are pretty much never the most powerful people in the room. Which is usually something you see with a low-level party.

NPCs offering jobs is not a bad thing; it's a very common plot hook. Matt has been extremely skilled with using NPC quest givers in those two campaigns. Not only do they provide an obvious plot thread, but they can put the party in the path of others (say, the Nein running into the Iron Shepherds while doing a job for the Gentleman and everything that came of that). And the Hells had a solid start with it too - Eshteross was an excellent quest giver!

The problem is that Bell's Hells have never really not had a quest giver.

Maybe it's a byproduct of the more plot-heavy structure of this campaign? But while prior parties have felt like they decided on their course of action and what they prioritized, Bell's Hells feels less like level 13 (13! Level 13!) experienced adventurers and more like an MMO group clicking on the exclamation point over an NPC's head. Where does the plot demand we go next? Who do we report back to?

They're level 13.

At level 13, Vox Machina had just defeated a necromantic city-state to clear their name and Percy's conscience. And, you know, the Conclave just destroyed Emon. No one was explicitly telling the group to gather Vestiges and save the world (though Matt guided them there), and they were usually among the most powerful people in the room. They chose which Vestiges to prioritize, which dragons to tackle when, even if the over-all plot was pretty clear.

At level 13, the Mighty Nein were celebrating Traveler Con (another PC goal, I'll note) after brokering peace between two nations, accidentally becoming pirates and heroes of the Dynasty. The Nein regularly chose what to do based on personal goals, not grand ones. Though definitely smaller fish than Vox Machina at this level, they were very independent and gaining solid political clout.

While we're at it: level 13 is one level lower than the Ring of Brass, who had a huge amount of sway over Avalir. They ended the world, and also saved it, while in the grand scheme of things being only a smidge more powerful than Bell's Hells are now.

Can you really see the Hells wielding that amount of influence, when they're constantly being told what to do next?

The god-eater might be unleashed, so Bell's Hells have no time to do anything but what is asked of them. No time for therapy unless stolen from Feywild time, no travel on foot and late-night watches. They haven't even had time to grieve FCG. Percy was grieved in the middle of the Conclave arc. Molly was grieved when half the party was still in irons.

Matt is in the very unfortunate spot of not being able to give the Hells the same agency as the other two parties. Not only because of the world-ending plot introduced so early on; they are surrounded by characters they know (and the cast knows) are stronger and wiser than them - the familiarity of the past PCs and NPCs is to their disadvantage.

Why would the party reasonably ignore Keyleth's task that will help save the world and go off on a romp? Why would the cast when they know well Keyleth has to be sensible and with the best intentions in mind? The stakes are just too high.

It means that the Hells still feel like they're running errands instead of pursuing their own destiny. Their accomplishments are diminished as just being parts of a to-do list, and any stakes feel padded by several level 20 PCs/NPCs standing 5 steps away ready to catch them.

This isn't Bell's Hell's fault, nor is it Matt's. It could be amended, I think, if the Hells are really left to their own devices for a long period of time without support and shortcuts (like during the party split)... which would be really tricky to pull off at this point in the campaign.

They're level 13. They're big fish, but they're stuck in a pond full of friendly sharks, so they don't feel big at all.

[porque-nolos-dos]

eddie diaz is truly a better person than i could ever be, because if my parents parentified me when i was a child and i was expected to step up and be the "man of the house" at age 10 or whatever that bs was, and then when i had my ACTUAL child whom i am ACTUALLY responsible for and am raising (something that i WANT to do and LOVE doing because hey, i LOVE my kid), and my parents where then like "you have no idea what you're doing. we should raise your kid. how could you think that you could ever do this" el paso simply would no longer exist. it would be burned off the map from the rage of it all. it would be fucking nuclear. if season 8b isn't just eddie eviscerating his parents for 10 episodes straight, then what's the point of it all? just to suffer??

anyways. good night to everyone except to ramon and helena diaz. you two are always welcome to go fuck yourself.

[ciderjacks]

Chilchuck is one of those special characters where you learn about his past and you go “ohhhh that explains a lot” except where for most characters this happens like once or maybe twice, with Chilchuck it happens literally any time you learn anything at all about him, and every time it’s explaining a different thing he has going on.

[suave1foru]

Believe

[beccawise7]

All of this. 💜🖤

[edorazzi]

Page 21 of my Miraculous Mentor AU comic A Matter of Trust! In which Felix needs a breather before opening up any further, and Adrien realises his enigmatic mentor is starting to let his walls down!!! 😻✨

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Weekly updates each Sunday! You can also read ahead early on Patreon, and/or buy me a Ko-fi if you'd like to support my work! 💖

[artharakka]

Beautiful, But Broken