#this is more for me than anyone

[ainulindaelynn]

A random tidbit to encourage anyone new to writing dueling of any kind… I’ve watched a lot of sparring in my life, so I feel like have a tiny bit of credibility on this one xD

Armed and unarmed alike, the best matches — the ones at the highest skill level — are slow 9 times out of 10.

Skilled adversaries are good at covering their bases. They don’t leave openings. Their opponents, in turn, won’t take a shot without seeing that opening. They wait. Sometimes they sew chaos to distract and create an opening, but there’s a lot of time that looks like nothing’s happening. And when the balance slips, it often slips quickly.

A few people at high levels get there by leaning entirely on offense, being too chaotic, which is a psychological trick, but they’re the rare exception. Deimos, from AC Odyssey is a prime example of that. If these people aren’t successful in flustering their opponent, they usually amplify their approach and unintentionally highlight it’s weaknesses in the process, leaving plenty of openings for quick hands and cooler minds to capitalize on.

High drama duels happen most often between poor or imbalanced skill levels. High-skill duels, on the other hand, are often held in tension more by the emotional implications than the physical chaos.

So as a writer… if you feel like your action is too slow or too short, you’re probably right on the mark and closer to realism than you think.

And there’s a lot you can throw in those action gaps. It’s a great opportunity for calculation and/or introspection — a chance to reveal more about your character or reconnect with the significance of the moment.

Hope this helps somebody out there :)

[eydilily]

🐌🐌🐌 BAM!

close up shot :3c

and a lil progression comparison

[satoumafuyuss]

Blitzø has zero tolerance for creeps when it comes to his daughters!! 😤🔥

[tofixtheshadows]

Sorry but Kabru is so fascinating to me as a character, in a pure mechanical sense, because of what Ryoko Kui does with him. Everything about him is a red herring. He's deliberately introduced as some kind of rival for Laios, a party leader who is hopeless against monsters but absolutely brilliant with people both in and out of combat, and who has good reason to oppose him.

By the end of chapter 31, you might even think Kabru's going to end up as some sort of anti-villain, an antagonist with the best of intentions who nevertheless tries to foil our hero's plans. He wants to defeat the Mad Mage himself, he suspects Laios of being too irresponsible to be trusted with control of the dungeon, and his crew even thinks that Laios's party stole from them (and they're kind of right!). All signs point towards an inevitable showdown.

And then ... none of that happens.

Confrontation over the stolen treasure? Kabru is literally too smart to fall for the classic miscommunication trope and correctly decides it's not worth making a big deal of.

Kabru's deadly PVP skills? Aside from trying to take down Falin, he never fights another human again.

Wanting to be the one who defeats the dungeon? Turns out he was only doing that because he didn't think any other adventurer would have people's best interests at heart, and he's more than willing to play a support role in the whole affair.

Thinking Laios is up to no good? He really did just want to get to know the guy more. He has his misgivings, but ultimately ends up trusting Laios with his life.

Is Kabru going to get some sort of comeuppance for hating monsters and not appreciating their ecosystem? Well no, he has good reasons for hating monsters. He ends up wanting to learn about them through Laios's eyes, but he's never forced into any "Wow, guess I was wrong about them!" revelation.

Hell, even his implied ladykiller ways, which might lead you to think he'll end up being the stock "chivalrous lech" type of character, don't really manifest. He has a lot of opportunities to act flirtatiously around women, but doesn't. He's just a guy whose natural charisma makes him into human catnip.

And that's all hysterical to me, to pull it off. It's a fascinating way to tell a story. To introduce a character explicitly as a rival, potentially even a villain, and instead make them a deuteragonist. It's like a magician making a coin disappear, then slowing down their trick to show you the misdirection. "Did you see what I did there?" they ask with a wink. "The coin was in my other hand the entire time."

[swagliostro]

just wanted to remind/inform people that edgar got a kiss from princess diana

[druidgroves]

the baldur's gate 3 experience when you accidentally trigger an unintentional romance because you thought you were just being a really supportive friend

[aitadjcrazytimes]

[welcometogrouchland]

[ID in ALT] I've made posts before about Talia/Dick co-parenting Damian moments (will never happen but let me dream) and this came to me in a vision. Took me ages to finish for some reason 😭 and then even longer to post

[mumblesplash]

in honor of last season’s poem being called “”end poem”” (all quotes mandatory) this season i made one out of pieces of the actual end poem

[platoapproved]

armand + a few offhand lines that give some insight into how he thinks (imho)

[susie-dreemurr]

😃 did. Did Loop stop Siffrin from making the same wish they made just now? 😃

[bicheetopuff]

Horikoshi please I beg, even if you don’t release another manga, GIVE US A HARD COPY OF THIS SCRAP BOOK. I DONT CARE WHO DRAWS IT, I JUST NEED TO KNOW WHATS IN IT

[colfy-wolfy]

hello again I'm insane. I will never not love drawing slugcats hugging and cuddling. but my md hyperfixation hasn't stopped yet so it's nuziv

[hinamie]

*catboys ur shounen protag*

[ciderjacks]

despite Laios low self esteem making him think that if he’d been eaten, Chilchuck and Marcille wouldn’t have helped Falin,

theres a small part of me that thinks the reason Chilchuck stayed with the party and went back in the dungeon in the first place was because he didn’t want to leave Laios alone. That Laios was moreso the reason he stayed.

[bigskyandthecoldgun]

steve having a cat that refuses to be touched by anyone but him (it tolerates robin by extension ofc bc it has accepted the reality that they’re a package deal), and eddie gets warned by the entire party that steve’s cat hates people who aren’t steve or robin. eddie’s fully prepared to get scratched the fuck up, but the cat’s almost as friendly with him as it is with steve. huh. weird.

meanwhile, steve’s poor cat is trying to figure out a way to get its owner to stop being so sad all the time, and when one of the strange people he spends time with makes steve smile, the cat is determined to keep him around at all costs.