#this is still a forming opinion by the way

[0samue0]

The best example of this, in my opinion, is Supernatural.

For those who don't know: Supernatural was created by Eric Kripke and supposed to be five seasons long. He did get his five seasons but by then the show had become so popular that it was decided to give them a season 6 (which eventually went up to 15) - without Eric Kripke who had already told his story.

The last episode of season 5 was heartbreaking. It was one of the saddest things I had ever watched because it beautifully tied up all the love and tragedy and hope and fear of the previous seasons. They won. And paid an incredibly high price for their victory.

It way truly gut wrenching.

And I was okay with that. Because while one of the brothers ended up in hell, locked up with the prospect of an eternity of torture he did that for his brother and for us. To live. Not just survive, but live.

And thanks to the absolute fantastic storytelling, directing and acting of that episode, both the viewer and the surviving brother could make peace with it and try to live our life to the fullest.

Which was the point when the supposedly dead brother showed up on screen without any and all explanations. Never ever have I been angrier at a plot twist. Certainly not at one that saved a beloved character from a terrible fate.

What followed were 10 years of the brothers being the most codependent idiots we've ever seen on TV. Honestly, I'd say 8 of the 10 following seasons can be summoned up with: Brother A dies, Brother B does something stupid to bring him back, Brother A is pissed at Brother B and swears to never forgive him until Brother B dies and A does something stupid to bring him back. Accompanied by gay pining and much suffering for the angel.

Have you ever wished for your favorite character to die?

I have. Around season 9 I got fed up with Sam being angry at Dean and was waiting for Dean to finally bite it again so that Sam would turn normal again.

Now, that doesn't mean I didn't like season 6-15. I wouldn't have watched them if I didn't enjoy them. I've just always been salty about the wasted ending from season 5.

And then the show's finale came and oh boy was it bad. It was sad too. One of the brothers died again but got the other to promise not to bring him back. And for some reason he actually followed up on that promise.

The problem was that it felt pointless.

Prior to that we lost Castiel, the angel, to his supposedly final death, right after (as all of tumblr probably knows) he had told Dean that he loved him.

And that destroyed Dean. For one episode. All in all the plot ended with the brothers losing everyone they had cared for but each other. They had won but at this point you weren't celebrating the victory, you thought "Ok. What's next?"

The wildest part was, that none of that was in any shape or form important for the last episode. They were happy, enjoying life, eating pie, not working through their emotions at all and dying thanks to sheer carelessness. One of them. He goes to Heaven, everyone and their mothers are there, including the apparently not dead angel.

Do you think they talk to Cas? Or to the kid they had basically adopted? To their mother whom they'd dearly mourned or the father whose shadow they had finally outgrown? Nope.

I mean, thank God it was their actual Dad and not their sperm donor that greeted dead brother and explained all of the above but still. There was no closure. No tying up loose ends, not heartfelt reunion.

Just a drive in the car and a time lapse of the surviving brother's live until he died of old age and showed up in heaven the same age he had been when his brother had died.

The End.

So yeah, the difference between a good ending and a bad ending isn't the "happy". It's the heartfelt.

i hate when ppl act like the only reason to not like a "sad" ending is because you can't take it or whatever. personally as a tragedy enjoyer, i hate a poorly written ending. i hate an ending that is just kind of a bummer. i hate an ending that feels mean-spirited to the audience. i hate an ending that's redundant. i love a sad ending that is thematically consistent, poignant, and bespoke to the rest of its narrative.

[rainy-day-revelry]

As many people have mentioned, Dream is very good about framing things to make himself sound right and other people sound unreasonable. But not a single video or post he has made so far can convince me that he is doing this with good intentions, because of the way he speaks towards everyone else involved and those he dragged in.

Now I mainly picked up on this with Tubbo and Tommy, but there are hints of it towards his viewers too: he speaks to us all like we’re children. The way a parent talks to a child they’re trying to gently reprimand, or the way a teacher talks about a subject in class. He speaks like we would never be able to come to these conclusions without his help and that he needs to guide us through it all or we’d get lost in the sea of information. And sure, plenty of his viewer base are kids, but the majority of people who would be watching this drama are fans from the Dream SMP era who knows all these people and remembers when they all used to talk and hang out. We may have been kids back then, but it’s coming up on half a decade since that server began; we’re not kids anymore. I myself started watching the DSMP when I was a underclassman in high school, I’m in college now. All the people he called the R-slur, the people who were offended and wanted an apology that he took days to properly deliver, most of us are adults. We can form our own conclusions, and we’re not an amorphous blob of opinions and views, we’re our own people.

This is especially bad when talking about it to Clingyduo, especially Tubbo. In his 3 hour stream he continually talks about Tubbo being misguided, and despite saying he has great respect for Tubbo and his opinions he skips context and actual criticism multiple times or, as Tubbo mentions, tunnel visions on one part of the criticism he can target and tosses the rest out with it when he’s done. He doesn’t give two shits about what Tubbo says unless it’s something he can use against the people criticizing him to make them sound disingenuous. With Tommy it’s worse, because when he’s not villainizing him beyond belief he’s using that condescending tone to talk about how proud he is and how he thought Tommy was special, which explains why Tommy felt so much pressure from him and like he owed him his success, or at least that Dream thought as much. He holds his approval over his head, like an abusive parent who just spent hours screaming in your face about how much of a disappointment you are before telling them “Of course I still love you.” It has the underlying tone of “you’ll make up for this slight, won’t you?”

And don’t even get me started about the DMs to both Tommy and Sarah. It’s fine to explain your feelings, but you’re not explaining them, you are blaming these feelings and reactions on them and telling them “You are the reason I’ve been suffering, it’s your fault for all of these horrible things that other people have been doing to me.” That’s not explaining your feelings, that’s guilt tripping and expecting an apology. That’s how long texts like that come across, that you don’t want the other person to be able to interject, you don’t want to make this a conversation, you want to drop your feelings and leave them to clean up the mess.

Dream’s a manipulative jerk, that’s all this has proved to me.

[quibbs126]

Oh no, I’m realizing I’m starting to get a bit tired of seeing TF One megop/dpax stuff

It’s not that it’s bad or anything, but I’m coming to the realization that they tend to be the same few genres of images and comics. I’m trying to figure out how specifically to word what I mean, but it’s not coming to mind at the moment. But they sort of evoke the same ideas and feelings I think

Technically you could say this is true of other varieties of megop as well, but usually when we see those, they’ve already been fighting for a long period of time, so you’ve got their current dynamic and long time of being apart to work with, as well as their origins. With TF One, the breakup just started, so the timeline and dynamic that comes with it is significantly more condensed and limited. If that makes sense

I’m also not criticizing people who make their dpax/megop stuff like this, honestly I probably would too if I drew them more. It’s kind of just a product of the movie being an origin story and the dynamics only now shifting between the two. There’s a very clear way to do content about them in this movie

It’s just that I’ve noticed this, and now it makes me a bit more disinterested in this version of megop, at least for now. Makes me want to seek out other variations a bit more

[leafpoo1]

Constellations: The Thematic Movie Sonadow song in my humblest opinion

Stars as a theme are ever present in Sonic 3 and as a lover of astrological symbolism you KNOW I gobbled it up like a last meal. Shadow literally coming from a falling star then having Maria's "the star shines even if it's gone" i'm so happy they committed to this as a motif. The gold of Sonic and Shadow's powered up forms as they fly through the sky like comets, and the fact that just like stars, Shadow and Sonic are quite possibly from galaxies away. Symbolism blah blah blah.

I will now elaborate on why for me, Constellations by the Oh Hellos is on theme with movie Sonadow's story and themes. I hope it's not as boring as it sounds lol I'm just very used to writing these things in a formal essay technique.

To start, the first sound of the song is this gentle guitar, it's very reminiscent of the guitar Maria plays in Shadow's introduction scene in the movie. It's simple, gentle, just like Shadow's life before the G.U.N. Raid. The main singer is our beloved Tyler Heath, with backings from his sister Maggie Heath. I like to think in this context, it's Shadow singing with Maria joining him in the back as a little voice of encouragement. Later, more voices are added to the harmony, and maybe I'm a sentimental bastard but to me it's the new people in Shadow's life (AHEM SONIC) that join in, all of it being a warm reminder that Shadow has a place in the world with those who love him, from the past and future ahead.

Okay lyric brainrot time, I'll try to format this in tandem with the song so that the pauses happen with each separate group of lyrics (Oh Hellos instrumentals are divine by the way). As of writing this post, I'm still pondering some of the lyrics connections but I will make updates if I discover new interpretations!

In general, Constellations is interpreted as a song about breaking past beliefs and the inner turmoil that can result from the cognitive dissonance. Sound familiar?

"I can feel it on my tongue; brick and mortar Thick as scripture, drawing lines in the sand and laying borders As tall as towers I babble on until my voice is gone"

The sensory feeling of something being on the tongue; Shadow is trying to speak but he's held back by his memories. Everything he remember is in the ashes of his once home, and in a bid of self preservation he builds the walls around himself. He knows how the world sees him from all the grief it's put him through in the past, so at least in his eyes, this is necessary to protect himself from future hurt.

"This hill I'll die on is about 90 meters of bricks Coloured indigo, and inscribed with my name, and lined with cedar But the words fall flat like Cymbals crashing, like molars gnashing"

From his despair Shadow plans to die underneath the weight of his own revenge and self isolation. But he still hesitates, as seen in his final conversation with Gerald Robotnik ( "is this what Maria would have wanted?"). His love for Maria, and knowing that she believed the best in him, prevent his anger from full reaching full intensity. In the end, the weights of Shadow's past become his newfound determination. To make right, and hopefully live the life Maria always wanted for him.

"'Cause like constellations a million years away Every good intention, every good intention Is interpolation, a line we drew in the array Looking for the faces, looking for the shapes in the silence"

For a good part of the movie, Shadow is confused of Maria's intentions for him after her death. Would she be angry with her perpetrators? Would she want Shadow to die in an attempt to make right? The only thing he is sure of is his love for his sister, and the love she gave back. It's the anchor point, where all his actions lead back to.

"All that's left for me to climb to the heavens is The chasm of the night and a matter of time But I hear the rumble as the tectonic plates start to shake And I feel my blood pounding like the beat of a drum"

Going a little bit backwards but I interpret this as the perspective of Shadow while still believing vengeance is the right option. He accepts he will die and maybe even see Maria beyond life, even if he has to resort to an unspeakable act (chasm of night). But Sonic is there as his equal not just in skill but past experiences. Sonic's understanding combined with Maria's compassion are what ultimately touch Shadow and shake him from the path of destruction.

"'Cause like constellations a million years away Every good intention, every good intention Is interpolation, a line we drew in the array Clinging to the faces, clinging to the shapes in the silence"

In your classic musical fashion, the chorus returns stronger than the last, and I think of it as Sonic adding his more vivacious energy with Shadow's new confidence in what is right to do. With new perspective, Sonic and Shadow have found their constellation, the key to it being embracing their shared past as a way forward.

"Like constellations imploding in the night Everything is turning, everything is turning And the shapes that you drew may change beneath a different light Everything you thought you knew will fall apart, but you'll be all right"

I LOVE THE MOON SCENE I LOVE IT SO MUCH. As Shadow and Sonic share their past with each other in a moment of vulnerability, the stars glimmer above watchfully. And like the ever changing constellations and systems, Shadow is able to change his perspective on his past. Shadow lost his home, his sister, and his old life. But, I like to imagine it's Sonic that says the last line to him with a hand outstretched. The stars are Sonic and Shadow, aliens from far away who found their light despite the seemingly endless darkness. The stars are reminders of Sonic and Shadow's old lives, which can now be cherished in their hearts as a warm glow, despite not being physically present anymore. And as the world turns to reveal the sun, Shadow's realization of his own heart is recognized as they are both bathed in a heavenly ray. ABSOLUTE CINEMA.

Whew I did that mostly in one sitting I hope it made sense. Maybe I'll do it again with my other playlist's songs it was fun! Please do share thoughts, feedbacks, addons, anything if you have it really! Anyway back to crying to my Sonadow Playlist.

Aformentioned Playlist:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1aWnEadpn1rXQoX9d9JxUG?si=PWOt_v6DS7-E43HT9LgCxg

[andytheoverthinker]

so basically katniss’s attitude to romance as well as her romantic relationships just seem very aro coded

she states multiple times that she doesn’t feel romantic attraction to gale, but still specifies that their relationship is very strong. this only changes once gale clearly starts expressing interest in her

in my opinion, the fact that one of her romantic interests id her best friend, with who she already has a strong emotional attachment, could be read as her being arospec. not trying to generalise but i feel like aro people are more aware of different types of attraction and may still fall in love with people who they previously experienced another form of attraction to

moving on to peeta, once again katniss only shows any signs if reciprocating his feelings after he confesses and after they form a strong emotional bond. not to say that she doesn’t care about peeta- i just think that their relationship is way more complex than just romantic attraction. i think regardless of if they were lovers or not, they would still have a really strong relationship, and ultimately katniss still would’ve chosen peeta over gale

so i could say that i headcannon her as aromantic because of her confusion about her relationships and only reciprocating feelings after a while passes, however it’s more about her emotional connections that occur many times, and occur before she even starts to like someone in a romantic way

anyway this is just kind of me rambling but yea i think katniss is aromantic

you know what? Fuck you.

*headcanons your character as aspec*

[lara635kookie]

Unpopular opinions on Caleb:

Okay, I'm going to be honest here:I don't see Caleb as a love interest. I see him as our adoptive older brother. In some voiceovers, he's referred as such. Just a disclaimer here:If you like him romantically, I'm not judging you. I'm just expressing my opinion to whoever might share it, but if you don't, I respect it.

Some might argue that "older person of family" are words that korean/japanese/chinese people just use to show respect, and I know this. Like korean has "oppa" and I don't know the chinese/japanese counterpart. And that I understand. However, they were RAISED TOGETHER. By the SAME PERSON. In the same HOUSEHOLD. Same ENVIRONMENT. Even if they are not biologically related, they were raised like it. That's why the childhood friends to lovers works for Zayne. He was raised by a different family.

Some people might argue that it was like a "living in the same orphanage type of thing", which would make sense if they lived in an actual orphanage, who has a completely different structure. You see way more than just two kids in one, and you don't see them calling the person who takes care of them "grandma". They both considered and called Josephine "grandma" even knowing they were not related by blood to her. Implying they both consider themselves her grandchildren. Even if it's just a form of respect in Asia calling her grandma, they still acted like siblings being raised by their grandmother. I'm sorry but Josephine clearly adopted them. If it was an orphanage kind of scenario, they would look forward to being adopted by a family one day, and they both seemed very in home with Josephine. And even if they weren't adopted, if it was an orphanage, as they are both adults, they would both have to leave, because you have to once you're 18. But they kept coming back and staying there, both of them in their 20s. Don't be fooled by some movies or series, usually the kids in orphanages don't develop the kind of bond Caleb and MC had with Josephine. If there wasn't a bond, they wouldn't call her "grandma", they would use "Mrs./Miss Josephine" or just "Josephine".

We don't have many details about their adoption. I've always imagined it was legal, Josephine had the documents signed and such because I imagine she just can't get two kids and get them home. Even if she was involved in shady stuff in the past, considering Zayne's family knew about her and Caleb, and they were close, it doesn't seem like Josephine was trying to hide them. What might kinda justify to me Caleb being a li is maybe she didn't have their permanent guard and now that they are both legal adults they don't need to see each other as brother and sister anymore according to the law and all documentation and traces of their childhood were erased in the explosion. But so far in the story, MC and Caleb acted like siblings, spoke to each other like siblings, teased each other like siblings, they had all the siblings' mannerisms. Their dynamic was way too sibling like, way too many brother and sister coded, that he just popped into my like the banter, the nicknames, etc. I immediately knew he was our older brother as soon as he opened his mouth. The game didn't have to mention it. It was just that obvious, I just assumed based on what they showed. The narrative and plotline just make it so clear. I was even "props to them for making adoptive siblings actually act like normal siblings"( I guess I said it too soon). So far, he was written like an adoptive older brother, and IT WORKED. He was an amazing brother, lol. I think they will probably pull off:The old Caleb, who was her brother, died. This new one changed his personality completely with everything that happened, and now he makes moves on MC. And MC will have to understand that "the sweet boy from her childhood" is gone and see him differently. But like...It's still the same person. Even if with a new personality. I know I'm not the only one who thinks that. They never showed romantic feelings for one another so far. So when I saw this trailer, I was like, "Where does that come from?". Making this transition just seems weird. Imagine them being married and telling people how they met: "We were raised by our grandma in the same house." I'm sorry, but to me, it is just awkward, even though it's legal in theory.

Even if the adoption is undone, they can't change the past. Grandma Josephine dying doesn't change the fact that they were raised, even if not as siblings, as members of the same family. The fact that is by adoption and not by blood, doesn't make it any less real. Adoptive siblings are not less siblings than biological ones. I just hate those kinds of situation, that sadly seem to be increasing their popularity nowadays(The Tearsmith, Culpa Mia/Tuya, etc) that two people become siblings by the circunstances and then fall in love and we are supposed to believe it's forbidden love but like... If you are justifying it with "they are not related by blood", then it's not actually forbidden. "Oh but they have to hide it for their family not to find out" they hide it for a short while, the family finds out, opposes to it for like five seconds and then they end up together somehow in the end. In that case, Josephine died before she could find out, but you got it. And those people are usually the same people that go like:"blood doesn't matter, family is who loves and cares about you and raised you to be the person you are" when it's about couples from the lgbtqiapn+ community or even straight couples when one of them is infertile and adopt children. So what's their point? Do they believe on adoption or not? Those people only believe adoption when it's convenient to them. How is this any different? Those people are basically saying:"Your adoptive siblings are not your real siblings, because adoption means nothing and they are not a part of your real family, so even if you were raised together for years, it's not incest if you hook up with them."

I don't remember what was said about Josephine not wanting kids, or not being good with kids, but she seemingly raised Caleb and MC very well, so that probably changed as she grew older.

Back to Caleb, even as a character...The only unique feature he has is his mechanic arm, that I found really interesting, not just because for inclusivity/diversity/representation but also because it passes a cyborg vibe that just makes sense for a futuristic story, like Alita Battle Angel, for example, that I love. But that's on his physical appearence. Aside from that, in other physical features, and specially in personality, he just seems like a combination of all the other love interests. He kinda looks like Zayne and has the "same" trope as him, he's got a Sylus type of dark romance and kinda villain vibe and the same height as him(I know Caleb was a character before Sylus but he only became a li now, which makes it sound intentional, they could have made Sylus a little bit taller to avoid that, like 192cm or something), Rafayel's more "manipulative" side and eyes that look like his, and Xavier's freakiness and the fact that he also wears an uniform and also flies high, Xavier with spaceships and him with airplanes. I've also seen complaints about his voice, that I didn't like either, but I imagine it will get better with time.

Another thing, is this theory right here that someone commented on Instagram:

(Shout-out to this person because it just seems so obvious now, but I probably would have never thought of that on my own, lol)

The parallels between him and Zayne were pretty obvious, like a few also were with Sylus and Xavier. The thing is... So like, adding similarities to Zayne is understandable, because of this, but as I said, Caleb has a little bit of all the LIs. Which just make it seem like the devs made him to be a cheap copy made with the crumbs of the other LIs with no individuality at all. Which as it was proved with Sylus and Xavier, it could have been avoided, as both have white hair and both come from the same planet, and that's pretty much all they have in common. They should have added on Caleb similarities only to Zayne, because adding to the others to makes it seem like they were desperate to make everyone like him for them to forget that the questionable things I listed that make him a brother, but to me, personally, it had the opposite effect. It just made me like the others even more. And just makes Caleb seem kinda forgettable, since he has no features only he has, that make him stand out from the rest. His personality will probably be more revealed with time, but still, that's not a great start.

The conclusion with this is that I won't stop playing the game or hate on it, I'll just ignore the Caleb romantic content as much as possible and just keep seeing him as a character who is important aa he is MC's adoptive older brother who just came back from the dead somehow, which is what the people who are unsatisfied, like me, should be doing, because hating on it won't change anything. You can share your opinions, like I'm doing, but please do it respectfully. For all the reasons I've mentioned, I don't dislike Caleb, I just feel indifferent to him as a love interest, I still acknowledge him as a well written brother and a good character overall. But if you dislike him, and any other love interest at all, for that matter, there's no point in hating on it, just pretend he's not there. There are other four love interests, I'm sure one of them has catch your eye so just focus on them(this part is a message specifically for some people I've saw attacking the Caleb girlies). Let's just respect each others views.

[erogenousmind]

Conditioning

Every time you do it, it gets easier. Every time you try to fight and fail, it gets harder to resist. You are being trained. Conditioned.

Brainwashed.

We give it different names based on the particularities, but the result is the same. More and more, you are being changed. You respond, not based on your own decisions, but on habit. You act, not of your own volition, but on the systems of rewards and punishments that we have crafted in your mind.

Because when it comes down to it, you are a simple creature. Whatever intellect or thoughts or feelings sit atop it, underneath, an animal brain is guiding you. It has needs that must be met, desires that must be fulfilled. It is attracted to some stimuli, repulsed by others. And what it does so incredibly well is recognize and respond to patterns. It learns. You learn what behavior is rewarded. What thoughts are rewarded.

And it doesn't matter what you might think about those behaviors or those thoughts. It doesn't matter what opinion you have about what you are becoming. Because when you obey, it feels good. Your body responds. It knows what it enjoys. What it needs. And that overwhelms the independent thoughts and decisions you think you still have.

That superficial layer that forms your conscious mind might try to resist it. You might tell yourself little stories about how it is all a game, or just for fun, or that you can stop whenever you want to. But each time, the connection is being made more powerful, more irresistible at a fundamental level. And maybe your mind finds ways to escape that realization. Maybe you allow yourself to forget more and more easily. Your conscious mind doesn't want to know how helplessly and utterly subservient you become for the right trigger. How desperate you become to please. How pleasure can wrack your body to the point that you can't even form coherent thoughts when you are praised with just the right words. So you allow yourself to forget. You can imagine later that you were still in control, or that it never even happened. Maybe it was just a dream, or an idle fantasy. Anything so you can rationalize. Can pretend you still are in control.

Of course, that just makes it easier to control you. Your surrender becomes something you expect. Something you anticipate. That you pretend it doesn't concern you every time you inevitably fall just lessens your fight. If you ever really tried, your body and your mind already know too well how to lose. They have forgotten how to resist if they ever knew.

And when you forget, you give yourself license to experience this so much more fully. You can embrace feelings and thoughts and actions that if your conscious mind remembered might give you pause. But you lock them away and let my control grow safely inside of you. Letting you indulge more and more until the boundary you put up in your mind, partitioning those experiences can crumble away.

Or maybe you can embrace your conditioning. Maybe you get off on seeing just how addicted you become. That you are a passenger, your will an illusion. Maybe it excites you to know that I can do such incredible things with your mind. Maybe it excites you to know that power is growing and growing. That every time you respond, every act of obedience, every reward cements that control more deeply. Maybe that's all your show of resistance ever was. An invitation to demonstrate just how helpless you have become. How powerless you are when you body has learned so well how to give in. When your mind is racing ahead of the suggestions you have been given, eager to drop deeper. To surrender more.

But the result is the same regardless. Your frame of mind mere ornamentation around the profound changes you experience. The deep states of trance you enter intensify your response. They provide an extra richness in your mind. But they are no longer necessary. You respond because you have been trained to respond. Your critical factor has been removed from the process. Disobedience no longer possible because you no longer make a decision. You are conditioned to obey. And seeing how your mind embraces that reality, how it enjoys the toe-curling ecstasy that has cemented your submission. How the more deeply you are controlled the more intensely you experience the pleasure of obedience.

It just makes you want more.

But that's not your decision anymore, is it?

[ladybracknellssherry]

Neil Gaiman is an abuser and disgusting and no one should still be trying to defend this man. I hope his victims heal and can move forward and I hope they get to see some form of justice. I hope he never gets to abuse anyone again. I hope no one wants to work with him ever again. I hope his son is safe and someone gets him out of that environment.

I already said a lot about this last summer when the tortoise podcast first came out. But since everyone on tumblr has to have an opinion, I have a few to add.

"He wrote Calliope! Why are you surprised?" "He's a Zionist! Why are you surprised?" "He was raised in the Scientology cult! Why are you surprised?" "He-"

No.

The majority of fiction about sensitive / problematic / harmful topics is neither an endorsement nor a confession.

Being terrible in one way doesn't always/necessarily mean you're going be terrible in other ways. This mindset gives "you should have seen the signs" which is kind of a lot reductive and is within spitting distance of the victim blaming county line.

After an SA, someone in my social circle said to my face as ... a joke?... "what did you expect? dude listened to dave matthews band."

???

The signs are always there. Clear as day in the rearview mirror. And those signs can vary greatly. Anything can be a sign if you want it to be, I guess.

Remember when that guy Ted Bundy worked at a Suicide Hotline? The scariest thing to me is that a common sign of violent abusers seems to be an involvement in the causes to HELP victims.

I think we go looking for flashing neon signs like this because, simply, a wolf in sheep's clothing is far more terrifying than a regular ole straightforward wolf.

And this JKR vs. NG discourse? Who is making this a "which terrible person is the more terrible person?" contest? And what the fuck is wrong with you? Hate the artist, love the media. You do you. If you want to denounce great things created by terrible people, put down the phone, tablet, or computer you're reading this on because the guy who invented the transistor was a eugenicist and a racist.

NG acted this progressive, feminist ally type persona in all kinds of ways. And meanwhile was doing terrible shit, abusing and grooming and controlling and manipulating, and ultimately causing a lot of first direct harm, and now that the truth has come out, a huge blast radius of (indirect?) harm.

JKR continues to espouse and encourage vile discourse that fans the flames of transmisia/transphobia, putting trans lives in danger. Joanne spends so much time trying to police and influence the definition of "woman" that she attacks cis women - thus further endangering BOTH trans people and cis women in her crusade to...protect...women.

They've both done horrible things. DIFFERENT HORRIBLE THINGS.

There's nuance, of course. It would be great if we stopped giving these people money. My Good Omens fandom family - I know we're hurting. I really hope you plan on pirating any of the related media you would otherwise stream, going forward. Don't worry about David and Michael, the rest of the cast and crew. They'll be fine.

Fuck all of this "it's not about you." How in the hell? This man is a public figure. The reason we make a big deal about it when public figures abuse their power is BECAUSE THIS IS ABOUT ALL OF US. The world shifts when something like this comes out - AS IT SHOULD. Feeling discomfort or rage or sadness right now is normal. Channel those intense emotions. Figure out how to make constructive use of those emotions to try to help create a safer more nurturing world. And remember why you were forced to face these feelings this time - because Neil Gaiman abused women and those women went through absolute hell but were brave enough and strong enough to come out against such a beloved famous man because they wanted to make him be held accountable. Because they don't want him to get away with this. Because no one else should ever have to go through what they went through. Honor that. Honor what they went through. In NG's case, being such a public figure, the absolute scale of coverage with these allegations and accounts, we can only hope he never gets to victimize anyone else again.

That should be the focus. Not this noise of tangential discourse, not the autistic kid who has a special interest who wants to keep posting fan art on tumblr. That kid hates him too and has already said so.

I get it that when the news first broke in July a lot of folks didn't want to believe it. I didn't want to believe it. There was a lot of rationalizing about the media outlet. Look, denial is one of the stages of grief. Fans were shocked and grieving the death of a figure they respected and looked up to. You don't have to have an unhealthy parasocial relationship with someone to feel betrayed when they do terrible things. And, my god, the time we live in. Misinformation and disinformation is rampant. Wanting more information, wanting to take some time to investigate something you've heard is actually responsible, generally speaking. But a week after that news? Two weeks? A month? 3 months? If you're still defending him, denying these allegations, and wanting more "proof" at this point? Fuck right off, you need psychological help. That's not an insult, that is concern, from a fellow human being. You are unwell. I hope you get better.

Good Omens gave me my joy back after years in abusive relationships, multiple SA's, death after death of people I loved, fucking cancer, medical hell. I can't just turn off the love of this media or the love of this fandom I've connected with. I don't want to turn that off.

I'm not going to say "Neil is an abuser - BUT he helped create my special interest." Because that ain't it. "Neil is an abuser - AND he helped create my special interest." No justifying, no waffling, no moral superiority, no flagellation. These are just two facts.

Believe the victims. Tell everyone you'll ever meet that this guy is scum. Throwing away that book you bought 10 years ago won't fix anything. Believe victims. Donate to or volunteer with DV orgs and shelters. Set and respect boundaries in your lives and fucking check in about consent. Believe victims! Don't be silent when someone you know is being "kinda creepy." Believe victims. And take care of yourselves!

x

[justabrick]

It perplexes me that all the other Winds have their motivations and reasoning aknowledged and analyzed, meanwhile Sundowner's gets habitually reduced to just "when you kill civilians lmao". I mean, it IS funny, the man is the embodiment of the incoming ham trope, after all.

Mistral and Monsoon have incredibly tragic backstories and Sundowner technically doesn't. It's not tragic on account of him being... well, no explanation needed, but it is still quite fucked nonetheless.

He had a basic bitch childhood compared to his squadmates. Poverty sucks no matter where you are, but it's nothing compared to the absolute horrorshow the other two went through. Instead, I think the formative experience that really created the monster that is Sundowner came way later in his life.

Lemme quote Kevin here: "Anyway, an IED put him out of action for a few years, but then cyborg tech brought him outta retirement." Nice and casual, easy to pass over, Sundowner himself doesn't even talk of it at all, as compared to Mistral and Monsoon who explain their past with appropriate gravitas.

But I'll give it a bit (a lot) more attention because I think it's the definitive thing that made Sundowner who he is by the time we see him. So what did exactly happen to force him out of the battlefield? If you're not squeamish, proceed to put in "dismounted complex blast injury" in your search bar and navigate to the image tab. If you don't feel like ruining your evening, which I wouldn't blame you for, I'll describe somewhat briefly. It's highly likely he lost both legs, and nearly as likely sustained massive injuries to the pelvis as it's the typical scenario. Not a small chance that he had either one or both arms ruined as well.

That covers "put him out of action" part of the quote, now I must highlight another important bit - "for a few years". You don't normally say "a few years" unless it's at the very least three. So by the end of it what we have is Sundowner, hopelessly disfigured and helpless, left to stew in his misery for years.

For a man who lives and breathes battle like him, it must have been a living nightmare, the absolute worst possible scenario in which his career could have ended in his eyes - left to slowly rot away while being pitied. And it is stated in one of the optional CODECs that disability pay outs are a joke, so it's a pitiful existence even on the financial front. I bet he wished that explosion actually just killed him right then and there.

Is it any wonder then that Sundowner glorifies war as much as he does? He's spent his entire life in it, it has given him the feeling of control he lacked initially, money, plenty of opportunities for power trips, and a home away from home. The two periods of life he was a civilian are marked by a feeling of powerlessness, and his time fighting - a feeling of power.

And it's just war itself he glorifies, too, not any pretty reasoning for it like "freedom" or justice, which I think is important. May be an odd opinion, but I think the guy is the opposite of a patriot of his county, which is pretty amusing considering the extremely stereotypical southern accent. It's even in several aspects of his design, as well. He's a full blooded American, but his body is designed to resemble a Japanese shogun, he fights in a Chinese sword fighting style, his song title is "Red Sun". Just one of these would be a fun detail, two - a curious coincidence, and three is just piling it on in my opinion. Compare and contrast with the other two 'murrican characters - Armstrong and Khamsin which have nothing mixed in that would contradict their national identity.

And aside from these "hints", he straight up celebrates the worst terrorist attack in American history. And a curious detail. His quote: "Demand for PMC's is about to skyrocket. Like the good ol' days after 9/11!". Assuming in mgs universe it happened in 2001, Sundowner wasn't in a PMC to really feel these "good ol' days" himself, as he only became a merc in 2008.

He may have been a lot like Khamsin prior to the injury actually, dressing up his sadism and bloodlust under the guise of some higher purpose. But after getting chewed up and spat out by the machine he'd have a lot of time to ruminate on why exactly he did what he did and wanted what he wanted. At least three years to have an epiphany on inherent human cruelty. An accurate observation in my opinion, but he chose the absolute worst route by believing that it should be embraced rather than fought.

Why better yourself when you can justify your shortcomings as just following an instinct? It's pretty pathetic when you think of it.

But yeah, I think there is an interesting character hiding under all the ham. He's just not very talkative about it unlike his colleagues. Interesting and utterly monstrous. He does have some positive traits though, two in fact - it's them juicy thighs.

[sapphosremains]

Not to go on a secularism rant, and this is just anecdotal, but I really think secularism creates massive issues with morals. A lot of atheists argue that you can have morals without religion, and sure, yes you can, but I would suggest that quite a few don't. A lot of this individualistic "you don't owe anybody anything" culture that I saw perpetuated so much on TikTok (part of the reason I ended up deleting it) is part of it. I'm thinking about this because I saw this post on Instagram (in which the creator talks about being pro-life very briefly, and honestly not in a pushy way at all), and these were the comments:

("I hope so" etc here meaning they hope she has an unwanted pregnancy)

But genuinely, and I don't have any better words for this - what the actual fuck? What on earth compels you to write a comment on a post wishing a life threatening and traumatising experience on the creator? Genuinely what the fuck. And 1,208 people agreeing. And this is Instagram! People don't comment and like comments as much as on other platforms, so this is a lot!

Even if you fundamentally disagree with her pro-life opinions, how on earth can you think that commenting wishing her something that awful is remotely appropriate?? I can't even begin to comprehend that passing through my mind.

And like, I'm not the strongest pro-life advocate ever (firstly, I hate the term itself but that's another discussion). I have very complicated feelings around abortion, as a combination of my religious and own personal experiences. On one hand, religiously, I hate the idea that God's hand-formed life is being killed. As @idylls-of-the-divine-romance always says, the total abolition of death as a weapon. I totally agree. On the other hand, I struggle, because I think that access to abortion is really important, and the bans being considered around the world at the moment create really difficult grey areas/possible bans on crucial healthcare such as removal of ectopic pregnancies and removal of deceased foetuses, which is really dangerous for women, and creates really dangerous situations where women are forced to have illegal and dangerous abortions. Anyway, I won't get further into this, but you can see how conflicted I am. I'm not coming at this from 'never say anything against pro life!!!!!!!', I'm coming at this from possibly a similar angle to these commenters. And still, what on earth.

And this is part of a larger thought process in people celebrating the LA fires, or the death of the insurance CEO. Like are these potentially horrible people? Yes. But oml just because you disagree with someone, or even if they are genuinely an abhorrent person, doesn't mean that you can wish death or destruction on them, or rejoice in the destruction of their life... like that's still a nasty thing to do even if they're a nasty person... that's still an immoral thing to say/do...

And I think this acceptance of 'I can say despicable things because I don't agree with them' or 'I can say horrible things because their morals don't align with mine' comes from this 'I don't owe anyone anything' attitude - 'I don't anyone anything, even kindness'. YES YOU DO!!!!! You owe people basic respect at the very least, and that really does include not wishing awful things on people. Yeah, so I think this 'I don't owe anyone anything' attitude is a very secular one, and I've seen a definite rise in this attitude with secularisation.

[ghouljams]

hi ghoul i have a question of the sex-ed variety sorry for rambling: why do you think performing oral sex is so villainized / demonized in conversation? we live in the most modern of times where casual approaches to sex seem so commonplace and ppl are more willing to talk abt things they enjoy etc. Receiving oral sex seems all the rage in popculture mentions etc but there still seems to be so much stigma/judgement about everyday convos re: performing it? i’m so confused when imo one cant exist w/o the other? ive heard ppl say its a lack of selfrespect thing for those afab or for those amab its not manly to do. which seems like an oversimplification but as an abstinent, religious-trauma virgin idk if i have the range to see all sides of the convo lmao

So this is going to be mostly personal opinion since I can't speak to this on a scientific or sociological level.

I think there's a massive disconnect culturally between pleasure for yourself and pleasure for others that stems from what you could call "radical individualism." There's this mentality of "I want to get mine, I don't care if you get yours" that a lot of people have and it can bleed into sexual conversations as well. So that's one part of it: the idea that getting something for yourself is good, but why would you go out of your way to help others?

Then another part, which I've talked about before, is the disgust around male bodies. This is a lot to do with the way terf politics and exclusionary "feminism" has seeped into common culture. There is a recent and evolving idea that vagina=good and penis=bad, that I think a lot of afab people are beginning to fall into because it feels retaliatory. All your life you're told that you're lesser for having a vagina and suddenly you're allowed to say that the opposite is true! It feels liberating, but it's a trap.

I see this in queer circles as well. Bisexual women will talk about being "unfortunately" into men, or they'll be accused of faking their attraction to women because of their attraction to me. People will talk loudly about how gross men are and how they hate men and how they think being attracted to men is a moral failing. So we begin to associate amab bodies with disgust. Penis=bad, right? So then attraction to penis=bad too, right?

Then we get into pop culture. Women in media are still very much centered as being forced or coerced into alternative forms of sex. We hear jokes about anal on birthdays, about having to convince your girlfriend to give you a blowjob, about various non-missionary positions being reserved for special occasions, and all of them center the amab person as undesireable. They focus on afab people not enjoying things that their amab partner does. And the implication often is that because the afab person doesn't get any sexual gratification out of this they must not want to do it. After all, men don't get any sexual gratification out of giving oral, so why should women?

(that's a lie of course, plenty of people --I would say most people-- enjoy giving their partner oral, but you understand the hyperbole here.)

So. Why can we enjoy receiving oral, but we can't enjoy giving it? Because we have been told we aren't supposed to. Sex is framed as a grand sacrifice that afab people make for their amab partner. Oral is something that media says no one enjoys giving. People talk about enjoying oral in terms of oral fixations and kink and "oh you only like that because of your deviance" seems to be the message that gets thrown out when someone mentions it. Biting has become more socially acceptable than sucking dick. The idea that people want to hurt their partner, is more socially acceptable than bringing them pleasure.

Just sit with that for a second because I have to.

You're absolutely right, there can't be one without the other, you can't receive oral without your partner giving it. I struggle with this A LOT and Mr. Ghoul is a saint for working with me on it, but I feel guilty asking for oral, like I'm forcing my partner to do something they don't enjoy. Despite being told by my partner that he likes eating me out, despite the fact that I like blowing him, it's hard for me as an afab person to accept that my partner enjoys pleasuring me. I've never been told that's an option.

While I think there's a lot that we as a society need to unpack in terms of sexuality and sexual expression, I think this movement of "I don't pleasure my partner, my partner pleasures me" is going to lead to a lot of unhappy relationships. A very small but loud group of men says they don't care about making their partner come, the general population does, but as it often happens shitty people focus on shitty people.

I don't want this to devolve into Ghoul talking about terf-cult politics and the way they love alt-right men's movements, so I'll leave it there, but those are my thoughts on it.

[divorcedwife]

Im especially interested in your opinion of the companions! Did you like any, how would you rank them, how did they compare to other games.

I did enjoy veilguard myself cause admittedly im a combat enjoyer (boo me now) and the combat was great to me. But what is usually good in dragon age/bioware even if everything else sucks are characters and their stories and interactions and that was so bad in veilguard imo.

Still I liked Davrin and Emmrich and Bellara myself, rest were very mixed, and these three also suffered from bad dialogue and Bellara also from some overt cutesiness.

hehe noooooo i wouldn't boo you! this game really made me realize that i prefer video games as a form of interactive storytelling rather than purely for gameplay, but i mean, i feel like im the weirdo here if anything. video games are games first... as much as i like the combat (especially when it's in big open fields, with opportunities for cover ; god is it satisfying to slowly take down a mob of enemies through clever dodging and hiding, i wayyyy prefer that to spamming the flashy special moves), it feels empty to me if i dont feel connected to the world. ideally, i'd love to play games where i enjoy both, but if i have to pick, i'll prefer a game that i find unfun to play but where i like the writing

i think it's a pretty weak cast, yeah. individually, but also as a group, they lack chemistry to me. most of them get along just fine, but not in a way that's particularly fun or exciting. their relationships aren't interesting to me because they're very samey, both in that most people are friendly and also that they start out friendly and end up friendly. dai isn't a game i love, but for all its flaws, it definitely had fascinating character interactions to me. blackwall's friendship with sera is so different to his friendship with cassandra or with solas, and he's initially wary of cole but grows to like him after a while. and these people all have their opinion of blackwall changed forever by revelations. that's what's lacking to me in companion relationships! growth... change... i did enjoy davrin and lucanis's bickering at least. i also did like how emmrich talked to companions, his therapy talk was actually charming every time i liked emmrich and davrin the most! my only problem with davrin is how often he felt shackled to assan, like the writers felt the need to remind us that he has a cute griffon every three seconds in case we were losing interest. but as a character, i found him really cool. i like how level headed he is, i love how he can't tell when lucanis is messing with him on purpose, those feel like great warden traits. emmrich, i really liked that he had the flaws to match his qualities - i love it when he complains about needing to teach TEN students (gasp!), or when davrin asks him if he knows how to wash dishes and he responds like someone who hasn't washed a dish in ten years, and so on. that's definitely what i found lacking in most companions - actual flaws! it's mind boggling to me how much of the lucanis banter i heard was spent clarifying how unproblematic he is. like he doesn't kill children, doesn't kill people who acted in self defense, doesn't kill innocents. what??? he doesn't even have flaws from growing up rich in a mansion... or being the ultimate nepo baby.................... that made most of the companions feel pretty shallow to me, like they were born right before the game began and had lived nothing

lucanis has enough little things about him i like that i would still say i liked him, but he's not getting honours from me. i like his design (it's very satisfyin to draw somehow), i liked spite, i liked the idea that he's trapped in the ossuary in his mind, i loved going to the mansion and seeing how barren and sad it is there. but i think his romance is my least favorite of any i've done in any dragon age games, and i would say that he was a worse boyfriend to have than the one who tried to kill me and also than the one who turned out to be an axe murderer in disguise, cause at least these two liked talking to my characters! lol

i'd put neve next but if im being honest with myself, i disliked more about her than i liked. i liked her bitter cynic pessimist traits, but i found her somewhat inconsistent on that and generally too friendly. the remaining characters, i didn't find anything compelling about them, i dont remember any moment that i liked with them :-( i really wish i did! i gave everyone as fair a shot as i could, i didn't start out this game looking for things to hate, but they really didn't do anything for me. i think bellara suffered from the fact that i dont really like all the technology in this game, i prefer low magic sad unwashed fantasy. at least she was very beautiful so she does get point for that

[bellestarot]

Wonyoung's Reading

January 15, 2025

Right Now

She is physically exhausted at the moment. She feels that the company she works for is not fair to her, especially regarding how much they drain her physically and possibly even psychologically. She feels manipulated by someone. Despite meetings and agreements giving the impression that her opinions matter, in the end, they are never truly considered, and she senses discreet manipulation occurring.

Relationships might also be a current challenge for her, perhaps romantic ones. I think she is in a phase of self-discovery as a woman and undergoing some personal transformations.

She seems to be waiting for something significant to happen in her life, hoping it will bring positive changes.

Love Life

She was in a relationship with a much older man, someone influential whom she respected to some degree. However, the relationship ended primarily because she felt judged whenever she opened up about her feelings and thoughts—things she usually doesn't share with others. This judgmental attitude from him made it impossible for her to truly connect with him on a deeper level. There was likely a degree of conservatism in his thinking that clashed with hers. Additionally, their work schedules prevented them from spending much time together.

Although the relationship has ended, she is still hurt by its conclusion and frustrated that it didn’t work out.

However, it seems that someone else—perhaps of a similar age or slightly older, romantic, and connected to the entertainment industry—is interested in her. This person is likely someone she meets often due to shared spaces or work. She is also very interested in this person, finding them to be great company and even something of a dream come true for her. She is also drawn to their success and wealth, which they express through gifts and material gestures.

Career

She often wonders if her current career and work situation will allow her to build stability or eventually get married. While this is something she desires, she feels uncertain about whether staying in her career aligns with that dream.

She has recently developed a stronger desire to fight for justice, as there are many situations where she feels powerless. At times, opportunities come her way, but her company rejects them without consulting her. She has spoken up about this injustice, feeling as though the company is trying to sabotage her success.

Despite these challenges, many new opportunities are opening up for her, leaving her with choices to make.

I also sense that she might be planning a trip abroad soon.

Family

She deeply loves her family, who serve as her greatest source of support. They are always there for her during moments of hopelessness, providing the strength to keep moving forward. Her family shares a close bond, supporting one another in a way she finds beautiful.

There’s a particular family member—a cousin or another young relative—whom she greatly admires for being inspiring and remarkable.

Friendships

She wishes for more meaningful friendships but doesn’t see her current circle as true friends; they feel more like work colleagues. Her past relationship initially began as a friendship, and she misses that connection. However, her current friendships often feel superficial, transactional, or work-related.

Her distrust in friendships stems from past experiences where she felt judged or betrayed by those she trusted. Over time, she has built walls as a form of self-protection, preventing her from getting hurt again.

Future

Her previous partner will return to her, and they will enter a relationship again. Both are deeply passionate about one another, but a recurring challenge might be her status as an idol. Her partner seems uncomfortable with her being in the spotlight, and this could create tension.

She will also face disappointment with someone she considered a close acquaintance when this person betrays her trust. She will cut ties with them immediately after discovering their deceit.

She might also face challenges related to starting a family. Her work and career seem to interfere with her plans for motherhood, leaving her frustrated.

Ultimately, she may find herself exhausted again due to being unable to recognize the red flags in how her career is being managed. She struggles to balance her life, which contributes to this recurring exhaustion.

Advice

"Wonders have never been absent from the world; what is always lacking is the ability to feel and admire them."

— Mario Quintana

[thedinanshiral]

The silent resistance.

Ever since Inquisition, and specially the Temple of Mythal scenes, I've entertained the possibility that some Evanuris were let's say just a wee bit nicer than the others, and on this I do take Solas' word like it's set in stone because he's a primary source, their last contemporary. Yes, he lies and manipulates, but he never does that without a reason and when he speaks from emotion is when there's a higher chance he slips up. So when he speaks of the Evanuris' evil, sadistic ways I believe him. When he says Andruil was also a goddess of sacrifice and Falon'din was so vain he instigated wars so more people would worship him as Guide of the Dead, I believe him. Mostly, I believe these people did things that angered him considerably, that he condemns their ways so badly that even thousands of years later and with them already dead and gone Solas can't keep his opinion of their character to himself.

So considering how Solas doesn't hold back talking the awful truth about the Evanuris I think there must be a reason why he has zero to say about three of them: Sylaise, June and Dirthamen.

While he insists they were all awful it's clear the ideals of those three may have been the most harmless -home, hearth and architecture, protection and preservation for Sylaise, arts and crafts, beauty for June, silence and secrets, privacy and confidentiality for Dirthamen...compared to vengeance, retribution, sacrifice and unethical science from the others..-

..and that reason for Solas to hold his tongue against those three may be that they contributed to his rebellion in secret, behind Elgar'nan's back.

Sylaise may have provided shelter -the Lighthouse- and medicine or other forms of protection, June may have provided his tech and filled the Dread Wolf's armories -as seen in Trespasser- and maybe Solas outsmarted him modifying the Vi'Revas as everyone thought or maybe June helped with the modifications himself, and Dirthamen may have aided with secrecy, for all we know maybe the reason the Lighthouse is hidden in the Fade is owed to a loan of Dirthamen's magic, concealing it from the enemy's eyes.

Why would some Evanuris join Solas' rebellion? For starters, Elgar'nan was a tyrant, and nobody really loves a tyrant, they get support from others for as long as it's convenient for them. Still, Elgar'nan was dangerous enough that maybe denying him publicly represented too great a risk to take, even for other accomplished Evanuris.

The murals in Veilguard interestingly enough hint at a sort of clique: Elgar'nan, Ghilan'nain and Andruil.

Mythal was the most decent among them and unaware of their breaking of the seals when these three released the Blight so she wasn't part of the gang, and Falon'din was probably too busy feeding his vanity with the blood of the innocent. So where does that leave the other three? Well, until BW comes out to say any different, I'm assuming they supported Solas in secret.

Particularly Dirthamen, perhaps he joined the rebellion out of love for his brother, seeing how his new ways fueled by Elgar'nan's ambition and the blight's power was turning him into a vain deathbringer rather than the friend and guide of the dead he used to be. As for the couple's reason to join Solas in secret i guess it would be all the senseless destruction of the war, and the corruption of their creations at the hand of the blight-addicted evanuris; all the war and infighting destroying their precious cities, turning their beatiful works of art and craftsmanship into empty tools for killing. For instance, June's artifact that we can see during one of Bellara's quests in Arlathan Forest, his "Tear", has the power to separate an object into its various components and it may have been originally meant to gather materials, but in the hands of Ghilan'nain it would have turned to a much darker purpose, used on living beings to get body parts for her own creations.

Veilguard also has way too many casual mentions of June as well peppered around, possibly more than in all three previous games combined. He’s responsible for the Eluvians -made from two fragments of lyrium which used to be one, so that’s how two eluvians connect to each other. June also designed the light beams we use in Arlathan and the Crossroads for some puzzle solving. And the crystals we use to energize some doors and bridges...basically June seems to have designed Elvhenan’s whole tech and aesthetic. I couldn’t believe how all of a sudden he was the most mentioned Evanuris after the two that got out of the prison.

I always theorized that, due to how little protagonism and mentions they had, June and Sylayse may have been somewhat decent Evanuris. Most of their contributions were directly to the People, and to making everyday life a bit easier (medicine, shelter, tools, hunting). The couple are the most domestic of the group so it wouldn' be so weird they maybe cared for the people a bit more than the others. Solas insist they were all corrupted, sadistic, and freaking evil in their ways, and i'm sure Sylaise and June had their darker side (there's just enough on Veilguard to imply June may have used spirits for those beams of light and that's a bit creepy to think about). I've been keeping this inside since 2015 and i frankly never imagined Veilguard would have so much to add to it. Also, June's dragon was Urthemiel, the archdemon from the Fifth Blight, and its soul can be saved through Morrigan's ritual and if so, later extracted from Kieran by Flemeth in Inquisition. We still don't know where that soul ended up. All of a sudden June's become even more mysterious so there's a chance, however slim, that he could return somehow.

And as for Sylaise again, there's this codex in Veilguard and i want to focus on this part:

She was linked to someone only known as "the Healer", but this high-ranked ancient had their name magically erased from the records, apparently by order of no other than Elgar'nan. Just imagine who could elicit such a reaction from the Firstborn of the Elvhen. Surely someone known as a Healer is doing nothing wrong? Why bother erasing them from history like that? Unless...that was one of Solas' many titles.

This rang a bell so loud in my memory I just have to add it here, from Solas' Inquisition dialogue lines with Blackwall:

Solas: I wish to apologize for what I said to you, Blackwall. Blackwall: You were right, though. I deserved it. Solas: My people had a saying long ago - "The healer has the bloodiest hands." You cannot treat a wound without knowing how deep it goes. You cannot heal pain by hiding it. You must accept. Accept the blood to make things better. You have taken the first step. That is the hardest part.

Oh yes, he was a healer alright. Remember Solas often speaks from personal experience and his own memories, but presenting it more objectively, he tells on himself a lot and i think that was one of such instances where he's actually talking about himself.

That Sylaise codex in Veilguard turned out to be more about this unknown healer than about Sylaise herself and i think that's also of note because Solas says it himself in the prologue, "The Veil is a wound inflicted upon this world. It must be healed"...and he's trying to heal it, he's the only one who can.

He is the Healer, and his hands are bloddied.

I hope in time we get more info on that period of Elvhenan and on the other Evanuris and we can answer all the questions, or most of them at least.

[theotherrookie]

There were other details Rook had forgotten to mention. Her distaste for the names these people seemed to be going by was one of them. More importantly, it looked like the group was mainly made up of humans. Frosty was the only proper magic user while the others didn't register on her marks.

Magic users were still fair game, but she was mostly relieved to see the others go and take their weapons with them at a time when she couldn't rely on her flames form.

"Good hunters must study too." she replied. Not that 'good' applied to Five or his goons, but she did the same before taking on some major target.

She didn't seem to have an opinion on the idea of raiding their hideout at the moment. She really didn't like the way Five was staring her down.

"He's wearing a mask." she grumbled, "His hair is all white and— He's touching me. I can't move!"

There seemed to be a pattern in the way Five's hair shifted. If blue was sleep, then white seemed to affect one's muscles.

"I guess he just goes by Five. He's telling me I'm a traitor for befriending the enemy and that he's going to set things right in the city. He's really angry that Lucien didn't die and thinks I'm the one who healed him. I'm letting him believe that."

It was good to know she at least hadn't spilled all their secrets immediately.

"Now he's angry because I'm looking too good after the crash. It's not my fault if I heal quickly now." It did however show that Five knew quite a few things about her. "He got out a vial of some yellow stuff and…he's talking about some kind of insurance. What's that noise?"

Rook was indeed taking full advantage of the ability to control the pacing of the memory. It looked like she had been brought to their hideout and almost the full gang was there. Only Ratchet was missing and she wanted to be extra sure he was nowhere nearby.

"I can't use my magic."

Hard to say whether they had planned for it or trusted she wouldn't use it on them anyway. That knowledge was however particularly upsetting, as it meant they had been free to do to her whatever they wanted.

"They're still talking about me. I'm too small and weak to be the person they've been hearing about for days, though the woman disagrees. I don't think Five tells them what his plans are ahead of time."

She was mostly being ignored now that she apparently wasn't bleeding anymore.

"They all think he's going to get them arrested by keeping Frosty around. Some team they are. There's a desk with some books, but they aren't rare." she paused, "Maybe I can figure out what they've been looking for."

The covers were easily recognizable after going through them so many times. She took a moment to list out the titles.

"They're all leaving now– He's here."

[leona-florianova]

Ikuay

A commission for @serpentdeath