#time unending

[drmorbius12]

In the beginning I knew nothing of pain, only the wide-eyed innocence of freedom, and a mind unchained. My mother was an artist who believed the world was full of goodness, as she painted what she saw in everyone and everything. My father was a carpenter who built many things, and knew the worth of labour and desire, raising his sons to be honest, true and strong.

But so as turns the great Millstone, so it cannot be stopped, and all that lives and dies is ground beneath, leaving both grist and chaff to fall as it may. Knowing which we will become is when childhood ends, and sorrow, joy, and forgiveness begins.

/it's a self-inflicted wound/all my wounds are/

In the city where I was born and raised, there was great promise, but also guile and danger. It is said that opportunity knocks only once, and yet I have been given many, not knowing if I would succeed or fail, create or destroy.

/she loved with a pure love untouched by doubt or hesitation/I am bent but not broken/not yet/

I only know that somehow, for a purpose I have yet to fathom, I have been given a power few others possess. Within that power lies healing and sickness, life and death, and endless forks in a river of time that never stops flowing, with no beginning and no end.

/all my wounds are my own and will be my undoing/

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Started a new book series, and has been a journey...an Odyssey, if you will.

[artilite]

many many isabeaus... and some sloopis's of course :^) !!!!

i like consolidating my doodles so that's probably what i'm going to do for the most part from now on (^^ゞ!

[willow-on-the-mount]

oh babey, the new Midst story is poking my gender brainworms with The Granddaughter. you KNOW their story's gonna hurt me

[neodiekido]

makis ftes are so depressing it's kind of funny like it's just her going "yeah i used to get tortured every day for eternity. and still do. but it's whatever i guess it's not like i can do anything about it." and shuichi goes "jesus christ maki" and then you get a friendship fragment

[sentientsky]

Hozier, "Francesca"

clara, my clara

[uhbasicallyjustmilex]

don't mind me, i'm just thinking about the studio brussel interview photos yet again 🫠

[clfixationstation]

different kind of freedom

art by 1very1fancy1doilies1 | eren | armin

[aerhartdraws]

Here, have a Catra I drew in bed when I should've been asleep, RIP my circadian rhythm

[ariadne-mouse]

For UNEND, I'm very excited both for more general Un lore (places! people! creatures!) and to see if perhaps there will be echoes, decades on, of what happened to the Trust after it collapsed. Will there be the occasional person who still wears valor beads, a little chipped and worn with age? Do they wear them with nostalgia? Longing? Bitterness? Stubbornness? Has the valor and caenum tree on Midst developed any particular cultural significance? What has become of the Highest Light? Did the people there adapt and reform a new society with different rules? Is there an offshoot cult that tried to keep going and got even weirder? Do people keep their or their family's old abacuses in a box like heirloom jewelry that is no longer fashionable? I am gnashing my teeth in a calm and collected manner.

[essektheylyss]

Okay but the confirmation that the Granddaughter is supposed to have reached a state of tranquility and detachment but hasn't, and is instead aggressively and desperately shoving down all of their emotions without being able to excise them has sent them to the top of my faves list immediately.

I'm also really looking forward to seeing if the Fold wizard on deck survives whatever just happened, because I would love to find out if all Granddaughters have actually excised their emotions, or if in reality, they're supposed to be practicing tranquility but don't actually have a grasp on that until later, after their Realization. I would not be surprised to learn, especially after Artifice's whisper last episode, that this is something of an initiatory secret that isn't meant to be fully understood until later, once Realization has been had.

[elizabethrobertajones]

I still don't know what to make of this little story beat. I KNOW the game isn't being written for me, personally. I Know that despite saying otherwise, Bounding Frog is not the Canonical Warrior Of Light. I understand that things just kinda happen based on themes and characters and stuff and things had been established in some way with Erenville having toad-based associations, having previously claimed to be an expert.

On the other hand, the first zone I chose to go to, the very first thing we did, was split up to go investigate a body of water and draw some conclusions like an amateur ecologist on what may be afflicting it. And there was a cute little creature named Lethargic Frog, which is about as "hey this is symbolically important to you, Bounding Frog, someone who takes their whole name inspiration from the admirable leaping power of a healthy frog based on their childhood experiences catching frogs, just as the noble Vipers named themselves after the snakes they learned from" as can be.

This frog was placed here for Frog to see and based on her entire personality, to notice and care about and understand how it was not feeling good.

Also, the writer of this quest wanted Bounding Frog personally to know this was her chance to prove to Erenville that she did know her frogs, and was perfectly capable of talking to him frog expert to frog expert. I can't overstate how thrilled she was that she had this opportunity. She was going to show him that she was just as competent! She could impress him, she could prove she was worth talking about frogs to... Yep.

Aaand then after all this careful study of the Lethargic Frog, she bounces back to the group, and this happens...

She starts to explain about the water quality and fields, saving her deepest insight for last, you know, the other thing the quest made sure we would see and interact with so even if I allow for a WoL to exist who isn't a Frog Expert like mine (who this quest was personally tailored to, again) you might reasonably expect that after Krile has agreed with you about the first point, you MIGHT KEEP SPEAKING ON THE SUBJECT OF YOUR OBSERVATIONS.

Nah, before Frog can open her mouth again, Erenville cuts in to announce that the frogs are kinda sleepy, while she was politely waiting her turn to speak. All she can do is stoically nod and agree everyone noticed the same things she did (shh Alisaie has something funny to say on the subject before you return to the group to chat as well), and that's that, we're rushing off to the next thing and the opportunity has fizzled out and there's no chance to impress because Erenville stole it from her...

How could they have known we need to start this adventure with a huge knock to Frog's ego when it comes to Erenville, and a reminder of why they've been snarking at each other for months. And he's far more concerned with Wuk Lamat presenting a semi-competent front and feeling chafed by travelling with other people to even notice he was, once again, catastrophically rude on the subject of frogs, to Frog.

All her attempts to befriend him and make him laugh and generally have him notice her for the last few months, and she's riiiight back at step one, fuming about his existence and sulking about how he won't let her have the one thing she most prides herself on, because he's too busy being some sort of frog snob himself.

So, yeah, I think the writer of this quest knew that Frog was the main character and also that Erenville is her nemesis :)

[eliotlime]

Heads up that today's the last day my bugstyle commissions (and regular commissions!) will be open if you want to nab a drawing from me :)

Commissions closed atm! Thank you for the interest!

[null-doesnothing]

"hey you doing alright?" no actually I'm thinking about Sarek again

[hoarding-stories]

Hoo boy that ending,,,

They teed it up perfectly, the Coenobium is dark and silent in the depths of the fold, the expedition is anything but.

Of course the Granddaughter, who speaks at a whisper, has been fighting overstimulation every step of the way

[skunkes]

observations while im continuing my first DM reread after the talon brain invasion of september 2023