#we were estranged

[arttheclown]

i’m starting to feel like losing my grandpa is hitting me even harder than losing my dad tbh

[nenoname]

it's still unhinged that they didn't really plan out ford's actual character until his debut and he's built backwards from the question of "who would make stan the absolutely bitter hurting person he is while also being someone stan would do anything to save"

[lucy-moderatz]

[mohntilyet]

let me be clear i like veilguard but it does suck that no one disapproves anymore outside of like. three choices. i want to be fighting for my life earning approval back again someone has GOT to hate my ass. i should be careful about party composition and companion reactions again. i miss tactically taking fenris out of the party before i'm nice to merrill like those were the days

[wolfgirlfloof]

Something I appreciate about Hortus de Escapismo is how it portrays the Laterans and non-Laterans, especially in contrast to each other. Guide Ahead already gave us the angel ethnostate vs multi-racial heretics, which made for a pretty effective if blatant commentary on Laterano. And while it might seem Hortus is kind of repeating the same formula, I think it's got something subtler going on with interesting implications.

On one side we have the abbey's inhabitants: sankta, sarkaz and all other races--hell, even a seaborn for a moment. Are there cracks here and there? Of course, that's a whole plot point. But it can't be denied there is genuine camaraderie and self-sacrifice going on between these people who are simply trying to survive together (which is what makes those cracks all the more volatile).

Contrast this with the Laterans, who are dysfunctional as hell. Lemuen, Oren, Richele, and Spuria; I can't say I fully parsed everything happening between them on a moment-to-moment basis, but it was overall apparent that none of these people trust each other. Even though they're friends and classmates and colleagues, even though they're working for the good of the same state, even though they're sankta who can literally read each other's minds. There's just this constant mess of cahoots and conspiracy and treachery and bitter friction, and it takes the threat of an Innsmouth-Jonestown crossover event to get them to finally work together.

I thought it was a nice way to show more of Laterano's flaws. It's one of their core themes that they aren't as great as they say they are, but you'd think they would, at the least, have blessed harmony thanks to their literal hivemind. But evidently that isn't true either. And again, these are agents at the highest levels of the government. If they're this dysfunctional, what does that say for Laterano as a whole?

Which leads me into thinking about what the future of Laterano might have in store. I've seen some folks point out how these events have these greatly compelling premises that don't actually resolve any of the issues they bring up. Laterano only remains Laterano. And this is true! But I think it's intentional, setting up a slow burn of a regional conflict. The Lateran state is holding together, the status quo remains unchanged, the Law is content. But for how much longer? Guiding Ahead introduced us to the divide in Laterano on a broad level, the state vs heretics. Hortus de Escapismo shows the cracks within the state, narrowing in on individuals who nominally should be on the same side but aren't. The next logical narrative step would be seeing the state finally cracking apart from whatever looming danger the Law sainted Federico to deal with.

Some sort of schism, perhaps; that seems like the sort of existential threat that would directly threaten the Law's directive of preserving the Sankta. Law's awareness of it would also imply it's an internal threat, something festering in the hearts and minds of Sankta and thus one It's able to sense (at least that's what makes sense to me. We don't actually know how the Law works, so it could very well just have random magic prophetic abilities). And especially with the constant background pressure of trying to legitimize their Summit of Nations, what better way to drive that issue to the forefront by throwing Laterano into utter political chaos?

[s1llycilantro]

Joking abt tommy and tubbos apparent legal marriage somehow spiraled into THIS HwhduwuxhGAHDHAHXUAHD

++ just dsmp doods in general :3

(to anyone who may NOT know this doesnt mean i support dream, idk if ppl still make the association of dsmp character -> dream liker but man FUCK that guy. Glad gumball "walk em down" watterson got his ass)

[nonbinarycollector]

ID: Shaded art of Noelle and Kris from Deltarune. They're in their dark world appearances, with lace on Noelle's dress and Kris' armor. Kris' boots are more detailed. Noelle has cross earrings and Kris has anti-cross earrings. Noelle dips Kris as if they're dancing and raises a knife above their soul. She scowls at them, crying. Kris looks up with a blank smile. Red strings fall from Kris. Two rings of rainbow light burst behind them both, centered between their faces. The background is dark shades of blue, purple and pink. End ID thought about snowgrave and the idea of there being a noelle boss fight too hard

[pilvimarja]

[nobodysdaydreams]

Giving a complicated tragic childhood backstory to your favorite character is all fun and games, until you realize you need to account for how old all the other adult characters would have been at the time and realize that scenes that would work perfectly if one character was twenty three and the other was fourteen stop working when you need other characters who are played by adult actors clearly younger than they are to be in college at the same time so your story beats line up thematically.

[eve-baird]

this is flynn to me

[wonder-worker]

"Some modern historians, apparently fascinated by the fact that Matilda was eleven years older than her second husband, Geoffrey of Anjou, have been quick to assert that the marriage was unhappy. The historical basis for this assertion rests upon the word of the Durham chronicler, who stated that when Matilda returned to Henry I’s court in 1129 it was because Geoffrey had repudiated her. [Historians have thus assumed that their mutual incompatibility led to hostility and an eventual separation]. However, it must be noted that the northern chronicler was hardly in a position to have first-hand information about events across the Channel, and that he had the chronology of the affair completely wrong. The author placed Matilda’s marriage in 1129, and wrote that only a few days after King Henry returned to England on 13 July of that year, he was told that his daughter had been repudiated by her husband and had returned to Rouen with only a few attendants. The marriage actually took place in 1128, and Matilda was in Anjou with her husband in 1129 when the la Haye brothers brought a charter in favor of the abbey of Fontevraud to her for her confirmation. The other contemporary accounts of Matilda’s separation from her husband did not record her departure or suggest reasons for it, but only noted her return to Anjou in 1131.

It is possible that Matilda’s return to her father’s court in 1129 was not a marital separation at all, but rather a political mission. Perhaps Matilda and Geoffrey grew uneasy in their isolation and began to doubt the commitment of the Anglo-Norman barons to their cause. Leaving her husband behind to manage affairs in Anjou, Matilda may have travelled to Normandy seeking clarification of her position. A few scraps of evidence point in this direction. A letter that Hildebert of Lavardin wrote to Henry I in 1131 expressed pleasure that the king was now reconciled with the count of Anjou, who ‘had now fallen in with his wishes in everything concerning him and his daughter’. Henry of Huntingdon and Robert of Torigny stated that a ‘great council’ held at Northampton on 8 September 1131 decided that Matilda should be returned to her husband. The wording implies a decision made by the great men of the realm for political reasons, not a family’s success in persuading a tearful daughter to return to a husband whom she disliked. Furthermore, William of Malmesbury wrote that ‘no small gathering of the nobility being held at Northampton, the oath of fidelity to her was renewed by those who had already sworn and also taken by those who had not done so previously’. The renewal of the oath also suggests that Matilda’s mission may have been occasioned by concern over the succession rather than by the marital discord that historians have often taken for granted."

-Jean A. Truax, "Winning over the Londoners: King Stephen, the Empress Matilda and the Politics of Personality", The Haskins Society Journal 8 (1996)

[heleniad]

i hate an evil woman, especially my daughter who slaughtered her own husband. and i’ll never approve of helen, your wife, or even speak to her. i don’t think much of your voyage to troy to get that worthless woman back again.

— tyndareus to menelaus, from euripides' orestes.

i don’t risk pollution talking to you. and yet i do lament my sister’s death, clytaemnestra, whom i never saw after i sailed off to troy, driven there by that fated madness from the gods. now i’ve lost her, i weep for our misfortune.

— helen to electra, from euripides' orestes.

it’s not good for a young unmarried girl to walk around in public.

— helen to electra about hermione, from euripides' orestes.

[brzatto]

​i have some Thoughts about the claire plotline obviously and i actually genuinely like her as a person but i dislike her character wherein i don’t like the fact that they introduced her with the sole purpose of being carmy’s love interest and posing as a conflict for the restaurant? considering she’s supposed to be a childhood friend of carmy’s and grew up with the rest of the berzatto family i wish she had gotten the chance to be developed and fleshed out as her own character instead of just being used as a plot device. the buildup of her and carmy’s relationship was definitely very abrupt but in a show that revolves around (found) family it just felt very out of place for us to be introduced to a character with explicit romantic intent like that

[ent-is-indecisive]

Two queer looking alt people visited the house as prospective roommate and i am as always overjoyed at the immediate familiarity. Angling for her to win the spot.

[jopzer]

so. roy's sister is very clearly a decent chunk younger than him. sofia barclay and brett goldstein are like ten years apart which leads me to the point: do you guys think she was born after roy went to sunderland. and if so do you think thats maybe a little bit why hes So close with phoebe....... was so excited for his little sister and then he was fucken Not Around for her whole childhood and then when they really connect as adults, she wants roy as part of her daughter's life even if he's a little iffy about the idea because hes like a 30 year old grouch who doesnt know fuck about kids

[tokyosmega]

finished yuri on ice for the second time and let me just tell you that anime is much gayer than i remember