#what an honor what an injustice

[theunsleepinghimbo]

i was born in 2003, in an era when people would tell you "you're going to save the world" and they believed in it with the conviction of the space between breaths. one of the big things that i've realized growing up in that environment is how exhausting it is, all the time, to be told that you will be the one who has to create the solution, who has to find the way out, who has to chart the game plan. the reason that is, of course, is because it forces people (either a group, individuals, or some other subset of society) into becoming sacrificial lambs rather than being given the dignity of humanity. this kind of thing makes it more apparent, for the people who do actually want to make things better, that community is the answer: that making a group clean up your mess so that your group won't be affected will inevitably lead to conflict, because the in-group will be an obstacle while demanding the change to save them.

[averagemrfox]

It is loving Yang Xiao Long hours

[twinstxrs]

fabian’s insistence on calling someone to tell them about lucy & yolanda because he thought people just deserved to know, out of respect. both deeply sweet & incredibly gutting. (bill seacaster move over that’s MY darling boy)

[the-force-awakens]

Still not used to this life or death situation stuff. That's good, 'cause I'm not either. You never get used to it.

[howlerbat]

Patroculus this, Achilles that, what about Hector? What about the plight of being a hero and the sacrificial lamb of your people? what about having your corpse desecrated after your death, your homeland destroyed, your infant son killed and your wife enslaved? All because you couldn’t defeat a demigod in a war that you didn’t want? What about making all the right choices and still losing? What then??

[frogseasons]

titans of the realm…. patient zero….. only two eps until im done with c1

[podcast-hoard]

y’all weren’t kidding, naddpod c1 e97 Will make me cry at work

[r0sebutch]

living in the isabel zone still sorry. someone give this kid ONE GOOD ADULT.. PLEASE.. she has so much guilt for a twelve year old.. someone give her a BREAK,

[endawn]

gnawing at my arm on how pax constantly saved and saved and saved but the one time he truly needed saving nobody came

[knightbcrn]

8, 20, 29

Oc asks - Accepting

Do complex puzzles intrigue or frustrate them?

Bryar likes a good challenge, give him a puzzle box or a riddle and he’ll think it’s fun. That said, he’s not particularly good at wordplay or riddles. Because of this, he finds any puzzles with stakes nerve wracking, though he’s not especially afraid of humiliation for the reasons seen below.

What do they like that nobody else does?

This was a hard one, because Bryar tends to like most things. He’s easygoing, confident, and loves saying yes to any door that opens for him. Throughout his life he’s ended up in countless bizarre scenarios by just… saying yes. He’s ended up belly dancing, getting done up in drag, coaching a little league game, chasing goats, and basically every other random sidequest life could throw at him. He’s not afraid of looking stupid or embarrassing himself, he’s more interested in helping people and experiencing as much as he can in his short time on earth. Small talk, dancing in public, interacting with kids, picking people up from the airport– not only does he look for the positives, but he actually enjoys at least one aspect of any of those things!

What recurring dreams do they have?

Bryar doesn’t often have recurring dreams, but when he does they’re most often of the past– or a bastardization of it. He dreams of red storms in the desert, wind and sand whipping through his hair and burning his skin. The sounds of war surround him, but he can’t see another soul through the dark. He dreams of a cold blade tip poking out of his chest, and of hot blood bubbling past his lips in thick globs. His hands are shaking and useless, he can’t even hold onto his own sword. He dreams of stone against his knees and a tearing in his throat. 

Not all his dreams are bad! Sometimes he’ll see old friends, like his mentor Halt or his friend Jacinthe (Jack) or even King Ozymandias or the spring maiden he knew named Jasper I have so many headcanons about the people in his past don’t even get me started, often when he most needs their advice. These dreams leave his chest aching, but he’s always thankful to have seen them.

[chompe-diem]

gnashing my teeth So hard someone please talk to me about “a child has a duty to his father, but a hero has a duty to the world”

[ladytemeraire]

#I'm 32. if there was a time when I could be ''just a girl'' it is long gone. #(if not more - if there's one thing being ugly will do it's get you kicked out from the warm embrace of girlhood early) #but I will say that one thing all the girlhood discourse misses is how incredibly good NOT being a girl feels. #not just professionally but personally too. #I am an adult woman. I speak to and cultivate relationships with other adults. I go into the world knowing that I have power #to affect others; to shape the places I'm in and what others experience in those spaces. #.....that old post about how chivalry means ''having a horse'' and accepting the corresponding responsibility not to trample people #that's what I think of. adulthood is like chivalry. #as a woman you have a horse. and while it can be annoying to keep it fed and watered and not trampling people #to give away your horse and go back to being a girl? no. never.

Hey hi apologies but I wanted these tags preserved because they hit me directly in my soul

[tarysande]

The best part about coming back to the source material after a looooong time is you sorta get a fresh look at canon in comparison to whatever the dominant strains of fanon have become. Or, in fact, whatever your own dominant strains of headcanon have become.

I mean, yes, Garrus “I’m not a good turian” Vakarian gets infinitely cooler (and more competent!) by pretty much every metric as the storyline progresses. He does. But fresh out of ME1 and into ME2 through his recruitment, I find myself genuinely amused by how thin the veneer of badass is over a pretty dominant core of straight-up nerd sprinkled with idealism mixed with self-doubt.

When you have Garrus in the squad all the time (and thus get all his ambient dialogue and remarks), you really pick up on the number of times he calls out bad behavior, unethical actions, cruelty, and rule-breaking, especially in ME1.

He’s not actually a hothead who can’t abide rules of any kind. In fact, most of the time he’s pretty pro-law-and-order, and he gets amusingly hall-monitorish when people are breaking rules he considers important and worth following.

Fundamentally, Garrus chafes when his sense of what is just is at odds with what the authorities do about that injustice (or what they stop him from doing). And I would hazard a guess that the reason his actions seem so intense or harsh or "of course we should have shot down that ship in the middle of the Citadel" is indicative not of his impatience but of the degree to which he thinks the authorities have failed to uphold that justice. We know he can be patient. He's a sniper. His whole modus operandi on Omega is precision kills without civilian casualty. But when that long fuse finally burns down, he goes from zero to shooting down ships in the middle of the Citadel in what looks (from the outside) like a heartbeat.

And yes, injured pride hastens the burning of that fuse; he doesn’t like losing. Or admitting defeat. Or failing.

Having just replayed his recruitment mission, a few things really stood out to me this time.

The merc bands really hate him--and they also reluctantly admire him (he's described as smart, resourceful, dangerous, idealistic, brave, slippery; they all agree they only way they managed to get this far is by isolating him and employing dirty tactics). I mean, there's literally a station-wide announcement that Omega can return to "business as usual" once Archangel is out of the picture because he was disrupting things so completely.

The way Garrus blames himself for the deaths of his squad is so freaking turian. Failure reflects on the leader who places his people in danger they can't handle, not the individual who fails. Heavy is the head that wears the crown. Yes, Sidonis betrayed him, but the person Garrus blames the most? Is himself. For trusting Sidonis in the first place. For raising Sidonis to a position where he had the means and opportunity to harm others--and the weakness of character to turn coat, to save his own hide, instead of dying to protect the others.

Garrus mentions more than once that he was trying to emulate Shepard. And his tone always implies that he knows he failed because Shepard would never have let a Sidonis into the fold. Again, he's blaming himself. Like a good turian. Yes, he wanted to avoid the red tape and bureaucracy of C-Sec, but his code--Archangel's code--certainly aligns with Paragon Shepard's morality (with a Garrus Vakarian twist).

And since it wouldn't be meta without adding a Tara's Headcanon Twist ... I've always wondered why "Archangel" when it's such a ... human concept. But this time, when I noticed how he spoke about Shepard's influence, and how quickly he brushes aside the name when she asks him about it, I wondered if it wasn't actually his way of honoring the mythology of the dead woman whose example he was trying to follow. Not that Shepard is a God he's worshiping, but ... there is something about the way he talks about her. Garrus doesn't make himself over in the image of a God, though; he's the soldier, the right hand, the avenging angel responsible for carrying out divine punishments suited and proportional to the crimes committed, the rules broken, the selfishness or cruelty of the perpetrator.

[abyssal-ilk]

playing as a tabris warden and especially playing as a fem tabris warden is just a constant over and over gut punch. you're getting married but then you, your cousin, and several other women from your alienage are kidnapped during your wedding by the arl's son. you slaughter your way out of it to save your cousin and the other women, but there isn't a victory in it— you know there will be retribution for killing a palace full of guards and several nobles even though you were defending yourself and your kin. you're forced to leave your home and join the grey wardens without being given even a single night to recover. you know there will be a purge. you don't know if you'll ever see your family again.

you're taken to ostagar where you are the only woman amongst the grey wardens, and not only that, you are the only elf among them. you remember nessa, the girl in your alienage who was afraid of leaving because she feared what the soldiers would do to her after going so long without seeing a woman. your status as an elf and a woman are constantly remarked upon. you have no choice but to stay. you are fed darkspawn blood by duncan; the blood kills one man while he slaughters the other in front of you. you are supposed to feel grateful to have survived this.

and even later when you seek help from the dalish, what do you learn from zathrian? the same injustices that were inflicted upon you have been repeated over and over for centuries. what do you learn when you seek help from the mages? templars lurk in every corner, always watching, driving mages to the same violence you yourself committed. what do you learn in orzammar? to be a castless woman is to be not considered a person, who's only worth is the children she can bear for the same nobles who keep the castless subjugated. to be chosen by a noble is supposed to be an honor. why does this feel familiar?

AND THEN. what do you learn from the deep roads? darkspawn in all of their corruption are no different; you learn of the broodmothers. it is the same everywhere, no matter where you look. nothing changes. even your other party members, leliana and zevran, have their own stories. and you don't have another choice but to keep pushing on.

[manal-ghorab3]

Free people, honorable people,

my heart bleeds, my soul is in pain. My husband, my companion, has been wounded once again in this unbearable injustice. Every day, the pain increases, and the losses increase. I can no longer remain silent, nor surrender. I address a desperate appeal to you, asking you to help me protect my family, to protect what is left of our lives. I invite you to donate to my campaign, to be my partners in this battle. Every donation is a boost of hope, and every support is a weapon in the face of injustice.

Vetted by @gazavetters , my number verified on the list is ( #184 ) and the butterfly project (#1117).

donate here 🩹

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[feyishven]

I wrote a thing on saints recently I think this fits:

What is the meaning of a saint? To have your image watch over those in need of guidance and protection? To be the voice that heralds against injustice and be the figurehead the people need. But what of you? To be a saint the You can't exist anymore. You are revered, honored, beloved, but all they love is an image. All they will see is what you had to leave behind. You don't matter, but your death does.

And what an honor it was, to die for a cause bigger than you are. The end of the life no one will look at besides the glory that you now shine with. It doesn't matter and neither does it to you.

Whether you forget your old life or are forced to remember what happened, you can't go back. What an injustice your fate is. You were chosen to watch over this world but it has never looked out for you. What remains of You is left to scream into the void. The sound doesn't matter, no one will hear You.

halos are fun but tbh realistically i think that saints would just have heads burning up with holy fire from the inside out. they'd be uncomfortable to look at, not only because they burn so bright and billow with smoke and flame, but because of the abjectly contradictory, miraculously terrible nature of it. headless but whole. dead yet alive.