#with all of the age changes made

[daeneryscel]

something i noticed unfortunately:

[script from darksvster]

alicent is mid-late thirties, which obvious discourse means her mom was also probably a childbride when she had her (+ her having an older brother in gwayne helps to reaffirm this).

this was the case for rhaenyra in fire and blood; aemma was *fifteen* when she had rhaenyra and *twenty-three* when she died birthing baelon. rhaenyra was a mother THREE times over (with baby egg on the way) by the time she reached the age her mother ultimately met her fate at.

how am i supposed to mentally cope with this information?

[caffeinewitchcraft]

I don't think it's talked about enough how truly buck wild our level/speed of communication is. We didn't have this 100 years ago! And even then it's only been in the last 20-30 we really embraced technology and our global stage.

Our communities are still experiencing huge upheavals around this and we don't acknowledge it because of all the benefits being wired in brings. You can find jobs and resources and entertainment, sure, but you also have to have accounts here, here and here to access healthcare or a rent portal or TV.

On one end we have an elderly class that is overwhelmed. They learned complex systems already! Taxes, licensing, registration. They know where the offices are - right down the street. Why the change? "Because this site simplifies it." Does it? Does it really? Is it really more simple when someone has to have reliable access to a computer, the wherewithal to make/check an email, and the ability to navigate ten different sites to access the one they want? Why can't they go meet their doctor in person when that's the way it's been since they were children? Why did they learn to make eye contact and shake hands if not for this?

On the other, we have a younger generation that has been tasked with absorbing a huge amount of information since day one. Their brains have to work differently because the tools given to them are different than the ones older generations received. Of course they can find a primary care physician. The site operates like the one they were forced to learn in high school to turn in assignments! And why should they know how to do taxes or balance a checkbook? They were tasked with learning how to navigate the internet - they know where the information is. In a sea of "right now" demands and "this shouldn't take long because you can Google it" assignments, they have to be selective in what takes their attention.

We are currently between a time of "trust the process" and "immediately." So many people feel unheard or ignored because of this. The elderly feel isolated, helpless, and stonewalled. The youth feel anxious, mocked, and bullied.

The world changed and it happened invisibly.

[slfcare]

the most difficult thing about growing as a person socially, as in getting out of your shell and noticing that you are, is that there will still be times when it doesn’t feel like you’ve grown at all! times when you can’t really connect with anyone around you, times when you fail to enter into an existing conversation, times when you say the wrong thing (or nothing at all when in hindsight you probably should’ve). but that’s also kind of the best thing, because that’s the thing that helps you realize that sometimes, it’s not you or your lack of skills or any shortcoming. sometimes certain environments just aren’t for you and certain people aren’t your people, and that’s okay. that’s human. it’s okay to not feel the progress you have made all the time.

[robo-dino-puppies]

dragon age: the veilguard | lucanis dellamorte

[amaranthdahlia]

kudoichi is serious to me in ways the human mind cannot fathom (art dump yet again below)

commissions

[strawberry-halla]

screaming sobbing at the very idea that felassan was right and the realization solas must have felt as he’s falling in love with the very mortals he didn’t view as people.

solas thought he could run away from this, taking the most drastic of measures by killing one of his most trusted friends so there would be no doubts.

but then, the universe finds a way. the red string attaches itself to him and pulls.

you want to disregard humanity, solas? try doing so when it fights back in the form of someone who accepts you as you are. can you truly end everything when she unravels the knots that hide away your spirit?

[kingly-court]

I’m legitimately gonna explode if I don’t find someone else who understand the background tragedy of the Gleeful Family in Gravity falls.

[kradogsrats]

@dragonprincedrabbles prompt Harrow + Damian, Breathe

—

A particularly nasty cold works its way through the castle, the first winter after they move in. Even Sarai gets the sniffles, though fortunately no more than that. Being sick and six months' pregnant would be truly miserable.

Callum stays healthy, thanks to diligent hand-washing and restriction from the areas of the castle where germs are most freely spread, but he grows moody and standoffish. He was already struggling to adjust, obviously feeling like an out-of-place guest in the castle and seeing Harrow as more like a distant uncle than a stepfather. Sarai knows he needs time—the only way encourage growing into a home and family is to allow the space to do so, and then step back. She just hates seeing her son unhappy.

Then Claudia, the one playmate he's truly grown close with, gets sick enough to spend a week in bed, and he starts acting out in ways he never has before. Not even when Damian was dying.

Harrow spends most of that week with Viren, who is understandably beside himself over his daughter's condition, mild though it is. Once she's undeniably on the mend and Harrow's able to escape, Sarai shares her own frustration and worries about her son. Always thoughtful, he suggests that they go to the lodge—there's a blanket of fresh snow on the ground, and a change of scene and activities will do Callum good.

It's a fantastic idea, one Sarai is embarrassed she didn't think of herself. Of course, she's not exactly used to having an entire lodge to retreat to for relaxation.

The first few days go better than she could ever hope—he and Harrow sled, build snowmen and snow banthers, and have snowball fights more epic than any Border skirmish. Sarai joins them sometimes, though she feels a little too pregnant for some of the more vigorous activities and is content to watch from inside, sipping hot cider. Callum runs to her pink-cheeked and laughing when they come back inside, happier every day than he has been in weeks. In the evenings, he falls asleep on the couch, nestled between them as Harrow reads aloud in his deep, soothing voice.

Then the castle cold catches up with Harrow.

Sarai suddenly finds herself caught between overseeing regular deliveries of hot soup and honeyed tea to her husband and near-constant tantrums from her son. Everything becomes a battle—getting up in the morning, what food he'll eat for any meal and when, putting on warm clothes before going outside, baths, bedtime. After a particularly bad fit over wanting to go ice skating—it's not cold enough for Sarai to trust the pond's ice without it being checked—she gathers him up into her lap for a talk.

"What's wrong, sweetie?" she says, rocking them both gently back and forth while he snuggles in her arms. "I can tell you're having a lot of big feelings—are you sad or mad that Harrow can't play anymore? Do you miss the castle?"

He shakes his head against her chest, but says nothing.

"Did something happen that scared you? Have you had bad dreams?"

Callum hesitates, then buries his face in her shirt, clinging to her. "I'm sorry, Mom," he says through fresh tears. "It's all my fault, I'm so sorry—"

She shushes him soothingly, stroking his hair. "I'm right here. It's okay to be overwhelmed. You haven't done anything wrong."

He takes a hiccuping breath. "But I did! I—I wished that King Harrow would die, so we could go home. I just wanted everything to be like it was before, with Dad. Now he's—I don't want him to die!"

He's crying hysterically again, and Sarai holds him tight. All the pieces suddenly come together—this year's cold takes root in the chest, leading to a wet, hacking cough. Harrow's coughing fits, while already subsiding, had been loud and frequent for the first few days. Loud enough to be heard from nearly anywhere in the lodge.

She and Damian had kept the worst of his condition from Callum, but not everything could be hidden, especially if Damian was to have any kind of life in his remaining time. So Callum saw when he coughed convulsively until he strained to breathe, air barely wheezing in and out of his lungs. Even if that wasn't the case, he'd heard his father's labored, rattling breaths at the end.

"Oh, sweetie," she says. "He's not going to die, I promise. He'll be just fine in a few days."

Callum shakes his head wildly, clinging to her. "I'm sorry," he sobs again.

"It's okay," Sarai soothes him, rubbing slow circles into his back. "It's okay, Callum. Sometimes, when we're angry or scared, we think or say things we don't really mean. There have been a lot of big changes, and that can feel scary and unfair. I wish we could have done things differently."

She swallows around the lump forming in her throat. "Your dad—I was angry and scared for a long time, when we found out how sick he was. I was angry that he wouldn't get to see you grow up, and I was scared of what life would be like without him. I had a lot of mean thoughts about people who I knew loved me, and were only trying to help. I didn't let those thoughts take root, and I know you won't, either—you'll breathe, and let them out."

She inhales deeply through her nose and exhales slowly through her mouth, repeating until Callum was breathing with her. His crying slows as he relaxes.

"Harrow can't ever replace your dad, but whatever he becomes to you, I know he loves you very much." She hugs him close, smiling when he hugs her back. "How about this? We can toast some cheese sandwiches and bring some soup up to him for lunch, like a picnic. He'll be happy to see you."

Callum nods, rubbing his nose with his sleeve. Sarai pokes it lightly. "Then, if the Crownguard say the ice is safe, we can go skating."

"Maybe, instead of skating," Callum says tentatively, as he hops down from her lap, "we could play a game from the game room this afternoon."

So Harrow can play, too. All of us together. She smiles, levering herself up from the couch. "That's a wonderful idea, sweetie. Go pick one out, and I'll start the sandwiches."

She's still smiling as he scampers off excitedly, and she heads for the kitchen. Lunch and games with all three of them, together—it looks like they just might be becoming a family.

[lizzybeeee]

Inquisitor: "Is there any way Solas can be reasoned with?"

Me after Solas has killed Varric, used blood magic on me, trapped me in the fade, created the blight, made the titans tranquil/fucked with the dwarves, started the chain of events that led to Southern Thedas being destroyed, and stealing all my good gear from Inquisition:

[foxx-queen]

thinking about the fragment of mythal's spirit finding flemeth. 'she was betrayed as I was betrayed'. morrigan confirming the version of flemeth's history that saw her living in poverty, sold by her husband to a lord who desired her. the parallels to the warden city elf origin. morrigan telling us it's easy to imagine how flemeth and mythal related to one another. 'betrayed by those sworn to love her'. mythals murder at the hands of her fellow gods, the figures that were her husband and children in dalish legends. 'mens hearts hold shadows darker than any tainted creature'. mythal being a fragment of who she was, split from herself, lost, and she 'clawed and crawled her way through the ages' to a woman betrayed and wounded and left for dead locked in the dark.

thinking about what that moment might've been like for both of them. flemeth lifting her head to a spirit reaching out to her. the fragment of mythal finding a place to rest in a soul that resonated with her. 'your grief must come later... in the dark shadows before you take vengeance, as my mother once said'. did flemeth mean mythal, when she spoke of her mother? was that something mythal said to flemeth in the moments before they became one? 'duty must come now'. duty to the world? flemeth carried mythal through the ages, nudging history when required, aiding and preparing the world for a reckoning she knew would come. 'considering what the world has done to me, I have already done more than it deserves'. the moments in history that could be read as mythal attempting to mend a world she helped to break, and wanting to protect the world that formed from what was broken from being destroyed all over again. she couldn't have done that without flemeth, who had no hand in breaking the world to begin with.

'i am but an old woman, whom the world has largely forgotten'. thedas as we know it wouldn't be there without flemeth. she was murdered, and solas painted her as an elf because he saw her as no more than a vessel for his oldest friend, and refused to acknowledge that he was murdering her too, because she was just a fragment. they'd lived for centuries as one person. kieran mentions that he feels lonely without the old god soul. it must've been lonely, watching and guiding the world as she did. maybe she doesn't hide that shes an old woman because of how the years might've weighed on her. 'regret is something I know well'. mythals regrets are never spoken of, because we never get the chance to hear them. would one of them have been burdening a mortal in such a way? or is that not something she could regret, because of how she came to her in the first place?

'regret that she would never see me again'. maybe it is a little jarring for players to hear morrigan speak of flemeth without all the vitriol we've come to expect. to hear something like sadness when we know what their relationship is like. but we saw flemeth's face when morrigan told her that she would not be like her, in her instant defence of kieran. it's been ten years since morrigan absorbed flemeth and mythals combined memories. she knows everything she's done and everything she's suffered, and how she might've felt about it all. all those regrets. sometimes we don't have to forgive the people who've hurt us to understand them. sometimes we love them despite it all.

[kilgarraghforever]

I am genuinely really enjoying seeing people who have clearly never read the Odyssey before reacting to EPIC's Ithaca saga. I haven't listened to EPIC myself (yet) but people keep saying stuff like "Odyseeus built their palace around an olive tree he carved into his and Penelope's marriage bed that's so symbolic" and "He really just murdered all the suitors wouldn't that piss off their parents?" Which are observations and questions that the Odyssey makes incredibly blatantly clear as to the symbolism or the answer because it's a really old poem and subtlety wasn't really Homer's strong suit.

There's something really endearing about seeing people interact with the Odyssey through the same way the Ancient Greeks did - a bard singing the story of Odyseus' nostos.

(I gather the details have changed a little, but that's what happens with oral storytelling, and that's how the Odyssey got created in the first place)

Also as congratulations have my favourite ancient depiction of Odysseus surfing with two amphemorae having stolen Poseidon's trident, being sped along by Boreas, stark naked except for a cloak he's holding onto.

[a-gay-bloodmage]

Me, making my Dragon Age OCs in my mid to late teens: Hehe, all but one of them are in their twenties or above... They're so mature...

Me, now, aged 23 with a far more developed brain: Why the fuck are these CHILDREN in charge of SAVING THE WORLD?

[childofthestone]

"oh the veilguard team had no time!!" dont make me tap the faderifter post

[thethiefandtheairbender]

Sometimes in fandom — usually after a fandom has gone from near universal adoration within the fandom, and then had something happen (a season release, a ship goes or doesn't go canon, etc) where it's more broadly criticized — there'll be an according shift in how canon is widely discussed.

Before, where things only would've been discussed with enthusiasm and excitement, there becomes a distinct lack of... any of that without conditions or caveats at most intervals. 

It no longer becomes "I loved the this thing here's why!" but "Yeah the season had flaws but I liked some of it," or "You can ship this thing but you have to admit it has—" or "yeah it was interesting it just could've been written better." 

The criticism is constant and it is vague. It's assumptive. If there are explanations as to what is meant and why, it is once and often not based in wanting to understand why the text would also do XYZ thing. This is not necessarily 'bad' criticism (just personally, occasionally annoying, although it's not as though I've never participated in it myself), just sometimes underdeveloped. Nor is this vein of fandom criticism all fandom criticism by any means.

After all, sometimes fans complain with long winded specifically ad nauseam until the critique becomes so far removed from any spectre of reality, it's like they're watching a completely different show (this is the worst kind). Other times, even once the emotions have died down, people step back and write metas about how there was structural buildup but lack of payoff or how, even though is character may be acting in line with previous characterization, this specific situational response felt OOC for [inserted reasons here] (this is the best kind, because you can actually see where people are coming from, they're acknowledging the constraints/desires/intention of the and therefore working with the text, and you can sometimes change your mind or have a better understanding of what, alternatively, worked for you). 

The problem, I think, with assumptive criticism is that it assumes a viewpoint is universal... when it's really, inevitably, not. For example, in like the 10/11 fandoms I've heavily been in, MY critiques of the thing are Different than what others in the fandom(s) critique, and it is for those exact reasons that I do my best not to engage in assumptive critique.

Because that's the kind of critique where, although short, it can shut down conversation about what might be some people's favourite parts of canon into something that feels loaded, or pointedly contradictory/contrarian, instead of just... "I liked this thing and here's why" that just got to exist freely before critique became more mainstream in the space.

In a similar vein where proship spaces say "I don't have to give a disclaimer that I know a ship is 'problematic' when I make a ship post about them," assumptive fandom critique creates a similar catch 22. Cause I think we've all seen ships broadly labelled as problematic with wildly varying degrees of validity, and ones where we sat here like "It's not problematic at all???" Subjectivity means that sometimes "X thing is flawed and I like it anyway" isn't necessarily true; sometimes it means "I like X thing and don't really think it has flaws" which is also equally, subjectively, true.

Because if I like a thing, I don't have to offer caveats; I don't have to do anything, especially if coming from me they'd be untrue. That thing is not objectively flawed and I don't have to act like it. The things that are flaws to you are oftentimes the things I like, that I think the story had good and/or interesting reasons for, or personally greatly enjoy, or are sometimes even the Best part of that story (to me). (Maybe some of the things I think are flaws are parts you like. That's awesome! All the power to you.)

If what I like in canon aligns with what the creators seemingly enjoyed or were trying to go for in canon, that just means that I'm more in alignment with the text, and 'correct' in ways we usually associate with correctness, but not all by any means (not necessarily intelligence, for ex, the same way critiquing a text in a negative way also doesn't say anything about intelligence).

I ship all the ATLA canon ships and I think they're good, and important, and interesting; I like the EIP conflict for Kataang, and I don't think I'd ship them half as hard without it / is one of my favourite pieces of characterization for Katara and her internal worldview(s). I like all the seasons of TDP's second arc, especially S4 (one of my faves) and including S7. I don't like the main ship that JWCC went for (they're even kind of a notp) and it bogged down early S4 for me, but with S5 in mind I think it was a smart, interesting choice even if it's not my personal preference (personality wise for the characters due to their similarities in mindsets and drastic differently long term goals), and I think the execution could've been eased further in, but those are nitpicks. That doesn't mean it's Bad.

A story doesn't have to align with all my preferences to be good; the story just has to align with itself, and I can be along for the ride. And if I'm no longer down to be along for the ride, I'm going to be specific as hell about why while still acknowledging all the (probably good) reasons the show did those things Anyway, because that's where criticism intersects most strongly with critical thinking, tbh.

[fluffytheocelot]

honestly homophobic of netflix to remove the interactive with the julethief canon events in it

AND ON THE DAY CARMEN ESCAPES VILE NO LESS 😒

rip To Steal or Not To Steal. you had the entire fandom in a chokehold over that ending <3

[lizzybeeee]

Who wants to bet that Anders was planned to be in that post-credit's Executor cutscene montage but they changed it to Bartrand when they realized it would go over real badly with everyone?