#with the meat grinder thing

[friendshipgamer13]

Why didn’t he completely move out the way is he stupid?

[vaguely-concerned]

My two cents on how much of Mind!Varric is Rook’s mind trying to fill the blank space and how much is Solas actively talking through a convenient blood magic paper doll of the mind: I think it's a mix of both, a truly collaborative psychosocial horrorshow if you would, but waaaay more towards the second. It feels too directed and tactical at times to be anything else. Rook's mind is willing to go along with the denial phase as far as it can fucking carry them to not have to face the grief and regret and does its part in papering over details that don’t make any sense, the way brains will strive to create coherent meaning even out of deeply confusing input, but to my understanding it's a collaborateur in how that plays out, not the instigator or control center. Solas is using it as a path to agency and to gather insight into Rook as a person unguarded as he can't count on in his own guise. (That stoic option that leads to him being like 'oh I see you're cautiously denying me access to your inner life. well. at least you still have Varric to talk to. y'know as an outlet :)'. You absolute BITCH Solas! That alone convinced me that he HAS to have an active hand in it on some level.)

My guess is that it takes considerable effort on Solas’ part to make Mind!Varric do anything more involved or complicated than seeming to sit up in bed and give casual commentary, and that’s why he keeps having eerie five minute shallow pep talks with you before he announces he conveniently needs a nap aaanyway good luck kid you got this haha. When he’s just spouting NPC lines from his bedrest, I’m ready to believe that could be Rook’s mind being allowed to improv lines for him more freely because it’s less about Solas trying to get something out of them or working an angle and more ‘Still here! Still totally alive and fine and the mentor figure you know and love and trust :) don’t even worry about it! Thankfully there is no war in Ba Sing Sei, as we all know’ upkeep work lol. Rook’s mind is allowed to set the tone of Varric, the outlines, but not always the content. 

AND, on a (beautifully fucked up) character psychology level, I feel like Solas is indulging in actually getting to be the good supportive mentor figure to Rook with one hand to assuage the guilt he feels about what he's done -- and what he's going to do -- to them with the other. Same internal logic as he uses in Trespasser about the Qun. ‘Almost everyone is going to die from the course of action I’m doggedly pursuing eventually. But at least I can make their last years happier and freer and kinder than they would have been otherwise. and that kind of makes up for it right. a little bit. doesn't it. doesn't that make it better at least. I need that to make it better)'. Did I really take your beloved mentor and friend from you if you don’t know yet that I did? Some philosophers would argue not really! So it’s probably almost ok actually. Isn’t it even a little noble that I’m taking all this grief and guilt on myself and shielding you for now. With undertones that I’m not sure he would realize himself (and might be mortified by if he did) that he is so incredibly lonely, and even a dishonest and indirect emotional connection is more than nothing when you’re that desperate. In this setup he gets idk. Both the control he craves so incredibly badly in relationships and over himself, and the scraps, the fading afterimages, of intimacy and warmth and companionship, even second hand. The one thing Solas and Rook agree on deep deep down is that they really wish Varric weren't gone. They're handshake memeing this in the saddest and most creepy way possible.

I think an important element too is that Solas needs Rook and their team to *succeed* —  up to a certain point. He needs someone to hold the two other elven mean girls off until he can get out of here. Ideally, in a perfect world, even do all the hard work of killing them so he can swoop in at the end and do his thing when both sides are exhausted and out of resources to stop him, and then Bob’s your uncle! Same logic as he was using with Corypheus, and after that worked out so well, too! King of choosing to never learn from a single solitary mistake he’s ever made even though i fully believe he could have the capacity to Fen’Harel <3 The underlying idea isn’t flawed, you see, it was just unforeseen circumstances getting in the way. This time for sure it’ll all work out the way I cleverly imagined it in my head beforehand. Cue By Talos this can’t be happening etc. in the form of a statue almost crushing him like a bug. 

So he's providing guidance and forging Rook into a leader from two angles: one Rook might not trust, and one they probably will. Shaping them into what he needs slowly and carefully. He’s helping you hone your team into their most effective state, as he might have done with his own agents back in the day, setting up his chess pieces even if he has to squint through two glimpsed realities to do it haha. Pincer maneuver of an insidious stealth mentor you never asked for. Also… at one point mind Varric gives you a whole little monologue about how Solas' problem is that he’s always seen his interpersonal connections as flaws and see where it’s landed him, all alone and the worst part? it hasn’t even worked. it’s all been for nothing he’s back where he began with nothing to show for it but his mistakes. Like...that has such strong 'uh okay happy to play your therapist from two rooms away here what the fuck kind of traumadump is this' energy to me, I’m not sure Rook like. Thinks that much about Solas as a private person. So much of Solas' self-loathing and futile insights into his own flaws seem to shine through in Mind!Varric's dialogue all the time — I just can't believe that there's no guiding hand behind it as it were. 

Most of all. I feel like people underestimate the degree to which Solas is incredibly funny. As in, he has a very consistent and recognizable sense of humour. It’s one of my very favourite things about him. We must remember — it is crucial that we always keep in mind — Orlesian accent and wig Solas from May The Dread Wolf Take You (my beloved, the explanation for why I love this dude even with the. All of the everything else. No one does it quite like him). He is not at all above doing things or adding little flourishes for his own obscure amusement, in fact that seems to me to be one of his most consistent traits. The Randy Dowager Quarterly comment Varric has? The ‘Maybe this is the Dread Wolf’s revenge. Forcing us to house sit for him’ thing? To Me this is 100% Solas amusing himself in his boring Fade jail surrounded by the screaming hellscape of all his regrets. Source: it came to me as divine revelation through pure vibes trust me bro 

If nothing else I find it much more narratively interesting personally if the connection between Rook and Solas really is that defenselessly intimate and entwined (and so unbalanced!), and the sense of violation and invasion and betrayal afterwards consequently all the more nauseatingly intense. Even if you kept him at arm’s length in the open, he’s been under your skin the whole time, looking around, gathering what he needs to destroy you, wearing the face of a friend. Regretfully, probably, but choosing to do it every step of the way anyway. (Sound familiar, Inquisitor? Solas doesn’t have that many tricks when you actually look at it, he keeps returning to old tried and true ones like a dog with a bone haha.) Maybe he even genuinely meant some of it as mercy, which only makes it so much worse. It makes his sin against his own core principles of autonomy and the freedom of all beings in mind, spirit and body so much more juicily grave if it’s something he pursues actively and consistently, rather than it half-falling into his lap as a happy accident mainly orchestrated by Rook’s own subconscious. Solas, too, is at his very lowest point, the closest to giving in and becoming his own antithesis fully that he’s ever been, and it makes the choice of whether you still reach out your hand to him one last time or not all the more impactful and difficult.

[422kit]

insta requests + a random tord doodle

[notadreamurr]

.......14 hours, and im still not done

[st4rstudent]

I like the fact they're taller than him

[doctorsiren]

Day 29 of Sirentober / Doctober

Technoblade / Jerma

They’re watching the FNAF movie 🤭

[canisalbus]

Your art is so poignant and skillfully executed. I'm always excited to see what you create, and all the various influences that are revealed(or hidden) in each art piece.

That being said, I was not prepared for the sudden influx of Sad Dog x Bright Dog art you've been sharing recently! Machete having the potential of being loved and enjoying tenderness despite himself is one of The Best reveals of 2023. I enjoy how you express his relationship and struggles just as much as i enjoyed the stand alone pieces you've shared.

Thank you much for sharing the broader stories and pictures of your characters 💓

.

[wolfofcelestia]

You might think I’m normal but

the only thing I think about all day at any given moment,

the only thing that fills my heart and makes it ache at the same time,

the only thing that makes me smile and laugh and sigh and cry and hope my dreams would continue for just a little longer

is zayne love and deepspace

[spaciebabie]

me all day

[viric-dreams]

There was a silver lining to Jones’ stressful mission infiltrating the Koloman Delegation during the Games. He’d managed to make a friendly contact—a surface spy from Cornwall, who found the goings-on just as ridiculous as he did. But her bosses told her to come down to the Neath, so here she was.

The Cornish Koloman at least had a sense of humour about it. And the longer they spoke, the more affinity he had for her. This seemed to be reciprocal, with the interest she’d taken in him. She didn’t know his role, but seemed generally sympathetic toward the cause. Perhaps she could be turned.

Following her departure to the surface, they kept in touch, their letters decidedly friendly in nature, but always with the undercurrent of something else. She’d mention updates from the surface, vaguely allude to the pieces moving above, hints that may be useful. Perhaps she’d suspected his allegiances and wanted to offer something of use. It’s unlikely to be simply friendly small talk—she’s clever, after all.

As time went on and the constable’s menacing weighed heavier and heavier on him, it became more and more difficult to write. His letters would be equally sociable in nature, each piece of correspondence dutifully reported up the chain, but slower, each letter needing longer and longer to write.

He was hardly working anymore. What was the point with the walls closing in on him? If the Constable wouldn’t get him, his own side would. The surveillance was constant now. They were gearing up to make a move, he could feel it. He’d meant to write some sort of a goodbye, yet it had somehow gotten buried in the pile—too many affairs to get in order. He’d probably forgotten something important, but he’d long since stopped keeping track of the things he’d forgotten. He regrets not writing a final letter.

[fredtheengels]

i’m not here to do discourse but king wilhelm truthers are the funniest people how do you misread a show that badly

[nonuggetshere]

Miscalenous content, mostly fankids because I have no chill

Made an AU where the sealing didn't go as planned, PV is found out not to be hollow and later when they mop around the ancient basin they hear that at least one of their siblings is still stuck in the abyss. They were the very last to hatch and after PV steals the king's brand for themself and goes down they find them injured and raises them back to health in the palace. They keep their existence a secret, of course.

A lil doodle of what if the five great knights survived and Hollow gets to reunite with them (my attempt at the perspective on their head Did Not Work Out, they just look like a squished banana)

Babies content! Mostly Tally, two concepts for their siblings (triplets babyyyy) and a singular Sting

I found a One Singular Quirrel x Hollow shipper and their art has infected my brain. It's terminal and I will be passing away shortly

[archersgoon]

"i'd do it for you. i'd do a good job" will always be the most worrying froi statement of all time. fucking hell

[wenningfanclub]

I love a modern-AU dadfics as much as anyone, but we have to stop glossing over how Wei Wuxian adopting A-Yuan would impact the Wens. Because if he does, something has gone terribly wrong for them and it would absolutely affect everyone involved.

The issue is that A-Yuan has primary caregivers other than Wei Wuxian who should be taking care of him, and if they're not in the picture then there’s going to be a reason why. The first person missing is Granny Wen, who is Wen Yuan’s actual caregiver in mdzs and would most likely be taking care of him. Unfortunately in most dad!xian fics she's immediately fridged or has her grandchild taken away from her due to her age off-screen—which would be deeply traumatic for everyone involved, especially if she’s subsequently unable to be involved in her grandchild's life.

The second person who would be taking care of A-Yuan before Wei Wuxian is Wen Qing. Sometimes the in-fic reason for her not being his caregiver is due to unavoidable circumstances (usually financial issues, which like. yikes), but most of the time it comes down to Wen Qing not really… wanting? to be a caregiver, often because she’s too busy or is putting her career first or is just too much of a GirlBoss. So she chooses to adopt out Wen Yuan to Wei Wuxian (again, off-screen) and that's the end of that.

Listen. Not everyone wants to be a parent. Not everyone should be a parent, or can. It’s a reasonable and valid decision to prioritize other parts of your life over parenthood—especially if being a parent or caregiver wasn’t your choice in the first place. But Wen Qing is going to have SOME kind of feeling about letting A-Yuan be adopted out of her family, and that feeling is probably going to be complicated or bittersweet, if not painful. Not only because she’s, you know, a human being with emotions, but Wen Qing’s primary motivation in the book is to take care of her family and keep them together. So her deciding “nah, I’m too much of a girlboss to be a caregiver, here’s a free kid and I’m going to feel absolutely nothing about this cause it’d be inconvenient for the fluff” is not only a dismissal of how complicated that decision would be for her, it’s also wildly out of character. No matter what the reason is, she's going to feel something about it.

(I’m not getting into how Wen Ning is never tapped as another potential caregiver btw because we're really not ready to talk about ableism just yet)

If you love the idea of Wei Wuxian adopting A-Yuan in your modern au, there’s are a couple of changes that can address this. One is to make Wen Yuan not related to Wen Qing and the shared surname is just a coincidence, like Lan Jingyi. Another is to have them be a blended family where they’re all caregivers for A-Yuan, or have Wei Wuxian be his primary caregiver but help A-Yuan actively maintain a connection to his family of origin. Or have Wei Wuxian adopt A-Yuan but the Wens actually get have feelings about it for once, regardless of why it happens—sorrow, frustration, relief, gratitude, regret, something. Let Wen Qing have complicated feelings and let them shape her relationship with Wei Wuxian, too, for better or worse or just messier. Maybe even let Wei Wuxian, who was also separated from his family of origin and is a walking ball of family trauma, have complicated feelings about it as well! Or go the extra mile and let A-Yuan have some emotions about it for once, because regardless of the context the loss or change of support structures is traumatic, especially for a small human.

Anyway read A Temporary Fix by Bosgood for your complex Wen family feels (feat. Lan Wangji adopting Wen Yuan, because all of this goes the same for him as well).

[dawgfighter]

PEE1

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

I adore the way you give fluff to the welcome home cast, I wanna give them all hugs

❤️

i'm not sure if you mean fluff as in Physical Fluff (fur/fuzz/softness/etc) or fluff as in Emotionally Soft/Pleasant but either way! thank you! happy to hear it!