wlwitchofwhitestone

[wlwitchofwhitestone]

It's not that I think jinx literally swaps between personalities but there is something to be said about the fact that when she's got her guard up she has near preternatural speed. Fighting smeech and his goons, the way you follow her is the purple trail of the shimmer in her eyes. When Vi challenges her, she gets up under her guard in a split second, only to resort to regular human type brawling like she's holding back - whatever it is, the Jinx of it is not present.

It's the same when Isha lands on her out of the sky. She has inhuman abilities to react, but her guard was down - arguably on purpose, struggling with identity and claiming jinx was also dead.

There is a version of this character who could have gotten to Isha at the end. A version of her that could've dodged Vi's grasp, who could have prevented this. But jinx the creature was never around when Isha was, not at that point in their time together. Powder was close enough to the surface that there were flickers of blue in her eyes. Whatever function those reflexes serve was shut down in the presence of Vander, of Vi, of this place that was of peace.

Danger wasn't the trigger. Guard was. Defensiveness. The sense of imminent vulnerability and the need to cut it off.

That version of her wasn't present in the commune because she was healing. They all were. But now that this has happened, it's very likely that jinx - full blast - will be all that's left for a very long time. She will have it reinforced: there is no happiness for her, no softness is allowed. Jinx is safety to be embraced.

It remains to be seen whether there will still be time for Vi or any of them to present her with another option, even if it's just the option to heal later. But given the preview of her from the final arc, if that is her from this timeline, I'm not sure how it will go at all.

[wlwitchofwhitestone]

Oh. It's not just a metaphor. Viktor isn't hallucinating Sky as some kind of moral guide. What he had to offer wasn't enough. The hexcore likes him, is bonded to him at least, for better or worse. It took Sky as payment. Used her as a resource in his goal. She's literally a part of him.

[wlwitchofwhitestone]

Also as pissed off as Vi (rightfully) got about the way Jayce was willing to stop every effort they were making after he killed a kid, as good as her point was, there is the fundamental fact that she watched one person kill a kid and go nearly catatonic. She watched him care in real time. Someone she didn't know, let alone trust.

And just days later she's back in the undercity with one of the only people she does trust, and she's seeing exactly what Ekko always knew. Words - ideals, sentiments - without experience are theoretical. Conflict comes once to Caitlyn's door, and all of that kindness and righteous rage turns. Immediately. Jayce may be idealistic and privileged like the rest of them, but he has his moral limits despite his limited direct experience with this specific violence. He has known struggle. If they found a way to work together, he would be infinitely more reliable.

[wlwitchofwhitestone]

God. GOD. Watching Caitlyn positively rage against her mother in defense of Zaun. Her naivety was annoying on the first season but it's fascinating with our current context. Here she is calling out the council, the government, all of it, but it's just words. Baby's first social justice

And her mother? She speaks of Vi and of the undercity as though even mentioning them might stain her nice coat. But she is directly responsible for the ability of everyone down there to breathe. She does not need to like these people to believe in basic humanity. To be clear, as far as we know she is no champion of Zaun.

But her actions despite her disdain speak worlds higher than Caitlyn's new discovery of the very concept of injustice, followed by the single-mined desire to enact more of it the first time its consequences affect her personally.

[wlwitchofwhitestone]

Absolutely losing my shit at this photo I took

Is that...?

No! It's somehow even funnier.

(unfortunately we were over the lakeshore trail and though I looked around for the fish, I can only assume he was soon run over by a bicycle. RIP little guy)

[wlwitchofwhitestone]

Did anyone else -

[wlwitchofwhitestone]

Wow Imogen has TWO dead women wrapped around her finger now.

[wlwitchofwhitestone]

I dunno man sometimes all the art and posts about queer sex as an act of rebellion against capitalism and heteronormativity start to feel overwhelmingly exclusionary or like it's the only way to "prove" you're queer. I'm aware the majority of the world is allo (believe me) and I've exerted a lot of mental energy reminding myself that I'm not contributing to the systems in place by being ace (and am in fact also subverting them) but it still starts to drag after a while.

Queer sex can absolutely be radical, or holy, or special and different between each person participating. There are as many meanings to it as there are people in the world. But queer sex is not inherently any of those things. It's another thing people can do for fun and for pleasure. The people who aren't doing it - not even just aces, because there are so many reasons people might not and a lot of them get into the intersection of disability, trauma and much more - are not doing less than allos for the community. The queerness is the radical bit. Existing is enough to make the systems in place afraid of and violent towards us. Sex is just something else a lot of us do that's frowned upon by the powers that be. So is not having sex. Because it's not the action it's the people.

[wlwitchofwhitestone]

I think the reason the Raven Queen doesn't have an issue with Laudna despite being undead (and perhaps hollow ones as a concept) is that Matilda passed on exactly as she was supposed to. Hollow one lore says it - the spirit has passed on. This is a shard left that couldn't figure out how to die.

Nobody cheated death. The correct number of spirits have crossed over. Laudna grows from Matilda who is gone in the same way molly grew from lucien. If anything, I would argue that Laudna has her own soul.

[wlwitchofwhitestone]

Also as much as I enjoyed Talks and as fun as 4 sided dive is, I am very weary of the phenomenon where extra info is not considered a fun perk but necessary reading lest you ponder something a creator touched on somewhere in the several hours IN ADDITION to the hundreds you've put in to the actual show. I like having insights into the characters and stories. It's cool. I don't like the feeling that nobody can talk about the themes, ideas, and choices sticking out to them personally without a bunch of fans clamoring in the notes with "well actually, in hour 19 of the extended show that goes along with these 400 hours, they said..."

I believe in death of the author, AND I enjoy hearing the extra bits that go into a good story. They are not mutually exclusive ideas.

[wlwitchofwhitestone]

Hey so can we stop with the addiction metaphors now that Delilah's been bejeweled. It was never a great metaphor and followed more along the lines of an abusive relationship, and now Laudna is in control of her life. Like. Addicts don't recover by continuing to access the thing that made them feel powerful, because again. Addiction was an incomplete and inept metaphor for that whole deal. The cocaine does not throw itself at your face and taunt your every waking thought, because it is in fact an inanimate object. Manipulators do that. People do. And when people do it, that's abuse.

[wlwitchofwhitestone]

lizard girlfriend stealing warmth

[wlwitchofwhitestone]

Cooking up another laudna sketch because I’m feeling normal abt her rn

This scene was so fucking cool

[wlwitchofwhitestone]

“I think it’s your turn”

[wlwitchofwhitestone]

I think what's frustrating me the most about what's going on in campaign 3 right now is that the main idea being talked about and given way too much emphasis runs counter to the theme of the m9. If the Nein were about the idea that you can become better no matter what you did or who you were before, the argument set forth and being entertained as a legitimate conflict right now is very "these guys did bad shit a thousand years ago and they should die. Somehow this is good for everyone despite the centuries of good they've done since." Ashton's point was extremely astute that if that's the case, cleanse the entire world motherfucker because we're no better, but the hypocrisy of that was neatly sidestepped (which is at least consistent with Ludinus and fascists of his ilk in general). It's not a real argument, guys. We're not meant to take him seriously.

The gods are the stewards of the only world anyone living has ever known. The fact that they made bad choices that hurt Ludinus and people he knew is a legitimate grievance. The gods are in fact flawed, capable of selfishness, but when confronted with the enormity of the damage they were causing this world, they removed themselves and a whole chunk of their power to seal themselves behind the divine gate. They didn't abandon the world. They didn't withdraw their power and sulk, leaving everyone without their gifts until they begged for a return. They simply care for mortals on the terms of those mortals and ask for nothing not freely given. The people who follow the gods find them worthy of that patronage and Ludinus does not get to erase the choice of everyone else who doesn't agree with him because he's hurt, even if he did have a point (he doesn't).

He thinks, for some reason, that his actions won't result in the same kind of harm on a global scale and completely ignores the damage he has already wrought in the name of a higher purpose because that's what the gods did and they're no better than him. But they are, dipshit. They are better than you. There are people in the world they may not be better than, salient point, but you're not one of them.

And after the light and love that was the core of the Nein - the very thing that shaped Essek into the campaign 3 NPC that he is - it feels extremely disingenuous for "do the gods deserve their power now that you've seen them at their worst" to be perceived as an actual, legitimate conflict in the endgame and a talking point in the Fandom. Especially when the Hells have already been pretty clear that they're not looking to be judge, jury, and executioner of the gods. This is not the central conflict of campaign 3, it's one dumbass's weird motivation to be a villain that needs to be stopped and the fact that it keeps coming up as anything approaching credible is a condemnation of the purity culture mindset in online spaces today.

[wlwitchofwhitestone]

dancing with our hands tied, feat. the incomparable brooke eyler and bluejayonx

not quite a one-to-one but I hope the feeling stays the same anyway—the lighting and the atmosphere held me captive for a solid 7 hours but alas it’s time to let it go

[wlwitchofwhitestone]

I told the woman selling poems on the street corner that I'd never read a poem about asexuality that wasn't sad, and this is what she came up with.