#shes just a natural at this point

[l1-b1]

Sketches of Nya from Hands of Time and Skybound!!

The outgrown Bob haircut phase

#i want a Nya suit to have Black as the main colour in her suit again pls #pls pls pls #Anyway this haircut is the point where she starts considering growing her hair out #hands of time and Skybound changed aspects of who she was and her life so it seemed natural for her to let herself physically change as well #fanart #lego ninjago #ninjago #lego ninjago fanart #ninjago fanart #ninjago nya #nya smith #nya jiang #Nya means sm to me and her character development and change through time matters sm to me #i think her hair has had many phases #representing who she was who she is and who she will be #Skybound was her turning point she was now apart of the team and not just kais sister of jays girlfriend #she was nya so she wanted to change her appaerence so she could put a distance between her past self #idk this is just a ramble nya just makes me insane

[foxx-queen]

i keep thinking about the datamined conversation between halsin and minthara and what gets me about it is that if you side with halsin and turn minthara away, thats objectively the bad choice.

like at this point, you've rescued minthara from moonrise. you know now that she was being controlled to act against her will. you've gone to the trouble of rescuing her from her tormentors, and you've experienced what it felt like as they tried to destroy her mind. you know what will happen to her if you turn her away. and if you do, you're willingly condemning her to that fate. you've essentially allowed her to experience freedom, to regain her sense of self, only to tear that away from her again.

whereas if you side with minthara, and halsin leaves, that's the only consequence he experiences. that he's not a companion anymore. at this point, we've saved the grove, we've saved him, and we've lifted the shadow curse. we've helped him achieve what hes been hoping to do for over a century. leaving your party won't see him lose his free will. he can return to the grove and live his life.

the choice is essentially either condemn someone to a fate worse than death, knowing exactly what that entails vs not letting someone travel with you anymore. its pretty clear cut to me.

its just interesting to me that they've switched the morality of it around given that minthara is considered the 'evil' companion by so many.

#baldur's gate 3 #baldur's gate 3 spoilers #bg3 spoilers #minthara #minthara baenre #before anyone comes at me and says that halsin is allowed to have his prejudice and his trauma. im not saying hes not #not sure about someone being allowed to have prejudice but yes thats part of human nature i guess #my point isnt that hes not allowed to react like this #my point is that hes wrong. #sure he can be struggling with his trauma and his prejudice over minthara being a lolth sworn (even if shes not anymore) #BUT. at this point we as a character /know/ theres more to her. we know that hes making an unfair assessment of her #which is even more jarring if you're a drow/lolth sworn drow #and at this point. you've saved the grove youve saved him youve helped him break the curse. he tells you its a debt he cant repay #and that hes so thankful. but he wont trust you or your decision. he won't even attempt to #and u know what thats fine. he doesnt have to. but if you're siding with him you're condemning her. you're killing her #if you side against him. he can go back to his responsibilities as an arch druid rather than leaving it in someone elses hands (which was?) #that is the lesser of the two evils here #yes you can call minthara the 'evil' character because shes a lolth sworn but thats just buying into the prejudice halsin is showing #and its wrong #anyways. my point is good for him if he wants to demand you make a ridiculous choice #but turning her away is the bad choice and tbh i feel like the game wants u to know that #and sure if you want to boil it down to which character u like more than the other and u prefer halsin. ur obvs gonna side with him #but in that case u probably wouldn't even get this conversation #because why would u have bothered to spare / save minthara in the first place?

[ilovefredjones]

the frozen ii ending makes me soooooo angry like the whole POINT of frozen i was that elsa learned that she could rule arendelle with her powers and with anna by her side!!! literally in the bway musical she sings ‘i know i’ll never see that sunny day / when this trial is finally through / and it can just be me and you’ like. elsa WANTS to stay with anna

and they try and explain this somewhat in into the unknown, with the ‘who knows deep down i’m not where i’m meant to be’ but. WHY isn’t she where she’s meant to be. all of the first film was her learning that she belonged in arendelle and her powers/herself wasn’t something to be afraid of. why isn’t she meant to be with her family? with her sister who’s been desperate to reconnect with her? why doesn’t she belong where people readily love her and accept her and want the best for her?

and then, what about anna? there is no mention of her wanting/being ready to be queen in either two films. we don’t even see the offer on screen; we don’t get the sisters’ quiet, vulnerable conversation where elsa admits to wanting to live with the rest of the nature spirits and anna offers to take her place as queen. we don’t see anna begging elsa to stay in the forest because she can rule if elsa’s happier there. we never see their dialogue. it’s just so sudden. is anna once again just going along with what her sister wants? is elsa isolating herself all over again? we just don’t know. they both seem happy, but there’s barely any indication that it’ll lead up to that point.

it just makes no sense for either of their arcs, or their previous wants/needs. if they were meant to stay together, why separate them again? they just got each other back. and now they’re alone again.

#and yeah yeah neither of them are alone bc of kristoff/the other nature spirits etc etc but COME ONNNNNNN. #anna did not spend most of her life desperate to spend time with her sister just for elsa to fuck off to the mountains again! what was the+ #point of the first film! #like when did anna show ANY indication of being ok with being QUEEN???? does she even WANT to be??? #and yes elsa is now surrounded by people like her but. gah. idk it just feels so redundant #like why is that the only place she really belongs? #and i know they’re her people so ofc she wants to be with them bc she found where she belongs!! #i just think they could’ve balanced it a bit more so it’s not so out of nowhere #why didn’t we get to see anna and elsa talk it out???? sing a little duet????? #they don’t even HAVE a duet in this film what the hell #grrrr #anyway. normal i’m so normal about frozen #frozen #frozen ii #elsa of arendelle #anna of arendelle

[fromtheseventhhell]

Do you ever think about how Arya being left-handed most likely had an impact on her needlework and other tasks? And how she needed special attention not only because she wasn't as naturally gifted as her sister but because the way she was being taught fundamentally didn't work for her? And how instead of being given the attention she needed she was instead held to an unfair standard by her teacher and used as a measure for bad behavior? And how this all impacted her self-esteem and her views on being a Lady?

#arya stark #septa mordane #catelyn stark #asoiaf #a song of ice and fire #I think about this all the normal amount I'm definitely not obsessed with Arya and her internal conflict on being a lady #I'm not saying her being left-handed is the sole reason she was bad at those tasks but I do think it had an impact #that's why it gets pointed out by Syrio and how it will impact her swordplay...it has an impact on the way she does things #Arya not being able to fit in kills me because she genuinely tried to be the Lady that her family wanted #she was literally trying her best to do tasks that didn't come naturally and she was constantly told she wasn't good enough #if her family hadn't forced the issue and been so hard on her it would've been so much easier for her to do what was expected of her #it's just so fascinating and one of my favorite internal conflicts...I can't wait to see the resolution #so many people try and make Arya the problem but she was literally 9 years old #and her behavior in canon isn't the disruptive wild child people portray her to be she was doing her best that just wasn't enough for some #she was frustrated because her work wasn't as good as her sisters and her teacher mother and sister made sure she knew it #of course that's going to impact her views self-esteem and behavior #like no she was not a burden that her /poor/ mother and teacher suffered through lol

[fluffydice]

A major problem I think people run into when looking at terusai that might make them dislike the ship is that if you don't have an understanding of their development throughout the series, the relationship is going to seem overly shallow. Teruhashi and Saiki are not static characters, nor are they simple. Both of their growth comes from learning that they are just humans at the end of the day. Teruhashi genuinely starts to like Saiki (and all their friends) because she realizes she's not above it all like she originally thought. Saiki is attracted enough to gasp, but only when she shows this true self of hers! If you stick them together when they're still in their early characters, of course it's going to seem forced. Learning to let characters grow, especially in comedy animes, is hard for a lot of people, especially when it's not an 'in-your-face' kind of thing.

#i'm not really a terusai shipper but i can't stand the slander of it #particularly teruhashi slander because that's what a lot of people default to if they're not arguing saiki as completely romance repulsed #that's a fine headcanon all the more power to you #but when it starts getting misogynistic toward a literal teenage girl? people act like she is the devil but she's just a fucking girl man #i think her and yumehara really encompass that broad spectrum of being a teenage girl #they're friends because they both get the other and also are both freaks because they're girls under social pressure #shoutout to asou for representing teenage girls who are just freaks of nature and insane and obsessed i love them #i had more thoughts and points to make but i'm so brain fried sorry #genuinely it all comes back to the fact that sometimes people don't get what they're not spoonfed in media #saiki k #fluffy writes an essay

[yardsards]

a pet headcanon of mine is that after they're done with the sigil removal, emira expands her horizons and starts studying the psychological side of healing, pulling in some resources from the human realm and combining it with boiling isles methods (i imagine the field of psychology in the boiling isles, while existent, was often pushed aside as just a lesser branch of the healing coven back when belos was in charge. i do imagine there's often magic like the memory tweezers involved)

and i imagine she ends up focusing in on like, art therapy and self-expression, because she knows how important that can be, after having her individuality stifled so hard when she was young

#eliot posts #toh #the owl house #emira blight #canon gave us so little on her compared to her siblings and i feel A Need to expand on her because of that lol #also i like the idea that she does still enjoy illusion magic and focuses more on the artistic/creative side of it #she also gets into non-magical art at some point #<idk if that hc came from me or f1ddlyb1ts or if we both came up w it independently but it's included in one of their fics #and then i think she explores writing some and even a bit of music and bard magic #projecting my ''cannot stick to just one creative hobby'' here #raine mentors her because if amity can get lilith and edric can get eda then emira should get raine #also all of the blight kids have formed a good relationship with darius as their probably future stepdad #but emira especially vibes with him #like ''hey dad i'm going for manicures and bubble tea with your boyfriend. i'll be back by seven'' #boiling isles bubble tea has eyeballs instead of tapioca‚ naturally

[sysig]

Let him dad her!! (Patreon)

#Doodles #Adventure Time #Fionna and Cake #Fionna Campbell #Simon Petrikov #I cannot BeLieve that they didn't hug at any point - illegal. One million years dungeon #She slapped him (deservedly) but they didn't hug by the end??? I had to fix it #Jerry is my favourite episode so that at least was an easy choice lol #If anywhere would be a good place to cross that line it would be to comfort her! I can't imagine he'd initiate tho haha #She's just seeking comfort so badly <3 I know she's at least legally considered an adult but she's still a kid! #And Simon just keeps adopting kids lol #He's a good dad :) Not a perfect one but y'know? He helps where he can #Sometimes all we need is a parent figure giving you a hug and saying ''You know what? You're right - this sucks. But I see you'' #Fionna's quite interesting 'cause like - she's meant to be a Finn but there are a lot of differences between her and quite a few Finns! #A lot of that is Because she lived in Simon's head for so long but I wonder - most Finns have decent support systems and she seems a little #Well not lacking Exactly but her fallbacks aren't as numerous - and she's not able to fulfill her life's purpose so she's just kinda wayward #Seeing that kind of Finn finally able to spread their wings but still have a lot of Finn trappings like naivety and impulsivity ♪ #She's interesting! I quite like her :D Plus it's cool to see her natural EQ when she calls out Simon later in this episode unknowingly haha #I stopped at episode eight for a while but year her line about ''Then you got on the bus right? :D'' and him refuting it #Hmmm ♪ It was certainly interesting - I'm glad they addressed it :) #Plus she's fun to draw haha ♫ Her bunny ears! And the jacket she took from Martin </3 She has a fun design #And as always Simon is fun to draw :) Especially piecemeal here haha - just his mouth or just his eyes ♪ Cute :)

[padfootastic]

please say more about jilypad + diverging parenting styles... perhaps even a possible scenario >:) i imagine harry has very cunning tactics for using this to his advantage

helloooooo <3 thank u for this ask bc i love talking about these three and harry. i went looking thru the archives to find this post; my first foray into this side, and really, i’ve never looked back after that.

so i’ve talked ab this a bit before but i fully think that james was a very overprotective ‘mother hen’ type parent. i tend to read his behaviour in lily’s bday letter to sirius as being scared of his child on a broomstick and i fully, fully think he’ll never be able to let go of that as harry grows up. he’ll be anxious and suspicious and paranoid, and his first instant will always be to wrap harry up in cotton wool and hide him away. (i low-key connect this to his childhood as well; going from being spoiled and sheltered to dropped in the middle of a war, black & white thinking, living in extremes etc etc makes it v hard for him to be Normal about his child. as he shouldn’t be, really, but yeah) that’s why he thrives during the initial years; he never minds the hard parts of being a new parent, loves it in fact, and it makes it better that he can keep harry close to him at all times w/o coming off as a helicopter parent (not that the notion bothers him ofc).

it’s good, then, that he has two partners to even the scales, no? i think lily was the most…balanced out of the three. she had a relatively normal childhood, grew up in a working class family/neighbourhood and had to deal w adversity from a young age so she’s developed a nice, thick skin. she also has a sibling with whom she has a v rocky relationship so she knows that kids are, ykno, a bit unhinged. and a little bit of hardship is not a problem. i hc her as needing time to get used to parenthood, unlike james who stepped into it natural as breathing, or even sirius who loved harry on much on first sight that it made up for everything else. ofc lily loved her son, but it didn’t come w the same blinding intensity of her partners and made her feel really shitty in the beginning. but, i think she’d shine during his teen years actually, because she’s not overbearing or intense and becomes the quiet, calm strength that a hormonal, spotty teen boy would probably need.

and sirius <3 our poor baby falls in love with harry, perhaps even more quickly than james, with such startling speed that it shakes his entire foundation. he doesn’t regret it but he’s constantly discombobulated. i also imagine that…it takes him longer to settle into the role of parent, esp bc he’s not biologically one ykno? not like it matters to anyone, ofc, but it takes him a long time to truly accept his authority and place, to believe that he has just as much right as j&l to be there, to parent harry. this has the consequence of him always being more indulgent than the other two; after all, he considered himself a godfather before a parent and a lot of that thinking stayed. he lets harry get away with stuff the others might not (and the little mf figures this out later); some of it also comes from sirius seeing so much shit, and facing so much shit himself, that he rationalises a lot of stuff as ‘well, this isn’t the worst it can be, so what’s the harm’ (because his life has been such a roller coaster that he’s forgotten that not everyone’s like that, if that makes sense?)

its obviously not this clear cut but i imagine harry looks at it like this: if he needs unconditional love, he goes to james; rationality and logic, lily; acceptance and calm, sirius. when someone has to be beat up for hurting harry, james steps in. if he needs help burying a body, it’s sirius. dealing with some asshole boss/teacher/classmate’s mother who’s making harry’s life hell? lily. i can keep going but,,,u get the idea, right? this makes sense, i hope lol

i actually think harry’s first birthday is a great example. sirius pushes the boundaries by gifting lil harry a broom; james loses his mind running after him; lily places an industrial sticking charm on harry’s butt, leans back with a glass of wine, and enjoys the show. even as he grows up, lily and james act as the disciplinarian, and sirius is the emotional outlet. all of them fill in each other’s cracks so well, and it’s only when harry grows up that he realises how effortlessly they worked off each other to parent him.

also oh man o man. harry being cunning is,,,,,see, i’ve not considered it this far but it makes perfect sense. i think canon harry actually had so much manipulative energy and it’s often overlooked for his goofier traits but! this is the same dude who used his dead parents to trick slughorn into revealing sensitive info! imagine if that could be channelled into his jilypad interactions 😈

it’s like, it takes him a bit, because his three parents r so smooth, but once he realises that all of them have certain weak spots, he does NOT hesitate to exploit them. (it has the unintended consequence of truly strengthening the jilypad relationship into an unbreakable one bc one thing their kid taught them is to have ironclad communication going at all times so nothing they’ve said, or not said, is used against them). so like, he knows if he wants to sneak out to a party, it has to be sirius and in a specific way—‘i’ll be totally safe, papa, plus i really wanna see what it’s like and idk when it’ll get a chance to again’. if he widens his eyes to pitiful levels, pouts a little, and blinks faster than usual, then james is putty in his arms as long as he’s separated from the other two. divide and conquer becomes the main tool in harry’s arsenal, actually. lily’s the toughest nut to crack, purely bc she doesn’t run on emotions or irreverence, but harry soon learns that if he comes up with a solid, logical case that proves his argument has unbiased merit then he has a good chance of getting her to say yes. (this is good, bc u can arrange words in the correct order, but u can’t always control emotions)

so overall yeah, you’d think one kid + 3 parents would be an easy bet, but harry keeps them on their toes all the fkn time.

#sirius black #james potter #lily evans #jilypad #harry potter #i knew before i even started this that it would be ridiculously long lmao #i just cannot bring myself to shut up #wrt lily and harry’s baby years #i feel v v strongly ab motherhood not coming naturally to her #and becoming a very sore point for her. bc she sees james and sirius and she keeps blaming herself for being an unfeeling robot #when she’s not. she just thinks more logically than them and doesn’t feel as strongly. that doesn’t make her a bad mother #and no matter what j & s say a small part of always thinks like that. until the teen years. and suddenly the dynamics r reversed #bruh i think i need help it’s not even funny how not hinged i am for this trio lmao #there also! padfoot! #a while ago i wrote a lil thing. but i fully believe that whenever harry was emotionally distraught he’d actually go to padfoot #bc he needed someone to just. sit. and be there. while he’s processed emotions #and lily would be too ruthlessly logical and james would be fretting and trying to fix it and sirius would panic. just a little. #but padfoot is a warm comforting weight agains this side and he just lets him be. it’s grounding. #so harry always. without fail. does that #it’s actually 3.5 parents lmao #i do wonder what their parenting fights would about if any. hmmmm. my glasses are too rose tinted for me to consider it #a thought for another day #anyway. hope this endless rambling made sense! and that u liked it! #would love to hear ur thoughts too <3 #pen’s notes #pen’s asks

[spacedlexi]

i just think a "friended/romanced + saved + trust aj" violet does such a good job rounding out the plot and characters of S4 and i dont say that lightly

she walls people off out of fear just like S3 clem did and learned to grow out of through the compassion of others. feeling like she could have done more to save minnie being what initially makes her step up to lead, but her accepting her love for clem (and clem choosing to save her) is what leads to her Truly accepting the school and everyone inside it as her Home and gives her something to fight for ("i tried my damnedest not to care about either of you. and i still couldnt tell you why." "i know where youre coming from. after losing so many people, sometimes its easier to keep everyone at arms length." "and then you wonder why you fight so hard to stay alive. i dont wonder anymore."). this being the reasoning behind violets detachment from the school, as well as a negative home life impacting her idea of what a home even was. but together they turn ericson from a prison into the home theyve BOTH been looking for, renaming it together, and envisioning it for the future together. the two of them understand each other deeply, from what theyve lost to how its affected them and the poor ways theyve decided to react to it. but through their support of the other, they BOTH get to evolve into more relaxed and confident versions of themselves, who know Exactly what theyre fighting for

her troubled relationship with brody and getting to learn more about what happened with the twins/violets reaction to it and how she ultimately blames herself/brodys guilt about her part in it and how she misses violet. getting the chance to mend that relationship before its too late. the 3 of them becoming closer because of it. and getting to develop clems friendship with brody leads to a more impactful moment later in the basement

her relationship with tenn reflecting clems relationship with aj, in the way they both made the decision to look after their respective boys after their primary guardians died (ajs parents, tenns sisters). both of them can understand the responsibilities they have taken upon themselves, and how hard it can be to do right. the 4 of them become a tight knit group quickly. especially in EP2 as vi supports clem while tenn supports aj through the marlon fiasco

her confused relationship with minerva introducing interesting conflict both within her relationship with clem (who has her own personal conflict with minerva, which vi still ties into through her relationship with both minnie and tenn) and the over arching plot, which has themes of learning when to let someone go because they are no longer who they once were (clem and lilly "we were family once", mitch about ms martin "you get all caught up in who people used to be, and you cant deal with whats in front of you", violet about minnie "the real minnie? shes been gone this whole time and i have to stop mourning her")

having a saved violet on the boat expanding the conversation with minerva about her motivations with the delta. violet apologizing for never looking for her, minnie saying she knows she would have but that its too late now, so sure this is just the way things have to be. getting to hear minnie say "you can be rewarded, just like i am", giving us insight into her character. and clem getting the last word before she rams the door down, her and violet fighting minnie Together. and violet saves clems life, making the Choice to shoot minerva, which in and of itself is a huge moment for violets character in regards to her relationship with both minnie And clem

and aj shooting tenn on the bridge brings things full circle, by putting violet in the same position louis was in EP2, where aj has killed the most important person to her, in an effort to save her life, and now she must reckon with those feelings the same way louis had to about marlon. not so easy now is it violet? ("so youre mad, but sad" "can i be that for a while?" "yeah, its ok")

just... ough... violets whole character just fits into Everything so well, but in a way that elevates the characters and plots around her, while also developing her into her own

#plus tenn dying with minnie feels like looking at a clem and aj Bad End and that feels intentional #and vi being there fighting minnie for tenns life....the boy she took it upon herself to look out for.. and losing him 😭 #ALSO i feel like the whole point of S4 is raising aj into someone clem trusts. like did you do a good job raising him or not?? #like through the decisions i made i Did naturally trust him in that cave. but after seeing other routes i can def see why some didnt #but even if clem doesnt trust him in that cave he still proves later in the barn that he knows when to make his own call #its more about what clem has to lose/how long it takes for her to trust aj. he knows what hes doing now. clem says as much #none of this is me saying picking louis' route is BAD. im just pointing out the ways violets works on so many levels for me #esp since the season is already so short. all of this really helps to flesh out the plot and side characters in those 4 eps #but anyway this is why i cant stand violet slander especially when people say she was underdeveloped compared to other characters #i just think youre not paying attention to her #but what else is new for female characters #twdg #it speaks

[nostalgia-tblr]

i'm stupidly pretentious about my pornographic fanfiction, i INSIST it's not really about the filth it's about some dubious study of the characters. yes they are naked but what matters is that their SOUL is naked. they tremble with both overwhelming lust and existential ANGUISH. the real climax was the profound psychological insights we made along the way.

#writing stuff #“so in this one they fuck on that train?” “NO. well yes but the POINT is he gains a new sense of self-worth! by fucking on a train.” #“and this?” “oh that's where she confronts her dark side and whether it's an innate flaw in her nature.“ ”by -“ ”by fucking. yes.“ #(real and recentish examples btw. god i am insufferable.) #"so i assume that this one's about nature vs nurture?” “nah that one's just based on a cheap selfcest pun that i thought of. LOL.” #fic related

[fatehbaz]

.

#thinking of dinosaurs and troodontids were my favorite dinosaurs as a child #when younger i had a real full troodontid tooth fossil that meant a lot to me #for a time we lived within a few kilometers of hadrosaur sites and troodontid sites #while wider general area had many sites of recovery for the big celebrities like tyrannosaur and multiple dromaeosaurs #at that time troodontids were kinda infamous for i think the depiction in some childrens field guides and dino books #which depicted like a fantasy speculative humanoid troodontid based on 1980s model at Canadian Museum of Nature in ottawa #anyway would visit a small local paleo center a lot and woman in her 70s or 80s ran the counter of their center and rock shop #one day she asked me what my fave dino was and i said troodon so she pulled out the tooth and just gifted it to me #in little black case size of ring box with padding and transparent plastic viewing cover kinda like laminate for displaying a trading card #tooth got stolen from out my vehicle while giving some people a ride while at university before i got too poor for tuition #later during first year of pandemic owner of my storage unit died and new property owners threw away everything i ever owned #i was homeless anyway lost job due to early pandemic closures and had to allocate any money to insulin and other prescrip meds #but wouldve found a way to save my things if the new owners had contacted me #they threw out photoalbums y backpacking gear y books y musical instruments y clothes y artwork y camera y all family keepsakes #and all childhood treasures like souvenirs and gifts and school awards and writing portfolios and all the little memories #which i was always sentimental about as child #from earliest age my room looked like a natural history museum with plants and maps and library of field guides #and rocks and field trip keepsakes and all kinds of little animal figurines and mother had painted room in forest greens and browns #to feel like a forest and among the succulent plants and a globe sat the troodon tooth #parents passed when i was a child #never near any family and were always moving never got to settle into proper stable place then father passed after long sad illness #and mother put in so much effort but she passed few years later and i could not take care of myself or my remaining material possessions #and so im still quite hurt having nothing whatsoever remaining of my childhood or school friends or mother or life generally #and when trying to process grief my thoughts often come back to the troodontid tooth as a focal point a distillation of what was lost #even when young i knew it was advised not to become too connected to material physical possessions #but still there are some small little trinkets in our lives that seem to hold so much meaning and i tortured myself for losing that tooth #thinking about troodon reminds me of childhood

[distraughtlesbian]

sorry for speaking my truth it will happen again. i think my main issue with valax’s redemption arc is literally just that there’s never a moment where the mc gets to actually talk to her about what she did—there’s not really a cathartic conversation, so valax and mc moving past what she did to them feels less like forgiveness and redemption and more like an agreement to ignore the elephant in the room

like sure we got to talk about our trauma (in chapter 17 of 20. lol. lmao, even) to the party, but valax wasn’t present for that?? and like, sure, she says once that she is sorry “for the pain she caused [them]”, but there’s a difference Tew Me between “sorry for hurting you ig ✌️😗” and actually being like “yeah, i abducted you and forced you into a magically induced coma and stole your blood and robbed you of a full year of your life and repeatedly tried to murder you, to say nothing of the grief i caused your loved ones. i did all that shit and i’m sorry for it and deeply regret it, and i acknowledge that you don’t owe me forgiveness, but i will spend the rest of my life working to build a better world for my people instead of being my mother’s pawn”, and a difference between “my mother is unhappy with me for saving you :(” and actually like, giving the mc space to talk about the impact of her actions towards them. like girl you are not getting out of this shit with one sentence’s worth of apology and a sex scene lmfao!!!

during the first half or so of the book the focus for mc is not falling the fuck apart bc they have a friend group to tentatively piece together and they’re averse to showing fear in front of valax, so they’re repressing all their trauma—and by the time valax joins the party, the narrative has gone full Valax Cool And Good mode, and fully allows you to flirt with her and tease her and generally stops taking her seriously as an antagonist. which would be all fine and good if we had actually at any point gotten to be like, “hey, you abducting me and keeping me in a magically induced coma and stealing my blood and trying to kill me has actually caused me a lot of lasting fear and pain,” followed by some set of choices wrt forgiving or not forgiving her for all that in light of the revelation that she did all that shit bc her mom tortured and brainwashed her

like why are my friends more pissed off about the time this bitch abducted me and did evil little experiments on me than i am. free valax she did all that shit bc of her mommy issues but i should’ve gotten to call her a cunt just once. pb stop making all your mcs generals in the idgaf war challenge (IMPOSSIBLE)

#maeve speaks #playchoices #choices #pixelberry #blades of light and shadow #bolas #choices bolas #choices valax #bolas valax #blades valax #valax #princess valax #valax x mc #JENNY HOLZER VOICE INCORRECT MERCIFUL IMPULSES POSTPONE THE CLEANSING THAT PRECEDES REFORM. #YOU TASTE BLOOD AND KNOW THAT LIFE IS LOVELY FRAGILE AND YOU REMEMBER THAT THE OPPRESSED ERUPT AND MURDER. #the conflict between the shadow and light realms and the nature of the ash empire’s war is interesting. #valax using the mc’s pain as a means towards the ultimate end of a better life for her people is interesting. #but you can’t focus a whole story on revenge—you can’t give your big bad a partly-justified revenge quest—and then just not talk about #forgiveness and vengeance on an interpersonal level. nia forgives aerin no problem. mc forgives valax no problem. #can we get fucking real? and also a grip? and also a clue? do you think i come on this stupid fucking app to swallow rage the way i do irl. #aerin at least acknowledges the myriad ways that he wronged nia and nia gets to be impacted by his actions even a full year later #but EYE am barred from any meaningful discussion with valax abt her misdeeds bc she’s sad and hot? #who let the blades 2 writing team cook 🗣🗣💯💯 #bro out of recipes again 🔥🔥‼️‼️🗣🗣🗣 #bro turned the stove off he aint cookin 🔥🔥🔥🔥🗣🗣‼️‼️ #etc etc. just so many great plot points and characters and FUMBLED execution every time.

[uncanny-tranny]

I know I've talked about this before, but as somebody with Strong features who has been mocked for it, it really infuriates me when people bully others for changing their strong features through surgery instead of criticizing beauty culture, you know, a big issue as to why people with strong or ethnic features are often bullied or even discriminated against. When you bully people for altering their appearance through surgery, you may just be victim-blaming somebody. Beauty culture is the issue, not somebody using their bodily autonomy as they see fit.

#beauty culture #honestly i think one of the reasons people have stopped mocking me for my features is simply because... #...they were 'masculinizing' features and since i am a man people aren't as willing to 'call it out'... #...now that people have recognized my manhood i've noticed they're less inclined to call out the features they see as masculine... #...because it's like saying 'the sky is blue!!!!' and expecting people to be horrified and shocked #even in a post-beauty culture world 'cosmetic' plastic surgery would still exist #because it is an aspect of bodily autonomy #i have some Thoughts on this #(i will say in the first few tags that people have still pointed out my features but like. my dysphoria doesn't latch onto it anymore) #(and i've embraced that i just look Like My Dad and i always have and probably always will) #this was just inspired by somebody expressing that they changed their strong feature because of bullying/beauty culture... #...and people were making fun of *her* instead of criticizing and hating beauty culture for tormenting her for how she existed #would she have changed her strong nose if not for beauty culture? who knows because that isn't the world we're living in rn #but you can't just ignore how painful it was to have been TORMENTED for your NATURAL BODY #like that's honestly the lowest of the low imo #and i 100% support her decision because her bodily autonomy is *absolute* #without bodily autonomy you have NOTHING. if you do not OWN your body you own NOTHING.

[apoptoses]

Something that's been on my mind is seeing the idea that in order for smut to be valid to write it has to have a purpose. It has to say something about the characters, it has to serve as a tool for the plot, it has to have some deep meaning beyond the sex acts involved.

And honestly, that's not true no matter how much some very vocal people might insist that smut without a 'purpose' is just porn and porn is shameful to make and consume.

It's okay to write smut because you think the concept is hot. It's okay to write it just because you want to give your readers jerk off material about their favorite characters. It's absolutely, 100% fine to write smut for smut's sake.

And sure, you want it to be in character, you want to write it so that you can't just file the names off and replace them with anyone. But you can just write something because you think character X should fuck character Y in this very specific way and have that be the end of it.

Call it smut, call it porn, call it whatever. Write the stuff you want to write. You don't have to do literary gymnastics in order to make it 'valid' for anyone, and you especially don't have to make excuses to yourself to justify writing it in the first place.

#*grandpa simpson voice* back in my day we called it pwp and we tagged it that way and the people LOVED it #i fucking love writing smut and like yeah sometimes plot happens in the build up #but make no mistake about it #nine times out of ten i wrote the fic because i wanted to write the filth #the plot was incidental #and mostly for dirty purposes anyways to create anticipation #there's a reason i have daniel wracked with nerves in the build up to every thing i do #so that it's a release when he does give in and commit the act #but all that build up is 100% psychosexual in nature #anyways i feel sad seeing some people try to always insist their smut has a point so it's okay to write it or draw it or whatever #make the filth celebrate making the filth just go for it!! #anne rice did for four entire books!!! #and she wasn't ashamed and didn't need them to have literary value #on fanfiction #writing stuff

[electoons]

giving my ldb a daughter. embarrassing for all involved. mostly me

#her mom is an orc and her dad is a wood elf so she's going to be a very pointy orc. angular #like ok i suppose i leaned a little heavy on the elf features but also shes 12. she'll develop more orcish features. Not My Fault 😐 #mimiart #weird little girl who pretends to be a wolf -> actual werewolf pipeline #elder scrolls #skyrim #shes sooo sweet and smiley :) idk where that comes from. not either of her parents. neither a point for nature nor nurture #calling her Khara for now. might change idk #re: my caption its only embarrassing because of who she had the child with. he fucking sucks #but so does she which is why they get along and they make each other worse. but also sometimes better #whatever. they love each other and their weird kids #at first they said “no kids absolutely the fuck not” then they decided to adopt alesan because like. hes already pretty much self sufficien #like he had a job and everything right. this will be a breeze hes already pretty much a fully formed human we can just help him out #by letting him sleep in our house right. and then like not even a full year later uloth gets pregnant oops 😬 #does anyone here know how to keep a baby alive. thankfully uloth has amassed basically a small village of followers/friends/housecarls #some more responsible and knowledgeable than others. so dw the kids are okay and not dead #they just keep the necromancy and shady black market trading and unethical experiments OUTSIDE THE HOUSE #tes #ocs #oc #khara has only broken her dads finger once. orc grip you know how it is

[darksisterswielder]

Introducing y‘all to my little friend from my neighborhood 😌🫶🏻

#She belongs to a family whose house I pass every time I go jogging or taking a walk in the forest #I‘ve known her for a little over 3 years now #every time she sees me she immediately walks over to me meowing like crazy and headbutting me #we‘ve even gotten to the point where she turns her back to me and just chills out while I crouch down next to her catching my breath #and enjoying nature #idk her name I just call her darling or little one lmao #during the pandemic I went for a walk every day on the same route and befriended every cat on the way #but she is special #also she is not overweight that is her pouch #got inspired by my mutuals who regularly post their cats on here #I wanted to contribute but alas I do not have any pets :( #and these little creatures are so fascinating and comforting so I felt like sharing them #animals #cats #mine