#today's today

[ariadne-mouse]

Regarding the initial confrontation between Essek and Astrid, the tone of the situation, and what exactly Astrid's stance is right now, I have a couple of thoughts:

Astrid has presumably not joined Ludinus because she is currently hiding in a smut shop. She also presumably hasn't joined the Exandrian Accord because, again, she is currently hiding in a smut shop & the Accord is sending missions after her. Maybe she disagrees with Ludinus but feels she can't safely outright oppose him. We don't know yet! Provided she isn't rooting for Ludinus, it's very possible she could be enlisted to help (I hope this happens btw), but Astrid is first and foremost a survivor and ambitious achiever who has gotten to where she is now by working within the greater system, not against it, even when she disagrees with it. She remained a Volstrucker until Caleb and the M9 turned the tide against Ikithon, and she later took on the role of Archmage that Caleb refused, continuing her original trajectory ("race you to the top!"). She has a great deal of power now and we don't have much information about what she does with it. I am very curious, though, Astrid please tell us your secrets.

"Bren sends his regards" - we don't know if Caleb told Essek to say this, but whether or not he did, I do think it was meant to convey "this is all with Caleb's knowledge and direction", for whatever measure that means to Astrid, most likely "you are safe for the moment". The purpose of this encounter is to have a conversation instead of a fight. And Essek's intent in saying it does seem to be to disarm Astrid, but his presentation puts some layers and edges on it that are likely independent of whatever Caleb might be feeling on his end (other posts have summarized the juicy possible layers well so I won't cover all of that here).

More high level on Essek's angle: even if "Bren sends his regards" was meant to signal to Astrid that she is safe in this encounter, one of the very first things Essek does is declare Astrid as Trent Ikithon's "successor", which Astrid of course disagrees with ("I'm his usurper!") but nevertheless this is an insult and condemnation coming from Essek. The subtext reads to me like "I don't like you or agree with you and you're on thin fucking ice how I see it". Is she safe from physical harm? It seems so, for now. Is she safe from bitchy comments and thinly veiled judgement? Certainly not.

Notably, Astrid tried to bamf out after hearing "Bren sends his regards", so the mention of him or what that message would mean coming from Caleb is not enough to get her to play ball by itself. This is perfectly reasonable to be honest; shit's all fucked up now and Essek basically cornered her with a squad of unfamiliar adventurers. But her skittishness despite the "friendly" signal implies a great deal of tension in her position, and Essek's behavior shows tension on his part as well, separate from whatever Caleb might be feeling offscreen and the purpose of this little mission for the Accord. I am very eager to hear the conversation that comes next!

#this post will become stale literally tomorrow but hey #today's today #Caleb is currently Sir Not Appearing In this Film so we can't dive into his view on Astrid #i would guess it's “very complicated friends” considering their past as volstrucker and lovers and her current role in the Assembly #which is very opposite to Caleb's stance of “I want to take down the Assembly actually that's why i didn't take the job” #but anyway i hope they bring Astrid along so Matt can argue and snipe at himself it would be very funny #cr spoilers #c3e94 #astrid #essek thelyss #op #critical role

[nerdygaymormon]

#mattxiv #lgbtqia #queer history #most would be in their 50’s & 60’s today

[clairenatural]

there's a cherry blossom tree in DC that keeps blooming every year even though it shouldn't and the park service keeps thinking it's dead and then it keeps blooming! well they're removing a lot of trees to rehabilitate the area and they've said it's finally time for stumpy to go and they're going to mulch it and use the mulch to enrich all the other trees so it can help everything else keep going. and they're also going to plant spliced little pieces of it all over so that stumpy can live forever and this is genuinely sending me into a spiral

#someone brought it flowers today........... #this half dead little tree that nobody thought would survive this long means everything to me

[gorjee-art]

a raven father (i call him "pants") I've been feeding sometimes likes to sit outside my window and either wait for more food or just listen to the stuff I'm watching while I draw. Today's a colder day so he likes to fluff up a bit, and I kid you not :

this is an accurate representation of my view

#art #doodle #raven #excellent pants sir #he is so shaped today

[lesbianwithchainsaws]

Found this really scary new horror game yall should check out. It's called indeed.com and it has a sequel called linkedin

#it is hell on earth out here #got like 6 different rejection emails today #so much fun /sarcasm #job hunting

[winged-fool]

🫡🫡����

#It's bedtime for me now #But truly a pleasure and a privilege to boop and be booped today #Boop #Making shitty memes is my aesthetic

[happyheidi]

𝖠𝗋𝗍 𝖻𝗒 𝖠𝗇𝗇𝖺-𝖫𝖺𝗎𝗋𝖺 𝖲𝗎𝗅𝗅𝗂𝗏𝖺𝗇 | 𝖨𝖦: 𝖺𝗇𝗇𝖺𝗅𝖺𝗎𝗋𝖺_𝖺𝗋𝗍

#this has to be one of my favorite little comic ever cus YEEEES #I love me a good rain lighting thunder trio <3 #ESP while laying in bed with a good book #had to share #cottagecore #comics #art #cute #drawing #rain aesthetic #cozycore #cosycore #reading #comfycore #wholesome #we had MASSIVE rain here today and some lovely lightning & thunder . so this was basically my just switch night to say and bed to couch

[etherealspacejelly]

me when the disability disables me: oh what the fuck? this sucks. what the hell man!

#autism #actually autistic #adhd #audhd #disability #currently lying in bed thinking about all the Tasks i gotta do today and i cant motivate myself to do Any of them #:(

[i-was-today-years-old-when]

i learned about Shiniuzhai, a convenience store hanging on a cliff in Hunan, that’s been nicknamed “most inconvenient convenience store” in China (x)

#today i learned #facts #truth #travel #explore

[iscollective]

Edit: wow this blew up. i dont have anything to promote but i made a response to the most common replies ive gotten to this as well as my thoughts on the direction the web has been heading. you can read it here if you like <3

[Image ID: A screenshot of the youtube popup that appears if you use an ad blocker. It consists of a title, then three bullet points, then two buttons. It has been modified to read: Going to pee during the ad break violates YouTube's Terms of Service

it looks like you selfishly left the room while our ads were playing. Don't you know that by watching youtube you entered into a contract?

We killed the competition by operating at a loss for a decade. we paid good money to be the only game in town.

now that there are no other options, we can start to make that money back however we like. So turn your webcam on so our advertisers know you're paying attention The two buttons read "let us program your brain" and "foot the bill directly" /.End ID]

#im grumpy today #youtube #youtube adblock #image described

[carouselcometh]

Devastating! Art museum gift shop doesn’t sell prints of specific and unpopular painting that struck a cord with you!

#Anyways :) I had a good day guess what popular painting I love that I saw and guess what I saw a new painting I really liked today :)

[gaydelgard]

if you are the type of person to tell a girl to stop driving around with an adult sized plastic skeleton strapped into the backseat of her car do not imagine even for one second that you could ever score a girl who would drive around with an adult sized plastic skeleton in the backseat of her car

#i got hit on at work today #alexi talks

[badolmen]

WARNING 18+

19

#ra speaks #it’s a silly joke/pun dw #we stay silly :3 #edit: #woahg. that’s a lot of notes. hi everybody o/ #10k. stop clenching your jaw and drink some water. #15k. eat some fresh fruit this week! I’m having kiwis tonight :] #20k. quit sitting like a shrimp it’s bad for your neck! sit up straight and do a little stretch every now and then #25k. I’m up at 2 AM but I’ll get to see the sunrise today :] if you can’t see that I hope you admire the sunset later today #30k. do something fun you haven’t done in a while. I haven’t drawn in months - I think I’ll paint a cat tomorrow :3 #40k. I just slept 9 hours straight for the first time in weeks :] remember to ask for help when you need it! no glory in senseless suffering

[stuckinapril]

I could get over anything as long as I have something new to be obsessed with

#without a silly book or show or comfort movie idk where I would be genuinely #like I’d rather just be entirely consumed rather than self aware today thanks

[shining-sphinx]

So I got into dungeon meshi and i’ve been telling everyone who I talk to. I love everything about the world, characters, the art, etc.

BUT

People are not kidding when they say that senshi will manifest in your head to tell you to eat better. Like I have a hard time remembering to eat but my brain would be like “you haven’t eaten in some hours, you need a meal” and I would be like you’re very right internal senshi I’m gonna see what I can make. Then I make food??? Honestly Gods sent senshi for helping so many people eat better

#dungeon meshi #delicious in dungeon #senshi #I feel like all the people are eating better because of senshi is very indicative of the main message of dungeon meshi #senshi of izganda #I made bread today it was nice

[trinketbug]

"furry inflation" (2024)

#my art #furry #ok to rb #had a meltdown about how none of my art feels like 'real art' today and then immediately drew this #not helping my case #anyway yall should get into the comic series im making please