simplyemm

[simplyemm]

I love it when the same character honorifics are basically used as a barometer for an evolving relationship over the course of a story.

"...Princess" (Derogatory)

"Princess." (You have disproven several of my previous assumptions but I'm still guarded and critical.)

"Princess," (Mildly impressed but still snarky)

"Princess," (I am coming to terms with how much your office has demanded of you and am finally considering you an equal)

"Princess," (I genuinely respect you, your office, and how much you have grown beyond it since we have met.)

"Princess." (Uh oh I've started catching feelings and am now using your title to remind both you and myself of the distance between us.)

"PRINCESS!" (You are in danger and I am now utterly devoted AND DOWN SO BAD.)

[simplyemm]

Listening to the first Alanna book by Tamora Pierce and I actually love how often Alanna/Alan is called "a little guy"

Because SHE IS!! JUST A LIL GUY!!!

[simplyemm]

idt there’s enough acknowledgement of just how fucking WEIRD blackwall is. like he’s kind of a meathead, but also a lowkey radical, but also pretty religious and he’s almost madonna complexing a romanced pc but he knows and is a little embarrassed about it. anti-feudal, nominally anti-colonial, does not give a fuck about mages. despite his total apathy re: mage shit, he likes the avvar and doesn't mind that they spend most of their time communing with spirits (who he mistrusts and does not like). hates nobles but cannot express romantic feelings without borrowing the language of fealty to a suzerain, wracked with guilt, wants to die all the time, and somehow has both well-articulated principles and no willpower whatsoever. what a freak. i wanna put him in a terrarium and study him like a bug

[simplyemm]

duncan: wardens aren’t allowed to get involved in politics

the warden: *orchestrating a coup while flipping the double bird* only if you lose

[simplyemm]

Dragon Age X Magnus Archives???

(credit to Anderswasright on tiktok and their video which i basically just copied)

Anyway angsty Varric because i am preparing to grieve my favorite character, prolly not gonna post until and a little after Veilguard comes out.

Expect my rook to flood my page about a week after release (maybe i’ll sketch him and post him sooner tho, we’ll see!)

MY COMMS are still open in case anyone is wondering and would love to draw errrbodys Rooks when y’all come up with them ❤️

[simplyemm]

I think I may never be sad ever again. There is a statue entitled "Farewell to Orpheus" on my college campus. It's been there since 1968, created by a Prof. Frederic Littman that use to work at the university. It sits in the middle of a fountain, and the fountain is often full of litter. I have taken it upon myself to clean the litter out when I see it (the skimmers only come by once a week at max). But because of my style of dress, this means that bystanders see a twenty-something on their hands and knees at the edge of the fountain, sleeves rolled up, trying not to splash dirty water on their slacks while their briefcase and suit coat sit nearby. This is fine, usually. But today was Saturday Market, which means the twenty or so people in the area suddenly became hundreds. So, obviously, somebody stopped to ask what I was doing. "This," I gestured at the statue, "is Eurydice. She was the wife of Orpheus, the greatest storyteller in Greece. And this litter is disrespectful." Then, on a whim, I squinted up at them. "Do you know the story of Orpheus and Eurydice?" "No," they replied, shifting slightly to sit.

"Would you like to?"

"Sure!"

So I told them. I told them the story as I know it- and I've had a bit of practice. Orpheus, child of a wishing star, favorite of the messenger god, who had a hard-working, wonderful wife, Eurydice; his harp that could lull beasts to passivity, coax song from nymphs, and move mountains before him; and the men who, while he dreamed and composed, came to steal Eurydice away. I told of how she ran, and the water splashed up on my clothes. But I didn't care. I told of how the adder in the field bit her heel, and she died. I told of the Underworld- how Orpheus charmed the riverman, pacified Cerberus with a lullaby, and melted the hearts of the wise judges. I laughed as I remarked how lucky he was that it was winter- for Persephone was moved by his song where Hades was not. She convinced Hades to let Orpheus prove he was worthy of taking Eurydice. I tugged my coat back on, and said how Orpheus had to play and sing all the way out of the Underworld, without ever looking back to see if his beloved wife followed. And I told how, when he stopped for breath, he thought he heard her stumble and fall, and turned to help her up- but it was too late. I told the story four times after that, to four different groups, each larger than the last. And I must have cast a glance at the statue, something that said "I'm sorry, I miss you--" because when I finished my second to last retelling, a young boy piped up, perhaps seven or eight, and asked me a question that has made my day, and potentially my life: "Are you Orpheus?" I told the tale of the grieving bard so well, so convincingly, that in the eyes of a child I was telling not a story, but a memory. And while I laughed in the moment, with everyone else, I wept with gratitude and joy when I came home. This is more than I deserve, and I think I may never be sad again.

Here is the aforementioned statue, by the way.

[simplyemm]

I’m doing my reread of The Realms of the Gods and I just realized part of why I adore Emmrich Volkarin so much. He and Numair Salmalin are SO alike.

This explains a lot 😂

[simplyemm]

hey uh new type of ao3 spam comment just dropped. (I know it's spam because the fic they left this comment on . doesn't have chapters. lmfao). Report this kinda comment as spam and don't take it personally it is literally recycled bullshit

[simplyemm]

If you have achieved something, please remember to observe a mandatory period of basking in the warm glow of your achievement like a lizard on a stone, lest you teach your brain that effort is futile, actually, because it didn't get to enjoy its happy chemicals, so, naturally, nothing good ever comes of trying. (And no, avoiding punishment is not a reward!)

I recommend, like, 5% of basking time in relation to whatever time you invested into achieving the thing minimum. And if you can't make your own bask, friend-brought is fine (= tell your friends!).

[simplyemm]

i don’t need a “day off” or a “weekend” i need to respawn in a clean apartment with all my responsibilities reset and the complete certainty that nobody hates me

[simplyemm]

Obsessing over touch starved emmrich. Winding himself around rook like a lovelorn worm on a string. Giving them big wet puppy dog eyes. Maybe hesitating sometimes because he has been told he is too much™ and moping

What a beautiful word picture you paint, Anon. Delightful. Yes.

Additionally: during the day, a suave and impeccably groomed gentleman necromancer. At night, a surprisingly good impression of kudzu. No amount of pillow fortifications will save you. His half-asleep brain is too wily for his own good and he WILL figure out a way to end up folded around Rook like a mis-packed accordion. Rook is pretty sure that he once sleep-summoned spirits to bend space and reality in the Fade in order to deposit him into Rook's bed, one of the times they were trying out sleeping in separate rooms. It'd be cause for the academic paper of a lifetime, if he retained a single memory of how he'd done it.

Even worse: he's hard to wake up, and if Rook tries to disengage, he makes the most PATHETIC noises known to man, dwarf, quanari and elf combined.

He's so embarrassed and apologetic every time he wakes up but there is absolutely nothing he can do to stop it.

There's literally only one way to sate the beast. Spoon that man to sleep.

[simplyemm]

this got Numbers on twitter so i’m posting here cause i literally have nothing else going on but working on my webcomic which you can read here and support here

[simplyemm]

Not socialist in a “I won’t have to work” type of way but socialist in a “I’ll still be working but I won’t be worried I won’t make the rent” type of way. In a “billions won’t be hoarded by one person” type of way. In a “janitors, fast-food workers, child care workers, preschool teachers, hotel clerks, personal care and home health aides, and grocery store cashiers, will live comfortably” type of way. In a “the sick and elderly will be cared for” type of way. In a “no child should work” type of way.

[simplyemm]

"If you use em dash in your works, it makes them look AI generated. No real human uses em dash."

Imaging thinking actual human writers are Not Real because they use... professional writing in their works.

Imagine thinking millions of people who have been using em dash way before AI becomes a thing are all robots.

REBLOG IF YOU'RE A HUMAN AND YOU USE EM DASH

[simplyemm]

[simplyemm]

Tumblr is super big on the "I didn't say it was good, I said I liked it" but really need to discover the value in its opposite of "I didn't say it was bad, I said I hated it".

You can acknowledge that something is good, great, a masterpiece even, and just straight-up not enjoy it.

[simplyemm]

This is brilliant and I need someone to get on it stat

okay hear me out: Tortall animated series that starts with daine and doesn’t get to alanna until season five

season one: daine 1&2

season two: daine 3&4

season three: kel 1&2

season four: kel 3&4

season five: alanna 1&2

season six: alanna 3&4

season seven: aly 1&2

this is the hearing me out part

if you start with daine, the whisperman plot gets way. more. fun. with chronological order, you know george is the spymaster and it’s funny thinking of everyone being so afraid of our sweet murder babe george

if you do it with daine first, you can draw that out. you could even have the whisperman and george cooper as separate identities, like whisperman is Known and Scary, but george cooper? nah he’s just alanna’s goofy husband. it could come out at the end of daine’s seasons, or kel could find out some info she doesn’t know what it means but the Clues are right there and you could pull it all the way to the kel’s second season with the smuggler reveal when they’re crossing the river to rescue the kids

think about how wild the jon and alanna theories would be after four seasons

and then like the absolute tragedy of their romance is heightened even more bc we’ve met their lovely spouses and sweet children and know they’re both happy

seeing everyone young would be really fun too, like how they did in queen charlotte or this is us, where you know the character and where they end up but not how they got there and the fun is finding out. in the books we know raoul and gary and jon are dorks and it’s cute watching them be grownups, it would be equally cute seeing these Vast Impressive men as little boys laughing at fart jokes

like imagine when you figure out the cat laying at the goddess’s feet in season two is the same kitten she gives to alanna in season five i would start Bawling and then at the end knowing how faithful dies??? Dead. Gone.

daine’s books get going quicker, which i think is important for tv. the suspense of it all, not knowing what’s happening to daine, why she has these powers. learning her secret, that she almost lost herself, would be a ‘the storm’ moment like in atla with aang and zuko’s backstories. and then the immortals war is just visually very appealing especially in a animation format, i mean stormwings? so. cool.

thoughts?