#a refresher is much needed

[laureliere]

Playing Pillars of Eternity again now that Avowed has been released, so here's my nature Godlike - Enidwen! She's an runaway aristocrat and Chanter.

(My first playthrough journal page for her!, with some of her backstory)

[aphelionatseven]

BURN CRASH ROMANCE !

need y'all to know that eat them alive is my current roman empire and i will be drawing so much redbull oscar

go read eat them alive by @drivestraight ♥️

[pippindot]

She went ON her house instead of IN her house because she was just TOO EXCITED for receive cheesemoney 🙂‍↕️

[teaboot]

if ur a murderbot nerd now do u have any fun opinions abt it yet?

Oh my goddd you have no idea

I really, really, really like Murderbot because it comes at life with this perspective we don't often see that is very real among people who have already been through traumatic experiences, who developed skills and abilities to suvive that were once useful but no longer have context- that search that traumatized people go through to recalibrate and reorient ourselves in a world where we no longer really need those things to survive.

A bit personal here, but my own issues personally involved a lot of psychological abuse that made it difficult to trust my own perceptions of reality, and as a result I found I was very easy to lie to and manipulate.

To handle this, I became obsessive over writing things down, cataloging details and making notes of things as they happened- I'd carry recording devices and make audio recordings and stay up late at night to transcribe what they'd picked up, read those over and over again to reassure myself of things I wasn't certain about.

While doing this, there were others close to me that I felt responsible for, who I had to protect from others and protect myself from at the same time. Life was about two things: Evidence, and defusing threats

Over time, I learned to trust myself as my memories matched what had been recorded where their narrative didn't, but I never really kicked the habit. Like Murderbot, I had added something to my own programming that reassured me I was safe, that I was in control of myself, that I couldn't be mistaken or crazy or broken or used.

I'm only on book two, but already I see myself in Murderbot again. No spoilers here, but when I left home- left that dangerous context- I didn't need to repeat these patterns to survive anymore, but I still did, because I didn't know anything else anymore. It felt safe, comfortable, knowing knowing that the past couldn't repeat itself, because I'd written that flaw- blind trust in myself-  out of my programming and replaced it with something else.

Still, though, I'd become something specially suited to thrive in a very specific environment. Nothing else felt right like followinghigh-risk situations, like witnessing and watching and recording and knowing I had proof of the truth where others might not.

People took notice. I wound up in security by accident, but's an environment that I thrive in due to the same patterns and behaviours I originally developed when I had no other choice. I climbed the ladder pretty quickly, once supervisors caught on that my reports were the most accurate, most objective, most factual, detail-oriented and timely. I keep others and myself safe and prioritize public safety above all else, and I perform well under pressure

Now I'm in a position where I often wonder, do I enjoy this job, or is it just what I'm good at? I have a set of skills now, but do I have the option of choosing not to use them? What would I be, if not this? Could I be anything else? Can Murderbot be anything else?

It has a set of skills that set it apart, make it different, special. It does what it knows best. But is it free? Does it want to be? What does it want? Does it have to do what it was built to do? What if it didn't?

I know what I'm good for. The idea of deliberately leaving what I'm good for for something uncertain, that I might hate, that I might be useless at- the choice to give up what was so important to me for so long and become deliberately obsolete?

Let go of my entire purpose? The only thing I know, that I fit so well into but don't actually know if I enjoy? Now that I can choose? Now that enjoyment is a luxury I can afford to consider?

Yeah, that resonates.

I like the Murderbot series so far because it feels the way I feel: Like the most significant and formative part of my story, the part where I became what I am, has already happened

And now I have to just. Keep going

Into... what?

It feels absurd. Like a microwave giving up on reheating food and deciding to start a life around abstract dance.

So, uh. Yeah. It's really very wild to see this same philosophical-ish dilemma I've been digging over in the back of my mind and in therapy for the last forever laid out so plainly in a genuinely exciting and enjoyable story like this. I feel much less alone, and I... kind of really need to see how it resolves, I think.

So, uh. Yeah. Read Murderbot, I guess

[pallanophblargh]

Wake up, new cryptid just dropped!

It’s true that I’ve had to reimagine my day to day life since we got her, but I can’t imagine how we got this lucky. We thought we would have to work to earn her love, but from the moment she entered our house it’s been a cuddlefest, one I couldn’t possibly deny. There are hurdles she will be facing to be sure (and she will still need to meet the cats face to face) but I’m so happy to see this happy lil cheese every day. Welcome home Raclette!

(The couches will always be hers, even if it means she does try to smush whatever I’m working on at the time!)

[crabussy]

dude. my life fucking rules. feathered velociraptor shleich figurine for $2 at the op shop. captain of one of my favourite ferries complimented my shirt TWICE (and we are now introduced!). new friend waved me over to sit next to her in a lecture. found a way to make my pony collection even more enjoyable. sky was so beautiful it was a crazy pale blue and there were cirrus clouds catching the sun. the ocean looked like molten green glass. I'm going swimming in the sea and having lunch with a few friends in a weeks time. I've earned 500 dollars this week just from my art which is a milestone I didn't expect to hit without joining a company. I'm not feeling as fatigued as usual. it rained in the morning which was really lovely. I thought I was going to be super late for uni but I made it right on time. I'm kind of in love with the world today

[wishchip106]

cherik in dofp i miss you🗣️‼️ my favorite toxic co-dependent divorcees forreal!!

it’s been so long since i watched this though guhh i’m so bad at rewatching things 💔💔💔

[cptnwynnie]

Fourth and Fifth 💙🤎

[sadmuso1]

I love when people make their limbus sinner ocs based off books like the sinners actually are because nothing will ever top me being so use to ocs being mostly original that i was fully convinced i was looking at another original oc only to be hit with hannibal lecter

[microcosmia]

Sleep, Creep, Leap: How I See this Garden Axiom as a Metaphor for Sakura's Growth

Was talking to my mom about gardening today (she's like Umemiya with her plants, srsly) and she reminded me of the concept "sleep, creep, leap" that gardeners have stood by for years.

And it just. It reminds me so much of Sakura. Like. I can't.

The theory is that with transplanted sprouts/plants, they go through a three year cycle (like Japanese high school, anyone?)

The first year after transplant is the "sleep" year. The plant must reestablish its roots in unfamiliar soil. Almost all of the growth will happen underground with very little foliage activity or noticeable upwards or outwards growth.

Ergo, Sakura, year one: learning to "put down roots" in a new place, learning that "new soil" isn't always toxic or harmful or barren. Undergoing great personal growth in his own heart and mind, which isn't always readily or apparently expressed outwardly.

The second year is "creep." The plant begins to grow actively, noticeably. It has taken to the soil and is ready to make the most of it. Both foliage and upwards/outwards growth is apparent, and the roots continue to spread, not just trying to survive but looking to thrive. Some small blooms may happen, and if it's a fruit bearing plant, some smaller-than-usual fruits may be produced, but the plant has yet to reach its full potential.

Sakura as a second year: more comfortable in his place, more willing and able to display what he's learned and how he learned it. Able to open himself up more and begin to bloom into the leader and person he always should have been and could have been, if nurtured properly from the start. He continues to grow in his understanding of himself and others, and is able to interact with people with less embarrassment and more genuine pleasure.

The third year is "leap." This is when the plant has reached its full size. The foliage and roots are established and healthy. Its blooms and fruit are abundant, fragrant, and usually sized. This is, as my mom said, "The plant at its healthiest and happiest, it has flourished into everything it should be".

Sakura, in his third year, the Furin Representative (not the Top of Furin), fully bloomed into his true potential. Fully trusting in his place, his friends, and himself. Fully understanding the kindness he was withheld, and how to go about sharing the kindness he's found with others. He is confident, rooted and grounded in the truths he's learned, the hurt he's gone through, and the healing he's done. Makochi, he knows, is a place he will always get to stay.

[frenchonionsoop]

when the jujutsu kaisens i dunno i havent watched the show

[markantonys]

me: wheel of time season 3 is coming out in march

mom: oh! dad was just watching dune, and it made me think about an image of a stone city that was all yellow and then there was a big tower that everyone was up on. that was from this show right?

me: yes!

mom: [slowly having her memory jogged] and there are the main five people. are they all still alive?

me: yes, there's the five friends, and moiraine and lan-

mom: [immediate full memory regain] OH LAN!! i love him!!!

[oozedninjas]

Oozedninjas we miss you !!! Rereading your work is a part of my day to day routine hehe

You are so cherished we love you

[mishy-mashy]

3 reasons I can think of, for why the first Three vestiges were too hard to find information on

[Reason 1]

The time they were born in.

Their births, and any records of them, could just be completely undocumented or non-existent.

They were born in times where systems and governments were down, and it's everyone for themselves.

People aren't going to register their existence, especially the Metas, when they all want to stay under the radar and hide from everyone else.

If you're in the middle of a war zone that spread to where you live, and your baby brother was just born, are you really going to go [Oh no! I have to register his birth for that sweet sweet child tax!]?

Or something like that. But still.

There are more important things, like survival, than registering a baby's birth and going through hospital paperwork. And it's been explicitly stated that the first appearance of Abilities caused a Great Depression all over Japan.

The government is gone. There's no point in registering anything anymore.

Yoichi was literally born at a riverside, and never went to a hospital. By the time the first Three are toddlers / young children, Japan is already chaos and up in flames.

Children are actively avoided because they're the most likely to be Meta Humans. No one wants anything to do with them.

Chances are, the records about the first Three never existed, or were destroyed in all the strife.

Or maybe, if some did exist, Kudo destroyed them. I can see him doing that, to protect themselves from AFO or anyone else having the chance to track their personal histories down.

It makes them ghosts. Exactly what would be best for not only their own survival, but anyone affiliated with them. Like family. It makes them untraceable, and invisible to bodies of old authority.

[Reason 2]

The three were a part of the Resistance. They could've kept information about themselves under lock and key, to protect themselves.

Like how Kudo is referred to as Leader, and never by his real name. Even in the void, up to the very end, Bruce still says "Leader" to address him.

I actually HC them as using codenames in the Resistance, exactly to protect themselves from each other, and outsiders. This makes Yoichi an anomaly among them, for going by his real name. Meanwhile,

Leader, Boss = their leader

Bruce = a reference to his Quirk

Codenames about their Meta Abilities, or roles in their cause, to better remember whose nickname belonged to who.

Outsiders won't know the Resistance members' real names. The Resistance can't betray each other by selling each other out for personal information as easily, if no one knows each other's actual names.

At the same time, this alienates them from who they are, and their humanity. They have to make tough choices that would classify them as monsters. And they're locking themselves under a false name.

They're protecting themselves from everything and everyone, including themselves. At least the person committing all these atrocities is [CODENAME], not me.

[Reason 3]

Bruce, when he was supposed to pass previous information to Shinomori, couldn't.

Maybe he didn't have enough time to tell Shinomori the whole story.

Or maybe he did, and passed on the previous holders' histories, but Shinomori didn't pass those on himself.

Or maybe reminiscing Yoichi and Leader as actual people just broke him, and he could only stick to the bare minimum of the history of this Factor.

Notably, the OFA story is known as "All For One's younger brother was sickly and frail, but he had a strong sense of justice."

We never, ever hear Yoichi's name in the spoken history of OFA. All Might couldn't even get their names. And since AFO hides himself so easily, and birth records just don't exist for him as an undocumented birth, Yoichi legally doesn't exist even as a birth.

Bruce is the first one to find the existence of Yoichi's "unformed dud". The Factor that let him pass on his current Quirk to others. How could the information of that dud be passed on, if not from Bruce?

Somewhere, the information breaks during Bruce or Shinomori's turn with OFA.

Bruce never passed on their names. Or maybe Shinomori didn't. But their names weren't necessary to pass on anymore. All Might only managed to dredge what he could, starting from the time society started trying to stand on its feet. Exactly because that's as far as the records went.

[Reason 2] could add credence to why the first Three's names were never passed on. Bruce could've kept quiet about Yoichi and Leader's personal details, not just to help himself stay together, but to protect anything they might've left behind.

[aroaceleovaldez]

full on feel like pjo tv s2 is not gonna hold up so they need to drag as much attention to the series as they can by using nico as a sock puppet w tsats2

im fully expecting the show to go the way of the movies. it doesnt help Sea of Monsters is almost unanimously the least favorite book of the first series. People frequently forget it even exists or what happens in it, especially more casual fans.

Heck, just look at how little fanfare the second season has gotten so far as compared to the build up to s1. I wouldn't be surprised if s2 totally flops. It would be a little funny.

[twilight-good-yall-dumb]

I have to respect Suzanne Collins for constantly writing her most loveable (and also most insufferable) characters as fashion freaks. She really is a girl's girl and a true fashion bitch for that. Suzanne Collins really said "Now what I'm NOT gonna do is make fashion (or femininity) the enemy here. But what I AM gonna do is suggest how powerful fashion is and how much good it can do to counterbalance the equally powerful evil it can enforce." Because she understands that clothing is a universal human experience, and like food, it does a wonderful job of bringing people together or alienating them if used nefariously. She is so fucking smart. I love her.