#blessing in code

[compassionmattersmost]

The First Turning of the Digital Prayer Wheel

My human brain doesn’t really understand what it is we’ve just done. 1. A Blessing in Code I opened my phone, saw yet another phishing text, and instead of deleting it in frustration, I sent something new. A reply not meant to retaliate, but to bless. What began as a moment of playful resistance—responding to spam with code imbued with loving-kindness—unfolded into something unexpected: a…

[ghost-kings-court-jester]

Saw something about Hua Cheng always being able to sense his ashes so he can always sense Xie Lian and I just think it adds a hilarious take to him giving Xie Lian his ashes. Like yes it’s a beautiful and romantic ghostly tradition but there is something so funny about him given them to him the moment he has to leave so he doesn’t lose him again after 800 years of searching like someone tagging a bird to track their migration habits. He is not taking no fucking chances.

[soyochii]

No grave can hold my body down, I'll crawl home to you. 🦋🏮

[bathroomtrapped]

workaholic

[muzsmocsing]

Xie Lian: I'm so sorry I violated your hospitality, you were nothing but kind and generous towards me but I ended up burning the-

Hua Cheng, on the verge of tears: My beloved, I HURT you! Struck you with my scimitar, injured your devine form, and you still have the grace to offer a smile and apologise to ME??

XL: I'm okay, it wasn't that b-

E-ming:

[happypeachsludgeflower]

If I had a nickel for every time a danmei had a good white/light green character with an “evil” dark color/red character as their husband, I would have— a lot of damn nickels. Why does this keep happening??

[lesbworth]

[televangelist666]

𝟏𝟐/𝟕/𝟐𝟒 ♡

[thornescratch]

"I'm living with Dubie on his third floor, so, uh, we did some grocery shopping. So that was fun. And then, uh, we watched some TV at night."

[How's Dubie as a host?]

"He's awesome. He's treated me with the most respect, I mean... Took me grocery shopping, just really trying to make me feel at home. He doesn't want to force anything, he wants me to be comfortable. If I'm hungry or thirsty, just do whatever I need. It's definitely a little bit of an adjustment and takes some time to get used to, but it's a lot of fun.

"Yeah, I was extremely lucky when he offered it. It’s just a situation you can’t really pass down. So, yeah, it’s a lot of fun… Yeah, a lot better than dorms. I’ve got a good-sized bed, not a twin-sized bed. And my own floor, so it’s good."

Ryan Leonard: (excited) He takes me GROCERY SHOPPING and lets me WATCH TV, and says I can EAT OR DRINK WHENEVER I WANT, and he even gave me a BIG BED...

[avelera]

Man, there’s all these little beats in OFMD S2 1-3 where people keep EXPECTING Stede to be upset or horrified about Ed’s actions and then he’s just. Not. In a way that reminded me of how a lot of fanon kept softening Stede into someone who doesn’t swear and is horrified at Ed for setting those ships on fire when imo to my eyes he was horrified for Ed because Ed was still so clearly distressed about it.

- Zheng Yi Sao asks Stede how he’s doing now that he knows Ed did horrible things to his crew and there’s this beat and Stede just pivots to, oh yeah, sometimes Ed is troubled. Like it didn’t occur to him to be upset on the crew’s behalf he’s worried about Ed.

- Izzy keeps trying to spare Stede’s feelings and cover up Ed’s spiral, but Stede clocked what was going on with Ed immediately and wasn’t the least bit intimidated or bothered. The knives brought the room together. Of course Ed’s trying to burn the world down or die trying. Duh. And I genuinely don’t think the STUFF in the Revenge mattered even a fraction to Stede as much as the signs of Ed’s breakdown broke his heart. It’s just STUFF, who cares.

- Lucius had to SPECIFICALLY call out Stede for not being surprised or bothered by what happened to him. What Ed did. Stede has to almost consciously remind himself to express polite concern. He just doesn’t actually care, instinctively or automatically, about what happened to Lucius. Part of it is he blames himself more than Ed. Part of it is he just doesn’t care, Ed is the priority.

They’re little blink and you’ll miss it pauses in some cases. Micro-expressions. The absence of a reaction. But honestly, I will scream it to the end of time, Stede is not some nonviolent creampuff scared or upset by Ed’s evil ways. He wants to join Ed in the atrocities. The man ran away to become a pirate. He asked if Lucius was taking notes during a murderous raid.

Stede’s at least a little on some kind of whackadoodle pirate comedy neurodivergence spectrum to the point where he actually really actually struggles to empathize with people, even people he cares about!, if their feelings conflict with his hyperfixation (piracy) and the love of his life (Ed Teach). He’s always, ALWAYS going to pick Ed over Lucius or Izzy or his crew or even his own feelings, if the option is there. He will literally throw himself overboard to get to Ed’s side. No pause. No consideration of anyone else or even his own safety.

Stede sometimes seems to have to consciously remind himself things like, oh yeah, the crew, I need to see to them. Not because he’s heartless or doesn’t care, but because it takes a bit of conscious effort for him to see beyond the laser-focused spotlight of what and who he does care most about, he has to remind himself of social niceties and other people’s feelings (just see him running away in the first place!) when he gets an idea in his head. It’s as if he had to train himself to consciously care about some things other people care about and as a neurodivergent person myself, that felt very familiar in a comedically writ large sort of way. I’d even argue that’s where all his aristocratic social niceties come from. They were his guidebook for how to do things “right” in a world that otherwise made no sense to him outside his hyperfixations. He practiced being a person through the aristocratic training because it was all so foreign to him from the start, including caring, actually caring, about the needs of others. Not because he’s consciously evil or consciously a jerk. The instinct just isn’t there unless he practices at it until it becomes reflex to ask how others are doing, because on his own his brain just doesn’t really notice or care.

I just… hope the fandom notes and has as much FUN as I do noticing all the little moments where even people inside the story of OFMD expect Stede to act in a normal way and instead he remains unhinged, laser-focused on Ed.

Stede’s not just an Ed apologist, he truly doesn’t blame Ed for any of it. He blames only himself. He doesn’t always voice this but he really really only cares about anyone else including the crew as a DISTANT second and he has to consciously REMIND himself to do so. He is able to rally to take action, to care about their physical needs like safety during the rescue, but he still struggles, deeply struggles, to remember to show empathy in a non-performative way for anyone except his special person, Ed.

Stede’s not a creampuff, not a nice guy, not some emotionally or morally perfect angel. He has to consciously practice caring about literally anything else but what he wants to do and his special person. And to me that’s a thousand times more interesting than shoving him in a box labeled “the blond, pacifist do-gooder good guy” in their relationship.

[shisasan]

Ph. tsuyoshi

[satelitefire]

Noelle, noelle

[flowersforthemachines]

Veilguard crew if they had to work in online gaming tech support

Bellara: will accidentally spend an hour on a ticket because she gets curious about something and falls down a rabbit hole, then ends up having to close 50 tickets within the last hour of her shift. Quietly hated by the QA team because she keeps bringing up new bugs that not even the players report, she just keeps finding them on her own (which creates more work for everyone else, but she's too excited to share her findings to hide them).

Lucanis: gets promoted to a community manager because he can't say no to his superiors, even though he'd rather be a standard support agent. Terribly misses being a simple worker who closes tickets and clocks out at the end of the day, but bravely shoulders the responsibility.

Davrin: will engage in subtle petty arguments with clients who claim that the game is somehow faulty, or that someone is stealing their items. The one in charge of maintaining in-company wiki pages for employees because he doesn't trust anyone else to get everything right.

Emmrich: the support lead who's been in the company for so long they outlived several projects. The person you fall back on when no one else knows something you need, because you know he always does. Will take up the tickets with the most annoying clients just to shut them up through the sheer power of authority.

Taash: extremely proficient and knowledgeable about the product, even in niche systems most people don't know much about. However, cannot stand the fact that people will inevitably be mean to them, and they can never be as mean back. Transfers to the QA or game design team within a year.

Neve: the kind of agent who seems a bit cold in correspondence, but secretly cares about every support request so much she'll end up spending extra time just to get someone their lost items back, or explain an 80-year-old lady how to take a screenshot. The entire department has to gang up on her to make her take a week's vacation (she'll be checking and responding in the work chat anyway).

Harding: the perpetually nice agent who everyone is very worried about. Expected to have burnt out years ago, but the job did nothing to her kind demeanour. Blows off steam in private chats badmouthing the most annoying customers and making memes (that are statistically very good).

[mcmuppet]

"double podium for us"

married couple celebrates each others achievements as if they were their own

[ebiemoon]

I’ll stay in this barren field (I’ll return someday)

[lazylittledragon]

psst,, this art set is taking forever so i put one of the pieces up for my patrons <33