#force descent

[graphitesigil]

The descent begins. Charcoal. Anakin.

[egophiliac]

you know what i really want to see happen in gavv? lakia turning back into his true monster form to try and scare sachika to see if she's really unafraid of him, only for her to be enthralled and amazed instead, confusing him

honestly, same. let her have her wicked adorable way with him.

Umashou 🤝 Hanty 🤝 Lakian = guys who learn very quickly that life with Sachika is just Like This and it's better not to try and stop her.

(you will succumb)

[thekittyokat]

you ever just have a lot, a LOT of feelings all at once about a character and not even remotely enough words or brainpower to FORM the words to describe everything you're feeling. so it feels like you may explode. yeah

[blackberry-sage-tea]

I don't think that Veilguard is a product of developers who didn't care. I feel like it's a product of developers who cared so much that they were willing to do anything and everything to get the game finished. Even if it involved a million concessions. A million compromises. An FPS game engine that had to be twisted far beyond what it was designed for, a set of assets and mechanics and art style created for a polar opposite game to the "gritty" singleplayer narrative they were making. With all the core veterans of the series that shaped its identity having been driven out or fired, and the ones remaining either inexperienced/unskilled in their new roles or burned out beyond belief to the point where they actually felt they needed a "fan council" to advise them on writing it.

I think they wanted so badly to deliver on the promise of DA4 that they kept going even as (imo) everything that would have made DA4 worthwhile got stripped out of the game.

I know a lot of people think of that as a miraculous achievement, "at least it Got Made", but personally "a hypothetical great DA4 that just sadly never got finished" would have been better than "the shitty DA4 that every new piece of fan content is now obligated to include or reference in some way by virtue of being the capstone finale to the series".

Especially because getting it made didn't...save their jobs or the series or anything they still got fired and the studio still got shuttered. Sometimes "cut your losses", "listen to your regrets", and "the little wins aren't enough" are acceptable things to say. So much of Veilguard's script feels like it's full of the mantras that the development team was telling themselves over and over just to get through a hellish cycle and you know, I think a lot of those messages are wrong, actually. I'm not looking to be judgmental, in that position I might have made the exact same choices, but looking in from the outside I think it was a mistake to just keep going at any cost.

[wild-flowerhoney]

something about dragonese being considered a "nerd" thing and being banned outright and how it starts (as so many things do in the httyd books) as a childish joke that doesn't really mean much and develops as you read into yet another horrifying way in which vikings have enslaved dragons, taking away all respect and wonder and fear from them to make them into caricatures, poorly kept pets instead of the intelligent, sentient creatures that they are

[tojisun]

he said, “i’m not the man that you think i am.”

“that’s alright,” you replied, voice measured despite its quiet rumble. “let me love you, anyway.”

he noticed the way your fingers twitched by your sides—an aborted need to pull him close—and he wondered: where do you find the fortitude to be gentle with him?

did you know how he felt at that moment? did you know what he felt when he cut himself open and was honest with the ugliness that muddles his heart, expecting your rejection, only to be met with your kindness as vast as the seas? did you know what you have done?

you fed a starving dog.

you stuffed him with tenderness until his fangs have dulled. you showed him a collar and asked if it was okay to leash him.

of course. claim me. please. i’m yours.

he stepped up into your space. “i won’t let you go.”

you said, “please. all that i am is yours.”

(you were just as starving.)

[bunabi]

Dragon Age DLC was kinda jacked. I really can't think of a single one I disliked. Witch Hunt. Legacy. Jaws of Hakkon. Didn't really realize until yesterday's post that half of my enjoyment of DA was specifically because of the extra content. 😭

[player-1]

Don Sancho Quixote: As much as I hate reminiscing on La Mancha Land after...everything, I'm surprised that none of you said anything overly incriminating about Dulcinea's Area. It is weird to think back on that I had to sing her song for the Parade, but she was always pretty quiet and Father wanted me to liven up the show in one way or another, so...yeah. Even if I have centuries of experience both in and out of the City, second-hand embarrassment seems like something I'll have to adjust to now that I have a clearer head.

The Sinners, whiplash so hard unlike Don's Bloodfiend reveal: -THAT WAS YOU!?!?

[chaosherald]

Reflection Ruesday/WIP Wednesday -

(Find an old work and dust it off/show it off)

(tagged by @blackwall-my-tiny-husband and @woundedsoul12, no pressure tags for @davrinsleftpectoral @seaglassmelody @jukkaricity @dags-over-caravans)

One of my oldest WIP for Veilguard stuff - my Lucanis character study. I love this piece. I've posted bits and pieces of it before. It's weird and second person and has one foot in prose and one foot in poetry and I keep looping back to it - I think my current issue is it might be finished, but I'm not sure. I was originally planning to write through the end of the game, but - I don't know, where it is works too. (if anyone wants to read over it for me and give me their opinion, I'd be grateful 😂 Though fair warning, it is 3k words of weird. I'm very torn and I love it and would like to figure out if I should just call it or extend it. Anyway, this is the first section.)

Death is the Dellamorte family business.

(Lucanis Dellamorte should be dead.)

Five is too old to still be crawling into Mama and Papa’s bed when sleep has fled in the quiet dark of night. And you try, how you try, glaring at the moonlight making valleys of shadow in your tangled bedsheets, hearing every silence of a house asleep while you muster the last bit of your will power to try to get back to dreaming.

A losing battle. One of your first. Trying too hard means awake and awake means your room is suffocating and lonely and you are halfway down the hall with the quiet roll step feet Mama has been teaching you before you remember that you are five and too old to be crawling into Mama and Papa’s bed.

So you turn the other way. Heel toe, mind the squeaky wood, slippery tiles. Crow shadow quiet is so much better than the crushing silence of awake and alone. Focus and doing instead of clamped down stillness warring with wandering thoughts.

You find yourself down by the kitchen. Heel, toe, get the quiet, then work on the quick Mama said. Maybe the orange cat is on the terrace, adding his song to the quiet drift of the canals and the buzz of the insects outside. Maybe there are biscotti left from the market. Maybe you can try and climb the cabinets again. Papa said you were so close to figuring it out last night, before Mama scolded you both for being late to supper. You are right on all counts and find yourself victorious, laying across the top of the highest cabinet like a pasta board, listening to the orange cat out the window and trying to see how quietly you can make the last biscotto disappear.

You imagine how surprised Mama and Papa will be when they wake up. How proud. You didn’t go to their room because five is too old for that and you made it to the top of the cabinets and you almost miss the quick scuffle clatter suddenly silenced somewhere above your head.

You freeze, listening. Every sound is important, Mama said. The ones that are there and the ones that are missing. The cat is quiet now. There is a creak - the squeaky wood, by the stairs. A slide chirp on the tiles, a foot adjusting after a slip. Your heartbeat, suddenly too loud in your ears as you listen and listen and hold your breath and listen.

Voices. Soft. Unfamiliar.  A word Mama doesn’t like Papa to use around you. Too quiet mutters to make anything out, then slightly louder “The job isn’t done until we find the kid.”

You are frozen. Still and silent and suffocating. Afraid. There have been lessons on this - intruders, attacks, what to do if someone tries to hurt you or Mama or Papa and you cannot recall any of it. You can just wait and wait and you are sure the pounding of your heart, loud as a drum at Satinalia, is going to give you away.

The quiet but not quiet enough footsteps belonging to the unknown voices find their way downstairs, into the kitchen. Their Mamas must not have taught them to listen. They do not hear your drum beat heart or shallow barely there breaths. Their Papas must not have encouraged them to try and climb the cabinets. They do not see you still and frozen and after a too long forever moment they leave.

The first tease of pre-dawn light brings other steps, loud and jarring, and voices, calling for your parents, calling for you. You recognize some of them. Mama's favorite assassin from the chuchillos. One of Nonna’s mages. You unfreeze and barely recognize the voice you use to answer them and they need to help you down, stiff and tense and still so afraid. They do not let you go back upstairs. You do not ask about your parents. You do not have to. They hurry you over the rooftops in the pale pink sunrise and lock you in an internal room at Nonna's Villa with cousin Rio. He is too pale, like the morning, pink blood on his sleeping shirt, and so quiet. Rio is never quiet. You cling to each other, silent as Crows, together and afraid and maybe five is too old to hold onto your cousin for comfort but in that moment you do not care. 

Death is the Dellamorte family business. 

This was the first night you understood what that meant.

[astracora]

friend: hey write caleb smearing blood on mc's face then kissing them or licking it off

me: i need you to give me like 20 seconds not to lie down and scream

It's here btw...

[alicentsaegon]

Listen, listen. The Catholicism has to have come from SOMEONE for the next generation Targaryens to explain why Baelor and Naerys specifically were like that. Aegon III is too depressed to be an involved father + he died young, Vizzy T was a child having children, Larra is ABSENT. This leaves Jaehaera only.

[danwhobrowses]

Well Critters the year is almost up, at least for me here in England. Aside from the general pensiveness and reflection of the past year, it also means I'm about to (technically) complete my first full year of following the CR episodes as they came out; a year full of twists, turns, uprisings, downfalls, and just so much going on - only for the campaign to now be nearing its end.

We knew the end was coming sure, but since December's 4SD announced itself as the last of the campaign the number of episodes remaining has grown more finite, likely to be around 1-4 more episodes, and confronting the end is very different to acknowledging it ending. Admittedly in the confronting part I've become a liiiiittle bit of a mess, loaded with panic and worry beyond my own control; I sometimes tell myself that I'm being silly, they're fictional characters, the story's likely already recorded its end, and I never had any control or influence on the story to begin with, but as expected such attempts are both hollow and in vain. It's been a while since I was this invested in a story, or fandom for that matter, and the fact that most key and decisive moments will be determined by dice rolls continuously does nothing to soothe my nerves, or my uncertainties towards how it'll end - after all, the hardest battle has yet to be fought, the biggest decisions yet to be made, and Ludinus Da'leth is way WAY too calm about being trapped in a Force Cage for my liking.

I wonder if the fear and dread was the same for those watching the end of the previous two campaigns? If it was more or less than it is now by comparison? In hindsight, while the final stage so far feels more grounded compared to the more spectacular, massive miniature, larger-than-life endgame battles against Vecna and Lucien's Neo-Somnovem phases, it feels like the stakes are riskier for Bells Hells, on a low Level 15 with no cleric, dismal openings for additional support, and little wiggle room to get creative, especially since killing Ludinus - who continues to be touted as the 'strongest mage of our time' and could get even stronger depending on which way Matt goes with him - alone potentially won't end the overarching conflict, though he should still die nonetheless. At the very least I want the Hells (as we have for VM and the Nein) to all be free to live happily, be it settling down, embarking on new adventures, or just being the best they can be - and doing so with the people that mean the most to them - and at the very most I want them to make the best and kindest decision for the world as a whole, which I hope they get the chance and take the opportunity to do so.

It's still difficult to ready myself for it ending mind you, since I could have very easily spent another year with these idiots and still not be fully ready to say goodbye to them. On that however, I know not everyone shares my sentiment; some are truly ready for the campaign to be over and for C4 for explode (pun intended) onto the scene with brand new characters that in a few years time we'll also likely be unready to say goodbye to, and that's fine. But for all that can and will be said about Campaign 3 - positively and critically - it has very much delighted, disheveled, and deranged me for most of the year, usually at my desk of work, so trying to brace myself for the climax has, and continues to be, a lot of mental effort. Keeping myself positive and hopeful in these situations is tough especially when on the verge of a big battle; sometimes the negative thoughts creep in, Youtube videos full of pessimists and clickbait titles appearing unwantedly on my recommendations don't help, nor does the memory of what happened the last time the Hells were in a major boss battle at the tail end of their time on Ruidus, but when the campaign does end I want it to be looked upon fondly, and a lot of that does hinge on its conclusion. Obviously, I trust the group and Matt's storytelling, but that is only to an extent; defeating Ludinus is something I know Bells Hells are capable of doing - so long as the dice gods play ball and Matt doesn't inexplicably overbuff Ludinus to the nth degree like he did with Otohan - but the Predathos decision remains the root and focal point of the campaign's criticisms for good reason, often overshadowing and playing obstacle to character growth and direction. There is a satisfying and spectacular conclusion in there, but navigating it - even for a group that embraces 'when given two options, we pick option 3' more times than not - let alone achieving it is a very delicate path of fine margins, one that can indeed make or break the campaign - and a lot of my worries lie there, that and approaching/confronting an entity so voracious and eager to escape that it makes the gods terrified enough to deliberate breaking down the Divine Gate.

Without talking more to death about the god stuff and Predathos thing like we the fandom have already done aplenty, there's not much else I can say except that I'm worried but also trying to be hopeful. The campaign ending in tragedy or a pyrrhic victory is possible but it's not an outcome I personally desire or want to entertain. You could perhaps aptly translate that to my general feelings towards the new year too; having wants and wishes, hopes and hesitancies, fears and fandom, just currently a bit more compressed here than it is for the full year - and given our recent run of the years playing dystopia simulator, I'm more hopeful in one than the other right now - and perhaps it would do good to start the year with something to smile about. Right now, it's just that it's happening; it's happening, it's soon, and it's very apparent how close we are to finishing, which means I'm panicking and rambling, and panicking, and of course, rambling. I don't know what emotions will January send me through, but I do hope with all my being that they'll be positive ones.

So whether or not you reached the end of this, I wish you all a Happy New Year and, much like the end of Campaign 3, I hope it's a good one.

[icewindandboringhorror]

Recent life photos

[dramas-vs-novels]

Who is your favourite character in mythology???

Aeneas

No hesitation on that answer.

The Aeneid is somewhat obscure today, and by far the best mythological Epic.

I think everyone broadly knows the major brushstrokes of the Trojan War and The Odyssey. Prince falls for Queen Helen, she runs away with him. Greeks launch a war to get her back. Odysseus hides soldiers in a wooden horse and tricks the Trojans into bringing them into the city. Troy falls, Odysseus takes 10 years to get home.

The Aeneid, written in the reign of Augustus Caesar, is like, the sequel to that.

Broad brushstrokes, I won't get super into it-- when Troy fell, a prince of Troy (cousin of the dude who fell for Helen) led several hundred survivors out of a secret exit in the city. They had adventures, fought a Boss Battle in a huge epic army clash against Hera/Juno herself (and won), and the descendants of Troy went on to found the Roman Empire itself (well, Roman Kingdom, then Republic, then Empire).

The Aeneid is very much "fuck around and find out", but God Edition.

[noboomerangarrows]

yellowjackets really has one of the worst cases of introducing random ass characters out of nowhere with absolute NO groundwork and expecting its audience to care about them…

[necrotic-nephilim]

Please infodump about the JayTimSteph Grotesquerie AU WIP if possible.

OF COURSE i've been thinking about it since i saw the trailer and now it's a little brainworm. (disclaimer i've not watched the first two episodes yet, this is like. solely on the vibes of the trailer. some details might change once i. watch the show depending on if i follow it or just go with the vibes the trailer gave me. which also means there will be no spoilers for the show if you care about that.)

the current idea involves Detective!Tim, Nun!Steph, and Priest!Jason. the vague idea for the plot so far is that a serial killer leaves a *very* artful display of a crime scene inside of the church that Jason and Steph operate out of. Tim is assigned as the leading detective on the case and ends up in a relationship with the both of them as he spirals in madness trying to catch the killer.

for Steph, i want to explore the idea of her father, Cluemaster, being a *very* prolific and artful serial killer who's whole gimmick was sending clues to the police until he was caught when Steph was still a child, and her and her mother were forced to go into witness protection for their own safety, which led her down the path of becoming a nun. it was a defining childhood moment for her to walk in on one of her father's crimes, so when she's the one who finds the crime scene in the church, it *immediately* sends her back to her childhood and she's caught between PTSD-fueled horror and a sick, enticing fascination. she wanted to become a journalist before going into WITSEC but that career was basically all but ruined for her. now she runs the small newspaper for the church and is desperate to write on the first "real" story she's ever had, dragging her into an intense obsession over the crime and trying to prove she can solve it.

for Jason, i want to deal with his history as Bruce. the current idea is that Bruce is Tim's police chief who adopted Jason and Dick from a young-ish age and raised them to be detectives, taking them to crime scenes as teenagers and teaching them the ins and outs of how criminals think. it leads to Dick becoming a detective, but when taking them to crime scenes led to Jason being kidnapped and brutally tortured by "Jack Napier", almost dying. Dick kills Napier to save Jason and it fractures their little family so badly that Dick switches departments to another city and Jason runs away at 17, eventually happening upon joining the clergy. he's the new, young priest in the church who's known for being very pretty but very emotionally distant even if he's nice enough. and he's *pissed* that Bruce is in his church investigating a murder and that no matter where Jason goes, he can't seem to get away from the horrors.

and for Tim, he's the young new detective in his department who is *entirely* unaware that he's been taken under Bruce's wing bc Bruce is treating him as a surrogate replacement for Dick and Jason. haven't fully decided his backstory yet, but it'll likely be similar to canon with losing his mother and father. i kind of want him to be lost and lacking a sense of direction. very gifted in noticing patterns and detective work, but it's clear he doesn't *really* want this job. and when he's assigned as the lead on a case that feels *way* too big for his experience bc Bruce is showing clear favoritism, he's forced to go to Steph for help, which leads to Jason ending up wrapped up with them too.

despite how heavy the plot *sounds*, i honestly want this fic to be like. 40% porn. like the show i want to explore a lot of fucked up sexual interests in Jason who's punishing himself for it, Steph being too interested in things for her own good and desperate for a taste of what "real life" feels like, and Tim just being incredibly repressed. like i want the line between horror and erotic to feel like a jumprope. lots of fucked up sex balanced with like. them actually trying to catch the killer. and then of course the emotional aspect of how Jason's baggage with Bruce works into all of it. also want Tim to have a mild hero worship for "the great Detective Dick Grayson" while being clueless that he's Bruce's son and Jason's brother. i sort of want it to be Steph-centric, but still have POVs from Tim and Jason just to round out their emotional arcs. i haven't fully decided everyone else who'll be in the fic but i know i want Cass to be a fellow nun and friend of Steph's, Babs to also work at the church, Helena to be Tim's favorite coworker, and possibly for Damian to be around somehow. those roles will probably get more fleshed out when i. watch the damn show tho.

anyway TLDR: religious imagery, body horror, kinky sex, and a mystery that might break everyone psychologically once they get to the bottom of it. i have some very specific scenes and dialogue planned out. probably cannibalism as a metaphor for love thrown in there too. idk i just want these three to be as fucked up as possible and unhinged about each other but fighting their repressed side with their unhinged feral side. and since it doesn't exist by god I'll create it.