#you catch a glimpse...but...

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

I want it back / I drag its dead weight forward.

[loredrinker]

Solas: It took me centuries to build such a bond during my rebellion. And when I joined the Inquisition, I tried to avoid entanglements.

Solas is the one who brings up the Inquisition with Rook, opening the door for Rook to ask about it - which could lead to Rook asking about Lavellan (yes, this is a Solavellan post). I always wondered why he did as it gives Rook a chance to gain a foothold into his emotions and I'm not sure that is something Solas intended to do. I've considered a couple scenarios:

it's an unconscious slip. It feels like Solas is not as detached as he claims to be. Though he tries to position this as a calculated choice, the fact that he brings it up at all suggests that the Inquisition still lingers in his mind (it was the last time he got close to people).

This chat happens after Rook meets the Inquisitor for the second time and with the blood magic link, perhaps Solas suspects that Rook knows something more personal about the Inquisition, so he brings it up to gauge how much Rook might know. Which leads Rook to asking about you know who...

Rook: Except for Inquisitor Lavellan. Solas: I said that I resolved to do so, not that I succeeded. She is a good woman. Growing close to her was selfish of me.

As for Solas' response, he can't reveal too much to Rook - you can't give an edge to a potential adversary. So his response definitely feels measured. He admits just enough - that he failed to keep his distance, but not why. And I appreciate how Solas frames all of this as a failure of discipline, keeping it separate from emotion. He is saying "I should not have gotten close to her" not, "I should not have loved her."

Rook: Do you regret it?

He could just simply tell Rook yes and be done with it. But he doesn't lie. He could just say no, I don't regret it, but that would reveal too much. Instead, because he's Solas, he gives a poetic response, sidestepping it all together.

Solas: I live with countless regrets. Some of them I have grown to cherish more than my victories.

Solas' regrets are abundant and he has lived long enough to collect many of them. But some of his choices, no matter how painful, were worth it. That it mattered so much that having had it at all, and then losing it was more significant than anything he has accomplished. By positioning this as a regret, what he is also telling Rook is that what he had with Lavellan cannot be reclaimed (at least that's the lie he keeps telling himself). But to cherish something is to hold onto it - that his love for Lavellan, no matter how painful it was, is something he will always hold close.

But why even reveal this much to Rook?

What does Solas do best? Omit, obscure and deflect. Maybe his answer will confuse more than clarify which he would prefer. Solas' modus operandi when it comes to concealing truth is not to deny it outright, but to obscure it in ambiguity. By giving this type of answer to Rook perhaps Solas is hoping it cannot be used against him.

Or maybe, Rook did catch Solas off guard after all.

[pharawee]

"His face was covered, but I know it was a man. Tall and wearing black clothes."

—SPARE ME YOUR MERCY · การุณยฆาต · Episode 01

[s0fter-sin]

ghost has a flat he rarely goes to

it's covered in a thick layer of dust from disuse. none of the cupboards or closets have doors, not when they're so easy to hide behind. the windows are covered in thick black paint that no light can penetrate

but worst? worst is the glass

mirrors, cups, bowels, every single reflective surface is shattered; the glass left lying where it fell

he never cleans it; just steps around the crystalline piles, the shards too fine to hold a reflection

there's little need to guess how they were broken, not when there's a fist-sized hole in the mirror backing in the bathroom. not when fine scars riddle his knuckles, torn from ripping out glass splinters with shaking hands

ghost has a flat he rarely goes to

there's no doors, no light, no glass

because everywhere he turns, simon riley's waiting to stare back at him and ask if he's finished burying him yet

[smoosie]

Act 5 (part 1)

Previously: https://www.linkslist.app/6GFNvop

Trigger warning: mention of self-harm

[zombolouge]

I think one thing that really irks me about the flattening of themes in Veilguard and the removal of the darker nuance is that with the venatori, we could have had a really good and really timely story about what it takes to dismantle fascism.

What lengths they'll go to to obtain and maintain power, how that actually effects the political landscape outside of the immediate conflicts, why so many people tolerate it, how difficult it is to combat their propaganda. How arguing with them and meeting them in the middle is always a losing battle because they're not in it to be the most correct or to follow actual propriety, they will always move the goalposts for anyone that engages with them in this way.

The Magisterium could have been a scathing critique of congress and it's useless posturing in the face of very real danger, including danger sitting in the seats all around it. Elgar'nan's promises to fix everything "for the right people", ESPECIALLY looking at how it happened in the original elven empire and then was repeated in modern Thedas, could have been a very needed exploration of how dictators actually rise to power. Pushing against the overwhelming odds while war decimates the countries around you and how to find a path to succeed in that scenario could have been SO meaningful and uplifting.

But because Veilguard refuses to actually engage with most of that, pushing it off screen, ignoring it, or hand-waving the actual motivation/underlying problems away, it's almost the opposite of a useful story about fascism. Because it practically encourages you to not think about it, to not examine what it is and why it's harmful. Folks don't need to pay attention to it because One Dude (gn) with a magic knife will eventually come along and kill all the bad guys and then we'll live happily ever after. We don't have to think about WHY the venatori and Antaam and evanuris were doing what they were doing, or how they convinced other people to go along with it, they were just born fucked up and evil and so we gotta kill them to fix the world.

The political landscape in Thedas was RIPE for this. Primed for SUCH a good consideration of all these problems. And I know BW has never been perfect about tackling these subjects and I'm sure we would have been riding our disk horses into battle over the subtleties no matter what, arguing over what was problematic and what worked. But like goddamn. They sucked the marrow and meat out of the bones of the story and told us to still make soup. We got cup of noodles missing the flavor packet. RICE diet for sensitive stomachs.

What a damn waste.

[lizardkingeliot]

It’s my brother’s funeral.

[grinchwrapsupreme]

i would have loved an episode of Dexter that was from everyone else's perspectives like Dexter is just there doing his job with as much screentime as an extra and in the very background of other characters scenes you can sort of see him lurking but he mostly just looks a little weird instead of homicidal and then at the end of the episode the perp they've been trying to catch has mysteriously disappeared and Angel's just like why does this keep happening to us specifically 😔

[captainofthenautilus]

[harmonysanreads]

I finally had a dream about the Chrysos Heirs and in it, Mydei was swarmed by women, Phainon was gobbling down teganites in the middle of the baths and Anaxa was beefing with XIPE for some reason. At one point Xipe got angry and started chasing everyone and the dream ended 😭 Well at least, I got to hug Aglaea and she gave me headpats 😌

[carolofthebell]

My latest obsession:

@rubydianarts animatic of Get in the Water from Epic: the Musical with Hama!

It’s perfection

[jeonscatalyst]

[aha-my-villainous-thoughts]

Are you really here?

Or are you just a shimmer of a love I lost?

[the-messenger-of-the-gods]

attaching a tiny to your nipple with a bandaid or something and letting them struggle to try and free themselves, only for their struggles to excite you enough for it to slowly get harder under them, pinning them even more firmly, making it harder for them to breathe..,, and as they realise what's happening they panic, only to struggle even harder <3

-🧃

oo maybe one per… patching them on and running fingers over the bandaids, feeling them there, as nipples harden and struggles increase. tracing the edges like you might peel the bandaids off, waiting to hear breathing hitch before moving your finger away. toying with them there, maybe standing in a mirror to really take in their struggle, telling them how cute and pathetic they look there. how they look just right there; your perfect little accessories for the day. maybe you keep going, keep toying with them there until they cum against your nipples, or maybe you don’t waste much time on them before get dressed. either way, eventually you’re going about your day; purposefully leaning over, squishing boobs together, leaning against surfaces, trying to rub at them through your clothes; feeling how every little movement triggers another response with renewed vigor—all their little gasps and shouts, flailing limbs and heaving chests—and it’s a looong day.

[teddybeartoji]

i think nanami randomly pulls out a dad joke every once in a while. he's still focused on some paperwork, doesn't even lift his gaze when he does it. "what's the downside to eating a clock?" and all you can do is to just stare at him dumbfounded bc what?? when he doesn't get an answer, he'll finally look at you i mean he'll just raise his eyebrows at you. just shaking your head, you await his answer. he looks back at his papers???????? he resumes his writing?????? you can't see bc his head is lowered but the corners of his lips twitch up ever so slightly. "it's time consuming."

[rickybaby]

The question about the Arvid/Daniel narrative is also funny because just like at the very base of it they look the same. Like ignoring everything else he’s a spitting image of Daniel

Shoutout to @fromsupernaturaltof1 for putting these two images together cause the resemblance is insane.

I know some people are of the opinion that just because he looks like Daniel, doesn’t mean we have to connect the two together or web weave about them or try to say he’s part of Daniel’s legacy, but it’s so clear that Arvid sees so much of himself in Daniel. That he so clearly idolises Daniel and wants to emulate him. I mean he’s got a helmet that looks eerily similar to Daniel’s. The helmet that is so synonymous with Daniel’s career at Red bull because every time he was doing one of his dive bombs, that’s the helmet you’d see on the onboards and Arvid chooses to have his look almost the same.