a very, VERY important post. spread everywhere and screen record the video to your phone. or message me and ill happily send you the video. give to every woman and girl you know.
bc as they both said / demonstrated, its not only super easy to do, but super easy to miss.
did you know? there is a type of metal chariot, powered by the bone-ichor of ancient dragons, that you can use to access—and quickly traverse—a labyrinthine realm of desolate, pitch-black stone known to scientists as “the american highway system”
What I find really really compelling about Laios' special interest is this:
As a person who's special interest is dogs, I'll tell you right now that I fucking love them. I live in a city full of strays, and I actively go out of my way to pet, play with, and interact with them. It brings me a lot of joy and comfort to be able to be surrounded by puppies.
I will also be the first to tell you that, like it or not, dogs are animals - and animals, ultimately, can be unpredictable. They can be scared, they can be territorial, and they can be impulsive. And while I genuinely believe that there's no such thing as a bad dog or an angry dog - only a scared one - I also don't believe it makes a functional difference once a dog has bitten you what intentions it may have had.
Dogs are dangerous. I've seen people get bitten, I've been bitten, I've had close calls, some of which were my own fault and others which were not.
And Laios reflects this so beautifully, especially in the Kelpie arc. He's not blinded by his love for these creatures, he's not overtaken by baseless empathy - he understands, understands better than anyone, that these are at the end of the day monsters, and they are dangerous, and when push comes to shove sometimes you've just got to kill them. In fact it's his love for them that lands him this knowledge and understanding in the first place - just as I know that there's no room for fear and weakness when it comes to interacting with dogs, he knows there's no room for hesitation and empathy when it comes to interacting with montsers.
It's so fucking realistic of someone who genuinely researches and cares about these creatures, rather than superficially "liking animals" and then trying to assign human qualities to inherently inhuman creatures.
Medusaberg first encounter pt3 (final) (cw eye-related gore, thanks miranda)
(pt2:)
something something xenia guest rules and handshakes to show you’re unarmed
imagine you get horribly mutated and kidnapped to an inescapable island where the only times you’re not completely isolated is when you’re getting hunted down and attacked by people who see your head as a glorious trophy. imagine begging for them to listen, begging for your life, but they only see it as trickery and weakness. eventually you give up trying to convince them and strike first cause you want to survive. now for the first time in 700 years you meet someone who isn’t taking orders from your abductor or an overconfident fool striving for legendary status. theyre like you but marked for death and old hopes reignite, but your amiability has rusted over from centuries of cruelty.
wouldn’t it be wild if they were the first to listen anyway.