#› mousesack ╱ starters

[starfrckled-a]

@lwiamatka​​    /    half aen elle.exe has stopped working

𝚆𝙸𝙽𝙴  𝚂𝙿𝙸𝙻𝙻𝚂 ,  blood  red  and  seemingly  endless .  a  careless  movement ,  a  pained  grimace  as  abused  bones  shifted  a  little  too  suddenly  ——  and  the  damage  is  done ,  there  is  nothing  that  lloer  can  do  about  it .  he  can  only  watch  as  the  cup  falls  from  the  table  and  clatters  to  the  ground .  loud ,  much  too  loud  in  the  silence  of  the  room .  look  what  you  have  done ,  lloerwedd .  look  at  it  and  tell  me ,  what  shall  be  your  punishment  ?    his  mind  works  on  default  settings ,  on  actions  so  ingrained  in  his  memory  he  can  recall  them  in  his  sleep .  half  elf  kneels  before  monarch ,  bracing  for  pain  —  it  is  easier  to  submit  to  it ,  he  has  learned  —  for  a  hit  that  does  not  come .  aen  elle  speech  almost  rushes  out  of  his  mouth  on  his  next  exhale ,  but  he  stifles  his  tongue ,  bites  down  on  it  until  he  can  taste  blood .  the  cruel  fingers  haunting  his  dreams  are  not  hers ,  never  hers ,  for  she  has  never  raised  a  finger  on  him ,  yet  for  a  moment  past  and  present  twist  sickly  in  his  mind  and  he  pushes  his  head  down ,  eyes  closed .  waiting  for  whatever  punishment  that  shall  befall  him .  

[mantra4ia]

Things I liked (and loathed): "The Witcher" Season 2

Spoilers ahead, carry on with caution...

I enjoyed:

Jaskier's singing. And the barmaid's quip about how she'd rather swap places with her deaf cousin than listen to "Burn, Butcher, burn."

Jaskier and Yennefer as frenemies, because it's dead accurate

Yennefer burning Rience with his arrogance and cheap spirits, while being Jaskier's beard. It improvised from the source material where Yennefer *cough* still had her magic, but it was very satisfying.

The return of Yarpen Zigrin, and the battling dwarven company

Geralt and Vesemir fighting monsters in tandem

Ciri's banter with her witcher bros

The veiled book reference to Yennefer's taxidermy unicorn and how it broke (fyi, it's not meant for seat two very energetic people)

Goodness, I am so glad we finally got to meet Mother Nenneke, although she ought to have given Geralt the business far more than she did. She's a formidable voice of reason, and she doesn't mince words. I submit a book quote in which she says to Jaskier "Stop talking bullshit and don't call me mother. The very idea that you could be my son fills me with horror."

Rience...I mean that he's still an ****hole, true to form from the source, not that I like him.

Yay for botany and potions.

Yennefer telling Ciri that when you have inner power, you shouldn't apologize for it/ mirrored by Fringella's revenge triggered when the council and her uncle Artorius ask her to apologize for not knowing her place.

The pendulum, Ciri's training, and Triss tearing into the witchers about their treatment of Ciri.

The flashback of Mousesack and Calanthe. But where's Eist?

The final reveal, though I worry about the series getting ahead of itself.

What I didn't like:

Absolutely everything else, with varying degrees of severity from this is annoying -> "Djinn: I'd like very much to punch someone on the creative team in the face."

The title graphics and score for starters... did someone get too drunk on mead to finish them?

There's So. Much. Screaming. Please get everyone a lozenge for this painful redundancy.

The fact that Yarpen doesn't get to have dialogue with Ciri, for shame.

They did Eskel dirty.

Source Yennefer: there's nothing more pathetic than a mage in tears. Netflix Yen: Tears and screams abound.

Rience turned into Pyro from X2, except considerably more annoying than Pyro because I like Aaron Stanford.

They were consistent with the gratuitous amounts of nudity, but now it doesn't seem so much like serving character aesthetics and proclivities and more like "gotta keep up with season one."

The costuming and character details are noticably less impressive than S1 and far more comical. For example, why are all the women who are portrayed as pregnant super pregnant? Did they all share one prop bump?

Also, Ciri emerging from fully submersed in the bath with full makeup still on is laughable.

Babies who look like their hair was frizzed in a socket right before they applied elven ears, also laughable.

Speaking of makeup and incongruous scenarios, why does Yennefer look cleaned up with straightened hair (her hair is naturally wavy and tumultuous) after being a prisoner of war and before the scene in which she bathes? Then she remains wet looking as she strolls around in her bathing robe/busty dress casually walking through halls and prison cells, and then she's wearing a proper traveling cloak, only to change for whatever reason into a shrug of some sort to an outdoor execution whilst everyone else is in full overcoat and full length dress. It's strange character choice where continuity and costuming are concerned.

They call Yennefer blind more than once (Fringilla, Cahir, maybe others) in the show, which is aggravating. As if to say "we scrolled the original material where she loses her sight and becomes weary of the dark but decided to go in a different direction. Bye."

Okay, allow me to elaborate more on the above point of contention. I enjoy hearing source references in the series, "magic like a barbed arrow" "I owe him what he owes me, nothing more, nothing less" "what is between you / Longing, regret, hope, and fear." Etc. What I hate is when these things get inserted for service, but without the respect for context, using it in a manner contrary to itself. For example, when Yarpen asks "The girl, yours?" And Geralt says "Mine," it's a source scene but it's used to set up trouble between Yen and Geralt. When Yen says "I know I've hurt you...but I wish for it to begin again" it's from a Beltane scene where they mutually talk about love, except in the tv series contorts it so that Geralt says, "I don't forgive you." Due to Yen's betrayal which comes from a black door scene that was a originally a flippin' dream sequence in the novels that never comes to pass. Rags.

They dangle a teaser about Falka (and fire, and burning, and burning down the world) through the creeper known as Stregobor — Falka should have taken more than his hands — and then do nothing to develop it, and then bait and switch to tease the Wild Hunt that apparently baba yaga is a part of. Your red herring references are tedious.

Seriously, was it some sort of running joke to tally how many rodents we could i-spy in each episode? And Ciri hasn't even joined up with the Rats yet...or is there a gameplay reference I don't know about? We've gone from one rat kabob in season 1 to at least a dozen live cameos.

They had such good source material about Lara Dorren and Ithlinne's prophecy, how'd they muck about with that so much?

They had such good source material about the memorial obelisk at Sodden Hill and the names of the fourteen and Geralt's grief over Yen as he meets a vision death — the second edge of destiny that dogs his steps — in the guise of a woman, in the mist on Sodden Hill and asks for her to take him by the hand, only to discover that Yen's name isn't among the dead mages, it's Yoel Grethen. How, in the first five minutes of the season, did they parse that down to four lines of dialogue between Tissaia and Geralt (was it for expediency? I don't understand, you could prioritize so many other cuts over something this crucial) so that it felt like nothing? I felt more sorrow over Roach when Geralt says "enjoy your last walk across the meadow and through the mist. Be not afraid of her, for she is your friend." I'm glad they kept a sincere emotional beat somewhere amongst the screaming in the show...but that was intended to be sorrow for Yen.

And then they go and use the obelisk memorial as a means to ceremonialize some weird congregation of kings (which, considering you're still fighting a war of northern kingdoms vs southern Nilfgaard, is logistically stupid f***ery) for a beheading demonstration that doesn't happen, all so that Yennefer can save herself? We knew that she could do that already, but thanks for taking her magic away as a means to try and sow some BS grain of doubt. (<_<)

And Geralt's reunion with Yen... that's all the dialogue and stage direction we get? Is this even real?

Listen, at the risk of sounding petty and picky, I know Netflix The Witcher is an adaptation from the books and games (admittedly I'm familiar with the former and only barely acquainted with the latter), which means they don't have to stick to either and can make **** up so long as the creative team can suspend disbelief for the audience. I don't give a mouse turd about that. BUT follow the continuity of the world building you created, whether it's story or visuals, whatever. From the little things: don't change Ciri's eyebrows from blond to brown, don't change Triss' hair from brown to auburn even if it's from the novels and gameplay. To the big things: they made Cintra look unchanged, I quote, "how could it look the same," and habitable to a surge of incoming elves, just a few months after it was sacked in nearly burned to the ground? Ex) based on the animated timeline, Kaer Mohren was sacked a hundred years ago and in all the winters the witchers never patched it up to look the same, they lived around it. Back to Cintra, more to the point, why would they want to make it look the same? Surely Nilfgaard would want to have their influence, or the influx of elves would want to restore it to it's Xintrean roots and erase any human revisions. You make a stylistic or storytelling decision, stick with it unless you work the change in logically to serve a purpose.

Also, I know the pandemic interfered with production in all sorts of ways. So visually I expect and accept comprises in production value. What's not easily acceptable — and which I keenly felt— is a compromise in conceptual quality, in dialogue, in episodic plot layering, in the weaving of storylines towards a goal/throughline, etc. Even in a pandemic, a compelling story can be told with two characters, intent filled dialogue, and a camera. I didn't feel nearly as compelled as season 1.

So Netflix cast everyone, and tried to juggle 10 character arcs with variable rates of success —even Lydia, who is originally introduced as mute and gets her backstory laid out before us— except you couldn't show Phillipa Eilhart until episode 8 (what was the purpose of such a late reveal?) and therefore Dijkstra and Dara have to talk to an owl the whole time? Psssht.

They had such good source material about Istredd and Geralt from "A Shard of Ice" and then just used Istredd as a means of convenience to reveal that Yen's alive. Wot? Jaskier could, and in my opinion should, have been the best character for that. I grant them this: they're trying to use Istredd far more than he actually appears, which is good because I think he's a compelling character... if I felt like they knew what they were doing with him.

For f***'s sake, why would they take Yen's power away from her after all that build up last season: "forget the bottle, let your chaos explode" only to mess around and say "oh, that chaos wasn't really yours when you sacrificed to save the continent. You spent more than you drew from your source, now face the consequences in order to serve the plot to sacrifice for Ciri too" so you can prove your love in the time smash of an episode. Yennefer deserves better.

Idc about this deathless mother "forest hut" baba yaga (who apparently joins the wild hunt) nonsense. Geralt telling Jaskier: "I may just have to kill [Yennefer]." Big BS. There's a part in the books where Geralt questions Yen's allegiance, believing they were betrayed all while she's captive and tortured, but this manifestation is horse****. Source: Yen loves Ciri like a daughter, and Geralt entrusts Ciri to her care for safety and training with no animus between them except in a letter when he calls her "dear friend" and she roasts him for it. He tells Yen he loves her for goodness sake, which is more than the show dared. The adaptation ignores this, completely going against it in fact when he puts sword to throat and later says, "I don't forgive you." It's not an artistic interpretation when there's an absolute perversion of her character's feelings towards Ciri and Geralt! And to top it off she doggedly follows Geralt trying to fruitlessly explain, practically groveling. Ridiculous. I'm glad they still referenced the theme of "something more" but the means they used toward that end contorted it's meaning so much it's IN. FREAKIN.' RUIN. Like Kaer Mohren.

Idc about Francesca Findabair and her pure blood elf baby, or her needless revenge, or her friendship with Fringilla.

So, you can make time to tell a monologue in detail about the events of season one to loop in the audience who hasn't seen it (in my opinion: why, it's only 8 episodes, tell them to put in the hours or watch the 6 min recap, don't putt about spending a limited amount of new episode time on something that doesn't move things forward) but you can't connect the dots or show how you captured Cahir? Or what motivated Vilgefortz to go on a killing spree in last season's cliffhanger, for those unaware of book!Vilgefortz, being shady AF. We don't revisit fully formed shadiness till 2x07, again with ubiquitous screaming. I'm very confused on your storytelling priorities right now. Again, I don't give a mouse turd if you go off book, but make your additions of the same mettle as the stories that you used from the source materials.

The fact that all these trained witchers, who have amulets that hum in the presence of magic, don't sleep with them on and keep one eye open with magic buzzing about them in the form of a possessed Ciri is maddness. They just get slaughtered in the night because it serves the story's dramatic effect. Very GoT-final-season-BS.

The velociraptor-looking basilisk creatures in Kaer Mohren, that whole final battle really felt very anticlimactic. I mean seriously: dinos?

Season 1 could, for better or worse, stand on it's own, and every episode served a distinct purpose that could be woven together by the end. Season 2 cannot, and I feel has pacing issues were some episodes are trying to tackle too much and should be split, while others have more filler than I care for.

WTF happened? I need Jaskier to write a few fix-it ballads please.

[rectoress]

@starfrckled​ said:  “ it’s just a different map down the same road ” ( from mousesack, if you're still accepting these )  /  rp sentence starters from  bridget devoue’s  work  ,  soft thorns

               without being neither wrong nor right, the man falls short of making any substantive contribution. a prosaism, no matter how astutely placed, how shrewdly dropped, remains an empty shell into which any and all meanings, any and all intentions, any and all intellections can be crammed. Some grand and proverbial cornucopia which can, later on, be referred to and brandished to claim some sort of formidable insight into the situation. hindsight is more like it, tissaia thinks, the bitter and disappointing conclusion shoved to the back of her mind as soon as it is formed. “it makes no difference.” her tone is clipped though it never verges onto a disrespect or a disdain she doesn’t quite experience. oh she certainly does where druids are concerned but mousesack has proven to be of sage counsel to the cintran throne. he is, she has come to observe and to learn, of a measured temperament, and one all the more admirable for constantly living within the closest circle to the crown, and she’d sooner deal with him than with his recalcitrant queen. “call it whatever you wish, mousesack,” the archmage adds. her gaze slants downward, sweeps across the scrolls and the quills, the folded letters, the scattered pieces of parchments, the hour glass. they are running out of time. he knows it. “she believes cintra impregnable.” tissaia de vries abruptly looks up, her eyes sharp and piercing boring holes into his own. “but it is. no one is infallible.”

[ohkraken-a]

IN THE FLESH | STARTERS

@humannomore​ :  "you shrink with age, you know, like dried fruit."

“like a grape?”

          utter horror seemed to flit across the young girl’s face as she looked up at the druid; although she always liked whenever she got to see mousesack, rare as it was, the knowledge that one day she’d be a... a.... shriveled plum was more pressing.

     “i don’t want to be a grape!!” she declared, hands moving to her cheeks, holding her face as if that would help stem this eventual crime from occurring. “i don’t want to grow old ever-” nevermind the fact that what had even prompted this conversation was the curious princess inquiring what happened when one got old, like mousesack-- “i’m going to stop getting old, then!”

[lionorsa-a]

cleaned my drafts, went down to 25, which are: 

young fabien & calanthe feat. @imbicilite calanthe & yennefer feat. @bracteatum calanthe & luci feat. @solenama a meme feat. @witchered a starter from ciri feat. @ashenhaiir a starter from @jaskiertm a meme feat. @oftragicfate a plotted thread feat. @witchered kiera & young calanthe feat. @bracteatum young calanthe & ophelia feat. @ascendedchaos a starter from @martyrsaiint a plotted thread feat. @vattghcrn a short thread feat. @rzeznic a short thread feat. @munadaria a meme from ciri feat. @inmydrcams a starter from @queenbard a starter from @oflionsblood a plotted thread with @cireaella a starter from @kobloid a short thread with @lutanistbloomed a meme from mousesack feat @starfrckled a short thread with @vattgherni a meme from @martyrsaiint a meme from @leofilia the long ass painful thread feat. @rzeznic game verse starter for @induro game verse starter for @twicexbladed

if I’m missing a thread you’d like to continue, it means I lost it! But don’t worry! Just throw it my way!

[starfrckled-a]

@lwiamatka​    /    less pain,  more friends rights 

𝙷𝙸𝚂 𝚆𝙾𝚁𝙺 𝚂𝙿𝙰𝙲𝙴 𝙻𝙾𝙾𝙺𝚂 𝙻𝙸𝙺𝙴 𝙰 𝙻𝙸𝚃𝚃𝙻𝙴 𝚆𝙸𝙽𝙳𝙾𝚆 𝙸𝙽𝚃𝙾 𝙽𝙰𝚃𝚄𝚁𝙴,  nothing but quiet  and green all around,  warm sunlight gently streaming in.  plants and flowers,  of course,  all placed exactly where they should be,  but also animals meant to be restored into a healthy state before being set free again.  no form of life shall ever go neglected,  as far as he is concerned,  or worse still  ——  disrespected,  harmed.  this has been taught to him since he was a young boy,  it is more than a simple habit  :  rather a way of life,  something to honor until his last breath.  Emìl used to be quite reserved about this room,  this little haven,  yet he has found himself opening up more and more,  as respect grew into trust  and friendship,  even.  now,  completely comfortable with letting the queen come and go as she pleases,  the memory makes him smile.  although that is not the sole reason for his lips to be molding into a soft curve.  «  wait just a moment,  please.  take this with you,  as a token of my gratitude.  »    an assortment of pavettas and roses,  delicately woven into a circular shape,  is what he offers her.  a small thing compared to the sense of belonging  Calanthe has given him,  but truly heartfelt.

[starfrckled-a]

𝙾𝙿𝙴𝙽 𝚂𝚃𝙰𝚁𝚃𝙴𝚁    /    mutuals  only .

❛  𝙼𝙰𝙶𝙸𝙲  𝙸𝚂  𝙽𝙴𝙸𝚃𝙷𝙴𝚁  𝙶𝙾𝙾𝙳  𝙽𝙾𝚁  𝙴𝚅𝙸𝙻 .  it  is  a  tool ,  like  a  knife .  is  a  knife  evil  ?    only  if  the  wielder  is  evil .  ❜    the  tug  of  magic  in  the  air  is  gentle ,  only  because  it  answers  to  his  will  :  benevolent ,  void  of  malice ,  meant  to  protect  rather  than  hurt .

[ohkraken-a]

“I’ve had enough excitement for one life.“ ( mousesack @ math )

lucifer starters

          “you are still young, you know. there is so much more excitement left to have.” there’s a hint of a smirk pushing up the cheeks of the old witcher as he observed the younger man. ( old though the other might be compared to some, he was still qute green in math’s eyes. )

“don’t tell me you fancy a life settling down in some dusty old keep–” an irony, considering the state of kaer ceudwll– “there’s still so much left out there to learn, after all!”

@starfrckled​

[starfrckled-a]

𝚃𝙰𝙶 𝙳𝚁𝙾𝙿  (  part two  )