#I'm leaning toward yes

[theambivalentagender]

So this one isn't an @sdv-said-what or other incorrect quote redraw (though I do have others in the pipeline). This is my recollection/summary of one of the most fantastic conversations I've ever overheard, while charging my phone at a convention years ago. I've told this story before, but the other night I got a bolt of inspiration to draw this with the SDV characters.

I'm also trying to learn ClipStudioPaint more. Its been a journey.

[sparrowlucero]

Little alien "birds", about the size of button quails. They speak with a very melodic cantor, the holes along their "neck" forming a sort of biological flute that can produce a wide range of sounds. Human speech tends to sound confusing and garbled to them unless it's musical; they're big fans of sensible human media like Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats and Hamilton, though the really avant garde among them might even be into deep cuts like Glee and Phineas and Ferb

[rottmnt-background-screenshots]

Either he made his throne in the image of the Triceritons to mock them, OOORR it's an actual Triceriton skull. If the latter, the rise boys are ffffffucked when the Triceritons show up

[brain-rot-central]

Me @ me: write the bloody sex scene for ch. 4. Just write it. Write everything else after. Just. Fucking. Write. It.

[piosplayhouse]

Someone just commented on one of my SV posts saying the official translation is so much worse than the fan one on bc novels but . The official translation was done by the same fan translators as before. Faelicy and Lily were two of the main original translators from the bc novels fantls . They did both .

[bearhugsandshrugs]

everyone saying people who had it rough in life age quicker, i wish i could send you my face and my therapist's notes. my doctor thought i was 25 last week. MY DOCTOR.

i'm 39.

[stop-breaking-my-heart-dragonage]

my experience with maxing out the twins' friendship is just-

Hawke: So, Carver, my dear baby brother who I love and adore, I only need +10 more points to max out your friendship. I've done the grind; through gritted teeth I've kissed templar ass so that we don't raise suspicion. I've supported and defended you and let you take the lead whenever I could. You're my favorite warrior. I took you to the Deep Roads with me because you desperately wanted to go and then made you a warden and you found a place, a purpose. I've practically written my own guide on how to earn as much friendship with you because I love you and it's totally worth it so can I please please have the last +10...? Carver: Hawke: Carver please I'm begging you Carver: Carver: +5 Friendship Hawke: AAUUGGGHHLKSAJDLKAJSDLK-

Hawke: So, Bethany, my dear sis- Bethany: +50 Friendship Hawke: Bethany: :)

[moe-broey]

HEARTBREAKING

Worst Dad You Know Has an Extremely Endearing (Now) Reoccurring Character Trait

For further context: this whole FB involved Sharena and Henriette seeking out lockpickers in the Order of Heroes to open this VERY SECURELY locked box from Gustav's room that took Tina's special staff to finally crack open (or rather -- "steal" the contents out of. No one could actually break the lock!)

And the first instance of this!

It makes me wonder if he saved anything related to Sharena..........

[raayllum]

Detective Rayla Theory

Otherwise known as: Why I think Rayla is Real in the Reunion Scene and Where I Think the Plot is Going, Subsequently. Discussion both for and against the Fake Rayla Theory here. Without further do, let’s get into it:

So I was having a good think on the bus today, turning it over and over in my head as to why Rayla would come back when she clearly hadn’t completed her mission - and trying to think up alternatives to 1) self worth development with Ethari in a flashback since that’d moot some of her natural S4 arc or 2) Aaravos somehow whipping up an illusion Viren for her to murder, as both seemed a bit more complicated than necessary. 

Which is to say: I think I’ve got it, and I think it explains more of the season this way, too. Basically: 

I think Rayla has come back to Katolis because the Dragon Queen, Zubeia, is there, and Rayla has information (based upon Claudia’s evil doings the past two years) that can’t wait to be shared, and she believes that the boys won’t get involved (because in her mind, why would they?)

Rayla has always been loyal to the Draconic royal family and would have been keeping an eye out for any dark magic-y stuff in Xadia because. I forget where it was said (an interview or AMA I believe) but Terry is more in tune with the minerals/earth side of Earthblood magic than flora or fauna, with possibly the ability to help make tunnels. We know he and Claudia have been running around Xadia collecting ingredients and doing dubious things to revive Viren. This means Rayla could’ve been somewhat tracking them, but ultimately foiled for obvious reasons, even if she could still find something clearly disturbing and worrying happening in the meantime. A trail of sorts.

There’s also the fact that with Zubeia is the only character we know of who’s 1) around prominently and 2) knows a shit ton about Aaravos. Avizandum is the one who imprisoned Aaravos in the first place (—3x06) and Zubeia would’ve seen the mirror in her lair every day for 300 years. Callum has no reason to think it was in the Dragon King and Queen’s chambers, but there’s a wealth of information at his finger tips if they can just make the connection.

But I’m getting ahead of myself: how and why does this relate to Rayla?

Well, mostly because of these three things: Rayla shows up in Katolis conveniently when the Dragon Queen and Zym are already there. While she wouldn’t want to drag the boys into everything, that’s also her queen and she wouldn’t keep information from Zubeia. And we know that the kids all end up in Xadia together, with Zubeia, later on in the season, and that the kids at are the Storm Spire before this too (since Callum already has Ibis’ staff).

— so whatever is going on is big enough and involves Zubeia enough, somehow, to have her travel with the kids and at least partially come on their adventure with them. And I don’t think Zubeia can know ahead of time that as much trouble is brewing in Xadia as it is, since I don’t think she’d be popping over to Katolis if she knew shit was about go down back home (she’d already been absent for one traumatic event at the Spire of her husband’s death, she’s not going to take any chances of something like that happening again)

We also get these lines from Zubeia (which given she only has one line in the whole show, no wonder I couldn’t place at first) and from Rayla, which have to factor into the season somehow:

which is all to say, I think Rayla, off sleuthing and doing detective work back in Xadia the past two years, has found something worrisome enough she has to tell the Dragon Queen right away, and has heard through the grapevine that Zubeia is in Katolis. Cue Rayla letting herself be indulgent (justify it to herself) to see the boys (and Callum) even though her mission isn’t over. To make sure he’s okay. Now that she’s reached what may be the final leg of her journey, she won’t be deterred by his presence — and she knows that the boys have been happy, busy, and safe in Katolis. Why would they get involved and leave now?

Only, the boys insist (or perhaps Zubeia asks), leaving Rayla to be upset and worried. This means she can go into full “protector” mode when they and Soren do accompany her and Zubeia back to Xadia / the Storm Spire, not realizing she’s just exacerbating her and Callum’s issues (i,e. “I don’t need to be protected” on his end and “Who’s protecting you?”). It also gives the group a reason to leave, a plot reason for her to come back so soon (just like Viren, her return is the plot catalyst) and to start hashing out the emotional consequences of her previous choices neither she nor Callum have fully dealt with.

Zubeia’s knowledge of Aaravos also gives Callum an opportunity to have room to mess with the mirror on his own before he fully knows what he’s dealing with. He (and the audience) can learn some of the reasons why and know enough that it would be a terrible awful thing for Aaravos to get out of his prison... because he’s getting out this season, and Callum likely has the Key.

However if Rayla comes back to kick off the Plot with Big Important Things and she’s right about Viren being alive (even if it’s not the way she thought), that means all her TTM decisions have been validated... and we can’t have that. Her first fuckup, perhaps, may be thinking she can see the boys without dragging them into her business, bringing back those good ol’ “I failed” feelings. The second fuck up will probably have to be far greater and given that we know aged up, scarfed Callum finds her blade later on this season, it is probably that she has been captured and then will be used against / to bait her loved ones.

This means that the Plot reason behind Rayla’s absence is because her paranoia about Viren and Claudia is the only character incentive we had for anyone to catch on, of the main cast, to what they were / are doing. The main S4 synopsis makes it sound like they know that Claudia is trying to free Aaravos (or at least something terrible and scary) and that they have to try to stop it. We know that whatever gets the kids out of Katolis with the political unrest Ezran is facing is big enough that Zubeia comes along for the partial ride. Rayla coming back out of a sense of duty also answers 1) why come back here and now specifically when she couldn’t have completed her mission and 2) leaves her emotional issues open and ripe for the picking.

It also means that the Narrative Weight awarded to her absence, at least in the most straightforward way with the information we have now, is to accentuate Callum’s love for her, as he has the other half of their post-TTM arc. Prior to this point, one of his main motivations was that he couldn’t / refused to lose her, such as when he did dark magic in 2x07, much of S3, the main climax of Arc 1 with him jumping off the Pinnacle, and all of TTM.

But post-TTM, he has lost her, and he’s had to live with that every day for two whole years. He hasn’t moved on, it’s still a deep core wound for him, Aaravos will likely be able to witness their reunion through the mirror, and Callum has his Key - and Aaravos will likely have Rayla.

Those who fail Tests of Love are simple animals.

And we also have this line from Rayla’s letter to Callum as well:

They said that, sometimes, we make sacrifices so that the ones we love don’t have to. It’s part of protecting them—part of protecting you. Taking on hard choices and going to dark places is an act of love.

Rayla made that decision back in TTM and then made an active choice to come back to Callum in a way, while he remained more passive. By the end of the season it’ll be his turn to go after her and make a choice — and pass the Test of Love Aaravos has set for him for her life, because re S4, he’s lost her once. He’s not going to go through that again, and that’s the Point of her absence from a Thematic standpoint, too.

Basically me trying to connect the Plot, Theme, and Characterization Dots together desperately with the endgame of Aaravos getting out of the mirror this season (because we already know) and I hope you enjoyed my latest two cents / probably the path I’m leaning the most towards with the info we have right now.

[sleestakkkk]

Okay okay part of me has always leaned towards Ivan dying when he has to go up against Till. Because like listennn... Ivan ALWAYS being the one who's looking at Till, while Till is never ever looking back at him just has unbearable affect on my brain. So like I've always imagined him dying with the expectation that FINALLY FINALLYYY Till will truly LOOK at Ivan and really see him for the first time like Ivan has always seen him (Does this mean in a romantic sense? Potentially. Maybe. But most of all just finally seeing how Ivan feels about him and just having THAT realization), but also with the added gut punch that it took Ivan dying for Till to truly realize Ivan's feelings and aooughh. BUT flipping it around also ties into the same ooggily booggily affect that the first option has on my brain. Because having Till die could mean that from beginning to end, after EVERYTHING that has happened, he never looks back at Ivan. The tragedy and pain of that feeling, and you KNOWW that from the very beginning of the round that Ivan would know that if Till dies he'd die never knowing about Ivan's true feelings. Now is this all incoherent rambling that will likely not happen? Yes. But they are like little worms in my brain sooo

[galehowl]

A lil' Grani "illustration" that was given to the Scions when they were trying to understand what the creature is. They learn about stories of how it was seen a few times, and people of the First thought of it as the WoD's companion and steed, and how its appearances were supposed to herald the Warrior's return. ( The magical fairytale WoD steed was just. Grani. Who was mostly chilling in Amaurot )

( I realized that I didn't explain anything about Ray and Grani's relationship here, but tl;dr, Grani saved her stupid ass very early on, when she was being mauled by a pack of sin eaters, and after that sort of stayed as her companion, but did NOT listen to her and kind of did his own thing, until some events in Il Mheg. But he's very important in this AU and a chunk of story revolves around him )

[rosedom]

will you write for Gaming? 🤔🤔

as of rn, i'm not sure ,, i have yet to meet his character in game (but i have him! c1 c;), so i think i'll have to wait a bit before determining. in my mind, he's already at a range of 17-21. i'll get back to u when i figure it out 🫶

[kariachi]

Sometimes one remembers that the most common ancestral race of hobbits is described by Tolkien as "browner of skin" then the less common two (who might have been mostly outbred over the many years? on the topic of the "fairer of skin and also of hair" set Concerning Hobbits describes that "the strong Fallohidish strain could still be noted among the greater families, such as the Took and the Masters of Buckland", which to me implies that while there's still clear ancestry there they probably still have heavy Harfoot or even Stoor influence going on- otherwise why describe it as a 'strong strain' rather than just say they're still primarily Fallohidish families? especially when you consider that the section in question is discussing that they were particularly bold and adventurous for hobbits and so given what the Tooks and Brandybucks are like it may be more often a matter of inclination rather than visuals- not to doubt that the visuals show up, but probably not as often as inclination, especially if you allow for the secrecy-focused courting habits mentioned in the first draft of the first chapter of LotR (as published in The Return of the Shadow: The History of Lord of the Rings Part 1, by Christopher Tolkien, pg 17, yes I did go hunting), which would make marriages between differing groups so much more accessible (and may actually be why that's a thing)), that their curly hair is consistently pointed out, and that our initial description of hobbits given in The Hobbit specifically mentions "nimble brown fingers".

And then one gets aggravated all over again at how long it took for non-white hobbits to show up in adaptations and the sheer number of people over the years who have tried to make out like non-white hobbits would be such a horrible canon-breaking thing.

[didderd]

Now I'm curious for more of the boys' preferences (only if you're comfortable with it of course)! Gotta ask, who's an ass man and who's a chest man? Or maybe they like thighs or backs or arms i mean sky's the limit-!

the general consensus:

rly tho, they all love the squishy body parts (including thighs). even Tou catches himself wishing to hold them (and more), but he would never admit it bc he is a GENTLEMAN.

they all also love places where they can see your bone structure, like the collar bone. :3

[hailtotheskull]

actually. wheres your fursona i dont think ive seen it

i only have a vague and kind of shitty ref that's hell of out of date because i'm not an artist but nontheless i shall go and get it

open in a new tab to see it better of course. there's definitely more outfits i could choose but this is what i thought of at the time

[powerfought]

fun fact: amala is in part inspired by eris from that one animated sinbad movie, and one of my favorite things about that particular character is the way her hair moves and floats around her, sometimes seemingly of its own accord, or otherwise flowing in tandem with her movements. so amala, post-pact, has hair that acts very similarly, with the added detail that it appears to move and take shape of tentacles at times—a physical representation of her ties to the squid-like eldritch being she serves.