#Jenga blocks be like

[wraithee]

I need S3 to be awkward though, at least for part of it. I need to see Crowley and Aziraphale acting so weird and uncomfortable with everything while also trying to maintain what they think is normal for their relationship and slowly realizing that the intimacy they’ve built over 6000 years, once removed, messes the whole thing up. It’s intrinsically part of who they are now.

[arrowsperpetualcringe]

I like how this is their whole campfire chat

Like ma'am are you okay

[hanzajesthanza]

it really does matter so much that fringilla vigo is nilfgaardian, beauclairoise, for many reasons, but let's start here:

her entire role is that of an illusionist; one which she would not be were it not for her family lineage, rooted in beauclair:

There was a corridor in Beauclair Palace, and at the end a chamber, the existence of which no one knew about. (...) The corridor and the chamber, disguised by a powerful illusion, were known only to the palace’s original elven builders. And later–when the elves had gone, and Toussaint became a duchy–to the small number of sorcerers linked to the ducal house. Including Artorius Vigo, a master of magical arcana and great specialist in illusions. And his young niece, Fringilla, who had a special talent for illusions.

and since her talent in illusions is well-defined in the series, as it is her who grants geralt the very silver-mounted chrysoprase amulet which saves his life in the final fight against vilgefortz:

Geralt clenched Fringilla’s medallion in his fist. The bar fell with a clang, striking the floor a foot from the Witcher’s head. Geralt rolled away and quickly got up on one knee. Vilgefortz leaped forward and struck. The bar missed the target again by a few inches. The sorcerer shook his head in disbelief and hesitated for a second. (...) ‘I didn’t know …’ Yennefer said at last, scrambling out of a pile of rubble. She looked terrible. The blood trickling from her nose had poured all over her chin and cleavage. ‘I didn’t know you could cast illusory spells,’ she repeated, seeing Geralt’s uncomprehending gaze, ‘capable even of deceiving Vilgefortz.’ ‘It’s my medallion.’ ‘Aha.’ She looked suspicious. ‘A curious thing...’

that talent is something which cannot, by far, be separated from her character. and returning back to her lineage, it is again her familial relations which place her in beauclair.

she was positioned there, ready to intercept geralt, as early as the autumnal equinox in september, by which time geralt had barely just left the town of riedbrune:

The world over, the autumn Equinox was a night of spectres, nightmares and apparitions, a night of sudden, suffocating awakenings, fraught with menace, among sweat-soaked and rumpled sheets. Neither did the most illustrious escape the apparitions and awakenings; (...) In the huge castle of Montecalvo the sorceress Philippa Eilhart leaped from damask sheets, without waking the Comte de Noailles’ wife. The dwarf Yarpen Zigrin in Mahakam, the old witcher Vesemir in the mountain stronghold of Kaer Morhen, the bank clerk Fabio Sachs in the city of Gors Velen and Yarl Crach an Craite on board the longboat Ringhorn all awoke more or less abruptly. The sorceress Fringilla Vigo came awake in Beauclair Castle*, as did the priestess Sigrdrifa of the temple of the goddess Freyja on the island of Hindarsfjall.

* Slight correction - As explained in Chapter 3 of Lady of the Lake, Beauclair is not a castle, but a palace.

and she's only invited to beauclair in such a capacity because she is a relative of the duchess:

‘I’m in Beauclair because the largest, best-stocked library in the known world is here. Apart from university libraries, naturally. But universities are jealous of giving access to their shelves, and here I’m a relation and good friend of Anarietta and can do as I wish.’

(whom, you may note, she stands by and jointly receives geralt with at their first meeting, and participates in the festival of the vat with)

and therefore, she was in a perfectly strategic position to delay geralt, keep him captive:

‘(...) Please at least tell us … has the Witcher calmed down now? Are you capable of keeping him in Toussaint at least until May?’ (…) ‘No,’ she answered at last. ‘Probably not until May. But I’ll do everything in my power to keep him here as long as possible.’

because fringilla is not just an illusionist literally, as in the magic she is naturally gifted at, but 'illusionist' is her entire identity as a character.

and as her family hails from beauclair, this specific identity is compounded with the fact that beauclair itself is the center of illusions, a dreamland, a fairytale:

‘There’s something bewitched about this place, this fucking Toussaint. Some kind of charm hangs over the whole valley. Especially over the palace (...) no two ways about it, there’s something bewitched about this bloody Toussaint.’

fringilla is an illusionist because she is beauclairoise. she not only hails from a long line of illusionists, but hails from, is related to the ruler of, the very city of illusions and dreams.

she is the illusionist not just in a literal sense, but in the entire narrative role of casting an illusion over our hero, because it is the illusion of love which keeps her and geralt in beauclair. (the tricky trick is that geralt, taking a page out of yennefer's playbook of seduction, cleverness, patience, was able to cast an illusion upon the mistress of illusions herself, free himself from the witch's spell, awake from a pleasant dream to face the harsh reality).

(sighs) and even if you want to forget fringilla's beauclairoise identity and erase her entire positioning as the illusionist which poses a threat to our heroes, entices them to complacency, her role as nilfgaardian in the sense of her academic identity and imperial service also defines her.

because it is also fringilla, the illusionist who casts the wool over people's eyes... who blinded yennefer at sodden hill.

‘We’ve already met,’ Yennefer spoke again. ‘I don’t recall,’ Fringilla said without looking away. ‘I’m not surprised. But I have a good memory for faces and figures. I saw you from Sodden Hill.’ ‘In which case there can be no mistake,’ Fringilla Vigo said and raised her head proudly, sweeping her eyes over all those present. ‘I was at the Battle of Sodden.’ (...) ‘Occasionally one happens to see another person for only a split second, right before going blind, and one takes a dislike to them instantly.’ ‘Oh, enmity is considerably more complicated,’ Fringilla said, squinting. ‘Imagine someone you don’t know at all standing at the top of a hill, and ripping a friend of yours to shreds in front of your eyes. You neither saw them nor know them at all, but you still don’t like them.’ ‘So it goes,’ Yennefer said, shrugging. (...)

fringilla's (proud!) participation at the battle of sodden is a crux of the lodge, because she alongside her good friend, the scholarly assire, they are nilfgaardians who, owing to their nationality, find challenges meshing with the northern sorcereresses. the lodge brought together representatives of magic across nationalities in the midst of a raging, bloody war between them all.

and it's so integral to fringilla's character that she has imperial biases, that she approaches even the international lodge with an imperialist view.

with no factual basis, she initially exotifies and sexualizes the northern sorceresses, despite her own prior denial of these base stereotypes:

Fringilla Vigo was putting on a brave face, but she was anxious and stressed. She herself had often reprimanded young Nilfgaardian mages for uncritically yielding to stereotypical opinions and notions. She herself had regularly ridiculed the crude image painted by gossip and propaganda of the typical sorceress from the North: artificially beautiful, arrogant, vain and spoiled to the limits of perversion, and often beyond them. (...) Her untrammelled imagination offered up images of impossibly gorgeous women with diamond necklaces resting on naked breasts with rouged nipples, women with moist lips and eyes glistening from the effects of alcohol and narcotics. In her mind’s eye Fringilla could already see the gathering becoming a wild and depraved orgy accompanied by frenzied music, aphrodisiacs, and slaves of both sexes using exotic accessories.

she even has a difficult time understanding why the northern sorceresses are upset about the nilfgaardian invasion, believing it to be a boon to their society. only through their discussion does she just barely begin to grasp the meaning of "invasion" and why she wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of it:

Some were clearly anxious about the close proximity of Nilfgaard. Fringilla had mixed feelings. She had assumed that such educated people would understand that the Empire was bringing culture, prosperity, order and political stability to the North. On the other hand, though, she didn’t know how she would have reacted herself, were foreign armies approaching her home.

all of this indoctrination into imperial beliefs, at the same time that she is an educated woman, and herself, as an imperial sorceress, known for being rebellious and an upstart within her own culture:

‘Stop staring,’ Assire said, touching her bouffant and glistening curls. ‘I decided to make a few changes. Why, I just took your lead.’ ‘I was always taken as an oddball and a rebel,’ Fringilla Vigo chuckled. ‘But when they see you in the academy or at court…’

this is such a chaotic rambling post, but all i want to say is that fringilla's character, like most of the minor characters in the witcher series, was not invented through random generation, a roll of the dice, a spin of the wheel. her specific traits - such as her nationality, lineage, talents - all relate back thematically. everything is relevant, specifically chosen to create a specific character.

if once changes her backstory (e.g., to place her at aretuza... though i don't know who would do such a thing for no reason) they would change her entire character, the series' commentary on imperialism, and because of her role she takes later on, even the entire ending of the story.

[kylejsugarman]

if au squared badger and skinny pete aren't going to be paid handsomely for their time babysitting baby, theyre going to do funny bits with her and torment jesse about it until he comes back home

[madcourtjester]

I’m relatively sure we all know that Scott Cawthon can’t write really well but sometimes I’m not really convinced that he can read

[obstinaterixatrix]

air was like ‘if someone I hated looked like a character I’d like I’d just stop liking the character’ & I was like ‘if someone I hated looked like a character I like I would shave their head. I have so little in this world. they’re not taking that from me.’ & air was like ‘well you’re always talking about how you just stop caring about things’ & I’m like. this is different. I Know What I’m About.

[daylighteclipsed]

anyone else feel like the whole world is this 👌 close to completely snapping

[actuallyitsstar]

WIP Wednesday: Turbulent, grin, and padding?

✨ send me a word & find it in my wip! ✨

It wasn’t what Bradley should have had- a grief-free life with two parents, and all the stability and certainty they could offer- but it was a lot better than the things Maverick had been given to work with when he was Bradley’s age, so he’d been able to even out the balances as best he could, despite the turbulent nature of the scale.

And, well, he had been going for lighthearted, but his tone just isn’t quite right and maybe neither are the words, because there’s this pained little shift around Bradley’s eyes, and he looks away for a moment, gathering himself in the time it takes for Mav’s attempted grin to fade.

It’s shy on padding and generous on springs, hard on his back and his legs and his neck, but that is a small price to pay for the proximity, and its constant promise that Mav is alright, that maybe they both can be.

well what do you know! the first one in a long time i can check off all the way lol <3 it was a satisfying and fun experience!! thank u so much for the ask friend!! <3

[spiritshaydra]

Oh shit I got like just over a week to brainstorm ideas for my sixth annual birthday shitpost

[bleakfortune]

hhwwhuwehehwue fueled by pure autism i banged out the shell of a website for an in character au thing after not touching html for like almost a year.

rant about like brain disease (schizophrenia) and stuff idk: theres a wonderful beauty in feeling like a slow as hell idiot all the time especially toward art and concepts (math language science html etc) and stuff you want to do but have no energy (much more complicated than that but thats the default internal defense for it) then after literal months sitting down and just doing it. i like freaked out actually because i had no idea what i was even looking at like ououoghg did i completely forget this too. no actually google it and it makes sense i remember how to do something YEAH i feel smart!! in like a super relieving way!!! woooo! i learned a whole new thing class which i didnt use before and it makes things a lot easier. and margins for the first time instead of idek what i was doing before.

[only-man-in-the-sky]

did I ever mention Seb's Xanax brick dream because that was wild

[flying-potato2]

tallest buildings in the city so far at nearly 200 blocks tall

[arthaven-hina]

(Meta talk: it's very simple! I put the trust issues in the DND character with a motto of "it's not necessary to be rejected over and over again, one Really Cataclysmic and Bad rejection might be sufficient to have you react A Way and develop Issues!" and then realized in the last few weeks "ah. I see that this is how I'm going to process the fact that I was systematically and repeatedly rejected in some fairly devastating ways during some formative years and now still have Issues sometimes, while simultaneously reinforcing the lessons I have learned in the last decade or so about security, good communication, love, and most importantly trust")

(AND she gets to be a fun distraction / character through which to blow off steam and enjoy No Consequences / blorbo)

[emerald194]

I love this silly crack theory sm simply for the character interactions and overall angst and silly potential

Crack theories are fun, especially when there's one (1) canon piece that can support/start it all

[itsdatsquid]

As funny as the Tumblr Important blue checkmarks pettiness is, the design of the lil things is so much more pleasant than twitters one.

Nicer colours, more of a designed feel, easier to read, stackable

[dudefort]

An artist I really enjoy reblogged my last post and called me smart, I've peaked I think