#One that you chose yourself

[softichill]

Helen Distortion is so incredibly transgender

[knockknockitsnickels]

I think this is one of my favorite lines from the Wraith route because of (imo) how much the meaning changes depending on if you got there via Spectre or Nightmare. For Spectre, it honestly strikes me as a genuine question. Why are you doing this to her? If you're on the Spectre route, you presumably already know the Narrator can't really be trusted, since you had to reject his reward to get here. What are you hoping to gain from continuing to hurt her? For Nightmare, it honestly just makes me sad. As the Shifting Mound describes her, "She desires only companionship, but the only thing she knows is how to hurt." This line feels like a plea from someone who genuinely doesn't understand why you keep rejecting her. She wants to be with you, but she just can't understand how to do that in a way which doesn't hurt you.

[alaynestone]

-the incest diary, anonymous.

[a-court-of-valkyries]

It's so funny how people say that Nesta and Eris getting together in canon would be toxic and abusive and then they ship nessian in the same breath I can't-

[bookshelfdreams]

americans learn what the middle ages are challenge

[dizquized]

FOR YOUR OWN SANITY, do not look in the tags, dont do it. its not worth it. a demon possessed me or something, i dont know.

[adrift-in-thyme]

The recurring theme that mercy ultimately leads to more death and ruthlessness is mercy upon yourself. Odysseus spares the cyclops and 500 of his men die. Eurylochus spares Odysseus and he and the remaining crew perish in the waves.

[kitteecassee]

i’m allowed to go to the same places frequently for dates, i’m also allowed to casually date around/meet new people because i am single and am not looking for any sort of romantic relationship. i just wanna have fun, i’m allowed to have fun-

we all are.

i’ll be damned if i allow someone to try and paint me as the bad guy when i’m living my life freely and no longer being trapped inside a torture box of my own creation.

i treat everyone with nothing but the utmost kindness and you most certainly won’t change that about me.

are you staying in a small town? want to go on dates and feel safe? FREQUENT places, don’t be afraid or shy. in case something happens, there will be multiple witnesses and people you’ve seen that can not only vouch for where you are but who you’re with especially because they’ll probably remember you, your mannerisms especially if you look like you’re having a bad time/are in trouble.

embrace comfort and safety, don’t think you’ve gotta bust your brain trying to come up with complicated date ideas when the classics are always perfectly fine and you weren’t looking for anything serious anyway.

just companionship and a great night.

[witheredgardenparty]

Has anyone talked about how each member of the Genius Society represents the over reliance on the belief of intelligence but not the act of intelligence?

[onehundredandeleventropicalfish]

this might be a controversial opinion idk, but i feel like a lot of people assign more intent to dream's ending than was actually there

like. yes his death was in part a suicide, i'm not saying it wasn't, and i've talked a lot about the reasons and motivations behind that already. but i've seen a lot of responses to my posts lately talking about how dream knew this would definitely happen and he had a plan and was doing [x] thing because he knew it would lead to his death (or the more gentle version that he didn't plan it, but saw it coming and did nothing to stop it)

which. doesn't feel like an accurate description of what happened?

because he tried to stop the kindly ones plot. he genuinely did

he knew that the furies wouldn't be persecuting him out of nowhere, that's unlike them, there's enough nuance in this situation that something else has to be spurring them. which is true. lyta invoked the furies for revenge against dream, and the blood debt is enough of a technicality that they had the power to back her

so dream goes after lyta - stop her, stop the furies. but he's met with thessaly, who predicted this, and has protected lyta inside a ritual circle, which dream can't cross. she taunts him about it (bc this kind of magic is one of the few places mortals have more power than endless), and when he asks why, she says she wanted to hurt him

alright. no stopping the furies. but dream knows they will have to meet him face to face if they want to do anything about this, so as long as they meet him in the dreaming, that's his seat of power, they won't be able to act against him in any real capacity. he'll just have to wait them out, until they tire of this or something happens to lyta

there's one more caveat though - if he leaves the dreaming willingly during their attack, he cedes that seat of power, he won't be the master of the dreaming anymore, it'll belong to them. and that's the last thing he wants, so he tells delirium when she asks that he can't go with her, he has to stay here

nuala is the breaking point. because he has still been dealing with suicidal thoughts for centuries, they're not new and they didn't go anywhere, he's just really good at ignoring those thoughts in favour of his actual responsibilities. and while he didn't intend to die here, he's more exhausted than ever, he's lost in grief over his son, and for the first time, doesn't have the strength to push those thoughts down. nuala calls him from the dreaming, because he promised her any request, and it's a good enough excuse and he's tired enough that for a moment his subconscious wins that battle

and from there he's stuck. he tries to go back to the dreaming and fix it, but it's not his anymore. so he's left with only two choices - leave, abandon all this, go somewhere far away and stop caring about everyone you left behind and what the furies may do to the dreaming in your absence - it's no longer your problem. or he can acquiesce to their demands, lyta's call for revenge

and given who dream is, that was never any kind of choice.

i think people assume he planned it all because of one of these lines

but that's the thing. when the only thing keeping you going is the fact that suicide would be the most terrible horrible act you could possibly commit (this is someone who values his responsibility over anything else! he is dutiful! the whole point is he cannot willingly abandon his post!), you definitely haven't made a plan, and you're never going to. it's an escapist fantasy that sits at the back of your mind, that's all

the things death is drilling him about here are his decision with nuala and the fact that he never chose to leave, even when he got in way over his head, that's all she questions him about in this conversation

and i don't think he's lying in his response to her

yes, he's been 'making preparations' for a while, but those are things like ensuring daniel's ascendancy, tying up loose ends with people, actions that don't lead to anything. he doesn't have to die just because he did those things, those are just emergency precautions. and they make him feel better to do, because he gets to indulge in that fantasy without doing anything about it. he can't be blamed for this, they don't mean he wants to leave, he's going to keep doing his job forever because he has to

but you know. just in case. he's just being smart about it. that's what he can tell himself, anyway

and the reason why this distinction matters so much to me is, dream really tried. we see as early as season of mists that this is what his internal monologue is like so much of the time, given the slightest excuse to give up, in this case literally just the journey between the dreaming and hell, and some part of him yearns to just abandon everything

but he tells it no. he's been telling it no for centuries. this has been a constant fight to stay alive and he's been doing it! it's not been easy, but he's been putting in so much unnoticed work to keep everything going, to not give up. and one moment of weakness that ended up being his downfall shouldn't get to erase that

and when we say that he planned this the whole time, or that he knew this would happen and let it, we're not really appreciating just how much he tried

[faillen]

realized moments ago that i'm almost out of my fragrance of choice (the pran fragrance!) and truly like. idk, adulthood is a series of letting yourself use up the things that make you feel good, huh?

[gouinisme]

i started almost exclusively borrowing graphic novels written and illustrated by women at the library and it's 1) made me realise how few there are 2) made me realise even more how shitty the characterisation and design of female characters is in most stuff made by men 3) led me to scour the aisles for hidden gems i wouldn't have picked up otherwise so i do recommend

[notmoreflippingelves]

Obsessed with the dynamic (not romantic, not platonic, but a secret third thing--both and yet neither) between two characters who knew and cared about each deeply years ago when they were both younger and life was much less complicated.

But then, tragic, transformative circumstances separated them. Assuming that this separation was certainly permanent, because how could it not be?

And yet, somehow finding each other again years later, and sometimes they aren't sure whether the reunion that they once longed for with every fiber of their beings is a blessing, a curse, a joke, or a punishment.

Because they've both changed in the intervening years--largely because of the hellish circumstances that caused their separation. They've both changed completely and irrevocably, even if one of them has changed much more noticeably and dramatically than the other to the point of seeming a complete stranger. It is about leaning to see and appreciate all the things that have changed about the other and all the things that have not changed. It's about learning to reconcile beloved, often rose-tinted memories with the complex, yet-equally-compelling reality of the person those memories are about.

[fudgecake-charlie]

I'm being self indulgent today so I'm plugging some of my spotify playlists here! because i just gave them all cover art and that's cool of me! It's a lot of links and descriptions so they're under the cut

^ Exactly what it says on the tin! Here's a general vibe of what my music taste is like. (including artists from 2021 too, which i don't listen to as much but it's still statistically on there) I need to update it soon though, I gotta put shakey graves on there

^ Aw yeah it's a cosmic harbingers AU playlist. It's a fresh-from-the-oven baby that I've been working on for a while now! It's got a whole lot going on thanks to The Narrative (this playlist is designed not for shuffle) and some general horror/atmospheric instrumental vibes. It's also got a lot of my general music taste in there too!

^ If anyone remembers the "next door penpals" fiasco, this is the compilation of both of our written letter playlists into one. My side is from 17 onwards! We all went on a date (/p) by the way. It was lovely! I probably won't hear from them again. The other part of this on my profile too, another compilation of music from other letters and through-the-wall parties.

^ last one i promise! Another horror narrative playlist (wow fuck) based on the Fallen London browser game and the story of my little guy from it. This devolves from sweet love songs to sad love songs to just straight up horror! And ruth etting because i love ruth etting. This one (deservedly, the vibes are fantastic) doesn't have an art cover and is just a picture I took at like 3AM in the middle of winter.

[lau-apologist]

[thelvadams]

2023: a summary

post your favourite and/or most popular creation from each month this year. (it's ok to skip months!)

i was tagged by the wonderful @vindicia - thank you for all of your amazing edits elise 🥰

tagging some people, but i know i'm a bit late getting this done so if you've already done this or don't want to do it now that's totally fine: @mistress-light, @apocalypsekid, @jimmymcgill, @rivensbane and @marogarreh 💕

January popular: hi-fi rush announcement favourite: dead space

February popular: 10 years of metal gear rising (lmao) favourite: the witness in destiny 2

March popular: the murder of sonic the hedgehog (lmaooo) favourite: senua's saga: hellblade ii

April popular: ganondorf (TP/TOTK) favourite: skyward sword to totk (boy was i wrong about this)

May popular: the star beast favourite: xenoblade 1/future redeemed

June popular: sonic superstars announcement favourite: master sword throughout the ages (this set took me SO long to record and make 😭)

July popular: strange new worlds - those old scientists favourite: jill valentine in resident evil death island

August popular: doctor who - rose favourite: strange new worlds - subspace rhapsody

September popular: doctor who - the celestial toymaker favourite: master chief in rainbow six siege

October popular: destiny 2 - season of the witch favourite: metal gear solid Δ snake eater

November popular & favourite: 60 years of doctor who 🥰

December popular: 15th doctor's sonic screwdriver favourite: games played in 2023

i hope everyone's new year is off to a good start!