#SHE DID SUCH A FANTASTIC JOB

[soulkius]

Received this lovely commission from @prof-peach

[smallpox-juicebox]

OH MY GOD HAIRCUT! HAIRCUT!!!!!!!!

[shikai-the-storyteller]

Retro talked a little bit about her role as Cucurucho!

[caeslxys]

Something I think is extremely interesting thematically when it comes to connecting what Downfall and the ideas it tackled to the overarching narrative of campaign three is that the things Downfall made a point to showcase of Aeor—Cassida, Hallis, the visual of an aeormaton proposing to her partner, the specific and intentional decision to shed light on a far from insignificant amount of the population being civilians or refugees—is that it plays in perfect parallel across from what is happening (and, really, has been happening) to the ruidusborn on Exandria in present.

Bear with me for a moment. Aeor is ultimately a city that was collectively punished for the decisions of its leadership. We could (and, judging by the amount of discourse around this particular topic already, probably will) argue about what the Gods’ motivation for all of this was—whether it be that they could not, in the end, bear to kill their siblings or that they were terrified at the prospect of mortality—for me it is a very healthy dose of both—but for this I am much more interested in the latter. They were scared. That, really, is the driving force behind both this arc and their role in c3 as a whole.

Why I point this out is: It is far more interesting to me, especially as we go back to Bells Hells this week, to dissect the Gods and their decisions not purely on sympathetic motivation alone but as beings in the highest seat of power in the highest social class in Exandria.

So, having established that the Gods (in relation to mortals) are more a higher social class than anything we could compare to our real life understanding of divinity and that Aeor was eviscerated largely because of their fear—what is the difference between those innocents in Aeor caught in the trappings of their autocratic government leadership and a divine war on the ground, and those of the ruidusborn being manipulated both by Ludinus and by the very thing that inspired such visceral fear in the Gods to start with. I would argue very little.

I think of Cassida, doing what she genuinely thought was right and good and would save people, her son, and the object of her worship—and how that did not matter enough to any of them to spare her because of the fear they held at the very concept of mortality. I think of Liliana and Imogen, one of which we know begged for the gods to help her or send her a sign for years on years, and how every single one of their largest struggles could have been avoided had the gods loved them, their supposed children, as much as they feared what they could be. I think of how the thing that did save Imogen, in the end, was a woman who herself existed in direct defiance of the gods will. I think of that young boy, sixteen years old, that Laudna exalted on Ruidus.

I think it’s completely fair to judge Aeor’s overall society as deeply corrupt—it was!—but its leadership and police force are not a reflection of every one of its citizens. Similarly, it is fair to judge the Ruby Vanguard as corrupt—it is!—but its multiple heads of leadership and even the god-eater further are not a reflection of every one of its members.

Notably, and what I think the Hells will latch onto, this did not matter to the Gods. It did not matter that Cassida was trying to help. She was still too much of a risk. Will it matter, what Imogen does? Will it matter, if that young boy is in the blast radius when they decide to take no further chances?

I’ve seen a lot of people say that the Hells will side with the gods and I don’t think I agree. Especially as Imogen has been scolded and villainized over and over for daring to try and save her mother—who herself has been seen by some as an irredeemable evil in spite of her drive being the exact same—her family—but when it’s the Gods it’s justified? When it’s the Gods, it’s sympathetic? Too sympathetic to criticize further than “they’re family”?

I obviously do not think the Gods should die or be eaten or what have you, and I certainly don’t agree with Ludinus (though I find him much more compelling than just a variation of hubris wizard), but when talking about the Gods in Aeor and in present it isn’t really at all about their motivation or their family. It can’t be. Too many people, including our active protagonists, lives have been effected for it to be as cut and dry as “they’re family”. These are your children. They are your family, too.

[stardustbuck]

i think tim minear got the show back to where he wanted it to be to tell the story he wanted to tell. ppl think too deeply on it. truly.

[the-judicial-assistants-notebook]

No, see, now I'm thinking about Iris teaching Phoenix how to plait hair and getting emotional about it because like. The first person who ever plaited her hair was probably her mother, right? And I think Morgan's the kind of mum who's rather strict with hair, meaning that it'd be drawn very tight and be a rather painful affair. After they leave Kurain, I'm guessing that Iris still may not have known how to braid her hair but Dahlia did, and so Dahlia was the one who used to do it for her before eventually teaching Iris to do it herself; and, while I don't think Dahlia was as rough as Morgan was, she did learn how to plait from her, and she has nails, so it still hurt a little. But that's how Iris learns to plait her hair: with a touch of force and an emphasis on bridled control. It's necessary, when you're working up in the mountains since it keeps strands out of the way.

But then she goes to Ivy-U and meets the kindest, gentlest man she's ever known, and he gets curious as to how she does her hair, so she shows him. It's the first time anyone's ever touched her hair and truly cared about not hurting her -- he's hesitant to even comb his fingers through it because he's afraid of tugging on her scalp -- and she has to change the way she moves as they slowly, carefully work their way through the two braids together. Yes, it takes longer than it normally would, and the braids are looser than she would usually wear them, but they stay, and it's the first she's ever tried plaiting them in a way that's different from her mother and sister -- the first she's ever considered it, even -- and it shows her, irrevocably, that kindness and gentleness can be just as effective as the harsh strength her family has always prided and possessed. It's the first time that Iris has used her hands in a way that feels truly natural to her and not been ashamed for her own weakness.

And she carries that with her for the rest of her life; just as he carries what her hands showed him as he brushes his fingers through her younger sister's fairer brown locks, while she sits in jail and does the same to her own long, dark hair, now black as it should be instead of red.

[oh-gh0st]

ok last drawing for the night

[nyoomerr]

showed the binghe shimeji to my therapist today and she is in love with it. She wants a shimeji now. Felt I should update you this on you this, thank you for commissioning him. There might now be a lady who never read SVSSS with a binghe shimeji soon 🤝

one day binghe is going to have infected every computer in the world and it's starting with your therapist specifically. incredible. perfect. excellent.

please don't tell me if your therapist has anything to say about what it means for someone to commission art of "hey this little guy is cute but can you make him cry please??" though i'm self aware enough thanks

[slozhnos]

one thing i really love about the great gatsby musical is the depth they give myrtle. in the book you don’t really know that much about her outside of her relationships with tom and george, but you get to really see the depth they added in “one way road” showing her feelings and actions right up to her death, and how those led up to her being in the road in the first place

[stormikins]

YALL

the purely wonderful @messydiabolical made this and now everyone needs to see this right fucking now

[dykeogenes]

okay listen neil newbon would absolutely deserve to win best performance for astarion at the game awards and I’m going to applaud if and when he does. however. if devora wilde isn’t at least NOMINATED alongside him you can all expect me to make some angry posts about it.

[bananahkim]

CHAPPELL ROAN DID MY MAKEUP AND INTRODUCED ME TO HER FRIENDS IN MY DREAMS

[chevelleneech]

Canonically, the 118 brought Evan Buckley the father he’s always deserved, and a son to love the way he deserved to be loved when he was a child.

[maddymoreau]

(⸝⸝⸝> ·̮ <)◞♥︎ Courier Six icon drawn by @alecrawing

Commission Info: https://vgen.co/Alecrawing

[chonideno]

hi just dropped by to fill my queue again and there's lots of jjk on the menu because i finally binge-read it and i get it now. but also i don't like what the author's been doing for the past year or so. anyway! lots of other things also on the menu. and life's going good, going really well actually, and i hope my mutuals are doing good too. love you bye!

[theghoulboysblog]

I’m pretty sure he talked about other things, but your post makes it seem like all he talked about was Shane and it’s making me laugh 😆

haha nope actually! 😭 i thought about putting this in the original post cause i had a feeling someone would comment about how much shane talk was in the post! :)

my post was a summary of everything that happened at ryan’s interview! yes, my post makes it seem like he mostly talked about shane! but that’s because that’s precisely what happened lmao!

obviously, ryan’s job very closely includes shane, so many of the questions he was asked ended up being pretty shane-related (what is your favorite moment with shane, are you and shane actually friends, what do you and shane do for work, how did you and shane meet, how did shane convince you to do puppet history, etc.)

due to that, most of the show was pretty much about shane and their joint job together! (which is perfectly okay! :) i didn’t mind at all cause i love hearing about them both! this is just an explanation as to the content of my og post 😭)

he talked about aliens, mari, anxiety, making content, and vinny for a good amount of time, but most of it was indeed shane talk haha!

so i hope that explains it!!! thanks for the ask anon! <3