#and now I've given up

[sevencardigans]

 I can’t even put into words how much joy and energy Aleks brings into my life. Watching him get torn apart in Wengen from the TV, then airlifted, rushing with my family to meet Henrik Legernes (such a hero during this time) at the hospital while Aleks went straight into surgery…and then finally seeing him as he was waking up hours later, confused and just repeating “I f*ed myself up so bad”…I don’t even know how to explain this, but it made me want to burn down the universe. But through every step of this process, he has been so beautiful and kind and thankful. He has not lost his patience once, even though he has had plenty of reasons to. He is inspiring and thoughtful and caring and he brings out the best in everyone around him, even in his most difficult moments. I went into the race last night with the thought, “if you’re gonna be here now, instead of with him, then you better make it worth it.” - Mikaela Shiffrin (x)

[demi-pixellated]

✨⚔ The Veilguard 🛡✨

[asgardian--angels]

there's meta to be had about just how much of viktor's arc is about loneliness and the blatant visuals they use in his evolution about metamorphosis, butterflies, cocoons, in utero, etc, as he molts from a soft, vulnerable larva who keeps getting hurt in his bids for love and acceptance, into a hardened final form complete with an exoskeleton acting as both physical and emotional armor. a shield keeping his emotions in and the pain of loneliness and rejection out, until it's cracked and his humanity is forcefully exposed. like. sorry if it's just the entomologist in me but this was blatantly obvious the very first time i watched the show and I've been continually surprised that no one's really pointed this out. as a certified lonely person it struck such a deep cord with me, when he accepted his fate, his path ahead, to be one he'd have to walk alone, finally putting up that last seemingly impenetrable wall around his soft parts (but keeping the blanket, this signal that he never asked for this, and that he's not unreachable). So much of his s2 arc centered around not just his desire to right his wrongs and help the world, but to connect with others and not feel alone, both of which got twisted by the hexcore. His attempt to create a hivemind where no one would ever suffer loneliness or rejection or loss, and he would feel their souls with him as well (even though that was an illusion in the end, he truly believed it). The whole 'I now speak with all their voices' but he's just floating in an empty space. And for the consequence of the glorious evolution to be eternal solitude, it just drives home how that's the worst possible fate imaginable for Viktor.

[mobius-m-mobius]

#love the plot of 2x01

[mini-venigni]

Still doing redraws while I get used to drawing him! Man, I love drawing a twink with beautiful hair

[onaperduamedee]

See, if I stopped fighting it, even for a second, I'd be gone.

[screwpinecaprice]

Oh oof I slipped and hit them with dark and serious beam. 😣

[starscreamingg]

Okay I'm so sleep deprived so pardon whatever this is but something that's got me FUCKED up about ai generated pictures songs writing is that it just fucking kills the ability to analyse for me because there's no fucking INTENTION behind it. Like why was this decision made why were these colours used what does that say about the work NOTHING because a bunch of programming took work that DID have intent and theme and purposeful choices and turned it into SLOP. Like I COULD analyse this but it doesn't MEAN anything it's EMPTY I want to EXPLODEEE

[crimsonphantasmagoria]

Veilguard is not about regret

I've seen a lot of discussion going around about the themes of regret in Veilguard. In particular I've seen a couple of related claims thrown around: one, that Rook and the Veilguard companions are supposed to act as parallels/foils to Solas, an example of how to deal with regret healthily, and two, that Rook is a terrible foil to Solas because there's nothing that they've actually done that's worthy of regretting, and anything that they theoretically should regret (like helping disrupt the ritual that freed the Evanuris, whether you think that's a deserving accusation or not) they simply don't. I'm here to tell you that both these perspectives are true, and it's because Veilguard isn't actually about regret.

Let's start off by talking about the companions shall we. Let's list off the regrets in their storylines. Bellara regrets not being more careful and not somehow saving her brother. Taash regrets not making up with their mother before her death. Davrin doesn't actually have one of his own, instead the regret in his storyline is Isseya's regret about what happened with the Griffins. Emmrich's storyline is more about wavering on the brink of a choice, which may cause regret, though I suppose we could include regret about where his friend has ended up in life. Lucanis regrets what happened to his relationship with Illario. Neve regrets Aelia remaining free, and the death of Rana's partner. Harding regrets not seeing through Solas earlier, and also I suppose the fate of the Titans, though I'm not sure I would categorise what she feels about that as regret.

Are you seeing a pattern here? Let's elaborate on it further. While in the Regret Prison, Rook is confronted by three regrets: the loss of the secondary team leader, the loss of the companion who disabled the wards, and the loss of Varric. And the solution to all of these regrets is this: it wasn't your fault. Those companions, they knew the risks, and they volunteered to go into danger. It was their own choice.

Now Solas. Solas has a great many regrets. He regrets tranquilising the Titans. He regrets taking a body. He regrets killing Felassan. He regrets killing the fragment of Mythal that was in Flemeth. He regrets creating the Veil. He may even regret starting his slave rebellion, given everything that followed after, though that memory is unclear what the actual regret is. These are all active choices he made. The only comparable regrets amongst the companion's storylines and Rook are Isseya's, and sort-of Emmrich's. I'll come back to Emmrich later. Isseya's regrets are actually a pretty good comparison point, except, as is obvious, that's not actually Davrin's storyline. Davrin's regrets on the Griffon front are more institutional, and feed into his storyline about having been made into a weapon, and what to do with yourself after your purpose as a weapon has been served. Actually a pretty good parallel with Solas! Except, once again, it wasn't really his choice, was it? And it's certainly not a choice about a horrifying atrocity he comitted.

Which brings us to Solas’s final regret. He regrets Mythal’s death (the first one). Except, that isn't his fault, is it? She chose to go and confront the Evanuris, rather than join the rebellion or run away with Solas. All he did was give her the information that they were interfering with the Blight, information that she would almost certainly have learned for herself eventually, and assuming she would have made the same choice to confront them would still have resulted in her death. The solution is: it wasn't his fault.

This is the regret that is being paralleled, by an overwhelming majority. And they're right, it isn't his fault and he should forgive himself for it. The thing is: this isn't regret. It's a twisted form of grief. Once you realise this, the whole theme starts unravelling, because not all regrets are created equal. I think this is why some people accuse the narrative of excusing Solas, or trying to sweep aside the things he's done: because it is. The whole message of Veilguard is that you should forgive yourself for the things you had no control over, except that Solas did have control over all those other regrets I listed out earlier, and I say that with a great deal of affection. He did that. He can't forgive himself because it wasn't his fault, because it was. Not all regrets are created equal. And the focus on the narrative of 'it wasn't your fault' means that people look for the person whose fault it was, and that blame lands on Mythal. Who does share some responsibility for some of those acts, but again the narrative is about deliberately pushing away culpability. I suppose one could make an argument for blaming Elgar’nan for everything? I think we should blame Elgar’nan for everything.

Indeed, the narrative focuses so hard on the idea of Solas doing everything because of Mythal, because of that twisted grief, that it completely loses sight of the actual reasons he had for doing the things he was doing. The spirits are trapped in the Fade, many of them yearning to access a world they naturally should have access to. The elves have been enslaved for millenia, and have lost almost everything about themselves, including their origins. Mages are either feared and reviled, or use their overwheling power advantage to lord over those who don't have the same access to magic. And let's not forget, two more Blights and the Veil comes down anyway, releasing the Turbo Blight (which he created) onto unsuspecting Thedas. Not to mention there were suggestions in Trespasser that there was something going on with the remaining ancient elves in Uthenara, who apparently vanished from existance along with his agents.

I mentioned earlier that I would come back to Emmrich. That's because his storyline, in my opinion, is the only one that actually depicts the theme they should have been going for with DA4, namely, when presented with a difficult moral choice, what will you do? What are you willing to sacrifice, and for what? In theory, as has been pointed out before, Bellara's archive choice might once have also been this: it is implied by the phrasing of 'free the spirit' that the Nadas Dirthalen was supposed to be a trapped sapient spirit, forced into servitude, rather that a fantasy VI, and the choice at the end would have been do you free the innocent at the cost of the knowledge you could extract? These naturally feed into: do you bring down the Veil, causing a great deal of sorrow and harm but also potentially creating a better, more equal future, or do you refuse to make such a great sacrifice of lives? At the very least, I think this theme would have stayed more true to the setup of Trespasser, as well as the design of the companion binary choice system, and who knows? Perhaps there might even have been a third option.

[shyrule]

the boy! inspired by @triforce-of-mischief:

very loosely based off of this panel from @/linkeduniverse:

and with text/textless versions:

[stealingpotatoes]

Oh my GOD I've fallen down the rabbit hole of your glorious skywalkers apart AU and quite apart from being ABSOLUTELY OBSESSED, I have to know if my boy Cal is around in it?!

yes but i never really developed it!! ok we all know i'm never gonna finish that comic script i'll just tell u guys -- in said script, after leia and anakin free Padme, they find out Luke was taken somewhere else which, after a family recon mission, they find is FORTRESS GODDAMN INQUISITORIUS! (which they assume is bc luke tried to use the force to stop the initial arrest, big mistake huge)

anyway all this to say cal's involvement was a tiny-mentioned cameo to explain why anakin knew how to infiltrate nur (the exact line i wrote in the never-finished-script was "we met this jedi survivor a few years back" + comments abt said survivor inflitrating nur 10 years ago yes it was that unsubtle) -- the idea was they had run into one another on a short mission in the past and then gone their separate ways!

[cq-studios]

You know I'm going around and sending asks to people now so I think its probably time to let some cats out of the bag.

So for the last month or so I have been working on making a comprehensive timeline of all the KHUXDRML Tumblr memes/events/just general ML/KH events with the goal of making a YouTube Video/Pseudo-Documentary about the wait for Missing Link

It'll be focusing primarily on us here, since that is what I'm most familiar with and will cover as much as I possibly can, big or small.

I'm a sucker for mundane history so why not help archive it, you know?

With that said, I'm doing my best to find as many posts as I can about some specific topics and it would be awesome if y'all could help me find some ^^

(Nothing will be used in the video itself without permission but literally anything helps)

(Subjects/Time frames in question are under the cut)

Alrighty, so the stuff I am currently looking for is...

The Baldr Slasher Posters Posts that mark the end of the first news drought and about the KHML twitter finally posting again (around October 23, 2023) Bagelposting Horseposting Plushiemer Baldr Hammock Getting Brain off that Balcony Fungor Brain in Kalos "It could be _____"

I have a pretty cohesive list of the Thor stuff, Baldr Jumpscare, and What's Your Favourite Step but if you want to send some of that over too I'll still take it.

Anything not on this list you think should be included? Awesome! Let me know. Send me links. I'll add it in.

Don't care how you send me things I'll take asks, DMs, replies, what have yous.

(Also quick disclaimer: Not everything I'm covering is in this post. There's still a lot more I'm planning this is just the aspect I'm currently focusing on)

[mobius-m-mobius]

It's a pretty cool name.

Loki + the progression of saying Mobius' name for @percheduphere

[tennessoui]

aaaaa can i request #44?!?

absolutely of course you can 🫶

[from this list of prompts]

[5. 'are you jealous' - 27. 'i'm pregnant' - 46. 'hey, have you seen...? oh']

44. 'if you die, i'm gonna kill you'

"Hey, hey," Anakin hears. Or feels, rather, as each word is punctuated by an ungentle tap against his cheek. Which is really sort of rude, considering that the last thing Anakin remembers is taking a grenade to the chest.

The least Vos can do is be nice to whatever's left of his dying body. He hopes the grumble of dissatisfaction he makes conveys this, because he can't find the energy to actually speak, let alone turn his head away from the hand on his face.

"No, nope, c'mon, Skywalker. Get up. Keep those eyes open. There you go. You're fine."

Anakin doesn't feel very fine. He feels disjointed and confused. He's in so much pain that it's honestly hard to focus on anything else, not even the blurry vision of Quinlan Vos' face leaning over him.

There'd been the grenade. So for all intents and purposes, Anakin should be dead, not dying. He'd been wearing armor, at least. Obi-Wan had given him his armor before sending him into the caves with Vos. He thinks. He remembers that, the way his master had taken Master Vos aside for a conversation that looked tense and unhappy, even to Anakin's eyes. And then his master had taken off the armor provided by the planet's guards--something heavier than what Anakin had, higher tech and sturdier--and given it to Anakin. It'd still been warm from Obi-Wan's body heat when he'd helped him fasten the straps around him.

His master. Anakin needs to--if there are grenades around, if the rebel group has access to that sort of fire power, if they're here in these caves with grenades while Anakin's master is walking about without armor--

"You're fine," Vos tells him, tugging once, sharply, on the padawan braid hanging down Anakin's throat. "Missing a bit of your side, but of your--your arm, but you're fine."

Anakin doesn't feel fine. Anakin has no idea how he feels. Anakin needs to find his master. He can't--

"Swear to the Force, Skywalker, if you die--I'm gonna kill you. Cause Obi-Wan's gonna kill me," Vos is muttering and Anakin can feel his hands ghosting along the site of the injury. It must not be good. He doesn't sound like it's good. He doesn't sound like Anakin's going to be fine.

But at the sound of Obi-Wan's name, Anakin forces his eyes open into slits once more. "'ll be fine," he tells Vos.

"Damn right you will," Vos replies, and suddenly his hands are tighter on Anakin, pressure being applied that lifts him up off the ground.

"No, not--" Anakin says, and he can hear the way he's slurring his words. He can hear the sound of his breath and the beating of his heart. "He'll be fin'."

It's easier to let his head flop down against his chest than to try and lift it to see where they're going. If they're moving somewhere, he trusts Master Vos enough to get them there, even though it's at least partially the man's fault that he went and got himself blown up. After all, he'd pushed Vos out of the way of the explosive the moment he felt it flying through the Force. So really, it's his fault.

He wonders if he should say that out loud. If Vos already thinks it, if it matters.

He doesn't think it matters, really.

"Oh, he'll be fine?" Vos asks, and Anakin's dropped--at least gently this time--against the wall of the tunnel as Vos pushes against a door with the Force. Checking for danger. Securing the area. "He'd be devastated, Skywalker."

"Get a new on'," Anakin disagrees, going limp the moment Vos' hands lift him up again. It hurts. It still hurts. And there's the dark promise of sleep licking at the back of his mind. It'd be so easy to fall into, if he could just stop arguing with Quinlan Vos. "Jus' a padawan."

Just a padawan, just an obligation. They've been butting heads more and more frequently ever since Anakin turned sixteen. That was a year ago now. Their quarters are silent usually, but tensely so. Anakin spends a lot of his time in places he's not supposed to be: the beds of other padawans, the Lower levels podracing, the occasional jail cell if he can't run fast enough. Obi-Wan, he thinks, spends a lot of time tired. Regretful. Unable to look at him, which rankles more so than the cuffs the Coruscanti cops have put on him to keep him subdued on the way to the jail.

If Anakin were to--if he--if this...if he doesn't make it out of these tunnels, Obi-Wan'll be alright. Eventually.

Except Obi-Wan needs his armor back. That's where they're going, Anakin's sure. He needs protection because it's dangerous down here and Obi-Wan gave his protection away, gave it to Anakin.

Vos huffs--some kind of combination of a snort of laughter and genuine exertion from the strain of Anakin's weight. "Alright, kid. Sure, you're replaceable. But I'm not, and if you die because I accidentally blew you up on a mission, Obi-Wan's gonna kill me. And he needs a best friend, so if you die, then I die, what's the man gonna do?"

Anakin lets his eyes close. "Needs me," he slurs out nonsensically. Not because they mean anything. He just likes the way they sound.

"Yeah, that's what I've been trying to--oh, thank the Force, Kenobi--get your med-pac, he needs--"

"Anakin," and that's his master's voice, high and distressed and threaded with something Anakin can't name and has never heard before. "What happened? Vos, what--his arm, his chest--what did you--"

Hands that are familiar and roughly calloused and heart-stoppingly gentle cradle Anakin's face, lifts him up and out of Vos' hold, and Anakin registers a brief flash of his master's face--wide eyes, furrowed eyebrows, a clenched jaw--and then he lets the darkness overtake him. Safe. They're both safe now because they're here, together.

[tiredsurvivoronmain]

When you and the killer have matching charms

[icantalk710]

Looong day of catching up on emails and work to set myself up to be (mostly) on vacation as of xmas 😩☕😵‍💫