#and she looked good doing it too

[astrology-bf]

venatposting again

Spoilers for Endwalker under the cut, along with a disclaimer these are my silly thoughts. ❤️

I don't think it's remotely controversial to say that Endwalker's story is about hope. The theme song, Footfalls, has a verse about 'the Song of Hope', the final boss is the incarnation of despair, and the narrative is dominated by the contrast between the side occupied by people like Venat and G'raha Tia - whose arcs are defined by hope in the face of hopeless circumstance - with the side occupied by people like the Ancients and their chief representative within the story, Emet-Selch, who give into despair and end up destroying themselves through recklessness, violence, and apathy. Emet-Selch being the narrator of Endwalker is doubly interesting because despite living a life defined by failing to recognize the value of hope (personified in the figure of Azem, and I would recommend reading @siderealcity 's post about the astrological meaning of Azem being 'the sun' as it relates to the Convocation being their best selves for more on that) Emet-Selch nonetheless kept himself going for more than twelve thousand years by the hope of a return to the World Unsundered. And on that note... about Elpis.

In Greek mythology, 'Elpis' is the personified spirit of hope who - in Hesiod's version at least - is only gifted to humanity after all the other evils contained within Pandora's Box have been unleashed. Evils like...

"...excruciating pain. I breathe fire and torment. I birth a world of suffering to mire and plague. In one fleeting moment, lives come and go. Ever moving towards the unknown. And in that fleeting moment, they cry for the answer to the question: Why, given life, are they meant to suffer? To die?"

By the point at which Venat adopts the mantle of Hydaelyn and sunders Etheirys, the World Unsundered is already doomed. Even if the plan involving Zodiark succeeded as intended, all that would result is Etheirys ending up on an identical course to the Nibirun as seen in the Dead Ends - the society which ended with their best and brightest raising their arms to summon a deity who would lull their planet into a painless suicide. The comparison is cinematically explicit, too:

As is the point at which the Nibirun are first referenced, and Venat realizes the Ancients are already on a suicidal course:

Another thing which tends to get overlooked is the fact that the World Unsundered, on top of being a conformist dystopia based on a disregard for the value of life, had not only suicidally failed by the point we as the Warrior of Light see it - it had failed so monumentally as to nearly be responsible for the termination of life in the known universe. The Ancients are what produced someone like Hermes and then put him in a position where he was able to create a concept like Meteion, and then further put her into a position where her instinctive response was to initiate the Final Days. None of that would have happened in a society which could give people like Hermes meaning, nor one which actually treated their creations (i.e. their children) well and would have objected to the circumstances surrounding Meteion's creation and mission.

Of course what Venat did was a massive crime in the sense of the suffering it engendered and all of the history and legacy it ended up destroying, but it's an ethical problem which the narrative firmly weights in her favor. She's a lapsarian figure in the sense of being someone who facilitates humanity's fall from paradise; but (arguably) unlike Lucifer within Paradise Los, Endwalker makes the explicit case of the necessity of the fall, for sin, for humanity to be human. Compare "sin" with "fantasy":

Endwalker isn't just a story that tells its readers to hope, but also one that uses its time to tell us why it's important to do so. More than that, it reminds us that true happiness involves cognizance of the needs of others, and of the world.

Easy paths to "paradise" like hedonism (Eulmore, Allag) or fascism (Garlemald, Alexandria) don't offer real happiness because they only externalize the costs and the suffering - much as the Ancients did to Etheirys and the universe at large through Zodiark and Meteion. True happiness, within the MSQ, is found when parties reckon with their differences and come to terms as the Eorzean city-states do with folk they call beast tribes, and even after Endwalker as we see with the lessons being reiterated in Dawntrail.

Reckoning with differences invariably involves struggle, and getting through struggle requires hope: meaningful happiness, then, is one that is earned by walking towards even if the path is sometimes rocky, and after a certain point questions about the 'why' of suffering become unproductive. What Venat offered was true paradise: not "heaven", but the realization that facing life and its difficulties is in fact worth it, even if hellish within one's own mind.

You could say she rejected Zodiark's instrumentality, lol.

[chloesimaginationthings]

FNAF Roxy and Vanny have some girl time,,

[egophiliac]

since Eng is getting 7.5 soon(?), I felt motivated to go back to my Meleanor rig and make her a couple of lesson animations! ...except for alchemy, because the cauldron bubbles proved too hard to photoshop around, whoops.

maybe she just got lost on her way to the classroom...?

(credit: backgrounds are from the game, I just put her on top of 'em)

(aside from the backgrounds, this is not an edit, I drew her from scratch! please do not tag or treat as an edit!)

[bunnieswithknives]

I feel bad for neglecting Hazel so much, I do have many thoughts about her.. and also a mermaid au that im probably not going to do anything with

[musubiki]

.🖤🔄🤍.

[claraoswalds]

#mrs flood who are you: time lord edition

[hinamie]

Your face in profile, with a look I'd never seen

jjk atla!au with @philosophiums

[strawbie-doodle]

havent drawn all of them in a WHILE ✸

[3cosmicfrogs]

oh 12.65 litres of blood clinging to the outside of my body, we're really in it now

[tanzdoesthings]

laments

[haunted-xander]

What's there to be afraid of?

[vellichorsdesire]

finding out your f/o has a picture of you as their wallpaper or vice versa… bonus if it’s a really stupid/blurry one. or something either of you didn’t know the other took a picture of, like sleeping or being busy with something that ends up being a favorite of theirs/yours

[firehose118]

Let me get a taste

{ao3 link}

“Hen asked if we’re fucking,” Tommy says as he sits down at their table with his cake.

“Uh, what?” Buck asks. There’s no way he heard Tommy correctly.

“Hen asked if we’re fucking,” Tommy repeats. He gestures between them with his fork. “You and me. Well, I guess technically she and Karen both asked. They ambushed me to ask about my intentions.”

He takes a bite of cake and eats it slowly, moaning at the taste, just to be an asshole and rub it in Buck’s face that he can’t have any. Buck sometimes wishes he was the kind of person who found that annoying, but he likes it when Tommy does stuff like this; teases him and plays with him just this side of mean. Really likes it. And Tommy knows it.

“What’d you say?” Buck asks, a little dazed, caught in the fantasy of licking frosting off of Tommy’s lip.

He wants cake so badly. It’s bad enough he had to skip the mac & cheese at the buffet, now this? The cake on Tommy’s plate looks soft and fruity. Fuck keto. Fuck bodybuilding. It’s not fair.

Tommy licks frosting off of his fork and Buck salivates. “I told them we’re taking it slow. You’re setting the pace, and I’m just trying to keep up.” He lifts an eyebrow and savors another bite of cake

Buck laughs. “You made it sound like we’re fucking like rabbits.”

“Mhmm,” Tommy says around the cake in his mouth.

“And you… also said we’re taking it slow?” Buck’s eyebrows pull together in confusion.

“I did. They’re gonna have a hell of a time figuring that one out.” Tommy smiles as he takes the next bite of cake, obviously proud of the trick he’s played on their friends.

“You might be evil,” Buck teases.

“You love it,” Tommy says, scrunching his nose. “And anyway, it’s none of their business. You’re not a teenage girl in 1954, going out with some biker from the wrong side of the tracks. You’re a grown man. You can suss out my intentions for yourself. I’d hope you know by now that I didn’t agree to a second date at your sister’s wedding just to get in your pants.”

“I do know that,” Buck assures him. Their sex life is pretty active—very satisfying—but they’ve spent far more time talking, working out, cooking, and even cuddling than they have with their dicks out. It’s probably the most well-rounded relationship Buck has ever had. He feels respected. “You’re a total gentleman.”

“I wouldn’t go that far. I have to admit,” Tommy pitches his voice down, “seeing you in that medal… I’m feeling a little less than honorable right now.” He gathers the last bite of cake onto his fork.

Buck feels a thrill run through his body at Tommy’s words, but he’s watching that cake with rapt attention. “Give me the last bite,” he says. He sounds pleading even to his own ears, so he doubles down. “Tommy, please.”

“No,” Tommy deadpans. “If you’re gonna break ketosis, you’re gonna do it with someone else’s cake.”

“I don’t want someone else’s cake, baby, I want yours.” Buck goes for charming, flirty, seductive, but he’s desperate. He hasn’t had any carbs in days and the cake smells so good. He’s about to launch himself at Tommy and take that last forkful of cake himself.

“Mmm, lucky me,” Tommy purrs. “Pretty boy wants my cake all to himself and here I am, just trying to keep up.”

Tommy pops the cake into his mouth just as Buck lunges at it. His hand lands on Tommy’s empty plate.

“Evil!” Buck gasps, laughing.

“You love it,” Tommy repeats around his mouthful of cake.

“I really do.”

Tommy barely has time to swallow before Buck is kissing him; open-mouthed and honestly a little too dirty considering where they are and which homophobic captains are still around. Buck is chasing the taste of cake and frosting on Tommy’s lips, on his tongue, and he can’t help but moan as the flavors swirl and burst to life in his mouth: vanilla and strawberry and Tommy. He’s never tasted anything better.

Tommy pulls back before Buck starts licking the sugar off of his teeth. He presses a hand into Buck’s chest to gently push him back into his seat.

“Easy there, Evan. We’re still in public.”

“We got medals for breaking the law.” Buck’s eyes are dark, hungry. Now that he’s had a taste he wants seconds, thirds. Tommy’s been teasing him and all Buck wants is to get his mouth back on Tommy and never come up for air. “We can do whatever we want.”

Tommy laughs. “If only that were true. Save your appetite, though. I might have some cake you can eat at home.” He smirks, eyebrow raised. “If you behave.”

Buck smiles, wide and flirty. “Is it keto-friendly?” He leans closer again.

“All protein, baby.”

[nicollekidman]

buffy knows spike loves her during season five. buffy knows spike loves her when she comes back and seeks comfort/silence in his presence. and as she comes back to herself and tries to make peace with the fact that she’s Here Again, she still knows he loves her. and i think part of the Big Bad Grabbing The Slayer For The Darkness routine they both cling to is that it allows them to pretend this huge thing isn’t between them so they can get what they both want (someone to stay).

and like obviously buffy cannot allow herself to believe that he loves her for many reasons, but she DOES believe it, she can’t make herself unknow it even though she tries so hard. which is partially where the breakdown with tara in 6.13 comes from because the cognitive dissonance of soulless spike loving her as if he has a soul while she is so lost within herself that the only way she can reach for him is to use him (which would be fine if he was the big bad grabbing the slayer for the darkness) which is hurting him! unfathomably! but he’s supposed to be the corruption! how can he??? any of it???

meanwhile spike has watched the woman he loves be brought back as a shell and he wants to see the light in her eyes and he can touch her now and sometimes that’s enough to make her laugh but he can’t linger in those moments or she’ll go away again! so he can play the role he needs to play so she’ll stay, as if he could keep her anywhere she didn’t want to be. as if he wants her to be in the dark instead of bringing him into the light. but how could he ask for anything more when he already got her back and he didn’t even need to kill her afterwards.

and so they hurt each other and he forgets himself and asks her if she even likes him and it’s too honest and he’s asking too much (he asks for nothing) so before she can throw her life away like it’s nothing, he puts the game face on, makes himself a target, and swallows it all. and she can’t unknow. and it would all be fine except he’s a vampire and she’s the slayer and how can he just say it like it’s nothing when she needs to beat his face in just to keep from screaming.

[melspontaneus]

[musubiki]

its been a while since my last summer mochi 🌺🏖️