#bet we can make some

[alasforher]

[brother-emperors]

listen. listen, there's a kind of intimacy in having a dedicated rivalry, okay. who else is going to know you like this!!! also it's funny

Ascanio Maria Sforza: la parabola politica di un cardinale-principe del Rinascimento, Marco Pellegrini

Julius II: The Warrior Pope, Christine Shaw

and on della rovere’s soldier comment:

Popes, Cardinals and War: The Military Church in Renaissance and Early Modern Europe, D.S. Chambers

and finally! regarding the delightful Mess of political-family relationships, including the marriage comment (altho the montefeltro family that giovanni married into did have sforza family ties, since giovanna's mother was battista sforza, but this is about the more immediate alliance based relationship and della rovere's hand in the rejection of a milanese match for his brother. and. this is not even remotely a serious comic, but now I am once again thinking about insular all these families are. the fucking medicis are here too, if you go half a step to the left on della rovere's family tree)

Julius II: The Warrior Pope, Christine Shaw

Giulio II, Il papa del Rinascimento, Giulio Busi (Bianca Maria Visconti is Ascanio's mom. btw)

panel inserts of the cards they're playing with are all from the Visconti-Sforza tarot deck! (I used public domain scans/photos for the comic itself)

ko-fi!⭐ bsky ⭐ pixiv ⭐ pillowfort ⭐ cohost ⭐ cara.app

[moeblob]

Happy Birthday to Ferdinand von Aegir!

I actually made 33 emotes, affectionately known as Aegirglyphics to some, for my own personal use on discord. However, I figure why not share some of them! They're free to use for discord servers/icons/pfps or whatever. However, my only request is Do NOT use them as subscriber emotes on Twitch. You can make them free follower emotes but you are not to make them locked behind a paywall.

[kaeyachi]

Kaeya had always been an efficient and hard-working individual (he had to be to support Diluc in the background as his brother rose thru the ranks after all).

He has so much free time because he completes all his work way ahead of schedule. And if he still has enough time, he adds more to the workload in secret.

And once all of that was done and over with, he makes time for everyone. He has to. He feels as if every moment has to be given to someone else.

No one knows how he does it. No one has to know.

Every mission has a dozen strategies in line, and every battle plan is made with efficiency in mind. His perfect record will not be tarnished. He can't risk it (even if it baffles others that he would willingly activate a ruin guard just to prevent a failed mission. Jean disagrees with his methods, but Kaeya can say that the results say otherwise)

He needs to be quick.

Efficient.

Perfect.

And so he comes and goes like the wind.

Kaeya values time because he knew every second counted. He can't just stand there as if he were frozen. Time could run out in an instant.

Kaeya had only been late once his entire life.

He'd rather he never be late ever again.

It took one day of being of being imperfect for everything to fall apart. On that tragic day...had he gotten there on time... then maybe...

.

.

.

" Come on, let's get moving, traveler. We're not frozen in place after all. " Kaeya teasingly says. He stiffles a giggle at the traveler's exhasperated sigh.

"Yeah yeah, we've heard enough of you calling us a slacker. Can't you be a bit more patient?" Paimon whines at him.

Kaeya snorts, but acquiesces, hiding the shaking of his hands at the thought of being idle.

He imagines hearing a clock ticking.

Kaeya knows that that is his own problem. He tries his hardest to relax as he waits for the traveler to finish whatever they're making on the alchemy table because, seriously, it is supposed to be a relaxing day. There's nothing major going on, and his schedule is once again empty as intended. What's the hurry?

Kaeya taps his foot on the ground as he waits. He wishes he could take his own damn advice when he tells others to relax.

[schmweed]

[coffeebanana]

istg half of the post-s5 finale fics i see have some sort of disclaimer in the tags or summary (or i even just saw one in the title!!) saying the fic was written because the show sucks or the finale sucked or they just hated everything about it

and it's frustrating because i probably would have enjoyed a lot of these fics! but now i'm not even going to touch them because i don't want to engage with people shitting on the show

[backpackingspace]

Young odysseus convincing everyone Ithaca is nothing but a poor island with rocks and goats to avoid any raids/conquerors/so he doesn't get murdered for talking to Helen bc "it's not like he's a real choice"

Young odysseus falling in love with Penelope at the same event: wait. Wait shit I fucked up hold on just hear me out

[deer-vision]

a fictional character could be the most vile, evil, unforgivable, manipulative, horrible person ever and progressively get worse but have a hot voice and personality(/demeanor) and neurodivergent people lacking a stable father figure will still be like “i could fix them they’re so bbg 😍😍”

he’s so cute and pure and innocent he’s never done anything wrong 🥺

[yuridovewing]

i understand the frustration with “i made this gay pairing cis x trans so they can still have biological babies” with no thought to other methods and how ppl assume thats the case when it comes to mothpool aus where mothwing is also the mother of the three, but also…. idk i kinda dont give a shit if someone wants to do that and i dont really think its inherently transphobic as long as its handled with care and respect.

what really concerns me about this debate is how some people are adamant that you cannot portray trans people having biological children in media or youre being disrespectful. and im gonna say as a nonbinary person who doesnt want children for themself- thats kinda fucking weird? like i understand that for some people, theyre trans themselves and theyre speaking from a place of dysphoria, and i absolutely get that, which is why i think the topic should be handled with nuance and diversity in trans characters, but like…. guys. pregnant trans men exist irl. trans women get people pregnant irl. trans ppl’s ability and right to parent and have biological children are being debated irl. we get denied the opportunity to adopt as well.

in a climate like this, are we SURE we want the stance on rewrites and headcanons in the silly cat books to be “if you portray trans characters having children, especially with a gay couple, youre a transphobic freak no matter what!” does it really matter? especially if its being done by a trans person handling the topic with nuance who has a lot of trans characters with varying perspectives?

obviously yes, remember that thats not the only way certain gay couples can have kids, remember that not every trans person is fully comfortable with it and keep that in mind, remember that surrogacy and adoption are also perfectly valid ways to give fan babies- but remember that there are OPTIONS. not that you need to condemn the idea of transgender parents in the first place unless they fit the very specific criteria of “proper transgender representation” and anything that dares deviate from that is proof the op is a transphobic monster (bonus points if theyre a trans creator bc i mostly see trans people getting shit for this and it kinda pisses me off. although idm if cis people do it either as long as theyre handling it with respect)

[alifeasvivid]

America and Canada are (nearly) identical twins and I bet they do damn good impersonations of each other. I want them to switch places and not switch back until someone notices and at first they really like it. America gets to chill out of the spotlight for awhile. Canada gets lots of attention... but then it starts to wear out, right? America gets lonely and bored. Canada gets anxious and stressed. But no one has really noticed yet--they haven't had much interaction with other nations recently and their people are totally oblivious. So they start really acting out, trying to get someone to notice they've switched... It can be a Disney Channel Original Movie call it National Identity Crisis or smth

[qsmprambling]

Imagine Egg A1 still has one life left, and it somehow manages to escape the facility... It is being followed by mobs, by Federation employees, being hurt by the poison ivy and other environmental threats, but it keeps running, because what other choice is there? That parkour course was a trick after all, the last block was a fake, it was never meant to pass that test in the first place.

So it keeps running, but the Federation workers are getting closer. It won't be able to avoid them forever...

But then it bursts through some bushes and comes face to face with someone new - and it's Bad, out building or exploring or just wandering alone. A1 is immediately afraid, of course. It is a stranger, a very visually striking stranger, the complete opposite of the pure white and featureless employees of the Federation. But there are people close behind, and it knows what will happen to it if it is caught, so... It has no choice but to try. It has no way to communicate, no signs or books, so it simply rushes to hide behind him and hopes he understands, and that he is willing to help...

And Bad, for his part, well.. he's an extremely cautious and paranoid person, and this is just an incredibly confusing and unexpected situation to be in. An unknown egg appeared out of nowhere and is hiding behind him, he can see Federation employees in the distance that are clearly looking for something... He knows that the code has been disguising itself as eggs, and that the strange egg in front of him with no marks, no distinguishing features, an egg that he has never seen before, could easily be the code monster preparing to attack at any moment...

But there is absolutely no way Bad could ever look at an egg in distress and not try to help it, even knowing it could be a trap.

So he quickly digs a shallow hole and pushes the mysterious egg into it, covering it up just in time, and when the employees throw him a book asking if he had seen anything, he lies effortlessly, he complains about nonsense, he asks them where the Ekea is and is as annoying as he can be, until they leave.

And now they're alone... just Bad an this mystery egg in the middle of the woods, A1 too afraid to leave the hole even when Bad tries to coax it out. He gives it food and tries his best to comfort it, to tell it everything is okay and that the pursuers are gone. He gives it some signs and a book, trying to see if it will write anything to him or answer any of his questions, but he gets no reply. A1 is just too afraid to even attempt to answer, and Bad doesn't even know if it understands him. He tries what few words he does know of the other languages, and still no response.

What should he do? As much as the image of a tiny, terrified egg makes him want to do all he can for it he also needs to be safe. He can't bring it home, because if it is a code there is no way he is bringing it anywhere near Dapper. Should he call someone else for help, or would that draw too much attention? Would it even be safe for him or the egg to let anyone know right now? And was this egg dangerous, or harmless and in need of protection? He wouldn't abandon it regardless but...

What now?

[ganondoodle]

just to note this, as much as i love botw, i am not uncritical of it, like while i personally like the weapon breaking and rain mechanics everyone else seemed to hate i do agree that the bosses and dungeons were kinda repetetive and there could have been more bigger sidequests, some more diverse epic music tracks also wouldnt have hurt tho i fully disagree with anyone trying to claim it didnt HAVE music, im convinced those people played it with sound off bc wth (edit. plus the unfortunately still orientalist design of the gerudo plus that belly dancer outfit for link ... that thankfully got removed in totk as far as i know but the rest still stands)

personal criticism id have that i would have prefered zelda never gaining her sacred powers but instead finding a different way to fight back, bc her gaining them like that kinda made rhoams abuse .. right, like turns out to activate her powers you need to literall kill everyone she cares about (at least thats why i feel a bit meh about that), her maybe not being as sidelined like that (tho youd have to change alot for that .. which totk had the perfect chance to and then kinda did it again but worse lol) and the yiga clan being less of one little side mission

(also way too many people kept hating on botw for the same few reasons, often without giving it a chance, i think we all heard all the endless complaints about usually little things so i dont need to retread all of that)

alot of those little criticism things got adressed in totk, which i LIKED, but overall its so much less in harmony, this should have been a game about rebuilding and recovering about working together and then zelda gets immediately booted off and we get introduced to characters we never learn enough of to really care and yet they still take away the mystery botw had left us for the world to feel more alive, they ripped out parts that were so internally organically connected to the world and pretended they never mattered nor existed, characters act off and i cant help but feel like the main 'plot' is, as much as i hate to use that comparison, a badly written fanfiction ... it builds on nothing and just leaves you .. or me at least feeling empty, like i am playing through a mockery of the game i loved ... like all the fun i had thinking about the things in botw, the theories you could come up with was all wasted time

i honestly cant describe it better than totk, despite the little QoL changes, and the changes i DID like, it just feels ... empty? not in a literal way but more ... mentally? it feels so shallow? like at multiple points i felt like the game was actively mocking me, when i reached the shrine of life and was faced with barren walls and a puddle of water i felt betrayed for caring so much about what botw had done .. i felt like i could hear the game laughing while i stood there not knowing what to think of it, and while this was the time when i felt the most actually physically compeltely betrayed, that feeling of being mocked kept happening, i kept feeling like i was treated like a dumb player character that just eats up anything they say without thinking or remembering the title this was supposedly a sequel of, like i should play with the little toys of glueing things together and forget the world around me like a 5 year old

that may sound harsh but that is how i, personally, feel about it

[etapereine]

schrödinger’s gc favorite

[thecityofdoors]

what were ketheric and durge arguing about in the memory? wrong answers only

[l-in-the-light]

Chapter 1125 comments (including some spoilers!)

I wasn't gonna write anything about this chapter, but... but! Stussy! I can't stop thinking about it, so I might as well share. The rest under cut! I will remove the cut after the chapter stops being so new lol.

"What about Stussy?" asks some random agent.

"Killed" answered Lucci.

You might think, what happened here? Last time we heard about Stussy Kaku was letting her go! In fact, he was. But look at him here. His eyes are hidden. Remember the golden rule of One Piece? Characters whose eyes are hidden (at least in some way) are lying. Kaku lied to Lucci. He told him he killed her for her treason!

Let's go back a bit so you get where I'm coming from with this:

Kaku, clearly torn internally, told Stussy to go. He's not gonna do anything to her. Meanwhile Stussy is crying, because her friendship was just rejected, Kaku didn't do it because he hates her. It was the contrary: it was his mercy, it's a white lie. He says that just because he knows Lucci won't show her mercy if he arrives, that's why Kaku wants her to go and go away fast. He's saving her life. Let's go even further back:

Stussy wants to allow Kaku to escape.

Kaku is touched here, making very sad and torn expression. He was just shown mercy by someone he thought is an enemy, but actually learned that Stussy always considered him a friend and that's why she's sparing his life. What he does later is basically the same: he returns the favour, he spares Stussy's life back, even if he does it by lying. He does consider her his friend. But now she might never know about that.

But then, you might ask, it might have been just Lucci lying, right? It didn't have to be Kaku. Nah, it was Kaku. As much as I'm not a big fan of Lucci (but I learned to like him a bit more upon rereading), it just doesn't fit his personality. Let's look at how he behaved in other moments of Egghead arc:

Sneakily reporting to the World Government despite temporary alliance with Strawhats. That guy will not lie to spare a friend's life and Kaku is (most likely anyway) right when he assumes that, at least from what we know about Lucci. Lucci is loyal to a fault and loyal to the worst player in the game: Gorosei. He would not spare Stussy.

And here we go, his declaration and surprisingly honest answer. He can't even pretend his goal is something different, even though it would suit his purpose (temporary alliance would be in his favour!). He almost ruined their chance by blurting things out like that. So yeah, Rob Lucci? Not a great liar apparently, especially not when it comes to his job.

Kaku on the other hand can lie, he seems modest at first glance, but he can lie and he lies well, if his long nose is any indication of that. Oh, I'm so funny.

So that's my conclusion: Kaku lied to Lucci that he killed Stussy (and he lied about that to save her), while in reality he let her go.

But then where is Stussy? Many people expected her to be a stowaway on Giants or Strawhats ship, but we had a feast already and she clearly isn't there. Unless she wants to keep hiding forever (which she has no reason to, Strawhats know already she helped them and is an ally!), then the most logical conclusion is: she's not there.

The answer I have here will enter the possible spoiler territory for the future chapters, so please don't read any further if you're not alright with that. I just have to get my concerns out of my head, ok.

Remember "Nightmare of Baldimore"? It was called officially an Incident. And what was Egghead supposed to be called in the future? "Egghead Incident".

Now let me remind you of this neat fact that One Piece wiki oh so helpfully summarizes:

Two things noteworthy here: every single lab/base of Vegapunk is equipped with a self-destruct button. Punk Hazard and Baldimore are both winter islands. Coincidentally, so was Egghead, before Vegapunk did modifications to it. And it for sure also has a self-destruct button.

I had a prediction forever ago that Egghead Incident will end up being Baldimore and Punk Hazard all over again. After all third time's the charm, right? That would explain why it's called an "Incident", because all of Vegapunk's self-destructing events are called that as well.

So I guess I will get my big explosion at the very, very end of Egghead's arc, just like I wanted. I just wish it wouldn't involve Stussy self-sacrifcing herself for that.

Eh, why do I think she would do that?

she's missing in action

she just lost two of the only purposes she had to live for: Vegapunk and friends from CP0 (she betrayed the latter for Vegapunk)

she's officially now proclaimed dead, which means she has no place to return to either, because it will be announced to the world that she died

Also just look at her expressions above. The way she reacts to Edison telling her to escape on her own. Stussy is like "..." and then changes topic and asks for Kaku to be released instead so he can escape. She knew already her options are fucked.

I don't think she aims to escape. She's staying and if she's staying, there's only one thing left for her to do. Make the ultimate sacrifice so that Vegapunk's wish at least can come true. And I don't mean his ultimate dream of changing the mankind's future. I mean this wish:

"I pray the Mother Flame never gets perfected".

No worries about that if the whole island explodes and the Mother Flame gets destroyed along with it as well. I'm afraid it sadly fits Stussy's personality a bit too well. She has very low self-esteem to the point she doesn't even consider herself human, she just lost everything that was dear for her and the only people who cared for her. She already showed the signs of pure disregard for her own life. So at least she can make sure Vegapunk's last wish gets fullfilled.

I just really hope I'm wrong or at least that someone will stop her... I kinda like her, I didn't know her for long and I didn't really pay much attention to her in WCI, but I liked her in Egghead... I really like the dilemma around her and her humanity. I really digged the fandom's idea of Stussy adopting Bonney because that would give her such a positive new purpose in life. Ugh I'm not even sure if I'm ready for this heartbreak. But damn, that would finish Egghead on a high note indeed. And it would further weaken the World Government: we could get rid of Mother Flame, York (she's still on Egghead and is their only connection to Vegapunk's Records) and perhaps even Seraphims in one sweep explosion.

Of course I might still be wrong. Maybe there's nothing more to the "Egghead Incident" name. Maybe it's indeed just the Vegapunk's broadcast that shocked the world and nothing more to it. Though if you were part of the One Piece world, would you call the broadcast "Egghead Incident"? It was broadcasted to the whole world and the world wouldn't know how to connect it to the island of Egghead. It would make no sense if the incident is called by the name of the island imo. Unless something happens on said island as the result...

[dreamcatchr]

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