#but it’s the Rule of Cool baby!!!

[coolshadowtwins]

Ok ok, hear me out. Hear me out hear me out hear me out-

So, let’s set the scene. You have the League of Villains in a room, and they are fighting Overhaul and the Eight Bullets. The why doesn’t matter. Maybe they are having a turf war, maybe the initial meeting is just going so much worse. It doesn’t matter.

What does matter is that everyone is there, every member of the League that’s important, and that they are fight Overhaul and his group.

Somehow, Overhaul manages to grab Dabi during this fight. He holds him down, calls the fighting off with the threat to his life. The League hates it, but takes a step back. Takes a step back, but doesn’t lowers their weapons- if they get attacked, the fighting is back on, regardless of Dabi’s life. Dabi would be pissed if it was any other way.

Overhaul’s angry right now. Maybe it’s just general angry over the fight, maybe he’s pissed about the circumstances that lead up to this chaos, that doesn’t matter either. All that matters is that Overhaul is pissed at the League, and decides that simply killing them is too easy.

He’s heard that Dabi’s quirk hurts him, and he can see from his burns just how badly. Dabi’s been fighting hard for the past little bit too, so his body is probably really hot to the touch right now. So, Overhaul decides, what better way to end this fight than to let a quirk get out of control?

He takes some trigger, and he stabs Dabi with it before anyone could process what he has done. Then he jumps back and away as the drug hits Dabi, yelling at his men to retreat. If he’s lucky, the out of control fire would kill the entire League, but even if he’s not, he could at see Dabi getting out of this alive.

Overhaul and crew hightail it out of there. The League doesn’t know what to do, and Dabi is just sitting there in pain, trying to keep his heightened quirk under control. Compress runs forward to try and compress him, to give them a little time to figure out how to help, when Dabi loses control.

Except, it’s not just blue flames that come out of him. Large chunks of ice appear too, spreading and blocking the flames and then melting under the heat. Then the cycle repeats, keeping the destruction contained.

Once the drug wears off, and they can go make sure Dabi is alright, they’ll realize what happened. The drug overloaded his quirk, but not just his flames. His ice resistance supposed to be a weak side effect to an actual ice quirk that he didn’t have, except that his ice resistance was his ice quirk. When he got hit by the drug, it made the second half of his quirk just powerful enough to be fully unlocked, giving him both ice and fire.

And then something something, angst probably from Dabi being like ‘if only this happened when I was a kid, then dad would have loved me’ and ‘I was never good enough under my own power I had to copy Shouto’s’.

And then probably some humor of Dabi and the League freaking the heroes out by making them think the League had found an ice user. The crimes scenes had so much evidence for someone with an ice quirk, but Hawks had been undercover for weeks! And no sign of another member! What gives?!

Endeavor and Shouto’s faces when Dabi reveals everything would be the highlight of his insane, manic week.

[vaguely-concerned]

I understand and agree with a lot of the frustrations about the shortcomings of Inquisition as a story. but sometimes when I hear people complain about the chosen one narrative in it I do want to just be like... you know it's a deconstruction of the concept more than anything, right. the inquisitor isn't actually chosen by anything except stumbling into the wrong (right?) room at the right (wrong?) time because they like, heard a noise or whatever. or if you think they are chosen, as many do in-universe, that's something you have to take on faith, the maker-or-whoever moves in mysterious ways indeed-style. the Inquisitor isn't actually a Destined Chosen One, they're a Just Some Guy in a fancy hat, self-delusions of grandeur to taste as you'd prefer.

a running thread that goes through all of the personal quests of the companions is the concept of a comforting lie vs. an uncomfortable truth, upholding old corrupt structures vs. disrupting them, and the role of faith in navigating that. (blackwall the warden vs. thom rainier the liar and murderer. hissrad vs. the iron bull, or is that the other way around? cassandra and the seekers -- do we tell the truth about what we find, even if it means dismantling the old order of the world? and so on.) and your inquisitor IS at the same time a comforting lie (a necessary one, in dark times? the game seems to ask) and an uncomfortable truth (we are the result of random fickle chance, no protective hand is held over the universe, it's on us to make a better world because the maker sure as hell won't lift a divine finger to help anyone, should he against all odds exist). faith wielded for political power... where's the point that it crosses the line into ugliness? is it before it even begins? what's the alternative? will anyone listen to the truth, if you tell it?

interesting how you also get a mix of companion agency in this -- you have characters like dorian who ALWAYS choose one side of the comforting lie vs. uncomfortable truth dichotomy. he will always make up his own mind to go back to tevinter and try to dismantle the corruption of the old system no matter what you say, or how you try to influence him. meanwhile iron bull is on the complete opposite side of the spectrum -- so psychologically trapped and mangled, caught in an impossible spiritual catch-22, that his sense of identity is left entirely to you and your mercy. you cannot change dorian in any way that matters; you can be his friend or not, support him or not, but he is whole no matter what. you are given incredible and potentially destructive-to-him power over bull's soul. it's really cool (and heartbreaking) to think about.

this is a game about how history will eat you even while you're still alive, and shape you into whatever image it pleases to serve it, and for all your incredible power right now you are powerless in the face of the gravitational force of time -- of more than time, of History. you won't recognize yourself in what History will make of you, because you belong to it now. you don't belong to yourself anymore and you never will again. the further you were from what it needs from you to begin with, the more you will find yourself distorted in its funhouse mirror. (why hello there inquisitor ameridan, same hat!)

and to me this is so much the core of what Dragon Age is about right from the Origins days -- how and by whom history gets written, the inherent unreliable narration of it all. I hope you like stories, Inquisitor. You are one now.

I do think it's probably still the weakest of the games narratively, and it's hampered by its structure and bloated systems. but I also find it disingenous to say that there's nothing deeper or actually interesting going on with it, thematically. if you're willing to engage with it there is Some Real Shit going on under the high fantasy-tinted surface.

[tubbytarchia]

Oh, I'll bow my head, I'll clip my wings I was never gonna make it anyway (x)

[happycrabitat]

Finn enjoying some corn! Pearl was into the pepper until I accidentally scared her away

[strange-destinations]

neck-deep in Ethersea again as I relisten to it, but not entirely sure how long the fixation is going to last, which means I have a long list of fic ideas that greatly interest me but I'm not prepared to commit to (including but not limited to):

character/relationship study for Finneas Cawl and the Boyar Hermine, because holy shit those two

something that might be an Amnesty AU but also might just be a mundane modern human!AU, which is just newly-escaped-from-the-local-cult Devo annoying the shit out of Amber as he repeatedly sticks his foot in his god damn mouth

the weirdest possible roleswap au where Benevolence = Devo, Cambria = Zoox and Coda = Amber, because I think Amber deserves to possess a big fuckin battleship, Zoox is basically already a primordial god as it is, and Devo would be a terrifying deity. the hand of benevolence, recently departed from the church of devotion, is known to his friends as benny. i wish i knew what to do with this beyond broad strokes

fic that's just zoox mindmelding with weirder and weirder things as devo and amber become increasingly less concerned about it. i mean this is basically just canon but you get what i mean. zoox trying to befriend the biggest baby.

devo's post-canon cross-timeline acid trip reality heist to find amber in the shark dimension. i can't remember the exact details of the final arc so this one's very vague.

actually there are no post-canon fixit fics at all (which is a crime), and i don't think i'm the one to write one either. but i have the perfect mental image of devo finally managing to somehow rip a hole through to the shark dimension only to walk in on amber and kodeira getting deeply sensual and quite frankly nasty. he is very relieved to find they're all right, but did NOT need to see this. maybe he'll come back later.

[winemom-culture]

In less than a week, Charlie goes with his dad for summer for the first time. I’ve carved out private time in my day to go cry about it for the past 3 and counting.

[its-kall-the-clown]

Me through gritted teeth: you can't keep using 'its for the gender envy' as an excuse to buy expensive clothes

Also me: *adds to cart*

[pestilentbrood]

Why is it that every time I meander my way back over here for a lil peek at what's poppin it's always staff stumbling over their own feet into more and more situations

[running-in-the-dark]

it's so funny when I rewatch a show but with a new/different/additional crush. like I'm rewatching the librarians with my partner right now and it just feels soo different lol

[star-mum]

Okay OP nation I have some (maybe controversial) statements about the Straw Hats and I need y’all to listEN FIRST OKAY- HEAR ME OUT

Boyfriend: Zoro and Franky

Husband: Usopp and Sanji

Girlfriend: Nami

Wife: Robin

Luffy: Aroace king

[veveisveryuncool]

okok i am 3 hours late but i finished my last piece for 2023 :]] it's a redraw of an old acrylicat oc, skylar, that i try to do every year

here are 2020 and 2022 for comparison (we don't speak of 2021)

[tigirl-and-co]

When ranking a Dragon Ball movie, I use the four Cs method

Listed in order of importance:

Characters (how much I like everybody in the movie + their dynamics. This includes heros and villains)

Coolness (how're the fight scenes? How hyped am I? Am I going to be quoting it until the day I die?)

Concept (Is something new and fun introduced? Or are they just gonna reveal some new space dickhead/Frieza is back and the solution is 'Punch Harder')

Coherency (does it make sense? Does previous DB lore back it up?)

So for instance, a movie that is very cool and fun to see (subjective) with characters I like to watch do stuff but that makes no sense literally at all will rank higher than a movie with a well-put together plot but with characters I've seen do shit all the time

It's why I have a fondness for Bio-Broly even though it sucks. I like when background characters get to fuck around and I think the idea of a fucked up Broly clone rules.

Concept basically measures 'is this just a worse version of a canon arc?' eg Cooler, Android 13, Tree of Might, that one DB movie I can't remember but also ends in the panty wish; else it measures how many times has dragon ball done this before, like 'there is a guy from space and he is strong' like Broly's Return

[happycrabitat]

Little guy discovered the wheel!

[hourglass-meadow]

i want artificer to get even worse

[the-owl-tree]

So do you have any straight answers on the redacted character (question)

Nothing straight about them (okay maybe like….fifty percent of them). I’ll confirm that redacted is Maggotstar! There’s been a few hints I’ve given as to what’s going on with them but some general notes on the OG character:

I big ol’ mix of inspiration from Scourge (striking design + impractical weapon), Brokenstar (eeevvviiilll clan leader that can be beaten by a kittypet apprentice) + Darktail (general sway over cats)

I know the dark brown tabby would’ve been more poignant for a wc villain but like….rule of cool, I wanna do some fun stuff lol a hairless cat villain would be ridiculous

In the story, she is the Big Bad that Frostblaze and Eagle have to fight. Leader of, uh, EevviiiilllClan. All that.

The little pouch I’ve given her? That’s a bear fang knife! (It’s a little small since I based it around how it would be human sized so I gotta fix that lol)

You have no idea how much I wanted to give her a gun just to harken back to that image of Ashfur with a gun

[screampied]

QUEEN MOTHER VAGENUS😭😭😭😭

i read thru ur fine print a few times and I'm pretty sure that i can uhm, say this but i only intend it as a compliment!!! i swear on my love for jjk dilfs.

i sometimes read ur fics while ny bf listens to me and we decide which one to recreate after a "reading sesh" plsplsplspls i didn't expect ur writing to make for such amazing..... um.... inspiration....

but yeah, we've barely made a dent in your fics and we're about to check out hoshi's works since i follow them as well!!

good luck to you in everything that you do, queen vegas♡♡♡

stop thisis so cute 😿😿😿 you guys r so cute. IM EMBARRASSED BUT LOWKEY GEEKED WHAAAAT. “reading sesh” i cant. aw im so glad i was able to be used for inspiration for you guys <3

AWWWWW MY BELOVED WIFE HOSHI @hoshigray pook look. enjoy reading hoshi’s works as well she’s such a lovely author 🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️

but thank you again nonnie !!! have a good day / night whenever you are in the world, mwah