#depending on the story they want to tell

[muzzleroars]

Me remembering a random russian proverb and going like "oh. that reminds me of gabe actually"

The proverb in question is "Перед смертью не надышишься" (Pered smert'yu ne nadyshish'sya), literally "Can’t breath enough before death"

It can mean:

"Putting it off won't make it any easier"

"At the last moment, you can not manage to do what you had to do beforehand"

"You can't make up for lost time"

"It's too late for that now"

And it's also sometimes interpreted as like,, "well it's too late for that now, so no point in trying anyway"

And this made me think of AUs/HCs where Gabe actually Dies™️ (and I've pretty much accepted that it's the most likely thing to happen in canon too. who knows for sure tho, maybe not)

Like. He has so much stuff to do, so many topics to think of, so many emotions to go through (esp if he has Feelings™️ for V1, or anyone else for that matter), but whelp! too late for that loverboy!

And him either desperately trying to do at least something with the little time he has left, OR just. Giving up. Shutting down and waiting for everything to end

And about the "putting it off" part, makes me think that Gabriel must've had at least some trauma/issues related to the Council (about the time when they took the light from him, if nothing else), so it could've been hard for him to go back here, and actually deal with it, face it head on, but he did it anyway because it's not gonna get any easier if he waits

me rotating gabe in my head like in a microwave rn

as much as i obviously enjoy exploring gabriel as a fallen angel, i 100% agree that he's going to die in canon as ultrakill sees the world at the end of its lifespan and that goes for just about everything in it. and on a character level for gabriel, i think it makes sense for the exact reasons this proverb brings up: gabriel has had an end of life epiphany and, like everything else, it is too late now. his world has crashed down around him in his death throes, and all he can do is what is most important in the precious few hours he has left while the rest, all of the personal trauma he must harbor, will now remain forever untouched. but we've already seen whatever gabriel will do with that time remaining will be worthy of it.

the majority of the day he has left has likely already been spent, but he has used it fully to contemplate his long existence and then hearken to newfound autonomy - after which, he swiftly dispatches the entirety of the council to liberate heaven from their rule (the way he chooses to slay the final councilor has interesting parallels now to his execution of sisyphus, and i'm sure that figures into gabriel wishing to right wrongs he can't take back). we know after this he will depart forever from heaven, and his only destination can be hell to meet once again with v1 as he promised. gabriel has so much he could do, so much it could be argued he needs to do, but with his death impending and the very world around him crumbling with it, there is actually very little left for him to do realistically. gabriel is leaving a life full of regret that he will never remotely understand because he has no time for it, but he's ensuring that whatever can be tangibly, immediately addressed is. his life will never be put into context for him, but his death will be.

because gabriel leaves behind a cruel, bloody life that he once thought to be one of supreme order but is, instead, a mess. his time spent serving god had wronged so many, it had likely constantly gone against his own internal morals (that he no doubt punished himself over and over for, torturing himself over sins he now understands were compassion) - yet those feelings don't matter because ultimately he upheld god's will, he carried his banner of violence against humanity, and now there is no one to confront or repay with god and humans all dead. and under the rule of the council, he became a dog he must be disgusted with - they were not god, they never held that ultimate authority that at least he may have been able to shift the blame onto somewhat. they were angels just like him, perhaps higher in rank but not his ruler and certainly not his maker, yet he conformed to their every order, he furthered their political gains again at the expense of his morals. secretly he cared for those in limbo. secretly he cared for the ferrymen. secretly, perhaps, he was some kind of friend to hell. but then the council came and he obeyed them as unconditionally as he had god, reining terror on the citizens of hell and becoming their blight after ripping minos's crown from him as judge of hell. these are the festering regrets he will never account for, will never make reparations for - they are all dead, and he is dying.

so what can gabriel do except address his death and what brought him to it - a poor substitute for making sense of an entire life now left undone, but he seems to working within what he has instead of giving into panic or despair. and all he has left, all he has time for and all he knows he can manage in the hours remaining, is going to see v1 one last time. i'm sure with this, gabriel has a definite goal in mind: i think foremost is fully immersing himself in his feelings for v1 and just what this machine did for him. ultrakill, despite all appearances, is a love story in many ways, and i strongly believe gabriel's feelings toward v1 will be woven into that theme. he wants to feel his love as fully himself and now that he has realized it, to wrap himself in it after the revelation has occurred and allow it to flow through him with acceptance. it happens through a fight, of course, but what i don't know is what gabriel's ultimate goal for that fight will be - does he want his last act to be stopping v1, to have them die together in a sense, or does he desire to be killed by v1 rather than letting that loss of light take him? maybe gabriel would be content with either, but i think of him as a character with now well-defined ideas of what he wants, so i believe he's more likely to want something concrete.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Bestie Deficiency

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[queerforscience]

6 of 24 hours or 25% of the way in, let's see how our blorbos are doing! At the time of this pull Mumbo and Etho were < 100 votes apart and Joe Hill and Quackity were 300 votes apart.

Hour 12 update

[obsessivefangirl]

"Stan favors Mabel and Ford Dipper" WRONG!!!

[kareenvorbarra]

upset about arnheid vinlandsaga again today so i reread some of her scenes and i'm still marveling at how well her storyline was executed. i have literally no complaints about how the author handles her situation; even her death doesn't feel like she was done wrong by the narrative (though i would be more invested if she was still alive). she has real interiority and complex motivations and she's written with such delicasy and sympathy that you can tell that the author understands her. basically every other character in this arc can be judged by how they treat arnheid - thorfinn and einar's ride-or-die solidarity for a fellow slave who has treated them both with kindness, snake clearly seeing her as a person despite his respect for the status quo and anger over the deaths of his men, the petty cruelty of ketil's wife (which could never escalate to the level of what ketil is capable of), ketil treating her relatively well as long as she dedicates herself entirely to his pleasure and then beating her to death in a rage when she tries to escape with another man

lots of characters judge her harshly for her actions (to ketil's wife she's ungrateful, to snake's men she's spoiled and selfish, to ketil she's a traitor) but the protagonists never do. thorfinn respects her resilience and pragmatism in the face of suffering, understands on some level the violence she's endured. einar values her friendship, he asks her what she wants and does everything he can to help her with whatever she chooses to do. they refuse to leave her behind in a war zone when she might be dying. they steal her from a man who will surely hurt her again if she lives. she's an ordinary woman, suffering a very brutal but mundane kind of violence, and for a little while she's the most important character in this story.

[hazellvsq]

"Some of us can't turn into dragons, so we have to build our own" -Leo Valdez

The Mark of Athena - Rick Riordan/ The Son of Neptune - Rick Riordan/ Litany in Which Certain Things Are Crossed Out - Richard Siken/ The Lost Hero - Rick Riordan/ The Blood of Olympus - Rick Riordan/ The Tyrant's Tomb - Rick Riordan

[itsamenickname]

Not gonna lie, which I did greatly enjoy the Bowuigi scene from the Mario movie (and the movie as a whole), I kind of want to see a different take on the movie where everything is the same, but the major twist is that Luigi is the one who landed in the Mushroom Kingdom and Mario is the one who landed in the Dark Lands.

[cosmicmakos]

imagine holding your f/o when they need comfort from their lover (even if they don't make it known and/or try to deny it). they feel safe in your presence and can finally let their walls down and release all of their pent-up emotions while in your embrace.

[coquelicoq]

it's interesting, a few people on my post yesterday about the dandelion dynasty told me they were taking it as a rec for the series, but i didn't actually recommend the series in that post. it's making me think about whether i would rec it to people, a question i hadn't fully considered yet (as it is a very different question from "do i like this book?"). so this is me figuring out the answer to that question. i'll keep it spoiler-free (though i make no promises on brevity).

i just finished book 3 (of 4) and each installment has left me more invested than i was before, but the series started out very slow, and i didn't really get into it until halfway through book 2. i wouldn't be surprised if a lot of people bounce off the first book; i didn't, but only because 1) i almost never give up on a book that i've started (it's a character flaw of mine 😕) and 2) my trust in ken liu is ridiculously high because the other stuff i've read by him is so beloved to me. so my reaction to feeling kind of meh about book 1 was "okay, let's see where he's going with this" rather than "i guess this just isn't my cup of tea."

i should say that the problem might just be my own ignorance/lack of familiarity with the form. i don't read a lot of epic fantasy - in fact, lord of the rings is the one series that i have given up on reading a couple of times because it just left me totally indifferent. so if you like epics, you are starting out way ahead of me and can maybe just ignore the rest of this post lol, but i think i had to adjust to what the form is asking of me and what it's best suited to accomplish before i could get fully on board.

the main thing i struggled with is the writing, like the actual sentence-level mechanics of voice and style. this surprised me, because i usually find his writing very beautiful, or, when not beautiful, i can get a sense of the effect he means to achieve by employing a certain style. but in this series, the writing came across as kind of awkward and one-note to me at first, and i couldn't see a reason for it to be that way.* the dialogue especially - different characters don't really have different ways of speaking, they all feel pretty much the same. this was one of the main things i had to adjust to, but i do get it now. i don't just mean that i got used to the style and it doesn't bother me anymore, though that is true; i mean that i now understand the effect he means to achieve by employing this style, which gives it purpose and inextricably ties it to the story he's telling (this becomes especially clear in book 3, as it's directly related to a major theme of that book). if the style were different, he would be telling a different story; that's the sign of a successful execution, i think.

i said in the tags on yesterday's post that one reason the series doesn't have much of a fandom on here might be that the characters aren't natural blorbos. of course every character is probably the blorbo of somebody somewhere, but i don't know that these characters were designed to be blorbos, if that makes sense. not that they're plot devices either! every single one of them is conflicted and complicated and compelling, and most of them are followed over a period of many years, so we see them develop as people over time. but there is no protagonist, for example. you could also say that every character is a protagonist. the "list of major characters" at the beginning of book 3 is six pages long, and there are stories to be told about each of these characters, and none of them are told in isolation. but in a way, the characters themselves are not the point, or if they are, it's in aggregate - it's in the ways they're all complex, the ways they all have motivations that make sense to them (and that make sense to us, once we get to know them). and it's about power and the roles that the characters play in their society, rather than the roles the characters play in the story. or maybe those are the same thing! because ultimately, the main character of this story is the society. and the plot is the history of this society, rather than the journey or life of a single person or handful of people.**

(sidenote, there will be a period during book 1 when you will think to yourself, "wow, all the women characters are super one-dimensional and the narrative doesn't seem to respect them." this is on purpose. just keep going.)

the plotting is intricate while also feeling very organic. he's got dozens of plates in the air at once, he's maintaining them over a long period (these books are MASSIVE), and he's somehow making it seem like a real history, not like an author pulling strings. i haven't finished it yet, but my guess is that he's going to pull off a very satisfying conclusion that's at the same time very open-ended. definitely looking forward to it.

and the worldbuilding. oh, the worldbuilding. this is some of the most detailed, complex, realistic*** worldbuilding i've ever encountered, and he covers SO much ground. you want linguistic worldbuilding? you got it. philosophy? it's here. psychology of empire? coming right up. the nitty-gritty of everyday governance? buddy, pull up a chair. mechanical engineering? how much time you got?? (it better be enough time to read 3504 physical pages, because that's how long this series is.) and he's drawing on chinese history and cultural narratives rather than slapping lipstick on a tolkien clone (see his comments here, but stop reading at "In this continuation of the series" if you want to avoid spoilers). he WILL go on for a hundred pages about a single invention, but it's SO interesting that he is allowed. this is a story about how technology (including language, and schools of thought, and agriculture, and...) shapes, and is a product of, its time and place and people, so again, this is all to purpose. but it's also just. really cool.

the last thing i'll say, and this is mainly for other ken liu fans, is that one of the things i most love about his short stories is how they tap into emotions i didn't even know i had, as though they're reaching inside of me and drawing to the surface ways of experiencing consciousness and love and mortal life that i had no idea were in there. this series is not causing emotional revelation for me in the way his other stories do, which isn't a bad thing - i don't mean to say the series is not engaging or that it inspires no emotions! i just mean, iykyk. if you've read the paper menagerie and are expecting that experience, you will have a better time here if you leave those expectations at the door. i am invested in this book because it's engaging my intellect, curiosity, sense of wanting to find out what else the characters will learn and what's going to happen next...less because it's turning my heart inside out inside my chest. and like thank goodness, because i don't think i could survive four entire 900-page books' worth of that! but anyway. word to the wise.

tl;dr: yes, i recommend it, especially if you like epic fantasy. if you're a fan of ken liu's other work, this is quite different, so just know that going in!

*this opinion is of course subjective and not universally shared. for instance, see this review of book 3 (full of spoilers, so don't actually read it lol) which says "There's Liu's voice to hold onto, though — beautifully deployed here and fully in command of the language of his imaginary universe." so ymmv. maybe it's an epic fantasy thing.

**this is making me realize that the story is commenting on this very thing through a tension between bureaucracy (founded on interchangeability) and monarchy (informed by a specific personality). dude. that's so meta!

***though sometimes i'm like, "really? you scaled up that invention to use untested on the battlefield in the span of like two weeks? sure, jan." so sometimes he falls down a little on translation of ideas into logistics, but it makes for such a great story that i'll allow it.

[ufolvr]

How I sleep understanding my favorite villain's personality and backstory and why they work so well while also throwing key aspects of it away for the benefit of my own indulgences btw ^_^

[dandelion-wings]

what do you headcanon the gunnhildr sibs preferences to be? personally i see jean as a cis pansexual and poly (because of you fics thanks for that btw) and barbara to be trans mtf and bisexual

I don't really have a solid headcanon for Jean's preferences beyond that she's into women--I can range anywhere from 'exclusively lesbian' to 'Kinsey-scale-3 bisexual' depending on the story I'm telling myself about her at the time? Like, I have headcanons that I'll flex for fic purposes, but this is more that the only headcanon I have in the first place is that she likes women, and the rest is a nice muddy shape around it. (A muddiness I often like to roll in!) Similarly, I like to write her as poly, but it's not really a 'headcanon' per se, it's just how I like to write her. XD As for gender, though, while this post starts about Kaeya I basically cover it here: technically she's cis in that she's not seeking not to be a woman, but I don't think the axis upon which Jean identifies has anything to do with gender. She'd describe herself as a Gunnhildr and as a knight, as opposed to a civilian, but she wouldn't put 'woman' in a self-description because it's very minimally relevant to how she thinks about herself.

I don't really have strong headcanons about Barbara, because I haven't thought about her from those angles so much; my defaults for her are cis woman and wlw, but I haven't really focused in on either aspect when writing or thinking about her. I definitely can see where an MtF reading would be fun, though, especially in light of a headcanon I do have, wherein the Gunnhildrs are matrilineal. (I mean, the fact that the only four we know the names/identities of are all women could just be coincidence, there's only four we know at all, but 'that's because the men are all married out to other families' is more fun to me. XD) The tensions that would add to her existing family situation--trying to prove herself when she was still a Gunnhildr, being thrust out of the family when her parents divorced (and her father being allowed to take her)--in tragic but interesting ways!

[theabyssgazesalsointoyou]

Richjake + 24 :3

Jake is kneeling at an invisible altar at Rich's feet. His trembling hands reach up in a desperate prayer, clasping the singed edges of the fabric billowing out around Rich. The expression Rich wears as he looks down at Jake is not that of a human.

A column of fire erupts from behind Rich. He's still eerily calm, as if he commands the flames, as if it won't burn him, as if he's a god. Jake's eyes sting from the smoke and panic rises in his chest- despite the unearthly beauty Rich possesses, bathed in this molten glow, he isn't anything beyond human.

"Rich, please," he shakily rises to his feet. "Please, listen to me. We have to- we have to get out of here, okay? I can get us out, c'mon, please."

Hazel eyes stare blankly back at him. Jake wants to scream. Cry. Laugh.

Instead, he grabs Rich by the front of his shirt and kisses him.

It's an act of selfishness. One of impulse. The smoke has messed up his mind. He regrets it immediately upon pressing his lips against Rich's- it's barely a kiss, it's like kissing a corpse. Fitting, really. Rich is a dead man walking.

And so is Jake, walking with him hand-in-hand to the gates of hell. He will not see Rich die before his eyes- whatever that may mean.

[kurozu501]

pretty much my only issue with gwitch episode 14 is that so much happening so fast and so many big plot reveals happening so early makes it seem pretty likely the show really wont get more then 24 episodes. which is a shame. i feel like they’ve set up so many fun characters, factions, and themes that this show could easily go to the classic gundam 50 episodes or at least 36 episodes. there’s so many different potential stories to flesh out and explore.

[eskititgay]

fengqing + pork soda - glass animals

[faggotry-enjoyer]

oh i'm definitely gonna lose some friends for this one huh

[inksandpensblog]

Okay taking off the Analysis Hat and putting on the Opinion Goggles: honestly I wasn’t a fan of how this short presented Blue’s reaction to the potion ingredients. I get what they were going for, but…it didn’t hit the mark for me.

I do think I would’ve liked it more if Blue had reacted in a similar manner as Reuben did, the first time Reuben got into potions. It could even still work as a gag: after Blue swallows the ingredients, set up that this is gonna be like it has been with Reuben…and then subvert expectations by cutting to Blue and Yellow at the cauldron.

I don’t know, I just…they’re stickfigures. Not stickfigures being used as a visual shorthand for humanoids; they’re literally stickfigures in-universe. The whole appeal of the series is seeing what stories can be told within the limitations of them being stickfigures.