#dumbass of a generation

[sunlight-shunlight]

anyway dai solas you will always be famous to me. nothing but respect for my boy who wandered off mid-cutscene in the hinterlands to go help out refugees, is extremely good at Lies Of Omission™️, has a whole spy/agent/informant network of elves who followed him, fervently argues that it's unethical to be happy about killing bandits bc they had lives and loved ones, describes his own temple(?) prison(?) as having "indecipherable" elven writing, has ferocious debates with dorian and iron bull about slavery, set himself on fire once by mistake, and within about a year of his 10000 year lifespan, went from seeing all the world as disposable emotionless husks, to developing actual friendships and even falling in love.

and then! still thought it was necessary to destroy and reset the world! but he would treasure the chance to be wrong again!!

[bixels]

yeah i'm gonna be so real, this past week has been tough for drawing, and i've become more and more inactive on socials due to (gestures loosely at everything).

[ennn]

Let's appreciate how complex Agatha's relationship with Billy is

GIF credit to @isagrimorie

The genuine emotion brimming from Agatha in this moment is very interesting and I really want to break down all the layers of how Agatha is relating to Billy—because it is truly not as simple as Agatha feeling sentimental or motherly to Billy.

There are a few layers at work here (and I also want to give a shout-out to @trickofthelights for her excellent recap points):

Billy reminds Agatha (enough) of herself

There are two driving forces at the core of Agatha as a character. We know this because her characterisation has been incredibly consistent throughout the show and Schaeffer has talked about them, which is: (a) Agatha is self-serving and (b) Agatha loves powerful witchcraft.

Billy is a powerful witch who did a horrifying thing in order to survive. He's been lying to these wonderful parents. He also just tried murdering three people in a fit of rage, provoked by Agatha no less.

Would Agatha care if he was less powerful? Would Agatha care if he didn't have a dark side? If he hadn't shown to be duplicitous and dangerous and subject to his darker impulses?

If he wasn't alone and without a coven, a possible outcast even among witches because of his unusual origins and power?

I'm pretty sure the answer is no, she would not. She would have dismissed him the same way she did his "Teen" persona. Agatha doesn't care about witches, Agatha cares about powerful witches –because that's who Agatha is and what drives her.

And we also got hints of this with Agatha and Wanda (hello consistent characterisation). In Schaeffer's words:

There is respect and almost affection inherent in [Agatha's interest in enormously powerful witchcraft], as indicated by how she felt about Wanda. She was mean to Wanda, but really she was fascinated by Wanda and admired her and wanted to hang out with her. 

And if this wasn't clear enough, what Agatha tells Billy shortly later about breaking the rules and being a true witch just screams projection (more on that in my next point).

I was delighted that Agatha really did bounce back from the attempted murder – but it's not because she's forgiving. Oh no, I think, Agatha was testing her theory by poking the bear (calculated move, bad at math) and she's glad she was proven right.

I mean, she not happy about the attempted murder but her curiosity wins out. You see her poking at Billy and trying to figure him out in the rest of this scene.

Agatha also hates self-righteous moralising and searches out for the darkness in people – delights in it even – because she knows people and she knows her own darkness.

Billy is different but also not so different from Agatha, as much as Billy or his mom would hate to admit.

Agatha is dealing with her childhood trauma

Yes, Agatha is projecting on Billy, but she makes a choice about it. We hear her telling him what she would have wanted someone to tell her: that they shouldn't be afraid or ashamed of who they are or what they did to survive, that they are part of a community.

Don't you dare feel guilty about your talent. ... That's what kept you alive. That's what makes you special. That's what makes you a witch.

She's trying to be the person she needed when she was a child, because she simply doesn't want someone else – particularly a younger witch – going through what she did.

She doesn't want anyone to go through what her mother put her through. And that's a choice.

Because there are a number of ways a character can deal with trauma: they can lash out and bring others down, wanting others to experience to the pain they went through, or they can realise that what happened to them shouldn't happen to anyone else in their position.

There's something beautifully self-serving but also selfless in that, because this is a way for Agatha to heal from her trauma. She can tell Billy things she may not be able to tell herself.

And it's interesting because as a self-serving villain, Agatha could just be jealous of Billy's power. But in this moment at least, Agatha's empathy and compassion – as buried as they usually are – prevail.

And yes, Agatha was fond of kid Billy

This is what Schaeffer touched on in her interview answer and it makes sense, with the insight that Agatha – like any good actor – does invest a bit of herself in every role she plays.

Agatha does have feelings (as much as they might make her vomit) and I do believe she has a soft spot when it comes to kids, given her experience with her son and her own childhood trauma. And that kids don't have the level of hypocrisy and darkness that adults do.

It makes sense that Agatha would have some level of care about the Scarlet Witch's magical kid Billy. And that is a fondness that has carried onto teenage Billy – who is powerful and a survivor and has a potential for darkness in a way she can relate to.

There are layers and they intersect and it all ties back to how Agatha is incredibly complex and yet consistent as a character.

[tales-from-the-hexlab]

Viktor: I’ve been dropping them the most insanely obvious hints for like a year now. No response.

Jayce: Wow. They sound stupid.

Viktor: But they’re not. They’re really smart actually. Just dense.

Jayce: Maybe you need to be more obvious? Like, I don’t know… “Hey! I love you!”

Viktor: I guess you’re right. Hey Jayce, I love you.

Jayce: Yes! Just like that!

Viktor: …Holy fucking shit.

Jayce: If that flies over their head then, sorry Viktor, but they're too dumb for you.

Viktor: Jayce.

[mulders-too-large-shirt]

thinking about how mulder loves to get scully a gift, usually terribly heartfelt, even if disguised as something flippant:

the superbowl vhs tape he brings her when she wakes up from her coma in one breath (and her deadpan "i knew there was a reason to live")

tickets for a football game to watch together in irresistible

bringing her flowers to the hospital in memento mori (he lies, saying he stole them from a guy with broken legs to make her laugh)

the birthday keychain in tempus fugit (and when she finds a meaning to it, he claims "i just thought it was a pretty cool keychain")

that is a man who is always thinking about her.

[youling-the-ghost]

To whoever is making the sfth subtitles: I love you and I wish you everything good in life <3

[beatcroc]

what kind of frivolity would you engage in, mecha?

<

---

[umbrelladripdrop]

Dabi: Bet you can’t eat 15 crayons! Danny: Bet you I can! Jason: *sips coffee, checks to make sure 911 is still on speed dial, and goes back to reading his book* ----- *Thump noise* Danny, from the other room: What happened?! Dabi: Jason's shirt fell. Danny: Why was it loud? Dabi: It had him inside. ----- Dabi: We’re about to do the taser challenge. You want in? Jason: What's the taser challenge? Danny: We tase each other, then drink. Jason: How do you win? Dabi: What are you, a lawyer? You want in or not?

[danadiadea]

'He desired her, that was all,’ sneered Voldemort,‘but when she had gone, he agreed that there were other women, and of purer blood, worthier of him –’

Am I going mental, or is Voldemort implying that after he came back in GoF (and told Harry he knows is was Lily's sacrifice that saved him, the mistake he had made because of Snape) they had a talk about this with Severus, in a manner that required a need for Severus' "agreement"? Ofc you can't choose to disagree with Voldemort, but still the fact that Snape not only wasn't brutally yet slowly murdered for causing Voldemort's moment of weakness and years of suffering, but when the theme was raised Tom supposedly even came up with an "exuse" that Snape had to accept is fascinating. It's almost like... explaining himself in a Voldemort fashion? Dare I say a need for Severus' forgiveness and contentment?

Which also fits with Voldemort's need to rationalise and find excuses when he kills Snape. Voldemort. needs rationalisations. for screwing Snape.

I kinda start thinking Snoldemort is canon compliant lol

[moonsuneee]

Neither of them know how it happened, but hey neither of them are complaining 😭

[rainyzzel]

clawdeen discovers gae people in their natural habitat

a random sketch i did before i lost my s pen 😭😭😭, anyway im opening comms soon, as i'm saving up to buy a new pen :> (gonna post the price chart as soon as its available)

also, new mh fanfic to be posted soon in my ao3 :>

[black-rose-writings]

'darklina's toxicity is fake'??? did you forget the part where he was a grown ass man grooming a teenage girl? but yeah no clearly that never happens in real life /s

They talked like twice before she ran off from the Little Palace and they were enemies from then on.

There was no sexual grooming. You could argue he was grooming her to become a queen, a leader, his equal, ie, he was teaching, preparing her for those roles, but there's no manipulation. Sure, he lies to her about stuff that directly involves her, because it's sensitive information and she proves herself untrustworthy over and over again, and they're also practically strangers.

Yes, there is a power imbalance in the relationship on account of the age gap, but I would actually argue that in the space of "immortalXteenager" relationships (which is a pretty common trope in YA fantasy), Darklina actually handles it better than most - Aleksander is aware of the dynamic and he's constantly trying to raise Alina up to his level, speed up her development as much as he can, because he's aware that she's not his equal, yet.

Now, for Alina's age, because I guess I have to write this out again.

Firstly, Alina (and Mal) is old enough to join the army and get married. Under her world's rules, she's an adult. Now, is she immature, sheltered and naive? Yes. But Aleksander specifically goes out of his way to get her to grow past that, rather than using it to get close (like he would if he was actually grooming or manipulating her in any way).

Alina's age is never stated in TGT, in fact Alina admits in her first actual conversation with the Darkling that she isn't sure of her own precise age due to orphanage brainwashing (we'll get back to that in a minute). Alina's age is only explicitly stated as 17 by Inej in SoC. Book!Inej never met Alina. She only knows of her through her legend, which could easily have been framed by the church to make her seem younger, an innocent virginal saint. I'm not taking Inej's word on this one.

We know Alina and Mal came to Keramzin when they were about 8, or at least Ana Kuya thought they were (we'll get back to that). Now, there are two instances where Alina refers to her life in Keramzin as a decade and half her life respectively. If we take those literally, that would make her either 18 or 16 when she left Keramzin, so either 19 or 17 during the events of TGT, though both could be rounded up or down. All the children at Keramzin celebrate their birthdays at the same time (on the duke's birthday) which makes Alina's precise age inherently uncertain. She is meant to be a fresh adult in SaB and the books treat her as such in TGT. Unfortunately, later books in the series tend towards infantalizing its characters, especially the female ones, and also making them super young (I am much more mad about an explicitly 16yo seductress Nina than I am about age-ambiguous-young-adult Alina wanting to have a quickie with a hot guy at a party, which is pretty much what the extent of her physical intimacy with Aleksander is).

Again, Alina is an adult by her world's standarts. 17 is as low as her age can go, but there's some things that suggest she is older than that. First of those being that decade line.

But also, we're starting from the assumption that Ana Kuya is right about Alina's age at when she arrives to Keramzin. Being underweight and underheight are common side-effects of long term or chronic illness (which Alina does suffer from). Alina, before she realizes her powers, is supposed to be small, thin and sickly from supressing her powers. People have talked about how weird it is for Alina and Mal to seemingly not know their age when they arrive at Keramzin, but if they really don't, for some reason (or, say, they don't believe them, because Alina is, canonically, underdeveloped for her age), it's completely plausible that Alina is 20 or older in TGT.

Also, taking from history, while boys as young as 12 could be part of armies in some aspects in the 1800s (they would only really do support/servant work until they were 16-or-so), draft age has usually been either 18 or above. In fact, during the time period that the Grishaverse is supposedly based on, the draft age in Tsarist Russia was 20.

IDK, nonny, calm down, maybe?

And as for that specific line("Darklina is fake/fantasy toxic"), what I meant is that in terms of tropes and genre, it's not meant to be realistic. It's dark fantasy, it's gothic romance, it's a kind of fairytale. The Darkling as a character is a fantasy character. As far as I know, there are no immortal shadow wizards spending centuries fighting for minority rights (though if you do know of any, let me know). Any toxicity of Darklina will be inherently abstracted through that fantasy. Malina lacks that abstraction, that greater purpose to it all. Mal is just a fuckboy whose ego can't handle his girlfriend having a better job than him and friends other than him. Malina's toxicity is mundane.

And, what's worse, it's the two cardinal sins of a fictional relationship: Boring and a hinderance to character development and the story as a whole.

Darklina, even at its most toxic, is constructive to the characters. It pushes the characters involved forward. Darkling and Alina are foils, they're constantly pushing each other forward, for better and worse. Mal is a brick and Alina is slowly drowning because of him.

[wortsandall]

justice for what happened to bumblebee fanon after tfone...may he recover soon

[shorthaltsjester]

“slowburn of all time” and it’s a relationship that is nearly identical at the beginning and end of the story, and also features the characters getting together quicker than all but one of the main pc/pc relationships in previous cr campaigns . okay, sure. words don’t mean things ig

[voxvaughn]

how bugs look when you pick up a rock:

[aroacechillzone]

god when will allos stop responding with "not all love is romantic!1!1!!" any time us aros talk about anything. we KNOW