#just the path my brain followed

[applestruda]

Hi, hello, so, I have also been a victim of the boatem knights brainrot. I just wanted to say this is such a lovely au, the idea is such an amazing and silly idea, but all the lore you and everyone else have come up with is just incredible

I know you said you had very simple ideas for the backgrounds of the other Knights, but I wanted to say that maybe Mumbo’s could mention part of that “accidental shapeshifter” bit he had for a while during season 8? I don’t know exactly how it would fit in but it was just something I remembered.

Okay, that’s all I’ll say for now. I’m slightly too nervous to mention any other ideas I had, simply because I haven’t sent asks in a while. Love your au, and love your art! Your art style is so nice and smooth :) okay bye now!

YO WAIT I FORGOT ABOUT THAT

accidental shape shifterrr, thats so cool

now im conflicted bc this is too cool to pass up but also i love just a guy with a gun mumbo

but,,, mumbo is a creature

OK how about a shapeshifter who wants everyone to think he's just a guy

[thekittyokat]

you ever just have a lot, a LOT of feelings all at once about a character and not even remotely enough words or brainpower to FORM the words to describe everything you're feeling. so it feels like you may explode. yeah

[piecanl]

Do you think Tubbo would recognize the path Bad is going down, because it's one he's already walked down on?

This self-destructive behavior coming from a broken heart?

He hasn't seen Bad at his best, before the eggs got kidnapped. He's seen him a victim to grief more than a father. It's why the blue staining Bad's being isn't out of the ordinary.

But suddenly he starts carrying flowers to remind him of the love he lost, suddenly the void calls out his name even louder and suddenly Tubbo sees himself in the older demon.

And it's scary, because suddenly he sees what he has become, how it affects others.

And for the first time of many, he sees Bad walk down a road he's paved. For the first time of many, Bad is the one repeating Tubbo's mistakes.

[spiritsong]

So. I went down a rabbit hole in my own brain after I saw this post by @vorestarr. Despite the fact that the Arcane Tower is one of my favorite parts of the game, I apparently needed to see this particular passage x amount of times before I finally made the connection I'm about to ramble about. I started going off in the tags before it got ridiculously long and I realized I should probably just make my own post lol

Transcript of the passage; from the in-game book Evil's Ascent:

There is a light in every living thing. It's crawling t'wards the surface to survive. And in its wake, it tramples everything. We'll kill the rest, so that the one can thrive.

It's likely that others have written about this before, but I was reminded of Leonard Cohen's*

There is a crack, a crack in everything / That's how the light gets in

Coincidence?? But now my mind is moving a mile a minute thinking about Astarion in relation to this phrase.

Evil's Ascent is the cynical interpretation of the message. It is its antithesis; that in yearning for life, you must be okay with destroying everything in your path. To survive, everything must be forsaken. Which is Astarion's exact belief system throughout the game.

But if we think about the spawn ending and just how much he changes... Astarion goes through such a metamorphosis. There is a crack in everything; that's how the light gets in. I think that's a fantastic metaphor for the Vampire Spawn — a being caught somewhere between life and undeath. Mortality and immortality. That space they occupy (what Astarion perceives to be his weakness) is actually their salvation. In becoming a True Vampire, they surrender even the potential to be people capable of goodness. They become wholly evil beings. That crack in Astarion is his lifeline, so to speak.

If he reaches through it successfully, he is brought to the other side of the message — that through the "imperfection" of his spawn state, he is granted the possibility for nuance and hope and life and all that it entails. Astarion believed that real power, real safety, lived in the perfection of the True Vampire (or the Ascended one, in this case). But that "perfection" is a falsity. We see as much if he ascends; we see how hollow it makes him, how unfulfilled he remains.

Only with imperfections, with cracks, with vulnerability, can the light get in.

*I know he is hardly the first to make this remark, but it's how I know of it, so

[theotherrichardpapen]

...because any moment may be our last. everything is more beautiful because we're doomed.

[harmonysanreads]

Wow....wow....wow....

[opens-up-4-nobody]

...

[yshtal]

I think it would be rly sick if you went to go build a crow rook and the surname was Arainai

like…. just another little compradi trying to bring glory back to your house - rinnala and taliesin are dead by the house’s hand, zevran failed and deserted, guili murdered in the night, all semblance of power lost once again. the house is trying to claw its way back up, futile as it seems. that’s the way of house arainai, isn’t it? talon to knife to talon to knife to nothing, same as it’s been since the house first lost power in the early dragon age. but you, bright-eyed little crow, you’ll break the cycle, won’t you? for the family?

after all, caterina’s prized heir is right there - the demon of vyrantium, the infamous mage killer, sleeping just down the hall. you can be quiet, can’t you? all those means at your disposal, and all the opportunities you could want. you could find a way in under that armor, get to something soft and bruisable and make it bleed. he’s far from home, isn’t he? without a friend? confidantes are few and far between - even a demon must get lonely.

maybe he’d even trust you. you’re a clever little bird, right? you can find something to exploit. after all, what does a would-be talon do except claw, except maim? what else would you be good for? there is no gentleness to crows - you are here to deliver a message: run, little demon, quick as you like.

house arainai will make carrion of you yet.

[adozentothedawn]

Six Sentence Someday

Tagged by @orime-stories thank you!

Despite what it looks like, I am in fact ocasionally still writing, I just tend to word vomit about my current obsession and then never finish it.^^° So yeah, my last game that I finished was Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest and it made me go insane, so have a part of my 1k monologue that I wrote for a potential time travel fix it. It is only 5 sentences because 6 would have been awkward, but if I ever get to it again you'll get a lot more.

"They ordered me to kill you but I couldn't do it. I would have ruined everything because I looked at you and remembered cherry blossoms and warm nights. I remembered off key lullabies and larger hands than mine on my back. I couldn't do it. And I think when you looked at me you knew that."

Gonna tag @adraveins and @stylishanachronism if you have anything you'd like to share.^^

[ereborne]

Song of the Day: May 14

"Diamond on a Landmine” by Billy Talent

[nicname]

[BENDY AND THE DARK REVIVAL SPOILERS, if you don’t want spoilers turn back now !!]

DID ANYONE ELSE Pick up on how, at the end when Joey was talking all lovingly to Audrey, he was just actively Ignoring the Ink Demon, his First Creation that he cares negative about and considers “a monster” and “a mistake,” all while praising Audrey for being everything the Ink Demon wasn’t?? The creation that he actively neglected and looked down upon from .. creation??? For lack of better phrasing. THIS IS NOT A SLIGHT AT THE WRITING By the way, I think it helps exemplify the kind of person Joey Drew is (AND It gets Especially interesting if you choose to interpret the Ink Demon as a metaphor for all the people Joey Drew hurt along the way pursuing his folly, and how he feels they don’t need or deserve an apology from him, or even deserve the time of day. Chefs kiss)

[hzdtrees]

Barren lands

[tvrningout-archived]

pls know i’ve been spacing all day bc i’m thinking about chiyo and hyouka’s n.aruto verses

[todayisafridaynight]

masato/aoki has been a hyperfixation of mine for almost 3 years now unfortunately he's a little worm in my brain slowly killing me off. this is half a response to some asks i've seen, a sort of explanation to aoki looking different to masato (which is definitely nonsensical in ways) may be because he's somewhat healthier than when he was as masato, hence he's not deathly pale, tired looking and a bit of weight gain maybe? (personally love his hamster cheeks as aoki). as a disabled person myself i don't think rgg really thought much through in his disability and the shit it can bring?? hoping yakuza 8 brings more context for him though i doubt it. again unfortunately,,, he's important to me regardless and ngl the hate he gets makes me upset sometimes. like he is definitely awful awful, especially aoki. my autism could write a whole deep dive essay about his character that no one wants to hear lmfao. also your masato art is a joy, just to let you know <3 as a fellow daigo enjoyer,, masadai ex boyfriends is the most valid and superior ship for masato lmao. ty for your service in this fandom 💪

damn im honored to be gettin a letter from THE ceo of ryo aoki themselves.. even if its anonymous ill still frame it on my wall hiii ty for writin <3

BUT YEAH that's what i figured in how drastic masato is from aoki- like his eyes notably lose that dark ring and his skin and lips get more color (tho that could be because he's in the sun more but who's to say it can't be both).

i really REALLY wish RGG wasn't so flippant about his disability, i go insane trying to figure out exactly what it is or what it could be so i can approach it better when portraying him and also just thinking about him. 'weak lung syndrome', surprise surprise, can mean a lot of things

it's already p cringe that they just poof it away with a lung transplant and get rid of it all together in ishin when there was no real reason to have him stand at all. like. he's literally in two scenes, one where he is sitting but the other he's just talking to the air while takechi sits in the room.

never mind im curious if he ever had to deal with his body potentially rejecting the new organ for a bit since that is a very real concern when it comes to organ transplants, but i get not really finding the need to dive into it since that transplant would have been 20 years ago and the chance to talk about it is slim. still, they could have at least give his initial illness a proper name or diagnosis if they were just going to make it disappear literally one chapter later

anyway, ty again for writin !!! i'm happy i can feed the worm that lives in your brain 🥰🥰🥰

[owllover2319]

every once in a while im like

would it REALLY be so bad to become a microinfluencer

[thanatoseyes]

Paradigm shifting just looks to me like you're trying to speed run the game.