#musing-gears

[transselkie]

Ok, I'll bite: Hilda/Claude/Lorenz, what's their deal? (I enjoyed FE3H a lot! Played all the routes, though it's been a while, and the only pairings I still have any attachment to are Felix/Annette and Annette/Mercedes...)

Thank you so much for asking, I’m sorry for the wait. My first two attempt at this ended up being five/six page essays. I have been. Trying to whittle it down.

The core fundamental is that I genuinely believe the three of them bring out the best in each other, are capable of challenging each other in ways that are necessary, and ultimately balance each other out. Explanation under the cut.

Politics is incredibly important to both Claude and Lorenz, and the three of them are good for each other politically. And not just because of crests or titles.

Lorenz and Claude challenge each other politically in necessary ways for their own growth and success.

Lorenz holds Claude accountable for the decisions he tries to make behind closed doors.

Claude shows Lorenz that the belief system he’s been raised in is fundamentally flawed and broke.

Hilda’s interpersonal skills make her a good diplomat to balance the boys out.

She shares Claude’s ability to manipulate others through charisma but is less willing to go to nefarious places with it. When Claude gets lost in the gambit she can reel him back in.

She’s genuinely liked and trusted by her peers in all the areas that Lorenz fails struggles with.

They’re basically fluent in different languages. Claude can talk strategy, Lorenz can talk nobility, Hilda can talk people.

Interpersonally, they understand and benefit one another.

Claude hides behind a mask of charisma to feign the illusion of openness yet despite his best attempts Hilda and Lorenz see him holistically.

Hilda/Claude A support - Hilda: “If you understand me so well, maybe it's because you're no different. When you smile or laugh, it's not sincere. I can tell. I've only seen you genuinely smile a handful of times.” 

Lorenz sees him for all his worst qualities first (lying, scheming, deceitful) and yet still ultimately concludes that he’s a good and moral man worthy of his position.

Claude doesn’t want anyone to see behind the mask because the mask is an armour protecting him from a world that wants him dead. But both of them look him directly in the eyes and tell him I see you, I see all of you, even the things that you don’t want seen, and I’m standing by your side anyway.

And again, they keep him grounded.

Hilda hides behind her charisma and lazy persona to keep other peoples expectations of her at bay. Claude and Lorenz both help her thrive past her fear of disappointment.

Claude sees right through her act (see A support)

She’s his second in command. If she dies he says every strategy he had was planned around her survival. He understands where her strengths and interests intersect and utilizes them. And she seems to take genuine pride in that work.

Lorenz doesn’t see through her but he values her and encourages her anyway. She’s literally playing him but his response is just so genuine she starts matching his effort anyway without even intending to. She is used to being treated like a liability, but he never treats her that way.

Left to their own devices the boys will work themselves to an early grave and forget to have a life without politics. Hilda will not let that happen.

Lorenz was raised to be a nationalist and taught to believe that he alone had the skills to, basically, make the Alliance great again. Literally, his father had the only known heir murdered to help him advance to the Dukedom. He has some shit to unlearn and they were here to help him unlearn it.

Canonically, Claude’s mere existence and proximity to him helps Lorenz unlearn and re-evaluate his fathers teachings. And while its not his responsibility to educate there’s no way Mr. I-Want-To-Tear-Down-The-Walls-That-Divide-Us isn’t readily doing so on purpose.

Hilda, on paper, should not make a good noble and yet everyone loves her and hates him. He will question why, and he will realize   that his restrictive worldview caused him to miss both of their best qualities.

Seeing them succeed interpersonally will show him he’s been wrong and encourage him to grow and change. And when he does, they will be there to celebrate him. 

That pathway accomplishes all the things I’ve already spoken about - Lorenz realizes his belief system is flawed, and Claude and Hilda have love and support offered to them through the parts of them they see as most unlovable.

He is the only member of this trio that is actually being open and honest with others. He might be lying to himself but he will tell you exactly what he’s thinking. And he’s going to hold the others to his standards of honesty too.

I genuinely believe they’d all be best friends. 

It’s honestly harder to argue that Claude and Hilda aren’t canonically really good friends. Do I even need to defend their friendship.

Claude and Lorenz love a good debate/game of strategy. They might drive each other insane while at the academy but they’re intentionally meeting up for chess weekly minimum.

Hilda and Lorenz absolutely do tea dates and gossip. She’d find him so funny, and he wouldn’t know what to make of her but she’s fucking Hilda Valentine Goneril. 

❤️💛💜 BONUS! ❤️💛💜 

There’s also just so much humor and fun to be found with this dynamic. To display this, my peak academy dynamic for them is as follows:

Lorenz is convinced he’s living in a spy thriller. Claude is an Almyran spy and he is going to prove it.

Claude is a little intimidated by how close to the truth he is but Lorenz is just so pathetic he basically discredits himself. He’s Threat Lite. He needs to be watched but is mostly just a funny little guy to him. It’s a spy thriller to Lorenz but Loony Toons for Claude.

Claude and Hilda are just besties who are casually sleeping together. They gossip. It’s fun.

She’s also besties with Lorenz. They have tea and gossip and she thinks that whatever is wrong with him is so so fun.

I can not stress enough that this is just high school for her.

Lorenz however is ALSO living in an Austenian drama. He believes Claude and Hilda to be courting, a heart breaking reality as he has found himself falling for Hilda.

Hilda watches the boys play weirdly homoerotically charged games of chess like “omg you want to fuck each other so bad it makes you both look pathetic”

She WILL say as much to both of them who are equally horrified by the accusation. “I think if you fucked you’d fix each other actually.” They staunchly disagree.

They are 100% blaming those embarrassing dreams they keep having on her and absolutely nothing else.

Anyway, I could literally continue talking forever. Their ship song is In the Middle by Dodie. hilclaurenz is everything to me. Thank you for listening  ❤️💛💜

[ciearcab]

baseball scribbles…. save me wolfwood in a jersey … save me …

[springtz]

The Stare

[your-reference-here]

[Inspired by this art from @sangoundercover]

The first, early gray light of the coming sunrise spreads lazily across patchwork clouds. The streets of Rexxentrum below are dark, but a single burning candle in a cracked window offers a spot of color and warmth. Within the guest room where it sits, it offers its light to a peaceful scene of afterglow.

Laudna rests with her head and back against the pillows of the bed—leftover supports from before—with her eyes closed. Meanwhile, Imogen lounges on her side next to her, head cupped in her left hand while her right traces thoughtless patterns across Laudna's stomach and chest, eyes admiring the new purple light emanating from beneath her skin. There is a soft smile on both of their faces as they enjoy the companionable silence.

As Imogen's fingers trace up between Laudna's breasts, following the line of her new scar, she stops. There is a slight rise in the skin from another scar that she had entirely forgotten about for the past few hours.

"Oh."

Imogen's eyes and fingertips travel along the path of the once jagged scar with a muscle memory gained from other nights like this. She remembers the rough texture, the flashes of memory it would inflict, and the pang of guilt she'd have to push away and hide. The first time it hadn't worked; Laudna saw it. Imogen had taught herself to be better about it afterward at the risk of ruining the moment again.

That pang of guilt doesn't come now. The texture has changed. It's smoother now, with only the barest hints of roughness at its edges. A wound healed, still leaving a scar, but better this time. Imogen marvels at the weight of the metaphor behind the revelation.

"Everything alright?"

Imogen looks up to meet Laudna's curious eyes staring at her. She gives her a soft smile as she continues to draw her pointer finger down the line.

"Yeah...just admirin' your scar. It's beautiful."

Laudna looks down at it. "You think so?"

"I do," Imogen replies, reaching up to brush away some stray hair obstructing Laudna's view.

Laudna considers the scar for a moment, and then smiles contently. "I think I do too."

[trashmancer]

Okay, I have to get it out of my system. The thoughts I had on what The Dragon Prince did and why, deep down, it repulses me on a profound level. (I’ve shared these thoughts elsewhere but here’s my analysis on Viren’s arc and ending in season 6.)

The season begins with Viren waking from what was teased to be death (and viewers were left thinking he died for a year). He feels free and unburdened and has hope. Maybe things can be better, maybe he can change, maybe he can fix what he has broken.

Spoiler alert: He doesn’t even get off the starting block. From there it is a descent towards despair and his self-inflicted death.

After he wakes, he encounters his bloodied daughter Claudia. This shock smacks back to reality and he sees what he has caused. He realizes the cold truth: his daughter is better off without him so he leaves her despite her cries for him to stay. It is worth noting as he leaves, he openly acknowledges it may kill him—and he doesn’t much care if it does.

He goes back home to Katolis searching for anyone to talk to. He begs to speak to King Ezran and is denied and told he deserves “no mercy.” He reaches out to his son Soren in an attempt to reconcile, to apologize, and Soren accuses Viren of trying to manipulate him. Viren realizes he will receive no help or solace here as he’d hoped, and despairs.

His feeling of hopelessness is symbolized by the show panning to a fly trapped in a spider’s web about to be consumed. The abject image of being trapped with nowhere to go except death.

Next we see him, he is alone in his cell, penning a letter of his regrets, which is not that dissimilar to one's final thoughts in a suicide note. But he reconsiders. After all, this is self-indulgent pain to burden the living, so he burns it. His last thoughts and words gone.

It isn’t much after this moment Soren tells Viren the only thing he has of value to offer is his ability to do Dark Magic—the thing Viren has been running from, the thing he now hates, the thing that ruined his life. Throughout the show, dark magic can be allegorically read as a form of self-harm, done out of fear and trauma while causing lasting scars to the user. And Viren succumbs to it. He agrees. With the biggest expression of it: offering his own body to feed the spell. He stabs a knife into his own chest (reminiscent of Shakespearean suicide). And he dies.

What happened here wasn’t just a blaring example of a heel-face door slam where a character vying to change their life around and be better is coldly denied. It was also a suicide—a glorified one at that.

For a show supposedly about hope and forgiveness and breaking cycles, having a character who for three seasons is striving to walk a different path take his own life in an act of despair when he has nowhere else to go is... well. Sure is something. Nothing good in my world.

[pyrosomatic-metamorphosis]

tbh i think that even unwinnable fights should be winnable. some of the BEST fights i've ever run as a dm were ones i built kill the players (in a fun way. I had some cutscenes prepped so even the loss would be a different flavour of win)- but then they were clever bastards and managed to either win the fights or pull themselves out of trouble. I think it's perfectly fine to plan for a fight that players aren't supposed to win, but you need to let them. if they can't win, they can't lose, and the meaning of that encounter is diminished. do that too many times, and they stop trusting you to give them roleplay prompts and start expecting to sit there waiting while you drive the story for them.

but if they can win... if there is always the chance to win, no matter how impossible the odds, then they ALWAYS have hope. they always get invested. they feel the big emotions of success or the big emotions of failure, and you fucking Win as a dm/roleplay prompter/lead bastard.

[incorrectsmashbrosquotes]

I think Hideo Kojima should make a Fallout game. In think that is something we should let him do. I think that would be fun.

[pinkrose05]

Sungenti & Robinhill would go on the most terse double dates in history. That's it that's the post.

[shima-draws]

Soooo twirls my hair out of pure curiosity and not for any other reason tee hee. What fandom would y’all like to see me do more art of 👉👈

[solidsnakecake]

Sooo...Kojima says Kaz founded Diamond Dogs after Big Boss's coma in Rhodesia. RHODESIA. You know who else fought in Rhodesia? Little Frank Jaeger. In 1979, he killed Naomi's parents and found her starving near Zambezi river and took her with him to Mozambic. That means Frank was in fact answering to Miller when he fought in Rhodesian Bush War.

This puts Naomi's "I wouldn't meet Big Boss till 80s" in a new light. She and Frank were not actually seeing him till after he woke up and turned up in Mozambic and saved Frank from his torturers as he explained in Metal Gear 2.

So anyways, all this means Kaz and Frank had known each other since 70s. Frank was a Diamond Dog. Kaz knew Baby Frank in canon.

[prestonmonterey]

um um

my therian masks

why not :)

ok m going in chronolgoical order so

1.

its ugly as hell 0/10

not even my theriotype TwT (dilute calico) it just matches my tail

made it in a couple hours on my floor

i guess its alright for a first try? but its like. pretty bad

2.

kinda cute 4/10

i was outta felt so this ones just foam :P

its alright, i like the cheek floofs but the general vibe is kinda off

3.

LOOK AT THIS MAJOR IMPROVEMENT GUYS 8/10

based on ambrose bassford he/him classics (honestly see him more as a lion but im not gonna make a whole ass main for a mask im never gonna wear haha so wolf it is :P)

closeup on the charm

guys i spent so long on those spikes and ITS SO PRETTY i love this mask with all my heart

4.

made this one today 9/10 its v cool :3

im. slightly obsessed with it but i also feel like the earrings and shit could be cooler? idk

closeup on the charm (which you absolutely cannot see in the last pic TwT)

slightly less proud of this one but i think wire earrings are really cool regardless so :P

anyways im planning on maybe making a fox mask based on vincent soon, if i have time next week :) we'll see how long the hyperfixation lasts haha

(for the record my theriotype is a longhair dilute calico and i havent made a mask for that just cuz i dont have proper faux fur and i just. dont find the patterning as interesting as other animals :P)

[innovatorbunny]

guilty gear strive literally had a verse of its opening song be the lyrics "NORMS STANDARDS RULES AND GUIDELINES MUST BE KEPT SO TIME TO WAKE UP, GRAVITY KEEPS US ON THE GROUND" sung in a demonic voice, and then immediately followed by "That is bullshit blazing!" and people were still surprised when they had characters come out as trans.

[manzisme]

guess what gang. found more gg doodles and comms i forgot to post over on tumblr. *Baiken j.D's you*

[elementroar]

So just some random trivia, the name ‘Paracelsus’ is made-up IRL. The alchemist’s full name was Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim (seriously BOMBASTUS?!).

He made-up the penname Paracelsus from two words - ‘para’ meaning ‘beyond’ and ‘Celsus’ who was another alchemist he had beef with.

So he called himself ‘ParaCelsus’ literally saying ‘beyond Celsus’ aka I am ‘better than Celsus’.

And I bring this up cos that means there’s no inherent gender associated with the name Paracelsus because it’s not a real name, it’s a portmanteau. I just like the idea that A.B.A’s creator was a woman instead a guy as we prolly usually imagine. It would explain the A.B.A sized shorts all around the lab if you think about it.

It can go either or any way if ArcSys chooses to bring back that character ever, I just think it’ll be neat.

[wishfxljikan]

Writing an AU Gummigoo and plotting him out is so fun because my first thought was I shit you not letting him go interdimensional travel and he wants to learn to be real (and turns into a real croc at one point)

but to hide the fact that he is a gummi candy croc..

he dressed similarly to FL4K.

THIS FL4K.

Like I imagine he goes full on Gunslinger/Bounty Hunter with somewhat similar clothing just to hide his identity

and he becomes this nigh invincible / intimidating motherfucker because he has never reacted to getting injured because you know

he's not real, he can't bleed, he can't scar, he can't go through PHYSICAL pain, he's got no receptors to nerve damage or pain, he's still a piece of gummy candy.

So the main whole he's stayin in, he's FEARED like big time, no one fucks with him, because he's just never seemed like he was in pain or anything.

I imagine he becomes real and starts dressing lightly again (Keeps the pants, wears this black poncho, got the red scarf on him over top, got the holster, and the Belt + straps and these sick ass fingerless gloves and steampunk-esque cowboy boots on top of his signature cowboy hat and he just)

finds his way back to The Digital Circus just to verbally assault the shit out of Caine for doing that to him and

Caine can't get rid of him. He's real. He's 100% bonafide real. He can't even bear to stay here so he just reunites with Pomni before forcing Caine to open a portal back into the Candy Kingdom

because he's going back for his two mates and he's taking them with him this time.

god I love the AU.

[gentil-minou]

Someone has to have written meta about how important the 1st incense burner chapter was for wangxian and how ir gave Lan wangji the catharsis he needed to stop being ashamed of his sexual desires after spending years punishing himself convinced his feelings were wrong and shameful because wy could never feel the same way about him. That the ugly feelings he had were his fault and how that made his guilt about his parents even worse

And then having Wei Ying the man he loves see them in all their raw and shameful glory, but instead of recoiling away in disgust wwx accepts them and lwj, showing him how lwj and his desires are not shameful, that wwx gets it he understands and he's into it too...and then the dream changes and becomes one of empowering lwj and giving him a chance to reclaim those teenage desires in a way that makes he feel good for once

how powerful that moment was for lwj who must have had a part of him that even in adulthood told him his teenage feelings were wrong, to finally come to the realization that he was just a kid and it's okay because those intrusive thoughts didn't make him a bad person. That even now they don't make him a bad person. That he can want and desire and be safe to explore those feelings and they aren't ugly or shameful they just exist as they are, that he can take them ans make them into something beautiful

Please tell me someone has written a better more cohesive version of this because my irl bff just finished the novel and hates lwj and I cannot handle that pleaseeeee