#option manipulation

[egophiliac]

I loved your drawing(and I love your style in general) with Leia in your recent post! If/when you have time can we see more of her in your style? I get so happy whenever I actually see people mention/talk about her and she’s not just forgotten because we didn’t get to see much of her. 😭

thank you! 💙💙💙 Leia/Leah/Lea/whatever is fascinating to me. she is the ultimate unknown. what was she like? how involved (or even aware of any details of the invasion) was she? Silver's basically a physical carbon copy of his biodad, so what did he get from her? like, I understand why the two of them kind of have to stay as these super vague and mysterious figures -- the whole point of them is that their story ended 400+ years ago and they're not really relevant anymore (and. well. the more that gets explained about them, the less that can just kinda be handwaved as "oh the politics were Very Messy") (we can sit here and theorize all day but let us acknowledge that, ultimately, canon gave us almost nothing about them post-Meleanor and we'd just be making things up). I do still wonder about her though! RIP Lea, we never knew you and we probably never will.

actually you know what, as long as we're here, I think I WILL go ahead and just make some stuff up about what Silver might've inherited from her instead.

[shaykai]

Still thinking about Gortash’s coronation and how smoothly he cuts a Durge off from their companions (and wishing we had a follow up with that)

The first words out of his mouth are that he cares about them- anybody else who remembers Durge has only distain for them, but not him- he’s happy to see them, he missed them, they’re his favorite assassin and he’s only glad to see them alive

And then he takes it a step further by providing insight into their past, something Ketheric refused to do for them- and Gortash isn’t dumb. He knows exactly how Durge’s companions will react, knows that he’s effectively outing Durge when he so easily could have pulled them to the side instead

And when their companions snap at them and refuse to look at them, Gortash is still smiling. Suddenly, he’s the nicest person in the room. Suddenly, everything is unstable and dangerous- but he likes you. He’s sitting there with open arms while the companions are rightfully so mad with Durge, but Gortash is more than happy to resume their alliance

He’s more than happy to be their sole source of comfort again, and isn’t he just so sweet for that?

[cringefailvox]

alastor is such an insidious dealmaker because he's so reasonable. he doesn't ask for anything outlandish, especially not right out of the gate—he agrees to make a commercial so long as he's never asked to engage with anything tv-related again. he turns down charlie's soul and readily concedes to the stipulation that her favor doesn't have to hurt anyone. from the way husk describes their deal ("when you're down on your luck, you turn to anything to keep you afloat"), it heavily implies to me that husk went to alastor, not the other way around. alastor gets his foot in the door by making himself freely available, and by making it easy to tell him no the first dozen times he nonchalantly offers a deal, so by the time he starts angling for a deal he actually does want, you're less likely to notice immediately how predatory he's being, or how he's backed you into an inescapable corner. he makes himself an inevitability. you know he's a monster, you know that he's manipulating you—but he's also become your only choice, and so you don't even get the consolation of being able to say he tricked you, because you chose it

[myrkulitescourge]

can i just say, it still makes me feel a little crazy how astarion, come act 3, still can’t quite put a name to his relationship with his partner, but he WILL tell them he wants to keep them both safe.

he won’t say i love you just yet but he will say forever, for good.

[notbecauseofvictories]

In general, the Europeans don't believe in staying late at work, which can make collaboration difficult---but haha, I have a developed a cunning workaround! It is called "surprise, motherfucker! sometimes I am awake at 4am and you will have no excuse"

[noirve]

god, armand as a character is giving me serious brainrot. he's such a control freak because he desperately needs to derive meaning from something—anything. whether it's god, rituals, or coven life, he needs to give a purpose to his existence. this is why he upholds these stringent laws and regulations in both of his covens, which are ultimately destroyed by someone he loves who stands outside it all. and he kind of just allows that destruction, despite all of his power, because he is also... bored? it's like he's on autopilot, going through life in this meticulously constructed routine until he meets lestat and later louis, who both refuse to adhere to his carefully crafted structures and disrupt the status quo. this is attractive to armand because deep down, underneath his all masked emotions, he is very lonely and desperate for connection! which is just awfully human for such an ancient powerful being

imagine being this old and alone, how do you endure? armand tries to find value in these rigid structures because otherwise, his life feels empty. "he needs rules to give him purpose" but in the end, this doesn't fulfill him completely because, despite his feigned confidence and stoicism, he is insecure, needy, and traumatized. this is why he seeks out chaos despite having spent all this time trying to control everything and everyone around him. he lets it happen—for love, but also, i think, because unconsciously he desires that total loss of control, which allows him to actually feel something real. every few decades, he almost intentionally lets his entire world, the world he worked so hard to manipulate into his will, be ruined. yet, when he tells daniel he "let it happen," he is lying, too (at least about lestat) because he presents himself as more passive, composed, and reasonable than he really was when his way of life was threatened. he just tells himself that he wanted it that way all along so he remains the one in control. i need to see him crack

[dammit-tazmuir]

I have been working on this for nearly a month but FINALLY finished my first TLT fanart. I have a lot of feelings about these three.

I also needed to draw the rainbow-black of John's eyes okay.

[pharawee]

[yb-cringe]

good heavens. ros is . good LORD. her talk today w aimsey was so insightful. anhway tr ros ramble below

she wants to be friends with everyone but if youre not her friend, you’ll eventually toe in line with her or face the consequences. the way she was talking about how she was TRYING to be nice but man for some reason the red team wouldnt get over her killing one of their members! and its just HARRY who cares!

its like she genuinely doesnt understand why someone doesnt want to be her friend. this feels like the mindset of like “if i just explain everything perfectly then everyone MUST agree with me! because i have the facts!”

but she doesnt. like. get that people sometimes dont like or respect you and you have to let that go. ros doesnt want to let that GO. ultimately her killing pili or bad is barely even revenge for foolish; its about ros being in control of the way someone sees or feels about her

she doesnt want EVERYONE to fear her. she just wants everyone to be her friend but if theyre not her friend then they’ll be afraid, because either way, ros feels more secure.

[microbes-in-hats]

Serratia marcescens

Photo credit: Linawati Hardjito, et al.

[befuddled-calico-whump]

Riot Kings, page 220

first // prev // next

[fruk-choosing-a-username]

THE SUBTLE SMILE........

"they live? .... :]"

[shaykai]

You ever think about how Gortash doesn’t lie during the coronation and how he keeps calling Durge his favorite and his nearest and dearest. I do

Edit: You ever think about how quick he is to extend the same offers to a Tav if Durge is dead? Like yeah he does need allies to deal with Orin and help secure his plan/the Netherbrain, but also he’s trying to gain the same kind of companionship he had/lost with Durge with Tav

[cyb-by-lang]

One of the consequences of Obito's usage of Kamui in CYB-adjacent stories is that he tends to have a lot of stuff in there. Like, sure, furniture he forgot about and most of the things Rin has ever asked him to keep track of (to be retrieved on command), but also some stuff that's actively dangerous.

Like Kei's excess explosives.

What I'm saying is that while Obito didn't trick Dabi into detonating two tons of TNT in his own face in Shell Game, it wasn't because he couldn't.

[gimpwithoutorgans]

Marius makes me so upset. He acts like he knows what’s best for Amadeo but refuses to see his point of view. Armand wants Marius to trust him. He wants to submit to Marius (submission=survival) BUT he also wants to even the playing field (at least a little bit).

Amadeo looks at vampirism as a way to solidify his relationship with Marius. He senses Marius’ obvious loneliness and feels he could be the perfect companion to cure him of that feeling (he loves a role/job). He also (falsely) believes it will end the constant secrets. He even promises not to have his own opinions on the secrets he hears. He just wants to hear them😭. It would change the power difference in their relationship quite a bit.

Of course, Marius perceives Amadeo advocating for himself as a threat to his authority/ blow to his ego🙄. Lording knowledge over Amadeo is partially what gets him off. He loves dangling treats in front of Amadeo then pushing him away when he reaches for it.

[kitschkicks]

<3 <3 <3 my savage, manipulative, highly motivated problematic faves

Endlessly watchable, terrifying when roused, morally flexible... kinda hot ngl.