#tears of cassandra

[bddc-pod]

Lonely TTRPG EP 51 - Tears of Cassandra

"Dive into the emotionally intense realm of 'Tears of Cassandra' by John McKinstry. A unique tabletop experience that explores darkness, demands introspection, and offers a strangely cathartic journey. Not your typical RPG. #solorpg #ttrpg

Tonight, we dipped into “Tears of Cassandra” by John McKinstry. A shortened play session just to give you a glimpse of what it’s about. Unexpectedly, it took a dark turn—much darker than anticipated. A reminder, tabletop RPGs offer therapeutic elements but aren’t therapy. This game’s emotional depth surprised me. Unlike other prompt games I’ve tried, its prompts are less open-ended, almost…

[casscainmainly]

This is not really anything coherent but I was thinking about Cass and Shiva's trip in the water in Batgirl (2024) #6:

And how water, particularly drowning, is associated with parenthood and relationships for Cass. Here, her drowning, and her choice to take Shiva's hand, symbolises their distant relationship (Shiva on land while Cass is in the water) and how she has to decide whether to trust Shiva's actions or not. She does - she takes Shiva's hand, which foreshadows the ending of this issue where Cass accepts their mother-daughter relationship and the "ties that bind" them.

This calls back to Batgirl (2000) #50, where Cass and Bruce plunge into the water after their fight:

Bruce and Cass enter the water together - even when they're fighting (like they were in this issue), they're in sync. And they choose to bend towards each other, achieving the contact that Cass longed for from David Cain (Horrocks-era David at least). They then both rise out of the water together, signifying they've both learned/accepted something about each other: Bruce is seeing her for who she is, not who he wants her to be, and Cass is learning how to love and be loved by Bruce without subsuming herself in him. After this Bruce and Cass never have a serious fight again, and it's a nice development after Bruce's earlier behaviour and misunderstandings.

With Babs, the water moment is a bit less focal but still poignant:

Batgirl (2000) #52

Babs, under the spell of Poison Ivy's garden, attacks Cass and pushes her into the water. Cass manages to rescue her, and after Babs comes to her senses she apologises to Cass and they hug. It's a snapshot of what's to come in their relationship, where Babs hurts Cass by calling her stupid. This moment is full of the pain Babs has caused Cass, but also their closeness; this panel of them looking at each other is just so good, and they're so intimate throughout this. And it ends with a loving hug. They've been separated a lot, but at the end of the day they always find a way back to each other.

David Cain is the only one who doesn't have a moment like this. If anything, he's associated with the air - from Cass jumping out a window with him in her first appearance to stargazing, it's more about the sky for him and Cass. So it's no surprise his big moment happens in the rain:

It's just so interesting to see the differences. Shiva saves Cass, Bruce and Cass both swim up together, Cass saves Babs, and Cass fails to save David. Cass' failure to save David symbolises that their relationship isn't one that can be salvaged, no matter how much either of them still love or care about each other. What David did to Cass is unforgivable; they will never have a moment like the rest.

The water motif of course also ties into Cass' relationship with Stephanie, with 2/3 death hallucinations occurring in the water (and the first one is particularly important, since Cass' decision to live is directly tied to her swimming out of the ocean). But that could be a post for another day, I just think it's cool to see how water figures as a prominent symbol in a lot of Cass' relationships!

[stephexmachina]

my question for Tate Brombal's AMA along with his reply!! i was one of the last ones he answered and i was sooooo scared he wasn't going to pick me, but he did!! and my heart is so full of love for steph and cass and their love for each other

[culiehua]

off to battle he goes! (count your days b1tch @ seelie queen) here's the sketch

[sadarcaneposts]

In an alternate universe, Jinx and Ekko are teaching Isha how to make friendship bracelets in the Firelights tree. Viktor and Jayce abandoned hextech in its infancy when they figured out solar electricity first. Vi and Cait sit in a Cafe drinking tea with Cassandra and Grayson while Cait hides her face in her hands at the embarrassing childhood stories.

Ambessa is pulling Mel's hair grumbling about how tenderheaded her daughter is but when a servant offers to braid her hair instead Ambessa barks at them to let her do it. Kino laughs from the door way as his mother's deft hands finish about how she is such a mother hen.

Sevika is tossing poker cards in the middle of the table and pulling her winnings toward herself before buying another round from Vander, as he and Silco tend the bar of the Last Drop.

And then Ekko wakes up. And the world is dark once more.

[wikitpowers]

JEM SAID TY LOOKS JUST LIKE JESSE

JEM SAID TY LOOKS JUST LIKE JESSE

JEM SAID TY LOOKS JUST LIKE JESSE

JEM SAID TY LOOKS JUST LIKE JESSE

JEM SAID TY LOOKS JUST LIKE JESSE

JEM SAID TY LOOKS JUST LIKE JESSE

JEM SAID TY LOOKS JUST LIKE JESSE

JEM SAID TY LOOKS JUST LIKE JESSE

JEM SAID TY LOOKS JUST LIKE JESSE

JEM SAID TY LOOKS JUST LIKE JESSE

JEM SAID TY LOOKS JUST LIKE JESSE

[gaywineauntsstuff]

Bats on Christmas (where are they?)

Dick: with the titans, has been pleasantly buzzed since 8 am. Phone has been off since midnight. Ate his weight in Christmas dinner and candy. Will meet each of his siblings one on one every day after (Jason and him get shitfaced on new years) but currently his head is on Donna’s lap and his legs are on Roy’s and he’s in a constant state of almost sleepy bliss (no one is dead shush)

Jason: binging Xmas movies him and mom used to watch at his apartment. Alfred sent him a full spread (listen in my country we do turkey and fix ins for Xmas idk what Americans do on Xmas) and he’s just been enjoying a quiet day in a nice apartment (bc I refuse to acknowledge or accept anyone being ok with Jay not having a nice warm apartment. If Dick Gave him a safe house he bought with mob money or he actually kept his drug lord money idc he has a very pretty apartment idcidc)

Tim: with Steph and Bernard, they’re shit talking him to bond, him and dick will meet and exchange presents the day after Xmas and he’s panicking bc he completely forgot to buy dick a gift so the three of them are at the mall while Tim gets increasingly worried

Damian: mad he’s not with Dick, at the Kent’s instead. Got the most presents bc all his siblings gave him stuff and both Dick and Bruce bought way too much stuff

Bruce: doesn’t do anything for Xmas and hasn’t since Jason died. His mom was Jewish so until the kids it just wasn’t a good time for him (for obvious reasons) and now his kids don’t really come home so he had a very peaceful night in and unlike literally any other time Christmas is surprisingly quiet in Gotham.

Steph: has collected a bunch of embarrassing Tim photos and is showing and telling Bernard info Tim wouldn’t let be known on his death bed while Tim is panicking over dicks gift. She spent Xmas eve with her mom so now she’s just chilling bc she already bought Dick, Cass, Damian and Tim gifts so she’s safe.

Cass: with babs since her dad has to work they’re having a very small and quaint Xmas together but it’s nice and them

Alfred: actually goes to mass

[mollysunder]

The Medarda arc of s2 struggled to be good, because the plot viciously smothered it. You can argue that Arcane was never about politics but you cannot say the Medardas were never explicitly a family defined by politics. So when the show shifted it's priorities from a drama steeped in political conflict where even though the setting was fantastical the stakes were grounded to a shift where magic is the end all be all threat to humanity, the Medardas are rendered largely irrelevant.

In s2 Mel's agency over her own story is both largely stripped from her and poorly communicated. Arcane has Mel abducted from the plot to be the Black Rose's captive. Even when Mel manages to free herself it's not through the traits the audience understands are her strengths, her cunning and social intelligence, it's through an innate instinct that natural to her and indecipherable to the audience.

Ambessa as a character is more or less a villain of convenience, which would be fine if she wasn't immediately following Silco's act. Once Mel is removed from the story Ambessa is largely disconnected from any emotional tension fuels conflict between the characters and previously drove the plot in s1. She's there to play the worse bad guy for Caitlyn and then give Viktor the man power for the Glorious Evolution.

It's frustrating to see the Medardas used the way they are in s2 because when they're together I can see how it could be good. When they're together Mel forces emotion out of Ambessa. In Act 1, Ambessa proved she could do circles around Piltover's court, which could actually put Mel in a tight spot.

Their final scene on paper sounds like a good idea where the true resolution to Mel and Ambessa's story was that Ambessa saw Mel's own ruthless behavior as she not only betrayed Ambessa to the Black Rose, but used her as BAIT to double cross LeBlanc. Ambessa died proud that her daughter killed her the way she did, and that's so cool and tragic, but the execution was a flop.

One, their final fight is completely unimportant to the actual Glorious Evolution, Mel's grief can't even be a highlight because it's interrupted by Viktor's mind trap. Two, their fight didn't rely on any of Mel's actual strengths, just magic and the poorly explained MacGuffin LeBlanc gave her. How did Mel even know it would do that?

It's like the writers had the bones for a great story for the Medardas, but then they're like the world's worst archeologists and fit those bones together in the worst way possible because they were convinced the bones made a stegasaurus instead of a T-rex or something.

[tylovingkit]

You can't understand how much I've cried during the scene in TDA where we see Robert Lightwood's funeral and Kit sees Michael.

Like-

MY TEARS AR CRYING

[queenofglassbeliever]

And the Tears of a Clown

[tricoufamily]

look around you, all you see are sympathetic eyes—

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[lindseymcdonaldseyelashes]

The Librarians 3x5 - "And the Tears of a Clown"

[ghostlyarchaeologist]

Death of a Guardian.

The Librarians S01E10 And the Loom of Fate.

(For @my-beloved-lakes)

Bonus just Jake hugging Eve:

[culiehua]

le fandom, 24/7 since the letter dropped:

[clockworkbee]

When a character so badly wants to do or see something happen and they give their all for it but then they don’t live to see it and people get to know from other people that “they did it. They made it happen. They'd have loved to see it. It’s a shame they didn't live to see it”? Yeah...

[ijustthinkhesneat]

Imagine the external speculation on Each of the kids inheritance. Like trash tabloids are all gossiping about how much each kid gets when Bruce croaks meanwhile behind the scenes they are all playing a very complex game of Batnopoly, Yahtzee, connect 4, poker and capture the flag to find out who gets the Batmobile, little do they know Bruce is leaving everything to Batcow, Titus and the bats that populate the cave.

The true truth that no one knows is that everything is actually in Alfred’s name and when he dies he’s leaving it all to Clark because none of the Wayne’s can be trusted.

Very silly, very mindful, Very Knives Out