#the final problem approaches

[rafflesbunny]

you ever think of the months after the fall? the hollow darkness john feels for days on end. suicidal, but not quite. the man who pulled him out of that hole lies dead at the bottom of a waterfall, and all watson can do is wish he had caught him. the man who'd taught you life had colours that were not the red of the sands and blood. the man who had showed you the wonders of every nook and cranny. the man who had revealed life's very own secrets that one would miss to you. how does it feel to watch the man who pulled you out of your own spiral fall?

[itsnobodysproblem]

I am shaking and this 🤏🏻 close to crying actually.

He's scared.

You know the thing with Sherlock Holmes and other super smart and capable and level-headed characters is that when you do see them scared it just... It hits you a lot more doesn't it?

God I just wanna give him a hug. It's gonna be ok sweetie. I mean it's gonna get a lot worse but it will be ok in the end.

God the final problem is gonna make me actually sick if Watson noticing he's shaking is affecting me so much... He'll be the most scared he's ever been in Fina. I don't think I'll ever be prepared for that.

[arcadecoconut]

I can't say I'm looking forward to 8 hours of bells hells religitating the god debate, this time WITH the gods, but I am curious to see how Matt will balance already established characterisations of the gods vs twisting things to make bells hells proposal seem like a positive move without seeming like a total retcon.

Caveating this with the fact we don't really know what mortal gods would look like yet, I'm particularly interested to see what would make Erathis "I would have our children know that I am reliable, constant" Lawbearer agree to fuck off and abandon the mortals of exandria.

Lawbearer "Love for me does not mean sentiment nor passion. love means honouring the agreements we have made". We have seen her pretty explicity go to extreme lengths NOT to put herself in the direct position of having to choose between her god-family and her responsibility to mortals BECAUSE she values her responsibility to them so much. She's painted as one of the major architects behind the Divine Gate in the first place, a compromise so the Primes could step back from warping Exandria whilst still fulfilling their responsibilities. I can't really see them on board for a plan that would allow the gods (in mortal form) to directly go back and continue warping it each further.

FWIW, personally I agree Bells Hells plan and general view of the gods is shortsighted & selfish, but it's also abundantly clear that Matt is NOT going to suddenly use the finale to paint Bells Hells as the greatest evil in Exandria, and whatever end state we get will position Bells Hells in a somewhat heroic light. More to the point, now that Imogen has taken in Predathos and they are back on Exandria, their options for dealing with it are much more limited, meaning the mortal gods plan is going to be presented as somehow a positive/kind outcome. And while I do see the potential for this to create an exciting worldstate for a future C4 campaign, a lot of my excitement will be linked directly to how well they land this plane. Because if they can't manage it without directly contradicting years' worth of established god lore and characterisation from previous campaigns, and worse potentially undoing narratives like Vax's sacrifice... well, that would dampen my excitement considerably.

[veni-vici-vetinari]

Does anyone have any tips for getting out of those phases where you hate, loathe even, everything creative you do (writing, drawing, etc) ?

I mean even when, logically, what you did truly is not up to your standards.

I get them often but usually they don’t last as long as this one so I’m asking

[paskuda-lynx]

The type of guys you notice when the train you were going home on suddenly stops due to mechanical emergency somewhere. Or in a random shop, and you see them arguing about buckwheat (the shop _is not_ selling buckwheat). You know. The Random Duo of Excentric Relatives. The starting point of everyday comedies you might find yourself stuck in.

No, seriously, I love that Iroh-Zuko dynamic works beyond epic plots with tragic backgrounds. They both have very colourful personalities, so even common domestic troubles in setting where they are already used to domestic troubles may turn into adventures somehow. I find this a great virtue of their character design. If your characters can be dressed up in the most non-descript clothes imaginable, get mixed in with a crowd, and then still somehow shine through - u got damn good characters!

bonus:

(they balance each other. or, at least, they try to.)

[thatonecrookedsmile]

"Gaze into the space between the pixels on the screen There, you’ll see a place between the signal and the screams Feel the oscillation of the crystal in your dreams Just switch off your brain and let it sizzle in the beams"

-----

It took a matter of months to finish this drawing. (/j, it only took. 2 weeks? I think? maybe a little less,but that's an approximate)

It's been a while since I made a digital drawing. So far between April and now I have focused more on traditional drawings with digital coloring. These are (mostly) cool to do,but it's nice to go back to full digital every now and then. This is one of the cases where the original idea and the final result don't differ that much from each other,but there was still a certain evolution from when I conceived the drawing and how I ended up doing it. The Main Thing of the original idea is still here,I just expanded it a little.

Also,the lyrics at the beginning are from "Tune Into The Madness" by The Stupendium and Dan Bull. Great song,and one that I was listening to a lot at the time I was reading the book (and much earlier too). Because,you know. Mix of horror and TV. It made sense. (And yes,I know this song is about a totally different game,and the TV context in both stories are very different (as far as I remember, it's been a while since I played LN2) but I thought the lyrics could match the drawing anyway + it's my chance to recommend peak, so yeah) Listen to the song, it's very good! (The video do contains flashing images and lights tho,so viewer discretions is adviced)

Also,alt. versions without the text,because I thought that without the text it looks good too (+ you can now see Bendy's face)

[fire-on-fuel]

@verpineshatterrifle your tags are literally so true and real!!! Wanted to post them because they're related to what I've been talking about with what makes someone aro or ace and how it is to live out being those things and because the exploring aspect of this is really underappreciated in fandom imo, both in the context of exploring the character and the character exploring themself. The nulls are such a great example of this because of their Situation, there's so much stuff they know about the world and so much they don't. The idea of them trying things out and it working or not working or working in an extra twisted way feels comfortable and likely. It's messy being anywhere on the aroace spectrum, especially when they live in a society that (I'm assuming) doesn't really know where to place those things

[blood-orange-juice]

The best part of Midsommar is that the main heroine is a psychologist

[steviescrystals]

thinking about this girl i barely know who started drama with me for no reason a couple months ago and tried to turn all our mutual friends against me and now she’s mad at another friend for no reason and is being super shady to her and this friend told me “it’s like what happened with you all over again” … yeah funny how that works

[savage-rhi]

.Magenta.

[unproduciblesmackdown]

being alive at the time i gleaned some general elements abt encanto but never actually heard we don't talk about bruno beyond awareness it existed popping off & i think i heard like the title recited off key off rhythm but in a way that indicates speak singing nonetheless lol so upon experiencing it it's like oh but it's the Verses? while the last refrain goes harder but prior to that it's comparatively underwhelming to said verses which feels appropriate like verses / pieces of a larger picture & that a "we don't talk about him" as a disappointing Lid on infinitely richer more characterful & dynamic "but: talking about him" instances. like well personally it'd be like um seven foot frame....anyway besides being able to firsthand go like oh damn Real (the kind of thing you know exists if alive at the time) it's like alright hang on lol. one thing when a core theme is yeah like "is it a refuge if 'especial' vulnerability ultimately gets pushed out rather than made safer" subset like the parties whose even observation of truths (problems) & drawing attention to them is seen as Ruining Things, like if you're painted as Making futures that aren't simply what's desired or reassuring rather than a guidance via just observing & sharing the truth. but then it's like whaddaya mean living in fear of bruno stuttering and stumbling you could always hear him sort of muttering and mumbling lmao like now that's just Association between the Truth Perceiving & Telling behavior & behavior that's just apparently distinctive of the same person. & like Not Accidentally when [what if people were magic] specifics are obviously primarily abt a metaphorical meaning & like, indeed it was made clear like oh this situation isn't Just b/c [boo we hate your prophecies] & that [an Ability that isn't directed towards what anyone Wants / is "weird" even by these magic standards] isn't Coincidentally given to someone who just so happens to already be "weird" in other ways & be set up to have a different perspective & be pushed away due to having the supposed "extra" vulnerability of unmet needs / insufficient support, same as someone who doesn't "correctly" have any kind of magic ability....like yeah banger and also like Oh Yeah Kind Of Devastating re: that metaphorical resonance allowing for like [set the metaphor aside] now hang on with this about this disabled family member lol. misinterpretation to The Ruinerrr / The Problemmm / The Maliciousss etc (i.e. the scapegoatinggg) despite their efforts likely entirely to the contrary. then despite like, efforts aside, Just Existing, always kind of muttering & mumbling like & what of it. & then like oh sorry weird pets. weird [auspicious for adaptable tenacious thriving surviving; either way simply creatures, existing] pets.

truly like As Is The Idea I'm Sure quickly becomes like hands behind back standing at the window Uh Oh Sisters musing on all the [disabled person] metaphorical & already literal elements there. blair witching it in contemplation like We've All Been There whether being so resented for the mere disruption of "existing in a group as the 'abnormal' odd one out" or like people talking shit abt anything associated w/you as soon as you've left the room, which is also made relevant like, this wasn't Only directed at this person when seemingly permanently gone, nor were they unaware / unaffected prior....pacing in the Musing parlor like things don't Have to be compared to billions but i only ever even see so many things & it's like billions sure is like "get scapegoated rword" & then said scapegoating is presented as only beneficial & we hate autists & even beyond that it's like, grabbing billions, Imagine If Things Meant To Be About Something Were About Something. quite a contrast when they are & furthermore like, deliberate thought & Care for [who gets scapegoated & why] & the truth of like, people getting pushed aside & out who have a key perspective & are primed / liable to come through for others similarly vulnerable & the supposedly Ruinous, Problems Generating disruptiveness is actually the strongest effort to make essential changes to a group. & come through with like, it'd be undermining thee point if it was "reassuring" us like oh haha people will be supportive b/c bruno will be more normal, so great that it Didn't like no, no Normality Reassurance(tm), presence of abnormalities(tm), Good, & everyone Can Deal b/c if you don't then it's pushing this person away, is exactly what happens, including even if they're still Around but are being mistreated b/c that is entirely part of that pushing away like anyone's victim blaming is ready to pounce at any time but if someone can't stand to stay / leaves b/c they can't see another option like that's not out of nowhere nor Regardless of what full support & flexibility they were getting lol. these Active Measures everyone loves so much, which are everywhere always & would include Staying & Trying To Make It Work & those efforts would be "disruptive" & resented & Bringing It On Oneself & etccc smh

that is to all say like. Woww when clearly basically the core thread was these beats of like, the crucial site of [thee scapegoated], & why that comes down on someone & how that plays out. endless ideas about how someone weird(tm) & disabled (&/or queer. but there's no Or here lol. & again like it's a Context like, to even be the one person without kids? likely not living up to "full" correct sexuality in that way alone; any oppression's logics of "inferiority" being logics of ableism, ready examples being that "inferior" race, gender, sexuality (& their experiences as people classed as inferior) all being pathologized as disordered) are seen & treated as someone Ruining Things & who cannot belong like whew. bracing. winding. which, i also recall like i was watching with headphones & during this one dialogue pause i was like "?? what's this Extra Sound i heard there" & had to go over it like twice before being hit upside the head like well it Was still the dialogue pause but it was also bruno Stuttering in a very quiet whisper for the duration of that pause before continuing like iiiiiiii x_x

[beastsovrevelation]

Do I have like 5 Good Omens WIPs I'm actively working on, and even more ideas? Yes, of course. Am I supposed to be writing other things, like papers for uni, original works, and already published WIPs that should have seniority?.. Absollutely.

[boypussydilf]

i get why people would take this perspective since at the time everyone thought it was The End Of Adventure Time Forever And This Is Where Everyone’s Stories End. Forever but in retrospect its kind of so funny that after CAWM there were ppl like….. “wtf so now simons just Cured just like that and now he’s just normal :/“ Why would you think that, though. not having curse induced insanity anymore isn’t gonna change the fact that he survived a nuclear apocalypse. his last lines of dialogue in adventure time are him on the ground sobbing over betty

[smallblueandloud]

note to future self: PLEASE write the soulmate au's laura barton fic, i Need it

[leomonae]

if i can do everything a non-disabled person can, then if i'm not doing those things it's because i'm choosing not to; it's my fault

"Disabled people can do everything abled people can!1!1!!" I'm gonna have to ask you what you think disabled means

[alexanderwales]

I'm a big fan of wizards-as-programmers, but I think it's so much better when you lean into programming tropes.

A spell the wizard uses to light the group's campfire has an error somewhere in its depths, and sometimes it doesn't work at all. The wizard spends a lot of his time trying to track down the exact conditions that cause the failure.

The wizard is attempting to create a new spell that marries two older spells together, but while they were both written within the context of Zephyrus the Starweaver's foundational work, they each used a slightly different version, and untangling the collisions make a short project take months of work.

The wizard has grown too comfortable reusing old spells, and in particular, his teleportation spell keeps finding its components rearranged and remixed, its parts copied into a dozen different places in the spellbook. This is overall not actually a problem per se, but the party's rogue grows a bit concerned when the wizard's "drying spell" seems to just be a special case of teleportation where you teleport five feet to the left and leave the wetness behind.

A wizard is constantly fiddling with his spells, making minor tweaks and changes, getting them easier to cast, with better effects, adding bells and whistles. The "shelter for the night" spell includes a tea kettle that brings itself to a boil at dawn, which the wizard is inordinately pleased with. He reports on efficiency improvements to the indifference of anyone listening.

A different wizard immediately forgets all details of his spells after he's written them. He could not begin to tell you how any of it works, at least not without sitting down for a few hours or days to figure out how he set things up. The point is that it works, and once it does, the wizard can safely stop thinking about it.

Wizards enjoy each other's company, but you must be circumspect about spellwork. Having another wizard look through your spellbook makes you aware of every minor flaw, and you might not be able to answer questions about why a spell was written in a certain way, if you remember at all.

Wizards all have their own preferences as far as which scripts they write in, the formatting of their spellbook, its dimensions and material quality, and of course which famous wizards they've taken the most foundational knowledge from. The enlightened view is that all approaches have their strengths and weaknesses, but this has never stopped anyone from getting into a protracted argument.

Sometimes a wizard will sit down with an ancient tome attempting to find answers to a complicated problem, and finally find someone from across time who was trying to do the same thing, only for the final note to be "nevermind, fixed it".