#the power dynamic is so wack

[lugibriousbrew]

Baldurs Gate Smash or Pass TIERS part 6

[synthwayve]

Thinks about Micolash and Laurence’s rivalry that never strays from the confines of academic snark or the occasional jab despite their shared ambition(and possibly also just accompanying a general friendship they could have had since they worked together at some point. Idk I’m a softie. Sue me.) eventually involving into a full on intellectual divorce. Cries. Explodes. 72 casualties.

[velnna]

What are the races in your under garden comic? And how did you come up with them?

Oh oh oh juicy question

We're still exploring what "races" we have, how mixed they can get, etc etc, but I love yapping about this so I'll give a bit of a TL:DR

The Under Garden started off with me and my cowriter having a couple of DnD characters we got very attached to and didn't want to dispose, so the "basis" for their races was attached to DnD somewhat - namely drow and tiefling

HOWEVER when we decided to make it its own world we basically broke off with that and decided to, for starters, have a basic "elf" like race for humanoids. The range is basically any vaguely human creature with pointy ears, and then other physical attributes might determine where they're from but wouldn't exactly count as a whole separate thing.

When we worked out some of the large scale history of the world, we decided as well that the people we first interact with, with skin in shades of purple/blue and hair in shades of silver, would have been dominant at some point, then driven to seclusion in small pockets of the world. Meaning that if someone were to look vaguely.. "drowish" I suppose, they'd be linked to this ancient powerful people and the few places they're known to still exist in. They've got the longest lifespan (~250 years) and are also more intertwined with the high level magic system in this world.

For example:

From here we sort of made room for types of elf we haven't pinned down yet, and will probably parallel anything from bluer "sea" elves to stockier more dwarf-like people, and for all intended purposes even if someone just looks like a human they're a flavour of elf. For example:

And again, the further you go from the silver hair - purpleish skin combo the less connection you have to the OG magic dwellers. There's more nuance to the magic system but that's the gist of it.

ASIDE FROM ELVES HOWEVER we now get into what we decided to do with the "tiefling" side of it. The thought process here was funny because we had a character inspired by a cyborg but no way to have actual cyborg shit justified in this world without an extra layer of complication. So I was like yo what if he's like a bug instead. Exoskeleton vibes n all. So then we decided fuck it out more wack looking people will be mostly inspired by bugs. Within them you DO have a bigger variety of "races", lifespans, physiologies, etc, and there's a lot of room for us to wiggle. They're generally non magical and can cross breed with elves so bugness is also a spectrum.

Some bugs:

Some bug hybrids:

Basically anything with a weird number of limbs, eyes, odd scleras, exoskeletons, wings, etc is some flavour of bug or bug hybrid. They tend to be as far removed from magic as possible.

Obviously there's a bunch of more and lesser known types of bugs and the sheer diversity makes for some interesting worldbuilding questions and dynamics but as a whole it's a work in progress

*takes a bow*

[wasawattpadkid]

Housewife

Part - 10

Summery: Billy and Stu have been planning these murders for quite some time. Everything is going to plan until you show up. What happens when they meet someone who is just as mentally deluded as they are?

Pairing: poly!ghostface x fem!reader

Warnings for this series: murder, blood, smut (will be more in depth on smut chapters), power dynamics, a dash of sexism, knives, stalking, perverse behavior, cheating, mention of suicide,

Part 1

"Did Neil Prescott attack you with the ghostface costume on?"

"They've yet to close the case on the murders. Do you think Neil could've had a partner?"

"Was is hard watching your girlfriend die in front of you?"

The reporters spit inappropriate questions at Billy from the moment he stepped out of his car. He was more than happy that he got away with it but he found it a little annoying someone else was getting all the credit for his well executed plan. Billy threw his his backpack on barley missing the healing wound underneath his polo.

He passed by the reporters pushing some of them out of the way. Surprisingly no one bombarded him with questions when he entered first period. He heard whispers as he walked the halls. They didn't bother him at first. Billy lived through it, he got the front row seat most of them would kill to have. The boy kept his head down as he walked into his first period class. "It was Stu's house I know he had something to do with it." One of the boys said talking with his friends. Billy listened into the conversation. He was a nosey person by nature. "That doesn't mean he did it. I mean Sydney's dad was a wack job after his wife slept with half the town."

Billy nodded to himself. "I don't know something seems fishy with how close Stu and that new chick were." If you were close with anyone it was Billy. He was just careful about showing affection in public because shit like this happenes. People talk. "They were probably fucking and Tatum found out, everything went side ways." The group of three started laughing as the teacher shut the classroom door. Billy wasn't keen on hearing people talk about you or Stu but Stu had thick skin. Words never really bothered him much.

"You know we all would've died if Y/n didn't call the cops when she did." Billy snapped his tone a little too assertive. The class grew quiet everyone hearing what the boy had to say. Even the teacher was quiet not wanting to upset Billy more than he already was. "Class I know that these last few weeks have been traumatic for some more than others. However it would be beneficial to everyone if we continued on with our unit."

Billy went through the day with his keeping his eyes on the ground. He started to realize how hard it was to get through the day without Stu by his side going on and on about something he really didn't care about. The lunch bell rang and like clockwork all the kids flooded the hallway. For the most part Billy was completely ignored except for a few wide eyes stares in the hallway. For a second he forgot about what he had done. He saw the fountain being occupied by two girls. The freshman girls looked at Billy like he was a celebrity. "Oh my god Billy Loomis. I didn't think you'd come back so soon. Are you okay?" The blonde student rambled on stumbling over her words.

"Move." He was a man of few words. "I'm sorry about Syd- wait what?" She asked as her friend started picking her things up. "Are you deaf or something? Get out of my fucking spot." The girls hurried to grab their things. "This is where we sit everyday are you fucking blind?" He yelled causing people around to stare at the scene. "I-I'm s-sorry..." The kid stuttered scared of the boy in front of her. "Duh- duh- duh- get the fuck out of here." Billy spat nearly making the girl cry. Silently her friend grabbed her hand pulling her towards the building.

He could feel the eyes of those around him tearing into his slim frame. Billy sat on the concrete slab where he always did. No Sydney, no Tatum, no Randy, no Stu, and no you. His peers just watched the boy have a mental breakdown. It was lonely being alive. It wasn't the lack of people that was upsetting, it was the quiet. Running a hand through his messy hair he jumped up. "Fuck this."

You had never felt so good on a Monday. Your wound barley hurt with a little help from the pain killers. "Elvis really?" Stu questioned as you pulled the record out of it's sleeve. "You're not an American if you don't like Elvis." He pulled his lips into a straight line. "Consider me Canadian." Your rolled your eyes sitting the needle down. "Did you know he came in his pants during one performance?" Stu crinkled his nose at the unwante information. "That is fucking disgusting. Tell me more." You laughed laying on your bed next to him.

Billy blasted his radio choosing to listen to the burnt CD Stu made him a few weeks ago. Sad whiney alternative rock seeped through the speakers. It did nothing to help his mood but he wanted to sit and wallow in his self pity for just a little longer. It wasn't a very long drive to your house which saved him gas. If he had to guess you were probably laid up in pain waiting for someone to come and help you. And if you weren't going to answer his calls he'd do the chivalrous thing by showing up unannounced.

You held your sides as Stu danced around doing his best Elvis impression. "Stop it's so bad." You cried with laughter barley able to get the words out. You heard a faint noise downstairs grabbing your attention. "Wait, shh do you hear that?" Stu pipped down letting you concentrate. "Somebody's at the door." You rolled off the bed heading down the steps. "I'm going to pick the next record." Stu called from the bedroom. Making sure you looked presentable you opened the door. Billy looked up at you a smile playing at his lips for the first time in what felt like forever. "Hey." He said as you stared in shock. Your heart raced and you felt sick.

"Jeez don't get too excited." The visitor rubbed the back of his neck trying to ease his slowly building nerves. It was obvious to him you weren't as happy about seeing him as he was you. To him you were a breath of fresh air but that was because he was stealing yours. "Y/n please talk to me." He pleaded making you snap out of the trance you were in. "Go away." You thought it'd come out as a scream but it barley qualified as a whisper. Billy caught the door as it was closing. "You can't just tell me you're in love with me and then disappear." He walked into the house as if he owned it. You couldn't help but laugh dryly.

"That's what you got out of everything thing that happened Monday?" He raised an eyebrow unsure of what he was missing. "What else was I supposed to get? You literally pointed at gun at me saying you did all this for me because you loved me." You slammed your front door causing Stu to jump upstairs. "I was going to kill you." You said plainly done with the chit chat. "Excuse me?" You walked to the kitchen grabbing a drink from the fridge. "You heard me. When I saw that article and saw your smug face all I could see was red." Billy took a seat on your couch deciding to take his shoes off as if he was staying longer.

"I did love you, you're right but that was years ago. For a second there you had me fooled I'll give you that. My original plan was to get close to you and then kill you. Simple as that. Stu made that hard considering you were two attached at the hip." You refrained from making a joke you knew the boy upstairs would appreciate. "Why didn't you just kill him too?" With the look you gave him he knew that wasn't a good question. You took a swig of soda setting the glass bottle down on the counter. "It might be a shocker for a heartless bastard like you but I don't just run around killing people that inconvenience me."

Billy was actually kind of hurt by the comment. "I found out you two were planning to murder a group of kids so I sat and waited for you two to get yourselves put in prison or better yet you'd kill yourself." Billy swallowed what little spit he had left in his mouth. He was uncomfortable. "I'm not stupid, I knew you were going to kill him. He was simply collateral to you. That's what really pissed me off. You hadn't changed at all. I couldn't kill you now because he loved you and I couldn't bring myself to hurt him. Does he know?"

Stu sat upstairs knees to his chest as he tried not to cry. He was dumb he knew that but he was okay with it. He didn't think he was think oblivious though. All he was to Billy was a disposable accomplice. Something he could throw away once he was done using him.

"I wasn't going to kill him. We were going to run away together." You laughed shaking your head in disbelief. "Watch out Loomis, you're starting to sound as delusional as me." The whole scene really played out like two parents in the midst of a divorce. "Why'd you come here?" The defeated sound in your voice made Billy regret his decision in coming here. "I wanted to see you." He muttered. "Well you've seen me." You held out your hands making sure he could get a good luck before he left.

"I love you." Billy looked up at you making sure your eyes met when you heard the words. You hated the way he could easily manipulate you. Maybe it was because you wanted him to. You enjoyed how the lies made you feel so you chose to believe them. "If you think that's what I want to hear it's not. Love bombing is a big red flag you know?" Billy slammed his fist on the couch arm in frustration. "What the hell do you want to hear then?" You pinched the bridge of your nose. "I can't explain every little thing to you Billy. It's not my responsibility to teach you how to be a decent human being. I just need time. We both do. If you still feel the same way next week we can talk okay?"

Billy bit his lip till it started to bleed. "Okay." He was yet again defeated by you. You weren't keeping score but he certainly was. "If I call will you at least answer? Please." The idea wasn't bad but you knew it was only a matter of time till this sense of clarity wore off. You'd take him back in a heartbeat because you're the same easily impressed girl you've always been.

"I'll think about it." You'd kiss him right now if he as much implied the idea. One whimper from him and you've would've started making the bastard a sandwich. "Thank you." He said as he put he shoes back on. "How are you?" It was a question you thought he didn't care enough to ask. "I'm feeling better. Thank you for asking. How are you doing?" Billy's wound didn't even bother him at this point it was his mental state that was in decline. "I miss you and Stu." That wasn't an answer to your question but you proceeded with caution.

"I'll be back to school next week. Why don't you stay home this week too? School is not exactly the best idea for us right now." All things considered that is. You didn't understand how much Billy despised his "home." Since his mother left him his house became a prison. A padded cell would be cozier. "I would rather go to school all day than go home." You felt for him but that's as far as your sympathy went. Slowly he stood up waiting for anything to keep him here a bit longer.

"I'll see you Monday, Billy." You walked over to him ready to open up the front door. Swallowing his pride he wrapped his arms around you burying his face in your neck. The strangely intimate act was not in Billy's character. "I'm sorry." He whispered to himself more than you. You weren't even sure if he knew he said it. Your arms wrapped around his back and he let you just hold him for a second. If this was some sort of manipulation tactic he was better than you thought. Billy cleared his throat as he pulled away.

"I guess I'll see you Monday." You nodded not trusting your voice. "Call me if you need anything." Billy added as he walked outside heading towards his car. "Bye." Your voice cracked and you quickly shut the door locking it. Instead of sliding down the door like they do in the movies you laid face down on the couch. Screaming you lungs out into the throw pillow seemed to attract the attention of the boy upstairs. "You okay Betty Crocker?" Stu said almost jumping down the stairs. "You want to go cliff diving?" You asked as you carefully rolled off into the floor.

Stu joined you on the carpet. "Can we drive off the cliff Thelma and Louise style?" You smiled cuddling up into his side. "Absolutely." You wanted to ask if he heard your discussion but with how red his face was you assumed he already knew. "Is Y/n your real name?" There was a calming sincerity to his voice. "I wouldn't lie about that. Well actually that's a lie, yes I would." He laughed covering his eyes with his arm. "But no I'm not lying about that. I've got my birth certificate somewhere around here or I could just give you my social security number." You smiled up at him. "That works too."

Stu played records as you and him cleaned the kitchen. He felt betrayed by his best friend and he desperately needed the break. Stu would forgive Billy eventually, he always did. He knew you'd forgive him too if you hadn't already. That's just what Billy did. Ignorance is bliss, Stu learned that a long time ago. In the meantime, Stu was busy playing house with you.

(if your name has a line through it Tumblr wouldn't let me tag you)

Part 11

Taglist: @katie-tibo @agustdeeyaa @bowlofceral @gonnapermashift @tati-the-fangirl @kozumewhore @tatijoestar @illyanam1011 @c4rved-pumpk1n @msghostface @gojosbucket @sammanna @lokigirlszendaya @reneki @fetusharryluvr @kadu-5607 @pumpk1n-writes @lovekeeho @tojisblood @zeysartzone @bluedevilss @life-of-music3 @flyestvenustrap @littleblondesoprano @imobsessedreader @loomiscorpse @nicciekawegosblog @reneemunson @miss-puregotti @ksgsfsgaj @zoleea-exultant @briefwinnerpersonaturtle @mistydreamscape @l4venderia @nex-crowley @ashreblogsnow @brynaa223 @your-desire666 @billyloomiswhore4 @holyladyofsorrows @megluv1 @ellieswifeiya @yoluvrz @forallthstarsinthesky @madsothree @youcantbesirius @lubunnii @captainhowdysseptum

[breha]

claudia’s birth allows louis to believe that he and lestat have become The Parents (equal status) and so the teacher-student power dynamic has gone away, but really it’s just been repressed and it comes up again like wack-a-mole

[brekkie-e]

The fact that allying with Briala means Gaspard has to obey a woman he once unironically looked in the eyes and said, “yeah, youre prettier than me.” to is incredible to me. Like every day I remember that scene. Like dead ass he just found out his cousin is a lesbian, takes one look at Briala and goes “yeah i mean, i would be too oh well, mad respect for the gays.” Wack.

And then he has to *work for her????* That crew goes through so much. Between Michel and the way he leaves it with Gaspard and Celene. Briala and the way *she* leaves it with Michel and Celene. Gaspard and the way he ruins everything and is the worst and yet also somehow is some how the cornerstone to every important revelation and supportive to people when the shoe drops?? I’m just.

How did not a single one of those insane dynamics come out during the game??? Or even get alluded to. Like my god if you ally with Briala, and end up sending Michel back to Gaspard???? CAN YOU IMAGINE. CAN YOU IMAGINE BEING IN THAT ROOM WHEN THOSE 3 MEET BACK UP. AND THE INSANE POWER SHIFT THAT HAS HAPPENED SINCE THEY LAST SAW EACHOTHER. I would KILL to be a fly on the wall in that scene. Would they end up as strong allies in the end??? The way Gaspard and Michel left it I could see it for them. Would they team up to back stab Briala? Would Briala manage to keep enough power over them to keep them in line??? I DONT KNOW.

Just thinking about it breaks my brain.

Also we were robbed of the inquisitor, knowing absolutely nothing about what really went down between Briala and Celene, walking up to Briala and being like “hey i found a locket, I think she still likes you.” And having that woman laugh her out of the room. Like you can not be a couple’s therapist to someone you just met, stomp all over the most traumatic events of her life, and then successfully reunite her with the person that caused them. Ridiculous.

I refuse to reread this book because talk about an emotional roller coaster. But i just wish for how unhinged and completely morally bankrupt it was, more of that bled into the game. Else wise what was the point of putting me through that.

[narzissenkreuz-ordo]

My thoughts & feeling about the Imbibitor Lunae's recent story leaks, in regards to Renheng / Xingyue & Dan feng himself

i'm pretty sure other folks have made posts trying to piece together the timeline, but even with the actual story sections the events of Dan Feng's sins are still super unclear

Starting with Dan Feng because he's my skrunkly; this dude really thought his power and position made him god-like with little regard to mortals below him while fighting with the HCQ

i know there were past leaks where DF was vaguely described as pretty emotionless and detached. but man he really does not give a shit people with his active detachment BUT the quick gazes & mentioned sharing drinks with the HCQ really makes it seem like DF went from consistent detachment throughout his current & past lives and then became absolutely ride or die for his (new) friends.

I have a feeling that the constant cycle of being reborn & being forced immediately into preparing to be the High Elder, Being the High Elder & caring out those duties, and dying as the High Elder. The cycle keeps going on and on. He probably had no TIME to indulge in normal ass things like friends or any other non-professional social life. But them he meets these 4 weirdos who treat him as just One Of The Guys and immediately comes ride or die for them.

The mask of emotionless & cold detachment comes crumbling down around his new found friends. This honestly probably punches DF in the gut because these sensations are new and wack to him, I love the idea of him being a lil unhinged and drunk on the power of friendship BUT ONLY with the HCQ. the emotional whiplash the people around him problem experience is probably so hilarious because they see him having a blast with his friends and theyre like omg is that the high elder omg i didn't think he was such a party lizard but then IMMEDIATELY goes back into his cold & collected personality the moment someone else interacts with them all. The moment he starts feeling the power of friendship he's like "am i sick? whats happening to me oh my god why does my brain feel like bees" unable to process the emotions trying to reboot his brain constantly like a fucking windows computer. we love an autistic king!

ok this was supposed to a more serious post abt DF & the actual events in the leaked story but my brain automatically thinks of HCQ shenanigans

do i need to say more about "that exceedingly arrogant craftsman" like holy Fucking Shit this is fucking gay. his emotionless detachment in battle & his quick/mostly neutral thoughts about his other friends, but with Yingxing he goes into gay annoyance/admiration mode.

I really wish that Yingxing wasn't a short-lifed species because this whole dynamic SCREAMS slow-burn to me. DF's standoff-ish behavior & genuine annoyance towards YX and his arrogance but it slowly becomes more & more endearing as the rest of the HCQ get him to come outta his "stick up his ass" shell to eventually the realization hits and becomes giddy & drunk on his overwhelmingly intense love for YX and becomes a slightly feral lizard, even in public with the HCQ And giving YX gay gay homosexual gay immortality dragon heart juice would still be a thing with YX dying in battle.

Before I end this, I'll just touch up on the more Depressing events in DH IL's story leaks:

DF's emotional detachment to others & friendly relationship with the HCQ leads him & YX to wanting to carry out some sort of "Plan" which probably involves whatever conversation DF & YX we were able to listen in on at Scalegorge Waterscape (or was DF just sneaking YX into Scalegorge Waterscape so that he could research Vidyadhara craftsman techniques?). But since these are DH's dreams even HE doesn't know whats going on.

my general thought process was: DF & YX are planning something together (making YX immortal?), weird fucking shapeshifting flesh monster is tthere?, YX telling him to commit to a decision, DF having the star & red bloodcell vision (was he glanced at by Yaoshi while trying to use the Dragon heart to make YX immortal?), Then Baiheng comes crashing into to try and stop the monster (why was she THERE?)

it doesn't make sense that Baiheng was the one DF planning to bring new life to. Since her sudden appearance is a surprise to him & YX was only described as wounded but able to protect and use his sword

since these are DH's dreams & fragmented memories. With out the other story beats, could it be possible that the "bury his old friend" and "grant them new life" were two different people? DF coming to grant YX immortality but Baiheng gets disintegrated thus DF buries a friend & give the other new life.

Were missing a lot of context here, did YX later get injured so badly that DF tries to revive him? or was the Yaoshi flesh monster completely unrelated and they HCQ were trying to stop it and beiheng fucking dies? does DF try to bring Baiheng back while having his weird ass blood and flesh vision & things go Very Wrong and YX gets caught in the crossfire, making him into the monster we know today? is that why Blade is always going on about how him & DF have to pay the price for THEIR sins? They tried to bring Baiheng back and committed the greatest taboo and they created something horrible (Baiheng abomination & Blade's immortality?)

I'm gonna try Not dwelling on the details here since we need even MORE context now. This post is getting SO long, i will leave it at that & think more about HQC domestic bliss

[scrapcheese]

Fafnir and his "foes"

NO OK BECAUSE HELLO?? I NEED TO TALK ABOUT THIS CHAPTER???????? I NEED TO TALK ABOUT HIM PLEASE

Here are my ramblings about what Fafnir means in chapter 129 of miss kobayashi's dragon maid when he says that Kobayashi is his "worst enemy" !!!!!!

===========

BACKGROUND CONTEXT (that i think is important)

​Throughout the series we can observe how aggresive Fafnir can get when it comes to things that are important to him, like his treasures or video games. The fact that he left his cave behind to stay in this world shows just how much he's come to regard his life in this world to be important, so why wouldn't that extend to his friend group too? 

Also did you see how he reacted to the rare video game in chapter 120 where he fought Ilulu? HE LITERALLY ALMOST DESTROYS HER AND THE SURROUNDINGS

He saw someone else holding the thing that he was told is a treasure and reacted like it was a threat, and was about to go in for the kill. He's usually pretty listless, and apathetic about things going on around him, so for there to be that strong of a reaction shows that he definitely cares. A lot. He can care about things.

/////// REBLOG ADDITION ////////

update: reread chapter 120, and i think his reaction to ilulu was not just his reaction to the game, but also like his gut punch reaction to almost getting attacked because he let his guard down BECAUSE of the game. like i think that is very telling of how much he's grown accustomed to the human world and how much less guarded he's become.

this ties into the conversation he has with Lucoa in ch136 about changing values for something you really want (WHICH I WILL EVENTUALLY TALK ABOUT.. MAYBE)

===========

Does he actually dislike them?

Ok so in this chapter Fafnir definitely doesn't mean "worst enemy" in the sense of genuine dislike, because he literally messages Kobayashi about the game and is smiling at the end of the chapter??

also if you look at chapter 33, the hot springs one, Takiya talks about how he's found a group of friends that he enjoys spending time with and wants to maintain that group of friends, and that Fafnir should understand because he does the same. 

In this chapter he says that Takiya says things sometimes that make him think he can see right through him, and i want to assume that the hot spring conversation is one of those times. which probably means that Fafnir does care about this friend group in his own way! 

===========

So what is he saying?

To put it simply, he's just absolutely wack and interprets all his relationships through the lens of enemies because thats what he's used to. 

In the chapter, we can see that how he labels someone as an enemy in this context probably depends on how much he regards them to be a threat or to be equal with him in some way:

Takiya is a gaming foe, so someone who he finds to be his equal when it comes to gaming, and probably enjoys spending time with

Tohru used to be a foreign enemy (aka someone he isn't close with) and has now become a formidable foe, someone he regards to be at the same level as him and as a friends.

Lucoa is a strong enemy, probably referring to how she's about as strong if not stronger than him.

He doesn't consider ilulu or kanna to be threats and isn't very close to them, so he doesn't consider them to be "foes"

And Elma is an enemy by the nature that she is a threat to his beliefs because she's in the harmony faction. 

But Kobayashi? She's the worst enemy because she holds the most power, not only with the dragon slayer sword but also the fact that she is sort of the reason the whole friend group came together in the first place. If there is anyone can greatly affect the group dynamics, it would be Kobayashi. So it's fair to assume that Fafnir would see that as some sort of threat to something he considers important.

/////// REBLOG ADDITION ////////

ALSO ADDITIONALLY, Fafnir is part of the chaos faction but doesn't really do much fighting, he's kind of just a shut in. Kind of like Lucoa being in the spectator faction.

Kobayashi on the other hand? She is a human and a non-believer in the gods, but regularly does miracles and clashes/argues with other dragons to protect their little group, AND IT WORKS. She fought Damocles (Tohru's dad) alongside Tohru, she fought Kanna's dad and literally stopped a whole faction war from breaking out, and that whole arc of saving Elma and fighting Telne? That was her too, she's a pretty big part of all that happening and being resolved.

SHE HAS A GOD DAMN HOLY SWORD AS A PART OF HER

Kobayashi is fucking terrifying.

====

TLDR; my interpretation of this line is that Fafnir cares about his friends, is unable to call them friends so he says enemies, is worried about Kobayashi's role in the friend group and how her actions could affect all of them negatively because he does actually care about all of them and the relationships he's built with these people.

[bbygirl-aemond]

On Ser Criston Cole

Listen, I will be the first to acknowledge that Criston gives off massive incel energy, and also has some of the most wack anger issues out of anyone in the show (aside from maybe Daemon, which is basically a given). However, I do think he’s a much more complex character than a lot of viewers seem to realize, and large part of it traces back to sexist double standards.

First, we need to understand the sheer scale of the power difference between him and Rhaenyra, in order to understand how he approached their relationship. I think that because Rhaenyra is pretty, and young, and a woman, and of course a very lovable character, we don’t see her as very threatening. But she is lightyears above Criston in just about every possible way.

Criston Cole is the only PoC main character in the show. Fabien Frankel is of Iraqi descent, and it’s a deliberate casting choice, as Criston is Dornish. Dorne, for those of you who don’t know, was the territory in Westeros that gave Aegon the Conqueror the most trouble and fought the hardest against his rule. As of HotD, it’s the only part of Westeros that remains independent from the Targaryen dynasty, and there is undoubtedly a ton of racist, negative sentiments towards Dornishmen. And, in the main GoT series, we are explicitly made to understand that a lot of racism towards Dornishmen manifests in the form of heavy fetishization and hypersexualization--I'll come back to this later.

Think of all the jokes about Dorne and Dornishmen that have been made on Twitter regarding Vhagar-- they’re objectively hilarious, but are based on canon racism and hostility. He’s also the only lowborn character, which they point out explicitly in the show. And we see characters in the show comment disparagingly on this, both to his face and behind his back (Harwin Strong, as much as I love him, is one of those people). All of the Targaryens that we love dearly have not had to work for their wealth and their power; they were born into it. Criston is quite literally the only person on the show who has had to fight, and bleed, and sweat, and work for every scrap of respect and power that he has. He had to work twice as hard to earn half as much as everyone else.

Rhaenyra, on the other hand, is the heir to the Iron Throne. At the time that she and Criston sleep together, she is as highborn as it gets, and will wield the highest political power in Westeros in a matter of years. She is as wealthy as it gets. She is from the bloodline at the top of the racial hierarchy that has historically subjugated Dornishmen. By every possible marker except gender, she is the privileged, and Criston the underprivileged.

I don’t necessarily see what happened between him and Rhaenyra as rape, but there is absolutely something squidgy there. The combination of the power dynamic and the way she had to convince him into it is a little uncomfortable. We can’t see into his head, and we can’t know what consequences he fears he might face if he refuses her. She could so easily lie that he tried to come on to her, and literally have him killed. That’s the power she holds. You can understand why he might be afraid to upset her.

Imagine if the genders were reversed; if it was a powerful prince and future king pressuring a lowborn, non-white, female guard into a sexual relationship. One consequence of the patriarchy is a dismissal of male victims of sexual assault, and I think this is a big factor into why viewers weren’t largely creeped out by the scene. We are taught to view men as always down for sex, to the point of acting as if it's impossible for them to be coerced or forced into it. And again, the perception of all Dornishmen as these hypersexual beings would only exacerbate this unwillingness to view this scene as coercion.

Essentially, Criston has everything to lose in this encounter. If he says no, she could decide to lie and have him executed, and he would be powerless to stop her. Even if he says yes, she could tell people what happened, and he would also be helpless in the face of his own execution. And he puts his life at risk, to be intimate with her, clearly because he has strong feelings for her, and assumes that she does, too.

But Rhaenyra does not understand the power difference, and she does not understand the significance of Criston sleeping with her. I don’t think she intended to be the Targaryen equivalent of a fuckboy, but it’s undeniable that she uses him, here. She’s bored and upset that Daemon abandoned her, so she goes for the quick stress relief. But it’s because of her privilege and ignorance of the difference between their stations that she doesn’t take even a moment to think of how this impacts him so much more than it impacts her.

So Criston’s reaction on the boat, I think, is a desperate attempt to convince himself that he didn’t jeapordize his entire career and his life for a quick fuck. He’s devastated at the thought that it was virtually meaningless to her, that she does not want the same things he does and never has. It’s incredibly clear in that scene that Criston would NOT have slept with Rhaenyra if he’d known it wasn’t significant to her.

I also think this lends more depth to his (still absolutely batshit) reaction to Joffrey at Rhaenyra and Laenor’s wedding. He clearly has so many feelings towards what happened between him and Rhaenyra: hurt, anger, dread, but overwhelmingly, terror. The threat of Rhaenyra telling everyone about what they did has never once left him; he has lived in the years since with the knowledge that if she ever wanted to have him killed, she would simply have to open her mouth. And here comes this nobleman, a white man born to the kind of power and influence that Criston will never see in his life. And he tells him, as if it’s a joke, that he knows his biggest and most dangerous secret. The one that could have him killed in a heartbeat. I can understand why Criston took that as a threat, even if we as viewers can understand Joffrey meant it more in solidarity.

TLDR: Please remember that all of our faves are very white and very rich and very powerful, and Ser Criston Cole is very much not, and those power dynamics will be present in every interaction his character ever has.

[madamegemknight]

@crispycreambacon tumblr is just not letting me post this ask for some reason??????? I legit have no idea why it is wack O_o resorting to this so I can answer it here we gooooooo -

MATT X JOHN: old man yaoi real ehehehe :P no strong feelings on this pairing one way or another, but it's neat to think about and the semi-implications that John knows something about Outer Space would make for an interesting dynamic between the two :)

MATT X JOE: The fact that you haven't gotten to BTTR yet makes talking about this one SO DANG HARD CRISPY because like. I see it!!! I really do!!! I see it so dang bad!!! but I can't tell you why I see it because it's a big old honking spoiler!!!! augh!!!!

JOHN X CANTUS: Honestly I was gonna make a joke about how they're both performed by Jim Henson but now that I'm thinking about it they parallel each other so well...they're sort of mirror versions of each other, both being incredibly powerful figures in the Rock who can change the world around them with their music, but while John uses his abilities to make others do things they would never consider doing otherwise, Cantus' whole thing is leading others to what they're meant to do. There's also the fact that the graphic novels claim that John's dad was a Minstrel, and that John himself was in training to be one as well before discovering his ability to convince others - there's honestly a lot of potential here for a really fascinating dynamic and pairing.

POLY MINSTRELS: Oooh I'd never considered that as a pairing :0 my own personal headcanons about the Minstrels mean that I wouldn't really ship it (I headcanon Brio as MUCH younger than the other Minstrels since her lines in Music Makes Us Real are about her being a "beginner," and I likewise headcanon Cantus as being a sort of father figure for her as a result), but outside of my ridiculously elaborate headcanons for a character who shows up in 3 episodes I see the vision I really do...

GOBO X WEMBLEY: Another one that I don't ship myself due to my own personal headcanons (aromantic Gobo my beloved <3 Gobo and Wembley having a sibling/sibling-esque relationship my also beloved <3) but I can absolutely see why others ship it! They have such a strong and loving bond, and I adore their dynamic :3

DOOZERS?????: uhhhh not that I've seen at least? Shipping territory seems to be pretty dry with the Doozers alack and alas. quick who's the funniest possible character we could ship with architect doozer gogogogogo -

THE GREATEST FRAGGLE SHIP OF ALL TIME: my otp 4ever! my otp 5ever even <3

[shellyseashell]

@panthera-tigris-venenata and @tiredflowercrown asked for this so here’s an explanation of my demon hunter au!

the basic idea is, when beast brought together all the fairytale worlds, it didn’t just bring villains back from the dead. it brought back demons that had been previously killed or locked away (many of whom were villains anyway, but the point here is they’re stronger). having so many powerful demons/sorcerers/whatever (chernabog, the horned king, zhan tiri, chatana, and maybe maleficent i haven’t decided which version of her i want to use are the biggest threats, but then there’s the other villains, many of whom are still magic) throws all magic into wack, meaning it’s stronger, wilder, and there’s practically no barrier between the natural world and the otherworlds.

this leads to the creation of the king’s guard, a special order meant to take down the demon lords. initially, many of the more magical kingdoms (avalor, camelot, kumandra, corona, etc.) that are threatened by them ally with beast to trap/kill them. they end up trapping them on the isle, built off neverland. it was meant just for demon lords and their allies, the biggest threats, not the villains that yeah, are magic, or dangerous, but they’re not near gods in power (like, the evil queen is a threat, but still human, so she doesn’t necessarily need to be on the isle, for example, charmington can deal with her just fine). but to make the isle, beast had to trap and kill plenty of innocent people, many of whom were magic, which is a thing i like to call foreshadowing.

after the demon lords are locked up, beast turns on all magic users and creatures. in his mind, all magic is dangerous, and has the potential to be just like the demons they just locked up. and well, locking up the demons didn’t really calm magic or make demons vanish, so really, he’s just finishing the job, right?

all the magic kingdoms that had previously allied with beast split, formed their own alliance known as just the rebellion or the guild. leaders include elena, phoebus, jasmine, ariel, repunzel, raya, and arthur. if their kingdom is highly magical, chances are at least some of their people joined.

they fight, and slowly, beast slowly forces the rebellion to surrender. most of his success comes from having some very fanatical people on his side, mainly: frollo. i wasn’t going to make it a religious persecution type story, but the idea of frollo working for beast but so does phoebus and the dynamics that brings basically wrote itself so here we are.

anyway, most of the rebel kingdoms are forced to surrender with heavy consequences to them, one constant being sending most of their magic users to the isle (many of whom are characters we consider villains anyway for consistency of why they’re there). the only ones that are allowed to stay are those who either hide and escape the hunts, or who join the kings guard, now the only organization allowed to use magic.

when the rebellion is successfully defeated, frollo is sent to the isle to ensure it remains so. many on the isle helped build it, they know best how to take it down. i’m not sure if those on the isle will maintain any contact with those off the isle, but either way there’s still very much so a war happening on the isle.

which is the situation the villains kids are born into. there are three alliances they can be born to: the king’s guard (many human villains like gaston ally with frollo. they were thrown on the isle because if magic users are criminals, what’s to say criminals aren’t magic users?), the demon lords, or the rebellion. many drift to the rebellion eventually.

no matter where the kids are born, they’re brought up for war. the king’s guard trains within themselves, usually parents teaching kids. a few are sent to auradon to train, but never kids of major prisoners, always kids of guards that were stationed there. they send kids into war at 16 at the youngest, legally, but on the isle some kids are sent in even younger (either because they’re prodigies, or because they’re hated, like gil, and their families are hoping they’ll die in action). they hoard any supplies sent to the isle, and they kill indiscriminately. to them, their job won’t be done, and the world won’t be stable again, until everyone the isle is dead. not many kids end up leaving.

most kids born to demon lords are raised to bring an era of darkness to the world, to amass as much power as they can. many of the magical villains who weren’t rebels are allied with them (evil queen, Jafar, etc). they’re isolated, usually, but not always. this how many, like jay, are able to leave (in jay’s case, he wandered into rebel territory and ran into the 40 thieves, who adopted him on the spot). it’s brutal, and most don’t have a choice in what they do. they’re the ones most often killed by their parents. they’re usually some of the most powerful magic uses on the isle, too. many kids from this group escape eventually, and join the rebels.

the rebels are a majority of the isle. not many of them actually fight, but plenty of magic users were sent to the isle unfairly and are under their protection. like the kids in the other groups, they’re raised for war, but it’s much more a community effort than and isolated thing. the schools, dragon hall, serpent prep, and the witch academy are run by their gangs and are very military focused. they send kids into the field at 15, but that’s a recent rule and many of the older kids have been fighting much longer by necessity. the rebels is the alliance many of the canon gangs fall into. those who ran from the other alliances often fight, but only after they’ve proven their allegiance.

there are villains who don’t really fall into any group, like hook, and other never land pirates, who were just vibing before everything happened, or the de vils who just wanted to run a crime empire why are they in the middle of a war now.

in auradon, things are only slightly better. they’re not necessarily in a total war, but the isle if anything made the demon issue worse. the prep is a school meant to train king’s guard knights, and the former rebel kingdoms are forced to send their royal kids there to keep an eye on them and keep the kingdom in line. kids who aren’t royal are allowed to attend, but even they have king’s guards in their family. they start training officially (but many have trained longer at home) at 14 and ends at 18-20. (the reason 16 is the legal fighting age for frollo’s men is because at 16 trainees — squires, as they’re called — begin going on hunts with senior students) the reason they can afford sending people into the field when they’re older is because they have more people, and can afford the wait for more soldiers. the isle doesn’t have that luxury.

magic users are hunted and executed regularly. some are still sent to the isle, but beast finds just killing them is quicker. they focus more on killing witches than demons, or figuring out and ending the source of the issue, believing if they just kill all witches then the world will right itself. therefore, many illegal hunting groups formed, who hunt demons (and often still witches) instead of the organization meant to do that.

so what’s the plot? ben still gets kids off the isle. how? well, his argument is that they’re sent into the field before they’re legally old enough (by auradon standards) and therefore the rebels are committing war crimes and the kids shouldn’t be there. it’s flimsy, and the kids who he chooses to come over are all rebels, but it’s on purpose.

growing up, ben is mentored by phoebus, captain of the kings guard in order to protect the romani (in paris at least) for as long as he can. beast intended it to be a “see what happens when you rebel” type thing, but instead phoebus adopted another son and made sure he knew exactly how horrible his father is.

so ben brings kids over, knowing and hoping they’ll bring their rebellion with them. and also, because of the fighting on the isle, the barrier has been slowly eroding, and many of the remaining rebels in auradon are starting to think that’s the issue.

[archon-maenad]

you ever have a post idea so niche you genuinely don't believe anyone will get it? mine is the type-a/type-b northernlion viewer thing but it's for brockton's celestial forge readers.

type-a is obviously the people who read for the technical breakdowns. they're the ones leaving seven paragraph comments about power interactions and who actually keep track of all the celestial forge points lord r has used.

type-b are here for the character dynamics and plot. they're the ones leaving seven paragraph comments about the characterization changes compared to canon and keysmashing over jozef being such an entertaining outside-context problem.

I am obviously type-b, as evidenced by the fact I can barely understand half of the technical parts but stick around anyways to be feral about interludes and obsessed with lethe. I'm also a type-b nl viewer, specifically I got read for filth when he talked about people who discover him for skillful gameplay and over time are assimilated into the bits and banter and based takes crowd.

if anyone else has context for both sides of this wack ass crossover I will eat my fucking socks.

[izzyspussy]

DESPERATELY want a fic where izzy is the first to decide he and ed need to back off of each other to get to a good place (and of course they do not discuss this and therefore ed is still functioning on the dynamic they've had until this point), and at the first real confrontation about it where izzy refuses a possessive display from edward he's a little bit unsteady about it just because honestly? that's a really hard decision to make and an even harder one to stick to, even when it's definitively for the best. so izzy is going up against a lot already even not accounting for any intimidation factor, force of habit, or the wack power dynamic. it's hard! and just by coincidence this confrontation happens to be public or semi-public, and izzy just so happens to catch a glance of lucius, and he takes a deep breath to ed and tells him, "we don't own each other."

[charlie-artlie]

It's 4am and I can't sleep so I'm ranting abt transformers comics again

The transformers (2009), and largely all of the "on earth content" thus far, has been kinda annoying tbh. There's lots of good stuff in there and I'm still overall enjoying myself but basically anything involving the humans is just. Wack.

This is largely because none of the human characters are interesting or likeable at all. Verity Jimmy and Hunter were interesting!!! I liked their dynamics for the most part and enjoyed how they interacted with the autobots but all of these badass military guys are boring and stupid! I mean the only one who's fleshed out in the least is Spike who's just supposed to be this sexy badass who's a tactical genius and gets lot of trim but he's the worst lmao. He's overpowered and annoying and just a nothing of a character. Also it's outrageously stupid that he's able to single handedly take down a constructicon with nothing but "dumb tech" like I can't even take that seriously.

But the really irritating thing is I just can't understand why they're still on earth! They keep acting like they're the last of their race and they have no where to go but new people keep showing up! Where tf did cosmos come from?? Shouldn't Optimus, as the leader of their species be like, be trying to pick up the scattered remains of this army after the war?? why ARE we kicking around on the mud ball im with Roddy and the decepticons on this one. Like it's irritating because hot rod is objectively right when he wants to leave! The humans don't want them there and are actively killing them! Perdonally i dont rly like thr implications of what theyre doing to the captured decepticons (but who cares right) but if the concern is decepticon attack roddys right they literally have thay covered (see above, one human single handedly taking down a constructicon). Not to mention we already know they've tortured and mutilated autobots in the past so who's to say they aren't still??

I just don't understand. the constant dick sucking of the human race. Speaking as a human, I don't need this in the story. Why are we constantly being shown that actually it's the humans who are the badasses and the transformers who are at their mercy. First off, I don't believe you, and second off, then why don't they leave??? Like every five minutes we get a speech abt how humans are amazing and resiliant and so powerful and resourceful and and kind and wonderful and the humans are meanwhile like sorry we weren't listening we were too busy inventing a device that makes autobots explode while simultaneously setting off all our nuclear weapons at once.

Honestly I think I wouldn't be so annoyed with the overpowered human race thing, like to a certain extent its an interesting dynamic, but what's most irritating is the autobots reactions to it. After literally everything humans have done to them they're still just like wow, humans are amazing, we should live here forever. This plan sucks!!!! Pls can we plsss just go back to space!!!

........ALSO Optimus just turning himself into the humans custody for bad leadership crimes because,,,,,, humans killed ironhide,, and he feels responsible,,,,,, so he's going to get captured by then, so they can kill the rest of his men without impediment???? Dude, get your boys out of there!!!!

[master-thief-gray-shadow]

So that was Gundam ‘79.

The Star Wars influence is obvious, but it’s interesting because it’s clearly an immediate post-Star Wars sort of influence, as opposed to something influenced by Star Wars made after it had already become an icon of nerd culture. It’s in the look and sound of the ships and weapons, it’s in the dynamic of the evil space fascists versus the defenders of humanity, it’s in the plot being a bunch of kids getting dragged into fighting a war, it’s definitely in the way Newtype powers get used, but that’s where the similarities end. Star Wars is and always has been about stories on a grand scale, and about how good will ultimately always triumph over evil (it’s notable that two pieces of Star Wars media that people tend to really hype up, KotOR II and Clone Wars, are actually the exceptions to this) but Gundam’s scale is strictly human. The show really goes out of its way to humanize everyone, even the bad guys. Yeah “war is bad” is a meme but it goes out of its way to show why: the casualties of war are ultimately human. Something that really struck me the entire time I was watching was that the Zeons, despite being unquestionably the bad guys, were not some faceless all-devouring horde. Almost every soldier had a face and a name.

Related to the above point, I liked the way the show handled the characters and their struggles. I made a post about this earlier, but I’d like to reiterate it: I think I really understand Tomino’s comment about how the fujoshi were the real Gundam fans because they understood what Gundam was about. It’s about people, and the relationships between people.

The animation was low budget, the music was corny, and the pacing was kinda wack (there was actually one line that foreshadowed Amuro being a Newtype spoken in episode 14 and I forgot about it because it came right before the show dedicated 10 episodes to the White Base and Ramba Ral dicking around in the desert) but ultimately there was something good in there. A suitably humble origin for a scifi juggernaut.

[anarchycity]

At one point I used to roleplay actively, it was great practice for writing and a way to vent a lot of creativity I had pent up with no way to express. One of my proudest achievements I made in that time is something I want to express today. This story is interesting, I promise, bare with me.

For context, this was an rp where a lot of people collectively made up all of the good guys, bad guys, neutral parties, the whole shabang. Everyone had a ton of characters and it got chaotic at times, but ultimately the way things were ran it was a great time. We would swap the role of playing the new main villains every once and a while, my story comes from when it was finally my turn.

I had already been writing for a long time, and I noticed the quality of the writing in the place, and the dynamics of power were really wack, and a lot of the stories felt shallow because the solution to every problem was always that they just wanted to punch their new big bad until there were no more evil schemes, and that there was one character leading the whole group and really weakening the potential plotlines by doing all the thinking for everyone, so to do this I devised a plan.

I made a character that was super physically weak, but I made sure he planned well, and that he positioned himself so that he didn’t need to fight. I even introduced a sweet character that was a victim of the whole situation that led up to this, who was emotionally attached to this villain, which made the other players not want to kill him. He defamed the character that was leading everyone with a cleverly set up plan, a plan that relied on the players lack of attempt to examine a situation, and their lack of attempt to look for clever solutions, or even solutions aside from the obvious ones. My plan would have crumbled if they even took just a second to analyze the situation, but I knew in my mind that they wouldn’t, and next thing I knew my villain had a recording of this ‘leader’ making a stupid, hasty decision, that got someone killed. Spread that like the plague, manipulate characters in the places shallowly built political system, and rise to power, essentially instate a superhuman guard against the player characters, and suddenly everyone is scrambling. The characters no longer feel comfortable, theres more tension to every encounter, they genuinely had to think about how they would approach this villain, and I even put more tension on the line than just fight scenes to the point that it caused characters to have to seriously developed, even resulted in a monologue from another character of mine that made one of the players feel genuine fear to the point where afterwards they told me they were shaking during the monologue.

And during it all I talked about ways to improve the places systems, ways people can make their writing as interesting as they thought mine was, and helped them all develop into better writers as a collective. I had more fun, they all saw the flaws in the way they used to run things, and genuinely really enjoyed the way they improved while I was running the story.

I managed to make one phenomenal prediction of a players actions, one prediction that spiraled into a series of events that allowed me to better the whole group, and make them enjoy the place significantly more then they had previously, and even bring some people that had left back into activity due to the new changes. I don’t think I’ll ever stop being proud of that.