#theme: willpower

[lucidloving]

Han Kang, Human Acts (trans. Deborah Smith) // Virginia Woolf, diary entry c. 1931 // Olga Bergholz, "Conversation With a Neighbour" // 墨香铜臭, Heaven Official's Blessing // Koyoharu Gotouge, Demon Slayer (edited by @tanchirou) // Haruki Murakami, IQ84 // Natalie Wee, "Never Been Kissed" // Euripides, Grief Lessons: Four Plays (trans. Anne Carson) // a.j., "weight"

[dittydipity]

going INSANE. what is he thinking. why did he say this. why does he do all of this. i am thinking so hard.

we know he's seeking arceus to recreate the world bc in his eyes the world is cruel and unjust and it needs to be destroyed and remade. he's set himself on a mission to create the better reality he's envisioned for his whole life.

but everything else he does. the way he spends his time on pasio making people smile with togepi. even if he justifies it as something purely transactional to get more customers, we know he doesn't really take his merchant job seriously. the way he loves his pokemon so much that they will pop out of their pokeball to excitedly tell whoever will listen how much they love volo back. him trying to capture these moments of happiness tangibly because they never last long and can be wiped away any second.

he still hangs onto hope so much despite what's implied to have happened to him. in spite of all the anger and bitterness that's festered in him, he doesn't really want to destroy everything as he says.

it all started with a wish for the world to be a better place, for the good in the world to outweigh all the cruelty. he's still trying to spread what happiness he can.

but at the same time his past drags behind him and reminds him that he can't afford to trust in the goodness of the world.

that self-assigned mission to usurp arceus's power and rewrite everything.. to him, it's his duty now. he has to do it for himself and, as he rationalizes to himself, for the world.

so he ignores the flaws and holes he finds in his own reasoning. he can't help but seek out the brightness and happiness and goodness that does exist in the world, yet he has to dismiss it to justify his goals.

... all this to try and explain to myself why volo's asking all these questions and making all these comments that seem to go against what we'd expect given his ulterior motive and plans. and it's like he's asking the few friends he has to remember him as the one who seeks joy, even when he does the worst to fulfill his dreams

[dol--blathanna]

Thinking a lot about Orym choosing a rabbit when asked what animal he would pick if cursed with lycanthropy.

Because, it makes sense. Orym is small, quick, agile, jumps well, and is highly perceptive. That definitely evokes rabbit imagery. But a lot of Orym’s identity is also tied up with being a protector – giving people AC bumps, the shield being as much a part of his fighting style as his sword, even his title: Saviour Blade of the Tempest. He wants to be a “Shield that protects Exandria”; his priorities about saving the gods are less about the gods themselves, and more about protecting the people of Exandria from the unintended consequences and bloodshed of releasing Predathos. And it would’ve been very easy to pick a large, strong predator to try and evoke the sense of a protector – a wolf, for example, an animal associated with loyalty and protecting its pack. Yet Orym chose a rabbit.

And I think that’s interesting, because rabbits are often seen as ‘cute’ animals – but they’re also a prey animal. In fact, they’re a common food source for many animals across several ecosystems: foxes, wolves, wild cats, dogs, birds of prey like eagles or owls, coyotes, stoats, and humans (and that’s just off the top of my head). Rabbits are skittish, easily frightened; to be rabbit-hearted is to be timid or cowardly. They are not generally associated with fierceness or prowess in fighting. Mice and rats are prey animals too, but typically seen as vermin (rabbits are sometimes seen as vermin too, but a farmer could eat a rabbit – they wouldn’t eat a rat). Deer are prey, but they have hooves and antlers that bring a danger to hunting them, for any animal – the difficulties of hunting rabbits are more related to their evasiveness, speed and good hearing than any life-threatening danger they might pose. Rabbits are, first and foremost, prey animals. They are killed and eaten, so that another animal might live.

Which made me think a lot about one of Orym’s other key traits: self-sacrifice. Bait and switch doesn’t just bump up his ally’s ACs, it specifically switches their place to put him directly in harm’s way. Goading attack is meant to encourage enemies to attack him instead of his friends. He literally made a deal with a hag, essentially exchanging his own life for power to protect his friends. How many times has he gone down in a fight? He’s not the only tank – but unlike Ashton (and Chetney, who also uses ‘self-sacrifice’ in his fighting style with his blood curses) he has no abilities to reduce the damage from the hits he takes (barbarian rage and the werewolf form).

(Side note: I think it’s pretty interesting that Chetney, the wolf, has attacked Orym, the rabbit, more than anyone else when losing control. That Orym’s facial scar was given to him by a friend, not a foe).

Of course, Orym isn’t the only character with self-sacrificial tendencies (FCG wins by a landslide), but I just can’t stop thinking about how weirdly perfect it is that he chose a rabbit for his animal. Rabbits are prey animals. They are eaten, so that other animals may live. Orym takes the hits, he goads and switches with his team mates to put himself in danger, he makes a deal with a hag at the cost of his own life. He’s a soldier, throwing his life away for a cause over and over again because Ludinus must be stopped, because Keyleth has put her trust in him, because it’s the only way to protect his friends, to protect everyone, because it’s the right thing to do. Orym is a rabbit. He’s always been a rabbit. That day in Zephrah, it could have easily been Orym who died instead of Will and Derrig – “unfortunate but necessary sacrifices”, as Ludinus viewed the attack. It’s unfortunate they had to die, but it was for the greater good, according to Ludinus. It’s unfortunate that a rabbit has to die, but it will feed a family of foxes, or stoats, or even a hungry human, so it’s acceptable, right?

Orym is a rabbit. He is giving himself to a greater cause that could very easily kill him – he already willingly signed his life away to Nana Morri. Because that’s what rabbits do. They die to feed others.

And the theme of being disposable is present across the entire group, not just in Orym – Bell’s Hells has been called a “party of NPCs” before. Aside from FCG’s death, I’d say Laudna perhaps fits this theme the best: she was literally murdered and hung from a tree simply because she looked similar to Vex, acting as a warning to adventurers she had never met before. But FCG’s death was – rightfully – viewed as a terrible tragedy by the group. Laudna’s decision to remove Delilah, finally freeing herself from her abuser and emphasising she is more, and deserves to be more, than just some disposable puppet – this was rightfully viewed as a very good thing! But Orym seems to be embracing this identity of self-sacrifice instead, rather than this mindset being properly challenged or acknowledged as a bad thing. After all, there’s no time. There’s too much at stake. Keyleth, Bell’s Hells, all the memories of those who have died in this fight, all the people who might die if Predathos is released and kickstarts a second Calamity – they’re all relying on him, right? A rabbit feeding so many animals with his sacrifice. And it’s not malicious compared to the way that, say, Delilah killing Laudna was an incredibly evil, fucked up and unnecessary thing to do. If Orym died to save everyone else, well, at least everyone else would be saved, right? Saving lives is good, isn't it? How could he complain?

Because rabbits are prey animals, and Orym is a rabbit too. Destined to die so that another animal may feed.

Except, that’s not true. Rabbits are more than just prey. They’re highly social, and thrive best living with others. They’re playful, they enjoy running around and kicking their legs just to show their enjoyment. They’re inquisitive and mischievous, even being associated with tricksters in some folklore and stories. They’re also associated with innocence, playfulness, spring, youth – all manner of things, depending on the story or culture. And they’re not helpless, either, even if they might be thought of as such. They can bite and scratch and draw blood quite easily if they want to! In fact, freezing up isn’t their only response when being attacked by a predator, they are known to fight back if cornered. They can sprint quickly, they have excellent hearing and senses of smell, they know how to evade predators.

Rabbits are prey, and they are also survivors. They have their own social dynamics, their own habits and dislikes and preferences. They are more than just a wolf’s meal. And Orym is more than a soldier, too. He’s more than a “necessary sacrifice”, he’s more than just a shield and sword. He deserves more than to die for a cause. He deserves a happy ending, just like everyone else. I hope he remembers that.

Orym is a rabbit. And the message isn’t that he shouldn’t be a rabbit. It’s that rabbits are worthy of surviving, too.

[gelatinous-globster]

Presenting... Lady Fredericka and Madame Maximus!

I've already drawn Mini-Max in drag here but was inspired by @freedom-barricades-bighero16 to draw Fred too. Now they're a duo! I think they'd have fun looking fabulous together.

[keepitdreamin]

Black Sails tarot part 5 (1, 2, 3, 4)

the star, moon, and sun as max, anne, and jack came to me in a holy vision and i'm still so pleased that i found images of them all sitting and oriented the same way. trio of all time

and that's it! i only did the major arcana bcs any more would've killed me lol. i think i finished the final versions in november, so it's been almost a full year and, despite the flaws i still see, i still really love this project!

[duckiemimi]

i...finally finished reading. i...actually caught up. i also documented any thoughts and reactions i had per chapter to see trends and connections i might've missed at first read, so that'll be useful to look back on i think.

[magnusthemes]

Updated themes for NPF (part 1)

24/seven

Centum

Dreamliner

Flashback

Midnight Sun

One Dream 3.0

Starboy

Whispershot

(Basically all themes from 2020 and later)

Please reinstall if you are using any of the above themes (or if you have heavily customized the code, you can check the Github commit history and manually edit the code yourself).

Thanks to @eggdesign's NPF base code!

[mako-neexu]

my struggle with writing english is that i actually dont know english it just has to sound "not bad" to my ears because its only my second languge theasurus dot com synonyms my beloved always save me even then i die over minor typo and my struggle with translating is to match the tone and get to know the nuances and how the character would say it in english so it doesnt sound cringe because sometimes direct translation of the words doesnt translate well to what the character is saying so sometimes im at a loss especially when i need to also improve english voacb (have more knowledge of the context like studying buddhism for the sake of translating one speech bubble) too like why is language so hard haha [eats bathroom tissue paper]

[camping-with-monsters]

🎀DROP DEAD GORGEOUS🎀

Extremely rare sighting of a very rare behavior in the wild Kiwi (animating)

[probablygayattorneys]

I was reading The House in the Cerulean Sea and

“‘It says here you are quite alone. No spouse. No children. No one to miss you if you had to leave for any extended length of time.’

That stung more than it should have. He was aware of such things, of course, but to have them so blatantly laid bare caused his heart to stutter. But still — “I have a cat!””

Apollo vibes

[sunset-bridge]

"bro are u ok." no ive been listening to willpower persona 5 for like 3 hours on loop

[standbowed]

hachi realizing she unwittingly jumped in front of the Arrow That Either Gives You Superpowers Or Kills You: oh okay. crazy that that didn't kill me.

[wicked-source]

[iruludavare]

{ ooc. I present a theory based off of lore and ties to irl mythology because the dash is dead but this has been on my mind for months and i need to put it somewhere

I will now be forcibly removed from the fandom }

[stoutlandchild]

...might be making the submas magical girl tranformation sequence at this very moment.

[master0fnon]

today i watched strange world and the menu lol