Must be a Sugondese joke.

Big fans of how unsubtle Bhaalists are tbh. Like yes this is Euthanasia Kyle he dresses in Evil robes and uses blades of Evil and his main magic attack is called Murder of Crows which just summons a literal murder of crows that peck at you

god he (dean) used to be so different my chest hurts

tbh one of, if not my absolute favorite part about ffxiv, is the small little moments/sections where nothing super big or like. Plot Important happens, but that give both the characters and us, the players, some much appreciated down-time to just. Feel things. And to process what's happened and what's going on or to just. Let us exist, in the moment. In a much more grounded and human way than when there's Big And Important Things happening.

The biggest(imo) and earliest example of this is right after the Waking Sands get raided in ARR, and WoL turns to the church for guidance. The entire section of us helping them gather and bury our fallen comrades, and especially bringing Noraxia home to Little Solace so she can be laid to rest in her homeland, by her own people and in their own cultural ways, was so so important to me.

Because it wasn't just replacable allies cast aside for shock value anymore, it was real. These deaths were real and meant something. I got to actually process what just happened, and I got to watch Banana go through it right with me. And not only did it make it feel real, it also gave me a sense of closure. These people, these friends, are dead, but they also got to be treated with the respect they deserve and laid to rest properly.

And that, more than anything else, made me want to save the world. It's grounded and grounding. This world, and these people, meant something to me, the player.

And there's tons of stuff like that throughout the game, especially in shadowbringers and endwalker.

In shb we have, for example, Lyna venting her anger and frustration after the sin eater attack in Lakeland. She's on her knees yelling on the verge of tears while punching the ground, so furious at her helplessness and powerlessness, at everyone having come so far yet set back because some megalomaniacal tyrant deemed it so.

In ew we have Urianger being approached by Moenbryda's parents, who confront him about not confiding in them about his grief. When Bloewyda starts to scold him, he of course reacts guiltily, believing they blame him, only for him to be completely caught off guard when she instead goes in to hug him, telling him he should have let them grieve with him. And he just. Breaks down. He's been holding these feelings, this grief inside him all this time, and now that he is not only told it's okay to let it out, but by her very own parents at that, he just can't keep it in anymore. He cries for Moenbryda, right then and there, being held lovingly by her family.

And the thing is, these scenes aren't necessary, strictly speaking. The plot at large could go on without them, the events that happen around them are not changed by these moments in any way.

But still, they are so so important, to the world, to the characters, to the players. Everything feels real and impactful now, every death means something, every tragedy, every person, feels real.

And that, to me, is what makes this story so special.

a thing about rtd's era that i really really love seeing again is how he will usually wrap up the plot 10 or even 20 minutes before the episode ends and then the rest of that time is just dedicated to the characters talking to each other and dealing with their emotions and situations. like instead of a last minute win and a two minute goodbye they always get these massive spans of time to really get into everything emotionally and it always makes the episodes hit even harder

There's something about like. A certain genre of posts / Online Opinions about insecurity/depression/misery/complaints that are so unhelpful that they wrap right around to being straight up hilarious. and it's the ones that are more or less written to the tone of "Feeling bad? That's gross!" Like, just so you know, don't voice your insecurities/ have low self esteem, because that's offputting! You're gross and weird. Don't be insecure about that, though. That would be stupid if you felt insecure about people disliking you for being insecure. Not attractive. You should be thinking about being as attractive as possible. You shouldn't make comments about suicide, even if you're suicidal! Keep those thoughts entirely to yourself. Make sure nobody around you knows you're thinking about this. It would Make Them Uncomfortable. It's better to keep these thoughts in your head where they can fester. Don't post OR talk to friends with complaints about you feeling miserable or depressed. Tbh people who are sad/upset a lot? Kinda a red flag! You are probably miserable because you're a bad person and you've brought this on yourself. If you don't have friends, it's because you're awful to be around. Easy! Solved the problem for you. And no, there is no nuance to this, got it? So, make sure to feel bad about feeling bad, but don't feel bad about it, because, well, that's just gross. And annoying! You might've wanted your brain rotted thoughts to be Peer Reviewed, you might have just needed to vent- you might've been hoping for some comfort, to get things off your chest. Well, don't! Don't talk about thoughts or feelings that are negative with your friends, you'd be burdening them and that's only meant for THERAPY. #SponsoredbyBetterHelp #MentalHealth like, DAMN. that's so helpful. you're so good at helping. I um really liked the part where these are all hard and fast rules that encourage keeping feelings bottled up and keeping your friends at arm's length. That's really funny of you.

things that seto kaiba is almost certainly bad at:

singing

playing literally any kind of instrument

learning languages (i will concede that he can read and write well in "business" languages like Chinese or English but a uvular r would kill him and also you can speak well enough to get through a meeting but that doesn't mean you're conversationally adept!!!)

dancing (a man with negative rhythm)

casual conversation

picking his own outfits

speaking in an inside voice

I'm not including a situation where someone might be injured because in that case I'm thinking the bed goes to them by default or they are nominated for it. anyone who wants to be chatty goes to join the living room floor gang.

What are your thoughts and headcanons? Do you have thoughts on how the boys tend to approach assigning beds in inns? Who do the chain choose to sleep near when camping and why? What are their dynamics like when settling down for the night and getting ready for the day?

In "Mirror Vs Open Closet Door: Fight!" by Gintrinsic (here) Four refers to the chain's decision on how to split up between inn rooms as the "Link-per-room ratio" which I find very funny. He, Sky, and Time also talk about their thought process behind why they do or don't want to sleep in a room with some of the others which I find fun and interesting.

So! If you have thoughts and want to share them! *gestures to the post!*

bad and tina’s conversation today starting about what it truly means to be ‘okay’, and the importance of perspective. how people who are hurt one way can be okay another, or visa verca, how there are different kinds of ‘okay’, how those who are being asked if they’re okay can not know themselves that they’re not okay, because their sense of self or reality or perception of such can be warped. forever with the reality pills, for example.

bad, in that way that he does, feeling out if he can answer something honestly. asking roundabout questions and dodging those that he gets in return, until dropping the truth in a way that’s earth shattering, before pretending it’s a joke. only it isn’t a joke, it’s really a cry for help, he just can’t ever be straightforward about anything. not with himself, especially not with others.

he tells tina, finally, about what he’s been doing to himself. maybe because she wasn’t pressing to see if he’s okay, but pressing instead to see if he trusted her. and he’s been all about giving pieces of info to islanders lately to see if they’ve been trustworthy. this way he gets to ignore the fact that he’s not okay, gets to drop a truth bomb that is almost a cry for help, and trap tina with a secret so locked up it will definitely expose her as a traitor should it get out. outlandish enough he can pretend it’s a joke or lie to everyone else should push come to shove, because he’s ‘okay’ - of course he’s okay, why wouldn’t he be, it’s the eggs that aren’t okay.

but that’s the thing - being ‘okay’ is about perspective, and his has been terribly warped. he’s been color blind for weeks, he hardly looks at himself in the mirror, his sense of reality has been twisted due to sleep deprivation and grief.

their conversation ends with him, for the first time, acknowledging the fact that he is changing. finally taking tina literally, shocked that he’s physically turning blue. a shift in perspective. an admission, a self realization, however small, that he’s not as ‘okay’ as he thinks he is. he’s not okay at all.

Partially because I like cult-ish themes, partially out of spite, I started playing The Coffin of Andy and Leyley and so far I'm enjoying it quite much. (who would've guessed I like fictional toxic relationships, soo surprising)

fandom will see the most interesting deep and nuanced character and reduce their entire plot and portrayal to "slutty sexy slut needs to get railed" and it's honestly so tiring

Do we just keep telling the same story forever? Meta on OFMD S1E7 "This is Happening"

In this S1E7, two characters--Ed and Jim--have to answer a simple question: Am I ready to tell a diferent story?

At the start of the episode, Ed's framing his time on Stede's ship as "sitting idle." He's thinking about preparing for the next adventure, whatever that may be--the next chapter in a story he knows and understands. Because there are rules. A ship has only one captain.

When Stede tries to prove that Ed can tell the next chapter in that story without leaving the Revenge, Ed is pretty unapologetic in his disdain. But he does come along, even while moaning and complaining.

And Stede's just trying to tell the same story, too. What he imagines a pirate's tale is supposed to be, not what it actually is. He doesn't recognize the difference between nonsense and truth, he's so caught up in "entertaining" Ed that he doesn't realize he needs to feed Ed.

But in fairness to Stede, Ed has a poor grip on what he really wants as well. When he fantasizes as he flirts with Stede, he's not imagining a swashbuckling adventure. He's imagining opening a restaurant. He's half in his old life, and half out.

Lucius, the unemotional observer, figures all this out of course.

He sees that Ed is absolutely very receptive to Stede, and that Stede is crazy about Ed. But Ed is caught up in who he's been, without seriously considering how to move forward in this story he's in now. So Lucius confronts Ed. He points out that Ed's story as it is going now ends one way: pain and loneliness. And he asks if Ed wants that.

Stede didn't want Ed to leave, so he told a story about treasure hunting. And Ed doesn't want to leave and be alone again, so he tells the story too. And by telling that story together, Ed and Stede find their way to the same place: beginning a new chapter. Imagining a life they can live together, without devaluing or overwriting anything that came before.

It sounds nice, although it's shallow (Ed's not going to be happy as a pirate, Stede is bad at telling this pirate's story and he'll never be a successful traditional pirate). But it's still a hopeful story, because they're still moving forward. Right on the edge of telling a different story.

And resolving in the opposite direction is Jim's plot. Jim's story is relentlessly upbeat and funny in this ep, but it's a tragedy through and through. Jim, like Ed, is half in their old life and half out. Has been with Olu for more than a year, without actually doing anything, while keeping him at a distance.

And it turns out they were "raised by a nun to be a killing machine." That Nana projected all her own trauma and righteousness onto Jim, and passed cruel judgement when Jim says that they already killed "the only one that matters." When Jim suggests that they might have moved on, and be ready to tell another story.

Jim regresses in this episode. They let Olu walk away instead of telling a new story with him, one where he's their family. They take the petrified orange as a sign that they should go back to being who Nana told them they were, to being obsessed with revenge. But really, it's more like a warning of what they'll become if they cling to the same old story.

It's sad. And it's a painful foreshadowing of what awaits Ed and Stede when they falter on the path forward, when they think their past defines their future. When they tell someone else's story, instead of their own.

Things my father keeps saying:

he'd rather have a gay kid than a loveless one.

Me, aro/ace, in a QPR with a girl. : uhuh

We need to "remigrate immigrants' like other european countries do

Me: studied transculturalism for 1 1/2 years: ...

None of my children are doing anything with their life! Where are you (me) even going with your life? Look at my siblings and how well their children are doing!!!! (He means the teacher brother specifically)

*about to change major to become a teacher*

My dad: only people who never learned anything become teachers

You're going to live half a year at home and do nothing?????

I'm still registered at the uni so I get financial support from the state. I'm planning to move in with my gf soon, close to the other university where I want to go next semester. Planning to improve physically and work more on art and finally get around to write a book because that's always been my dream. "Apparently"

At my brother, who is struggling to get his foot in society: look at your sister!!! What positive example

Me: ... *Who feels inadequate and loves their brother very much, thank you* I'm starting to think my dad just hates us. And me, specifically.

(by the way, the morals I have today, he taught me. The work ethic I have, he taught me those.)

What physical part(s) of Arsay does her partners find the most attractive! Is it the same for all partners or does it differ between them?

(also optional bonus ask of what part(s) of/about Arsay generally do they love the most, physical or not!)

Meanwhile, if you were to ask the same of Arsay:

still thinking about the line "you're clever! how can somebody as clever as you be so stupid?" theres SO much to unpack

Man, as a trans guy and abuse survivor, whenever I see people saying the likes of, "lmao, men shouldn't be allowed in anything deemed 'women's healthcare'!" It just reminds me that - especially in healthcare - my safety and comfort will never matter so long as it continues to condradict people's preconceived notions of what constitutes people worthy of healthcare. It's just something I wish the well-meaning people who are rightfully frustrated with the state of healthcare would take a second to remember.

Yes, the healthcare system sucks and we must fix it. No, that doesn't mean we ought to leave behind people just because they challenge us on our own biases.