the thing is. empathizing with the doodler is the hard choice. it's risky. who knows what it'll actually do, and who can you trust? normal or the two adults who very much want to beat this thing with violence? and tbh I think they're doing so well at playing teenagers in this regard? literally a few episodes ago it was all "fuck adults we don't need adults" but they've tried to do this normal's way before and things only got worse!

but we the audience know that they do not and that's the concept of choosing empathy over violence, ending generational trauma instead of continuing the cycle, letting the doodler - an entity so starved for love and yet completely unable to obtain it - go free instead of potentially endangering other worlds (with the kiddads plan) or letting willy have it... it's the entire moral of the podcast. and that's why normal is right about what they should be doing, even if he's doing a horrible job at it. and while I don't think it's gonna be a clear-cut "good" option, I think it'll have better long lasting effects than continuing the circle of violence. that's all thank you for your time

i have a Scene - a Plot if you will - that backs this as context. y'all are gonna have to trust me on this one <3 or read the tags...

click for better quality!

fire alone can save our clan. bye! *sound of lps feet clacking away*

i killed. i murdered. i'm nothing like these sleepy people here… nevertheless, you can actually be grateful? bastard… i’m saying… thank you. because you spilled blood, you saved all of these people’s lives. i couldn’t have done it without you. (ID in alt)

sorry the quality isn't the best, but i wanted to torture myself with zoomed in shots of Crosshair's expressions while Omega is trying to convince him of her recapture/Tantiss plan. 🥺(S3 E11)

q!Bagi’s analysis of q!Bad’s ability to keep secrets

THANK YOU BAGI. YET AGAIN SHE UNDERSTANDS!!!

"Darkened Skies"

Dark Matter is a very lonely person... When he saw Dream Land, a place where everyone is friends, he became jealous. He's unable to say 'be my friend.'

...But you don't always need to say it to be heard...

Kirby of the Stars is rather new to the whole hero business, but he has saved the day twice now at least. Kirby knows that when you do bad, you have to be stopped. But he also knows that sometimes, you can do the wrong thing while still being a good person inside...

Villainy and friendship are not mutually exclusive to Kirby.

And he can always sense when you're hurting...

[Bonus First Draft]

Noir's "bad deal" imprisonment to Dark Matter during their talk was initially gonna be more of a metaphohrical one. I'd wanted to draw it as if he were literally shackled TO the Dark Matter Blade (:metaphor:) or as if the blade was what was trapping him there.

However, my snarky brain coulnd't stop asking, "Why doesn't Kirby just, like, break the chains and free him then? XD" thus I settled on the idea above of Noir only briefly emerging partway from the darkness before he is swallowed up by it once more.

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[Prev] “Matter Over Mind”

[Apologies AU Masterpost]

[Next] “Last Will”

[<==PREV PAGES] [NEXT PAGE==>(not out yet.wait a year.or maybe more.imagine.]

saw alot of comments on prev pages; saying 'i HATE that mean teacher! im gonna FIGHT HIM!!' & i LOVE the energy!! it WOULD be nice. to have that catharsis. but the story of young tidestrider is Not one of catharsis. it is a story of being so small and so special and sucking so bad.

I was looking through more Fortune Street quotes, and I found this in Luigi's dialogue when Princess Peach is close to winning:

First I was like "Jesus Christ, Luigi, going right for the jugular, huh?"

Then I realized that line sounded familiar...

Certified Mr. L moment.

Thinking about how Sceleritas fears the true end of his own life very much. Like how he comes to The Dark Urge if they lose to Orin- angry, disappointed, and sad, due to Durge losing all of Bhaal's favor his own existence is coming to end because of it. Or how he acts around Durge if they become the Chosen of Bhaal- acting fearfully, desperately trying to show he's still useful- still needed, so that Durge don't dismiss him, don't end him.

Sceleritas very much loves his life. Love's being of service to The Dark Urge. Enjoys the work of it all. As evil as the little guy is, he very much loves everything he does. Works to live while also living to work at the same time.

It's such a shame there is no final scene with him if Durge chose to resist Bhaal in the temple. Just his small dead body on the ground, never to come back to life again.

fan leave them alone theyre still in the mutual pining phase

personally i think jos verstappen should launch another pr war against the sainz collective on behalf of his son(-in-law)

i do love callum bc his entire character (with one or two minor dips) is him just being told “you can’t do that thing” and him going “bet” 

A Casual Indictment of Clive Rosfield

Thinking about how Clive swore to kill the one who killed his brother.

Thinking about how he told Cid that once he'd done so, "whatever happens, happens", and how Cid then chided him for being a slave to fate.

Thinking about how, according to the Ultimania, Clive made Joshua the core of his spiritual identity...and how he began training to be his Shield since the tender age of 6.

Thinking about how, when fighting Ultima in the end, he did so as Joshua's Shield, and nearly every exchange he had with Ultima was drawn from Joshua's last words. But when the fight was done...his high idealism of humanity seemed to fade. Because it wasn't his own. It was Joshua's.

...Thinking that the "Logos" presence that Ultima picked up on in the Interdimensional Rift and in Origin was not Clive--it was Joshua. Joshua, who'd picked up the power of creation. Joshua "with my light in your heart" Rosfield, who occupied Clive's being so much that Ultima could not. (In short, Joshua benevolently "stole" Mythos out from under Ultima.)

...Coming to the conclusion that Clive ultimately did fulfill his original vow, coming full circle: To kill the one who killed his brother, and then let whatever happened next, happen.

Which means...if we agree with Cid's perspective, Clive was not free. He did not fight for himself, nor against his fate. He did not try to save himself after Joshua was gone, even when so many others wanted him to. (Irony of ironies, Clive committed what was one of Ultima's chief sins according to his brother: He refused, in the end, to honor the faith and will others had for him to return, even those he most treasured.)

If one person makes their relationship and duty to another person their whole identity, can that person truly be free willed, on a spiritual scale?

No...I don't think they can be.

Free will (I think) demands some sense of inherent worth, independent selfhood/ personhood--a sense of identity that allows for the value of others' input, but does not require them to validate or qualify it.

Whether he triumphs or fails; whether he lives or dies, I would very much like to see Clive fight for himself--to find out who or what he is to himself when not defined by his role or duty to another person.

Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng are an absolute banging tragic duo because they have the exact opposite take on their relationship with each other. Where WWX is like "I 'hate' you but I will still defend your happiness", JC is like "I wish I hate you but I don't." WWX tries to hang onto what shred remains of his relationship with JC and continues to apologise on JC's behalf, never unwavering with his support for JC's leadership, meanwhile JC is haunted by the love they have always had and has been trying for 13 years to be free of it, thinking his trust was misplaced.

Yet if a bit ironically, the reason they got to that stage in the first place is because they acted in the same manner towards each other, in that they both sacrificed so much in their attempts to protect and save each other in the name of love that, in the end, they end up tarnishing that love they were trying to protect to begin with. By the end of the series, whether or not their relationship is salvageable is never truly addressed, but it is undeniable that their attempts at loving each other has irrevocably changed them for the worse, and somehow estrangement from that deep love is the thing that will give both of them the peace in mind which they wanted for each other.

the thing about yosuke’s shittiness around here (up close and personal, the campout) is that the vast majority of it isn’t doing literally anything for his character. i completely think yosuke’s shittiness is important to his character, but it’s by and large reflections of his own insecurities and flaws. he’s insecure about his masculinity and sexuality, he’s lame, he’s selfish, he’s obsessed with the idea of women, his mouth moves faster than his brain, he doesn’t like himself, and he cares way too much about the societal ideal of ‘normal’. but it’s really important that he’s self-aware! he knows when the things he says are shitty, he knows he’s lame, he knows he’s selfish, he knows he’s putting up a front of being carefree and normal. but there’s absolutely no self awareness here, there’s no recognizing he went too far and apologizing the next day, there’s no regret, there’s not even any self-deprecation, and there’s absolutely no compassion or empathy like he has in serious moments. a lot of what he says is just mean for meanness’s sake, in an execution incongruous with previous behaviour. it’s not even funny!