Because I'm seeing cakegate on my dash again, let's stir up some old drama

haven't seen anyone talking about this yet, unbelievable, always have to do everything myself /lh

Transcription (might be a tad bit inaccurate because i couldn't hear couple of words, but i tried👍):

Etho: "Btw, if Grian sounds like maybe a little bit sad today - it's because Mumbo died last session"

Scott: "Ah..."

Grian: "Oh, yeah-"

Etho: "His voice- seems a little bit broken"

Cleo: "Oh, yes. This is- This is the grief"

Etho: "Grief- Grief stage"

Grian: "I'm going- I'm going through some stuff"

Scott: "That's fair"

the sumeru archon quest popped off. I started the second act and I just HAD to finish it today because I was so engrossed. this feels like a big step up from inazuma's wobbly writing, and it's also a more interesting and ambitious plot than mondstadt and liyue had. I particularly like that the traveller feels a bit more...engaged? Like an actual character? In the other nations, the traveller has kind of been a bystander. while I wish they would commit to giving them more voiced lines, the sumeru storyline feels more geared around them. With the other nations, it often felt like the plotlines could progress in almost the same way whether the traveller was there or not. this time, they have clearer and more specific motivations: it's obvious why they want to find the dendro archon - specifically the god of wisdom - and ask her questions about their sibling. their relationship with dunyarzad is also developed enough to provide secondary motivation, too - she feels like a much more successful, developed npc in comparison to teppei, who we actually get enough time with to care about.

all of the characters are introduced at a nice pace, as is a lot of the worldbuilding. I like that we meet new characters with each new area - collei and tighnari for the forest, dehya, nilou, dunyarzad and nahida for sumeru city, alhaitham and dori for port ormos. it breaks it up well and stops it from feeling overwhelming. the fact that the first act lays the groundwork for how sumeru works - the eremites, the akademiya, canned knowledge, the akasha, etc. - means that second act can delve into these concepts more thoroughly without being too confusing. I love how creative and weird the second act was, too! I wasn't expecting them to go with a weird, time-loop type thing, and I love that a genshin storyline actually managed to throw me off and do something unexpected for a change

it's a much stronger start than sumeru had, and the fact that the archon quest may not actually be wrapped up until 3.2 gives me a lot of hope for the rest. I can't wait to see how scaramouche ends up involved. my guess is that the fatui will have some hand in the dream-harvesting that the akademiya is doing, but beyond that, I'm not sure what to expect. I'm very excited, though

also alhaitham is a sussy bastard. I could fix him but whatever's wrong with him is much hotter

so like. i'm already listening to welcome to nightvale and relistening to juno steel to catch up in time for the podcast's finale, but the magnus archives is figuratively waving a hankerchief and going "yooohoooo" and batting its eyelashes at me

[

they weren’t lying the hasbeen hotel guys really are just. stickbugs

pumpkin spice lattes, coming to a witchy cafe near you

I WOULD retexture objects again, but I just really hate everything thing about the process of doing it

man my jury duty was cancelled again. how am i only 24 and i've been summoned SIX times but never been chosen. i feel like the fat kid getting picked last for dodgeball all over again

wyllmance swords bard tav is fun but i’m a lil bored with the main character story now i’ve hit act 3 so

ELLIEEEE

Someone posted a fic of Lestappen trying to play matchmaker to Landoscar and it is THE CUTEST DISASTER EVER and I am officially possessed by this Lando/Oscar pairing do you hear me POSSESSED

I immediately thought of you because you are like the mother of this ship and Landoscar nation is rising 🥹😭😭 There’s one part where Lando goes off on Alpine mechanics who insult Oscar and it made me realize how much I love a protective Lando and this pairing is literally the best at bringing out that side of him.

LMAO SAME ANON SAME

the fic is actually based on an ask send to me earlier this week and written by the lovely @laceyamethyst and i am. obsessed with it to put it mildly lmao. the vibes are IMMACULATE, its so so so well written and it's also genuinly laugh out loud funny. for those of you who haven't read it PLEASE DO (link)

AND PLEASE THAT SCENE IS SO GOOD !!!!! idk if you've read chapter two yet (it came out last night i think???) BUT THE HOODIE SCENE OH MY GOD THE HOODIE SCENE HAS MY WHOLE GODDAMN HEART

[ID: screenshot from the spamton sweepstakes page, featuring a caption from the engraved wristwatch prize. It says "NEED PROOF? THERE LIES THE NAME OF THE [angel with the tattered wings]!". End ID]

So I think regarding this page. It's interesting to contextualise it with the text preceding it - especially the angel with the tattered wings part. 

I don’t think we’ve ever seen Noelle Holiday described like this before and it’s absolutely fascinating to me.

Also I love B/G but tell me why I suspect Beez has ulterior motives, or at least started out with them?

Yesterday i suddenly felt tightness in my chest and couldn't breathe during class and i was so scared and nervous.it's not new to me that i find it hard to breathe (maybe since 3 or 4 years ago? As long as i can remember)but it was never this tough and painful. Now im feeling better but i still feel that weight on my chest and i really don't know where it's coming from.

okay this scene is making me emotional in multiple different ways right now

in a sweet way because the knowledge that he used to use his magic to keep her warm when she was little, and did it enough for it to become her nickname, is absolutely ADORABLE

but also in a sad way because like. okay, in my experience, when you're a little kid:

when your parent who is pretty much always cold to you does something to hurt you, of course that sucks. but you're like "yeah, of course that happened, they're just mean like that."

but when your parent who is sweet to you sometimes, who has proven themself *capable* of warmth, does something to hurt you, it feels 3x worse. it feels like a betrayal. sometimes you might even wonder it it was because of you

so here we have alador, who kept her warm, who she looked up to. but who neglected her and helped his wife abuse her.

and i doubt it was a flipped switch that happened one day to change him from "good dad" to "bad dad". i even doubt that it was a linear development from good to bad.

i doubt that memory in understanding willow was an isolated incident. he'd probably hurt his childrens' feelings multiple times long before he was forced to really withdraw from them. and in between those incidents, he was probably pretty sweet and kind to them.

and when you're so young, you have no choice but to accept that kindness. you're evolutionarily hardwired to seek out the care of a parental figure. so you run back into their arms even though you're scared they're gonna betray you again.

and amity STILL seemed to care about him, at the older age of 14 when you don't have such an instinctive pull to seek the care of an adult, after all that he'd done and after barely seeing him anymore. her whole goal of joining the tournament in reaching out was to feel close to him, even though he hadn't started to redeem himself and she didn't trust him enough to accept a hug from him.

so she'd probably been really hurt every time he sided with her mother. and him pulling away was probably really painful. and she's probably dealing with so many complicated emotions as she starts to trust him again, even with the proof that he's actually improved and won't hurt her again

ouch

Not gonna lie to y'all, I do still think of that one collab and how I didn't get my piece back from it, and it does make me a bit sad.