essek in the cr2 aeor arc (redeeming himself, surrounded by friends): oh no, all my spells are aoe :((( level 5 magic missile
essek in m9 animated (only getting worse from here): dark star and if my allies die they die
tgis is so fucking funny to me. they accidentally Rock Lee'd a retired racehorse
imagine youre a fat horse and your new neighbour is a personal trainer
horse that reads Marcus Aurelius
I was wrong. they didnt rock lee him. this horse is literally Gai. and i wish he was my dad
“gale is disabled with chronic pain” i say into the mic. the crowd boos and jeers.
“no she’s right” a voice calls from the back. i look up. it’s gale dekarios himself.
One of the many things I love about this game is that MOST of our companions are disabled in one way, shape, or form. This is appropriate for a story so much about bodily autonomy and its limits, a story that begins with a quest for a cure. Our companions' disabilities vary dramatically from more metaphorical to more literal, more chronic to more acute, disabilities of the body vs. mind vs. a bit of both. Likewise, each companion varies on whether the happy ending for them is cure for the disability or care for the disability and whether that disability is treated as inherently traumatic or as a neutral fact about the body and mind. The result is a game with a very nuanced and thorough exploration of disability, one that I think deserves more love. Some companion disability breakdowns under the read-more, because apparently I am obsessed with this.
in my mind "its not that deep" depends on how much the person is enjoying themselves, especially when it comes to fandom stuff. fans making lengthy character analysis out of a character with 2 seconds of screentime? theyre having a grand ol' time playing make believe in the shallow end of the pool and im not gonna stop their fun. people making discourse and starting fights over those same nothingburger characters? you are acting like you are drowning in an inch of water. stand up. youre fine.
essek thelyss you are such a stupid little guy. you love learning new stuff so much you commit war crimes for it. you're baffled by murder and torture mostly because the murderers and torturers are not following the rules of a proper scientific experiment. you like jewelry. you are so lonely you give the guy you know is evil an access to the tool that can literally destroy realities and teach him how to use it because he makes you a cup of tea and asks you about your mother. you're an atheist within a culture devoted to religion. you've been seeking intellectual challenge so bad and for so long you ended up in a very very hight position in government while being really young with a power over others a really young person probably shouldn't have. you're fucking mean. you float to places. you want other people to share the joy of discovering something with you so bad you become vulnerable to manipulation no matter how smart and collected you are. you fall in love with a suspicious dirt wizard even though you think having personal connections with anyone is an excessive risk. you love soup
One time I was leaving a friend's place and an older lady with basically no English came up to me and communicated that she was very cold and needed a ride. She pointed to tell me where to go.
I got there and her daughter or granddaughter came out and was like omg her phone died we were worried
And then the older lady said something and the younger lady translated.
"She knew she could trust you because you have pink hair"
I thought it was funny at the time. But when I think back on it I think she was basically saying "you had a visible sign of not vibing with the system I was afraid of"
Be weird. Be colorful. Help random people.
the way caleb interrogated beau was a chef's kiss btw. not bringing his suspicions up for a long time until a very specific moment when he used the circumstances they all end up in as a way to make her extremely vulnerable and dependent on him if she wanted to survive. he did not tell anyone else about her sneaking away, because he did not trust them not to sabotage his plan or to even be on his side. he waits, and waits, and when the opportunity arises, he does not hesitate to show his ruthlessness. first he makes her almost miss the platform and fall, to show the power he has over her. then he makes her doubt with his calm and insinuating questions if she will even be able to come back on the ground on her own. others in the group are too busy to help, but he can, if she gives him the answers he wants. all because his safety is on the line.
it's such a small sequence of moments but it shows so well that the years of his training is not just something to remember in a brief moment of tragedy. he learned how to be this way, and he will be using those skills to survive no matter how horrible it makes him feel.
Somewhere in Aeor, post-campaign:
Caleb: Essek...it is time I tell you the story of how I murdered my parents.
Essek, eyes wide: woah...you too?
Caleb: ...what do you *mean* "you too"??? Patricide isn't a common crime!!!
Essek: okay to be fair I didn't murder my dad--I just was responsible for his death. I did have to stab my mom to death, though. How'd you kill yours?
Caleb: ...I set my family home on fire WAIT STOP GO BACK HOW DO WE HAVE *THIS* IN COMMON WHAT THE *FUCK---*
shanastoryteller
shanastoryteller
Full item description:
Galanin’s work engages themes of persistence, power, and survival in the face of settler colonialism and its legacies of institutional racism and collective amnesia. Here, the floor plan of the British Museum is painted over a blue field. Pictograms of baskets, masks, woven hats, weapons, tools, and textiles reference the contested objects held in the museum’s collection, while a red line maps an escape route for these examples of Indigenous cultural production. In many Native cultures, hide paintings relay histories across generations and objects embody lineages; in referencing both, Galanin is proposing a getaway plan for his ancestors.
Close-up:
#it’s weird how I’m so interested in this piece of art#and yet at the same time so put off by the museum-speak#‘art criticism speak’? ‘liberal arts speak’?#that my brain goes numb while reading the description#not really the point tho#raising a glass to freeing indigenous artifacts from the British museum#Godspeed
you are real as shit for this. anywho:
“Galanin’s art is about how Native communities everywhere have consistently been pillaged both literally and culturally by a bunch of white assholes. These white assholes settle on the foundations of Native homes they burned down (also figuratively and literally) and maintain this status quo through such tactics as making discrimination and bias against Native peoples an intrinsic framework of their society, and also by responding to any criticism by going, ‘What? We didn’t do that. Shut up.’
This art piece depicts the blueprints for the British Museum on deerskin as well as illustrations of stolen Native objects the thief (the British Museum) continues to refuse to return to their rightful owners. A red line shows an escape route by which these pilfered pieces might one day manage to slip through the greedy, thieving grasp they currently reside.
In many Native cultures (and in fact in all cultures all across the world) art is used to teach history from one generation to the next and objects are ascribed specific and important meanings. The stolen objects currently being held hostage by the British Museum are in many cases captured family members. This art piece is a warning, a plea, and a plan with a message that unfortunately many peoples have learned throughout history: freedom will never be given by the oppressors. It must be stolen.”
