Co-Mayor Of Clown Town

Audrey, She/her, always awkwardly rambling, mostly to myself. Currently in too many fandoms at once. Squenix sideblog: @spriigan

[maglor-still-lives]

I can’t decide what’s better: elves being a tricked-out version of humans, or the races having similar appearances but completely different physiologies.

[maglor-still-lives]

An elf goes to a human hospital and the doctors are like holy fuck. You broke our blood typing machine.

[maglor-still-lives]

“Sir, the results are in, and technically you are a fungus.”

[explorerrowan]

Elves evolving from either a cat-like species or a squirrel-like species makes the most sense to me. Everything about them suggests that, like humans coming from apes, elves also came from arboreal roots. But unlike proto-humans, which were diurnal persistence hunters, elves’ ancestors are likely nocturnal, agility focused, and also not at the top of their food chain. While probably omnivorous, their larger, wide-set eyes and larger ears suggest that they had to have a greater awareness of predators than humans. (Which does give me the extremely satisfying mental image of long elf ears twitching and turning like cat ears at the slightest sound.) Their ability to basically not sleep also suggests a heritage of needing to be constantly alert to danger. The longer life span and lower birth rate might also be indicative of it being much riskier to stop and reproduce more frequently, requiring an extremely well-defended home before young proto-elves were worth the risk to the group.

Point is, there’s decent evidence to suggest that the most elves have in common with humans is that they’re mammals, and otherwise evolved from completely different types of creatures suited to a wildly different ecological niche. You couldn’t get a blood transfusion from an elf anymore than you could from a raccoon. The fact that elf-human hybrids exist probably has more to do with wonky magic shit than anything biological.

[thedoormowse]

so… elves and humans are like hares and rabbits? similar shape, you’d think they’re closely related but NOPE

[quasi-normalcy]

I’m not trying to turn your kids trans; that’s stupid. I’m trying to turn them into socialists.

[quasi-normalcy]

#for real tho! their gender is their business but class struggle is everyone’s business

[poupon]

elden ringi have: dog

elden ring have: wind

elden ring… have wimbdy dog?

[section8babe]

i don’t know how to ask for help i disappear and come back when i’m good

[maritimegothic]

i think a big thing that disconcerts adults about learning new skills is that learning as an adult means you are very aware of how bad you are at the beginning in a way children aren’t.

i picked up the saxophone when i was 11 and played until i was about 17. by the end of it i was first chair in our highest ensemble, a district honor band player, etc. but at the beginning – and this is important – i was bad. for the first year or so, i had no rhythm, i couldn’t make my tongue line up with my fingers, i was consistently sharp, etc. etc. other kids actually made fun of me for my lack of skill.

but 11 year old me didn’t care. 11 year old me practiced, but she also thought that being able to play the pink panther made her incredible (i shudder in retrospect). i mean, i was aware i wasn’t a master, but my skill level didn’t deter me from wailing out those notes in a way that i’m sure had my band director questioning his career decisions.

right now, i’m trying to pick up the guitar. it’s a very different instrument from the saxophone, and i struggle a lot with things like strumming patterns and barre chords. and sometimes i don’t want to play, because i know i’m bad at guitar. and sometimes i beat myself up when stumbling through a poor acoustic rendition of Everybody Wants to Rule the World because it’s not how i want it to sound. and it’s made even more frustrating because i can navigate the saxophone so smoothly.

but then i remember that i have to think like a kid. i might not be the best at guitar by any stretch of the imagination, but every little bit of progress is still progress. humility is a big part of learning, but if you treat a practice session like your own private concert, it becomes so much more fun, even if you’re bad like i am.  when you’re first picking up a skill, whether it be an instrument, or a language, or a fine art, no one is expecting you to be the yo yo ma of that thing. forget about how little you know about the skill and think instead about how much you have to learn – that’s fun! do your best!!

[laboradorescence]

i find that as you get older, people think that you have less of an excuse to be bad at things, no matter when you started learning them

but after you get good suddenly people start praising you for “being ahead of the curve”

the instant you can start divesting yourself from this horrid world of expectation, the easier it becomes to try any new thing

[zakuro-san]

Guys this is so important!! Give yourselves some slack and just keep on trucking! Just focus on yourself and be proud of what you have achieved so far. Even if what you achieved is a little thing, little pieces pile up eventually to something big! You’re doing great, keep it up :D

[filmnoirsbian]

Is there rly any softer scene than when o'malley sees duchess and falls in love with her at first sight in the aristocats, complimenting her at every turn and climbing into a cherry blossom tree to make the flower petals snow gracefully down on her? How dreamy 🥀💕

[filmnoirsbian]

This Is Love 😍😍

[phantoms-lair]

Not to mention when he found she had kids, he was thrown for a second, then proceeded to not only still help her, but dote on them too.

[pitviperofdoom]

“Not all men” you’re right, Abraham DeLacey Giuseppe Casey Thomas O’Malley would never.

[artemistheartist]

Do I think, since he’s a stray, everyone of those names was a different name from a different person who would leave food out for him or take care of him in general? Like one lady called him Abraham and another little boy called him delacey and so on?

[anachronic-cobra]

I love the idea of that and will be making that assumption for the rest of my life

[sunlian]

Zenos when you fight him for the first time in STB: I’ve never met you in my life. you bastard. you weakling. stop this at once

Zenos every time after that when the WoL is literally trying to save the world and can’t pay attention to him right now: Where Is My Fight From My Friend??? Where Are My Punches And Stab Wounds That I Crave So Dearly. You Are A Cruel And Unjust Friend And I Am Going To Scream

[thehappinessmachine]

where DID zenos find that thing. (fandaniel voice) my lord did you go on voidsent craigslist

[elveny]

Why I dislike the Zenos Solo Duty so much

I honestly think it's the absolute LOWPOINT of Endwalker. I dislike it *so much*, and not because I dislike Zenos as a character or because of the mechanics.

But because I think it's a HUGE disservice to both the WoL and Zenos.

Here's why.

The last Zenos scenes are the first sort-of-character development we've seen since he first appeared. For the first time, he starts to become more than the obsessed, homicidal killer he was until then. (Tbqh, I was starting to become bored by him because it was always the same in a different color. But then came Endwalker.)

The base of his character is that he is obsessed with us, that he can only feel something when he fights us, that we're the only one who can give him a challenge. We are the only person on this world he sees any worth in. He actually seems to care for us, in a weird and very twisted way! And after Alisaie told him off, he, for the FIRST TIME, starts to consider that to capture our attention, he has to do something different than, say, destroy country after country with zero regard to life, or go after our friends.

And so he does. Which is EXTRAORDINARY! He actually changed!! He went to Sharlayan, by boat, and asked to help us?? That is unheard of! And then, then, he asks us for a fight. He says he won't force it upon us, which, AGAIN, is unheard of! It was the start to being something different than the mindless, bored butcher with untapped and unheard-of powers he was so far.

But what do we do? SE railroads us into giving him what he wants. To me, it felt like a reward for all he did to us. (And lets ignore his prettiness for a second, shall we? What he did is horrible beyond anything.) Zenos bore-kills his way through life, bodysnatches us to kill our dearest friends and we reward him by giving him exactly what he always wanted - commiting suicide by WoL. Again.

(I mean, you do you with your WoL, but after what happened, my WoL would NOT have fought him, especially after he gave us the option not to. And depending on how you play your WoL, the fact that we basically agree with Zenos' assessment of that we're just another shade of him, can be very jarring. But the discussion where Zenos works as a foil for WoL and where not is another one.)

Listen, we are being told and shown time and again that Zenos is extraordinary. He has Ascian powers without being an Ascian. He can bodyhop, transport, transform into a primal and back at will, fly through space and break through Meteion's defenses like it's nothing, he has a Reaper form in addition to his Voidsent little friend, he has a sort of Echo that may or may not be (completely) artificial, he has had dreams of the Final Days since childhood. Fandaniel looks at him and says "Could Emet-Selch have found a way...?" There is still so much more to this character and story that I don't think for a SECOND that he's actually dead.

I am 100% certain he'll be back.

AGAIN.

Which is just cheap and lazy writing. I'm sorry. We already had the "oh look, we killed Zenos, oh wow wait what, how is he back" moment.

And if he's NOT coming back - what is all the build-up of his character for? All the story and hints and possibilities dissipating into nothingness?

Irrelevant of personal feelings about Zenos as a person; he is an extraordinary character with incredible potential. But what we get with him is a repeat of what we already had that cuts short the little development we were shown.

[pallascatevo]

BRO I FELT THIS SO HARD. I wish so hard that his option to give us a choice was actually a choice. we could’ve just had a little duel if we wanted, if not, we drag his ass back with us to ‘face justice’ or whatever (whether or not he ditches upon realizing he’s just going to be subjected to bureaucracy for the next year and a half is another story) it would have given his growth a tangible output, that he helped us not to get what he wanted (well that was the goal I’m sure lmao) but to speak with us.

He said he wanted to talk to the Warrior of Light not as a hero, but as themself. He says we can decline, but the game says ‘lol no you fight him,’ and yes I loved the fight and I understand they wanted some solo fight finale and everyone really enjoyed it so I know a lot of people would say yes, but really, I don’t think they can do that with him after developing him in the way they did. It’s just…I don’t want to say false advertising but it’s false advertising.

I don’t why the game is acting like he’s dead, we have no reason to believe he is. I didn’t see any shattered auracite, no reason to believe his soul has been obliterated. We know better, in game and in real life. I have no idea why the writers saw it necessary to kick him to the curb and slam him with a ‘DEAD’ status like that when we already had our triumphant moment of saving the universe. We didn’t need a Zenos death triumphant moment, too. I’m pretty sure the high of saving the universe and everyone and everything we know and love is enough, thanks.

Honestly, did they just not want him in the ship as it returned to Eitherys because it would ‘ruin the mood’ or something?? Leaving him there to hang out in limbo at the edge of the universe sure ruins my mood every time I think about it, with the story not giving a singular shit about resolving his repeatedly-teased backstory. He’s just…there. Laying there.

And when he DOES drag his ass back so we can get that backstory we’ve been waiting for since 5.2, the explanation for his final day dreams and ascian powers, everyone is gonna be pissy, when the writers should have just not made this whack-ass situation to begin with!

Overall, yes, hard agree. I am a license-holding Zenos enjoyer and I know I just have so many questions as to WHY they ended it like that. You can still patch it, square. You can still resolve this stupidity. Change the journal dialogue, have someone say something about him. You can’t repair it entirely but you can do damage control. *shakes writing team* PLEASE

Ideally, in my head, they should have kept him alive, they can still do the fight (with legitimate option to say no, tell him to play solitaire or something idk, more than likely they wouldn’t have an actual no option if this actually happened but hey this is the ideal lmao) but afterwards, if you did the fight, the teleporter also grabbed him as you two laid there, and they aim to lock him up in some obscenely secure cell since he’s thoroughly trounced. If you didn’t do the fight, there’s an alternate scene with the scions where there’s less crying and you’re not half dead, and Zenos also goes through the portal so it’s the same situation as I said before. Very secure cell. Whether he stays in that cell for very long would be a question for the future I suppose.

A lot of people don’t really seem to understand the writing ramifications of this choice and instead praise it and him, and upon my first play through that was how I felt. And then I considered it, and realized that it’s…actually very questionable and overall, I was displeased with it. (Glad to see it’s not just many of the Zenos stans who dislike it lol I thought maybe we were just pissy cuz we’re mad our boi got shafted)

[nighthamcollege]

[quetzalpapalotl]

I am the opposite of an apologist. I get personally offended if you pretend my faves didn't do horrible things. If you can't accept them at their worst then RIP to you but I'm stronger.

[pallascatevo]

If Zenos isn’t allowed to bodily come back they should put his soul in a shinryu wind-up and have it follow us around and add sassy commentary

[allcatsconstitutethesamefamily]

“How to tell the temperature from your cat’s sleeping position.“  From Your Incredible Cat: Understanding the Secret Powers of Your Pet by David Greene.

[sleeplessbirb-deactivated202004]

@notsexualaboutit

[soup-crime]

cats can tell you everything you could ever need to know

[kaijuno]

Oh so he’s doing eugenics now

[progrocksterone-deactivated2026]

[bonni]

elon musk reinvents the lobotomy

[magicalgirlpropaganda]

Babe wake up, lobotomy 2 just dropped

[hyaskus]

Give me a gun and Autism will solve Elon Musk

[caihnurst]

what’s going on in the critically acclaimed mmorpg final fantasy xiv

[ravens-play-exy-too]

i saw the words “ur not the first person in your lineage to be queer” and it’s rocking me to my core. how many generations down the line did one of my ancestors feel the way i did, feel differently than i did and so damn queerly it was a crime? how many of us were there? did they have hope? did they find peace? i don’t know. at the very least, maybe i am proof their identity was never wasted. reincarnated.

[pallascatevo]

Would love to have some questions about Zenos answered…such as is he DEAD OR ALIVE NOW

Also why he dreamt of the Final days, pls give info

[pallascatevo]

Ngl I actually forgot I posted this, I queued it from two weeks ago to avoid spoiling people lmfao. And now I’ve gotten more bitter about the finale and already made posts about it…oh well ¯\_(ツ)_/¯