in darkness, gaze upon a fallen star✨ tdp blog half serious half nonsense to keep you guessing i'm riley, viiravos everywhere else. banner by zenayska on twt
rb as this is my pinned post, (despite rebrand) here’s a
preface to my blog
hellooo i’m riley :) they/he, young adult, adhd, pan+nb, & my side / general stuff blog is @freefloatingtemporally , dm for nsfw tdp acct
i moved over to twitter in early july 2024 !!
viiravos.straw.page
@viiravos : art, writing
other stuff:
top posts, aaravos masterlist & my meta (analysis) list,
coming from spotify? aaravos playlist full explanation
fic recs
april fools rayllum shipper bit
go here to view the site with the theme as intended :)
this blog is primarily sfw besides cussing i believe!
My page WILL have TDP spoilers and they WILL NOT always be tagged (bc I don’t catch everything/don’t have the time for that tbh) additionally i will be posting tdp criticism sometimes, post s6, but it also will usually be tagged
about me
eensy teensy op lore rant: i am a programmer but i also have a variety of hobbies and bounce between them like a ping pong ball. im adhd, nonbinary, pansexual, and ace-spectrum. my username came from this, i’m not too shy about sharing info about myself. and i’ve been in fandom & drawing since 2016 :)
you can learn more about me here
i also took ap lang and lit in hs so like? analysis credentials ish hwejrwehrwejr lmfao
i’ve been in the fandom since may 2023, although i’ve been casually watching the show since season 1 came out.
i’ve only watched the show like 3 times total except for, mainly, the aaravos scenes (look don’t @ me HFJSKJFDSK) or for screencap reasons aaand i haven’t read through much of the bonus content </3 [puzzle house, tox, etc…. though i believe i do know most of the important bits :) ]
i'm kinda lazy and am a slow reader buuut i do like making fic, meta, code, art, uhh probably whatever you can think of i'm down to make it. actually, i'm not super familiar with 3d art. so. not that. rip
my fav characters are aaravos, viren, terry, claudia, and callum, and crow master (tho every character has their merits) —tier list
i generally do not take interest in ships outside of viravos & kimditi, except in specific contexts: ie, the relationship dynamic affecting how characters will be manipulated
i also made a guide on what i've learned about tumblr so far if you're interested!
boundaries:
be an interesting person worth talking to I guess
I don’t like care for the way Leola or much of season 6 was executed so—discussion and new perspectives are great, but please don’t come into my askbox only saying how good it was or feeling sad about Leola or Aaravos. It’s fine if you love them but it’s not my thing. Expect a short response if you do 😭
not a pro or an anti but a secret third thing
if you’re going to call proshippers groomers keep that shit to yourself. i’m friends with some and saying stuff like that is not ok
i don’t like incest, underage, aged up, or noncon, so you won't see any of that on this page, but —everyone deserves a safe space to do what they want if it’s not harming anyone 👍 also depending on how u look at it like viravos is a weird ship for age differences, dubcon depending and all that too so yeahhh :) —>
i try to operate on a don’t like, keep scrolling, basis: outside of people with the same stance, the occasional salt and sometimes being a hater in a lighthearted way (or i hope that’s how it comes across), i kinda keep my opinions to myself. but if someone is bothering me for what i post, i'll hear you out but i'll defend myself. + if we’re mutuals / interact a lot and something i did made u uncomfortable or upset, please let me know! Feedback is important-it’s the only way people can grow and change. At least, if it’s considered.
i'm picky with blocking ppl. generally, it's fine to disagree with me about things. even if certain things bother me abt someone in fandom as long as we can still connect over something else it's usually not a deal breaker by any means. i favor blacklisting content and tags.
i will take writing/art/analysis requests
feel free to tag me in things, tag games, send posts/asks, or dm me! i take a sec to get back sometimes but i always try to anyway!
i’m fine with tdp crit, and i sometimes have my own (but it will always be tagged dw) ! + i kinda yap alot
co-creator of the aaravos cult discord B) [closed]
If you are interested in joining a tdp/community discord I can happily recommend my good aarafriend’s discord though!
find me here!!
AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/users/self_spaghettification
Twitter: https://twitter.com/viiravos
Tiktok: https://tiktok.com/@viiravos
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/viiravos
C.AI: Aaravos Bot (39k chats) ->my thoughts on AI usage
Discord: freefloatingtemporally
tagging system
all of my original posts are under the tag #self-spaghettification if you’d like to see what i think without scrolling thru rbs! (not all my thoughts are bangers. but hey, they’re there!)
i also very much enjoy organization so i tag everything i rb, so anything related to aaravos will be under #aaravos, any tdp theory will be under #tdp theory, and so on :)
I just realized I never posted the other drabbles I wrote based off that clip
Aaravos was there to guide him, to give him the knife, not to force it upon him. That would just be crude. Even to touch him, to kiss him, despite being on the cusp of each others’ reality, it all depended on Viren’s consent, on the next step. He was a gentleman, after all. He watched as Viren came to terms with himself, seething with rage. I refuse this path. I’m done with dark magic, and I’m done with you.
Spittle flew from his lips as he pointed a shaking finger at Aaravos, all his rage, all his regret, poured outside of himself. Aaravos’s eyes widened, his mouth an O. Wait, he said, reproaching, his hands grazing his face. They met a turned gaze. His eyebrows furrowed. His hand could fall away, he could leave it be. What was the point of crudely forcing Viren into something he didn’t want? There was no elegance in that. No efficiency in repeated pleas to stop. He let it pass, watched him go. He came by one last time, if only to give him something to mull over, but did not conceal the pain in his eyes.
—
shoutout to tv tropes also. canon can die i am stuck before s6. I am extremely ill over this scene
I just read your post about rayla in the refrigerator, and honestly, thank you because I was trying to understand why this episode made me so uncomfortable, but you put it into words. It completely ignored rayla's feelings even though she was the one who suffered the most. Also, I think that this is where callum's only motivation being rayla starts.
I'm glad you liked it!! I've honestly only realised why the episode made me THAT upset only after seeing the definition of this trope, and seeing someone negating it made me decide to elaborate on that haha
And yeah, it's bad for both rayla and callum that during arc 2 their relationship became more important than their individual characters
Disclaimer: I do not think Rayla's character was completely nuked in arc 2. I like her growth, but I also acknowledge that, upon deeper inspection, you can see how some of her coolness was taken away in favour of rayllum. The episode im analysing is a prime example of that.
I decided to write this analysis as a twitter thread to explain why I believe this episode is badly written and harmful to Rayla.
First of all, here's the meaning of women in refrigerators according to Wikipedia. The scenes involving Rayla in this episode are a prime example of fridging. Allow me to elaborate on that
The whole episode's plot A goal is to have Callum unlock the Ocean arcanum and let Soren have his moment with Elmer. I don't see an issue with Soren's plot as it doesn't specifically use Rayla for its development, unlike Callum's. Now, there's two scenes that are the problem.
First one is when Finnegrin drags Callum to force him to pick whose arm he'll be cutting off, and finally tries to force him to use dark magic. Upon that moment, Rayla panics and uses a bit of wood she bit off of Elmer to free herself. This seems like it could be a cool moment... But she's not allowed to do anything of substance. She doesn't even touch Finnegrin- as soon as she grabs weapons, her blood is frozen. The spell spreads quickly and she's in agonizing pain for multiple seconds, screaming all this time.
The purpose of this is to show callum the spell for his future use of it, and to get him angry so that he punches Finnegrin and ends up knocked out by Elmer. Notice how the focus of this is HIS feelings, as in the next scene Finnegrin points out how he lost his mind at the sight.
Now, the next, worse scene, where Finnegrin wants to use Rayla as bait for the sea leviathan. Rayla is once again put into a dangerous, traumatising situation. She's terrified of water, and here she is being pulled down to it, fully immobilised, about to be KILLED
But we dont focus on her feelings, and how terrified she must be, reliving her childhood trauma. The central piece here is Callum, who swoops in, saving her with his sky magic. Rayla is pushed back onto the ship, into Soren's arms, where she's only ungagged, but still bound. Callum then gets attacked with Venus frigoris, and now let's compare his reaction to Rayla's- unlike her, he's very quiet, and the spell spreads slowly. Rayla, an assassin trained to never fear death, can't stop screaming. Callum stays quiet and calm before using his first Ocean spell. Rayla was helpless, Callum gets to be cool. Then he gets attacked by Elmer and Soren's plot takes place. Finnegrin dies. Everyone is happy. Rayla comforts Callum by hugging him. We don't focus on her, we completely ignore the horrors she had gone through Just minutes prior, while focusing on Callum feeling guilty about using dark magic. No one asks if Rayla's okay, because her suffering doesn't matter- it was just a motor to drive Callum's plot forward. Could this have been handled differently? yes. Yes it could.
Finnegrin could've used literally any other character on the ship. Callum never showed that he had any bias towards Rayla, he didnt want any of his friends hurt. He could've used EZRAN, Callum's literal brother! But yeah, the brothers' relationship isn't as expanded on In arc 2 as it was in arc 1. Hell, Finnegrin could've used Callum himself! There are multiple ways it could've been handled. At the very least, there could've been shown a scene of Rayla processing the events and getting comforted by Callum instead of the other way round.
You should tell us more about Amaya and Sarai's relationship and things they liked to do as sis,,,,,, hahhaha,,,,, jk,,,,,,,,,,,, unless ??? 🥺🥺🥺
They were really, really close. Amaya looked up to Sarai, but Sarai never looked down on her sister (in some ways Sarai found her little sister to be her greatest strength). They’d try to get Viren to lighten up (they were good friends then -- Amaya didn’t turn cold on Viren until after Sarai’s death.) They taught Callum sign language together and looked forward to teaching Ezran. They cooked, but not very well. They sparred (they were each other’s best opponents, because Harrow could never keep up). They signed secret messages to each other -- especially dirty jokes. They’d go for long horseback rides outside the castle and into the forest together and share memories, sometimes about Callum’s real father, and they’d talk about what life was like before they became “royalty.” They promised each other to knock the other upside the head if they ever lost the perspective of where they’d come from.
Her hands itched with the horrible lightness of each scattered piece, her feet ached as she walked and walked and walked to gather her father back together… And then the voice, the thread she had caught and clung to and used to haul herself out of the darkness.
they wrote that bit of Lost Child for me, personally
A blinding light—white, lethal, and pure—cast by a single rising star, a fierce and steadfast thing that is too furious to behold directly. It is the light that casts the shadow of the Dark King.
I was making a gif, messing with the warmth & contrast of the video and all, but just look at this shot. I’m obsessed with the way that Aaravos looks like a sort of faceless heavenly being that like you can barely register with your eyes
