#also lbr

[crayonsandcottontails]

Not being listened to when you say you're big enough to do bathtime on your own. Waiting expectantly for you to get naked and then embarrassing you more by getting naked too. What, you didn't think I'd get my clothes wet, did you?? Washing you with baby safe suds and giving you bath toys and singing to you and

[the-badger-mole]

Why do you think Cardan did not defend Jude more actively during the Queen of Mirth thing other than giving her some really vague warning? Even apart from his feelings for her, letting his advisor be humilated by gentry must make him look weak as a ruler. And we know that Locke did try to humiliate Cardan indeed. I mean, all Cardan had to do, was play "She is mine, you don't get to play with her" card like he did with Orlagh and send her to the palace but he chose to play along (I like Cardan but for this scene specifically I hold a grudge).

While we are on the topic, why do you think Taryn got zero consequences for helping to steal half of his army? I get that he probably had to keep it in secret in order not to reveal his deal with Jude and he couldn't be too cruel for Jude's sake but like he did nothing at all? Didn't even sent her away from the court? He didn't even have to reveal Taryn's part in the Madoc's scheme, his reputation is bad enough so he could just honestly say he hates her and forbids her to attend the court? Not to mention she is the sister to the exiled seneschal and the daughter of a trator? But again, nothing. Honestly I don't know how both Cardan and Jude got their bad reputation given how lenient they are sometimes.

Based on what the story shows about Cardan, I read a few different motives. I'm sure part of it was not wanting to give Locke any more reason to single Jude out for his games against Cardan, and maybe some of it was to not throw gas on the rumors about the nature of Jude and Cardan's relationship. The main reason, though, is probably because Jude needed to be at the revel.

He did try to warn her at the beginning of the party, and I actually think he did a good job. He pulled her aside to tell her that he made sure that Taryn wouldn't be there that night- a hint and a half that whatever was about to go down would be unpleasant for her. He told her she shouldn't be there. He even told her to go back to the palace, but don't forget, because of their agreement, he couldn't actually order her away. The choice to stay or go was ultimately Jude's, and Jude had her own reason to be at the revel that night. She was supposed to meet with someone from the Court of Termites. Even if she didn't want to be at the revel (and she didn't), she couldn't not show up. Cardan was probably aware of that. There was literally nothing he could have done to get her to leave if she was determined to stay, but he did try. Yes, his warning was vague, but that was most likely because he didn't know what was going to happen.

Cardan didn't know what Locke had planned. Not really. I'm sure he was aware that whatever it was Jude wouldn't like, but that's not saying all that much. He didn't know that Locke was going to make her Queen of Mirth. From what Jude says, it sound like it wasn't a thing that happened all that often. As for why he didn't put a stop to it when Locke named Jude the Queen, I can only guess. He wasn't happy about it. Cardan clearly seems pissed. Jude thought it was directed at her, and maybe he did want to punish her a bit for everything that happened between her crowning him and that moment.

What I think, though, is that a lot of it had to do with Cardan not really feeling like the king. I think he very much had imposter syndrome and fell back into his habit of mitigating harm done to Jude rather than throwing his weight behind stopping it. He was probably expecting her to refuse, and he would have let the issue die there. Or maybe it's because his brain stopped working when Jude took her dress off. The frustrating thing about First Person POV is that we only get the situation from Jude's perspective, and Jude is an unreliable narrator. I genuinely don't think that Cardan would have forced her to play along if she refused, though. He didn't have to dance with her. He could have let her get trapped dancing with the revelers for a while.

On the subject of why he let Taryn get away with what she did, Cardan probably left her alone for Jude's sake. Remember, Jude wasn't actually banished. Cardan expected her back any day, and he knew that she loved her sister. Of course he wasn't going to have Jude come back to find Taryn in the Tower of Forgetting. Now, had Jude decided that her sister should be punished for what she did, Cardan would have gone along with whatever Jude wanted, but Cardan wasn't going to do something that would upset his wife.

Also, Cardan probably didn't register exactly how big a deal what Taryn and Madoc did was. Madoc hadn't made any major moves against Cardan at that point. I doubt it was even on Cardan's radar at the time.

[revoltingbones]

Minrathous seems like a city of hair pullers. I don't mean that in the sex way, I mean that in the street fight way.

[ethicaltreatmentofcowplants]

outtakes from this post

Walk, walk, fashion babies! While to be biblically accurate, Clemencya would have to be almost a foot shorter than the other two, the way Soren and Hjordis are flanking her is apt.

Also biblically accurate, Clemencya and Soren bonding while Hjordis stretches ("cute, but I need to get the blood pumping").

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While they become besties, Hjordis goes swimming. Still wearing her sword.

You never know when Emily will make an appearance, I guess.

Soren, clearly the MVP of this shoot, continues to do the most, reassuring Clemencya about their voyage to the South.

"Just ignore those anachronistic yachts on the horizon. If the Watcher had the TOOL mod, she'd cheat them right away."

Clemencya, you're meant to be SOCIALLY AWKWARD. Even if it is your brother-from-another-mother taking this shots (thus making Soren the rare medieval-era sim with a PHOTOGRAPHY skill of 2), you shouldn't be looking anywhere near this confident and comfortable.

This however works for Hjordis.

"Oooh, I cannot wait to get that pretty boy Crown Prince on his back. In the training yard. By my own hand. Mwuhahahaha..."

Some final shots of Clemencya and Soren having the cutest dynamic ever. (The last picture is slightly off-centre because when I was running it through Happy Pills, I realised that we did actually see Emily...)

(Emily, no. You are too much of an icon and a relic from the days where the Sims 4 was actually whimsical and fun to be slain by a couple of sword-happy Fjordian warriors.)

And in another "anachronistic but also entirely in keeping with their character" moment, Soren is quite the camera whore.

Til next time, all!

[arabella-strange]

also in addition to the MAD respect I think we all gotta have for the sound editors of Heated Rivalry telling a **story** with the, er, just-offscreen sounds -- but also, did anyone else feel like the sound editing and production across the entire series was incredible? like the number of conversations between Shane and Ilya where it really sounds like they're in an echoy sterile hotel room or a cavernous staircase or right up close and muffled? very little ADR except maaaaybe over the fire at the cottage?

[desidarling123]

so joe biden has just laid out the terms for a ceasefire in gaza. it is not perfect by any stretch of imagination, but it will put an end to the daily casualties and bring in much-needed humanitarian aid, as well as closure to the families of hostages who will receive their loved ones' remains.

can you guess which part of the political spectrum is, for some insane reason, vocally opposed to it rn?

[imnotoverlyobsessive]

So anyway you guys wanna hear about my Regulus fic?

[krokonoko]

but do you WANT Kacchako to be endgame? 👀

I like Kacchako a lot, but Ima be real with you and say I wouldn't exactly be psyched about it.

it's no secret what my first choice for canon endgame would be, but I already resigned myself to that being p much out of the question.

the fandom is going to turn into a queerphobic cesspit when the obligatory everyone's-straight-married-with-kids ending happens. I know that, you know that, everyone knows that. and if I have to put up with that shit, I'd seriously only do it for IzuOcha.