#hotdog rambles

[beachhotdog]

it fills me with a sense of happiness, hope, and pride reading posts from people expressing how happy, how seen and validated they feel about being able to be trans in veilguard, about being non-binary and having this fact be respected, acknowledged in-game without any further criteria beyond "i just am"

there's no needing to prove you have the correct body aesthetic, no checklist of traits or matching parts, no questions just 👍👍👍

rook is not alone, taash is not a one-off, there are npcs spread throughout the game just existing as trans and non-binary being held to the same standard: "i just am"

when i was first exploring my gender identity i kept waffling on non-binary, but back then you had to be as androgynous as possible and that sure as fuck was not happening for me lmao

is it perfect today? no lol but it's getting observably better 20 years later

thank you, bioware, for creating this incredible game and giving people the ability and peace to just be

[beachhotdog]

fucking forgot HOW LOUD the sparrows are here, just yapyapyapyapyap from 3pm to sunset and it sucks because i KNOW they're talking about some goodass drama but i don't speak sparrow, it's not fair 😤😤😤😤😤

[beachhotdog]

it's still really funny to me that viago gets thrown under the bus for every poisoned dish, as if he's in the "free poison for everyone" business. maybe when he was first getting into it i can see dumping excess, weaker product around to practice that sleight of hand, but no way he's currently wasting the good stuff

now a crow!rook i can see poisoning everything around their mentor to keep that "i have infinite poison resources" reputation up, doing such a smooth job of it that even in their absence no one puts two-and-two together

"wow, viago must still be really upset about sending away his protege, he's barely poisoned anyone's cup these past few months." "i left my coffee unattended next to his desk all morning and nothing! 😔"

[beachhotdog]

i like to play with drawing over screenshots to help like, recalibrate? since drawing purely digitally feels weird as i can't freely spin my monitor and tablet around like i can with my sketchbook. i think it's because what i'm looking at and what i'm drawing on are at different angles+different places instead of the same spot lol

so i'll pull up one of my shots, turn the layer opacity down to 10%-20%, then start doodling on a new layer, i want enough of the image showing to act only as guides

my comic thumbnails are the opposite, for some reason it feels WAY better to NOT draw them on paper lmao

[beachhotdog]

over the past month i've seen a lot of posts float by going back and forth about the rookanis romance and like. yeah i agree lucanis feels a little too al dente thru act 2 but honestly that's why i love it as is, the emotional intimacy being the "prize" instead of the "journey" is delightful. it's disgustingly romantic it's so fucking cute

i genuinely believe the act 3 scenes wouldn't hit like a broken dam if there were more lead up scenes, i think it would undermine how lucanis is wound up tighter than the metal ribbon springs in cordless blinds. he's not giving crumbs, he's giving what he's capable of. rook sees this so they offer consistent comfort and safety, they're not begging for scraps. bro is just learning how to be open with friends, it's gonna be a minute to work thru lover lol

idk maybe it's because i'm a certified ho or too casual about physical intimacy like yeah, sex is a fun activity but you can do it with anybody, you barely even need to like each other lol. being vulnerable with your feelings, your soul? mask off and all exposed?? not with just anyone

[beachhotdog]

playing darude sandstorm on repeat until morale improves

[beachhotdog]

reblog to throw cheese on the moots

[beachhotdog]

i like to think about how long it probably took for viago to get zea to stop consuming any food or drinks offered to her, no not even a taste put that DOWN you fool, and finally FINALLY she understands and stops

only for her to hang around lucanis for 10 seconds and just immediately regresses, even taking bites eyes closed