#but anyway (I have spent too long talking about this in the linked post I'm not going to repeat the same things here)

[wonder-worker]

"Hannes Kleineke cites Dean and Canons of Windsor MS XI.B.6, rot. 2, for evidence of a deathbed codicil by Edward IV concerning a dispute between the knights and canons of Windsor"

remember when I said that we don't know what Edward IV's deathbed codicils were as they haven't survived? that there is no reason to automatically assume they were relevant to his son's minority? that it's entirely possible that they weren't very important at all considering how dismissively Croyland spoke of them ("some codicils thereto", with no emphasis or elaboration whatsoever)? I LOVE being proven right <3

[kumakuma-circus]

just randomly remembered that during my like 10+ attempts at the shadow yukiko fight i more or less consistently ran out of revival beads so yosuke was just dead (well unconscious but whatever) on the ground for like half the fight gfhfjvhfhfhd-

[linkyychan]

I had to draw one of my favourite scenes from ISYH, Ochako is such an amazing character and seeing her growth was so satisfying

Go read the fic on this link. It's by @firesign-18, i've finished reading the fic a few days ago and it was suuuuch a ride. I'll leave my thoughts below the read more 🥹

HI! if you're reading this..... i went a bit crazy reading this fic it was such an amazing work. If you haven't read it yet, don't read what I'm gonna write here.

I was recommended this fic months ago but I put it aside because there weren't that many chapters out yet and i just KNEW i needed a bunch of chapters out before starting it, cause i would have trouble not reading it all so fast after reading just the summary. That was a fantastic decision, it was so worth the wait.

I want to talk about it in sections so i can explain my thoughts properly :') There's so many aspects of the fic I loved and I wanna take the time to explain because I never really do it and this time I want to..

First the beginning and the little changes: We start off with our favourite, miserable Ochako (yay canon!), except this time it's even worse cause even less of her fight with himiko was recorded. I was kinda scared there but of course i shouldnt have doubted for a second. Anyway, Himiko is alive!! and the heroes got a way to salvage the footage of the tgck fight from Ochako's mind, so it gives her hope again :)

I wanna move forward a bit after Himiko is back because I wanted to talk about something I like to wonder a lot: how do you write a redemption arc for himiko toga post last war. I've read a bunch of fics with the same premise and I always love those who get a bunch of people to come together to help her achieve it. I love the UA involvement, as well as All Might, Miruko and Ochako of course. And the concepts of the strikes and conditions are very realistic, I liked seeing how we were gonna achieve Hero Himiko someday. All the process explained, I love when its this detailed!

I do wanna talk about another aspect before jumping into the tgck big stuff: OCs. I love OCs so much. There's Dr Ellie and the Spares who are the most important here. First Dr Ellie- whats not to like abotu her. She's been helping Himiko for a long time now, we grew to know her too, and she has a badass past, we were all gonna like her. Now the siblings: yeah i do think it's a big decision to make the villains OCs, and it really worked because they were so well developped. I went to a whole lot of emotions with them, from anger (*cough* chapter 43), through sadness and joy :') They were easy to sympathise with, and i just love how again, everyone decided the "save them" route. It really fit well with Himiko's story.

OKAY now tgck my beloved... i am so happy they got together-ish relatively fast because oh boy were they down for each other so bad. I love how it tackled their lives in relation to their future job as hero, this is a part I'm always curious to see. I really prefer when a future where Himiko is alive doesn't revolve 100% around Ochako. I want to see what she could do herself, grow with others and I think this fic accomplished this perfectly. I like that she's able to forgive herself and grow and imagine a future where she is thriving. Himiko means so much to me as a character and she was written beautifully. For Ochako, I love it soo much when she's strong and so skilled and she's pushing her limits. I loved exploring her grief and her hopes, then her struggles with selflessness vs trying to be a bit more selfish for a change. These two complement each other so well. That was such an amazing read, I'll probable have to read it again in a few weeks to relive it all.

Anyway I'm not sure who took the time to read all this, I don't usually do comments or something besides a few heart emotes here and there but for that fic, it was so good I just wanted to write something and now I've spent a long time writing :') It just hits all the boxes in tgck tropes for me so it was a blast to read!

(Also shout-out to possessive Ochako, i really love her being as crazy for himiko as himiko is for her....)

[hellsitedotcom]

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*·˚ PRETEND IT'S THE FIRST TIME ft. Moze *·˚

words: ~4k

This is a "continuation" of those First Kiss headcanons I made a while ago! [Linked in my pinned post] I literally lost my mind with this, and I'm unsure how I feel about it, but I've spent too long on it to just...not post it. [Also on AO3]

warnings/info: first part of the chapter features Guinaifen as your friend; I don't think any warnings necessary? maybe some angst, but I don't want what really qualifies as angst. [Is it obvious that I never post my writing and have no idea how to tag it?]

English isn't my native language!

﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌

‘’Hello? Are you even listening to me?’’ 

Torn from your thoughts when someone suddenly started waving a hand in front of your face, you blinked in surprise before glancing over at the woman walking beside you, her expression a mixture of frustration and confusion. ‘’I feel like I’ve been talking to myself for the last hour,’’ Guinaifen huffed, crossing her arms while waiting for an explanation from you, ‘’Did you even catch any of the things I said?’’

‘’I’m sorry, Gui,’’ you sighed, offering her an apologetic smile before straightening up, ‘’I was just…thinking about something.’’ That was one way to explain it. You had been thinking about said ‘’something’’ for the past couple of days, and it had become apparent to anyone with a functioning pair of eyes. Even your colleagues at work had commented on your absentmindedness, given how clumsy and forgetful it had made you since…that day.

Next to you, Guinaifen shook her head, though there was no ill-intend in her reaction, ‘’I’ve noticed that much. I’m telling you, you need to work less. The stress is probably just getting to you.’’ ‘’When I picked you up this morning, I had your neighbors come up to me to ask if you were okay,’’ she sighed, staring at you, ‘’He said you haven’t left your apartment for anything but work in days. What’s going on?’’

You weren’t sure yourself, you thought. Since your transfer to the Yaoqing, your life had actually improved tremendously. You couldn’t remember the last time you were that excited and happy on the Luofu, and you hadn’t mourned your old life since. Yet recently, you felt like you were again stuck in that same everyday routine you had dreamed of escaping from back on the other flagship. And all because of one dumb, intrusive decision.

‘’I don’t know,’’ you sighed, hoping your friend wouldn’t catch the lie, ‘’It’s not work, I promise. I’ve never had a job I loved that much.’’ ‘’Maybe my subconsciousness is trying to tell me something,’’ you suggested, shrugging, ‘’I mean, it’s been a while since I was on the Luofu. Maybe I’m homesick without realizing it.’’ 

At that, the woman beside you just chuckled, throwing an arm around you to pull you into a side hug, ‘’Well, see what happens when you never visit! Huohuo and the others miss you.’’ Much to your relief, Guinaifen didn’t notice the lie, or at least, she didn’t call you out if she did. Instead, she began recalling recent stories from the Luofu as if trying to help your alleged ‘’homesickness’’. 

‘’You know, I’m sure even the General would appreciate seeing you again,’’ she hummed as you made your way back to your apartment, ‘’Actually, I was hoping to drag Sushang and Huohuo along with me, but that didn’t really work out. That’s on me, though. I should’ve planned it better.’’ 

You chuckled as you continued listening to her, this time determined not to get distracted again as you watched her. Something about the woman’s optimism and endless energy helped lift your mood, silencing the overbearing thoughts in your head, though another emotion threatened to plague you now: Guilt. Keeping secrets from your close friends was never easy, but how were you supposed to explain to her what had happened? 

By the time you arrived at the alley leading to your apartment, you felt lighter, the best you had in days. ‘’Anyway, I’m sure Sushang will want to tell you herself,’’ Guinaifen huffed, stepping in front of you, ‘’You really need to visit us soon. We need to get the group back together again! And don’t tell me Feixiao won’t let you leave!’’

‘’Well, I’ve not really talked to her in a while,’’ you admitted sheepishly, avoiding your friend’s eyes. ‘’But,’’ you quickly added, hoping to distract from that topic, ‘’I’ll see what I can do, okay? I can’t promise you anything, though.’’

You breathed a sigh of relief when the woman didn't question your words, merely rolling her eyes before she continued talking about yet another thing on her mind. Watching her head toward your apartment, you hesitated to follow when the sudden feeling of being watched made your skin crawl. Is someone there?

A glance over your shoulder toward the empty street behind you didn’t help calm your nerves, yet before you could look around any further, Guinaifen’s voice called out to you, ‘’And you’re not paying attention again. Seriously, what’s going on with you?’’

There it was again, that guilt plaguing you. You checked the street behind you one last time before walking over to your friend, an apologetic expression on your face. ‘’I’m sorry,’’ you sighed, fiddling with your hands, ‘’I just- had this feeling someone was watching us. I didn’t mean to ignore you.’’

‘’Why would someone be watching us?’’ the woman huffed with a raised brow, ‘’Besides, even if someone was watching us, why care? It’s not like we’re breaking any rules.’’ ‘’Are you sure that everything’s alright?’’ she insisted, her usually relaxed expression now serious. 

‘’No- I mean, yes, I- Fuck,’’ you just groaned, dragging your hands down your face, ‘’I don’t know. I’m not even sure how to explain it. It’s ridiculous, really.’’ Before she could ask any further questions, you pushed past her toward your home, ‘’It’s really not that important. I just made a dumb mistake, and it’s kind of been haunting me ever since.’’

Guinaifen was far from convinced as she caught up to you, blocking your way, ‘’Oh, come on now! I’ve seen you make dozens of mistakes before. You never act this way because of a stupid mistake! Spill it, what happened?’’ 

‘’I made a mistake in a conversation,’’ you tensely elaborated, wrapping your arms around yourself, ‘’I…said the wrong thing, and I’ve not had the chance to fix it yet. H- They’ve been avoiding me since then, I guess.’’ Or maybe you’ve been avoiding him, no? Suddenly, the feeling of being watched made you even more nervous. Was he watching you?

Your friend perked up at your response, her interest piqued, ‘’What do you mean, you said the wrong thing? How bad of a thing could you have possibly said?’’ Oh, guilt was a beautiful feeling, wasn’t it? Especially with how strong it was growing the more you talked to Guinaifen. 

‘’Well,’’ you struggled to find an answer, unsure how to continue building on your lie as your face turned red, ‘’I- urgh, fuck. I didn’t really say something wrong, you know. I…did something wrong? I made a dumb, intrusive decision-’’

‘’Oh my god,’’ the woman interrupted, her eyes wide, ‘’You kissed someone.’’ 

‘’How did you deduce that from one sentence?’’

‘’...I didn’t. I just thought it would be a funny reaction,’’ Guinaifen smirked, winking at you before the realization settled in, ‘’Wait, you kissed someone?! Who?!’’

‘’Keep your voice down!’’ you whisper-yelled, covering her mouth with your hand, ‘’Fucks sake, Gui. I don’t need the entire Yaoqing to know about it!’’ After making sure she wouldn’t start screaming again, you took a step back and sighed, ‘’He’s a good friend. We were…hanging out, I guess, and I got caught up in the moment and had this intrusive thought to just…yeah, and now I’ve not seen him since then.’’

‘’Oh. Oh wow,’’ the woman seemed at a loss for words, processing the information you just shared, ‘’I mean, uhm. Well, have you tried texting him?’’ 

‘’Seriously?’’ ‘’What?’’ she huffed defensively, pouting, ‘’I’ve never had that happen to me. I’m a little lost right now, okay?’’

‘’Well, you’re not the only one,’’ you muttered under your breath, walking toward your apartment door, ‘’I was hoping that maybe he told Feixiao about it, but she doesn’t seem to know anything. Jiaoqiu’s been acting like he knows something, but- yeah.’’ 

At that, Guinaifen’s mouth fell open, ‘’Wait. I need you to repeat what you just said.’’ Yet, before you could, the woman herself did it, ‘’You were hoping that he told Feixiao? As in, the General? You kissed the General’s friend?!’’

‘’Technically, he’s her personal Shadow Guard,’’ you admitted under your breath, wincing when Guinaifen screamed.

‘’What?!’’ 

‘’I told you to keep your voice down!’’

‘’How do you expect me to keep my voice down after telling me all this?!’’ she whisper-yelled, flailing her hands, ‘’You just- You kissed the General’s personal Shadow Guard?!’’

Well, at least you didn’t feel guilty anymore. You held your hand up to stop the woman from rambling, taking a deep breath before answering, ‘’Can we do this tomorrow, please? I promise I’ll tell you everything, okay? But right now, I’m just getting tired.’’

Despite not being satisfied with your answer, Guinaifen agreed with a deflated groan, ‘’Alright, fine. But I get to tell Sushang and the others-’’

‘’Absolutely not,’’ you scoffed with a raised brow, a warning in your eyes, ‘’I don’t need the entire Xianzhou Alliance to know about this, okay? I’m serious, Gui.’’ ‘’I need you to promise me that you won’t be talking about it with anyone, okay?’’ you insisted, internally already expecting the worst.

But, to your surprise, the woman nodded slowly, ‘’Alright, alright, you have my word. Only because I love you so much!’’ ‘’But that means you’ll have to tell me everything tomorrow, alright?’’ she countered, walking up to you, ‘’I need all the details, understood?’’

‘’Understood,’’ you sighed, struggling to hide your nervousness as you embraced her, ‘’Come on, you should get back to your hotel room. It’s getting late.’’ 

‘’I’ll see you tomorrow then?’’

‘’Yeah,’’ you muttered, a hand resting on your apartment’s doorknob, ‘’See you tomorrow, sunshine.’’ With that, you watched her disappear down the alley before unlocking your front door and slipping inside your apartment.

✧･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ:

‘’Fuck,’’ you groaned, falling back against the wooden door. Well, today didn’t go quite as planned, did it? But then, did any of your recent days? After everything, today was still one of your better days since screwing up your relationship with-

‘’Moze? ’’ 

A little stunned, you blinked, hoping you were just imagining things. Yet, when the man’s silhouette didn’t disappear from your doorway, a nervous chuckle escaped your lips, ‘’What are you doing here? How did you even get inside in the first place?’’ 

‘’Through your balcony door,’’ the man calmly replied, watching you from the shadows of the hallway, ‘’You forgot to lock it.’’

‘’I- And you just decided to let yourself in?’’ you muttered in disbelief, straightening up as you made your way toward him, ‘’How long have you been waiting for me?’’ In the dim light, you could barely make out anything but his eyes, violet orbs watching your every move. 

The man just stood there, seemingly indifferent to the fact that he just trespassed on your property. ‘’Not that long,’’ he just replied, his expression obscured by shadows, ‘’Feixiao told me that you had visitors, so I figured you’d be home somewhat late. I think we got here around the same time.’’

‘’Well, that’s- okay,’’ you sighed before shaking your head and meeting his gaze again, ‘’Listen, I- Can you just give me a minute real quick? I need some water.’’ Today really feels like one big joke, you thought to yourself while pushing past him, careful not to touch him as you headed toward the kitchen, ‘’Do you want anything?’’

The man soundlessly followed after you, his presence unfortunately doing the opposite of offering you comfort, ‘’No, thank you. I don’t want to inconvenience you even further.’’ ‘’And I apologize for not informing you of my visit,’’ he muttered almost hesitantly, leaning against your kitchen wall, ‘’I didn't think of it. I’m sorry.’’

‘’Don’t rack your brains over it,’’ you dismissed his concern, pouring yourself a cup of water, ‘’I mean, I haven’t cleaned the place in days, but you'll have to deal with that now.’’ ‘’Besides,’’ you hummed, taking a sip of water, ‘’I’m sure you’ll gladly help me clean up if I ask nicely enough, no?’’ Is this really the right time for some lighthearted joking? Well, you certainly hoped it would at least ease the awkwardness.

Moze, bless his soul, just furrowed his brows, meeting your gaze, ‘’If you need me to, I can help. I don’t mind.’’ 

‘’Is that why you’re here?’’ you hesitantly asked, turning to face him, ‘’Just for some small talk? I mean, I do appreciate the visit, but it doesn’t usually warrant you breaking into my home.’’ There was a part of you genuinely hoping he’d just share some random information with you before leaving again, but deep down, you knew where this conversation would eventually lead. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have practically avoided each other for the past few days.

And, as expected, Moze confirmed your suspicion. ‘’No, I was hoping we could talk about what happened,’’ he explained, your nervosity growing with each word, ‘’Jiaoqiu thought it might be the best course of action.’’

‘’So, he knows?’’ you hesitantly inquired, tapping your finger on the kitchen counter, ‘’I mean, that we- that I- fuck, Moze, I’m so bloody sorry.’’ You stepped away from the counter, wrapping your arms around yourself as the words uncontrollably spilled from your lips, ‘’I should’ve apologized a lot earlier, I know, but I was just- bloody scared of your reaction.’’

‘’I shouldn’t have kissed you,’’ you sighed, unable to meet his gaze, ‘’I- I’m sorry I made things awkward. I wasn’t thinking, I just-’’ ‘’I should’ve said something first anyway, instead of just- doing it without warning,’’ you continued, waving your hand around, ‘’I don’t know why I did it, okay? I just- fuck.’’

The man merely watched you, waiting for you to finish before gently interrupting your rambling, ‘’I’m not angry.’’ ‘’Not to mention that I didn’t act any better,’’ he reminded you, making you stop in your tracks, ‘’I just left you on that rooftop without saying a word. Jiaoqiu chewed me out for it.’’

‘’I mean, I kissed you without your consent,’’ you muttered, your hands dropping to your sides, ‘’You had every right to just…up and leave. You’re not at any fault here.’’

‘’Well, Jiaoqiu thinks differently,’’ Moze spoke, pushing himself off the wall, ‘’He said I should’ve talked to you sooner.’’ You watched him walk around the kitchen island, keeping a respectful distance from you, ‘’Though, he did call us both idiots.’’

You chuckled, though the sound more hysterical than you intended, ‘’He’s not wrong, is he? I mean- I did kind of fuck that up. I really should’ve just- said something instead of expecting you to do so. I’m sorry, I- suck at this stuff.’’ 

‘’I think we both know I’m not the best at conversations either,’’ he replied, and for a split-second, you thought you caught him smiling at you, ‘’Maybe we should let Jiaoqiu and your friend do this for us.’’

‘’Absolutely not, that’s a horrible idea,’’ you interrupted, the thought alone making you opposed to the idea, ‘’I’d never hear the end of it.’’ ‘’Do you, uh, think Jiaoqiu told Feixiao?’’ you wondered, glancing over at him, ‘’I mean, I doubt he would do it, but you know him better than I do.’’

Moze was quiet for a moment, allowing you to move a little closer to him, ‘’Admittedly, I wouldn’t be surprised if he did tell the General, but I trust him enough not to until this is all over. You don’t need to worry about that.’’ 

‘’Oh, I’ll worry regardless,’’ you sighed, rubbing your temples, ‘’I’ve realized I’m really good at that. Worrying, overthinking, the whole thing.’’ ‘’I’ve had people at work come to me these past days to make sure I was alright,’’ there was a self-deprecating tone to your words as you recounted the past days, ‘’And earlier, Gui told me that some of my neighbors approached her to ask about my well-being. Worrying was the only thing I was doing since, you know.’’

In the dimly lit room, you couldn’t make out Moze’s expression as he watched you. Then, unexpectedly, he spoke with a gentleness you had never heard from him before, ‘’I didn’t know this was affecting you so much.’’

Your eyes widened at his words, tearing your gaze from the floor to meet his. For a second, a mixture of fear and uncertainty crossed your face before you collected yourself, clearing your throat, ‘’Well, I thought I screwed up after you just left.’’ Then, you looked away again, your voice more quiet, ‘’I guess I was terrified of losing you.’’

The silence that followed was unbearable to you, a throwback to those nerve-wracking minutes right after you had your first kiss. Internally, you were cursing yourself out, reprimanding yourself for being so open with Moze, but could you really blame yourself?

‘’Can you please say something?’’ you whispered hesitantly, wrapping your arms around yourself, nails digging into the skin of your upper arms, ‘’I’m getting a sense of déjà vu.’’ 

‘’I’m sorry,’’ the man apologized, the gentleness still there, ‘’I should’ve said something back then. I- I guess I panicked. I’ve never-’’ He fell silent before finishing the sentence, pulling his hood down to obscure his face. 

‘’I- I didn’t mean to put you in that position,’’ you quietly muttered, the grip on your arms weakening, ‘’I don’t know why I- There were so many times before that where I was in perfect control of my thoughts and actions, but that day? I can’t even explain it.’’

‘’You wanted to kiss me before?’’ Maybe you should learn when to shut up, no? Moze was already staring at you when you looked up, a storm raging in his violet eyes. 

Hesitantly, you shrugged, taking a deep breath before elaborating, ‘’I guess I did. Do- Do you remember the last Wardance? When…Hoolay escaped.’’ After Moze nodded, you continued, ‘’After everything was over, after I finally found you, I just- yeah. I think that was the first time I wanted to kiss you.’’ 

There it was again: The unbearable silence. Maybe you really shouldn’t admit all these things so openly . But, catching you by surprise in the process, Moze didn’t let it stretch this time, his voice growing unsteadier with each word, ‘’Why didn’t you do it?’’

‘’I- I didn’t think it would’ve been the right moment for it,’’ you muttered with furrowed brows, gesturing around with your hand as if to emphasize your point, ‘’I mean, you were all injured, not to mention the entire Borisin crisis. I didn’t want to add to your problems.’’

‘’You’re never a problem to me,’’ the man replied, straightening up, ‘’I might not be the best at showing it, but I care about you deeply.’’ ‘’Otherwise, I wouldn’t have kissed you back that day, don't you think?’’ he added, his voice quieter.

For a moment, you thought your heart would jump out of your chest, the beating drowning out all the noise around you as you processed his words. He did kiss you back, didn’t he? ‘’I figured maybe you just- I don’t know, had a moment of weakness?’’ you rambled, growing more nervous again, ‘’I mean, I didn't- I know you kissed me back, but I didn’t think it meant anything, I guess.’’

‘’You…thought it didn’t mean anything?’’ ‘’I was panicking, okay!’’ you argued defensively, ‘’I mean, you just disappeared without a word after that, remember? How did you think I’d react?’’ 

Moze didn’t have an answer for that, watching you silently while you continued to ramble, ‘’I’m not blaming you, I swear. I just- there wasn’t really a positive way in which I could’ve reacted to the situation, you know? How would you have reacted if you had been in my shoes?’’

Once again, no answer. Admittedly, you wouldn’t have one either if you were in his shoes. Well, and that’s that on it being an awkward situation. ‘’I feel like I’m just making this worse, aren’t I?’’ you muttered, offering him a weak smile, ‘’I’m sorry. Again. I don’t think I can apologize enough for causing- well, all of this.’’

‘’Did the kiss mean something to you?’’

Moze’s interruption caught you off-guard, eyes widening in surprise. Well, you've already admitted to wanting to kiss him a handful of times before. Confessing your feelings can't possibly lead to a worse outcome, right? ...Right? Truth be told, you weren't really sure what outcome this entire conversation was heading toward anyway, so you might as well be completely honest with him now.

Still, it took you a moment to reply, afraid of being this vulnerable. ‘’I wouldn’t have kissed you if it didn’t,’’ you hesitantly admitted, looking away, ‘’I...care about you, Moze. A lot more than I probably should. More than normal friends should.’’

‘’I think I realized even before the Wardance, but I just- hoped it’ll go away,’’ you chuckled, the sound hollow, ‘’And when it didn’t, I just kept hoping. Which obviously failed, given, you know.’’

You weren’t sure what Moze was thinking, too scared to look at him. Another silence settled between you, making you feel restless as you waited for him to say something. Anything. Please just don’t leave this time.

And he didn’t. Instead, Moze stepped in front of you, tilting your face up to look at him, his violet eyes roaming across your face until he met your gaze, ‘’Can you- Can you kiss me again, please? Pretend it’s the first time?’’ 

His voice was surprisingly soft, barely audible over the sound of your own heartbeat. Did you get that right? ‘’You want me to kiss you?’’ you breathed out, a dozen questions running through your head as you stared at him, ‘’Are- Are you sure?’’

‘’I’ve never been this sure about anything else in my life,’’ the man muttered, caressing your cheek, ‘’I’ve noticed that I- felt different around you around the time you got transferred to the Yaoqing, but I didn’t think much of it until…well, recently. The realization didn't hit me until I talked to Jiaoqiu about it and he put it into words for me.’’

‘’Oh’’ 

‘’Is…that all you want to say?’’

‘’To be honest, I never thought I’d be in this situation,’’ you admitted, still processing what he had just told you, ‘’I- I can’t believe I was terrified of losing you like, ten minutes ago, and now we’re…here.’’

‘’That’s…a good thing, isn’t it?’’

‘’I think this a better outcome than I had imagined possible,’’ you huffed, straightening up, ‘’The only thing I need to worry about now is explaining everything to Guinaifen.’’ Then, still shaking from nervousness, you leaned forward, ghosting your lips over his, ‘’May I?’’

‘’...You may.’’

And you did, gently pressing your lips against his as if afraid all this was just your imagination, that he'd vanish the second you touched him. Yet, when his arm wrapped around your waist to pull you closer, you knew you weren’t dreaming. ‘’You’re…really okay with this, right?’’ you whispered between kisses, glancing up at him, ‘’I’m not just hearing what I want to hear?’’

Moze merely responded by pressing his lips to yours again, hand wandering to the back of your neck to deepen the kiss. ‘’You worry too much,’’ he eventually muttered before pressing his forehead against yours.

‘’It’s a talent,’’ you chuckled, slightly out of breath but audibly relieved, ‘’Besides, the only reason I was so worried in the first place were you.’’

‘’May I remind you that you were the one kissing me without warning?’’ ‘’Alright, alright-’’ you groaned, just barely containing your joy, ‘’I’ll never live this down, will I?’’

You freed yourself from Moze’s grasp, turning to head toward your bedroom before stopping and glancing back at him, hesitating, ‘’Do- Do you mind staying for the night? I don’t…want you to leave just yet.’’

‘’If that’s what you want, then of course,’’ the man reassured, ‘’Just don’t start complaining when I wake you up too early.’’

‘’Don’t make me regret this, big guy,’’ you chuckled, offering him your hand while you made your way toward the bedroom, ‘’Thank you, by the way, For…well, everything.’’

‘’Always.’’

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[oriley42]

How to Reply to Fic Comments

Saw this poll asking authors why they don't reply to comments on their fic. Realized I've seen a number of posts about how to comment on fic, but I haven't seen one with advice to authors on how to reply to comments! (There's probably one out there, but hey, the more the merrier 🎉)

As an author who replies to virtually every fic comment (albeit with a 3-5 business day waiting period), here are some of my strategies:

1. Disclaimer/Why Reply?

A fic author isn't obligated to reply to comments, but if you're a writer and WANT to reply but don't know how/feel too anxious to do so, then this post is for you! Responding to people who comment on your fic can be fun, it can make your fic a living story (even if you're done posting it, you're still engaging the ideas in conversation!), and it can jumpstart short or long term friendships in fandom as you chat about things you love together.

2. Just say "thank you"

A lot of authors in the above linked poll say that they feel bad or anxious about just replying "thank you," especially to a longer comment. However, I've never been anything but happy to get an author's reply--of any length--when I leave a comment. Even just a "💖" reply from them makes me feel seen! Think about your experience: would you rather get nothing back or get a brief "thank you" from an author? Would you be mad at them for not writing some ~super eloquent~ response to your happy keyboard smash? Would you complain if it took them a week to send that reply? Of course, not!

Don't stress the length or originality or punctuality of your reply, just know that any amount of kindness is appreciated.

3. Expand on the Basics

Want to add more to your "thank you"? Start with some basic forms of gratitude that can apply to almost any comment!

Add emojis 💖🥰🎉😍🌈👌

Add an action, ex. "Thank you for reading" "Thank you for taking the time to read/comment" "Thank you for such an insightful review/analysis of the story"

Add your emotion! "This comment made my whole week" "so happy to see this comment in my inbox" "I'm so glad you enjoyed the story"

Advanced: Remember, we're all fans here! You can squee in a comment reply, you can be giggling and kicking your feet. If a reader says "I am chewing on this fic" you can say "*adds salt and angst*" Have fun with it! Be free of the cringe panopticon!

4. Get Specific

An easy way to start writing more complex replies is to mirror the format of the comment. Take it as a template; look at each sentence/phrase and reply specifically to that piece.

Plot: "I'm really excited to see what happens next 👀" -> "I can't wait to share the next chapter 🤩"

Writing skill: "your characterization is soooo good" -> "thank you, I've really been focusing on character voice lately!" or you can share more personal feelings -> "I'm always worried about sounding ooc, it's such a relief to know the characters rang true"

Emotions: "this made me cry for real 😭" -> "I was crying while writing it 😭" or "angst is my favorite thing to write" or "your tears feed the author's angst-machine 😈"

Bonus: try to take compliments gracefully rather than reject them! Fight the impulse to be self-deprecating and deflect or minimize your work (ex. "i don't think so but thanks anyway" "I should've spent more time editing" "I usually suck at X"). Someone read your work and liked it--do them the courtesy of believing what they say.

5. Behind the Scenes

This is your chance to share your writing process! Writing can be a lonely thing but fandom gives you people to share it with. Most fans who take the time to comment are interested in hearing more from the author!

In your comment reply, you can talk about how and when you wrote the piece ("I wrote that ending on my phone on the bus haha"), why you did ("I hadn't seen any fics about X so I decided to write it myself!"), choices you made while writing ("I thought about doing Plot Thing A, but decided to go with Plot Thing B because it seemed funnier"), about emotions you felt ("I was so sad after the season finale, I wanted to write something fluffy but oops, it turned into hurt/comfort with a lot of hurt!") or challenges you faced ("I ended up doing a ton of research on Topic Z to make it feel real and accurate").

As you build a rapport with a commenter (and if you reply to comments, your chances are much better that you'll get a repeat commenter to build that lovely relationship with) it will get even easier and more fun. You can reference past chapters or other works, talk about the shared specific things you love about those characters/fandoms, and maybe develop a real friendship: make a character playlist together, see if they're interested in beta-ing your work, or joining a shared Discord server.

At the end of the day, the best guidance is simply to have fun and be kind! 🌈

[harmless-variety-of-garden-snake]

It Could End So Sweetly, ch. 3

I was going to post these once a day, but the fic is finished and we've all had a rough couple of days and the ending of the second chapter is so angsty. Also @newtkelly made my entire life by doing slutty little bunker bunny Buck fanart, so I'm going to be riding that high forever. And also probably write a coda because babyyyy. Anyway! Here's the AO3 link to the new chapter, and here's a preview:

It's been three weeks, and Tommy hasn't heard back from Evan. His texts are unread for long periods of time. Then they'll get read, and there won't be a reply. He hates himself for it, hates that he'd let something old and shameful in the back of his head rear its ugly head, hates that he'd clearly hurt him.

When he realizes he's well and truly fucked up, he opens Grindr for the first time since that night when he'd picked Evan up in the bar. There's an old message from the guy who wanted to suck his dick that he ignores. There's a few others from that night that he'd missed. He scrolls mindlessly until he does a double-take at a familiar set of tattoos on a largely faceless torso picture. He's currently online, he's about as far as Tommy knows his place to be from the house, he's apparently looking for a bottom. Tommy's vers, so he isn't surprised he popped up, but he's surprised Evan hadn't blocked him. Maybe he didn't know.

Considering Tommy's pictures don't have his entire face in them and the display name was a suggestion from Sal instead of his actual name, it's almost a fair question. The problem is that the scar is visible, and that's as good as seeing Evan’s tattoos. 

Evan says nothing for a minute, and Tommy sees that he's no longer online.

Then there's an incoming FaceTime call. Tommy looks like shit, he's been vegging on his couch with no plans of doing anything about it unless someone caught his eye. He answers anyway. 

“Hey,” Evan says, his face half-buried in a pillow. “Talk.”

Tommy just drinks in the sight of him for a moment. His hair isn't styled, and he'd discovered that there was a hint of curls there the day Evan had spent at his house. He can see his birthmark and his eyes and pinched brows and the bridge of his nose. 

“God, you're so beautiful,” he whispers, and Evan rolls his eyes. “That's not—sorry. No, I need to apologize to you. I was deeply, deeply closeted for a very long time, and there's some stuff I need to shake from that. Including, apparently, my fear of PDA outside WeHo. And I panicked and thought about doing that on every date we ever went on and it made me say something I didn't mean.”

Evan’s face lifts, and he tucks his pillow under his chin. It makes his lips pout together, and it's so endearing that Tommy's chest aches. “You said you didn't do down-low stuff anymore.”

“Yeah, well, apparently I was wrong.” He sighs and sits up straighter on his couch. “But also, I've only been on two dates since I came out. One of them was at a gay bar, the other one was dinner at a guy’s apartment. His wife came home early. I'm more than happy to do a walk of shame or go to a bathhouse or bar or club, but that was new for me, too. It was—”

“Scary?” Evan guesses. “A little weird sometimes? Kind of a lot to take in when you really thought about it.”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah,” Evan says pointedly. “I know.”

Tommy chews on the inside of his cheek for a moment, because he deserved that. “Can we try again? I like you. I actually really like you. I haven't stopped thinking about you. Or the fact that you're well within your rights to tell me to fuck off forever, because you deserve better than that.”

Evan buries his face in his pillow for a moment. “Fine,” he says, his voice muffled.

“‘Fine,’ I should fuck off forever or—”

“No, asshole, I'm answering your question,” Evan says, lifting his head, and he's smiling. Tommy definitely doesn't deserve a smile that bright or that wide, but he'll take it. He'll take whatever he can get. “We can try again.”

[idiotmf]

Ur world building is phenomenal ｡⁠.ﾟ⁠+(⁠｡⁠･⁠ω⁠･⁠)

Please tell me more abt xyon :3

Thank you so much! ( ◍＞◡＜◍)。✧♡

I am currently working on a story about Xyon (along with approximately fifty other things).

I usually write short scenarios with my characters for myself, sort of like different AUs, but they're in my native language, and I would like to make one that's Xyon x Reader specifically.

MDNI because my blog is 18+, the post itself shouldn't really be NSFW aside from biological aspects.

Uh, yeah... This is rather long for what I meant it to be (around 2.5k words excluding the notes at the beginning and end).

(Edit: Here is a link to the original lore dump for anyone wondering, since I reference it a lot.)

All that aside, here's a more in-depth look at my favorite biologist in the galaxy:

Appearance:

Since this is focused on just one Xenian, I can give a few more details about what he looks like. I really wish I was talented at drawing so I could give a visual representation of what I personally imagine, but I'll provide some images in case my words aren't clear enough (still working on that vocabulary, haha).

Let's start with his body!

As mentioned in the overall description, Xyon is around 2.5m (8'2), and if needed, he, like all other male Xenians, can stretch his torso up to 2.8m (roughly 9'2). If you're wondering which specific part gets stretched, it's the area just below the shoulders and above the stomach. (I'm using human anatomy here for convenience; if you're interested, I can definitely get into more in-depth Xenian anatomy, but I fear it might be boring.)

Whenever stretched, the skin gets damaged, sort of like horizontal stretch marks, but will shrink back to heal normally. Xenians don't do this often due to their high intelligence and lack of predators, causing it to be more of an evolutionary inconvenience these days.

While they still use it for mating displays, much like humans, they just prefer talking nowadays.

His overall body has a pretty slim, smooth look underneath the short fur. The muscles of Xenians are layered like thin sheets (muscle lasagna, anyone?) and don't bulge in the way human muscles would; instead, they just look broader and fuller.

Now, Xyon is considered skinny, even for his kind. I've mentioned it in the lore dump, but Xenians have moved past eating. They consume nutritional gel, which also explains why they are very lean, since they are literally only allowed to consume this gel, which covers their calculated daily needs.

If you know how nutrition works, though, you can probably see some holes forming in that logic. Xyon moves around a lot and therefore would technically require more, hence the skinny body.

His legs are long compared to his torso, especially below the knees (again, using human anatomy for convenience). His thighbones are rather short, the Xenian equivalent of Tibia and Fibula long (around 2/3rds of his legs; also, they don't have single bones but rather thousands of thin, long bones clustered together to form larger structures). It looks rather awkward when sitting or trying to crouch.

Fun fact: Xenians cannot kneel.

Well, technically, they can; once. And then not get back up without serious injuries. Their knees also cannot be fully bent back like a human's, but rather just enough to allow them to comfortably walk and sit. They actually also comfortably stand around in their strange crouching position whenever they are idle for long periods of time. Remember, they have a tail (sort of like this minus the scales) that they use for balance, resting in what I can only describe as a weird, tripod looking stance, sort of like they're leaning back and almost sitting on their tail.

I spent an hour trying to draw a representation of it, but it looked so goofy that I felt too embarrassed to share it. ( ´･ω･)

Anyway, his skull resembles that of an ocelot, complete with rows of sharp teeth, identifying his race as a once carnivorous one. (skull image) However, they don't have the typical cat whiskers, and their muzzle is less rounded.

Neat little tidbit, but technically, Xyon speaks with the Xenian equivalent of a lisp after sustaining an injury to his throat as a child (some of their sounds are formed in the throat, mainly the sheet metal-sounding one). However, since his words are translated into human speech for you to understand him, this doesn't carry over.

Xenian eyes also resemble those of cats; Xyon's are amber in color, but they can have various different ones. Of course he has a long, rough tongue due to their carnivorous roots.

Their entire body, except for their tails, genitalia, soles, and palms, is covered in a short, dark blue fur. (Imagine the fur of smooth, short coated dogs like a Doberman, Great Dane, Boxer, Beagle, etc. Just a bit softer.) If you want specifics on the color, I'd say the closest is #555C6C, ironically called Blue Planet. It looks sort of washed out due to their skin underneath being a dark gray.

His feet and hands are generally very similar in shape to those of a raccoon, except they have retractable claws and four fingers instead of five (a thumb and three fingers).

As mentioned in the species lore dump, they have retractable genitalia that are hidden underneath a layer of skin until they are exposed. It can actually harden while hidden, making their skin bulge. However, this can be quite painful since the space allowing for their phalluses isn't meant to support them in their full size.

If we're taking semen, it looks rather blueish in hue and the consistency is thicker and sort of slimy, designed to stick to a female's eggs.

Sources (cough cough) confirm it has a rather sweet-ish flavour, consuming too much of it does cause nausea in humans though.

Personality:

Xyon is an incredibly curious individual, especially later on (you'll see why in a second). He wants to know anything and everything about this planet and its inhabitants. He likes finding new plants, scanning them, and then observing for a while. He marvels at the strange animals that live on this planet (I should mention at this point that any story including Xyon is post-apocalyptic) and Earth's impressive landscapes.

Despite being very curious, he's still an extremely obedient follower of orders. For example, in one story I wrote, he was running out of his nutritional bio-gel and would simply refuse actual food, despite the scanner clearly telling him it was harmless for him to eat, choosing to starve rather than disobeying the directive to only consume the gel.

He does end up breaking one major rule, which ends up changing his entire life.

You see, while he is a biologist and was sent to earth to study and document flora and fauna for the intergalactic database, he is strictly forbidden from interacting with humans, whether positively or negatively, the only exception being for self-defense purposes. This is largely due to humans being known as primitive and extremely violent.

Xyon shares this narrative at first, since his research partner Xuan was murdered and subsequently eaten by humans after trying to peacefully interact with them.

That is, until he runs into, well, you. A lone human, injured, and on the brink of death. At first, he considers leaving you to die, then he considers observing you while you pass away, only to finally decide that even if you do attack him, he wants to help you.

Another bit of a flaw in his character is his naivety. Xenians don't have concepts like sarcasm; even lying isn't exactly something they do or consider, as it goes against their morals. This ends up with him believing everything you tell him, curiously inquiring about the most obvious of lies.

Not to mention, he speaks incredibly bluntly, which might come off as rude. This does actually improve after Xyon spends more time with you, since he learns to imitate the way you speak rather than sticking to the cold, scientific speech he uses at first.

I like to think this is a product of Xenian society, as scientists and research purpose tiers don't exactly experience individualism or even enough free will to build their own personalities to the point of even having distinguishing character traits.

I'm not sure how much I mentioned in the other lore dump (I tried to keep it short, so I kept cutting things out), but I do remember mentioning that Xenians practice culling unhatched eggs based on desirable base intelligence, health, etc. which is calculated based on your family tree, essentially. One's purpose is also determined by those stats.

Eggs far above the desired base intelligence usually become researchers and scientists, the highest "purpose" you can possibly have in their race. However, that also means that you not only get gaslit into thinking that's the only thing you're good at, you don't even get a chance to consider anything else.

Xyon is a biologist, and he cannot ever be anything but a biologist. He doesn't even have the mere choice of disliking his career, because it isn't just his job; it's his entire life.

Did I mention I love playing with such dystopian concepts?

Over the course of spending more time with you, he does eventually develop his own personality, or rather strengthen the few cracks that were present all along. But he can't help but look at you for guidance, despite being in the Xenian equivalent of his late twenties to early thirties. The concepts of being allowed to experience individualism and freely express himself are foreign to him.

I do want to mention that some Xenians do have their own personalities. This forced conformity is practiced in their general society, but only as bad as this on the higher purpose tiers, like the one he is in.

He does eventually turn into a gentle giant. I like to imagine him like a Disney princess, holding out one claw with a bird on it, like Snow White. Xyon does enjoy providing meat for you, which is a more primitive way to show that he is a suitable mate in his culture (though usually it goes both ways, or it used to, since they don't hunt anymore).

I like the concept of taking a step back from the highly intelligent life form and reverting to some more primitive practices as he develops individuality.

He never gets to the point of actively resenting his culture and planet, but rather accepts that this is one of its many differences from Earth and can be considered a flaw. In reality, he does find comfort in having a purpose, especially after you essentially tell him what life on earth was like. He finds the idea of having the freedom to try anything overwhelming, and not knowing what you're truly made for is terrifying in his eyes.

Beliefs and Values:

While a form of religion does still exist on his planet, due to the forced conformity and his purpose as a biologist, he was taught to disregard such matters for lack of logic.

Despite that, he does actually secretly believe in things like fate, especially in the context of finding one's mate.

Yet, mates are a pretty sore spot for him.

Due to their personalities, or rather lack thereof, and long absence from their planet in the name of science, higher-tier Xenians don't usually find a mate, often either living alone until death or dying during research.

Xyon does eventually express the belief that meeting you was fate and that you two were meant to end up as mates, despite being different in many ways.

He also believes that meeting you was meant to prove that humans weren't as destructive and savage as originally assumed.

(There is a whole other discussion of why earth became post-apocalyptic in the first place, and while the answer is a bit more convoluted than that, Xyon believes that the planetary representatives collectively decided that humans could not go on the way they were, and instead of risking a valuable planet that could host life being destroyed beyond repair, they would simply flatten major settlements and reset them to see whether they would grow from this experience or perish altogether.

Ironically, in reality, this was actually voted against in the end due to humans not having encountered extraterrestrial life yet and the promising scientific progression, but one race, fairly similar to humans themselves in nature (though not in looks), decided it would be for the better, carrying out the invasion on their own accord. While they weren't completely erased themselves, most of the higher-ranking beings from that planet were executed. This, however, is not common knowledge, as the representatives did cover it up in order to avoid other races being encouraged to disobey.)

While the race of Xenians does have values pertaining to open-mindedness and equality, they are fairly limited in nature. They do allow for sexual and romantic expression (on the lower tiers, mostly), but you can never, ever have the same standing as someone born with a higher tier purpose.

This means that even if you end up exceeding your calculated base intelligence by a lot, you will still be stuck in a purpose that isn't for you and have no chance of changing it.

Ironically, while a social hierarchy does exist, lower tiers are usually considered happier and have far more freedom than higher tiers. Because, again, they get stripped of all individuality to become mindless little researchers.

I purposely didn't specify Xyon's values in this case because, as you can imagine, being forced into a certain mindset does mean he has the same values as the collective, though it does change over time, with him expressing that while he does still support the tiers and purpose, he wishes it was less strict.

Family and Social Circle:

Xyon does actually have a family; he wasn't raised in a mating group. Unlike humans, Xenians don't have a close bond with their parents or siblings since they aren't fully raised by them but rather taken away early in life (around 4–7 in human years) to be trained for their purpose, which results in rather shallow bonds.

His father's purpose is to nurse and educate young Xenians that have either lost their parents or were abandoned, while his mother is the leader of their local tribe, which one can become regardless of tier, following an election process similar to that on earth.

Xyon does have irregular contact with them and even occasionally visits them while on Xen'jai, which is incredibly rare.

He had one older brother, who became a soldier and died very early on due to conflict between Xen'jai and their neighboring planet.

Xyon did have one friend, the female biologist Xuan, who was his assigned research partner.

Due to the nature of their work and purpose, social circles for their tier are small, if they exist at all.

This actually affects Xyon greatly. Now that his old partner is gone, he is alone on a foreign planet, and with Xenians being social creatures, it does make him feel lonely.

On several occasions, he has actually tried seeking out other research teams from his planet that were sent to Earth, and he briefly had contact with a male geologist named Xenon, who ended up being killed, or at least that's Xyon's assumption when his signal completely disappeared (hint hint nudge nudge, he is the other one I like writing about, and he is in fact not dead).

There is one more Xenian that Xyon is aware of on earth: a female meteorologist. He does not know her name; however, he has responded to several distress signals relating to her losing her bio-gel rations to humans.

Unfortunately, she was too far away for him to actually help (she is a character I want to write about in the future as well o(〃＾▽＾〃)o ).

Well, technically speaking, Xyon (and at some point Xuan), like any other research pair, does have a ship, but being the rule-following Xenian he is, he did not leave his assigned area (which is roughly central Europe in canon btw), though he briefly considered it until getting confirmation that the situation had sorted itself out.

It is likely due to this that he even considered helping you in the first place, because he was lonely and probably hoping deep down that a human could somehow keep him company.

Which... I mean... it worked out in his favor. Good for him.

•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•

Yeesh, this is quite a lot.

Can you believe I still left stuff out? I also ended up dumping more lore for the species itself. I promise one day I'll go back and rewrite both the Species info and probably this one as well. I kind of want to write another big info-dump for Xen'jai as a planet, because there's a lot I want to get into, like the hierarchy, religion, history and evolution of the planet, which felt too out of place here.

Anyway, thanks for reading. Feel free to always reach out for more info or suggestions, I am literally just waiting to write more lore no one really can do anything with. :3

[lennsart]

ModernAU for WIP please!

I have heard of it. I’ve seen your Legend design. Now I need more info. Please 👀💕

Lele I am hollering because I was like "ah yay someone asked about something that isn't just me bullying Legend" AND HERE'S THE FIRST LINE IN THIS FOLDER :

"Don't be fooled by the title this is just another Legend whump <3"

I SWEAR THERE'S MORE TO IT NOW LMAO Past Lenn really throwing me under the bus—

But oh my lord, this wip goes all over the place ! Buckle up, this is going to be a LONG post !

So it's not modern-modern, it's more like modern with magic, with sheikah tech replacing our normal tech too haha ! And the thing is : this is another reincarnation cycle, which implies that Linked Universe happened thousands something years ago. Which. Don't think too hard about it !

But as I eloquently put it in my notes :

- I think maybe there was like one dude who started hearing Dark Link and was like '"huh. Let's become evil"

And he did forbidden magic with a forbidden reincarnation magic book and poof ! Everyone's back ?

- Tldr : Dude did the magic equivalent of a keysmash and brought back all Zelda, Link and Demise's reincarnations.

I had never noticed how unserious my notes were in my wips before posting them in the wild—

So not only all villains, Links and Zeldas are there, but also every character that appear in at least two games. Jury's still out on whether Hyrule Warriors counts or not, but there's Ravio and Hilda in the mix, but it can also be because they have a triforce so. Yea

But it means yay for Malon, Beedle, (unfortunately) Tingle, etc etc...

And last note before I get a little into the plot : the villains remember their past lives, since Dark Link/Demise was the one to cause the reincarnation. Concerning the others :

- The Zeldas have v i s i o n s Like, Sun especially. She has a Zelda radar. She will adopt them all as sisters. + they all get vibes around reincarnations. They will avoid the villains just because. They will be drawn to the Links naturally. Sun sees Sky and is like "oh I'm going to marry this man." Artemis sees Wars and thinks "why does he looks like he needs a scarf. I want to see this man with a blue scarf." Stuff like that - The Links are clueless. They'd fistbump a Ganon. They are also drawn to Zeldas but don't realize it. Like for earlier examples, Sky will crush immediately on Sun but it doesn't feel like a prophecy. Wars will see Artemis staring and be like "huh, I should talk to her" but that's it

ANYWAYS the whump for Legend comes from the fact that the magic did wonky things and his father is... Agahnim. Who remembers his current son as the one who foiled his plans and killed him milleniums ago. Yeah so that doesn't go well for him

That's also why his design looks a bit bland for now, he's not expressing himself like he wants to. You bet that when he gets out of there the first thing he does is dye pink streaks in his hair !

I'm reading my notes and my eyes are widening as I do because god. There was so much drama, I had forgotten about all that

OH I had drawn a relationships chart wait I have this somewhere

There's. SO MUCH to explain on here but I'm just gonna brush through the characters relationships and call it a day :

-> This is an extremely self-indulgent AU so of course it's shippy— Ravio/Legend and Four/Shadow are established couples

-> Except I try to respect some of the games events to make some drama ? So the equivalent of Ravio staying in Lorule is that he has to go away for his studies (his thing is still building magic gear !). However Ravio does come back in LU canon so it's not forever, just... Legend is kind of alone at the beginning of this, and he doesn't want to bother Ravio with his problems so he stops responding :[

-> Anyways Legend isn't very popular at his school. He's the son of a rich guy and gets into fights quite easily, so he's labelled as "ungrateful rich prick" and doesn't have friends. He's 16, and Hyrule and Wild are 15, so he spent a year alone and broody in school before they got in

-> Legend meets Hyrule because they both eat at the Asocials Table™ at their school. One day Legend puts aside an apricot pie because he doesn't like it, Hyrule exchanges it for an apple pie, and it's the beginning of a great friendship

-> Hyrule is in Wild's class so one day he brings him along, and Wild is absolutely impervious to Legend's sarcasm and dry humor which makes them friends very fast

Triple threat is formed !

-> Time and Malon are Twilight and Wild's parents. Twilight is their biological son, and they adopted Wild thanks to him, because he met him and vibed with him and brought him for dinner, until one time Wild was like "welp thank you for this, now I'll try to find a place to sleep haha, not gonna abuse of your kindness" and they all collectively realized he was in the streets and had no idea who his parents were <3

(He has amnesia from an accident he gets bad nightmares about, but even I am not sure what happened there)

So he's been adopted a few years ago, maybe when he was 12 or something !

-> Also Time and Malon will adopt Legend towards the middle of the story because Agahnim will be proved to be abusive

-> Twilight, Warriors and Sky met when they were kids and they are ride or die since then ! Sky and Wars lives together as roommates, and Twilight is there so often that he basically lives here unofficially. To the point that there's a scene where Wars wonders where he is in the morning and Sky's like "well. He has a home" and Wars answers "oh, I forgot about that"

So Twilight still lives at his parents' for now, but he's not there very often

-> Warriors and Wind are brothers, but Wind still lives at their Grandma's home (Warriors moved for college). Again, I am debating bringing in Aryll because it'd break my "characters that have been there at least in two games" rules, but also come on. It's mean of me not to give him his little sister

And I'm going to stop there for this post, but if anyone is interested in knowing more honestly I'd love to get asks about this AU ! I'm not sure if I'll write it as a whole story, at least not before I'm done with my current writing projects, but it'd be fun to share art and snippets here and there.

And thank you for being curious about this one Lele, I'm sorry you activated an unskippable cutscene of me rambling <3

[obsessionatthemoment]

I feel the need to make a small intro post, because although I prefer to be anonymous online, it would still be nice for people to be able to get to know me. (Also a post with links to the Byler fanfics I have written, and fanart I have made.)

I'm not comfortable sharing my real name, so you can just call me my username, or the abbreviated version oatm.

I'm diagnosed autistic, and also have a very severe history of mental illness. And, I am very open about my 4 years spent in the troubled teen industry (it's actually about to be my 1-year of being home anniversary as of making this, which is the longest I've been home for since 6th grade!).

I'm very imaginative. Some of my interests are writing, reading and drawing. I also love a good analysis.

The only fandom I'm currently active on is Byler, but I have a lot of other pieces of media I'm interested in, such as:

-The Perks of Being a Wallflower

-Young Royals (as long as I pretend season 3 doesn't exist)

-Red, White & Royal Blue (as long as I pretend the movie doesn't exist)

-Heartstopper (as long as I pretend the TV show doesn't exist, are you sensing a theme here?), and all of Alice Oseman's other books (especially I Was Born for This, and Radio Silence)

Byler fanfic recommendations:

Random recommendation post link

Some links to the Byler fanfics I have written:

Don't listen to assholes Are you okay? series (complete)

Max doesn’t cry very often, but this is enough to make her eyes fill with tears. She can’t respond, so she just shakes her head instead. Will buries his head in his hands, and she remains there, lost in thought. How is she even supposed to handle this information? Is he a su*cide risk, or was he simply saying that being told to k*ll himself made him briefly think about it? Should she tell Joyce?

“Don’t listen to assholes.” She eventually comes up with. It’s really just a brief summary of what actually needs to be said, but she can’t be articulate when she’s been hit with this situation.

Or: Max witnesses a bullying incident with Will, and suggests they skip the rest of the school day. They go to the junkyard and talk about Mike, college, and eventually the events of the day.

Sleep in my room? Are you okay? series (still in progress)

Over the past few weeks, the already murky line between friends and something more with Mike and Will has been further blurred. They’re stuck in a sort of limbo, and have been for some time. The thing is, Mike has been aware of his feelings. Will has been, too. They just don't do anything about it, and both have their own reasons to justify this static place in their relationship.

However, their relationship is progressing anyway, even without intention, or some label. Maybe it’s because sleeping in the same room is so intimate, or maybe it’s simply going to the place it needs to be. In any case, things are changing, and progressing, whether they like it, or not. They're closer now than ever.

Or: After Mike finds out about Will's sleeping issues, he invites Will to start sleeping in his room. This becomes routine, and over the course of their freshman year of college, their relationship progresses into something romantic.

Is this real? Are you okay? series (complete)

Properly panicking now, chills run through his body, and his breathing becoming shaky. He doesn’t understand what's happening. One second everything was fine. He was having a good time with his friends and his boyfriend in his home. The next second, everything turned wrong. Their voices went wrong. Everything got dark and cold. Now he’s living in a nightmare.

Or: Will is having a derealization episode, and Mike, Max and El help him through it.

Fine Are you okay? series (complete but being rewritten to better fit the narrative)

Will and Mike have been living with each other for a few months. Will is trying to be happy while struggling with some serious mental health issues. When lying to himself becomes a bit too much, Mike is there to help him through it.

My Byler fanart:

[tommyssupercoolblog]

Incoming very long ramble about the fragility of internet content and the ways some things are impossible or difficult to preserve

The thing that frustrates me most about poppytwt is how fruitless it all feels.

Like, you can't archive or research poppytwt effectively. You can certainly TRY but you'll find very little!!!

You have people who spent years in the poppytwt fandom who can TELL you about fanfics they read, art they saw, friends they made who were deactivated or doxxed or harassed or who committed suicide or are otherwise lost to time, but they'll have almost nothing to show for it because poppytwt was actively designed to be as impossible to trace back as possible, precisely because people were afraid of harassment.

How are you supposed to find, say, Tommy/Tubbo fanfiction? There's some on the actual tag, sure, especially now that poppytwt is for the most part over and it's considered "okay" to ship them now, but I'll tell you right now there are thousands of fics that won't pop up because the fic had no tags whatsoever, or spelled Tubbo like Tvbb0, or used some God awful emoji combination to convey who they were talking about, or were straight up DELETED. Discord servers moved every few years, fanart and fics were usually tagged with censored bullshit or not tagged at all and then taken down and deleted, entire accounts were ALSO deleted, even assuming something was tagged properly it's probably gone.

Most of us in the fandom at the time didn't think to make archives of anything while it was happening, so we've lost like.... probably enough content to make our own small website full of it, and even more chatrooms.

Almost all of the public facing content left is NSFW and/or more controversial kinks like CNC, watersports, etc, which could be because people who post that content are more resistant to criticism anyway but honestly I don't know why that is, and I know sfw content beyond what you can currently find EXISTED, we consumed tons of it back in the day, but it's almost fucking impossible to find!!! And most of it, when you get your hands on a link, is GONE!!!!

It happens with NSFW content too though, if course. Veradie was one of the most popular artists in poppytwt by far and a lot of the art links don't work. Some have archived versions with working links but a lot is gone because the original post leading to it doesn't work, and Veradie, like, the person, is missing. I'm sure she(?) would know a lot about old fandom and might even have archived some stuff, but if you're some sort of internet historian how in the FUCK are you supposed to find her??? She deactivated without a trace!!!

I made friends with a user called Kencydoo on here and one day I logged on and Kency was just GONE without warning or any indication of where they were moving to, no DMs to people they knew, nothing. I don't even know if it was staff or mass reports or a self-deletion. I do know Kency sometimes posted NSFW dead dove stuff and had tags you could block to avoid it, so it's possible one of those posts blew up and got the blog taken down, but I have no level of certainty.

Reese (I think it was Reese?) had people hunting for a "main account" that didn't exist for harassment and doxxing purposes and then ALMOST left (I'm glad you're still here @reesesrambles )

There's no stability for poppytwt content and no real shelf life which means that most of the history and even the harassment that REQUIRED THE EXISTENCE of a seperate fandom is gone. We can describe what the old dsmp fandom was like and why poppytwt exists and what it means but most of the actual concrete fandom blogs or resources are GONE, absolutely obliterated.

Like you can't make a Strange Æons style video about poppytwt, you literally can't, because almost all of it is like the fucking city of Atlantis. There WAS stuff here, but it was constantly sinking.

Most people I know for a fact were involved in poppy honestly just left for the hermitcraft fandom because people over there are like...normal?? The hermitcraft fandom allows RPF and doesn't give a shit about shipping characters who are "sibling coded" or whatever the fuck. They understand the concept of just not clicking on something you don't want to see, instead of launching a twitter cancellation campaign against people. So like if you can talk about a similar, and GOOD source of content that is also actively ongoing and not get shit for it, why would you chose to create for a discontinued peice of content and/or streamers who you WILL get shit on for writing about?? Like if your options are "write grian RPF and be able to not stress and have a fun time" or "write tommyinnit RPF and delete hate comments every day and watch your back constantly" why the fuck would you pick the latter???

And it's frustrating because the fact everything disappears means it feels like you don't even have much to look back on. The friends you made or content you enjoyed about a series you love is all dust now, and if you were into the DSMP for a long time (and therefore in poppytwt for a long time) then it's so much worse. It all adds up.

Anyways that's my ramble on how fucked up it is that entire communities can be lost in an era where things can supposedly be maintained forever does anyone want to drink a caprisun with me

[syrasenturi]

dr extreme ramble posting with spoilers

spent way too long looking up shit i missed and stuff on the website and feeling like a conspiracy theorist and i know other people probably already pointed stuff out but

the code being 1225, noelle's blog name holidaygirl1225, the "gumball"/prize pod machine in one of the wardrobes and the fact in game you access it by putting in 1225 points in the b rank prizepod machine I'M BIG BRAINING IT'S ALL ALREADY BEEN THERE the "lacquer triangle" def a guitar pic and /dess is the guitar that in game has the code written and we know starts with 122

ALSO all of the alludes to the chapter four egg /windows being where you go to the egg room that leads to the book and the prophecy panel that says "roots" which is the tab title for /lostwheretheforestwouldgrow and also the npc in that room saying things mixed up and bringing up each word "lost where the forest would grow" and ends the dialogue with "the poor children!" /thepoorchildren is tab titled therapy and in game when you get to the actual egg area you end up in a doctors office where the secretary says the patients are waiting for kris, you then go into the dark room where people are drawing trees and then kris themself draw, drawing the lines over and over again until it was perfect then smudged and then a tree was painted on top and then kris gets the egg which is exactly what you do on /thepoorchildren where you draw with pixels until a tree forms over top that clicking on leads to /egg talking to the secretary after getting the egg in game "how did the session go? they say art is therapeutic... which one of you was the patient, anyway?"

also going in reverse, /rarecats having the "mike" fight cats where clicking on the angel one leads you to /windows in the first place, it taking place in the church

and getting to /rarecats from /rain where in noelle's blog post she talks about how her mom made them cancel school for heavy rain in game toriel cancels choir practice because of the rain, but susie and kris go to the church and therefore the darkworld

going back to ch.3 stuff in /ramb going to /romb if you dont click the invisible link it brings up the dialogue "if only you had the [blank], your luck might have gone another way. No [blank], no Crystal." which hints at needing the shadow mantle to even fight the roaring knight to get the shadow crystal not clear on what the tab title might be referencing exactly "no one will shed a tear for him"

/d_a_m_n_y_o_u_t_e_n_n_a leads to /icepalace_glaceir where noelle blog posts about a cross shaped maze in dragon blazers that no matter what brings you back to the same room and "Normally one of the characters is supposed to guide you through the maze" but as a kid she found out where to go by going in every possible direction, only to end up at a locked door that she never found the key for but to even get to /icepalace_glaceir you have to click the tv on /d_a_m_n_y_o_u_t_e_n_n_a and scroll down, clicking the object that has no link, turning the screen blue and the ocean sound plays from the game boards of chapter 3, scrolling up shows a crude representation of the glacier path and door you find in the 2nd swordroute game, which has the segment where you follow the white mage through the maze that leads you to a locked door

[cleolinda]

Weekend links, March 9, 2025

My posts

Silent Hill 2 update: The first commentary/gameplay video is up. It's two hours, with a brisk timestamped writeup spread over four posts so I can put in links, sources, and a few screencaps. Also, I know people can read faster than a video plays, so if you'd like to just skim the text and then go, "Wait, I DO want to hear about Orpheus and Eurydice," you can pop in wherever. 

I'm also going to pull a few things out now and then as sidebars, like the secret Goya painting that I finally identified.

Videos 2 and 3 are recorded, and I'm working on their writeups. Meanwhile, Ian's second stream is up, and here's an interview he did at the beginning of the year. His third stream is on 3/19 (no, not MAY 19 like I originally wrote, and everybody just nodded and went "yeah that checks out, time has no meaning"), and I have a medical thing that week so I'm going to try to get videos 2 and 3 posted before then. At that point, Ian and I should be roughly in sync. 

Meanwhile-meanwhile, I am notifying you of the horrors of existence (weather headaches with bonus eyelid twitch). 

Reblogs of interest

"idk who needs to hear this rn but suffering is not noble. take the tylenol"

Isabella Rossellini wore blue velvet to honor the late David Lynch on the Oscars red carpet

The "When I was 15, I spent a month working on an archeological dig" anecdote is not actually from Kurt Vonnegut. I know, I just went with it at first, too. 

Esther Jones, the real Betty Boop

A very long post about what "medieval princess dress" actually means in fashion history

A mouse seamstress

Toy doctors (doctors of toys)

"Hiding among the flowers as if she is one of them"

I too think the goth manta and the pink manta should date

"Wait do people in the lower 48 not learn your state songs in school??" I assume you're not talking about "Sweet Home Alabama."

"It is incredibly important to train yourself to have your first instinct be to look something up." Here's my addition to this: I have a reader's vocabulary, i.e., I keep realizing I don't know how to say this or that word out loud. It's so easy now to just look up a word and listen to a sound file of it. 

Was this not actually a scene on The Good Place

What's your most-used Simpsons reference?

Art: "The similar but opposing nature of fire towers and lighthouses"

A flow chart: do it scared or hit da bricks?

"Babe are you okay? you reblogged Leonid Pasternak’s Torments of Creative Work again"

"I am happy because everyone loves me": the final art of Louis Wain, famous for his "schizophrenic" (read: purposefully experimental) cats.

Video

Manul Monday: chilly paws

Wet beast Wednesday: capybara frolicking

Okay but LISTEN! LISTEN! The bend in this archery video is very similar to the "cane stretch" I had to do in physical therapy for my herniated disc and it WRECKED ME the first week. Anyway, thigh-high boots are involved when it's archery. 

A supercut of orange cat behavior

I am walking onto the field. Haters are forcefully removing me from the premise

I had Cher's gently romantigoth Sanctuary home goods catalogue as a teenager in the '90s, and I would have lived in it. 

Personal tag of the week

Always good to check in on art.

[notoriousgrd]

Ok, so it's been almost four years since my last proper post, bloody 'ell. I've ditched both Facebook and Twitter, so finally got round to checking if I could still log in here and that would be a yes.

I have kept going day to day on Bluesky, at this link https://bsky.app/profile/gordonrd.bsky.social and that's where almost all my online interaction happens these days, but going to try and make an effort to make regular longer posts here.

So, the quick summary - still suffering from chronic fatigue, hasn't gotten any better, but also hasn't gotten any worse. I'm still able to mostly cope on my own as long as I pace myself, still get some really bad days at random, but after a decade, used to that.

Mental health is okay, I'm still kind of secluding myself and not interacting with people much, but I am entirely ok and comfortable with that, although I do feel bad about kind of wandering off and away from many online friends and real life ones.

The pandemic really did just mess a lot of us up socially and for some of us it's taken a long time to even start making steps to rectify that.

My diabetes while decently controlled in recent years, is even better now as I've moved to arm sensors for checking my blood glucose levels, they're so convenient, I can just scan with my phone and often it maintains a connection so I don't need to scna every time I want to check, It's made going out and about a bit easier as I get a real time update on my levels.

Mum passed away last July, she'd had severe fatigue issues much like myself and my brother (me and him both had a bad infection which seemed to trigger it and we've just never gotten much better) but they got worse and worse and repeated infections were just too much in the end.

April the cat passed away a couple of years ago, she was found just lying down near someone's front door, no bad weather or anything, just lay down and never woke up.

A couple of months later, the folks took in Lula, a four year old cat who is the most talkative cat we've ever had. She'll almost always respond with chirps or meows if you interact with her in any way.

A few months ago, the folks' upstairs neighbour and a family friend passed away, she had two cats her daughter took the older one and my Dad and SImon took in the younger one, Glen, who was kind of our part-time cat anyways as he'd often wander in looking for attention or someone to curl up on. I spent part of last Christmas watching Guns Of Navarone on the TV with him curled up on my lap. He's settled in perfectly and now I get two cats to pet whenever I visit.

About a month after my last proper post, a new cinema opened in town, our first since the previous one closed down in 1976. It has been an absolute game changer for my movie viewing, a combination of it being within walking distance on my better days (or get a bus on the bad ones) and a monthly pass which means if I book and miss a screening due to my fatigue hitting, I don't lose any money. I'm pobably at over 150 movies seen there since October 2021. Just in the last couple of months there's been Tornado, Sinners, Ghostbusters 1 & 2, Raiders Of The Lost Ark, The Odd Couple, Heat, 28 Years Later, The Phoenician Scheme, Spirited Away , The Quatermass XPeriment and others.

It's been a joy seeing not only the new movies as soon as they come out, but losts of older movies on the big screen for the first time, there's always some classic horror at Halloween, various anniversaries and dementia friendly screening, which are all old movies, mainly comedies, westers and musicals, but with others inbetween. I've seen Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, the whole Dollars trilogy, Star Trek II:The Wrath Of Khan, 2001:A Space Odyssey, The WIcker Man, Halloween and so many others on the big screen for the first time.

I'm still living in the same flat, upgraded my television, computer and media players over the last couple of years, and I am now making up for not buying many blu rays over the last decade by upgrading to 4K discs and building a lovely collection of favourites, classics and awesome TV shows. To the extent I'll have to buy a new bookcase next month to store them all. (I cancelled all my streaming services as wasn't using them enough and would rather just buy the stuff I'm really interested in)

I still play games, but not as much, I am disillusioned by many big games right now so have gone to playing the lovely, odd smaller games a lot.

I am not entirely vibing with current Doctor Who, but I am still watching but am fed up of certain things, some of which is modern TV in general and not just Doctor Who.

The four Daleks from my last proper post are now twelve Daleks and a Davros.

I also finally built a USS Enterprise I got eleven months before but just never got round to, but they were working on my electrics one day last month, so power was out a few hours and I needed something to keep me busy.

I think that's about it for now, sorry for being absent for so long, even now I'm second guessing myself if I should even post this or not, but well, we'll see how it goes.

[kaddyssammlung]

I enjoy analyzing the h*ll out of Sleep Token lyrics. My collection so far

I spent a short period of time in the big ST fan discord and this sent me down a ruinous path. I started to read all kinds of things that did nothing for me, did not resonate with me. But the tides are turning and when I write things down I just want to write down what I feel like writing down and that's it. So I stopped Googling all kinds of things a long time ago. Instead I present to you my full strange self XD

After a whole year of doing energy work almost daily “I am altered” yeah....alchemy is what we do actually.

Anyway....

Maybe I invite you to my strange process of collecting things that I want to bring up?!

I don't want to write everything in one document and have 10 pages written out. No one reads this.

Instead I write little entries and glue it together?! Or rather link it together?!

I'm aware of not many people caring about my strange topics but for some reason I still want to write it down. Something dragged me into this fandom and well...seems like it was my higher self who did that.

That whole song “Emergence” something new emerging by allowing it to happen. That's that song to me. And that's also what's been going on with me since I started to let myself fall into energy work. Have your higher self bring in a different perspective and peace and stillness and in that stillness something new is being created.

This is an entry post to something new...I guess?!

The birds are chirping outside my window, it is starting to look like spring and I feel like doing something new.

They hunted me down in discord btw....they defend their lore to a point...that's just how they do their things. I left a long time ago but part of me is still a bit mad.

You have your ideas and I have mine. I was terrified to even stay in that fandom.

But then again....it's me...fairies in the sky seeing, connecting to nature, talking with trees, working with higher-dimensional beings,

maybe just a bit too much for some people

I realize how much this entry post is coming from ego because I want to justify what I do, only the ego does that....

Working on it okay.

Well...ähm....ja XD I need coffee...

[djgamek1ng]

Magic The Gathering x Final Fantasy - Spoiler Season Part 19 (13/05/2025)

Holy hell. I can finally move on to the 13th of May... and I don't have to split this into multiple parts. I... I have been liberated. Anyway, let's get to talking about cards! :D Also, I'm using the official image gallery as the source of the cards. If a version isn't posted on there, I won't post it on here. If it gets updated, I might come back to these posts if there is room to put them in.

Let's first start with the main set cards, beginning with Ultima, Origin of Oblivion!

Colorless for Ultima makes perfect sense, seeing as his creation magic is the reason why the Blight exists and is draining the land from aether.

5 mana for a 4/4 is below rate, but you'll generally be fine. Flying helps with evasion. His abilities are:

Whenever Ultima attacks, put a blight counter on target land. For as long as that land has a blight counter on it, it loses all land types and abilities and has "tap: add 1 colorless mana." So... land denial? You can use this if you see someone is strapped for a specific pip of mana to turn it into colorless mana. You can also use this on your own lands, which we'll get to in the next ability. Genuinely a pretty good ability, however, it does make Ultima the threat generally when he comes down.

Whenever you tap a land for colorless mana, add an additional colorless mana. So this makes it so any lands of your own you put blight counters on essentially become Sol Rings. Incentive to not mess other people up or at least work on your own board state to be ramping.

So this guy is the reason why we have a Wastes reprint in Standard. Also, yeah, this guy can be pretty rough to deal with. However, it should be noted, for commander, if you run him as your commander, you can only use things with colorless color identity, which is gonna be pretty difficult. You can slot him into any other deck though as some land denial and/or ramp.

For 60 card formats... 5 mana is expensive and he doesn't do anything on the turn he comes down. I'd probably avoid him, though if you are playing in a slower format, he could work.

Now for the art. Credit to Russell Lu. I did not find any accounts they might have. I did find someone called Russell Dongjun Lu, but he has a separate credit on Kain, Traitorous Dragoon, so I cannot confirm whether this is the same person, especially since Russell Dongjun Lu doesn't post as much. This sure looks like Ultima from FF16, which is just a good thing. Good job o/

As for the alternative art:

Credit to Ono Tako. Link to their Twitter. I love this posing. It is so weird. One arm up, two crossed and one arm down makes for such an interesting visual. Aside from that, not much to say, it is just a solid depiction of Ultima in FF16.

Now we move on to The Prima Vista!

5 mana for a 5/3 flyer is below rate, but not too terribly so. 5 power will punch through a lot. Flying too, so it is evasive and a crew of 2, so not too bad to crew... but we can fix this in a different way. Its ability is that whenever you cast a noncreature spell, if at least four mana was spent to cast it, The Prima Vista becomes an artifact creature until end of turn. So you can use this in a spellslinger deck that cares about bigger noncreature spells and casting them at full (or slightly discounted if they are 5 mana or more) rate to pump the Prima Vista into action.

Now to the art. Credit to Leon Tukker (fellow Dutchie, let's gooo). Link to his Facebook (nevermind, I take back my "let's gooo"). Honestly stunning, very nice to look at. Great details, beautiful color choices and the Prima Vista in the middle of it all, being the flying theater airship that it is. Fantastic!

Let's head to take a look at Namazu Trader!

I usually don't talk about where spoilers come from, but I feel like I have to, to explain how insane it is. This spoiler came from a Discord called Fisherman's Horizon. That is a Discord group dedicated to FF14's Fisher job. The freaking FSH mains got an MTG spoiler. Now, I'm not saying that I'm ready to accept our new overlords... but I'm certainly saying that FSH mains are the strongest FFXIV players and it isn't even close.

Anyway, on to the card itself. 4 mana for a 3/4 is a bit below rate, but nothing too terrible. Right on the 3 threshold for power and over it for toughness. Its abilities are:

When this creature enters, you lose 1 life and you create a Treasure token (can be tapped and sacrificed for any 1 colored mana). Solid ETB effect, means that this thing has value outside of being a body turn 1.

Whenever this creature attacks, you may sacrifice another creature or artifact. If you do, surveil 2 (look at the top 2 cards of your library, either keep them on top in any order or put them in the graveyard). Also good, but it does go to show that these things aren't loyal... at all. However, there is benefit in disloyalty, yes yes!

Honestly, a pretty sweet common. Use it for surveil heavy decks that also need ways to sacrifice creatures and you'll be surprised that this thing can pull some weight. It is never gonna be the star of the show, but it can and will be surprisingly able to take some things out and fill your graveyard.

Now for the art. Credit to Andrea Tentori Montalto. Link to his ArtStation. That sure is a Namazu! Honestly, I really love this art. It's very charming and great. Even shows how kind of dead on the inside Namazu look, though still weirdly charming in that aspect. Great! :D

And now we get to Zidane, Tantalus Thief and my current most interested card in the main set!

Yup, Boros makes perfect sense for Zidane. He's heroic, but impulsive. Relatively chaotic, but relatively orderly. Yeah, Boros is great.

For the card itself. 5 mana for a 3/3 is below rate, full stop and he doesn't grow from his own. That's not great. His abilities are:

When Zidane enters, gain control of target creature an opponent controls until end of turn. Untap it. It gains lifelink and haste until end of turn. So a threaten effect, where you temporarily steal a creature of an opponent. Damn, that's pretty cool. Also, them gaining lifelink makes me think this has to be about him kidnapping Garnet in mission of Cid.

Whenever an opponent gains control of a permanent from you, you create a Treasure token. So you get Treasure (money) from giving an opponent a permanent you control (probably kidnapped with his first ability). Cool, so there is incentive for you to not immediately put them into the blender and sacrifice them for a benefit. However, that is still a great option.

Pretty nifty uncommon. Certainly weird to build around, being both threaten and Treasure focused. For commander, maybe you build him around blink, so you can retrigger his effect over and over. He's probably gonna be better in the 99 of a deck, but I think he will be interesting as a commander.

For 60 card formats... if you get to 5 mana, he can swing the game around by stealing an important creature and hitting you on the face with it. I don't think he will be super popular, but as a sideboard piece, potentially.

Now for the art. Credit to EIJI KANEDA. Link to their Twitter. This is so charming. Zidane running away with some stolen treasure, big smile on his face. Absolutely just fantastic, 10/10 no notes.

As for the alternative art:

Credit to CANATA KATANA. Link to their website. That sure is a pretty anime Zidane. Not much to say, it just looks good. He does look a little more grown up than I'm used to, but that's not a bad thing.

Now we're getting to the starter kit exclusive cards that are officially revealed, so I'm gonna be copy pasting my thoughts for the most part on these cards, though adding and taking away things I now think or no longer think. Also excuse that the format was not as refined at that point (I say, as if it has been years, while it's been a month and a bit). Let's get to Beatrix, Loyal General!

As with all the cards that were from the starter kit, I will just copy and paste my thoughts I had in the posts covering them, adding to them where needed.

BEATRIXBEATRIXBEATRIXBEATRIXBEATRIXBEATRIXBEATRIXBEATRIXBEATRIXBEA-

Ahem I mean, hell yeah, Beatrix! I'm so happy to see her represented at all! White also makes perfect sense for her, though I definitely would've had her be multicolored. If she gets a version in the main set, either Red/White or White/Black would work for her. It mainly depends on which part of her character arc they are going for.

As for the card... this is a tough one. 6 mana for a 4/4 is pretty bad, even with Vigilance. However, that effect is huge and sets Beatrix as an equipment voltron commander, though it isn't an unique effect. Ardenn also has it and is way cheaper and gets partner as a mechanic. Now, similar to how I discussed Cloud, Planet's Champion, this has draw backs and unlike Cloud, Beatrix has no way to protect herself innately at all.However, unlike Cloud, she cheats EVERY equip cost on the battlefield at the start of every single combat phase on your turn. I think she will have higher highs and lower lows compared to Cloud. If you can get her out for a turn or are able to somehow give her haste in mono white (probably via an equipment), depending on how much equipment you have on the battlefield, she might just instantly kill someone. On the flipside, she will definitely be a target for counterspells the second you cast her or removal right before you can go equip her and protect her. You will need to run your own protection to make sure she can even swing once. Plus, depending on how scared people are of you, they might just swing for you very early so you would want a cheaper blocker or two. That is where the job select equipment comes in handy with the tokens they make, at least.

With all that said, it may surprise you dear reader, but this is my most hyped card in the starter kit and I will definitely either snag this card separately or get the starter kit at some point, since I want her so bad. The starter kit is also a good way to explain the game to friends, so might do that.

Now for the art. Credit to Bachzim. Link to their ArtStation. This seems to depict Beatrix during the Battle of Alexandria, but her flavor text is from the first time we encounter her (she says this to a Burmecian knight). Very weird, but the art is pretty solid. The twin drills going down is interesting. Also, that isn't Save the Queen. It sure looks like it, but the blade being that big and never denting in towards the second and third crystals in it... yeah, that sure isn't Save the Queen. Pretty good art though, I actually appreciate the more realistic style to show how Beatrix is tough!

Up next we have Rosa, Resolute White Mage!

Rosa from FF4. I'll just immediately thrown in the prediction that I don't think she will get another card in the main set, since there really isn't much to Rosa in FF4 to make multiple versions of. That aside, White makes perfect sense with her being a White Mage and just with her general personality.

As a card, not too bad. 4 mana for a 2/3 with reach isn't great, but seeing as she will keep buffing someone, potentially even herself, at every combat with a +1/+1 counter and temporary lifelink? Actually a solid card. Not sure how well she will do as a commander, but I don't think she will be too bad for a +1/+1 counters deck. Also works great in the 99 in such a deck.

Now for the art. Credit to Christian Angel. Link to their ArtStation. Christian Angel's realistic artstyle returns and I don't hate it for Rosa, it is just a bit unexpected. Definitely quite a muted color scheme, but it looks nice.

Next up: Ultimecia, Temporal Threat!

Definitely figured Ultimecia would be Dimir colors, but she will 100% have another card in the main set, so putting that aside (I was dead on with this one): great flavor win. ETB effect of tapping all creatures your opponents control is a great effect to simulate her power over time itself. The fact that she gives you cards whenever a creature you control deals combat damage to an opponent is also nice, but honestly not sure how it relates to her as a character. It is typical Blue thing though, so no shame in that.

(All new words since I basically didn't cover her in the starter deck leak oh my god) Could be pretty great for an evasive mono Blue deck, since she does generate a whole bunch of value from creatures hitting a player. 6 mana is expensive though, so you don't want her to be removed too much. Also, only a 4/4 body for 6 mana isn't great. Bring protection and be prepared to have her enter once before the game is done and the second time when you are about to win the game if she's your commander. Otherwise, she is a wincon due to her first ability. Probably too slow for 60 card decks, 6 mana is super expensive in much faster formats.

Now for the art. Credit to Bachzim. Link to their ArtStation. That sure is Ultimecia. Looks good, not much to say about the art otherwise.

Let's get to Seymour Flux!

This one I'm not sure about the flavor, since I've not played FFX up until this point, but Black seems pretty good. Anyway, cool card. As your commander, he does give a lot of guaranteed card draw, just have to keep up with the life loss and can become a threat on his own. Only really need to give him some evasion and then he can be scary. 5 mana is also not too bad, though rough when he gets removed for the second time.

(Oh my god, I did Sephiroth's side so dirty. I really only barely did the minimum for this one.)

Now for the art. Credit to K-SUWABE. Link to their pixiv. I gotta say, I love this artstyle for Seymour Flux, looks great. Disgusting, yet weirdly regal when you look at the man in the middle. Great!

Next up, Deadly Embrace!

I... have literally 0 clue about FF16 (slightly more now), but a good removal spell that is at minimum a cantrip effect and can be card positive depending on how much death has happened. Works great for sacrifice and reanimation based decks, since you can sacrifice a bunch of smaller goobers, throw this out to destroy the scary thing on your opponent's board and get a boatload of cards. 5 mana is on the more expensive side and sorcery speed isn't great, but it can still be pretty decent.

Now for the art. Credit to Lius Lasahido. Link to their Instagram. That is Benedikta Harman in her... semi-primed? form coming to give you a very tight (and deadly) hug :) Anyway, looks pretty sweet!

Let's go over Lightning, Security Sergeant next!

The first second version of Lightning we get to see the rules of. We know she has another version in the main set due to it being promoted on the main website of the set, which will be called "Lightning, Army of One." Color wise, Red makes sense, though I suspect the main set Lightning will be Red/Blue. That makes the most sense to me for her personality. She's Red/White and I don't really recall why I thought she would be Red/Blue, so uh... yeah.

As for the card, not too bad. 3 mana for a 2/3 with menace is solid and the fact that she is able to steal cards from your opponents is nice. The only thing she is missing is an effect akin to "You may spend mana as though it were mana of any color to cast those spells," though I suppose this also makes you want to run ways to generate treasure to be able to cast some of the spells you nab, which is also good for ramping. Solid card, just needs a bit of deck support to truly shine. Harder to make work in 60 card formats though.

Now for the art. Credit to Ramza Psyru/Ramza Ardyputra. Link to their ArtStation. That sure is Lightning pointing her gunblade at our general direct. Not much to say, that sure is Lightning.

Next up: Judgement Bolt!

Interesting card. Potential finisher, depending on how many equipment you control. The targeted removal is always nice, though keep in mind that the entire spell fizzles if the target creature somehow doesn't become targetable anymore. 4 mana is a bit steep, but at instant speed it does become a potential threat.

Now for the art. Credit to Billy Christian. Link to his ArtStation. Cidolfus looking to punch someone in an electrifying way. Yup, not much to say other than it looks on point and the effects are nice!

Last of the creatures: Xande, Dark Mage!

No real idea of Xande outside of FFXIV for color identity, but this could be an interesting voltron commander and a good evasive creature for other formats. Menace and the potential to grow with every noncreature and nonland card in your graveyard can make this a huge, potentially game ending, drop towards the later game. 4 mana isn't too shabby and in spellslinging decks, this will be bigger than you'd might expect by the time you drop it to start ending the game.

Now for the art. Credit to Joseph Weston. Link to their ArtStation. Neat, that sure is Xande! Honestly, good angle to make him look more menacing. Nice!

Second to last card, Magitek Scythe!

A TEST OF YOUR REFLEXES! Super dope card that makes perfect sense for the weapon. I do wish it either got first strike or "must be blocked if able" passively all the time, since it is just a +2/+1 equipment aside from the very first turn unless you are able to blink it. It's not too bad, just a bit unfortunate. It will still see play in equipment decks, but certainly not as a must have equipment. If it had flash, could've been a neat combat trick.

Now for the art. Credit to Thanh Tuan. Link to their ArtStation. Zenos at the edge of the universe coming to fight the Warrior of Light. He is looking on point and so is his scythe and the magical effects. Very nice!

Last but not least, Ultima Weapon!

Last, but certainly not least, the most finishing finisher card in the deck (potentially in both decks): Ultima Weapon from FF7. This card's cost is huge if you don't cheat it somehow. 7 to be put on the battlefield and another 7 to be equipped, a total of 14 mana. However, the reward is also huge. +7/+7 to an equipped creature and a destroy effect to target creature when attacking is huge. I don't think card is great honestly, because this is some of the most blatant "please remove me" bait I've ever seen. Definitely a Timmy card and the Timmy in me likes it, but I just don't think it is gonna be great. For example, this would be my target for White Auracite if I played against this.

Now for the art. Credit to Fariba Khamesh. Link to their ArtStation. That sure is Cloud with the Ultima Weapon. Looks nice. Don't know what is happening in the background. Cool!

That's it, that's the cards revealed on the 13th of May! Thanks for reading and have a nice day o/

[tinypinkmouse]

hello yes I would love to hear about the ye zun time travel and Jurassic park stories

Thank you for asking! I'm very happy to talk more about my WIPs.

I answered the Ye Zun one once already. I hope you don't mind if I just attempt to link to it (but who knows if I can figure out how to do that on mobile). Shortly, it's post-canon Ye Zun all made up with Shen Wei who ends up back in time, but he ends up back in the pillar. He still decides to fix things for Shen Wei, even if it takes a while. So when Shen Wei eventually wakes up everything will be fine (and he'll have no reason to be angry at Ye Zun).

Oh, I've only now noticed I've listed the same Jurassic Park one twice. Only one story actually.

Weilan Jurassic Park

About a year ago I spent some time quite sick and I watched all of the Jurassic Park movies. And then had some crossover thoughts. This whole thing is all from that time, so not necessarily the most coherent of things, considering the whole being sick while writing it thing.

So it's basically an adventure story, post-canon weilan get accidentally transported to Isla Sorna (from Haixing yes, inter planetary or dimensional portaling) around about Jurassic Park 3, with that kid Eric who was stuck there. Eventually they should get back to Dixing. Actually they might have been on the island for four years, seeing as I had them arrive in time to watch the people who were there during the second movie... (They probably shouldn't be there for four years. I was very confused about the timeline I believe.)

It's all very... Well, let me just quote a bit from what I've written.

"And Zhao Yunlan keeps doing stupid things (according to Shen Wei) like feeding the little dinosaurs. Look, they're cute. Like cats. Shen Wei points out they're also dangerous. ("Just like cats!") They find out the things have a venomous bite by accident? Or by seeing what happens to something they hunt down? Or well, Zhao Yunlan gets a little bit bitten, and thankfully it's just a little bit paralytic so everything's fine. Look, it didn't mean to do it and Shen Wei doesn't need to get angry at the little things. Look at how cute they are."

Also this gem of... something.

"Also, it probably doesn't take too long for Eric to figure out they're together. Hell, it's in the way they look at each other. And they're really not trying to hide it all that much, let's be honest. He doesn't say anything about it though. He's pretty sure he doesn't mind. Honestly, why would he, there's a lot better things to worry about. Like sure, he's stuck with gay aliens on an island full of dinosaurs, and them being gay is what he's going to worry about, yeah, he doesn't think so."

Anyway, adventure! Dinosaurs! Very little plot to speak of. Weilan just wants to get home, preferably before anyone gets eaten by dinosaurs.