#( ❀ — a quest started ; starter )

[ksksksrahrah]

[chainsawworld]

My little guy:]

[jga-dumpster-blog]

mfw someone brings up the "starter horse dies" audio...

[tamedstray]

@tadbitfooled | 𝐃𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐒

❝How much have you had to drink?❞ —Gwenifar

An embarrassing amount. Vigor had somehow managed to drink too much and not enough. As a young man, he flirted with a few drinks when offered, mainly just to be polite. When he left that life behind, suddenly a nice Starburst Shandy is hard to come by in the wilderness, just when he actually wanted it. What Vigor didn't understand was how it managed to make him so miserable. Drinking was for loosening lips, or to be enjoyed before throwing oneself into lively dance. He should be dancing, roaring with laughter and enjoying the company after so many years alone. So why, instead, did he find himself pinned to the table, head in his hands, weighted down by his heavy heart? Another slip will fix it, even if the last one didn't, or the one before that.

      He moves slowly, barely raising his head as he turns towards Gwenifar's voice. Why'd it have to be her? She did not deserve to see him in such a pathetic state. The room rushes past his vision, even as he barely moves. His mind floods with too many voices, only adding to his own thoughts of shame and guilt, but it's hers, a voice so sweet and sensible, that grounds him.

      ❝Enough?❞ Vigor mumbles, faltering and ashamed. ❝Not enough to make me happy. Not enough to kill me. Just... enough.❞ He carefully rises from his seat, proving that he could at least keep himself steady, albeit with the aid of a nearby table. He wants to meet her gaze, hoping to see Gwenifar reassured and cleared of all worry, but he can't look her in the eye.

      ❝Please don't worry. I'm fine,❞ he pleads, ❝I'll— I'll go get some rest, I think.❞ He was conflicted, in desperate need of her company but racked by guilt, he could not let her see him like this. Besides, drink loosened tongues, and Vigor did not know how long he could keep his secrets any more. His past, his feelings, all things she deserved to know, and yet, she deserved better still.

[venalos]

@tempestation

"C'mon, wake up!"

Was this the first time Ameth was careening towards the ground from high up in the sky? No. Neither would it be the last time.

Was this, however, the first time Ameth was falling from the heavens while his partner-in-crime was seemingly unresponsive? Absolutely.

"WAKE UP!!!"

With all the desperation one could imagine, he repeatedly clicked on the Poké Ball's central button, pressing it over and over with full knowledge that his life could literally depend on it. He paused to turn his gaze towards the rapidly-approaching ground -- a big mistake -- and he yelled before starting to click the button even faster than before, paired with furiously shaking the ball and even whacking it against his palm. Air rushed past him, whistling in his ears, and the ground came closer and closer.

He looked down again, down towards his rapidly-approaching fate. The Pokemon within the sphere was unresponsive, and there were no options. What else could Ameth have done in this precise moment other than gritting his teeth and shutting his eyes tight?

And to think, he could not even recall why he was falling to begin with...

[enemiesofinnocence]

"... Startin' to think that moogles would be better suited in a stew..."

[jackredfieldwasmyjacob]

btw after four years i finally finished all data from my iberian-inspired fakemon region. if you even care

[urokoxiv]

Now i do tire, For rest do i plea, Apart the world ever dissoluting. Where a journey began and a stone i did free; Of opal and history beneath the hedgetree. Here do i lay and lie down my deeds. a moment of respite for the ever healing. -White mage

[gayrui]

Also remember when I first played da2 and actually DID softlock myself

[kavehitecture]

chat lets all b honest here…. should i pick genshin back up

[kyri45]

PREV / ALL / FIRST / NEXT (ISAT Sky: Cotl!AU!)

Wow the ratio is changing we are getting REAL SERIOUS NOW BOYS. (siffrin in the meantime is dying in Eded lmao)

So we reached officially the endgame. From now on, things will be more and more different from Sky. In a good way I promise. For starter, we aint getting spirit, we got real, breathing people because even though I adore the spirits it's just so sad sometimes that we are basically sorrounded by a bunch of ghosts.

Second, the starting of the Aviary season / quest as you can see is slightly different but more or less will be the same.

It's kind of funny. With the new update, new player now start the game here, while for old players, it was the isla the starting point. So the gang started the journey just like the old Sky player and then got jumpscared with another homespace.

[vaultdwellerbarbie]

mary's song (oh my my my)

boone x f!reader (5.5k wc)

summary quite literally everyone who has ever interacted with yourself and boone knows that you're in love with each other, it's really just the two of you who can't seem to recognize it

content warnings tornadoes, a few crude jokes

hi everyone i'm back!!! just moved, but managed to see twisters again during it. i've been in a (useless) quest to find a twisters poster, too. this is named after the taylor swift song because... obviously, i'm sure you've heard the song. divider credit to saradika :-) also did anyone else get bombared on tiktok and instagram by anthony ramos shooting a video up his nose yesterday???? someone needs to tell him how to hold his phone

It had only been about a year ago that you first met Tyler Owens and, after a long conversation, had been invited to accompany the small team he had been putting together to chase tornadoes. Despite it not having been that long ago, a lot had happened in the time between your first meeting and now.

For starters, you had never really been big on using social media publicly before all of this. That wasn’t to say that you were terrified of it, or that you even had many qualms with your newly found position of having people know your name—really, most people were interested in Tyler, so it wasn’t like you were being hounded just because the channel had so many followers online. Even Tyler wasn’t being necessarily hounded, though he was a bit more famous than the rest of you.

The main part of your attention came from the second thing that had massively changed since you started working with the team: everyone seemed to be under the impression that you were in love with your best friend and that the feelings were reciprocated. 

To be clear, you were in love with Boone. But you didn’t think people needed to know that; you denied it every time someone asked you. 

When you joined the Wrangler team, it was an adjustment for everyone to have a new member of the team taking part in everything. That wasn’t to say that people ignored you, or that they didn’t like having you around; it was more like muscle memory. They had to balance making sure you felt included without accidentally making you feel suffocated, especially since you were still navigating being a chaser, which is tricky on its own, and being a ‘social media influencer’, in a sense. 

While that was happening, Boone took it upon himself to make sure that you were included and comfortable. He was nice, he was funny, he had a lot of energy, and you liked being around him. He made you laugh when you were scared, he made you eat when you got so lost in the work that you forgot, and he kept you up with long conversations even when you were exhausted and you would have told anyone else that you needed to go to bed. You often looked forward to your half-awake conversations at tailgates with him once everyone else had fallen asleep, even though you knew that you were going to regret it in the morning. 

Even then, you could never fully regret it. Boone went out of his way to bring you coffee or energy drinks depending on how tired you were; it didn’t take him long for you to figure out your tastes. 

That’s not to say that he was the only one who was incredibly generous with you - everyone was very welcoming, and you appreciated all of them; it was just a little bit different with Boone. At first, you figured it was just because your personalities meshed well together—and that was definitely a factor—but after a while, you started to recognize that it was a little more than that. As much as you tried to deny it to yourself, at the point that your stomach was fluttering every time he touched you, you knew that you couldn’t deny the reason why it was different with Boone. 

Well, you couldn’t deny it to yourself, at least. Everyone else you could deny it away to, even though you weren’t sure you were the most convincing liar. 

The fans picked up on it rather quickly, probably because with every seating and vehicle arrangement that they saw, you were almost always together. Maybe it was the way that you laughed at his jokes or the way that he had initially encouraged you when you weren’t sure what to say in front of the cameras. It could have been the fact that, as you got closer, you were a lot more touchy. Sometimes, you could act like you shared a brain cell, and sometimes that came along with you hugging on camera or sitting shoulder to shoulder, looking like you’re creating some sort of plan in the corner of the vehicle when in reality you’re... actually, often creating a plan. 

The rest of the team picked up on it just as fast, though they didn’t go to the extremes that the fans did—it wasn’t like you woke up to a message from a family member sending a ‘ship edit’ that your friends had made of you and Boone; that was all the fanbase.

No, the rest of the team were somewhat subtle about it at first. But when it got to the point that he would stand behind you, rest his head on your shoulder, and let you do the same to him whenever you felt like it—any restraint that they had was out of the window. At that point, Tyler was almost frustrated by the fact that you both continually denied that anything was happening between you when it was so abundantly clear to everyone else that the things that you both labeled as platonic were anything but that.

Still, even in private, you would never admit to anyone that you had any sort of non-platonic feelings for Boone, and he would deny, deny, deny every time someone asked him. 

Sometimes it was fans when you were selling merchandise; other times it was the people you were helping in the towns who noted how comfortable you were with each other. Outside of that, it was your friends pulling you aside and trying their hardest to get the two of you to finally admit that something was going on between you. No matter who it was, you both always had the same answer—you're insane, I’m not in love. Have you never had a close friend before? 

Out of everyone, Tyler was the most frustrated with it because he was close friends with Boone, and he knew that it would make him even happier if he could just admit that he has feelings for you. Still, nothing he did or said really helped, even though that never stopped him from continuing to try to get one of you to break. 

The most egregious example is the fact that Kate was convinced that the two of you were together when she first met you and had to be informed that wasn’t the case. She had, earnestly, been discussing what it was like to be in a relationship in public like that with yourself and Tyler when he had to politely inform her that you, in fact, were not in a relationship with Boone. Now, he ended it there with you in the conversation, but the moment he could talk to Kate alone they were both complaining about it—it made no sense to them that you and Boone weren’t in a relationship with the way that you acted toward each other. 

Despite that, you both continued what you were doing beforehand. There was, however, a palpable shift in the dynamic of your relationship after you met Kate—after the incident in the theater. 

Though you both survived it, you never shook the feeling that came with gripping onto flimsy, rusty theater seats for dear life and not knowing if the other person was going to make it out alive. During it, you wished that you had told him how you felt because you were worried that you would never get the chance again, but even after you both made it out alive, you said nothing—Boone said nothing. The idea of ruining your friendship if he didn’t feel the same way or vice versa just felt like too much of a risk, so you chose to keep it to yourself. 

Still, you managed to be even closer after that. You sat closer, touched each other more, and often refused to go on a chase without the other person by your side—that had more to do with the remaining fear of something going wrong again, but you also knew that it had something to do with the fact that both of you had something that you needed to get off of your chests and had decided to keep to yourselves for one reason or another. It got to a point where everyone seemed genuinely frustrated by your lack of communication on the matter, but you were both convinced that it was the only thing that you could do. 

Another chase had gone well, and you were sitting with your friends in the parking lot of some motel—admittedly, one of the nicer ones that you had stayed at—but you were pretty sure it was because it was recently rebuilt after being ravaged by a tornado. There were a few people you had met along the way—fans of the channel who were studying tornadoes and other natural disasters—who were having a conversation predominantly with Tyler and Kate. 

Feeling a nudge on your shoulder, you turned to face Boone, who was offering you a cold bottle of water. 

“Thanks.”

It was an unconscious choice when you decided to move a bit closer to Boone once he was seated, but one that caught the eyes of the people around you regardless. 

“My daughter is a big fan of both of you.” One of the older women commented, and a smile covered your lips as you turned to look at her. “But she seems to think you’re both…”

“She must be one of the editors.” 

“Writer, actually.”

“Ah.” 

Both of you knew about the edits and the fan fiction. That’s not to say that there were a lot of them, they were just a lot more popular than any other pairing in the fanbase. Many people who subscribed to the channel were people who were generally interested in nothing but the weather, but what caught the attention of the young eye? Admittedly, Tyler and not any of you. But what kept them coming back wasn’t just them enjoying looking at Tyler but rather the relationships between the crew.

For the same tried and true reason that people listen to podcasts, and before that radio shows, to get through their daily grind, they enjoy the relationships and conversations between the Wranglers. But younger people get heavily into shipping, and since the two of you tend to finish each other’s sentences, it’s often the two of you that get the most edits and fanfictions written about you—the most people in the comment sections who are convinced that something is happening that’s more than what they already knew. 

“But you’re not together, are you?”

“Not as far as we know. Are we, Boone?” You turned to look at him, but he only gave her the same smile he always gave the people who inquired about the nature of your relationship.

“I don’t think so.”

"Yeah, but everyone else does,” Tyler interjected, to which you could both agree. Though he said it in the sense that he—and everyone else on the crew—was under the impression that you were wrongly convinced that you weren’t in a relationship and that you were just blind to the reality of it, you agreed because you knew that everyone else believed that you were in a relationship with each other even if you continually denied it. 

“Even Kate does, and she just got here.” Dani was the next to speak up, but you just took a sip of your water and tried to ignore it. As much as you love everyone on the team, sometimes it could be difficult with them being convinced of your relationship with Boone being something that it wasn’t. To be clear, you loved him; you wanted it to be more than what it was, but it took a lot out of you to make peace with just being friends with him, and it could sometimes be draining to be constantly reminded of that. 

“She’s always talking about one specific chase, where she wore his glasses or something?”

You knew what she was talking about; you remembered that day vividly. 

While you, typically, came prepared for anything, your sunglasses had been destroyed in a chase because you had gotten a little bit overzealous and lost them out of the window. Since there was an outbreak at the time, you were so exhausted at the end of that day that you just kind of forgot that you were planning on getting new sunglasses. Despite the incoming storm, it was sunny that day. You complained to Tyler and Boone about how you hated not having your glasses during chases, and Boone took it upon himself to reach back from the front seat and politely put his sunglasses on your face. To top it all off, he made sure to give you a gentle pat on the cheek before turning back around. Certainly, your face had grown impossibly warm during that moment, and you weren’t sure how he could have missed that when he touched it. 

A lot of fans latched onto that because it seemed like a clear piece of evidence that something was going on between you and Boone. While you saw it as nothing more than him being silly—and a good friend—everyone who was already prone to thinking that something was going on between the two of you only had their thoughts amplified.

After a few moments, questions about your relationship were dropped, and whatever conversation had been happening across from you before just proceeded. But you couldn’t deny that there had been a shift since everything happened—since you first met Kate, since you almost lost each other, and a sopping wet Boone pulled you so tightly against him that you were pretty sure you were just a little bit more pressure away from being suffocated—but you knew that you had him in just as aggressive of a hold, and for good reason. You didn’t want to die, and that was enough to instill fear within you, but you also didn’t want Boone to die. You were terrified to lose him, and the mere fact that he didn’t know you loved him in any way other than him being your best friend was beyond you. But you also knew that you hated the idea of him not being in your life. What if he didn’t reciprocate your feelings? You didn’t want to risk losing him. 

The rest of the night went just about how nights like these typically went. You had a good time with everyone but gave Boone most of your attention. He was the one next to you, the one who let you rest your head on his shoulder when you got tired, the one who walked you to your room (that was right next to his) and reminded you that he would be up bright and early just to make sure that you were up bright and early. 

While you were up early, you were unhappy about it. The entire night you were tossing and turning, considering whether you should just listen to what everyone around you keeps saying about Boone and just follow what your heart requires of you. But the logical part of your brain refuses to allow you to make any rash decisions in the middle of the night. Not the night before a tornado that predictions are saying is going to be at least someone impressive.

Predictions can always be wrong, you know that. Just because the numbers are good doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re in for a big show. But, you’re still all prepared for something big to happen—even if you end up with a little tornado or nothing at all, the fans are still going to enjoy it, and you’ll have the added benefit of knowing that at least one town or city isn’t going to have to pay a fortune in repairs. While one little street sign might not make much of a difference, even one house being hit is something that everyone takes harshly on the team. A lot of thoughts kept you up at night, but you ultimately were able to fall asleep.

Waking up the next morning, getting everything ready, and opening the door to find Boone waiting at the top of the stairs with a coffee is typically how you end up getting out of bed every morning—today has been no different thus far. You’re not expecting today to be much different than any other day to begin with, so you’re not looking for much when you walk outside of the motel room.

“You know if today is an experiment day?” You asked, taking a sip of your coffee. Your arm was almost touching Boone’s as you walked beside him, but your friends were used to that at this point. If they even noticed anymore, they didn’t make the effort to say something about it. There was no point; it was like speaking to two brick walls when anyone tried to confront either of you about the nature of your relationship in any capacity. 

“Think so; you gotta ask Kate.”  Since the damage was, preliminarily, expected to be a bit higher of a risk than the smaller storms that you had been dealing with lately, it was most likely that it was an experiment day. While you knew that Kate’s formulations worked, you also knew that it wasn’t a miracle to end all tornadoes. She needed to continue working on them and making sure that they could be as useful toward preventing destruction as humanly possible.

Still, as you waited by the trucks, the early morning sun shining on Boone as you walked beside him, you couldn’t help but think about him in ways that you were certain a friend doesn’t typically think about her other friend. You knew that the way you looked at him was different, and you knew that you probably should have been more subtle about it. If he had noticed the way that you looked at him, he hadn’t said anything. 

“Sorry, we didn’t have time to eat.” He finally said, leaning against the truck. “I did bring this though.”

Your lips broke into a smile as you watched him pull a chocolate bar out from his pockets, but you only shook your head. “I don’t want to eat pocket chocolate, Boone.”

“Why do you always gotta call it that? Just ‘cause it’s in my pocket-”

“It’s hot out here! You can’t tell me that thing isn't melting—at least a little.” 

Boone opened up the candy bar, and you both looked at it. It wasn’t quite gooey yet, but it was definitely melting. “So what if she’s meltin’? Still candy. You like hot chocolate, don’t you?”

“Not the same.”

“It’s totally the same.”

“It’s not remotely the same!”

“We’ve gotta head out, kids. You’re with me.” Tyler interrupted you both, walking past you to get into his red truck. Realistically, you were pretty sure this was where you were going to be today anyway, but you also knew that you were going to both be in the back. 

Before Kate, you would often be in the back alone with Tyler and Boone in the front. When Ben came along for a little while, you would sit in the back with him if you were in the red truck, with Boone or Lily sometimes in the back with you. But, with Kate here, if you were in the truck with Tyler, you were almost always with Boone. If you were both there, you were in the back seat with him with Kate and Tyler in the front. Since today you were going to be running an experiment, Kate was going to be the one in the front seat since it was, after all, her formula and her experiment to begin with.

Once you were inside the truck, you sat as close to the middle as you could, and Boone always did the same. He liked to still feel more like he was in the front, and you liked to sit close to him.

"Sure, you don’t want any? It’s the good stuff.” His fingers were coated in chocolate at this point, and though you should have found it sloppy in some way, you found it endearing. He was always so genuine, and he was always incredibly excited to be doing what he was doing. You’d never met anyone who put as much energy and passion into everything that they do quite as Boone does, but maybe that’s just a part of why you’re so drawn to him. 

“If this goes well, we’ll be back in time for lunch.”

“But-”

“I appreciate it, you know I do.” You gave him a comforting pat on the head that he quickly swatted away; meanwhile, Kate and Tyler hopped in the front of the truck. The cameras were on regularly quickly, and whatever interpersonal conversations you were having quickly morphed into what they were on camera. Though sometimes you were certain that Boone was just a little more flirtatious on camera than he was off camera because you both knew that exaggerating your personalities helped with sales—and your relationship itself, whatever it was, helped with sales more than you cared to admit. 

Once you got to the sight, you always took a lot of joy in two things: one, seeing the storm itself since that was how you got into this line of work to begin with. But the second thing—the thing that most people picked up on when they watched you—was the way that you watched Boone. He was always a pretty happy person, but it was like his entire demeanor shifted when he saw a storm in person. No matter how many times he had been on a chase, he was always lost in the sight of it and the feeling of being there. He never once lost that sense of wonder or that look in his eyes, and it always made you happy when you got to be there with him and to sit it happening up close and personal. It just so happened that other people tended to notice that you spent a lot of chases just looking at Boone. 

As Tyler drove the truck into the tornado, you made sure to join in with Boone in amping up the viewers. At some point, you were pretty sure a good old-fashioned ‘yee-haw��� came out of his mouth, which you were more than happy to repeat as you waited for Kate to press the buttons that would release her barrels into the atmosphere. 

While Kate released the barrels, the sounds of your friends' voices explaining what they were seeing on the radar barely came through over the sounds of your voices and the tornado. It came in just enough for you all to hear that the height was dropping. Once the truck wasn’t being moved very much, the four of you stepped out of the truck. It was a bit windy, but it was greatly dying down. Whatever strength that tornado was going to be—and from the looks of it, you were certain it would be relatively strong—it was now a thing of the past. 

Boone always liked to celebrate at the end; you knew that. Sometimes that would be giving Kate a high-five for being the one to initially formulate something so powerful. Other times, it could be him doing a backflip, shaking Tyler, or the one time that he tried to dance with you much to your confusion. But each time, it tended to be something different. And no amount of these such instances could have prepared you for his initial reaction today.

It took you a moment to adjust to the feeling of his hands on your face, but barely any time to register that he had planted a chaste yet somehow sloppy kiss against your lips. Truthfully, you were pretty sure that Boone didn’t even recognize what he did until after he had done it, and you were both just left there, staring at each other with his hands still planted on your cheeks. But that lasted for probably about seven seconds, and he was gone to the camera just a moment later. You were positive that Tyler had recorded that, but you were honestly too shocked to even process whatever conversation he was having with Boone. 

“I thought you two were just friends.” Kate teased, approaching you as you placed the tips of your fingers against your lips.

“Me too.” 

Riding back to the motel, you were lost in conversation with the people in the front of the truck. You were going to need to be on the road again the next morning; Kate had gotten work about there being something big on the horizon across state lines. None of you were overly fond of going as far as she was proposing in such a short amount of time, but you were still going to have enough time to sleep at the very least. Joining in on a tailgate probably wasn’t in the cards for any of you unless you were willing to entirely forgo sleep just to do something that you had done the night prior with probably all of the same people, but you were still going to have time to have a meal before packing yourselves back into the car.

When that conversation ended, you knew you were close to the motel, but you also knew that you were left in silence. The moment you were, you were allowed to truly ponder your thoughts about your relationship with Boone. Even though it was a tame kiss, one that you could even consider friendly, you knew that it was something different. Because it was him, because he looked at you the way that he did afterward, because you were in love with him, because of the way that he had been looking at you since a lull in the conversation left you both to your own devices. 

He had kissed you, and you knew that he didn’t have platonic reasons for it. 

“Why do I have a feeling we’re going to need to pay for one less room tonight?” Tyler questioned, his eyes on the back, while Kate nudged and scolded him for making you both look away from each other like you had seen something that you weren’t supposed to have seen. Kate said something about “Look what you did” while you took note of the large crowd of people that were gathered right where you were about to pull into.

The moment you got out of the truck, you were all bombarded. Tyler was often the one who received the most attention, and it was no different today. But you noted the flock of people who came up to yourself and Boone, the way that everyone in your friend group seemed to have the same either excited or surprised look in their eyes when they looked at the two of you. Eventually, though, enough was enough in your mind.

Boone’s eyes were locked on your face in a way that was different from anything else that you had experienced before today, and you were certain that you were looking at him in the very same way. At some point, you just had to give in to your instincts.

Turning around, you grabbed onto his cheeks just like he had done to you and pulled him into a kiss. Boone immediately responded, an arm wrapping around your waist, as he immediately made the kiss a lot deeper than it had been earlier in the day. The feeling of his facial hair tickling your skin made you smile against his mouth, and your smile made him smile. The sound of the people around you taking pictures, talking amongst each other, selling merchandise, and chattering about your new relationship with Boone did nothing to deter you. You’d been waiting what felt like ages for exactly this, and you finally had it. 

Pulling away, you sighed as you rested your forehead against his. It felt like the world was a lot lighter now that you weren’t carrying the weight of wanting to feel his lips against yours on your back. But there was one more large weight that was really keeping you down, and you knew at this point that there was no sense in it any longer.

Those three words slipped out of your lips after a moment, and the giddy expression on his face translated into his voice as he told you the same thing. So you kissed him again, and again, and probably one more time for good measure before Tyler decided that you’d both probably had enough and were making the people around you—the people who were financing everything that you were able to do together—at least a little bit uncomfortable. 

But it didn’t matter to you if you needed to wait until later to kiss him as much as you wanted, because you had done it. You’d kissed him, you’d told him that you loved him, and you now knew that he felt the same way. Maybe it was odd to have been that close and been seemingly unable to communicate your feelings with each other, but it didn’t matter anymore. Even if you had some time to make up for, you were truly just relieved that you no longer needed to hide your feelings—that the edits and stories would now reflect reality, rather than just reflecting what you secretly hoped that your reality would become. 

Tyler’s theory had ended up being correct; they did end up needing one less bedroom since the two of you had decided to stick together for the night. But whether or not they made jokes or assumptions didn’t matter, because what mattered the most to you was right there in front of you. Plus, some little part of you had always loved that they all knew how much you loved him; maybe that was what made him feel comfortable enough to kiss you, and maybe that was what would make it an easy transition from being accused of being together to actually being together. But you weren’t sure yet, and you were beyond excited to find out. 

In the following weeks, it had proven incredibly easy to get used to the idea of being on camera in a relationship—some parts of it felt predominantly the same, but you also couldn’t deny that the slightly possessive side of your brain was just happy that people knew that you were with Boone and that nobody could—or would—try to make some sort of move to take that away from you. 

Your friends were supportive, albeit frustrated that they had to watch you both beat around the bush and pine for so long. The fans were supportive as well, and both of you ended up actually watching some of the compilations that people had made of your ‘best moments’ together. Though you finally deciding to actually go forward with the relationship did put all of the fans frustrated with your lack of progress back where they started to begin with, mainly watching the videos and the streams for Tyler. 

So, it allowed for a bit of calm. Even though nothing about your job was calm, and it was rare that Boone was ever calm, there was a sense of tranquility in being able to sit beside him during a chase with your hand in his, or to kiss him when something went right or wrong, or just whenever you felt like it.

As the day was winding down, about three months out from actually making your feelings toward each other known, you joined your friends outside at the dinner table at Kate’s mom’s farm. You had helped Kate and her mom cook dinner, while Dani had handled making the tea and Tyler had volunteered to set the table. Kate had opened up about this being a bit of a tradition with her and her friends before things went wrong, so you knew that it was important that you all pitched in so she wouldn’t be distracted by those thoughts of the past. 

As you set the food down, you moved to wrap your arms around your boyfriend as he snapped out of the conversation that he was in, his head tilting up from his seat as a smile covered his face. 

“Hey there, darlin’. Miss me?”

“‘Course.” You responded, pressing a kiss to his cheek and sitting down beside him. Throughout the meal, he kept an arm slung over your waist, letting you play with his fingers and rest your head on his shoulder. While you had always been affectionate with each other, it had always been restricted to anything that could be remotely interpreted as platonic. But, no longer having to do that, you finally allowed yourself to find true peacefulness in the chaos of your lives.

[fountainpenguin]

sdflkj, Mumbo's Episode 3 is just one gut punch after another:

Logs in. Is dead. - "I was kicked when the server reset, leaving no death message... and no evidence."

Trotting around in confusion trying to figure out how he died. Returns to the scene of the crime. Confusing bits and pieces start rendering in. They answer nothing. He's shook.

Uses chickens on ropes for structural support

Tries to distract Iskall so he can sneakily add oodles of blocks to his base.

Decides the best way to enter his base is by dying and respawning. Designs a system for this.

Realizes he has no way to get items into his base. Designs an item launcher that fires things into it.

For unknown reasons, Mumbo plays a gag like 3 times in this episode where he pretends to be taking down and rebuilding his slime farm.

"Despite his glaring faults, I managed to not blast Ren."

Runs around, unable to find anyone with ice.

Chirps that he's shocked Scar is doing anything besides standing around all day blaring his train whistle.

Finally gets a silk touch pick off Scar. Leaves. Puts the pick in a chest and throws himself into lava.

Starts gaslighting Scar in the chat, claiming he died in a pool of lava that formed under ice. Scar keeps protesting this makes no sense and Mumbo keeps insisting this is what happened.

Disappointed Scar bribes him with a diamond block for Mumbo to replace the pick. Mumbo promptly gives it to him and laughs his head off.

"I must just exude poverty." - Mumbo, wearing a full suit.

Mumbo dying in order to access his starter base. He forgot to set spawn inside. He's stuck outside. It's Episode 3.

Mumbo on a quest to solve his own murder. Plays a bit of all the clues that led him to this conclusion, does his outro, and cuts to himself watching Tango's video where the murder occurred.

20-minute episode.

[shera-dnd]

I have decided against my better judgement to be weird about the Dawntrail MSQ

and we can't talk about an expansion set in the fantasy americas without talking about

COLONIALISM

oh yeah, we're going there baby

So disclaimer that I may be brazilian, but my ass is white as hell, so take everything I say with a grain of salt. Also if any native americans have made posts on this please let me know so I can boost their analysis as well

Also also I'm more than happy to delete this post if I mess up. I'm genuinely trying to make a thoughtful analysis, so if I fuck up just say the word and this thing is gone from this website

Oh also also also, Dawntrail MSQ spoilers ahead!

So FFXIV has had a... messy relationship with colonialism over the years

The fact that the major antagonists for the first half of A Realm Reborn a literally called "beast man tribes" is absolutely not a good start to this story

Add to that the fact that The Twelve (Eorzea's gods) are shown to be kind all powerful deities, while the Primals (the tribal gods) are evil spirits summoned to bring destruction to the world

and yeah no ARR is not good with that shit. It's EXTREMELY not good. If I hadn't been told it got better later on I would have dropped this shit before I got to Titan

But they have been taking steps to unfuck things. First we're shown that even the "civilized societies" (in this case the catholic elves) can summon Primals, then that Primal summoning isn't an actual native custom but was introduced by foreigners with malicious intent, and that not all "beast man" practice that

Then they changed the names of the "Beast Man Tribe Quests" to "Tribal Quests" and then finally to "Allied Society Quest"

Which would have been an empty gesture had like half of the post-Shadowbringer patches, as well a lot of Endwalker, not been about forming alliances with those people and working together with them, recognizing that they have as much right to the land and to life as any Eorzean, this all culminating on the Primals being summoned with the express purpose of helping you protect the world you all share

I guess they realized that they couldn't have their big bad for most of the game be the evil expansionist empire, if they didn't like actually reflect in their own imperialist fantasies they were propagating

Then the teaser trailer for Dawntrail drops and everyone in the fandom is like "wait... are we gonna do a colonialism?"

And memes were abound of how all those lessons from before don't apply to the "New World" of Tural

THANKFULLY the actual questline leading to Dawntrail helped to settle some of those worries

We're not going to Tural to explore a new uncharted land, but are actually being invited over by the local royalty in order to aid them with their right of succession. We get introduced to the nation of Tuliyollal and how it's a thriving land with its own culture and not just a "terra nil" waiting to be colonized

Still there are some worries that this is gonna turn out poorly and that we're just gonna end up being white saviors

But I think they managed to avoid that pretty well

For starters neither the Scions nor the Warrior of Light are the protagonists of this story. You're all simply supporting character's in Wuk Lamat's story

A story that centers her people, her culture, and her family

And it's not even one culture. They don't portray Tuliyollal as this monolithic mish mash of every single native american culture

No, the lands of Tural are in fact comprised of multiple different people's and nations, each of them with their own customs and traditions which are informed by their history and the lands they live in

In fact learning about their cultures and partaking in their customs is the whole point of the Rite of Succession. It's all set up so that the next Dawnservant would be someone who understands and respects each of the peoples that comprise Tural

(I could, and probably will, write about what Dawntrail has to say about what makes a good ruler)

And our girl, Wuk Lamat, is shown to be the rightful heir because she really goes out of her way to understand each of the nations and show her appreciation for their customs

Putting her well above her Sharlyaboo brother Koana, The King of Unresolved Daddy Issues Zoral Ja, and whatever the fuck is going on with Bakool Ja Ja

(I joke, I love my two headed traumatized dumbass)

Tho I will admit that this does end up giving the tribes a somewhat "planet of the hats" vibe. Like their named NPCs are diverse and interesting, but you can just assume that most random NPCs of any given people are gonna act according to the stereotype

Which is unfortunate, but I have hopes that with the next few patches and the addition of Dawntrail's own Allied Society Quests, we'll get to see more to them

But that... is only up to lvl95 and the end of the Yok'Tural (southern Tural) segment

because then we get to Xak'Tural (northern Tural) and holy shit does it feel like they drop the ball there

Like they really COULDN'T keep themselves from making Shaaloani a fucking Wild West map

Instead of doing anything with the actual cultures and histories of Native North American people, they just do wild fucking west

Because there's ceruleum in them thar hills! And apparently Koana turned most of the region into Sharlyaboos too

So we get a bunch of Wild West frontier towns mixed with native american tribes and mud brick cities. We have trains and guns and a sheriff and a duel at high noon, but now everyone got native american names

At least there's one group off to the northern side of the map who seems to stick to tradition and live in harmony with nature, and that group is shown respect by the other people of the region

so we at the very least avoid the "cowboys vs indians" crap, but my god does that region just feel bad compared to everything else they had done so far

Then we get to the big twist: THE CYBERPUNK PORTION OF THE GAME

because yes, we go full fucking cyberpunk

so turns out that a whole segment of Xak'Tural got colonized by the kingdom of Alexandria, including the lands of the Shetona (Erenville's people)

And I feel like this is the most poignant section of the MSQ when it comes to colonialism

Because here we have Alexandria, an empire that has reached the limit of what it can do sustain itself on its own world, and so has decided to spread out and colonize others in order to gain resources

We see the Shetona and other natives of the region being separated from their families and kept in isolation from the rest of their people

And tho Queen Sphene is shown to be a kind and caring ruler who gives people a choice when it comes to joining the empire, WELL SHE'S STILL THE QUEEN OF A FUCKING EMPIRE

Like her form of kindness and just stagnant peace is put in stark contrast with Wuk Lamat's own love for her people and more proactive pursuit of happiness and harmony

(again with the "what makes a ruler theme")

Also the people that choose to be assimilated into the Alexandrian Empire? Yeah, they're doing so because Alexandria has advanced medical technology and you can only receive their aid if you're a citizen

Not only that, but you have to be a working citizen. We see later on a character being denied medical aid, because he lost his job, thanks to the King's decision and at no fault of his own

yeah this is cyberpunk, not just sci-fi

ALSO can we talk about how the technology used for that medical aid and the little gizmo they give you to signify you're now a citizen, will literally erase the memory of the people you lost

So the Turali who are assimilated into Alexandrian culture not only lose ties to their culture and their loved ones, but are not allowed to grieve their loss, because what they once had is slowly being erased

How their choices add up to survive on their own OR be assimilated

How this all takes place IN NORTH FUCKING AMERICA!

THE CYBERPUNK CITY IS LITERALLY SET IN THIS WORLD'S EQUIVALENT TO THE UNITED STATES

So yeah, I don't think is is accidental. I genuinely thing that they're making a point about the realities of imperialism and colonialism, as well as taking some shots at the US while they're at it

Of course this part is still centered around Wuk Lamat, and instead of having a moment of "the only ones who can stop the evil white europeans are the GOOD white europeans", we have Wuk Lamat be the one to save the day, defeat Sphene, and save her people from the colonizing empire

So I would like to argue that everything that happens from lvl97 onwards is them picking up the ball again and making a real point

buuuut that comes at the cost of us being unable to engage with the native peoples of Xak'Tural outside of the context of colonialism

Which genuinely fucking sucks, and I hope it will be remedied with the post-Dawntrail patches

As well as handling the whole shared land situation they ended up with and how this might end up in a Land Back sort of movement, and oh boy can they mess shit up royally there

So in conclusion FFXIV has had a messy relationship with colonialism and imperialist fantasies and tropes, but the devs seem to be making a concerted effort to undo their mistakes and show respect in their depictions of american natives

They still fuck up

boy do they

but they're at least trying, and I'd say Dawntrail so far has been quite well executed

so yeah, look forward to more insane rambles like this one I guess

[anneapocalypse]

What is "the occult" in FFXIV?

Ever since I first laid eyes on the EE3 bit about Urianger's parents I have been noodling on one thing in particular. Encyclopedia Eorzea volume 3 refers to "the occult" as Urianger's parents' field of study (and the reason they were so absent from his life). Every since that discovery, I have been curious what that actually means. What is "the occult" in a universe where magic is real, measurable, and a highly legitimate and prestigious field of study?

So, where else is "the occult" referenced in the game?

Thanks to this invaluable searchable transcript, I've found a few other references in MSQ.

The first use of the term "occult" in MSQ that I've found is way back in the Gridania starter quests when some Ixali "Occultists" are trying to summon Garuda at the Guardian Tree. In isolation I'd take this one with a grain of salt since it's very early in ARR, but I think it's consistent with other usages. The description for Whorleater Extreme also uses the term, referencing "the occult knowledge of the Ascians," so from the start there is an association of the occult with Ascian magicks and specifically with summoning.

The only other mention in MSQ comes from Alphinaud in Endwalker, where he and Krile are giving us the tour of Sharlayan, and specifically Phenomenon:

Alphinaud: As the center of what would later become the Studium, it was established to promote the study of aetherological phenomena, hence the name. Alphinaud: Though with aether being a fundamental aspect of nature, its scope expanded to include every conceivable facet of life and even the universe itself. Alphinaud: And then, in the four hundred and thirty-second year of the Sixth Astral Era, Phenomenon was decreed complete and the Studium officially opened as a place of learning. Alphinaud: With a long and storied history, it is without question the world's leading authority in aetherology, the arcane, the occult, astromancy, and countless other fields, standing proud as─ Alisaie and Krile: ...Sharlayan's foremost educational institute!

Okay, so "the occult" clearly falls within the general field of aetherological phenomena and magic, though that we could have guessed already. Something that catches my eye is how in more than one place, "occult" is contrasted with or referenced as distinct from "arcane." This is the case in Alphinaud's speech above, as well as in the Blue Mage quest "Everybody Was Fukumen Fighting," wherein Bluehood says, "No occult tricks or arcane incantations can contend with the all-surpassing might of blue wizardry!"

In the Loporrit Allied Society quests, we also get this odd little quest "Hare-Raising Thrills," in which we're asked to make "Occult Paraphernalia" for a Loporrit called Thrillingway. Depending on crafting job, dialogue with Keepingway will elaborate thus:

"It seems he requires a pair of shears─but not just any pair. No, he desires blades sharp enough to carve fur clean off!"

"He wants a sturdy coil of rope suitable for binding all four limbs of…a 'friend,' allegedly."

"Seems he wants a highly acidic gel for some dubious purpose I did not have the heart to inquire about. Honestly, I think it's best if we don't know."

Which. I mean. Okay. lol. Do what you will with that.

But probably most illuminating is the use of the word "occult" in a couple of Red Mage quests, and in the Sky Pirate raid quests.

In "The Weeping City," Cait Sith says, "Thus did the Mhachi magi construct an occult device that would more securely bind the voidsent to their will..."

And in the Red Mage quests "With Heart and Steel" and "Traced in Blood" we have, respectively:

"The tomes with passages pertaining to the voidsent Lilith are all forbidden occult works..."

and

"...the secrets behind Lambard's occult transformation."

In both contexts, "occult" seems to be connected to voidsent, specifically to Lilith in the case of the Red Mage quests.

And this ties back to the references in ARR as well, since from the beginning Ascians have been connected with the Void, even before we knew what the Void actually was. So it's safe to say at this point, I think, that "occult" can refer to magicks connected to the Void and to Ascians.

There's just one more reference I found that flummoxed me a bit, and that's this description of the Arcanist class, which refers to arcanist weapons as "occult grimoires." I found it odd initially because in most other contexts "occult" seems to refer to magicks seen as illicit, as opposed to the socially acceptable "arcane." But it does make a kind of sense, given that it is from Arcanist that we get Summoner. If summoning of primals is occult, then by extension so is summoning in the arcanist sense, even if it's not truly the same thing. This would seem to be the exception to "arcane" and "occult" being distinct categories, which leads me to believe that the distinction is more cultural than ontological.

So I think from the above, we can consider "occult" to be a fairly broad term that may be used in several distinct but overlapping senses:

Magic related to the summoning of primals.

Magic related to the Void, voidsent, and Ascians.

Magic which is taboo, forbidden, or otherwise outside of that which is socially accepted.

As a footnote, I think this is particularly interesting in the context of Urianger being introduced as our resident expert on primals, despite the fact that that's... really not specifically his field of study but merely adjacent to it. Urianger's primary interest is prophecy, and certainly plenty of prophecy seems to reference primals and Ascians and that's where we see him doing a lot of his research, but it's not the same field, merely overlapping.

Without more information we can't know for certain what his parents were actually studying. Maybe they were interested in primals, or Ascians, or the Void. Maybe they were studying Void-related magics. It's also possibly they were simply arcanists particularly interested in the summoner side and we shouldn't read much more than that into the reference to "the occult." Who knows.

But nonetheless, several of these interpretations would mean that in a way, Urianger has followed in their footsteps despite their making apparently little effort to guide him that way, which I find to be an interesting angle to his character and also profoundly sad in its own way--not that he found his own interests in those areas, but that the Augurelts had a child so naturally inclined toward their own interests and still took so little interest in him.

[cranberryjuice-posts]

Hi, I always see fanfics where Clarisse protects the reader, but what about a fanfic where the reader protects her?

👀

- mind your business -

Pairings - Clarisse La Rue x Fem! Reader

Tw - mentions of SOM - not spoilers but mentioned

An - guys I think my chest is colasping 🧍‍♀️ also I have Nike pandas and my friend said “those aren’t creased those are deceased” bc their lowkey turning green😝

An Pt 2 - Tell me Why i just realized Dior is 18 and is turning 19 this year

An Pt 3 - the Pt 2 is Miss Information i got confused I’m sorry 😭😭

Cheering loudly you jumped happily as you watched your girlfriend clarisse in the chariot race . She was dominating the field per usual, bringing you a sense of happiness.

As the chariots crossed the corner the winner was shown as percy and annabeth. Rolling your eyes at the circumstances you didn’t hesitate to run towards the daughter of ares.

Sneaking up and around the chariots that pulled into the clearing you snuck up to the taller girl. Watching for a moment as she yelled at her siblings you took the opportunity to jump behind clarisse covering her eyes. “Guess who”

Peeling your fingers off her face she turned around, looking you up and down with a critical look. She rolled her eyes before kissing your forehead. “I can’t stand you sometimes” she sighed while picking a piece of pollen off of your hair.

“That’s really how Your Gonna Greet your girlfriend?”

“Yes.”

“Ok clarisse” you joked rolling your eyes in response. Stepping up, creasing your shoes you placed a quick kiss on her lips. “Take care of the chariot ok? I need your sister for something” you politely asked the ares kids, stealing clarisse before they would retaliate.

——

“Where are You taking me” Clarisse complained while You dragged her deeper into the mountains.

“Can You Just be quiet and trust me” looking over your shoulder you raised an eyebrow, testing her patience.

After about five minutes of walking you eventually brought her to a clearing, it was ok the edge of one of the many cliffs at camp but gave a good view of not only the beautiful scenery bellow but also of the camp itself.

Leaning into clarisse you wrapped a lazy arm around her while resting your head on her. “Pretty huh”

She just shrugged her shoulders. “It’s all right” You softly hit her in the side. “It’s not all right It’s beautiful you jerk”

“No.. no I’ve seen prettier” she chuckled.

“Oh yeah? Name three things”

“Ok” Clarisse shifted around some. “Uh for starters the sunset, then my spear and lastly I guess you can count” she laughed as you hit her one more time. “I hate you so much”

“I love you to” she chuckled kissing you once again.

“You did great Today.. your dad would be proud you know” you comfortingly mumbled against her lips. Clarisse relaxed Some sighing once again “let’s just hope he agrees”

——

Heading towards the dining hall you happily held your girlfriends hand. Walking in the stone building you stopped making clarisse jerk slightly.

“What’s wrong” she asked with a concerned tone. Breaking from her you headed towards the Athena table.

Walking up to it you crossed your arms “do we have a problem”

They all looked around confused, some mumbling. “What are You on about?” Annabeth spoke all while giving you an equally dirty look.

“There’s nothing wrong with bragging about winning but the second any of you have the audacity to first of all say, clarisse didn’t deserve her quest this year or that she was just an extra burden which may I add you— annabeth crashed her quest, only to then also say that she deserved not winning just shows the fucking arrogance of you all” placing your hands on your hips you eyed the entire now silent table with some of the other kids in the dining hall following suit in being quiet. “Keep my girlfriends name out of your pathetic mouths and we won’t have a problem.. understand”

Walking back to clarisse you took her hand into yours once again, kissing her cheek you started to walk towards the ares cabin table with her. “Have I ever told you how hot you are when you act like a bitch”

“Eh you’ve mentioned it once or twice” giving her one more kiss, pecking her lips a few Times you started to chuckle as her siblings complained.

It didn’t matter what anyone said about clarisse. You would Defend her til the day you die.