#...or whatever is the sky version of it

[agrumina]

[Fullis, Athria and Phae are my Skykids OCs]

Fullis loves the Performance troupe. 

Contrary to all expectations, her favorite is the Musician. Especially considering how badly Athria talked about them. A small part of Fullis wonders if being friends with this Spirit is a way for her to “rebel” against someone she once looked up to.

The Musician seems to take things TOO calmly and the moments they get into some trouble are not uncommon. Fullis has lost count of how many times she has heard the Performance Guide scold them. 

Yet, Fullis likes their company.

They were among the firsts with whom she first experimented with her “new self”, Musician always greets her and always asks her if she wants to practice with them, Musician sometimes starts dancing seemingly at random but it makes Fullis smiles when they do that.

Furthermore, it seems that almost nothing worries Musician. She sometimes envies how much chill they can be. 

But one day, after yet another nightmare about Dark Dragons and the Wasteland and having thought a little too much about the Eye of Eden and Phae’s ramblings about history, Fullis can’t hold back a question.

“Musician, you are dead, aren’t you?” 

She asks them one afternoon, in a (rare) moment where the Hall is empty apart from them and the rest of the crew. 

“Yes?” Musician replies, not hiding their perplexity at this obvious but sudden observation. 

“A bit of a strange question... if I may ask… do you remember how?” 

Musician at first blinks, then chuckles. But it’s not the light chuckle they give when something funny happens in Hall or when they try to hold their laughter while looking at the Guide and Stagehead’s antics.

“Who remembers?” Musician answers, between a nervous? chuckle and another. “I had drank so much I noticed in the very last moment that-“ 

Musician stops suddenly. They frantically look around, like a child who just did something bad and is afraid someone might have seen them, before looking at Fullis back again.

“Um. That’s it. I don’t remember. That is all. Really. Actually, why do you ask such a gloomy question?” 

Fullis doesn’t know how to answer them. She doesn’t even know if she wants to continue the conversation, even if she started it.

[r04sty]

Why would she say that?

Can you tell I'm procrastinating

[heros-shade-fanclub]

actually i'm not done talking about termina. do you think that even years after majora's mask link wakes up to rain and instinctively thinks "2 days left"

[luzho]

take a chance, take a chance, take a chance on me!

finally!! a little older zukka with (sorta) their new movie looks along with piercings and tattoos from a beloved au, listening to some abba, dancing real close and laughing<3 (zuko is the one telling the joke here... he can be silly too); referencing the iconic ipod ad campaign and based on the ‘let’s rock!’ photoshoot by steven meisel

[ID: This is a digital drawing of Sokka and Zuko dancing close together and listening to music from an iPod, drawn in warm colors and against a deep blue sky background. On the left, Zuko (wearing septum and snake bite piercings, earrings, long hair in a bun, and Fire Nation clothing) holds the iPod from Sokka’s lower back; while Sokka (wearing matching earrings, a long warrior’s wolf tail, his Water Tribe clothing and a moon and stars tattoo on his arm) holds his shoulder. Both of them laughing and tearing up, they share the ear pods while its cable gets tangled in their visible arms. End ID]

[daisybell-on-a-carousel]

Fanfic idea: Nocturna, after disappearing during the crisis, wakes up to find herself in the current universe, where she spots the Red Hood, and can't help but compare him to the blood night sky she last saw, and oddly, the young Robin whom she had tried to adopt

[unrelatabledude]

i wanted to try draw the others. but i only like the first two

[riacte]

ren false martyn need to stop plagiarizing space opera au from the 50k messages in a private discord server /joke

[randomnameless]

The idea that SS says the Church needs to be rehabilitated in Rhea's ending is entirely on the translation. The Japanese text says that "Meanwhile, Rhea, who survived, returned to her duties as archbishop after she recovered her strength, and she aligned herself with the unified kingdom, working to rebuild the church and help people suffering from war damage." And while I've mentioned Claude's endings with Flayn before regarding Wind, the endings mention that the new order/society of Fodlan is built by the heroes who saved Fodlan which would include the CoS.

Pat really hated Rhea it seems if he does that to her ending. Her rebuilding the CoS? That's not good, she needs to make them atone. But then again, he also tried to make it so that Edelgard had similar ideals to Claude when the game ultimately says otherwise.

Oh I know, I've read your posts about this lol

TBH, while Pat is to blame for the Pat'd script, the Church, as in Rhea's church, is always depicted as needing/being reformed : it wasn't in SS's ending proper, but in Rhea's own S Support where she blames herself for, well, everything that happened but also confesses she used her position as the Archbishop for her personal plan to see her mother again...

And yet, if we look at her actions - and the ones that can be tied to her "rez Sothis plan", bar maybe making Sitri a priest/nun, what did she meant by the "took advantage of my position of the Archbishop"/"used my position as the Archbishop" to see her mother again?

In this S-support, Rhea herself considers her CoS/her lead of the CoS might be to blame for Supreme Leader's war and gives "empty" criticisms to her actions : emtpy as in, well, the game doesn't bother telling/showing what were those "occasions" where Rhea explicitely used her position as the Archbishop to make her wish come true.

Maybe if we pull our hair a bit, we can say the "Billy sitting on the chair" ceremony? That was made to "bring back" Sothis and she asked Billy to do that as their boss and the Archbishop of the CoS?

In a nutshell, it's less "the church needs to be reformed" in SS, but more "Rhea acknowledges she did BaD things (which are?) and used the CoS through her position as the Archbishop to do so (receipt not found?)" so with Billy and in the epilogue, obviously she doesn't do those "BaD" things anymore and their work is miraculous.

As for Claude, while he does "fall in love" with Flayn who is working in the Church with her Father - and this ending obviously cannot be triggered if Claude ends with Billy - Claude's very own words in his Billy S-support, imo, cannot be ignored, while Billy will take Rhea's role as the one people will rely on, he wants Billy to create a Fodlan with "new values" that won't exclude people for being different... implying Fodlan had such values before the War, CoS included - when we know, even in FE16, that this is bullshit!

So while Claude can end up with Flayn despite her being a member of the Church, she's a member of the post-VW Church that is "reformed/different" from the old church, because in VW, the Church has "new values that don't exclude people for being different".

So back to the original post

Compare with Houses, who always removes Nabateans/Rhea of the picture (except in SS’s S support) and brings “reforms” to the CoS - because it needed some, even if we will never know what they are or why those reforms were needed.

SS's reforms are less "reforms" and more "Rhea reckons she did BaD things so will stop doing them now".

The icing on the cake takes the form of Seteth'n'Flayn's paired ending, let it be in the lolcalised or even in the OG (Googled though!) script :

While Flayn disappeared soon after the war, Seteth stayed at the monastery and worked to restore the authority of the Church of Seiros. Doing away with his old strictness, he adopted a tolerant stance toward all, and encouraged his followers to do the same. When he was satisfied that the message was received, he vanished from the monastery.

In the lolcalised version, Seteth adopts a tolerant stance toward all (which he didn't have before?? Source?) and asked his followers to do the same (which he never did before either???) and apparently, when he was satisfied because his message not to be, uh, asshats was received, he finally left the monastery.

Because obviously, under the old CoS, when he was leading investigations against the Western Church and called names by those same people because his creed and followers are "too tolerant", he, uh, wasn't "adopting a tolerant stance toward all and encouraging his followers to do the same".

In the JP version :

フレンは戦後まもなく姿を消したが、セテス はその後も大司教補佐として大修道院に留ま り、教団の権威回復に努めた。かつての厳格 さは鳴りを潜め、何事においても寛大な措置 を取るよう運営方針を転換。時代に即した教 義の改革を妥協なく推し進め、信徒に混乱の ないことを見届けてから大修道院を去った

Google'd it gives some :

Flayn disappeared shortly after the war, but Seteth remained at the abbey as an assistant archbishop and worked to restore the authority of the order. His former strictness has subsided, and he has changed his management policy to take more lenient measures in all matters. He uncompromisingly promoted doctrinal reform in line with the times, and after seeing that there was no confusion among the faithful, he left the abbey.

So, sure, there's no fuckery about "a tolerant stance" because the JP script is more coherent with, well, the general script, it's more like Seteth finally stopped being so strict and became a tidbit more lenient.

And yet...

What are those "doctrinal reforms in line with the times"???

How did he change the CoS' doctrine, sure, it was to be "in line with the times", but what was changed?

This ending basically tells us - something Seteth also says in Nopes' expedition lines or in his Tea time lines? - that he doesn't agree with the doctrine (whatever it is he doesn't agree with) and since Seteth is a playable character who can be supported, his PoV is obviously biased as in, for the player, Seteth is the kind guy so if he says the CoS' doctrine needs reformation, he won't reform it to put some "might makes right" rule, but obviously reform it for the better.

What is that "better doctrine"?

This ending can be obtained in all routes where Nabateans aren't hunted to make a world "for humanity", even in SS where Rhea'n'Billy work together to make Fodlan prosperous and miraculous so... in all routes, the Church is reformed.

Houses wise : the Church is always reformed/needs reformation/did BaD things we never saw -> which serves to make it more "shady" and pretend to have "earl grey", because if the Church always needs reformation, then Supreme Leader targeting it isn't completely unjustified and nonsensical, right?

But when Nopes drops FE16's framing a little bit and we see, maybe for 15 seconds, the CoS do stuff... well, even if Seteth mentions "not agreeing with all tenets", from what we see and hear about the CoS, his doubts don't have the same weight since, hey, we witness the "help other if they need it" tenets, "don't impose the CoS' values on people who aren't from Fodlan" tenet, "we will repay our debts" tenet, etc etc.

Is this the part of the doctrine Seteth disagrees with? This doctrine needs reformation?

Tl;Dr : Church BaD which is why Supreme Leader's war isn't completely nonsensical and why the self insert of this opus can rightfully become God and run the show better than anyone who was there before, but we will never show us what this "BaD" entail, we just are told about it.

In turn, this creates Earl Grey and the "morally grey masterpiece uwu" reputation this game has - Agarthans have no place in this Earl Grey masterpiece, that's why some people try to come up with reasons or justifications to explain why they aren't that worse than the faction the game uses a piñata despite showing us all the "not BaD" things they do.

[reblog-house]

Just taking a stroll on the cliffside with poppies around, not a care in the world.

[bredforloyalty]

someone in the comments saying that it's obviously gonna resonate more (emotionally) if the guy who wrote it is singing it

[monty-glasses-roxy]

I've not been on my ADHD meds lately so I could properly recover from the illness (probably covid and it's not exactly gone but it's gone enough that I'm good to do stuff in the house again) and I love that the second I'm back on them my brain is like "NEW AU??? MAYBE!!! BUT!!! I FELL FOR SOMEONE NEW BUT SHE'S JUST ANOTHER GIRL THAT LOOKS LIKE YOOOOUUUUUUU POOR CHICA RIGHT??? RIPPERONI!!!! TIGER TIME!!!!"

Like cool I don't feel as tired now but wow that's um. Fun?

[thornsent]

I wanna go back to the museum so I can have another soyjack pointing at odd fellow's ritual items moment

[spaceoddeity]

all I'm saying is that if I were a pirate the only siren song that could drive me to the depths is that about a true starry night sky

[0-k-4]

well i tried

[turian]

it's been a while since since I first saw Ola's fundraiser circulating on the dash. it's been a while, too, since I spoke to Ola for the first time, and a while since I last made a post to bring attention to her fundraiser. in the last post I wrote for Ola I spoke of my dismay at the ratio of notes on one of her most widely circulating fundraising posts to donations her fundraiser has received (the former being disturbingly higher than the latter).

I'm having a version of that experience again now. I'm looking at Ola's gofundme page in something like disbelief. Ola's fundraiser should be further along than it is. we're approaching the point where it will have been a year of constant bombardment and displacement and threat of every imaginable kind to Ola and her family, and her fundraiser isn't far beyond the halfway point.

Ola and her family need money not only to escape this situation, but also to survive it. the weather is growing worse, food prices are still sky high, and there is danger every moment. i watched a video the other day which made the point that solidarity is not supposed to be easy - it's not just one click (though that one click is also vital in situations like these) but rather a commitment to go out of your way to help when necessary. your help is necessary here. share Ola's fundraiser as much as you possibly can, but please also remember to give whatever you have the means to give.

here's a link to Ola's gofundme / here's a link to Ola's verification (line 205).

[physalian]

How to Make Your Writing Less Stiff Part 3

Crazy how one impulsive post has quickly outshined every other post I have made on this blog. Anyway here’s more to consider. Once again, I am recirculating tried-and-true writing advice that shouldn’t have to compromise your author voice and isn’t always applicable when the narrative demands otherwise.

Part 1

Part 2

1. Eliminating to-be verbs (passive voice)

Am/is/are/was/were are another type of filler that doesn’t add anything to your sentences.

There were fireworks in the sky tonight. /// Fireworks glittered in the sky tonight.

My cat was chirping at the lights on the ceiling. /// My cat chirped at the lights on the ceiling.

She was standing /// She stood

He was running /// He ran

Also applicable in present tense, of which I’ve been stuck writing lately.

There are two fish-net goals on either end of the improvised field. /// Two fish-net goals mark either end of the improvised field.

For once, it’s a cloudless night. /// For once, the stars shine clear.

Sometimes the sentence needs a little finagling to remove the bad verb and sometimes you can let a couple remain if it sounds better with the cadence or syntax. Generally, they’re not necessary and you won’t realize how strange it looks until you go back and delete them (it also helps shave off your word count).

Sometimes the to-be verb is necessary. You're writing in past-tense and must convey that.

He was running out of time does not have the same meaning as He ran out of time, and are not interchangeable. You'd have to change the entire sentence to something probably a lot wordier to escape the 'was'. To-be verbs are not the end of the world.

2. Putting character descriptors in the wrong place

I made a post already about motivated exposition, specifically about character descriptions and the mirror trope, saying character details in the wrong place can look odd and screw with the flow of the paragraph, especially if you throw in too many.

She ties her long, curly, brown tresses up in a messy bun. /// She ties her curls up in a messy brown bun. (bonus alliteration too)

Generally, I see this most often with hair, a terrible rule of threes. Eyes less so, but eyes have their own issue. Eye color gets repeated at an exhausting frequency. Whatever you have in your manuscript, you could probably delete 30-40% of the reminders that the love interest has baby blues and readers would be happy, especially if you use the same metaphor over and over again, like gemstones.

He rolled his bright, emerald eyes. /// He rolled his eyes, a vibrant green in the lamplight.

To me, one reads like you want to get the character description out as fast as possible, so the hand of the author comes in to wave and stop the story to give you the details. Fixing it, my way or another way, stands out less as exposition, which is what character descriptions boil down to—something the audience needs to know to appreciate and/or understand the story.

3. Lacking flow between sentences

Much like sentences that are all about the same length with little variety in syntax, sentences that follow each other like a grocery list or instruction manual instead of a proper narrative are difficult to find gripping.

Jack gets out a stock pot from the cupboard. He fills it with the tap and sets it on the stove. Then, he grabs russet potatoes and butter from the fridge. He leaves the butter out to soften, and sets the pot to boil. He then adds salt to the water.

From the cupboard, Jack drags a hefty stockpot. He fills it with the tap, adds salt to taste, and sets it on the stove.

Russet potatoes or yukon gold? Jack drums his fingers on the fridge door in thought. Russet—that’s what the recipe calls for. He tosses the bag on the counter and the butter beside it to soften.

This is just one version of a possible edit to the first paragraph, not the end-all, be-all perfect reconstruction. It’s not just about having transitions, like ‘then’, it’s about how one sentence flows into the next, and you can accomplish better flow in many different ways.

4. Getting too specific with movement.

I don’t see this super often, but when it happens, it tends to be pretty bad. I think it happens because writers feel the need to overcompensate and over-clarify on what’s happening. Remember: The more specific you get, the more your readers are going to wonder what’s so important about these details. This is fiction, so every detail matters.

A ridiculous example:

Jack walks over to his closet. He kneels down at the shoe rack and tugs his running shoes free. He walks back to his desk chair, sits down, and ties the laces.

Unless tying his shoes is a monumental achievement for this character, all readers would need is:

Jack shoves on his running shoes.

*quick note: Do not add "down" after the following: Kneels, stoops, crouches, squats. The "down" is already implied in the verb.

This also happens with multiple movements in succession.

Beth enters the room and steps on her shoelace, nearly causing her to trip. She kneels and ties her shoes. She stands upright and keeps moving.

Or

Beth walks in and nearly trips over her shoelace. She sighs, reties it, and keeps moving.

Even then, unless Beth is a chronically clumsy character or this near-trip is a side effect of her being late or tired (i.e. meaningful), tripping over a shoelace is kind of boring if it does nothing for her character. Miles Morales’ untied shoelaces are thematically part of his story.

Sometimes, over-describing a character’s movement is meant to show how nervous they are—overthinking everything they’re doing, second-guessing themselves ad nauseam. Or they’re autistic coded and this is how this character normally thinks as deeply methodical. Or, you’re trying to emphasize some mundanity about their life and doing it on purpose.

If you’re not writing something where the extra details service the character or the story at large, consider trimming it.

—

These are *suggestions* and writing is highly subjective. Hope this helps!