#15 results was for portia

[fizzy-fizzy]

I am TIRED of these people on ao3.

[lgbridgertonqa]

The Great Queer Bridgerton Ship Poll: THE RESULTS!!!

First off, we’d just like to thank everyone for taking part in this silliness. We clocked in at 204,232 votes when we closed the poll with votes still coming in. Deeply unserious, we’re very touched.

That being said this is also VERY serious. Lives are at stake.

Onto the numbers for places (under the cut - cos it's LONG!)

Or read the results thread here on our twitter.

31. Daphne Bridgerton/Alice Mondrich - 0 votes (0.00%)

Sorry girls!

29 =. Colin Bridgerton/Harry Dankworth - 1 vote (0.0005%)

The Danklin nation were not assembled for this fight. One noble voter stood proud!

29 =. Harry Dankworth/Lord Fife - 1 vote (0.0005%)

The vote is entirely anonymous so we will never know who this one brave soul was that swung for the only Fife ship in the poll. It will ever remain a mystery…

23 = . Siena Rosso/Mme Delacroix - 2 votes (0.0010%)

Maybe next time, ladies.

23 = . Violet Bridgerton/Portia Featherington - 2 votes (0.0010%)

The Mama’s did not do it for the voters.

23 = . Mary Sharma/Queen Charlotte - 2 votes (0.0010%)

Not enough follow through on this tension to capture more votes.

23 = . Mme Delacroix/Lucy Granville - 2 votes (0.0010%)

The girls are taking a hit in the polls.

23 = . Gregory Bridgerton/Richard Abernathy - 2 votes (0.0010%)

Our first book character on the list! He fought valiantly.

23 = . Lord Haselby/Neville Berbrooke - 2 votes (0.0010%)

This niche book only fanon couple did this against all odds. Respect!

20 =. Kate Sharma/Sophie Beckett - 4 votes (0.0020%)

A previous fan favourite has slipped down the rankings in this poll!

20 = . Eloise Bridgerton/Edwina Sharma - 4 votes (0.0020%)

A similarly previously popular ship has fallen on hard times this year!

20 =. Will Mondrich/Simon Basset - 4 votes (0.0020%)

MIA since season 1, but sorely missed.

19. Hyacinth Bridgerton/Felicity Featherington - 5 votes (0.0024%)

The show may have forgotten you Felicity, but voters haven’t

18 =. Queen Charlotte/Lady Danbury - 6 votes (0.0029%)

Too many people afraid of the power of these two women kissing.

18 =. Anthony Bridgerton/Thomas Dorset - 6 votes (0.0029%)

Apparently two men holding each other and falling into a lake isn’t homoerotic enough for some.

16. Lucy Abernathy/Hermione Watson - 9 votes (0.0044%)

Another book ship taking on show giants.

15. Eloise Bridgerton/Marina Thompson - 11 votes (0.0054%)

Some people hate to see lesbians winning!

14. Brimsley/Reynolds - 38 votes (0.0186%)

Our first canon queer ship taking a hit! Only scraping top 15!

13. Francesca Bridgerton/Edwina Sharma - 96 votes (0.047%)

The votes are starting to pick up now with this outside contender!

12. Daphne Bridgerton/Cressida Cowper - 211 votes (0.1033%)

A very respectable 12th place for Daphida!

11. Eloise Bridgerton/Penelope Featherington - 236 votes (0.1156%)

A perhaps shock result to not crack the top ten!

10. Gregory Bridgerton/Gareth St. Clair - 403 votes (0.1973%)

Huge result for a book character not yet in the show! Top ten!

9. Colin Bridgerton/Michael Stirling - 636 votes (0.3114%)

A now book based pair on the shortlist from last year, coming into the top ten as an underdog!

8. Francesca Bridgerton/Michaela Stirling - 677 votes (0.3315%)

Michaela Stirling didn’t throw the first brick at Stonewall for 8th place.

7. Simon Basset/Anthony Bridgerton - 737 votes (0.3609%)

Homoerotic tension legendary enough that it brought this show into infamy. You’ve served proudly, kings

6. Francesca Bridgerton/Penelope Featherington - 970 votes (0.475%)

Another outsider in the top 10! The Fran/Pen shooters were not messing around!

5. Colin Bridgerton/Phillip Crane - 1,052 votes (0.5151%)

One olive oil joke and discussions about Ancient Greece, next thing you know -

4. Benedict Bridgerton/Paul Suarez - 1,713 votes (0.8388%)

Congrats on all the sex you had boys! It translated into votes!

3. Kate Sharma/Daphne Bridgerton - 15,911 votes (7.7906%)

Kaphne were leading the way for 5 days this week, only to be pipped to the post in the last few days. Well done on bronze!

2. Benedict Bridgerton/Henry Granville - 84,285 votes (41.2692%)

Voters gave it their all in the last 24 hours, but ultimately couldn’t take the win. A very worthy silver!

1. Eloise Bridgerton/Cressida Cowper - 97,204 votes (47.5949%)

Unreal rush at the end, nearly breaking the poll. The sapphics take the crown of Best Queer Bridgerton Ship!

[blacksuccubusboots]

fantasylife pre-season game results

🥇Nao 🥈Rowan 🥉Talvish 4. Blaanid 5. Altam 6. Vayne 7. Merlin 8. Far Darrig 9. Loiscneach 10. Llywelyn 11. Enya 12. Portia 13. Lorna 14. Caswyn 15. Tani 16. Pihne 17. Eochaid 18. Etain 19. Eiren 20. Avelin

[animalcrossingshowdown]

Round 2 most popular villager results:

Round 2 is over, and both New Leaf darling Marshal and New Horizons darling Raymond have been eliminated! Sorry to any of you who had money on either of them taking the whole competition.

Round 3 will begin March 28th. I think round 3 is when the choices are really gonna start getting tough, there are a lot of matchups coming that I think will be very close. After round 3, submissions will open for three villagers to make a comeback, so stay tuned for that!

also it was my birthday today ! lets get some animal parties down in the replies 🦉🧁 🦝

Biggest sweeps (85% and over):

Molly 93.2% / Monty 6.8%

Lucky 90.1% / Lucy 9.9%

Jeremiah 88.6% / Jane 11.4%

Merengue 86.6% / Mint 13.4%

Kiki 86.1% / Kitty 13.9%

Ione 85.9% / Jacques 14.1%

Mitzi 85.7% / Miranda 14.3%

Sasha 85.5% / Samson 14.5%

Sylvana 85.4% / T-Bone 14.6%

Lily 85% / Lionel 15%

Closest Matches (55% and under):

Dom 54.7% / Dotty 45.3%

Ellie 54.4% / Eloise 45.6%

Zucker 54.4% / Zell 45.6%

Viché 54.2% / Victoria 45.8%

Grizzly 54.1% / Gwen 45.9%

Knox 53.8% / Koharu 46.2%

Curt 53.6% / Curlos 46.4%

Pippy 53.2% / Poko 46.8%

Bam 52.8% / Baabara 47.2%

Raddle 56.2% / Raymond 47.4%

Fuchsia 52.3% / Gala 47.7%

Frita 51.7% / Frobert 48.3%

Bow 51% / Boots 49%

Marty 50.6% / Mathilda 49.4%

Shino 50.5% / Sherb 49.5%

Hamlet 50.2% / Hamphrey 49.8%

Middle of the pack:

Petri 84.3% / Penny 15.7%

Bunnie 84.2% / Bubbles 15.8%

Maple 83.9% / Marcie 16.1%

Purrl 83% / Quetzal 17%

Punchy 82% / Puddles 18%

Vesta 81.9% / Ursala 18.1%

Bianca 81.5% / Big Top 18.5%

Ribbot 81% / Rilla 19%

Rolf 80.7% / Rooney 19.3%

Butch 80.1% / Camofrog 19.9%

Sunny 79.9% / Stu 20.1%

Melba 79.1% / Megumi 20.9%

Chrissy 78% / Chow 22%

Lolly 78% / Lopez 22%

Poppy 78% / Portia 22%

Tangy 77.4% / Tasha 22.6%

Coco 76.7% / Cookie 23.3%

Agnes 76.3% / Ace 23.7%

Skye 76% / Snake 24%

Hornsby 75.1% / Huggy 24.9%

Papi 75.1% / Pango 24.9%

Shep 75.4% / Scoot 24.6%

Ankha 74.8% / Anchovy 25.2%

Alice 74.7% / Aisle 25.3%

Pekoe 74.1% / Peck 25.9%

Rodeo 74.1% / Rocco 25.9%

Audie 73.9% / Apple 26.1%

Bob 73.5% / Blanche 26.5%

Cherry 73.1% / Chelsea 26.9%

Cleo 72.6% / Cobb 27.4%

Carmen 72.5% / Canberra 27.5%

Pecan 72.1% / Peaches 27.9%

Reneigh 71.9% / Rex 28.1%

Roald 71.8% / Rio 28.2%

Tad 71.8% / Tammy 28.2%

Kyle 71.4% / Leopold 28.6%

Tom 71.1% / Tucker 28.9%

Daisy 71% / Cyd 29%

Hazel 70.9% / Hans 29.1%

Chai 70.6% / Chabwick 29.4%

Whitney 69.8% / Wendy 30.2%

Pashmina 69.7% / Patty 30.3%

Freya 69.5% / Freckles 30.5%

Kabuki 69.4% / Ken 30.6%

Nana 69.1% / Nate 30.9%

Norma 69% / Nosegay 31%

Fauna 68.9% / Felyne 31.1%

Erik 68% / Epona 32%

Gayle 68% / Genji 32%

Bertha 67% / Bettina 33%

Muffy 66.7% / Nan 33.3%

Cube 66.6% / Cousteau 33.4%

Vivian 66.6% / Wade 33.4%

Bones 66.4% / Boomer 33.6%

Phoebe 66.1% / Pierce 33.9%

Goldie 64.9% / Gladys 35.1%

Tutu 64.9% / Tybalt 35.1%

Chevre 64.8% / Chief 35.2%

Apollo 64.7% / Annalisa 35.3%

Tia 64.7% / Teddy 35.3%

Bruce 64.3% / Bree 35.7%

Lulu 63.7% / Mac 36.3%

Tipper 63.7% / Tiffany 36.3%

Caroline 63.3% / Carrot 36.7%

Ketchup 63.3% / Kid Cat 36.7%

Wolfgang 63.3% / Woolio 36.7%

Goose 63% / Greta 37%

Soleil 62.9% / Spike 37.1%

Beau 62.8% / Bea 37.2%

Clay 62.5% / Claude 37.5%

Ruby 62.5% / Rudy 37.5%

Fang 62.2% / Eunice 37.8%

Amelia 62% / Anabelle 38%

Sprinkle 61.8% / Static 38.2%

Rosie 61.7% / Roscoe 38.3%

Pietro 61.4% / Pinky 38.6%

Diana 60.7% / Dobie 39.3%

Stitches 60.6% / Stella 39.4%

Deirdre 60.2% / Deli 39.8%

Walker 59.9% / Weber 40.1%

Biskit 59.6% / Billy 40.4%

Hugh 59.5% / Iggy 40.5%

Maggie 59.5% / Maddie 40.5%

Opal 59.5% / Ozzie 40.5%

Bella 59.1% / Belle 40.9%

Henry 59.1% / Hopkins 40.9%

Ed 58.9% / Elina 41.1%

Cephalobot 58.6% / Celia 41.4%

Drago 58.6% / Drift 41.4%

Flo 58.4% / Flash 41.6%

Flora 58.4% / Flurry 41.6%

Olivia 58.3% / Octavian 41.7%

Marina 58% / Marshal 42%

Julian 57.3% / Julia 42.7%

Joey 57.1% / Joe 42.9%

Azalea 56.8% / Avery 43.2%

[neerdokells]

This New Life, Part 15

The strands were, in fact, puppet strings, and the puppet master was me. Or, at least, a version of me. They were in my human-sized fairy form,  except they towered over me and had glowing eyes and glowing, floating runes around the neck, wrists and ankles. It was how he saw me, in that last moment, when Portia and I were laying the curse on him that created this experience in his head. This whole time, I realized, ever since he had been changed, his mind was being tormented by his memory of me as an angry, vengeful fae.

“Not a memory,” they said, suddenly. “I am you, the remnant you left here to keep him in check.”

“How did–what do you mean? I didn't leave anything here!”

“There's too much human in you, yet. You don't know how the Fae toy with minds, how we can live in dreams, what we do to those who cross us!” At those words, they flicked their wrist, and the strands shook. I heard Malcolm, the masculine voice of Real Malcolm, scream from every direction.

“No, this is wrong! This isn't what I wanted!”

“You wanted him to learn a lesson! You wanted him to suffer what you suffered! You needed someone to keep him in check! Did you really think some wannabe sadists and a boy playing at being a dog could break him so fully? No, no. You wanted results. So here I am, getting results!”

“Enough! He's endured enough! Give him back!”

“There is no redemption with the Fae! You have given him to me for what he did to you, he's mine! He will always be mine!”

“No! I won't let you!”

“And what are you going to do about it? You don't even know what you are! I was born of your Fae nature, which you barely understand. You don't have the power to face me!”

I was going to argue back, and then realized they were right. I didn't have the power to face them. They nodded, sensing my acceptance of this truth. I left Malcolm's mind, before allowing myself to think any further on this. When I emerged, Portia was there, monitoring me, as she always did during these sessions.

“It's you,” I said, catching my breath. “You have to free him!”

“What? What happened?” She asked.

“There's a fae in there, they're me, created when the curse was put on him. They're not real, not outside his mind, but they're raw fae magic and I don't have the power to face them.”

“What do you expect me to do, then?”

“I expect you to tame them.”

“Assuming you can get me in there, what happens if we lose? What if we get stuck?”

“I don't know, but I think we risk it, or he stays like this forever.”

She took a deep breath and rested her hands on her knees. “Are you sure? There's no other way?”

“I don't see one.”

She stood, shook out the nerves, then turned to me. “I do this as me.” I nodded, flew over, and rested my hand on her cheek. She shifted, turning into herself again. She then sat down next to Malcolm on the couch. “I trust you, Esme. Tell me what to do.” I had her rest her head against his, and then landed where they met so I was touching both of them. I concentrated on entering again and bringing her with me, and soon, we found ourselves in the pink haze. I took her hand and lifted her, flying up into the void until we found the other me.

“Mistress! What–wait, no, you're…”

“I am your mistress. I recognize you.” She stepped forward, letting go of my hand and walking toward the other. “My rage, my years of being afraid as a woman in this world, my fear of what he would do to me if he viewed me like he viewed Esme. All my fury and hurt, channeled through their magic.”

“Back away! You can't undo this!” They were shrinking.

“No. But I can take back what I gave you. I know this isn't really you, I twisted you into this.”

“You don't get to define me!”

“Of course I do. Look at you! I gave you that fur, those ears, that red hair. I chose those breasts and that ass. You are my creation!” She closed the distance and rested her hand on the other's cheek, now that they were the same height. “And then I poured so much hate into you that it made you this. But I want it back.”

“No, please–”

“It is mine. You are mine. This is an order: give it back.” The runes glowed around Portia's wrist, and then started to fade from the other's. The mantra faded, and then died, as the pink haze below us began to blow away. Portia brought her other hand to the other cheek, and pressed her forehead to the other's forehead, and they both closed their eyes. “I name you, Grace.”

Tears started running down Grace’s cheeks as her body changed. Her expression softened, and her fur turned white. Her bunny features were replaced with those of a dog, and she grew to be slightly taller than Portia. The space began to shake, and I flew forward to grab Portia's hand.

“We have to go!”

Portia stepped back and took Grace's hands in hers. “You keep an eye on Malcolm for me, won't you?” Grace nodded, Portia kissed her on the cheek, and then I pulled us both out.

When we returned to the living room, we saw Malcolm shifting form. He turned back into himself, without the horrible noises from when he last changed form. Then he woke, looked at the two of us, and fell to his knees on the floor.

“Thank you! Thank you, so much! I'm so sorry, I'm so very sorry, please, please, never do that again!”

“What are you sorry for?” Portia asked, sternly.

“I abused your trust, and I abused Esme. I didn't realize how bad it was, I thought they enjoyed the sex and the submission, I didn't know. I didn't listen. I'm sorry! I'll never do it again!”

“You’re damn right you won't.”

“Are we…am I back to normal?”

“Physically, yes. But I can't trust you yet. What you did was too much, too heinous. I'm glad to have you back, but we are not going to be okay for a while. You need to prove you've changed.”

“Of course, yes, anything. I promise, I'll do anything.”

“We'll start by renegotiating the terms of our arrangement with Esme.”

“Sure, yes, whatever you want!”

“You're cut off. They no longer call you Master unless they choose to, and you have no authority over them unless I explicitly grant it to you. You don't get to touch them, you don't get to use them, you don't get to demand chores from them, unless I say so. You don't get to put limitations or demands on their form, their nature, or their actions. I am their Mistress, and they are my submissive, and you get to enjoy that arrangement how and when I choose. Do you accept?”

“Yes, I accept.”

She turned to me. “You are free from all power he had over you. You serve me alone. Our initial terms stand, with the addition that you shall never be bound to a single form for more than 24 hours at a time, unless it is your base form. If I have not given you a new form or freed you to choose one in that time, you may take one of your choosing. Do you accept these amendments?”

“With pleasure, Mistress.”

“Good.” She turned back to Malcolm. “Grab your things. You are sleeping in a guest room until I believe I can trust you.”

“Thank you, I won't let you down, I promise!” He said, standing and running upstairs.

“We didn’t tell him he was going to be a father,” I said, after he was gone.

“There's always tomorrow.”

[nabesthetics]

whoops this got long

I don't have a specific answer to that one, because it's a very complex topic, but I don't think the grandmas were a part of that problem. They took good care of the Devorak siblings, there's a lot of care and affection whenever they talk about that part of their childhood, or in that epilogue tale.

Parent loss is already incredibly traumatizing, even without possible survivor's guilt, and it's likely that Julian reacted to it all by spending the following few years making sure that nothing bad happens to Portia. I'd say that is one of the roots of his self-sacrificial "others are more important" tendencies, as well as his theatrics.

However, Julian didn't stay in Nevivon for that long if you really think about it. The timing of that storm is pretty ambiguous, but I'd say that Julian was about 10-13 y.o. at the time. He also mentions in the prologue that he hadn't seen Portia since she was a child. Which does add up, because in order for a particular future event to make sense, he would have to leave Nevivon to study medicine as a pretty young teenager: 14, maybe 15 y.o. at most. And at this young age, he studied as a battlefield medic, witnessing some of the worst wounds... and a whole lot of death. How many people died while he was trying to help them? How many does he think he'd be able to save if he learned faster, or made different decisions? Of course he had Nazali and possibly others helping him, but they couldn't always be around. Not every patient would be as lucky as a particular young mercenary to survive an amputation in pre-antibiotic setting.

Fast forward some time, and there's the pirate accident. The story is told in a pretty light-hearted manner, but is terrifying if you give it a bit more thought. I don't recall all details, but a ship young Julian was traveling on was attacked by pirates, and he pulled the "I'm a doctor, you need me" card at them. That pretty heavily implies that the pirates would in fact hurt or straight up kill him otherwise, so they clearly weren't the "good" kind of pirates like Mazelinka's crew is portrayed to be.

Julian stayed on that pirate ship for a year. The pirate ship with a crew attacking other ships, possibly killing people, and then having Julian patch up any wounds and not letting him leave for months. Admittedly this enters headcanon territory, but it makes sense to me with the context we're given. So there could be a whole lot of leftover guilt from this, too, especially since the captain of that ship – essentially the leader of murderous bandits – liked Julian.

Then there are years of further travel, finally settling in plagued Vesuvia, and we know how that goes. So much death that bodies were piling up on the streets, because the cure research was not bearing results. And then, of course, there's the death of his assistant that he didn't even notice at first.

TL;DR: Essentially, I think him thinking he doesn't deserve anything good is rooted in layers upon layers upon layers of guilt that begin all the way in that storm, but grew throughout the decades due to many events throughout his life.

Additional thought: interestingly we never hear anything about any sort of romantic relationships aside from that one Asra situation. With Julian's nature + traveling lifestyle, I bet there was actually a whole array of short-lived flings, one-night-stands, what have you. While that can be perfectly fine for many people, I feel like for Julian, who's clearly craving a close relationship, it would contribute to pummeling his self-esteem further.

Everyday i think about the "you don't have to earn affection, you can just... have it" scene and how surprised Julian is

This man thinks that he has to earn love. Why? What, or who, made him think that? You can't tell me it's only a nature thing. That has got to have started in his childhood - did the grandmas made him think he needed to be useful to earn affection? Does he think his parents are dead because he wasn't useful enough to earn their love and their life?

I don't think Julian ever got true, gentle affection other than the mc. From his parents, maybe. From his sister, though she's pretty rough love as well. Granted, i haven't played their tale yet, so i could be missing some context on the grandmas, but where else would he have gotten such a deep rooted belief that he doesn't deserve love unless he earns it?

[dreamyarcana]

the arcana + shit i said when i 15 years old

Asra:

Nadia:

Julian:

Muriel:

Portia:

Lucio: 

[valhallanrose]

The Red Plague

The art above was created by Nix Hydra, and can be found in the Minor Arcana Art Book (or where I got it - off the fandom wiki page, because who’s going to stop me)

Much of Zelda’s story in the non-apprentice timeline delves into the plague before, during, and in the aftermath of Vesuvia, and I wanted to compile my lore and headcanons for it in one place before I delve into her story fully. I will incorporate as much canon as possible, but given that that isn’t a large amount of info, a lot of this is based off research and personal worldbuilding. 

CWs for discussions of disease, death, body horror, I guess spoilers but I’m surprised if it is for anyone considering how the info is everywhere in game in all routes. This is also, again, personal headcanon and I don’t expect it to fall in line with everyone’s thoughts on the plague.

The Timeline

I’m going to go with a comprehensive timeline first, and this part is all based on canon information. I’ll try and provide as many sources as I can as well, but some of this is pulled from multiple books and I might forget exactly where something came from. 

As we learn in the Lucio tale, Dawn of the Grub, Lucio strikes up a deal with the wyrm of pestilence (Vlastomil) - his parents’ hearts in exchange for a disease that will allow Lucio to kill them both. The Lucio brought the disease back to the tribe, which weakened his father enough for Lucio to kill him. His mother Morga, however, fights off the disease, referring to it as a ‘summer cold’, and Lucio flees the tribe and joins a traveling mercenary band which allows the plague to spread. 

I don’t have a particular reason why Morga would have survived the plague. Her sprites in the game never show any sign of the plague that are generally acknowledged - no red sclera, no veins, no signs of weakness, so on and so forth. The best theory I can posit is that Morga either genuinely had a summer cold, or that the plague only took hold in Lutz rather than them both. Either way, unsatisfying, but we’re going to call Morga the exception and not the rule. 

Because Lucio did not fulfill his end of the bargain with Vlastomil, the plague continued to spread, following Lucio as he traveled the continent. This is also the point where the beetles appear - more on them later. 

The implication in the game is that the disease reached other countries and areas, but the next canon mention of the Red Plague’s spread occurs in Portia’s route, book X - Wheel of Fortune. A map is discussed where dates, places, and sightings of the plague are noted by Julian in his study of the plague - the Painted Fields, Blue Mountain Ridge, and Annyala Gate are all names that arise. 

Nasmira recognizes the name of Annyala Gate and points out that Nazali was at that battle, in which a band of mercenaries was sighted - and their leader needed an arm amputated, which is confirmed to be Lucio. Nadia states that Lucio came to Vesuvia not long after that battle, and the next time the Plague was seen was in Vesuvia. 

It is never seen again outside Vesuvia, and this brings us to the three years before the game, where Lucio’s ‘death’ heralds the end of the plague, and it is never seen actively again in the Arcana world. 

The headcanons I have are to help establish a solid timeline. Dawn of the Grub tells us the deal is made on Lucio’s 18th birthday, and I personally believe that Lucio’s death occurred on his 40th birthday, giving us about 22 years of time for us to work with for the spread of the plague. 

Some more headcanons mixed with canon:

Lucio is newly titled Count in the tale Travel at Night. Based on personal age headcanons, this tale probably occurs at minimum 17 to 18 years pre-canon, putting Asra at (at most) 10/11, Muriel at 14/15, and Lucio at a startling 22/23. It could occur later, as art style can influence perspective on age, but Muriel and Asra really don’t feel like they could be much older than that. 

During his mercenary days (sometime between the ages of 18 and 22/23) Lucio was contracted by the former Count of Vesuvia, Count Spada. This battle occurs at Annyala, mentioned above, and is the battle where Lucio 

At a certain point, Lucio was contracted by the Count of Vesuvia at the time, Count Spada, for a battle where he "made a name for himself." Story implications indicate that this was the battle during which he lost his left arm. It was amputated by Julian to prevent his death from blood loss. After he won the battle for Count Spada, he became friends with the Count and privy to secrets about Vesuvia and the Palace. Spada would eventually name Lucio his heir, and upon his death, Lucio earned rulership of Vesuvia. 

The plague eventually appears and ravages Vesuvia’s population

Plague patients are sent to the Lazaret away from the city and cremated, then scattered on the beach. 

Lucio contracts the plague and defies the average lifespan of those who contracted it by lasting a few months rather than 3-10 days.

Lucio dies on his birthday, not of the plague but as a result of the ritual he was attempting to gain a new body.

I tried to map most of that out here, and wow, what a sad little diagram. Nix Hydra, y’all are cowards for not going hard on this. I, however, am not, and I am about to go more apeshit than I already have. 

The Spread

Cracking my knuckles on the history degree, baby, I’m borrowing some real life inspiration from across multiple time periods to tie all this together. 

I personally think the whole “Oh, the plague arrives wherever Lucio goes and disappears when he leaves” thing is a copout, and we’re drop kicking that out a window. 

I do believe, as canon states, that the plague follows Lucio. It spreads obviously to regions he visits, but I don’t think it just disappears when he leaves. I really, really want to believe someone would have been smart enough to see the connection if the plague suddenly appeared and was later yoinked out of existence as soon as Lucio left town every single time it cropped up somewhere way sooner than it was noticed in canon. 

I don’t think the plague was as isolated as the game implies, and when it was in Vesuvia, it was probably also elsewhere. The epicenter was Lucio, of course, so Vesuvia faced the worst of it, but I think there would have been pockets with much smaller numbers in other parts of the world. 

Earlier I mentioned a few locations cited in Portia’s route as to where the plague had been before Vesuvia - the Painted Fields, Blue Mountain Ridge, and Annyala Gate. I think once these areas were hit with the plague, it would have continued to spread even after Lucio left. Across multiple routes, it’s made clear that the only ‘cure’ to the plague is Lucio’s death, which is why Julian had intended to kill Lucio after making his deal with the Hanged Man. The lack of Lucio’s presence would have kept the plague from continuing to escalate, but in these regions, it probably would have spread when the region’s people attempted to relocate, or ceased when the population died out. 

Annyala Gate, or the Great Gate, is a location I can dive a little deeper into. It’s the last location the plague was sighted before Vesuvia, and because it ties into my OC Zelda’s storyline, I have many a thought. 

Lucio is in Annyala sometime between year 1 and year 4/5, though I believe it’s on the later end of that spectrum, so let’s say year 4 to clearly predate his title as heir to Vesuvia. For reference, here is a map of the Great Gate as provided by the art book: 

Jeebus. Terrible photo quality. Ah, well, on we go. 

The Great Gate is situated between the Sea of Persephia (left) and the Salty Sea (right), and as the map currently stands, is the only point on land that gives access to the southern part of the world map. In this area in particular, I feel like a number of factors would have kept the plague alive long after Lucio left. 

Narrowest point on the world map for transport of goods between ports and seas, which would be a more efficient route than traveling around the continent to reach the same point

As previously stated, this is the only known access point to the south, and travelers heading through this area could possibly be carriers of the plague or catch the plague from the area 

The only way for the plague to stop would be with the death of Lucio, so once it was inflicted upon this area, it continued to spread and infect the population in adjoining areas 

The game repeatedly has emphasized the proximity of the Red Beetles (known harbingers of the plague) to water, such as the Nopali village in Asra’s route and the red stains attributed to them in Julian’s route, and we receive further confirmation in Portia’s route that the water supplies are contaminated during the period of the disease

Fun bit of trivia from Nadia’s route - in the Strength book, Nadia mentions that she remembers the beetles, and that once they had been used as part of a pigment used to dye fabric crimson, which was all the rage in Vesuvia. Should this trend have continued, people wearing fabrics dyed with this beetle pigment most likely would become infected, and thus, the cycle continued. 

I will also point out here that pigments have been used in makeup across history, and I’m sure applying some beetle-laden makeup would have really fucked some people up. Eyeshadows, blushes, lipsticks...contact with any of these areas, particularly the eyes and mouth, indicate a possibility of infection. 

This does, however, leave a fifteen year (ish) period where the plague would have been active in this region until Lucio’s death. Historically, diseases can last such broad swathes of time. For the sake of displaying precedent, I will point out some examples here:

The Black Death, lasting 1346-1353

The third cholera pandemic, lasting 1846-1860

The third plague pandemic, a major bubonic plague like the Black Death, lasting 1855-1960

The HIV/AIDS pandemic, which has been ongoing since 1981 in the US

However, some of the most devastating plagues have lasted only a few years, which I will touch on later when I discuss Vesuvia’s case of the plague. All of the diseases listed above are additionally categorized with death tolls over a million people.

(On a side note, if you would like to contribute to programs searching for a cure for HIV/AIDS, I will suggest donating to organizations like amfAR, the Black AIDS Institute, or the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, all of which are linked accordingly and deserve your support if you are capable of making a  contribution)

Remaining question: if the last place the plague was seen was in Annyala, more than fifteen years before it was seen in Vesuvia, what the fuck happened during that time beforehand?

Vesuvia - Before the Plague

Here’s the thing. The timeline given by the devs is a fucking mess. So, what I’m going to propose here is almost entirely theory, and I ask that you keep that in mind. 

Lucio ascends to the title of Count by the time he’s about 22 or 23. Spada dies, presumably, and there’s no noticeable mention of his death via plague or the establishment of the court. 

For some fascinating lore on how the government in Vesuvia works, I’m going to point you to this post by @sunrisenfool​, who has one of the biggest brains and is gracious enough to allow me to reference their work a little for this one. 

I don’t think the court as we know it existed when Lucio became Count. I agree with sunrisenfool here that Valdemar has been the Palace’s cockroach for a while - which was actually also confirmed in the Star book of Portia’s route, in which we see Count Prospero (founder of Vesuvia) summon Valdemar and ask for their aid in creating a city that will never die. The remaining courtiers would be gradually established as time continued on, all demons who struck bargains with the Devil in one form or another placed into positions of power alongside Lucio. We also cannot forget Valerius, who made his own deal with the Devil, and played his own role in this scenario.

We know that Lucio was also a pawn, later on, in the Devil’s agenda to bridge the gap between the main world and the Arcane realms. The ritual discussed in Portia’s Star book is described as a vessel to do just that - 

“...every 777 years, the physical and magical world will collide...the laws of magic will no longer be immutable, and the world will bend to our will...So long as the Countship and canals remain whole, so shall the power to reshape the world. You need only await the conjunction. Perform the ritual and lead the city to glory heretofore unknown. I, Count Prospero, first of my line, declare the founding of Vesuvia. The city eternal. My legacy.” - Count Prospero

It’s confirmed after this scene that the ritual, using the canals as a conduit, opened a ‘door’ so to speak to the Arcane realms. It’s also said there is a three year window to perform this ritual, and that at the time of game canon, we are at the end of that three year window. 

So. Borderline conspiracy time. 

Circling back to the lovely sunrisenfool’s work, I’m going to pull a particular excerpt here:

...the Consul of Vesuvia is the second most important/powerful political figure in Vesuvia, directly after the Count/ess. Aside of the political and civic duties I have already explained, the Consul acts as a “protector” of Vesuvia, albeit not in a paternalistic politically-conservative way (which is how paternalistic policies would be understood in our world). Instead, the Consul is meant to rule the City if the Count is absent or incapacitated, therefore being the subsidiary depositary of the secret of the foundation of Vesuvia, and the importance of it’s Canals.

Lucio makes it pretty clear he doesn’t know much of anything about the ritual during Portia’s Star book, but he was told about it by Spada before his death as it was a secret kept close to the court. That gave him something of leverage, even if he wasn’t aware of it, 

My thought as to why the plague did not spread in Vesuvia sooner is that Lucio had knowledge of this ritual, however minimal, and the Devil needed him alive to eventually use the ritual for himself. So, as Vlastomil (the wyrm of pestilence who granted this curse) was established in Vesuvia as Praetor, the plague was kept at bay for the time being while the city came under the full control of the Devil’s demons. 

I cannot imagine the only person who knows about the ritual is the Count, because that feels like a woefully flawed plan, so I do believe the Consul would have also been privy to such a secret in case the Count was in a position they could not share it due to absence or incapacitation. Basically, a rehash of sunrisenfool’s point, but I digress. 

As the window drew nearer for the completion of the ritual and it became clearer that Lucio knew next to nothing about the ritual and how it worked, the Devil decided to take a different approach. The plague was unleashed once again by Vlastomil, with the goal that Lucio become infected and eventually die, and that Valerius take over the Countship. Lucio no longer was useful to the Devil, and should he be removed from power, someone like Valerius - who knew the purpose of the ritual, who was under the Devil’s bargain by this point - would be an ideal candidate to finish the task at hand. Leverage, it works wonders. 

I don’t think the ritual performed to gain a new body could have been mere chance. I think Lucio knew more than he let on about the canals and the magic in Vesuvia from Spada. Yes, I know the first three were written before Portia, but come on, the timing is insane. He’s no magician, and performing something that complex and magically charged right at the beginning of the three year window when the ritual is supposed to be performed feels far from coincidental. Fight me. 

But, on to what happens in Vesuvia once the plague is free to spread again.

Vesuvia - During the Plague

The first sighting of the plague is in year 20, and I personally believe the plague lasted about two years or 24 months. The period is divided into three ‘waves’ - the first six months, the year leading up to Lucio’s death, and the six months following Lucio’s death. 

The First Wave

The first wave begins when the first known case of the Red Plague is confirmed, and in this period, the spread is rather slow.  

Here is the introduction of the Lazaret, which I do believe is a building that existed before the plague - this is personal thoughts, but the odds of this being the first major disease Vesuvia experienced feel pretty slim, and I do think this was a previously established quarantine that was renovated/expanded for the Red Plague outbreak. In an effort to get ahead of the disease, the space was designated a quarantine, largely staffed by volunteers when the palace seemed to not acknowledge the growing situation. It would slowly begin to increase until the plague boomed at the six month mark, heralding the beginning of the second wave. 

The Second Wave

This is the ‘bad period’ of the plague. I say that loosely, because it’s all bad, but I digress. 

I headcanon that the apprentice dies in the beginning of the second wave, when spread of the red plague rapidly begins to increase and the call goes out for researchers to search for a cure. We know how that story goes, so moving on to the details of this wave. 

There were two groups at this point in the plague - those assigned to research, working out of Valdemar’s dungeon/lab/carnival of horrors studying the plague, and those assigned to the Lazaret, caring for the sick and dying and maintaining the facility. 

I’m going to focus more on the Lazaret for this, as the research aspect is pretty well covered throughout Julian’s route and conversations with him in other routes, and this post is already getting long. 

The Lazaret was home to the dying, where they would be cared for in their final days and eventually cremated. My thought is that the remains of the patients were carefully catalogued in the beginning, returned to families willing to claim them, and those left unclaimed were scattered on the beach at the Lazaret. Later on, as more and more people died, less remains were claimed, leading to the black beaches that still mark the shores of the Lazaret in canon. Often the staff here were a mix of healers, doctors, apothecaries, anyone willing to try anything to ease the pain of such a disease. 

The staff at the Lazaret began wearing layered masks - the plague mask with its herb-stuffed beak, another facial covering beneath for an added layer of protection, and a head covering that sealed the gaps between the mask and the face. They were also required to wear gloves, tight-fitted sleeves tucked inside, and their pants tucked into their boots to reduce the risk of infection through contact. Their days would start in locker rooms on one end of the facility, removed from the patients, and suit up for the day while leaving belongings in the lockers. The end of the shift consisted of showers and disposal of garments to be sterilized, they’d return home in the clothes they came in, and by the time they returned a new uniform would be waiting for them. 

Lucio caught the plague during this period, most likely halfway through. He lasted several months, but the exact length is unknown, aside from he ‘lasted longer than most victims of the plague’ who died between 3-10 days.

I don’t think the averages are entirely accurate. There were most likely some who were asymptomatic until the plague was in very late stages, or those who presented symptoms very early on and survived for long stretches of time. All would die bearing the red sclera, veins, and other symptoms depicted above. Basically, this disease is claimed to be unpredictable, and I think that would also stretch to the duration at which each patient had it. Those who were physically frail likely would have died sooner than those who had been in oprtimal health before the plague, making the times vary rather drastically. I’d suggest perhaps a month at the longest, a few days at the shortest. 

Policy wise - during this period, the ports would have closed, and Vesuvia would have shut down. Nobody in, nobody out, not without rigorous inspection and quarantine before exiting to the city to avoid further spread. Often the only people allowed into the city were doctors from other regions affected by the plague called to help research, but during this year, I would estimate Vesuvia lost easily 30% of its population to the Red Plague. 

The Third Wave

This wave is the period that occurs after Lucio’s death at the Masquerade, three years pregame. I’ll touch a tiny bit more more on this in the next section, but this is where we see the gradual end of the spread of the plague, and the last cases shown in Vesuvia. It’s the end of the plague period, and I give this about six months for the official ‘all clear’ to have been given by those tracking case counts. 

The Lazaret is eventually decommissioned and now sits abandoned, a shadow on the horizon to remind those who survived what had been lost. The city mourned, the gates slowly opened, and gradually, we reach the point of comparative normalcy we see in the game set three years later. 

Vesuvia - The Aftermath

Lucio’s death would, ultimately, mean the end of the plague. Rather than immediately disappearing and all those suffering from it be cured, however, I would be inclined to say that the spread came to a halt. 

The last wave of the plague, in the six months after Lucio’s death, would have been a decrease in new cases until there were no new ones being reported, and the last of the patients who had been infected finally passed. 

The final duties of the doctors at the Lazaret, after all remains are cremated, would have been the incineration of all materials that could not be sterilized. Linens, spare uniforms, unclaimed personal affects, so on and so forth until the time came to return home. I do not remember the exact location, but I am fairly confident of a mention of the MC remembering barrels burning doctor’s uniforms and masks in the days after the end of the plague. It was, for a lack of better words, a purge - an attempt to erase the last physical memories of what the city had endured. 

Events like this are traumatic for all involved. They are painful wounds, and for the rate of death I imagine occurred in Vesuvia, the odds that someone lost no one are slim. There was likely a long period of mourning, and as noted in the present of the game, rarely is the plague spoken of outside of the context of the investigation in the primary routes. 

Many of those medical staff members who survived were those assigned to research at the Palace. The proximity of the staff to the ill at the Lazaret quarantine likely would have made the rate of infection far higher for the caretakers, meaning that often the staff would end up caring for colleagues in their final days. 

Even three years removed, the time of the plague is a raw wound for those in Vesuvia - but I do think the period is fascinating and I love exploring the different facets of it in my own world building. And, well, shameless self promo, but I am eager to write it myself when I get into Zelda’s backstory.

If you made it this far, thank you. Go drink some water or something, idk, wellbeing checkpoint bc what a long ass post

[nabesthetics]

Apprenticember: FLASH ROUND

12. What does their home look like? Their room?

Dragoat Alastor is technically homeless for a while; until the two manage to save up enough for their own place, they occupy that guestroom at the Palace. Once they do, Al prefers to have lots of shelves and surface space for books and various trinkets; his living space isn’t messy per se, but can be pretty chaotic due to the various items he collects, plenty of pillows and a peculiar ways he organises things at times.

Marty ends up moving in with Julian, so I’d imagine we’re talking about some mahogany furniture with black, red and white colors being main ones. Frankly Marty’s own tastes aren’t too different from that. His own room is a study/office with a fairly elaborate setup for alchemical practices.

13. Can they cook? What’s their favorite meal?

Alastor can bake fairly well and likes it, but cooking… has very mixed results. He’s good at following precise instructions, but as soon as there’s anything “to taste” he starts sweating because he perceives savory tastes differently from humans: for example, doesn’t care about salt or feel spiciness even in most brutal peppers. Food that tastes fine to him might be near inedible for others. Just let him stick to baking or give him very, very specific instructions.

His favorite meal is a simple rare steak, or anything of the sorts. That’s carnivores for ya.

For Marty it takes a bit of trial and error, but Asra’s absences/weird tastes and Julian’s inability to make a soup without setting it on fire, he becomes quite decent at preparing a variety of meals. He keeps several cookbooks, but also picks up quite a few recipes and tips from Portia and Nevivon locals in order to up his cooking game. 

Probably wouldn’t be able to name just one favorite dish, but he always loves a good paella.

15. What are they proudest of?

A cheesy (yet true) answer for both would be that they’re proud of their partners. What can I say, Julian- and Lucio-romancers have some serious character growth to witness. Aside from that, though…

Alastor is proud of his research. Piecing together complex spells and ancient forgotten history of his people, honing and improving his understanding and use of magic, eventually even combining together human and dragon spells, and bringing once forgotten practices back to life.

Marty isn’t really a prideful person, but he is quite pleased with how the magic shop business develops under his supervision and knack for establishing business connections. Eventually he might become rightfully proud of his own character development, but that one might take, well, significantly more character development first.

16. What’s their deepest insecurity?

Alastor: early into the story, it’s all about him not feeling like himself in his own skin, very insecure about his looks and behavioral differences from people around him. While he embraces those traits of his later on, a part of him still worries that others see him as too weird, too different, to truly accept and understand him.

Marty: that whoever he is – the true him, masks and playful roles aside, the Marty he’s still in progress of rediscovering – isn’t really the person others want him to be. That he can’t do enough, be enough, to make people happy.

…there might be a theme of fitting in/acceptance going on here.

[the-iron-orchid]

The whole reason i do a Renderpalooza periodically (besides handing out free dopamine) is because making myself do renders in a rapid-fire fashion is basically an XP grind. I can’t just sit here and agonize over details for 3-5 days per render, I have to keep going!

I always end up finding ways to improve my models, as well as making some new discoveries about draping, lighting and/or shaders. This round has resulted in a much better hair shader for Portia (I learned a lot making Alexander’s flamin’ red hair), more improvements to Jinana’s custom hair shader, and innumerable small tweaks to the models - I have to use them to be able to improve them!

Anyway, we’re at 12 renders down (technically 15 because some had extra angles), with 5 left to go! :D

[choleraciemna]

So about the relics. Will numbering all those questions may be help somehow?..

1. Will Zenith get broken again because of what Rime's done?

How can a relic get broken? In Sage's ch 1 we were told it's probably all about a physical part of it only. But breaking one still seems to be an outstandingly rare event. So. Does it break when you use it some WRONG way?

(First I thought it may happen when you kill using a relic. But it kinda makes no sense if one has a physical form of a lethal weapon...)

I guess Zenith had been broken when Sage had to kill Lucan. Will it get broken again now being used to attack Sage?

2. Is Zenith still Sage's relic after Sage tried to throw it away?

What having a relic means indeed? It's kinda obvious one never just owns a relic like a simple thing. We were told several times relics choose owners and take places within them in some magical way. And there were a few references this connection may be broken both by the relic and the owner. Sage said Zenith rejected him back in Tulsi's shop. Now he tried to reject his relic himself. Did it work?

3. Can your relic kill you at all?..

Is there a possibility relics can't hurt their owners in this realm with it's magic rules?.. Or can't kill at least...

(Yeah, it's only the 5th chapter of 15, I know. And it can't end like this. (Hi, Portia!..) And it was not the result of any choises we could do, it just had to happen anyways. And some of his scars also look like the wounds were horribly bad. Like Sage had survived lethal or semilethal injuries several times allready. Tulsi said he seemed to be dying last time she saw him. She seemed to be serious. Cats got nibe lives. It just can't be. I know. It just hurts. Just want him to be safe. Hate seeing him in pain.)

4. What's with our relic, the Astrolabe?

It all started with Anisa asking Sage as our Starsworn instructor to show us how to summon one's relic. May be it's time for MC to learn it somehow by themselves. Actually I'm not even sure it's necessary for healing. In Felix's route it worked some intuitional way without showing the Astrolabe up. But that was certainly not that bad kind of an injury.

I hope we'll be able to heal Sage. And I suppose it must be connected with our relic and magic abilities. And probably not in the most obvious and awayted way...

[nazali-md]

Get to know my apprentice!

1. Name? Surname? Goes by Scilla. Surname not needed.

2. Any family? Only faint memories

3. Any familiar? A smartass fly named Myiagros

4. Love Interest? Every single one. How does that work timeline-wise? You're asking the wrong person, I don't even know how my day is supposed to work timeline-wise.

5. Best strength in magic? Her biggest strength would be using magic in creative, unconventional ways. Naturally talented in wind magic. Coming from a family of travelling story-tellers, blessed with a literally enchanting voice. Well versed in hiding her presence, altering her appearance, passing through unnoticed and being forgotten quickly.  

6. Favourite colour?  Royal blue, gold, and wine red

7. Favourite number? 4

8. Sexuality? Pan & Polyamorous

9. Weird hobby? Occasionally raising the dead.

10. Favourite season? Summer

11. Favourite weather? Warm but windy. Also night storms.

12. Favourite place in Vesuvia? The Fields

13. How does their laughter sound? Her honest laugh can only described as silent shaking. If you hear her laugh at you, she wants you to hear.

14. How do they look when they cry? 2 types: the Hollywood perfect fake crying, silent tears streaming down her cheekbones, artfully smudged facial paint; and the red eyes, voice breaking, lots of yelling, frustration crying  

15. What do they like to wear? Lots of colour, lots of layers, patterns resembling the night sky. Fond of cloaks, capes, headscarves, veils and flashy facial paint. Anything that helps her hide her facial features. She has little regard to fashion though, and mostly just wears whatever was on the top of the clean pile. It has some... interesting results.

16. What are their fears? Closed spaces, losing magic. Her biggest fear is that people important to her would abandon her after seeing her true shelf.  

17. What do they like to do Friday night? Clear weather? It's astronomy time. Otherwise she loves to go out dancing, and has no problem finding company. However if she's in the middle of some interesting magic stuff, well good luck, she's not going anywhere until it's finished.

18. Do they use makeup? Makeup, magic, magic reinforced makeup, it's all fair game. Mostly for fun. Illegal stuff, sometimes. All the flashy face paint. Lucio's crying in the corner.

19. Favourite food? Shrimps!

20. Favourite drink? Coffee

21. Zodiac sign? Aquarius

22. Day of birth? Classified information

23. Favourite play? Richard III

24. Favourite music? Her taste of music is somewhere right next to her fashion sense

25. Favourite song? Tinariwen - Nánnufláy

26. What are their aesthetics? The endless night sky, copper wind chimes, sand shifting, the piper of Hamelin, cornflowers in wheat fields, the call of the road, tall buildings with gargoyles, untameable hair, mountain peaks and open fields, scarf gone with the wind, dancing barefoot, the milky way

27. What is their style? Eclectic

28. What is their height? Taller than Asra, shorter than Nadia

29. Any mental health issues? Fear of abandonment, slight anxiety  

30. Any health issues in general? Not quite an issue, but very sensitive to cold

31. Favourite book? The Decameron

32. Favourite book genre? Folktales, short stories, anecdotes. Also a lot of non-fiction.  

33. Favourite time of the day? Night

34. If they weren’t a magician, who would they be? Hard question. Being a magician is a large part of her sense of self. She's already a successful shop owner and spy on the side, so probably one of those. She also made a decent healer.

35. Do they believe in ghosts? It kinda comes with her job.

36. Do they believe in demons? Same as above.

37. Do they like sports? Depends. She's pretty fit, but sports involving a lot of rules aren't her thing.

38. Favourite dessert? Chocolate. And those fancy pastries with a million layers.

39. What is their biggest motivation to solve Lucio’s killer mystery? Curiosity and boredom.  

40. What do they think of Lucio so far? (I'll answer these as how Scilla thinks of the LI's at the early stages of their routes) Very entertaining company, but oh boy, so dumb. It's endearing though. They both have secrets they're hesitant to share with each other, and neither of them is happy about the snow.

41. What do they think of Nadia so far? Ooh, challenge. Nadia not only pikes her interest, she really awakens Scilla's need to prove herself. She desperately wants to gain her respect and favour.  

42. What do they think of Asra so far? There's no life without Asra. He's already the centre of her world, but oh my god they were roommates. They love each other very dearly, but they can get under each other's skin in a second. Lots of frustration to work through.  

43. What do they think of Julian so far? She's having a ball, this man is chaos, and she thrives in chaos. He's one of the few who can keep up with her, both in incoherent trains of thoughts and semi-parkouring around the city.

44. What do they think of Portia so far? It was love at first sight, slow motion, cheesy music, everything. She tries to hide just how far she's fallen, because it's really stupid, she's not that easy to win over, but she's failing miserably. Scilla is prepared to do anything to save her from harm.

45. What do they think of Muriel so far? They got off the wrong foot, and he's really trying her patience, as Scilla is not used to people disliking her. They have a long way to go, and I have a long fic to write :(

46. Do they like animals? She grew up poor, so the concept of keeping animals as friends is weird to her. If Scilla sees an animal her mind automatically sorts it to edible/non edible, could be used for farm work/practically useless. This is one of her many conflicts with Muriel. Of course this changes with time and she'd never eat Faust or Pepi, but Camio's on thin fucking ice.

47. Are they allergic to anything? Humourless people

48. Do they have any talents (except magic)? Dancing and astronomy. Also has a knack for smooth social interactions.  

49. Do they get drunken easily? Hates to lose control over her actions, so she doesn't really drink.

50. What is their personality type?  no idea

51. What is their worst negative quality? Desire to control people, greed, mistrust, dishonesty, a tendency to start unnecessary arguments, impulsiveness, pettiness.  

52. What is their best positive quality? Creativity, attentiveness, sense of humour, willingness to help, friendliness, politeness, problem solving attitude.  

53. What is their position to fall asleep? CUDDLE. If only a pillow, then a pillow.

54. The most uncomfortable moment they ever experienced? Getting caught lying by Asra. She used magic to vanish on the spot.

55. Their happiest memory? Waking up surrounded by those she loves, and realising it's not Asra's turn to make breakfast.  

56. Do they blush? It doesn't really show on her skin.

57. Are they clumsy? Quite the opposite.  

58. Do they like jokes? Hell yeah.

59. How do they flirt? You've got to be careful with an enchanting voice, so it's mostly nonverbal, the right dress does all the talking for her. Casual touches, eyes lingering a bit too long. Letting the strap of the dress slide off her shoulders, or her shirt ride up a bit. In a relationship, she's ready to throw in some whispered dirty talk and not so casual touching.  

60. Favourite fruit? Grapes, blueberries and sour cherry.

Why, yes! I do have too much time on my hands due social distancing :)

The questions are originally from @gemarcana​ I think, picture made with picrew

[xathia-89]

Commissions Open

Hi Everyone! 

I’m feeling like I’m adding to ‘another bites the dust’ in terms of writers dropping to their knees and needing financial assistance. 

My backstory (I don’t want sympathy, I just want you all to understand why I hate that I am doing this) is that 9th May 2018, I stood up from my office chair and I was in agonising pain. I could barely walk, stand or sit, and my job became nearly impossible to do, but I needed the money to continue since they didn’t pay me sick. There was general concern over the pain location and the issues since I was starting to lose the sensation down my legs and feet quickly. Then my life unfortunately completely changed on the 13th June 2018, I ended up admitted to a hospital the following morning and I have ended up resigning from my job because of the pressures I was facing in both my medical treatment and my boss refusing to accept that I wasn’t going to just return to work. As a result, me and my husband are literally scraping by and just being able to afford our bills. I am in a much better place than others, and I will admit that. But it doesn’t cover the additional costs such as all my travelling to and from a major hospital 20 miles away and the car repairs. I’ve gone from a well-paying job to just being able to manage to pay the bills. 

I am open to offers but this is my baseline charge:

£3 - 500 words £5 - 1000 words £10 - 2000 words (I will send the first 500 words as a preview to ensure that you are happy with the way things are going) £15 - 3000 words  (I will send the first 500 words as a preview to ensure that you are happy with the way things are going) ~ anything more than this I will write on a sliding scale and the first 750 words will be sent to ensure that you are happy. 

I am willing to write for the following fandoms: - Ikémen Sengoku: Nobunaga, Masamune, Hideyoshi, Mitsunari, Mitsuhide, Kenshin, Shingen, Sasuke - Ikémen Revolution: Loki, Oliver, Seth, Jonah - Love, Lies & a Heist: Ryan, Noel, Luca, Ewan, Logan - Marvel Universe: Black Widow, Ironman, Spiderman, Captain America, Winter Soldier, Falcon, War Machine, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Doctor Strange, Pepper Potts, Antman, Wasp, Black Panther - Harry Potter Universe: Most characters - please enquire - Mystic Messenger: Jumin Han, Zen, Yoosung, Seven, Jaehee -Midnight Cinderella: Giles, Sid, Byron, Nico, Leo, Albert, Alyn -Arcana: Nadia, Julian, Portia, Asra

I will require you to be as detailed as possible in your request as possible. I will do AUs, NSFW, angst and fluff. I am willing to add in original characters to things providing that you give me enough of a character to work into my story. I am willing to ship characters with each other and I will do crossovers. 

Basically, if you have an idea, I will do my best to fulfil your request, but I also reserve the right to refuse to write something I am not comfortable with. I require payment up front instead of on completion. Please feel free to message me with any questions, but also be aware that anything nasty will be posted on my blog complete with a free mocking from myself and others are likely. 

I will take payment by Paypal for this, or Ko-Fi. 

I love you guys. Thank you for listening. 

[veiljumpernyssa]

could you just... like... answer all of those questions at once? I can't pick one but I wanna know all the things

Oh God okay

[[MORE]]

1. When did you start playing?

Oh a long time ago...over a  year ago I’d say? The main 3 were only up to uhhhh the Hermit book I think. I remember I stopped playing after that gross fetishy Asra CG came out.

2. What got you into the game?

The beautiful art and the tarot theme. This was before I knew what I know fdjhksd

3. Who was your first route?

Julian!

4. Who is your favourite route?

Honestly Muriel is shaping up to be my favourite so far. Before that, I loved Asra’s route.

5. Who is your least favourite?

So far, Portia’s. Don’t get me wrong - it’s nothing to do with Portia herself. It just feels a little stagnant and flat.

(I bet you expected me to say Lucio, didn’t you? Well, you’re wrong).

6. Who do you play in Heart Hunter?

Chibi Chandra!

7. Who is your favourite to chase in Heart Hunter?

Portia or Muriel!

8. Who of the not playable LIs do you wish you could romance?

The baker. Selasi route when?

9. Opinion on Asra?

Asra is often mischaracterised imo and held to an unfair standard that a lot of the other characters aren’t. I’ve seen many of these arguments and I’m tired.

Asra is not jealous, possessive, creepy, manipulative or shady. Not once does he act possessive towards the MC in any of the routes including his own (a possible exception could be made for the Reversed Ending, but what do you expect? That’s after the MC literally enables that behaviour).

Being sad or cautioning the MC against Julian is not being jealous or possessive. The way he talks about Julian it’s pretty obvious he felt more for the man than he realises, even if he doesn’t understand that himself.

Asra keeps secrets from the MC because canonically trying to remember too much too fast harms the MC. This has been established. In his route, he literally tells you that he hates keeping secrets from you. He takes you into his own personal gateway - an expression of trust and a willingness to open up to you. Does he do these things in the other routes? No, but that’s because you’re not spending that time with him.

I also see people angsting about how sad Asra is going to be when you tell him about Lucio in his route. Lucio harmed his parents and has been cruel to Asra so like idk what you expect. The MC doesn’t know this of course, but you do!

I think we also forget that Asra took a considerable amount of time and effort to rehabilitate the MC, care for them and reteach them basic tasks as well as magic.

Is Asra a perfect person? Of course not. He’s probably overly cautious, he can be a little distant and he reacts badly when in a crisis (see the deal he made with the Devil). He’s not always brave and not always strong, but why should we expect him to be? He’s a human being and he’s bound to have faults, but he has a generous nature and is remarkably well-adjusted considering the trauma of his childhood (don’t tell me that suddenly losing your parents is not traumatic).

10. Opinion on Julian?

I once said that Julian is likely hypersexual and I still maintain that. (For those of you who don’t know, being hypersexual is like..a tendency to engage in compulsive or self-harming sexual behaviour, sometimes as a result of trauma). I think Julian craves affection and associates sexual interest or sexual contact with his worth as a person. I don’t think he does it deliberately or to be manipulative, but because he has a definite self-esteem problem. I honestly see him as bipolar like me.

I think the way the fandom treats him as this dumbass uwu subby boy is kind of annoying. A lot of people I feel erase his bisexuality either by just ignoring it or by making homophobic jokes where the punchline is ‘ha ha he likes dick like you do!!!!’ like no shit, he’s BISEXUAL. But he’s also hard-working, brave, clever, pleasant and good-natured, and once he starts to really come into his own, he’s cheerful and optimistic. He has so many more good qualities than just ‘submissive and kinky’.

11. Opinion on Lucio?

This may surprise y’all but I actually don’t hate Lucio that much. I love to hate him as a villain.

I think he, like all of us, is a product of his environment. He grew up in a clan with a strong martial culture; his clan were warlike and frequently made war on his neighbours. We’re all influenced by our upbringing and I don’t think he’s an exception. I draw the line at saying he ‘just didn’t know right from wrong’ though. He’s not a baby.

But the differences between Lucio and the other LIs like Portia, Asra, Muriel etc is that Lucio’s life and his fate and the hardships he’s faced are almost entirely due to his own choices. It was he who decided on the eve of his eighteenth birthday to kill his parents. He sought out Vlagnagog with the intention of making a deal. He chose to continue to make deals. He knew he carried the plague and he chose to carry it across the continent including into Vesuvia, causing the deaths of thousands. He murdered and blackmailed his way across the continent. He wouldn’t have even needed to bargain for a new body if he hadn’t caught the plague that he brought into Vesuvia himself after making a deal etc.

Do I think he is a sort of cackling, villainous cliche or unrepentantly evil? No. I think he’s a person who has made deliberate choices that he is facing the consequences for and IMO it’s important that he face those consequences. I do think his main issue is entitlement and a profound lack of self-esteem (I don’t think he really believes any of the stuff he actually says about himself or other people; even Lucio’s not delusional).

I mean that’s about as generous and objective a take on Lucio as I can give you. I’ve made my feelings clear on him, but I don’t want to give the impression that I don’t actually understand him as a character, hopefully the above will prove I do haha.

12. Opinion on Muriel?

Out of all the LIs I think I relate most strongly to Muriel because of a few reasons: trauma, touch-starved, lonely and wants to connect but afraid of getting hurt (physically or emotionally).

Now that I’ve gotten personal, I really hate the way Muriel is treated by the fandom. He’s either called bland or boring, or he’s treated like he’s an animal, called feral and animalistic. He’s none of those things.

Muriel has a big complex about being alone. He was literally given away by his parents and left in Vesuvia on his own, to fend for himself on the streets. Being abandoned by his parents and not knowing why, not remembering is traumatic enough, but because of his size he’s often characterised as aggressive and strong when he’s always been gentle. Later in his life, Muriel was forced to fight and kill people against his will. I don’t think a lot of people get just how traumatic that is; not only being forced into doing Lucio’s bidding, but being forced to violently take someone’s life. I don’t blame him for leaving to live at his hut and resist connecting to anyone. It’s common for traumatized people to withdraw and isolate themselves, because the thought of getting hurt again is more frightening than being alone. But everyone needs human contact, and I think Muriel struggles a lot between wanting connection and contact (physical or emotional), between not wanting to get hurt again, to not feeling like he’s worth the effort. That struggle is something very close to my heart and that’s why I’m attached to him.

13. Opinion on Nadia?

Nadia has the biggest youngest sister complex and it’s almost amusing because I, too, have the same complex (even though I’m actually the older sibling!). Nadia, like me, feels like she’s always been compared unfavourably to her older sisters, and has felt like she has to work harder to prove she’s their equal.

It’s probably because she’s a Cancer like me. We have dual natures sometimes; the caretaker and the ringleader, who feel like we have to take it all on ourselves to get the job properly done, but who have moments where our self-doubt takes over.

I do find some aspects of Nadia’s route to be sort of odd, where it’s mentioned that the people of Vesuvia find her to be a tyrant. There’s literally no evidence to suggest that, so the only reasoning I can find next is she’s a woc. But race doesn’t matter in Vesuvia apparently so...what else could be the reason? Not to mention she’s been asleep for the past three years, so the people haven’t even seen the Countess in that time.

I feel like we didn’t really get to understand a lot about Nadia even from her route-why did she fall asleep? What on Earth did she see in Lucio? Why did she let him do all those bad things in Vesuvia before he died? (My initial thought was Cancers can be sloth-like and passive, so that could be why).

14. Opinion on Portia?

Of all the LIs I feel like it’s Portia I know the least about despite having probably the most appearances. Sure, she’s quirky and fun and cheerful, and that’s cute, but...what does she want? What does she fear? How does she feel about her brother being on trial?

I’m hoping we get to expand more of her personality in her route. I know her patron Arcana is the Star, so her route will likely be about learning to have faith in other people, but who knows.

15. What is your favourite Arcana card?

Justice. The Empress is a close runner-up.

16. Have you bought any of the official merch?

No, I refuse to give a single cent to Nix Hydra. (I really want those Tarot cards though hhh)

17. What is your favourite CG?

The one where Asra is sitting in the gondola. Squishy cheeks :3c

18. How many Arcana themed blogs do you have?

Three! This one, then I run an Ask Muriel blog at @ask-muriel-inanna and an Ask Asra blog at @ask-asra-and-faust

19. Do you draw any Arcana art? What is your favourite image you have drawn?

The cover I just did for my Arcana comic! I cant link but it's in #arcana comic and #my art

20. Self insert or apprentice insert?

Both are valid, but I have an apprentice OC.

21. Do you have an apprentice?

Yes I do! Their name is Daya

22. If there is one thing that could be made with the Arcana theme on it, what would it be and why?

Idk what this means I big dumb

23. What is your favourite ship?

Outside of the LI x MC ships I really do like Asriel and Portia/Nadia (but only if Portia isn’t her servant anymore).

24. What is your least favourite ship?

Muriel x Lucio, Asra x Lucio or Julian x Lucio. None of them would even consider ever touching Lucio with a ten foot pole and y’all know this.

25. On your first play through, what direction was your ending for the LIs?

Upright babey!!!!!

[baegarrick]

Pros/Cons of My Time At Portia on Switch

So I’ve seen a lot of posts that say that MTAP is not worth buying on the Nintendo Switch, which I feel is a pretty harsh assessment considering how great I consider the game. So I’m gonna list a few pros and cons of MTAP of the Switch version (I have not played any other console version or the PC ver, but I have watched someone else play several versions of the PC)

NO SPOILERS.

••••

Pros:

•Portable- none of the other releases are 100% playable anywhere

•Controller controls (I personally don’t like playing PC games with a keyboard, I prefer a game controller to smash stuff with)

•Physical copy (also available on the PS4 I believe but if you don’t have one of those) available soon if you collect them

•Available on the Switch (your only option if you don’t have a PC, PS4, or xbox, but DO have a Switch)

•It’s a really great game— it’s a post apocalyptic mix of Animal Crossing/Stardew Valley/original Harvest Moon games with a focus on crafting and mining

•(Gameplay, for any release) Romance is more comprehensive than any other romance/farm sim I’ve played (and I’ve played a lot of Harvest Moon type games)

•A lot of customization, and a lack of repetition. (House upgrades, ability to move all items on the lot, lots of outfits and hair colors, and when it works— changing furniture colors). Tons of items (like 15 metal storage containers full of unique items) needed for crafting means you always have to go out and fight monsters or visit dungeons or go mining to get ores or animal loot or relic pieces you have to put back together.

Cons:

•it consistently crashes if you do certain things (putting the small fish tank in your inventory after placing, harvesting giant crops) which CAN be avoided because of the consistency but is annoying considering the loading times

•Loading Times— not the worst, but booting up the game can take about five minutes, and leaving the house can take about a minute

•Lacks polish— if you’ve played BOTW you might be expecting a really spotless open world game, but this game doesn’t have that same polish, occasionally things dissapear (I’ve seen some myself, others have reported monsters falling through the floor), you see through walls, you get stuck if you’re being attacked and trying to preform an action at the same time

•Certain things don’t currently work (changing the colors of items [worked the first three times I did it, but after that it hasn’t worked], putting fish into the small fish tank, giant crops)

•Sometimes NPCs (including animals) briefly go invisible (Namely Carol, my cows, and the Western? gate) or options are available when the item is no longer there (kicking trees that have been cut down)

•(Possibly gameplay?) Occasionally when you’re being hit you can’t preform any actions (such as moving or swinging your sword), but since I haven’t played other versions I don’t know if this is intentional or not.

Results: worth it, in my book.

I don’t feel like the cons make the game completely unplayable (unlike one of the Adventure Time switch games, which I’ve seen crash between loading screens and take five minutes per loading screen), and since so many people love farming sims and games like Animal Crossing, I feel like the game should appeal to a lot of people who are willing to be a little quirky with gameplay right now until the problems get patched out. Since the game saves automatically every night, at most you lose a single day if the game crashes.

There are a ton of missions, romacible characters, and crafting and mining options, a huge open world that you improve throughout the story, multiple pets to adopt, a TON of mini games (literally probably 20 off the top of my head, from swinging to darts to horseback riding and inspecting items) that keep you occupied for a couple hundred hours, as well as three save files so you can run different workshops different ways. It’s also fairly fresh, as a lot of people have said, since it focuses on crafting with farming in the periferies.

I wouldn’t pass up this game if you only have a Switch to play it on, there are a million things in the game that are worth it if you go into the game with the mindset that the game ISN’T perfect and might not ever be. Knowing that there are problems and accepting them right now makes the game a lot more playable than if you expect it to be as perfect as 1st party 3D games. Also knowing that the game was in Alpha/Beta for a couple of years and the developers worked really hard on improving it, I’ll bet that in the upcoming months they’ll be releasing patches to address all of these issues. So if it sounds like these cons would bother you too much to play it, you may want to wait a little while.

If there are any more pros (possibly specific to switch) or cons y’all know of let me know and I’ll add them.

[flowercuco]

Fellowship 15

The party is here in United Ebbanflow Bay and take some downtime to gain their resources and prepare for the upcoming fight against Arturia. The Bay is, as a reminder, where the Elven Summit is going to take place, where they will speak about various things, most importantly being the Water Crystal. The party arrive and we begin with Theo, the heir, guiding Dahlia and Armistice to the mayor’s office to introduce themselves.

The party see the mayor’s assistant and secretary, Luna Noctaine more than happy to aid the fellowship, giving them passes to the premier resort hotel, in which the elven summit will take place, the Ocean’s Million. The hotel has a big waterslide that goes into the ocean and a smaller waterslide that goes into a pool. Theo explains that they are here to enlist more aid for the fellowship as well as aid with the safety of the summit, taking care not to mention explicitly that they suspect that the water crystal is Arturia’s next target. Luna correctly intuits that they want to speak with the mayor, Jaimé Etriganos who is wearing a business suit as you would expect of a mayor, only in a pattern similar to a Hawaiian shirt and shorts. His office had been playing loud music which is now blaring during the rest of this conversation. 

Jaimé explains to the fellowship that Mia Sicorro, Illios Motrime’s former personal bodyguard, is in charge of the security for the summit, and that they should speak to her and promises to give her contact information in the hotel. He then says that the important groups going to the summit are Killa Motrime, current leader of the second elf society, Dian Voitua, the elven queen, various other elven leaders such as himself, some drow diplomats, a halfling buisnesswoman, and some orcs who seemed to have arrived for the summit but Jaimé is not certain. Dian sent word that she would be late, set to arrive just before the summit, and Illios should have arrived but hasn’t. Jaimé is a bit upset because he wanted to party with the other elven leaders, and gives the fellowship the schedule of all of the parties that they can actually go to (as there are some that are underwater).

 Armistice sets up a meeting with Killa, taking Theo along to see her and her bodyguard Jackie Sicorro. Armistice of course introduces herself with her full name, along with her new titles, followed by introducing Theo and their titles. Killia is somewhat surprised by the great import of the members of the fellowship, is very impressed, and introduces herself as the acting leader of the Collected New Lands Above and Below. Armistice explains that she isn’t here in that level of capacity and that while equals isn’t quite the correct word, this isn’t really about their titles and such. Armistice explains that she just wants to catch up on elven culture, explaining that it had been some time since she’s really been immersed in it. Killia somewhat correctly assumes that Armistice wants to know about the results of the schism, and she prefers to not speak about the details of the schism itself, which Armistice understands. Killia explains that the Collected elves devoted themselves further to sports and boat craftsmanship than the other elf society, as well as the other shared customs involving their water buffalo and swimming and fishing. 

Armistice then asks about the water crystal, to which Killia says that it is safe, part of the summit involves showing them to each other as a show of good faith, though Armistice notices that there is more to this. When she follows up on this, Killia says its the sort of secret that’s better left, secret, to the point that she hasn’t told Illios about it. Theo follows up on this, asking about Illios and his role in that elven society. Killia explains that while he isn’t the leader of the elves, he likes to contribute to elven society and is super focused on boat developments, he was planning on revealing a new one even. 

Vapor’s downtime involves her inviting Armistice on a date at the beach. The orc went back up to the hotel after already going out to get her and have both of them come down to the beach. Vapor is wearing the largest wetsuit she could find, which is still too small, and thus isn’t zipped up all the way while Armistice is wearing an elaborate swimsuit with a skirt and her dragon feets out. Vapor goes around the beach to get sea life and show it to her girlfriend. Armistice and Vapor talk a bit about their feelings on dates, with Armistice glad that Vapor took the initiative because dragons take things extremely slow, with a lot of second guessing, and asking for help from other people, of which, in the fellowship, there aren’t really a lot of romantics. 

Vapor says that she could have asked her, which leads Armistice to go into a spiel about dragon courtship, commenting on how relationships can last lifetimes, something Vapor says isn’t really a problem here. Vapor says they should talk and thinks that they should go to a beachside restaurant for an early dinner, so the two elect to go back to the hotel room. Armistice asks if Vapor wants a ride and then the entire party can’t deal with the double entendre that follows so it is safe to assume that whenever Armistice and Vapor aren’t on screen they’re Having Fun Alone.

Dahlia invites the fellowship for drinks at the hotel bar, a rainforest style cafe with an underwater segment for the water elves. Dahlia was made aware of the secrets and basics of the fellowship, namely the whole Arturia as the Overlord situation, and she wants to try to get good relations with her co-workers. She talks about how she’s just a normal doctor, she moves around a lot, nothing extremely exciting. Aisa has a zombie, Vapor has a pitcher of long island iced tea, Armistice has some rum drink, Theo is unsure about what to drink and is told about a “Traditional” drink for elves that involves a toe. It’s horrifying but they have it. Aisa orders it, but Theo can’t drink it just yet, wanting to keep a bit sober just in case. Vapor basically overshares, explaining everything about her vocation and life except for the accident, which is convenient, because Dahlia met Vapor in one of her previous skins. Vapor also makes sure to mention Mordred and that entire situation. 

Armistice is next to speak, and she deflects by asking Dahlia about herself, to which she shares the story of how she got the nickname Portia, she had a pig mug, and it broke, so people bought her a lot of replacements, leading to her having a collection of ceramics essentially. She continues to insist that she’s not nearly as exciting as anyone else here, just a skilled doctor who does community work, though she does want to help in ways that aren’t limited to healing. Asia asks invasive questions, if Dahlia’s cut limbs off, whether it was with anaesthesia or not, and it is at this point that Dahlia pretends to be drunk and says that she has some classified missions, implying that she is some sort of secret agent in addition to being a doctor. Vapor jokes about classified operations and Dahlia winks, but says she’s never been far from Vestshalia before. Aisa asks for Dahlia’s killcount, Dahlia claims to have done zero murders, she’s a doctor after all. 

Theo decides not to have the toe drink and talks about their upbringing, how they were a simple diplomat for the drow, but elected to join the fellowship as it was more important. They ask if Dahlia has second thoughts, but she doesn’t, and is committed to helping the fellowship succeed. Aisa follows up, saying that she’s here to save the world and will do anything to ensure that it is safe. Dahlia then drinks the toe drink after Armistice stops Vapor from trying to. It isn’t the worst thing that Dahlia’s drunk.

Aisa’s downtime activity is trying to do some reconnaissance, which involves looking in all of the places someone can hide, so that she is prepared for when Arturia arrives. This, by chance, catches the eye of Mia Sicorro, the head of security, who questions Aisa. When Aisa rejects her authority, refuses to answer questions, says that whatever is coming is something that Mia can not deal with, and ultimately threatens Mia, she is zapped asleep by Mia’s non-lethal sleep baton. 

Dahlia answers the hotel phone to hear Mia tell her about Aisa being, essentially, held by her, in her office, to which she gives the phone to Theo, who initially assumes that the dwarves are the trouble of which she speaks. It is however, Aisa, and so Theo leaves a note for Armistice and Vapor while they and Dahlia go to the office where Mia, let’s be honest, just lives at this point. The security chief apologises, explains that given Illios’s unknown absence, she has been put on edge, and that all she wants is to be told when people are going to decide to start sneaking around the area in which the summit that is maybe the most important cultural event for all the elves is happening. Aisa wakes up and says that this won’t happen again, and as the group leaves Theo says that Mia is probably aware of what she’s doing, if the stories about Illios are to be believed. Aisa scoffs, but accepts it for now and Dahlia makes a note of Mia’s perceptive personality.

It was late at this point, so our final scene is one of Dian and Artuira speaking with each other inside of a crystaline cove, now the day of the summit. Who knows what secrets Dian hides, how Arturia plans to get the water crystal, and what the future holds for the fellowship.... We’ll find out in two weeks maybe?