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urween · 6 months ago

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Tirade | James McAvoy x M/Ftm!oc | english version

summary: Newly enrolled in drama classes, Uriel doesn't particularly believe in his abilities but a memory from his adolescence remains etched in his memory and helps him advance in these classes. One day, a certain actor comes to visit an old friend, and he will surely stop in front of a nice performance given by Uriel.

notes: I know that it can't really be counted as "x reader" because the main character has a name but I really don't like writing with "Y/N" so I decided to put a first name without real importance in order to make writing easier. The dialogues and texts are created by me, unlike the final tirade which receives its credits in the story ;)

⚠︎ warnings: mention of remarks close to sexuality, insecurities

special thanks and credits to @sparrow-the-tired-lesbian who nicely helped me with this story's translation because it was originally written in french, my native language.

french version here

-3 694 words

-Third person description

Theater wasn't the option he had considered from the beginning. He had thought more about writing, and painting maybe, but not theater. He wanted to stay behind the curtains, not have to put himself on stage in front of curious pairs of eyes. Selling books and paintings seemed more accessible to him, at least for him it was more accessible, and he would work hard for it. Becoming a writer or a painter was more common than an actor, right? To become an actor you had to be recognized by a lot of people, you had to be constantly judged and spied on. You needed pure talent and a lot of luck to become an actor. Which Uriel didn't think he had at all. Writing could be learned more easily, he didn't need to show himself to the whole world to earn a little money. Painting could be abstract and anonymous, no need to have his face on the canvas.

Yet he found himself enrolled in theater classes for two weeks now. His father had forced his hand, he had insisted by saying that for him this art had helped to manage his shyness and that perhaps it would also be the case for him. So Uriel had accepted, because deep down he always had something in his chest that asked to come out and express itself, and the theater could perhaps help him to do it. At least, he preferred this excuse to another, totally absurd one.

"We're going back everyone!"

Mary's shrill voice made the ten students jump. They all put away their cell phones or headsets to return to the stage and resume rehearsals.

Uriel followed the group, admiring the diversity present. When he signed up he had seen that from the age of sixteen people had to register in the adult group, and of course, from the height of his twenty-one years, he had done so. But in the group there was a young girl, sixteen years old precisely, Uriel admired her deeply, she was talented and everyone told her so. The main roles were often for her besides, but she did not become haughty for all that, on the contrary, she was always surprised to receive them and it was touching to see.

"Well,” began Mary more calmly, “before we continue I wanted to tell you that a friend might come to see you in a few days.” Immediately the students became curious, “he passed by here and while talking with him, he offered to come and watch you rehearse"

"Who is it? Asked Chloe, an actor?"

Uriel sat cross-legged on the floor next to Matthias, a man in his fifties with whom he got along well. The latter gave him a look and reproached himself for whispering in his ear. "I've seen so-called actors come by here and believe me they don't even glance at us," he smiled, "they come to advertise themselves, say they're nice and all that stuff but deep down they don't give a damn about us, my poor boy." Matthias wasn't very popular in the group because of his habit of always seeing the negative in a situation, like now, but Uriel appreciated that. For him, it was a quality to see the options that others preferred to ignore, and then it always made him laugh. "Maybe he's different?" Uriel replied in turn in a whisper. In response, the man shrugged, looking unsure.

"Yes, he's an actor, but I prefer not to tell you who he is right away," Mary continued, "you'll see!"

"But why is he coming to see us? We're not famous, we're not even professionals" Almost the entire group agreed with Joel, and Mary understood their reactions.

"We've known each other since high school, him and I. He knows that I organize theater classes, he simply asked me if I minded him attending a session and I answered no.” The students still didn't seem convinced, “listen, you'll see by yourselves, so stop looking at me with whiting eyes. I'm sure he can even give you some advice"

Everyone had a little comment to make, Mary let them chat for several minutes before clapping her hands to get their attention and getting back to real rehearsals.

For a little less than a month now, the group had been working on a play partly created by Mary herself. “The Angel and the Bird”, is a drama with mythological appearances telling the story of two characters: an angel named Yaël who was desperate to escape the heavens, and a crow named Danielle who hoped to have a place in Heaven despite the beliefs related to her appearance. Chloe had the role of the angel, Uriel that of the crow. It was his first main role since joining the group and he was quite anxious about it. He had thought about giving up his place to someone else but Matthias had dissuaded him, he said that this role was perfect for him and that he just needed a little time to learn all the lines. "You who have the name of an angel find yourself playing the bird, isn't that the height of it?" he often repeated to him. And even if he didn't want to admit it, hearing Matthias' compliments did him good. The fifty-year-old had also offered to help him recite his lines, but Uriel had kindly refused. The idea of being in the foreground already made him panic enough, he preferred to revise alone to make mistakes alone and not have anyone's eyes on him. For the same reason, he stayed an extra hour at the end of each class to be calm and especially to have the possibility of rehearsing in the final location. Mary trusted him enough to leave him alone here and come back an hour later to close the doors of the auditorium.

Not missing his solitary appointment, Uriel watched the other students leave the stage and gradually exit the large room. Matthias wished him good luck and was the last to leave. The young man sighed softly upon hearing this silence. He appreciated the other members of the group but his tranquility was all the more appreciated. Uriel took his text again, these many pages that he had to learn by heart, and he got to work.

The hour passed faster than he would have thought, he realized it when he picked up his cell phone again to check the date of the next class. With surprise, he saw six thirty p.m. displayed, which meant that Mary was thirty minutes late. Uriel did not worry too much, being late could very well happen to anyone. He quietly put his things away, muttering his text at the same time, and then he went towards the exit. The idea of leaving crossed his mind, but that meant leaving the room open and unattended, which was not recommended here. Uriel lived alone, no one was going to worry if he came back a little later, so he decided to wait for Mary to return so she could lock it securely. The young man sat down against one of the doors and picked up his backpack. Over time, he had gotten into the habit of always carrying a book with him, and today this technique was going to pay off. So he began reading it, a collection of poems that had been given to him two years ago but that he had never taken the time to read. It took a few pages for Uriel to fully get into the book, but he quickly forgot his surroundings and peacefully read the poems. He was so absorbed that he didn't notice Mary, accompanied by a man, walking towards him. The thirty-year-old greeted her friend who apologized for holding her back so much, then she went to Uriel. The latter jumped when he saw legs coming into his field of vision, but he was relieved when he saw Mary's familiar face.

"Excuse me for being late, the friend I told you about earlier arrived earlier than expected and he went to the theater,” she explained while watching the boy put his book away, “thanks for waiting"

"That's normal,” Uriel smiled, “we'll see each other tomorrow anyway?” Mary nodded while locking the two imposing doors, “then see you tomorrow and have a good evening"

The woman watched her student calmly leave the building, a smile on her lips.

The next day, the day went by faster than he would have hoped. The customers at the supermarket had not been unbearable for once, or at least the majority had behaved well. Despite this, Uriel was more than eager to get home and take a shower. Appearances could be deceptive, but staying locked in a store all day quickly got hot, especially when customers demanded a certain amount of self-control.

Closing the locked door behind him, Uriel hurried to take off all his dirty clothes. He vaguely emptied his bag, simply removing the dishes used during his lunch since the rest was constantly left in it. He didn't see the point in taking off his work things if he was going to put them back on the next day, so he might as well leave them where they were.

Once his usual ritual was done, the young man checked the time. He had less than half an hour left if he wanted to avoid being late. With that in mind, he rushed to the shower, not taking the time to put on music or even check his messages. Fortunately, he didn't finish this late every day, but when he did, he had to run to be on time. The only positive point, that had persuaded him to keep these classes, was that the theater was less than a minute's walk from his house. As a child, Uriel used to go there with his father to see some performances and plays, unfortunately over time this custom had been lost. But thanks to that, he knew the place, of course before signing up for these classes he could not have known what the backstage looked like, but these years of loyalty to the program had allowed him to know the rooms and artists like the back of his hand. Obviously, "knowing" was a big word for these actors, but Uriel had learned the names of the regular actors as well as their repetitive plays. This detail was not one during the classes because thanks to that he could cite the previous plays performed as well as some parts. For example, his father liked the performances of Cyrano de Bergerac, therefore he always took his son with him to see them, and as a result, Uriel knew by heart the different versions of the main character's tirade for Roxane. His favorite was by far the modern one performed by James McAvoy, even though he had seen it several years ago, it remained etched in his memory. The emotion that the actor had managed to convey was breathtaking. Uriel still remembered the silence in the room, the tears on his cheeks, and the final applause. He was seventeen at the time, and four years later he was still able to recite this text without a mistake.

A towel clumsily placed on his hair, Uriel turned off the bathroom to go to the bedroom and get some clean clothes. He didn't worry about it and simply grabbed a t-shirt with a Marvel logo that was lying in his closet as well as a pair of jogging pants large enough to make fluid movements. He quickly put on socks and underwear before going back to get his backpack. As always, the young man checked with a glance that he hadn't forgotten to turn on a tap or something like that, then he picked up his large cardigan and closed it before leaving his apartment.

At ten, Uriel was finally outside, walking quickly despite his slight lead. He didn't like being late, but he often managed to be, and the other members of the group knew it very well.

But fortunately for him, he even arrived three minutes early. As always, Matthias was already there, and he must have been there for more than a quarter of an hour. Almost everyone was there, except Joël who had called in his absence, and Arthur who had missed his bus.

"Good evening to you all!" Mary greeted cheerfully as she entered the room, “I hope your day wasn't too exhausting because tonight we're going over the entire third act"

Several students sighed in unison, the woman went down the steps with an unusual joy of life until she reached the front of the stage. Uriel exchanged a questioning look with Matthias, to which the man shrugged. Mary wasn't of a very cheerful temperament, she wasn't always depressed but let's say that seeing her in this state was new, and it piqued Uriel's curiosity.

"We're not going to wait for Arthur, he'll take it along the way," she explained as she took off her coat and shoes.

To have a better grip on the waxed wooden floor of the stage, everyone had to take off their shoes and stay in socks. Then, it brought a lighter atmosphere.

"So! Chloe position yourself while Khais is supposed to finish his line,” the two obeyed without problem while Mary adjusted Chloe's position.

The others remained seated against the right wall, observing the scene while patiently waiting their turn.

"Very well,” Mary clapped her hands and silence fell as usual, “the curtain opens on Yaël kneeling near a river, we can guess that he is drinking while music is supposed to install a feeling of peace. Chloe it's whenever you want"

The young woman had put her long blond hair in an imperfect bun which during the real performance will be camouflaged with white feathers and flowers. The choice to have a woman play an angel and a man play a crow was voluntary on Mary's part, she always said that an actor had to be able to embody the opposite gender. Matthias had not been of this opinion at first, but thanks to some explanations from Uriel, he had finally agreed on the subject.

"Oh father, what must I do to stop this punishment that you inflict on me," began Chloe in a low voice, "must I do evil? Should I disobey my innermost convictions to spare myself this harsh torture?"

This scene had been complicated for Chloe to learn and especially to interpret, she could not manage to keep this half-tone soft enough to be the expected one and powerful enough to resonate throughout the room. Mary had helped him a lot with that, giving her breathing exercises to channel her voice and intentions, but also videos to watch so that her ear would get used to that particular tone. In the end, she managed to recite her text as requested, and as always with her, the scene was moving. Uriel sincerely admired Chloe because, despite her young age, she managed to understand the request made of her. Then, she was gifted, everyone could see it here. Matthias had even said that if one day someone came looking for future actors, he would most certainly hesitate between her and Uriel, but of course, the young man in question had kindly laughed, saying that there was no possible competition between him and the teenager.

"What do you do with this poor bird? This poor cursed bird is cursed by its color and the meaning attributed to it. Aren't you touched by its story? Do you not wish to silence her suffering and grant her the release she asks for? I know your kindness, my father, grant me this wish, I beg you."

Uriel stood up without a sound, preparing his entrance while reciting his words in his mind. His vest now open, he let it slide down his arms before putting it in a ball in a corner. For him, the most complicated thing was always the first sentences, he was constantly afraid of missing them or forgetting them. If he made a mistake in the middle, it was not serious, his mistake could go unnoticed, while for the first word, it was different. My friend, I have been looking for you since the sun first rose, the young man repeated to himself over and over, my friend, I have been looking for you since the sun first rose.

Chloe let a feather fall from her hair, it was his sign.

"My friend, I have been looking for you since the sun first rose!" Uriel declared sadly as he arrived in the middle of the stage.

“Oh, Danielle! Oh, my poor bird!” exclaimed Chloe, “how lovely your feathers are!”

The young man’s head turned to one side to express his embarrassment, he played a startle when Chloe grabbed his arm in her hands. For this role, Uriel would have to wear an all-black outfit on which several feathers of the same color would be stuck, and like Chloe, feathers in his hair. He had suggested arranging the latter so that they went down to the nape of his neck, to create the illusion of longer hair and a more feminine appearance.

“Please do not compare these atrocities with the beauty that radiates from your dress,” began Uriel, turning to walk with his back to the angel, “your feathers illuminate the heavens and reflect divine light on birds like me. They are created to make the most graceful peacocks boil with jealousy, they represent Paradise and its disciples,” recited the crow sadly, pointing to the sky. “Do not compare my curse with your blessing, you risk irritating the heavens. My place is already allowed on a land as beautiful as ours, do not compare my monstrosities with something that should only be attributed to light.” He paused briefly. “Oh my friend, do not compare dusk with dawn!"

A silence fell in the room as a tear ran down Uriel's cheek. His stage partner, her lips parted, joined her hands in applause, and soon the others followed her. Gradually emerging from his dramatic world, the young man looked at his teammates with incomprehension. He passed his hand against his cheek to wipe away the moisture and began to smile despite himself as he gradually understood the reason for this applause. Matthias stood up first and made a bow that made Uriel laugh softly.

"Do you want to understand all my compliments now? You are a talented young man, whether you like it or not," Matthias began, accompanied by several nods behind him.

Mary turned towards the back of the room, seeming to smile at something in the darkness, before stepping forward. "Matthias is right, this is the best version you have done so far," she smiled at him.

The young man wanted to stammer out thanks, feeling a real gratitude deep inside him, but applause stopped him short. He didn't need to look at the students to understand that it wasn't coming from them, it was coming from right in front, high up on the steps. Uriel timidly stepped forward onto the stage to try to see more clearly, but very quickly the stranger stepped into the light of his own accord.

A weight fell into the young performer's stomach, and he wasn't the only one surprised. Still against their wall, the apprentice actors each took turns to widen their eyes in increasingly ridiculous grimaces.

“I told you about my friend yesterday,” Mary explained cheerfully, “he just happened to be here earlier than expected, so let me introduce you to James.”

As if he were just a man, he smiled at the students who were still in shock, and more particularly at a young crow. With agility, he climbed onto the stage, stopping in front of this pretty bird.

“Nice to meet you, James,” the actor introduced himself politely, “Mary told me about a potential talent and I’m delighted to see you in person Uriel.”

Maybe he murmured a “good evening” but he wasn’t sure of anything at that moment.

All that was going around in his distraught mind was that tirade, that tirade that he had been reciting innocently in the street just this morning.

I love you, I need you, I want you. And I wake up with your voice wide inside my head. I look at you and I can't focus.

I'm ashamed, I'm angry, I'm in love, I'm mad, I'm happy, I'm dead, I'm alive, I'm stupid I'm tongue-tied.

I'm writing you letters, and I'm tearing it up, and then I'm writing you letters again. I'm idealizing you, I'm humiliating you, I'm undressing you. I'm looking into your eyes, I'm kissing your eyes. I'm pushing you against the wall, but you’re pressing back, you’re pressing back. Your body wants mine, you're kissing my mouth, you bite my lip. You draw blood, you're on fire, you’re on fire.

The whole world shimmers, and I burn, with love.

The whole world shimmers, and tonight and this guy, and your voice shimmers.

I've no wait, I've no mind, I've no break, I've no self-control, I've no shame. I've no authority over myself, I can wait for hours for just one glimpse of you, and then not speak to you at all. I cannot speak, I cannot speak to you, I can't speak, I can't stop speaking, I can't stop looking.

I make you an object, I desire you. I write to you, I write for you. I tear up everything I ever wrote for you or about you, I burn myself alive for you. I worship you, I strip you, I unclothe you. I do up the tiniest button at your sleeve.

I embraced your waist, I embraced your neck, I kissed the back of your neck. I embraced your wrist, and I'm speechless.

I’m speechless.

All I can say is I want, I want, I want. There is no poetry, there is no structure that can make any sense of this. Except I want, I want, I want.

pictures : Pinterest

banners : @/saradika-graphics and @/thecutestgrotto

#james mcavoy #afab transmasc #m-ftm!ew #ew!englishversion #ew!writings #ftm!ew #male!ew #james mcavoy!ew #james mcavoy x oc #male oc #ftm oc #afab oc #oc

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whisker-biscuit · 1 year ago

Text

Sonic Big Bang 2024

Close Encounters of the Grim Kind: Chapter 3

-----------------------------------

Through the next few days, Tails discovered three things aside from his alternate dimensional research.

It took about six hours for the probe to make a round trip from him to his new pen pal and back when they tested it.

His pen pal was extremely intelligent and just as interested in the state of the Shatterverse as he was. They did not, however, want to talk about anything else, and especially not themselves.

Sonic was still refusing to share the full picture of what happened during his adventure.

Only one of these things was technically a problem, but the fox was a scientist first and foremost, and a very curious child on top of that. So, he set out to “solve” each and every one.

The first one was easy, relatively speaking. The device had been built to travel indefinitely, collecting data at manageable speeds to be analyzed later. Now that it wasn’t being used as a probe but as a simple messenger, it was no issue to redirect some of its power output away from its memory banks and towards its speed instead. He let his pen pal know what he was doing, and wasn’t surprised when they offered their own assistance, claiming that they had worked with Paradox Prism energy to know how to make movement almost instantaneous. Working off only a fraction of that power instead of the entire prism meant it would still be slower than that, but any upgrade on that front would be an improvement.

Together, they were able to drop the travel time from six hours to two, which helped immensely. It also made Tails debate crossing “Sails” off of his list of potential people, because Sonic never mentioned the pirate ever getting close enough to the Prism to learn how to do that. In the end, he kept the name on because the evidence against its presence was still flimsy.

Additionally, his unknown collaborator sent equations that would allow Tails to duplicate his own technology with Prism energy, which he used to make several more probes to send out across the Shatterverse. None of those devices were intercepted and fed data at a constant rate to his computer for him to observe and report back to the pen pal.

By the end of the week, it became routine for a familiar flash of light to appear in the fox’s shop every few hours. He’d pause in whatever he was working on to read and respond to the message as though it were an overly detailed texting app instead of the intricate probe that he’d built it to be.

[ have you found any interdimensional cracks or signs of decay? ]

– No. So far, none of my probes have registered any anomalies. –

[ good ]

[ i was unable to check for that since losing access to the shards ]

[ was worried it might return even though the paradox prism was reformed ]

– What about you? –

– Did you see anything concerning appear in your own dimension recently? –

[ none so far but ill keep you posted if that changes ]

The second problem took a little longer to work around, and Tails wracked his brain for ways to approach it without raising suspicion. He desperately wanted to know whether he was working with an Eggman above all else. It was hard to think about how their minimal exchange exploring and discussing the Shatterspace’s state of being was beneficial to any version of the mad scientist, but he’d been caught off guard by a convoluted evil scheme before and had no intention of kickstarting another with his own help.

At first, he tried to gauge his mystery partner’s interest in technology.

– I’m sorry my last message was delayed for so long. –

– I was caught up in a new invention idea and lost track of time. –

[ theres no expectation for a prompt response ]

[ im not offended ]

– That’s a relief. Do you ever get tunnel vision with your own projects like me? –

[ yes ]

– Glad to see I’m not alone! –

– What kind of projects do you like to work on? –

Asking that last question led to him being ignored for nearly half a day until one of his probes completed its semi-scheduled data returns, in which his pen pal finally sent the device back asking about its findings. There was no mention of the original inquiry; Tails got the message and didn’t bring the topic up again.

It did make him cross out Mr. Dr. Eggman’s name on his list, however – from what Sonic had told him, the man never would have been able to pass up the chance to brag about his own genius, no matter how obvious the trap.

His second attempt was more roundabout – disguising it as idle curiosity about the Paradox Prism and the Shatterverse.

– There’s still so much we don’t know about all of this. –

– My memory is a bit hazy about what happened when the dimensions split. What do you remember? –

It was admittedly a dangerous gamble. He didn’t know how many people Sonic had told about the Prism being from Green Hill, or that he himself had no recollection of the dimensions breaking apart. Someone as smart as his pen pal might be able to deduce who exactly he was – and by extension, where Sonic was – if he made a single misstep. The last thing Tails wanted was to put another target on his brother’s back even if it was from a source that probably wasn’t much of a current threat without a way to cross dimensions independently. Eggman ingenuity was never a thing to take lightly.

[ i didnt personally notice anything different until sonic first appeared ]

[ he was the catalyst for the changes in our dimension and across the shatterverse ]

Tails couldn’t help but laugh when he received that message.

– Yeah, that seems to be a constant for him. –

– He mentioned he had Prism energy inside his body that allowed him to traverse the dimensions –

– Did you ever see that in action? –

[ yes. it was remarkable to experience ]

[ the first time he used that power, he briefly shut down power in all the machines in a significant area ]

That little tidbit gave the fox pause. He remembered very well Sonic’s description of that event – and how it had happened when he was a captive of the Chaos Council. Without immediately replying, the fox instead found his notebook of names and finally removed Sails from it. Then his pencil hovered over Nine’s name for a solid minute. Sonic had mentioned that dimensional counterpart had been captured at the time as well, but had he actually been there to witness the explosion Sonic had caused?

Asking outright was likely going to go ignored again. He tapped the pencil to paper and stared at the probe as he considered how to react to this new revelation without his pen pal shutting it down.

– What was that power output like? Was it a visible phenomenon? –

Receiving a response within the average two hours made him heave a sigh of relief.

[ extremely visible ]

[ the best way to describe it was a giant rainbow hued shockwave that extended outward from his body ]

[ it was pure unfiltered prism energy with no direction or goal ]

– That sounds incredible. Did the Paradox Prism ever do something like that independent of Sonic? –

[ yes, but it looked a bit different ]

And so, the inquiry turned back around to their research without any further fanfare. As grateful as Tails was for the new hint and frustrated that it was still too vague to fully confirm his pen pal’s identity, he left those follow-up questions alone for the time being. Patience was going to be his best friend in this careful investigation.

Speaking of best friends…

Sonic had finally started to lose his manic energy regarding his friends. He wasn’t pestering them for hang-outs as often, he wasn’t spending most of his time loitering around outside Tails’ workshop anymore, and his daily runs were taking him far enough away again that sometimes it would be more than a day before any of them caught even a glimpse of him. Both Amy and Knuckles expressed their relief to see him settling back in after his solo adventure, and even Rouge made a passing comment about it when they crossed paths.

The fact that he still hadn’t told Tails about everything that had happened wasn’t as worrisome any longer, and probably would have just become idle curiosity if not for how he stumbled onto something he was obviously not meant to see.

He’d been on his way back from Amy’s house and decided to take a quick detour towards the waterfall he had first met Shadow at, hoping to tell the hedgehog that Sonic finally seemed to be doing better again. He’d flown up the cliff from the hill’s side until he reached the very top, but found himself to be the only one there today.

Then the familiar sound of a sonic boom made his ears twitch and he looked out at the landscape.

A blue streak was approaching, followed by a yellow one that was keeping pace but not gaining it. Tails watched, surprised, as his brother came to a stop at the shore of the lake below the waterfall. What was even more surprising was how Shadow caught up a second later and stood beside him instead of challenging him to a spar or another race to even the score. They began speaking, too far away for him to hear, but even from up high he could tell by their body language that it was a tense conversation.

Getting close enough to eavesdrop wasn’t an option. Both hedgehogs had hearing that would pick up his flying immediately, and he was almost certain that whatever they were talking about it would stop the instant they noticed his presence. Feeling a twinge of guilt that wasn’t enough to assuage his interest, the fox pulled out his Miles Electric and began tuning it to amplify the sound waves from below to a frequency he could hear and understand.

“….fine, Shadow, honest! Man, I had no idea you were such a mother hen.”

“It’s not about ‘mothering’, Sonic. It’s a legitimate concern.”

“Aww, you’re concerned about little old me? Never thought I’d hear you confess it outright.”

The sound of their banter made Tails’ shoulders relax when he hadn’t even realized they’d been raised. It meant that whatever they were talking about probably wasn’t all that serious after all. Or it meant…

“Stop deflecting. It’s not going to get you out of this conversation.”

…His brother was avoiding a discussion, again.

Sonic sighed so visibly that Tails didn’t even need his device to see the action. He put his hands on his hips and turned towards the lake, kicking a rock into the water as he did so.

“I really mean it, Shadow. I’m fine. I feel fine. Nothing about that has changed since we returned to Green Hill. I get why you’re worried, but there’s nothing to be worried about anymore.”

“Your brother seemed to think differently.”

“Tails?” His head whipped around so fast to stare at Shadow that all his quills bounced in sync. “What do you mean? You’ve been talking to him? What did he say?”

The other hedgehog crossed his arms, looking irritated even from far below. “Contrary to whatever belief you might hold, we keep in contact when the situation calls for it. He has expressed worry that you aren’t behaving like yourself.”

Tails’ eyes went wide. What was Shadow doing? Hadn’t he been the one who insisted that they keep Sonic out of their arrangement? And now he was blabbing about a private conversation!

“Oh, well, if that’s why you’re suddenly up in my business, don’t worry. We talked it out a while back.”

“Did you?”

“Yes, Shadow, geez. He noticed I’ve been a little…clingy, and I told him it was because I was thinking a lot about the dimensional counterparts we had to leave behind. Plus, y’know, the whole “all my friends became shadows of themselves that I thought I’d never be able to piece back together” part? Pretty obvious why I’ve been off my game the last few weeks.”

“Did you tell him about –”

“No, I didn’t, and I don’t need to.” Sonic’s tone took on a hard edge. “I’m not about to put that on his shoulders. It has nothing to do with him and he’d still feel guilty about it.”

“What happens if you ever start to deteriorate?”

Deteriorate?!

“I’m not going to, Shadow! There’s literally been no reason to worry about that! You are literally the only one worrying about that.”

“Of course I am, Sonic!” The hedgehog closed his eyes. A pained expression flashed across his face and his voice grew softer when he spoke again. “Of course, I am. You were…dying in my arms.”

Tails felt like the wind had been knocked out of him. He backed away from the edge of the cliff and clutched the Miles Electric in shock, hoping he’d misheard what had just been said. The long silence that fell between the two down below was enough of an answer. Too much of an answer.

“Listen, I’m really sorry about that,” Sonic finally said, sounding more somber than he’d been in a long time. “Truly, I am. I wish I could go back and do things differently so you never had to experience that. But I mean it when I say that I haven’t felt any different since we got back. No weird energy, no sparks, no teleporting no matter how fast I’ve been running. Nine said he pulled all of it out of me and I have no reason not to believe him. Especially not after…all of that.”

More silence. Tails curled his namesakes around himself to try and soothe his sudden shaking.

“…You really trust him that much, huh?” Shadow’s voice was unreadable, and so quiet that it was barely audible even through the device.

“Absolutely. Just as much as I trust Tails. We’d all be wiped from existence if it weren’t for him.”

Another long pause.

“Shadow, I get why you’re worried, and I promise I’ll tell you if something changes. We both said we’d be better about communicating after this, didn’t we?”

“We did.”

“Then trust me when I say I’m okay. Please?”

“…Fine.”

“Thank you.”

“You really should tell someone else about this, though. If not your brother, then one of your friends.”

“I’ll think about it. You up for a race to the ocean?”

“Perhaps another time.”

“Alrighty, then. See you later.”

A blue streak zoomed off, visible for only a few seconds before disappearing beyond the horizon. Tails found the ability to move and peeked back over the side of the cliff. Shadow was still at the lake shore, staring in the direction Sonic had run off in. His back was turned to the waterfall and so the fox couldn’t see his expression. After nearly a minute of standing there like a statue, his rocket shoes kicked into gear and he dashed off as well in a different direction.

Tails sat down right where he was, completely stunned by everything he had just heard and struggling to process it. Sonic had almost died. Sonic had been dying and hadn’t told anyone about it. How had that even happened? They’d mentioned something about “weird energy.” Was that because of the Chaos Council? The Shatterverse breaking down? Him being displaced from the dimensions in the first place and physics had finally caught up to his body?

And why on Mobius did he think Tails would blame himself if he knew?

Thoroughly shaken up, the fox flew straight home. He was still so blindsided by the information he’d unintentionally learned that he didn’t even notice the probe hovering above his desk until he collapsed into his chair after almost an hour of pacing his workshop.

He picked it up almost on autopilot, staring at the latest messages there without really reading them. It was some theory about why the other dimensions still existed with the Paradox Prism reformed, but he couldn’t wrap his head around the words no matter how he tried to distract himself with them. What did pointless theories matter when his own brother had nearly died – might still be at risk of it if Shadow’s concern was valid?

Tails needed answers and he needed them now. Screw Shadow’s terms, screw whether this mystery person was a friend or foe, screw everything that wasn’t going to tell him what he needed to know. If it ensured Sonic’s safety then he’d take any risk.

Instead of replying, the young scientist shut the device off and pulled out its blueprints, along with the notebook he’d used to parse out the equations for how to make it travel faster between dimensions. Additionally, he recalled all of his probes that had been out collecting data. Two hours between messages was too long to wait for each reply. He needed this to be as instantaneous as his pen pal had claimed the Prism energy was capable of, and he was going to use all the energy currently at his disposal to do it.

A preliminary glance at the time told him it was early evening. He turned off or flipped over every clock and time-keeper in his space, knowing this was going to be a long haul. From the kitchen he retrieved a full pitcher of water, an entire half-pan of lasagna leftovers, and three unopened energy drinks. As each probe returned one by one in small flashes of rainbow light, Tails cracked his fingers, stretched his arms once over his head, and got right to work.

It took most of the night. By the time he shut the final panel on the device, finished charging it with all the other probes, and turned it back on, the nearest clock read nearly 3 AM when he dared to look. The fox cradled the device in his hands, thoroughly exhausted. For all the work that he had just accomplished, he knew that was technically the easiest part of this entire thing. The rest hinged entirely on his mystery collaborator.

Tails drank the rest of his last energy drink, then spent the next five minutes crafting a message that would get his intentions across without scaring his pen pal away forever.

– I know we agreed to keep this as solely a research venture but this is urgent. –

– Do you know what happened to Sonic before he returned to Green Hill? Is there a chance it could happen to him again? –

– Please. I need to know. –

He sent it out before he could second-guess the wording. Then he waited.

Nothing came back.

The fox gave it ten minutes. Thirty. An hour. Just like the very first time he’d activated the device, he was left in limbo, waiting and wondering if everything he’d worked so hard for was about to go up in flames. He knew it wasn’t just about technological limitations anymore. There was a small chance that his pen pal was asleep, but their time zones were very different and they seemed to have just as odd a sleeping schedule as he did. The radio silence was most likely an intentional one.

Eventually, out of lack of anything better to do, Tails began cleaning up his work station just to get rid of some of the nervous energy jittering through his body. He glanced at his desk for any sign of flashing lights so often it was quickly becoming a compulsion, and so he forced himself to leave the room entirely. Crawling into bed had him feeling conflicted; he was so tired and on the verge of a crash, but he was terrified that any minute the device would return and he would miss it for hours.

In the end, physical needs won. Tails passed out the moment his head hit the pillow and he drifted off into restless sleep.

#sonic big bang 2024 #sonic the hedgehog #miles tails prower #tails nine #sonic #shadow the hedgehog

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teddy06writes · 1 year ago

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Much Ado About Nothing

Alfie Solomons x fem!reader

Warnings: Mentions of drinking,

Premise: It's a Much Ado About Nothing AU, with Alfie as Benedick and Reader as Beatrice

Useful links: click here for a plot summary of the play, here for access to a version w/David Tennant and Katherine Tate, here for a proshot of a production at the Globe, and here for a wonderful video essay that discusses the plot and has a very insightful tangent about Judaism in Shakespeare.

{I've got a lot going on right now what with the production I'm in being in tech, plus even if I'm doing a simplified version of this, it's still quite a bit of work to go through the script bit by bit, I've decided that I'm going to just release the bit that I have done, and then if people really want more I'll do it in parts}

{Most dialogue is either directly quoted or paraphrased directly from the original text}

It was a beautiful day in the seaside town of Margate, and for the first time in years, you and your family were finally able to enjoy it. The war had been over for months, and with the arrival of spring, it felt like the world was finally alive again.

You were out lounging on the veranda with your cousin Esme, and her friend Ada, enjoying the fresh air when you heard footsteps coming down the gravel driveway. Esme sat up, in her deck chair, "Are we expecting company?"

"I didn't think so." You frowned.

Ada was already at the railing, peering around to try and make out who it was, "I don't recognize him- but he is wearing an army uniform!"

Esme let out a squeal, all but jumping up out of her chair and rushing over to look over Ada's shoulder. You let out a groan, reaching for your drink.

It only took a few moments for your uncle, Johnny Dogs to come bursting out onto the veranda, a letter in hand, and followed closely by Polly and the messenger Ada had seen, "I've learned, in this letter, that Tommy Shelby and his unit are coming to Margate, this very night!"

Esme let out another squeal, quickly chattering away to Ada, filling her in on the events of the Unit's last stop in Margate just before the war.

"He was very near by this," The messenger offered, "They were just getting into town when I left them."

Johnny Dogs nodded, "And how many gentlemen did you lose in this- action?"

"Our unit seems to oppose the rest of the war: we lost few of sort and none of name." The messenger said proudly. This prompted another little burst of excitement from Esme.

"A victory is twice itself when the achievers return home in full number."

Johnny aimed a pointed look at her, reading a bit more from the letter, "It says here, that Tommy has bestowed much honor on his younger brother John."

You chuckled as Esme went bright red, practically glaring back across the veranda with the look of someone caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

"Much deserved on his part, and equally remembered by the Sergeant Major. He bore himself beyond the promise of his age, doing, in the figure of a lamb, the feats of a lion. He has indeed better bettered expectation than you must expect me to tell you." The messenger excepted the drink offered to him.

You pulled yourself up out of your chair, "I pray you, has signor Mountanto returned from the war, or no?"

The messenger turned to you with a frown, "I know none by that name, Lady."

"My cousin means that Captain Solomons from Camden town." Esme spoke up, glad the attention was finally gone from her and her crush.

"Oh, he's returned and as pleasant as ever."

You let off a scoff, "I pray you, how many has he killed and eaten in this war? How many has he killed, for I have sworn to eat all his killing."

"Niece, you tax Mr. Solomons too much." Johnny Dogs scolded.

Polly chuckled from where she'd taken up your empty chair, "But he'll meet with you, I have no doubt."

The messenger still focused on you, "He has done good service in the war, lady."

You raised an eyebrow, "You had stale food, and he helped you eat it. He's a very brave eater. He has good stomach for it."

"And a good soldier, too, Lady."

"And a good soldier to a lady," You shot back, "But what is he too a lord?"

"A lord to a lord, a man to a man, stuffed with all honorable virtues."

"It is so indeed," You nodded, punctuating your words with a sip from your drink, "He is no less than a stuffed man. but for the stuffing- well, we are all mortal."

"You must not mistake my niece, sir," Johnny Dogs interrupted, quickly explaining, "There is a kind of merry war between Mr. Solomons and her: they never meet but there is a skirmish of wit between them."

You groaned, "He learns nothing by that!"

"It's true enough." Ada teased.

You crossed to the rail of the veranda, leaning back against it, "In our last conflict, four of his five wits went halting off, and now the whole man is governed with one. So that if he have wit enough to keep him warm, it marks the difference between he and his horse. It is all the wealth he has left, to be known for a reasonable creature."

The messenger let out a laugh, "Truly?"

"Aye," You nodded, "Tell me, who is his companion now? He has a new sworn brother each month."

"Is it possible?"

"Very easily possible, he wears his faith like the fashion of his hat- it always changes with the next block."

"I see, Lady. The gentlemen is not in your books." The messenger nodded as if he finally understood.

"No, and if he were I would burn the whole library." You nodded in a agreement, "But truly, who is his companion? Is there no young man who make voyage to the devil with him?"

"He's mostly in the company of the younger Shelby brother: John." And as he gestured back toward Esme, who blushed again, you had to hand it to the messenger: he was a quick learner.

"Oh lord," You groaned, "He will hang upon him like a disease. Alife is sooner caught than the pestilence and the taker always runs mad. God help young John, if he has caught the Solomons it will cost him much to be cured of it."

The messenger chuckled, "I will hold friends with you lady."

You grinned, reaching out to clink your glass to his, "Do, good friend."

"And you'll never run mad niece?" Your uncle asked.

"No, not till a hot january." You quipped.

Before anyone else could retort, the sound of gravel crunch under tires filled the air, and Johnny Dogs was leading the way off the veranda and around the side of the house to meet the new guests.

There in the driveway, your little party was met with the grimmer one of Mr. Shelby. Thomas himself was leading the way towards the house from the cars, flanked by the others as he called, "Johnny Dogs, you've come to meet your trouble. You know the fashion of the world is to avoid cost, yet you encounter it."

Johnny Dogs let out a barking laugh, "Never came trouble to my house in the likeness of you and your good men. For trouble being gone, comfort remains and when you leave- sorrow abides and happiness leaves with you."

"You brace your charge too willingly." Still, Tommy allowed himself to be dragged into his hug. When they seperated, Tommy caught sight of the rest of the party, "Ah, then this your daughter, Esme."

"Her mother has many times told me so."

Finally disentangling himself from the ruckus being made by the soldiers now that they were out of Tommy's orders, Alfie appear at his side, "Were you in doubt sir, that you asked her?"

"Ah, Mr. Solomons, no, for then you were only a child." Johnny said, slapping him on the back.

"You have it full Alfie, and we can tell what kind of man you are for it," Tommy, turned making his way back to Esme, "Surely the lady fathers herself. Be happy lady, for you are like an honorable father."

"If Johnny Dogs be her father, then she would not have his head on her shoulders for all of Margate!" Alfie laughed, but the group had already moved away, as Tommy caught up with the rest of the household.

From where you had found a perch against the side of the house you sighed, "It's a wonder you will still be talking, Alfie. Nobody marks you."

"What-" Alfie slowly turned on his heel, taking in the sight of you, lounging in the sun, "My dear Lady Disdain- are you yet living?"

You smirked, raising your glass towards him mockingly, "Is it possible disdain should die when she has such food to feed on as Alfie Solomons? Courtesy itself must convert to disdain, if you come in her presence."

"Then is courtesy a turncoat. But, it is certain I am loved of all ladies, only you excepting," He wagged a finger in your direction, "and I would I could find in my heart that I had not a hard heart- for truly, I love none."

"A dear happiness to women!" You cheered, pushing off the wall to stalk closer to him. "They would else have been troubled by a horrid suitor. I thank god and my cold blood that I am of your humor for that, I would rather hear a dog bark at a crow than a man swear that he loves me."

Alfie barked out a laugh, pointing a finger your direction, "God keep your ladyship in that frame of mind! So some gentleman or other can escape a scratched face!"

"Scratching could not make it worse, if it were such a face as yours."

"Well, you are a rare parrot teacher!" Alfie scoffed.

Your face suddenly felt hot, and you scrambled to retort, "Well better a bird of my tongue than a beast of yours!"

"I would my horse had the speed of your tongue and so a good continuer. But keep your way, in god's name, I am done." He all but waved you away, turning to follow as the rest of the company began to make their way into the house.

You sat for a long moment, watching him disappear, before shaking your head and making your way back around towards the veranda, muttering, "You always end with a jade's trick. I know you of old."

#peaky blinders x reader #peaky blinders x fem!reader #alfie solomons #alfie solomons x reader #alfie solomons x fem!reader #much ado about nothing au #teddy06 writes #teddy06 #teddy 06 #teddy06writes

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shadowblade8192 · 6 months ago

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Today (21/12/2024) is the 4th anniversary of my main Terraria world. Yes, I have in fact also played on other worlds, but this world is the one that I always came back to to do some builds here and there and dump all my loot from other worlds. In fact, this world started as just me storing all my items from finished playthroughs to keep my world select menu clean. Since I made a similar (read: long and rambly) post not too long ago about all my copies of terraria, I thought I would do the same for this world since its a substantial portion of my steam playtime of the game.

Here it is! Created four years ago today. As the name would suggest, it was originally a playthrough where I only used constituent parts (and constituent parts of those parts, and so forth) of the Zenith as the only weapons I could use. Another stipulation was that I had to actually collect all of them to craft the zenith at the end. Eventually, I started using it as a deposit for all the items I collected (as previously mentioned). The first iteration was very simple, rows of platforms with labelled chests, but it was quickly proving inadequate, so I wanted to create a new storage system. I thought dynasty wood looked cool, and I bought a fuckton off the travelling merchant, with the final result looking like this:

Except not exactly since there were originally less golden chests (vanity item storage) and I had a few rows of the different lunar fragment chests (for class-based weapons and armour), and some of the furniture at the top floor were added later. The weapons and armour storage, being about 5 chests per class, very very quickly proved to be inadequate, so the solution I came up with a while ago was, rather than raise the building, build a basement underneath the crafting stations room (pictured below as well):

What's that at the bottom? Is that an excessively wide hellevator? Why, yes it is, because the original hellevator in this world was just bombed into place instead of mined.

More or less looks like this all the way down. The original had planked walls instead of the wood there now. It sucked. Also, in case anyone was wondering, the vertical wood is not wooden beams, it is in fact ebonwood walls painted brown. Cool build hack.

At level surface, I also have a world-spanning railway (and in the corner you can see the chests containing every item in the game sorted by item id. that was a fun project).

Back to the surface for a bit, and outside the doors of each entrance to the main building are trans flags because they are cool and awesome (and so are trans people)

I also collected every banner and put them on display. Hovering over the banner buff icon shows a massive wall of text showing all the enemies you are buffed against. I once left my game like that when streaming it to a group chat while I left for a minute and someone asked if that's how I play the game.

I also made a massive arena (that I need to redo at some point) that doesn't fit on one screen so here's where all the stuff is. The pylon was only moved up there in 1.4.4 when the distance to access pylons was increased since before I had 2 pylons at spawn.

Also here is every music box in the game sorted by volume (with space for vol. 5 which will contain tracks form 1.4.3-1.4.5). What can I say, I like building things to show off stuff like this and the banners.

A bit further to the right, and we reach the desert pylon. This is the more recent version, with the original being much more shit and basically being slightly decorated shoeboxes around a (smaller) oasis. Those corridors at the sides are not directly the level surface railway, and we will get back to them later.

Jungle pylon here, this is one rennovation that was also a moving, previous ones were shoebox houses on stilts that were placed just below the railway here:

Also this is an example of how I "buried" all the tunnels I built (no single tile is exposed to the rest of the world, there are always natural tiles blocking it).

Moving downwards from there, we have the original arena I used for Plantera,

Completely mined out and rectangle-ified temple (with bonus still-sealed door cause I hoiked in for some reason),

And Plantera bulb/life fruit farm.

Further right on the rail, we get to a 128x128 canvas for pixel art, that I am still yet to think of something I want to fill there.

And finally on the railway, the end (plus rightmost shaft going down to hell).

Also above is the ocean pylon which is in an airship I built block-for-block from someone else's world cause I thought it looked cool.

That is about it for the right side (except for a couple things I'll get back to), so now moving onto the snow pylon. Notice the similar non-train tunnel from the desert pylon. I'm sure this will not come up later.

Mushroom pylon here, another rennovation that moved the build. The original was right next to the dungeon, in a natural slope from original world gen, sloping down into the dungeons left wall, with basic shoebox houses plus a mushroom grass patch to count the biome. I'll come back to the dungeon in a sec, but just before that,

Hallow biome house. There's also a sky rail (straight line of rails) and some simple farms and fishing spots for the spreadable biomes in the sky.

Much like the temple I am also hollowing out the dungeon, but in a way to maintain the funky shape, since the temple was already almost rectangular.

I also modified the pillars at the dungeon entrance to make the tablet symmetrical, and, what's that? Why is it buried? Why is the surface on top flat? Well,

I made the whole world flat. Just cause. Jungle was the hardest since i had to raise it and place mud manually, desert was easy cause sand falls. Snow was mostly just shaving off a mountain, and dirt could be done with dirt bombs. I levelled it around spawn's depth level, which is why the dungeon is buried.

Final pylon, caverns. This one used to just be simple in a cave over a natural cave lake (tried to keep it more or less the same in terms of the framework of it). There used to be a tunnel coking off the right from the bar (which is where the ruby display used to be), but that was removed for reasons I will get into when discussing some more recent changes to the world.

Just next to the cavern pylon (in a very literal sense) are 12 different variants of the standard slope-type mob farm. The original version used to be 3 (in a 2x2 grid with the lower right one missing) 200x200 excavations with about 5 or 6 tiles of natural generation between them and giant multi-block slabs of crimson, corruption, and hallow blocks for """farms""". They were incredibly shite and looked fucking ugly so I am clad i took up a bit more space to make better-looking and -functioning farms.

Directly to the left (and down slightly but still touching) the farms, is this display of all the furniture sets (which I recently overhauled and made space for upcoming sets)

It's this layout for every furniture set, with some variation that some sets have special crafting stations, and some have a potentially relevant music box. Also Santa moves into the boreal one every christmas.

Here is the bottom of the central shaft, with a regular non-minecart tracked tunnel (the track is in the middle of hell, like the sky rail its just a line of rail but thats a future project), and a little bit going under to properly enter hell- wait, where the fuck did hell go!? Yes, as the next image (of the full world) will show, hell is completely gone. There are ash blocks on the map image, but that is only cause terraria's ingame map actually is able to show 1-2 tiles out of bounds in all 4 directions.

And here it is, the complete world map. Yes, I completed the world map and made sure every pixel was at max light level because it looked nicer that way.

Final thing for the main post, because of symmetry (the 9 tile long units between torches in the tunnels, I wanted the same amount on each side) I decided to recently move the entire spawn build, and the shaft below, 26 tiles to the left. Also rebuilt the natural terrain using a world copy I made with a 1.4.1.2 (original version I made this in) GOG backup installer (I love drm free files). Had to use TEdit to move the spawn point though.

Post will continue in a reblog because 30 images per post max. It'll show full terramap images of the current world, original world pre- me doing anything, and also what the world if generated today (1.4.4) would have looked like. Also the train stations I most recently built in this world for the pylons.

#terraria #196 #continues in a reblog cause 30 images max per post sorry #ill tag the reblog showing its the full thing cause i think tags show even if you dont click the view full post thing

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panelshowsource · 2 years ago

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masterpost update... 🥹

hi guys it's been a minute 🥹 as i mentioned, i was working on updating the masterpost this past week, moving a large bulk of content onto my panelshowsource googledrive account, because i think everything stored there will be easily accessible and safe long term :)

the masterpost is the same original link it's been since it was established over 5 years ago! always bookmark the original post, not a reblog and not this post, so you have access to the most updated version & its links!

—

i had to do some reorganising of the post because of tumblr's latest round of post restrictions:

i'm not able to provide many alternative links because i'm nearly at the link limit as it is, but i think what's provided is reliable and you can always send an ask if a link needs updating!

since i can no longer give every series its own photo header, everything is organised by bolded text and bullet points, which will look and read best on desktop opposed to mobile (mobile seems to despise indentation)

—

a few notes regarding specific titles:

i did add all of taskmaster to my drive due to overwhelming requests, but only s1–4+15 are in 1080p, so i will begin updating the 720p files to 1080p over the next couple of weeks. thanks for your patience! in the meantime, you can watch them in hd on youtube ofc! i'll also update hypothetical as i get those locked down

i...i wanna say something so honest... i really don't care about a league of their own and most of you don't seem to either. it's a huge hassle organising the episodes because — not to say this for the third time in two sentences — but most people don't care much about it and haven't made the effort to keep it archived. we haven't seen a source for a complete series 6 in, like, 8 years. i'm not going to be making an effort to log that title for the time being. sorry if that's an inconvenience, but feel free to use the resources linked in my faq for your own research!

i added all of travel man (720p) and bridget christie's the change (1080p) to the misc watch links post (link below). i'll work on finishing upstart crow and then adding the rest of as yet untitled, game face, man down, and the cleaner!

i will continue uploading as-hd-as-possible versions of cats does countdown to my youtube channel and will eventually get them all on drive, but that's a slow process; i don't spend much time on youtube because half the commenters are tossers and deleting their negativity to keep it a fun space doesn't always leave me in a good mood 😡😡😡

i know a ton of celeb juice is on youtube but i haven't gotten around to organising it into a playlist (at least), but it's on my to-do list!

—

if you want to contribute to the post, i'm currently seeking these!

ask rhod gilbert

breaking the news (mostly looking for the tv version)

the news quiz (s97–current...i might have a source but it's a slow wip...)

there's something about movies

mel giedroyc unforgivable s03

—

➭ PANEL SHOW MASTERPOST

woooooooo

➭ ADDITIONAL WATCH LINKS

more wooooooooo

—

i'm going to tentatively open my requests (for watch links & gifs) so feel free to send a polite ask for something you may be seeking. it's much easier for me to keep track of asks than dms, if you don't mind sending there :)

okay friends enjoy! ヽ(゜∇゜)ノ

—

WATCH LINKS MASTERPOST / FAQ / TAGS / ASK

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systematicallycapricious · 11 months ago

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Here at last, my observations for English P4AU manga volume 4! Same formatting as my prior ones, no holds barred for spoilers, and fair warning that I'm writing this off of notes from 5 months ago; so if I miss some details, I apologize. Hectic life shenanigans have limited my ability to reread the volume. xP

-----------------------------------

General Vibes

On the whole, I found this volume to be the best reading experience out of the 4 Udon-translated volumes. Aside from the persisting issue of conflating Sho and Minazuki via calling both “Minazuki”, as well as a few confusing absences of clarifying quotation marks, the narrative is cohesive and comprehensible.

I also think that it stands really well on its own, so, as I said before, I'd highly recommend Eng-Sho and Minazuki fans pick up Vol 4, even if you've been iffy on the Udon translations up until this point. In all honestly, I think Udon did a better translation of Vol 4 than the fan-translation that's out there on the internet, at least in terms of justice done to the characterizations of Minazuki and Sho. Their dialog, with a couple small exceptions, fit their expected lexicons much better.

(No shade to the fan-translation, of course! I'm still super-grateful that people took time out of their lives to give us some form of accessible translation long before Atlus got on printing an official translation, and the fan-translation is still pretty good with it's own wins.)

Also, Narukami's dialog was translated pretty well too, from what I recall, so fans of his might also find his inclusions in the story enjoyable. As for Adachi and Kagutsuchi... I'm not very well-versed in their characterizations, so I wouldn't be able to say. Adachi's lexicon did seem a bit out of character to me, though; like the underlying vibe is kinda the same as his typical lexicon, but the execution feels more 'censored', I guess? It's just the impression that I got, though.

-----------------------------------

Specific Things

• ...They were so close to getting it right throughout the entire translation, but they stumbled at the finish line. Literally – this was within the final few chapters, and may have even been the final mention of Plumes of Dusk in the story, lol. And it's definitely the same kanji and kana that “Plume of Dusk” is always spelled with, so how or why they suddenly fabricated “darkness” in place of “dusk” is beyond me.

Also, for Eng reading context, what gets translated as “the other me” is “もう１つの人格を” with a gikun of “ミナヅキ” in the Jap text. So whether or not that should have vocally been “the other me” or “Minazuki” is up to you to decide. ~(•_•)~ (And for anyone who wants the full Jap transcription of that text bubble: ”黄昏の羽根”ってヤツから生まれたもう１つの人格を消す手術から眠ったままだったらしい)

• I wish that translators would interpret Minazuki's use of “黙れ(damare)” as “Silence.” rather than “Shut up.” It fits his pre-established (by Ultimax-the-game) lexicon far more, in my opinion.

(Jap version of the page [here], because I forgot to take a picture of it, apparently. :P)

• Kanazuki, my beloved nickname. (Though, because pursuing lore details, I'm not sure if Udon's “the two sides of Minazuki” is an accurate translation in this case? It seems to be more like “the two Minazukis”, like how fan-Eng interpreted it, but I don't know enough Jap to tell. For those who want the transcript: ところで２人の皆月のことみんななんて呼んでる？皆月？ミナヅキ？文面ならまだしも打ち合わせの時彼らは大変混乱を招いてくれやがりましてね......)

• It's nice to have the uncropped version of the original Yu cover art... But I'm a bit sad that we don't get the original Sho/Minazuki back-cover as a poster as well.

• Interesting detail: despite reprinting and reformatting the title logos, they seem to have kept the signature color for each volume the same (Vol.1/yellow, Vol.2/red, Vol.3/pink, Vol.4/blue).

• I've already stated some of my thoughts on Ch.28 and Ch.30 here, but for a few things that I didn't cover...

1) Minazuki specifically thinking “The humans are shouting.” gives us an interesting window into his mindset at the time.

2) The doctors were shouting at him because he was climbing up into an open window more-so than just shouting at him in general, lol.

3) The Ikutsuki death report reads more as if Minazuki was narrating it rather than it just being Sho staring at information on a screen, which I think is a neat interpretation.

4) Sho might've been attempting to finish the 'Minazuki extraction procedure' that Ikutsuki began, rather than just blindly attacking Minazuki? I'm not entirely sure, but it's an interesting angle to consider nonetheless.

5) Ikutsuki spinning Minazuki as an “evil spirit” as another generally useful tidbit to employ in Sho characterizations.

6) “Murder pit”. I'm keeping this for my Minazuki characterizations going forwards, lmao.

• Generally adoring the larger page size, 'cause I can see more details in the art that also help me understand the context better in a lot of scenes. For example! After Tsukiyomi takes the full-power hit from Izanagi, I can see the clear signs of exhaustion and Minazuki pushing his limits in the continuation of the fight. His movements are more desperate, he gets pronounced bags under his eyes, he has a kind of wide-eyed look to him, etc. Which I think is a really nice detail, because it shows that Minazuki isn't invulnerable: his desperation to protect Sho is just that strong.

The dialog at the beginning of that scene also helps to demonstrate that: rather than continuing to think in fluent and complex words, his internal monologue is reduced to simple, fragmented instincts (“Can't falter... Must protect... Must...!"). Which, again, a very interesting window into how Minazuki thinks. Even when put under the physical strain of grievous injuries, his first instincts (in this situation, at least) are to hold his ground in order to protect Sho.

(...Though, the Jap text of the aforementioned dialog is a bit different than Udon's translation, lol. It's more like “If I... don't protect... I—" (俺が......守らなければ...俺が――...))

• I don't have much to say about the fight against Kagutsuchi due to not having the best focus when I read through that part of the manga. Hopefully one day I'll reread it with better success. ^^;

• Suicidal Sho? I'm not entirely sure, though, as the “思ってた” in the Japanese version of the text (死んじまうかと思ってた時...) seems like it could mean either “I believe (that this will happen)” or “I plan (on making this happen)”? I don't know what linguistic contexts lend to what definitions, unfortunately, and the visual context could support it either way. (Not to mention, I have no clue if the sentiment is being expressed in a literal or frivolous capacity, given Sho can be hyperbolic at times. >_>)

...Also, I'm not counting Sho knifing his own face as an intentionally suicidal action, because (to the best of my ability to understand) that was intended to be homicidal. It's just that it would have also had a suicidal effect on him.

• Shadow puppet-Yosuke, Shadow puppet-Narukami, and Yosuke are great, lmao.

• Translations of General Teddie's script.

• Lastly, and maybe bestly: They got!! It right!! They kept Sho's name in Minazuki's “What are you going to do to Sho, Kagutsuchi?” line!! (Context: a previous observations/musings post of mine [here].)

-----------------------------------

(If you wanna see the fan-Eng in higher quality than the screengrabs I used, you can find it on Mangadex [here].)

#Sho Minazuki #Yu Narukami #Labrys #(tagging Labrys for the cover art)#P4AU/P4U2 manga #Persona 4 Arena Ultimax #P4AU #P4U2 #Persona 4 The Ultimax Ultra Suplex Hold #ペルソナ4 ジ・アルティマックスウルトラス―プレックスホールド

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auranovabloggers · 1 year ago

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Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling Official Lore Project

Ever since I had watched this video, I have become inspired to make a video of a similar style and vibe:

youtube

First of all, please watch this video and check out Dan's other videos. Funny guys with a passion for Fatal Fury and SNK as a whole.

With that said, I want to discuss what I am planning and working towards in the future. I want to deep dive into making a detailed character essay video regarding both Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling of Darkstalkers. While video making is not new to me as I did so in the past (roughly +10 years ago on Youtube), this will be the first time I have made a lore/character essay. Research to a higher caliber and script writing will be first times for me in video making. Understandably, there is very little in the Darkstalkers games to work with and many would say to look at the Darkstalkers wiki. However, from initial searches beyond the Fandom site, there appear to be errors or straight up made-up information on there. Not only that, but some information is also missing... which is not the fault of the people there.

As it turns out, a lot of the lore and biographies in the series are behind a language barrier that those outside of Japan can't easily access. While some would suggest using Google Translate and image recognition to get the job done, that is out of the question. That program is quite flawed in catching the nuance of the language that only a native speaker would know.

You might be asking, 'Aura, what are trying to say?' Well, what I am in the works of doing is gathering all the Japanese text from scans of official Darkstalkers guidebooks in order to fully get the scope that the developers intended for Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling. I will do my best to detail all that is uncovered to help portray a cohesive narrative about the background and story of these two sisters in Darkstalkers. But not only that, I want to also head canon and analyze that information and every aspect of them to also draw out ideas. Their style of clothing, their names, their Chinese background, etc.

But not only will I use the official lore from Japanese texts, I also intend to use this:

'What is this cover?' you may be asking. This is 'Vampire Hunter Gaiden: Lei-Lei Hen - Owaranai Haru (ヴァンパイアハンター外伝レイレイ編終わらない春)'. Translated as 'Vampire Hunter Tale: Hsien-Ko~ Endless Spring', it is written by Akihiko Ureshino (嬉野秋彦) with illustrations by Kohime Ose (桜瀬琥姫). While this is not canon to the games, it is a licensed light novel released back in 1996/1/1 that initial Google translations from Japanese wiki pages lead me to believe that I need to look into this story. There are mentions in how the personalities of the sisters, especially Mei-Ling, are similar to the Darkstalkers OVA versions of them, another licensed piece of media that released months after this novel and is one of the few rare pieces of media to leave Japan and be translated. To build a cohesive idea of who Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling are, I feel it is important that I get this novel translated and read to figure out what the writer came up with for Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling, one of the first pieces of licensed media to do so. It will certainly cost a lot of money as I have over 224 pages worth of text that must be translated, but I am willing to do it for these two characters I cherish dearly.

That, for personal Cryas Darkstalkers reasons, and because this novel inspired a doujin that means the world to me, 'Share':

Overall, the scans from the official lore, the games, this light novel, and the OVA will be used to help try to build upon 'Who are Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling? What are they like? Where did they come from? Their goals and thoughts, what are they?', along with other bits I wish to convey as I find them fun to bring up and discuss.

Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling mean the world to me, and I wish to finally give them both the justice they deserve after nearly 30 years. Speaking of 30, I am planning to try and get this project finished by March 3rd, 2025, as that is the anniversary of Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge releasing into Japanese arcades.

I'll update of my progress as time goes on, so I'll leave you with what I have so far and my other plans for the video:

The scans of the novel have been fully finished and am in the process of getting a quote.

If you wish to see the novel yourself, whether out of curiosity or because you are fluent in Japanese, I'll let you have a look:

I am intending to commission artists to help illustrate aspects of the script when the time comes. Make it feel like a group effort by the community. 😊

If any of you are aware of good video editing programs that are cheap or free, please let me know.

For now, that is all I have for you. Cheers peeps. 😎✌️

#auranovablogger #darkstalkers #mei-ling #mei ling #shao #jiangshi #hsien ko #hsien-ko #hsienko and meiling deserve better #video project #character essay #vampire hunter #japanese #plans #dear god the production costs #but it will be worth it #research #light novel #Youtube

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thiswaycomessomethingwicked · 1 year ago

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Hey :) I’ve currently got Gríma brain rot because of your fics (compliment) and was wondering what you think his opinion on music would be?

Is there any particular style or instrument he would like or would there be anything he could play? Also do you think he could sing? I imagine that music would be important to Rohan’s culture and that most of the people would be able to play something?

Grima brain rot is the best brain rot to have, gotta say

We know canonically that music is important to Rohan, Aragorn says as much before they arrive at Edoras. But he just mentions epic songs/lyrical music - so what role instruments play aren't dwelled on. Even in later passages when their songs are discussed - it's more focused on the nature of the lyrics and topics covered than the instrumental aspects of it.

That said, I definitely think there were flute-adjacent instruments and pipes of various sorts alongside something akin to a harp (think the smaller, hand harps of the medieval period and earlier). I can also see them having early version of vihuelas and other proto-violin-family instruments. Drums would have been a thing - the debate around the popularity/presence/nature of the drums of early medieval anglo-saxon england and also Scandinavia aside - I vibe with Rohan having drums.

100% they would have had riddle drums since I think they were major corn producers once they settled in what is now Rohan and riddle drums grew out of winnowing corn.

Now for Grima.

I think he could sing. His voice was his strong suit, it's one of things he had going for him and was important to his power when it came to controlling Theoden. But also, whatever his role in court may have been (see the Grima Thoughts tag for reams of paper on Grima's position in the court, among many other topics), being a good public speaker and having a fine voice was absolutely part of the job description.

So, I think he could sing and sang well and probably liked it. I don't see a reason to think that he wouldn't like music, especially since it was a huge part of Rohan's culture. He would have grown up with song being a venerable and important thing to respect.

Also, since they are an oral-tradition society who are proto-literate at best, song and verse is how history and knowledge are preserved. They would have a strong, complicated and multi-faceted relationship with song.

Not sure if Grima played anything. I could see him knowing a wind instrument, as they're very accessible economically and, depending on the instrument, skill-wise. Maaaaaybe he would know a string instrument of some sort, like a lyre or vihuela-adjacent thing.

String instruments are expensive and take skill to make and time to learn how to play. It wouldn't be an every-day thing. Being a formal musician was an occupation because of the skill required - and also god knows they didn't have Netflix so people had to kill time somehow. Traveling skald coming in to relay news and also recount epic stories through song is a good way to pass an evening.

Obviously, every village and hamlet would have a few people who could play things, but it would vary on who had access, time, and ability when it came to the type of instruments used.

So yeah, I think Grima likes music. I think he can sing and probably knows a good selection of songs. Can he play an instrument? That one I'm more on the fence about. I think it would depend on the back story he was given in any particular text.

As for type? Epics. 100% he wants Rohan's answer to the Odyssey sung every winter and is excited when riddles happen in the quests and has strong opinions on all the bad politicking that happens.

I don't think he's a love-song person. I also don't think he's a pastoral-verse sort of person. Perhaps love songs if they're tragic and everyone is dead by the end of it.

Grima: We should sing Green Grows the Tree.

Eomer: I said love song.

Grima: It's a love song.

Eomer: Everyone's dead by the end of it! The husband returns and just flat-out murders everyone!

Grima: your point?? Very well, if we won't do that then My Lady Walks in the Corn Field

Eomer: People eat the shitty lover at the end of that one.

Grima: With fried beans. It's great.

Eomer: New stipulation, it must be a *Happy* love song.

Grima: ew. I'm going to conveniently take some air. Happiness? Disgusting.

----

<3 <3 <3 thank you for the asssssk

#grima wormtongue #ask #reply #lotr #lord of the rings #grima #Grima thoughts

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the-dragon-grasp · 1 year ago

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What's up? - Spring 2024 Recap

Hello everyone!

Summer has already started! It’s time for me to take a look at what we’ve done on The Dragon Grasp Project over the past quarter and share it with you all.

Development

We’ve been continuing the work on the video game prototype that started earlier this year. Two more developers joined us since, bringing the team to currently three developers helping us on the project in their free time. Every feature we implement helps us figure out its actual relevance in game and how to adapt, move forward, or even move away from it. It's taking shape step by step, with features regarding dialogue and exploration being worked on as well.

Art

We’ve been working on reference sheets for the characters featured in the prototype. Our monthly supporters on Ko-fi have been granted access to one of them! These documents will help us brief 3D artists to get original models to use in the build. In April, I’ve also publicly released one of our first concept artworks to illustrate TDG’s mood. We have been using this one for a while for pitching: it features three of our characters exploring the woods and discovering two monsters facing one another. You can see it below! If you are interested in knowing more about it, I shared on our Ko-fi page a detailed commentary on this artwork.

Writing & Game design

We received more feedback on our worldbuilding and story concepts mid-March thanks to a first pass of sensitivity reading. After that, I’ve been focusing writing work for The Dragon Grasp Project on the dialogue scenes and other texts appearing on-screen in the prototype. Since my pace depends on the work our developers can achieve in the time they can give to the project, I’ve also been considering how to use my writing abilities to make the studio go forward. Do you remember the transmedia projects I mentioned during the last recap? Since May, I’ve been rethinking them into a smaller scope game project (so, another game, different from The Dragon Grasp Project), reliant more on writing, visual and audio art, and less demanding in development work and gameplay. Or at least, something I hope to be able to develop myself!

I’ve also worked on an updated version of the TTRPG version I use for playtesting. It was played early June! I was able to organize a playtest event and have 4 players test it thanks to the alumni network of my school.

Events

During these past months, we also spent a good chunk of time working in preparation for pitching at physical business events (including designing and making business cards!). Our main event this year was Game Camp 2024, which I attended last week. It was a wonderful time to meet plenty of video game professionals from every corner of France and beyond, attend quality talks on a wide range of topics, and gather first impressions on the work we've been doing. It's my second time attending this event, after going there last year when I was just out of my last job and had yet to create Better With Dragons. I’m once again thankful such an event can exist, and I’m looking forward to returning next year!

Outro

The Dragon Grasp Project's preproduction has been going on steadily, and the feedback we received has been very heartwarming. I'm hopeful working on and releasing the "smaller scope project" I mentioned would help us in several departments, if only to "put something out there" and start testing some waters. Hopefully I'll have more to share about this one with you in the next recap!

To wrap this recap up, I wanted to share a few words about the political climate in France over the past month. Our French collaborators and myself have been working through a stressful time. You can see on our last post on this page that we recently joined a call to stand against the rise of the far right, to show that video game professionals have power to call people to action. The slow rise of the far right and, alongside it, the normalization of hateful discourse in our society both impact our morals negatively and show us we do an important work, motivating us to continue: against hate and fear, we need more experiences standing for love and understanding.

Take care,

-Drad

#indie game #indie game dev #indiedev #video games #lgbtq #queer #fantasy #furry #dragon #the dragon grasp #better with dragons

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phospadparadscha · 1 year ago

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a non exhaustive list of things i love about tumblr that have made it the only Usable Social Media(tm), as someone who follows the maximum amount (5000) of people and has seen it All:

-the tags. every othere sm requires tags to be uninterrupted, no spaces phrases and you can write full fucking novels in the tags on tumblr. this created a completely new ecosystem for how conversations and posts are structured on here. ppl post screenshots of tags, mention previous tags, encourage other people's writing and art in the tags, all while avoiding cluttering the original post's text with every reblog when you want to comment. you can make hushed commentary that sometimes gets noticed and adds a lot to posts when its picked up on!

-the ask system. we used to have fan mail on this site a few years ago but i don't know that it was as successful, so the ask and submissions system became the main way to go. its not as common to have themed ask blogs anymore (like "ask rainbow dash" where people draw responses, i've had a few of these kinds of blogs in the past) but it really allows people to acknowledge each other, get questions answered, and interact in a way i think is really missing from the internet in the late 2020s. its abused sometimes and anon hate still shows up on this site, but i think the culture has changed noticeably in that this kind of hate is brushed off more easily in most cases.

-the longevity of posts and how everything is archived. its so much easier to find old posts on tumblr than other places and you can sort archives of people's blogs based on a lot of different types, like photos only or text only, years posted, etc. really cool especially for looking back on your blog through the years and in the age of the New Posts Only its really refreshing to be able to revisit old posts. I see posts on here that show up from 2012 and its such a pleasant surprise since so much of the internet is being overwritten

- the absurdly customizeable color palettes and appearances of the site. its so customizeable and even though desktop blog sites aren't as common of a way to interact anymore (i miss them rip blogs with no desktop versions) you can literally edit the css and html and show your own personal aesthetics as much as you want to.

-the april fool's day rebrands

-the art is so good and photosets allow for longform posts which i never see ANYWHERE else on social media. you can post like up to 30 images in a photo set i think??? which was increased from i think max 10 and its all consecutive. also that we have a read more button to give people the option to choose to open long posts or not.

-the id system. i've seen a lot of people id posts and make posts more accessible. also people providing trigger warnings which you don't get other places tbh like i've never seen anywhere online where you could straight up choose what you didn't want to see so you don't have to encounter it in the wild! its really nice especially for someone like me who has several phobias lol

i could keep going but like.....i love you tumblr as someone who has been here for literally over a decade.

#tumblr #text #if tumblr dies i dies

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fllagellant · 1 year ago

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Okay . Serious posting on . Galfrey essay post version 0.2

Now , I am curious as to how a Galfrey romance would go , based on what has been provided so far .. curious enough to make the poor bastard who would go through the motions ? Maybe . ( yes )

This is speculation with bits of evidence from the text ingame . Currently , I am in the Abyss but I have not gained an audience or anything . Let’ s say midway through act four . Did I make a post about this last night ? Yes , but I was half awake and half sober while writing it , and I was not pleased with the state of how I had to leave it , given I could not Think .

One of the things about the game is that .. you are at a power imbalance constantly , with the Queen . This is not a terrible surprise , but it does put into perspective everything and paints a specific picture of Galfrey’ s choices . From the opening cutscene , you are left to choose just Who your character is in relation to the Crusades and the people of Kenabres , and none of them Elevate you . You can say you are a Crusader , but then , you are a ‘ green recruit ‘ . You can say you’ re a traveller , but that is met with full hostility . You can refuse to give information , you can say you are a local . But , no matter what , you are not anyone in particular .

This does shift , slightly . In a literal sense . Power does shift toward the player , but only ideas of physical powers . The Mythic paths that show themselves to you , those are powers few to none have access to . The ability to best enemies that the people have been at war with for decades and decades regularly and reliably . That is power that Galfrey … lacks . She has been the chosen of Iomedae for so long , she is over two-hundred years old, but at such a high cost . This is a women who has lived on the pedestal of God for so long , who has been chasing youth because … she deserves it . In her eyes , and the eyes of her circle , she deserve to live until the Crusade ends .

It is , also , important to note that she only acts as a figure heads , and not as a fighter . This can be easily countered . She has been the ruler for so long , she is a high priority target for the demons , she is far safer behind walls . And isn’ t she supposed to be ? But there is a point , when living forever is her top concern , when she cannot fathom the idea of having to participate in the Crusades ( unless there is Glory to be instantly gained . Unless she can level herself higher with a morale boost ) when she pushed back against any idea that she should be fighting with the people … she may be the ruler , but she has been for so long . She should have others ready to take her place . If she is under threat on the field , then she is under threat everywhere . She should be well prepared for her possible passing . But it seems like she is not .

So , enter the Commander . The one who has powers beyond the others , the one able to make it to the Wardstone , the one able to succeed in a battle that seemed unbeatable .

Now , for context , my character is both Dhampir and a Trickster mythic , I have not played any other way ( yet ) so I have to pull solely from this experience and I know it would shift and change slightly for other players , just in case something I mention was not for someone else .

In the context of romance , it doesn’ t open too well .. the Commander is .. the Commander . After being a fighter , a defacto leader for refugees at the Defender’ s Heart , after being someone under Irabeth’ s command , and barely making it to and back from the Wardstone . Suddenly , they are a leader of a Crusade . A Crusade they were not apart of , or only barely inched into being a Crusader . Galfrey can point to the blessings all she wants , but that changes very little about the character and their circumstances . This is still someone who was not and ( highly likely ) will not ever be close to Galfrey’ s inner circle , someone who Galfrey does not … inherently care for .

Even with the Commander making the moves , it still lingers with the fact that this is a woman who does not fully respect you , may never fully respect you , and has her own reasons for aiding you .

The Commander is both a sign and a break . There is someone else being guided by forced out of their full control , and there is someone else being chosen . Galfrey has to face that , that there is a chance that she is not longer the voice of Iomedae , that she is now the predecessor . And it is more than that ! The Commander has abilities beyond any she ever did , and they keep getting more ! They are not finished in their transformation , and that is …

It is both a blessing and a curse . It is a chance to push forwards again , but not in her name , and not with people she … respects , exactly .

Galfrey being so combative about being on the field , about how she behaves as if forced to play pretend as a knight . She stays off in the corner , still close to the command tent , still with personal guards . She can say that it is extremely dangerous for her to be seen , to be on the field , but she is saying this to someone she has forced into a position of sudden power , someone she is parading , someone that might not even be respected by the Crusaders ! Someone that has no leverage or place to stand compared to the people suddenly under their command !

There is little care given to the complete and total danger of the Commander and their circle , but she cannot risk any harm or loss , or that will be the end of it .

It is selfish ! It is ! But it is a stance that makes sense for her to take . She had been alive far longer than she should be . She had been alive under the constant belief and reminder and pressure of the Crusades , of being the fact of the Crusades and Iomedae , of the WorldWound and the demons . The idea this might have changed , or might not fully apply anymore , is hard to swallow for someone who had lived such a way for forever . Galfrey isn’ t so much a person anymore , as this idea . An end goal . What must be done .

Also , the idea that she might not be as important to the demons and their armies as the Commander and their comrades … that she might be on the same level of danger as they are … hard to stomach . Because she is no longer the face . She loses that feeling of being the blessed one , if she accepts that the Commander and she are in equal danger . And the thought that the Commander is in even more danger ? Impossible .

Galfrey wants to let someone else handle all true responsibilities , let her have a break . Let them push forward for her . And when they die , because what else will come of them , she can slip back . Take the success and make it her own , because she is the Crusaders . And how does this work with a Commander that loves her ? Is the love just an extra ? Or does it genuinely weigh upon her , does it hurt her to know ( to believe ) what had to be done to them ?

But , there is the shift at Drezen . With the Sword of Valor . The Sword , the sign of god , the proof of Iomedae , the claim to Galfrey’ s being , her being this eternal Queen , it changes . It shifts to match the newest one . The new face , the new Herald of some sort of godly blessing . It is no longer the Sword of Valour , and the Commander had no idea this could happen , their blood did this . Their blood . Within their very being is this idea of being selected . Being blessed , being changed . And is this not a threat ?

It is clear Galfrey fully sees this at a threat to herself , and treats it like she had been punished . Instead of the Sword hanging over Drezen , it is the mark of the Commander . It is not her , it is them .

And , in a romance , how does that warp things ? A Commander that believes they are saving her , they are helping her , they are going to do this for her . And she doesn’ t see it so . Even if she feels the same , they are going against her very being by simply being . The Commander might not know it so , but they are fully clashing . And it is not their fault .

It is important to note that the sentencing to the Abyss feels eerily similar to the Condemned . To Staunton . To every time she chose not to execute , and allowed someone to be placed in near permanent cycle of abuse with the idea of “ redemption “ hanging over their head like a guillotine . It is either death or going back on being . This is Galfrey faking mercy and thanks , this is her hoping that it won’ t be seen in the true colours .. but how else will it be seen ?

In the middle of danger , in the middle of a desperate mission , directly after the defeat of a prominent demon , she stops Everything to berate the Commander . Them and their party , because they are not the sort of people she inherently respects ! She doesn’ t feel shame at this display , because she feels correct . She feels vindicated - her whole identity is on the line , and she has to protect herself before all else - and caught the commander post fight to the death .

The Hand of the Inheritor doesn’ t entertain this ! They make it so very clear that she is over stepping and that she should not be acting like this ! When they imply the Commander is more important than she is at this point , commoner to queen , she is offended ! And she tried to paint it like the Hand of the Inheritor was disrespecting All Crusaders , when she knows that is not what they meant .

Regardless of being in a romance or not , the Queen strips the Commander of their rank and condemns them , under the idea that this is for the best . The Queen removes all standing and power and self that the Commander was forced to have and then damns them and their companions ! Because she has no need for them . All of them are a threat to her , because they respect and care for the Commander far more then they’ ll ever care for she . And , they have mythic power , they have powers from the Commander . Better to deal with all of them

It is just .. all of it . All of it points to a woman who has been holding onto power with tooth and nail and will get rid of the chance to win to soothe her own ego . She knows the Commander is at a high risk to die , even with the Hand of the Inheritor . But , they were never permanent , in her world

#pf wotr #pathfinder wrath of the righteous #queen galfrey #wotr commander

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femmefatalevibe · 2 years ago

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Hi, I was wondering what's your opinion on levelling up your life by looking for a wealthy partner? I was watching a video a few days ago on etiquette, elegance ( the video had more points included) and the lady was talking about networking and visiting places like the South of France, certain spots in Greece, high end places where mostly the wealthy have access, meeting people on yachts... thing is ... most of the places mentioned were mostly for partying and are known for having escorts visiting them, or rich wannabes, so following these advices can do more worse than good. Same for meeting people in rich type of locations. Rich people have a very different mindset, and a lot of them scrunch their noses is they find out you're actually not wealthy, even though you afford to visit a certain place, as for yacht parties etc, there are a lot of incidents with women who are told to partake in sexual activities and are nothing more than some meat for those rich men .

Hi love. I think that the best way to "level up your life" is to create a meaningful life for your life – regardless of whether you desire to have a partner or not. Your skills, habits, life experiences, social/professional connections, and mostly importantly, the person you become through this self-development process can never be taken away from you. A partner can lose to leave at any time ultimately for any reason, whether it's a rational/ ethical one or not. If you desire partnership generally, I say you want to date people who are compatible with the person you're working towards becoming, but it is on you to be discerning and become the ideal match for the partner you're desiring. Otherwise, you're placing unrealistic expectations on someone else. If the gender roles were reversed, why would a man want to date someone who doesn't have a similar perspective on life and shared values like education, remaining cultured, worldly, and fostering a well-connected network? Success relationships thrive because they're built on shared values and compatibility.

Being able to afford a trip to Paris is different than understanding the culture of the city, work by French authors who sat at the café writing their philosophical texts based on the social/political dynamics surrounding them, or the history of the 12th-century fortress that houses some of the city's most influential art & sculptural creations in the world (and the history/significance behind them, too).

So, if you don't share cultural/educational/lifestyle compatibility with a love interest, the one common link you may have is sexual attraction, and a mutual value or skillset you're likely to share is sex (which offers some sort of power and access to both individuals).

These "marry a rich man to solve your problems, but don't sleep with them until they fund your lifestyle" peddlers reek of internalized misogyny and sound like the relationship version of a "get rich quick" scheme.

If you want to have casual sex with "wealthy" men for the thrill of the experience and temporary access to their world, I say go for it if you desire to explore this curiosity. But understand these experiences should be taken at face value. These encounters don't define you as a person in any way (except for likely being physically attractive and having an extroverted personality). All relationships/sexual and romantic dynamics operate under the mutual benefit partners provide each other. Compatibility of needs – lifestyle-wise, socially, sexual, values, and education/skill-wise, etc. trump everything.

Rant over, but hope this helps for some people who are heading down this strange sugar daddy-esque rabbit hole.

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of-some-variety · 2 years ago

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Yugioh And The Heat Death Of The Universe: Mourning The Best Deck I've Ever Played

Chapter 1: What The Fuck Is This

Hi, hello. This was originally supposed to be a video, but my mic exploded before I could even start recording, so, I’m just posting this here. This is an edited version of the script, removing mentions of visual gags and the sorts and reformatted to better match a text post.

Let me explain a few things.

This past year, I’ve gotten back into yugioh. Like really, really back into yugioh. I liked it as a kid but never wanted to put money into it, and basically fell out of interest with it once the game hit series 5. But, last fall I decided to give it a try again. There’s the official online client, Master Duel, and I spent a lot of time with it, before eventually falling off and moving on to play the game elsewhere. But before I did I got to witness the rise and fall of the best deck in Yugioh’s history: Tearlaments

We’ll get into the specifics of what they do and why that’s good later. For now, just understand that these are some of the strongest cards ever printed. And that didn’t click for me until I actually got my hands on them. I want to talk about what I’ve realized about these cards because, for all the discussion I’ve heard about them from people in the community, I don’t think I’ve really heard people actually talk about the specific aspects I’ve noticed that I feel really pushes them over the edge. I want to try to make it as accessible as possible considering this is mostly going to be seen by my friends (hiiiiii ^_^), so lets hit some keywords, specifically about monsters:

Extra deck: a set of 15 special monsters that can always be accessed and summoned, provided you meet their conditions. The following monsters are all extra deck monsters

Fusion: A type of monster that must be summoned by a fusion effect, using specific material (ex. 1 specifically named monster + 1 type of monster)

Synchro: a type of monster that is summoned using 2 or more monsters, 1 of which is a “tuner” type monster, who’s levels all add up to the level of the monster you’re trying to summon (ex level 3 tuner+ 2 level 3 non-tuners= level 9 Synchro)

XYZ: Slapping two monsters of the same level to make a monster with Rank, with the monsters used to summon it resting under the monster to be used as fuel for their effects (ex. 2 lvl 4 monsters= a rank 4 xyz monster)

Link: Monsters that can be summoned using 2 or more pieces of non-specific material (ex. “2+ effect monsters”)

Oh and, last thing, Tearlaments, as its described here, no longer exists. The deck has been nuked into oblivion. This is a retrospective, and a memorial.

So uh, strap in, we got a trip to go on.

Chapter 2: Okay, But Who The Fuck Are These People, For Real Though?

The Tearlaments are a people of mermaids that reside on the Primeval Planet Perlereino, living under their tyrannical leader Reinoheart until the arrival of Visas Starfrost, a man scouring the universe for the lost shards of himself. As it turns out, Reinoheart is one of these shards, and he takes on a monstrous form when Visas arrives to try and defeat him. But with the help of the other Tearlaments and their leader, he’s able to defeat Reino and absorb him… then a bunch of bad shit happens that isn’t important to what we’re talking about.

In the real world, they are jpegs printed onto cardboard.

In my hands, they are tools of destruction. The guardians you find barring you from the next horizon, when you had sworn that the last was truly, the last.

In game, they’re a deck focused around two things: milling and fusion summoning. Each of the three main deck mermaids, Havnis, Scheiren and Merrli, share an effect that says that when they’re sent to the graveyard by a card effect you can perform a fusion summon using monsters in your monsters in your hand, graveyard and field, placing the cards used in this way to the bottom of the deck. Each of the mermaids also have a unique effect. Upon fulfilling certain conditions you can summon them, and then send the top three cards of your deck to the graveyard.

Merrli is the simplest to activate, all you have to do is summon her by any means and she mills 3.

If your opponent activates a monster effect on the field, Havnis can summon herself from your hand (represented by this phrase, quick effect for my friends), and then mill 3.

And lastly, if you have Scheiren and another monster in hand, you can summon Scheiren and then send the monster in hand to the graveyard to mill 3.

Reinohart, as a weird not-a-mermaid-living-with-mermaids, has neither of these effects. Rather, if he’s summoned in any way he can send any Tearlaments monster straight from your deck to the graveyard, triggering triggering the mermaid’s fusion effects. Oh, and if he’s sent to the graveyard by card effect while you have a tearlaments card in your hand you can summon him and send that card to the graveyard. Each of these effects are, thankfully, once per turn, and so are basically all the rest of the cards we’ll be talking about in this video.. So, even if you haven’t played yugioh Since Fusion was originally cool, the Tearlaments game plan should be obvious. Send as many cards from your deck to the graveyard as possible, and use our mermaids to go into powerful fusion monsters. Speaking of, the deck has three extremely powerful fusion monsters that they specifically can go into, but any fusion monster that has generic components are also fair game. We can talk about those later though. For now, lets focus on Tear.

Chapter 2.2: Mermaids+

We should open this discussion with Tearlaments Kitkallos, one of the single strongest monsters ever printed. I’m not joking. It can be fusion summoned with any Tearlaments monster and an aqua monster (which, every tear but Reinoheart is). Once per turn if this card is special summoned you can add one tearlaments card from your deck to your hand, or send it to the graveyard. So by default it’s a better Reinoheart, giving you flexibility where you otherwise wouldn’t have it. But it gets better. Kitallos lets you target one monster you control, special summon a Tear monster from hand or grave, then send that card to the graveyard. And lastly if it’s sent to the graveyard you mill 5.

This card should not exist. Its only the first of the three Tearlaments fusions, but while our other two serve as big boss monsters, Kit is a pivotal part of the deck’s comboline. Here, let me walk you through the most basic combo Tear can do, by just using Reinoheart.

So, we summon the Reinoheart, sending Merrli (you can send any of them in a pinch but Merrli’s preferable.) Activate Merli’s effect to return her and Reino to the deck and summon Kitkallos. We then activate Kit’s on summon effect to add Merrli to our hand, and follow up with Kit’s second effect to target herself, summon Merrli, then send herself to the graveyard. We can then activate Merrli and Kitkallos’ effects in sequence to mill eight cards. Eight, nearly a quarter of your deck. This combo is known by many names. That’s a lie I’ve only seen one name for it, The Yoinky Sploinky. That’s funny so we’ll be referring to it as such. In masterduel, all the mermaids are limited to 2 copies per deck instead of the standard 3, but you’re still almost guaranteed to get something good into the grave to continue your combo plays with the sheer quantity of cards Kit can send.

Tearlaments Kaleido-Heart is Reinoheart’s fucked up monster form, and serves as the deck’s first boss. He can be fusion summoned with a Reinoheart and two aqua monsters, and has two powerful effects. First, if its special summoned or an aqua monster is sent to your graveyard by card effect, you can target one card your opponent controls and shuffle it back into the deck. This is a powerful form of card removal, most things in the game aren’t resistant to getting returned to the deck, and not only can you use this to get rid of your opponent’s big boss monsters, but also to get rid of some particularly annoying floodgates they might have on field. Which is just wonderful, cuz I love fun interactive yugioh where both players are allowed to play the game.

His second effect is basically just an upgraded version of Reino’s effet; if he’s sent to the graveyard by a card effect, he can revive himself and then send a Tearlaments card from deck to grave. So he’s an incredibly sticky monster to try and contend with, who’s effect is can be activated by his revival or just doing our combos normally, and any monster his effect can’t deal with can usually just be punched over with his massive 3000 attack. He does have one downside though this little stipulation that he can’t be used as fusion material. So if your opponent can actually deal with him, its really hard to get him back into the extra deck to be summoned again.

Lastly, in terms of our bosses, we have Rulkalos, Kitkallos’ stronger form she takes on after defeating Reinoheart (or… while fighting him? Its confusing). She can be made by a Kitkallos and a second Tear monster, and has 3 effects. First, she protects her fellow aqua monsters from being destroyed by battle, which, while useful on paper, really only comes up when you’ve begun engaging in truly monkey unga bunga yugioh. Her second effect allows her to respond to your opponent activating a card that special summons a monster; you can negate the card, destroy it, then send one Tear card from your hand or field to the graveyard. Lastly, like Kaleido if she’s sent to the graveyard by a card effect she can revive herself. But she has her own little stipulation: “If this fusion summoned card”; to simplify, once a card is revived from the graveyard, it “forgets” how it was originally summoned. So, basically, her revival can only happen once, but at worst it means that you can activate her negate effect for no cost by sending herself, then reviving her for the next turn. Whew that’s all the monsters done… don’t look at the run time.

We’re not done. Not even close. The Tearlaments monsters on their own already represents an incredibly powerful gameplan, but they also have a bunch of spells and traps dedicated to supporting them, that are essential to cover

Chapter 2.5: Reverse Card Open!

So, listen. There are a good handful of Tear spell/traps I won’t be talking about. This is because while not bad, the benefits they have for the deck just aren’t better than other cards. This will mostly be based on what I play in my deck, what I’ve most commonly seen in others, and importantly off the decks people were playing when Tear was viable in the tcg. That said, we’ll kick this section off with a card that is a little nontraditional, but I think is essential in specifically master duel. All these cards will mention Visas Starfrost, because like, lore reasons, but we’ll be basically ignoring those parts of the effect. Also, each of them have two effects: an on field effect, and an effect that activates when they’re sent to the graveyard by card effect, like our mermaids. Anyway

Tearlaments Heartbeat is a quick play spellcard, which, for my friends, means it can be activated like a trap card by setting it face down on the field.. It lets you target a spell/trap on field, shuffle it back into the deck, then send a card from your hand to the graveyard. And if it’s sent by a card effect, it lets you add a tearlaments trap card from your graveyard to your hand. This card, in my opinion, is essential for Tear decks in master duel for a very particular reason. See, its, strange, uh spoiler, but I think Tearlaments is actually a pretty fun deck. But, some people don’t play yugioh to have fun. They play it to make everyone miserable, including for themself, and so suddenly they feel really threatened when a good deck comes along and dedicate their lives to devising the perfect deck list that ensures no one, nowhere gets to actually play yugioh.

They accomplish this with cards like skill drain, that negates monster effects, or maybe something more targetted at Tear like soul drain, which negates effects in the graveyard and banished zone. For these monsters, I like to play one or two copies of Heartbeat so that I don’t try to choke my opponent through the screen. Plus its pretty good to be able to add back your trap cards that you accidentally milled.

Next up is Tearlaments Scream, a continuous spell card that has two on field effects. First, if a card is summoned to either player’s field and you control a Tear monster, you get to mill 3. For free, yeah. Afterwards every monster your opponent summons loses 500 attack, just to fuck with em. And if it's sent to the graveyard you can add a Tear trap to the hand from the deck. This card is, uh, insane. If you add a scream to the kitkallos combo I mentioned earlier, suddenly you’re milling 11 cards, over a quarter of your deck. I know, three cards may not seem like a lot but trust me, you want to increase your chances of milling the mermaids as much as possible, otherwise you can’t do anything.You play 3 of this if you can (I played 2 because I don’t spend money on this game), since you also want to mill it over the course of the combo in order to add one of our trap cards to the hand.

Tearlaments Sulliek is a continuous trap card, that so long as you control a tearlaments monster you can activate. Its on field effect allows you to target an effect monster your opponent controls, permanently negate its effects then send a monster you control to the graveyard. And if its milled it’ll add a tearlaments monster to your hand from the deck. Ideally, you’ll always have the card set at the end of your turn one combo, its insane. Permanent negation isn’t something you see often, and the fact you can use it once every turn means if you can keep feeding it bodies your opponent will be forced to find an answer to it. And, its grave effect lets you either extend your combo by adding a Merrli, Schieren or Reinohart, or set you up for your opponent’s turn by adding Havnis. Now, all that said, you play one of this. Heartbeat lets you get it back if something goes wrong, and we really would rather search this through cards like scream and kitkallos than hard draw it or open with it. Also they ended up limiting this card white I was making this video which, is funny cuz this isn’t the card that breaks the deck, like its good really good well get into that later but, really funny.

Tearlaments Cryme is a counter trap card, a trap card that can only be responded to by other counter trap cards. While you control a monster, you can just, negate any card effect, and shuffle that card back into the deck. Any card in the game,, besides stuff like super polymerization that specifies that it cannot be responded to. Then you send a monster from your hand to the graveyard. And if it's milled you can add a banished tear monster back to your hand. Thiiiis is the a weird one. Objectively, its really good; its an omni negate thats really easy to get to in our hand. On the other, its graveyard effect is just mid. We don’t banish anything as a part of our strategy, so its only useful if our opponent’s banished our monsters (and we have other ways to make sure they can’t). You play a copy of this to search, and generally I would pick sulliek over it if you can only grab one. Unless, unless, you think your opponent is on board breakers, like evenly matched that can banish your whole field. Then you add cryme to protect your board.

And lastly, we have our the Tearlament Field Spell: The Primeval Planet Perlereino. When you activate this card it lets you add a tear monster from your deck to your hand. It gives every Tear and Fusion monster you control a 500 attack boost, and if a tear monster is shuffled back into the deck (aka when the mermaids fuse) you can target and destroy a card on field. I know I keep saying this, but this card is insane. It gets you whatever you’re missing. It fucks with your opponent’s board, or if you’re feeling cheeky (read: want to lose) you can pop any mermaids you have on field to get their effects off. And also, I realize that 500 attack boost may not seem like much, but that boost pushes Kaleido-Heart and Rukallos to 3500. Most deck’s strongest monster caps at 3000 flat. I would say play 30 of this if you could but, from release it was limited to 1 copy. So play this and pray.

Whew. And that’s all the Tear cards we gotta talk about! I know we haven’t even really gotten into the “why” of these cards yet, but I felt it was really important to make sure we’re all on the same page for these cards, and also to help us focus in on a more “pure” tearlament’s strategy. You see, some people are seeing success combining Tearlaments with another fusion based deck, Branded. And While I’m no stranger combining decks with Branded, I don’t really see the appeal, for a couple reasons. Still, these are builds people are encountering, so its worth mentioning. But by really just talking about the Tear cards here, I think we’ll just get an overall better look at What makes the deck so powerful. And man, just look at what we can do. Our mainline combo is super accessible, the Merrli/Kit play is unbelievably strong for us, and Rukallos and Kaleido-Heart provide powerful forms of interruption and negation, along with our spell/traps backing them up. Of course, all of that in a vacuum means absolutely nothing. In order to grasp Tearlaments’ power we need something to compare them against, and for that, I’ve chosen a very special deck

Chapter 2.78/3 Days: Funny Birdies

Floowandereeze is a deck full of funny birds. That’s it. Where Tearlaments is a deck focused on milling and fusion summoning, Floo is based on banishing and normal summoning. I’m talking about Floo for a few reasons: 1. Before Tear, it was my favorite deck in the game. Floowandereeze is a very interesting deck that has a lot of gameplay I find lacking in other decks I’ve played, which we’ll expand on later. 2. While Floo is a unique deck in its own right, it has more in common with other decks in the game than Tearlaments does, and I want to use it as a reference point that I’m personally familiar with. And 3. The deck was competitive in the same format as Tearlaments when that deck was at its strongest, tenuously holding the position of third best deck at that time, is just meant to show I’m not comparing Tear to like, garbage that has never seen play, but to another competitive meta deck (at the time of release). We’re not spending too much time here, I just want to give a basic rundown of its gameplay. Basically, the deck is divided into its level 1 winged beast combo pieces and its high level winged beast boss monsters. Each of the level 1 birds has 3 effects, two archetypal and one unique to them that activates on normal summon. They all banish themselves when they leave the field face up, and can return themselves from the banish zone to the hand if a winged beast is summoned. For their individual effects each of them has something unique, like Robina who searches level 1 winged beasts. If they’re able to successfully do the first half of their unique effect, they can then immediately normal summon another winged beast monster. This gives the deck an interesting playstyle: its combo pieces recur themselves every turn, it has access to powerful bosses like Riza the Megamonarch that returns cards to the deck and hand, and with its field spell and trap card it can normal summon, and therefore combo off, on their opponent’s turns. And look I realize that normal summons may not sound that different than special summoning, especially the way Floo does them but its big. It means Floo can fly under (ha) the radar of power cards that are meant to limit special summoning, like any of the barrier statues that lock special summons to a specific attribute, or Vanity’s Fiend that just straight bars special summoning entirely, or, y’know, Rukallos, who’s basically useless against Floo considering her effect is based on negating special summoning.

In the next section of the video, I’m gonna be talking about just what I’ve noticed that makes Tearlaments a powerhouse in a way few decks have ever been. I’ll obviously be using Floowandereeze as a comparison point, but because yugioh is a game with like, a billion cards in it and you would have to kill me before I stop going on tangents, expect me to mention a bunch more along the way. That said, lets start with.

Chapter 3.1: Cost/Effect Analysis

So a very basic idea in yugioh is separating a card’s effect from its cost. Basically if a card has a phrase like, “discard 1 card” followed by a semicolon, the discard is the cost of activating the effect, which is whatever text follows after the comma or colon. This has, historically, caused confusion, because yugioh is a bad card game. The darkworld archetype of monsters have special effects that trigger if they are discarded as a part of a card effect, but since a lot of cards discard as a part of an activation cost, they don’t get to do shit. Now some decks can utilize a card’s cost to their benefit, and it should be noted that if a card says that it just has to be sent to the graveyard its effects can be activated regardless of whether it's sent for cost of effect, but it's something you have to plan and build around. Floo can actually make pretty good use of the costs on some of their cards, particularly with “advent of adventure”, which banishes a floo monster from your hand or field to activate its effect. Paying this cost can actually help the deck in a very particular way that I’ll get into later, but I just want to establish that costs, usually, aren’t massive penalties on cards, and by playing with them in mind you can get some pretty interesting combos as a result. Tear doesn’t have to do that though, because everything in this deck sends cards to the graveyard as a part of its effect. Schieren, Cryme? Effect. Sulliek, Kitkallos? Effect. Kaleido’s send from deck? Oh baby, there’s not a cost in sight. Tearlaments is maybe the only deck I’ve seen who’s every interaction is, in some way, beneficial to them. Your opponent attempts to activate a monster effect? Well just send the Kaleido you have on field to negate it with Sulliek, then use Kaleido’s effect to return itself and send a tear monster to the graveyard, then activate his shuffle effect, and the fusion effect of whatever you sent to the graveyard. So, over the course of limiting your opponent’s gameplan, you’ve strengthened your own board, with whatever new boss monster you can fusion summon with what you’ve sent. This is not how a normal yugioh deck functions… at least, not to this extent.

Chapter 3.2: Playing on Your Opponent’s Turn:

See when you get down to it, nearly every competitive deck can manage something resembling this, it's kind of a necessity for the modern game. You have to be able to interact with your opponent on their turn, otherwise they can set up their board and kill you instantly.. Let’s look at some examples. The Branded archetype allows you to play Branded in Red, a quick play fusion spell that allows you to perform a fusion summon on your opponent’s turn, something the deck uses to summon either archetypal or generically powerful fusion monsters that act as card removal on your opponent’s board. The Mathmech combo exists practically just to facilitate plays on your opponent’s turn: the deck reliably makes monsters like i;p masquerna that lets you summon on your opponent’s turn, and the deck’s trap card, superfactorial, lets you summon a powerful boss that lets you send 3 of your opponent’s cards to the graveyard.These are powerful plays from both these decks, allowing them to summon singular, high impact boss monsters to interrupt their plays. This is what most decks are capable of… but then there’s Floo. Floo’s spells and trap cards facilitate a single normal summon on your opponent’s turn. So you summon your little bird, activate their effect… and then normal summon again. This single summon allows you to perform a full combo in the middle of your opponent’s turn, potentialy allowing you to end on any number of the big bosses the deck has at its disposal. Of course, interruption at a pivotal point in the combo could end it immediately, which would mean you couldn’t get nearly as much on board as you’d like, meaning that Floo’s plays aren’t ironclad… So Tear.

Let’s look at an example here. Let’s say you got unlucky. Your mills didn’t work out, and the only thing you have on board is a schieren, a set sulliek, and a Havnis in hand. Your opponent start’s their turn and normal summons a monster to begin their combo, activating its effect. First, you respond with Havnis, then respond to the havnis with sulliek, which lets you target and negate your opponent’s monster, and would you look at that you send schieren to the graveyard. You can use her effect to fusion summon Kit, get its search and mill 3 from Havnis’ summon, and suddenly your whole game plan is online!

It's kind of impossible to prevent Tear from getting to play on your turn if they have anything resembling a board up when they pass it back to you. Even in worst case scenarios for the deck they can usually find their way to a Rukhallos, and her negation isn’t anything to sneeze at by itself. Plus, the sheer existence of Havnis allows the deck to access the incredibly rare, incredibly silly tactics known as the turn 0 combo. If you’re going second and you happen to have Havnis in your opening hand, you can activate her the moment your opponent activates something to summon and mill 3, and if you do, congrats, if you’re lucky enough to hit a mermaid then you could have a Rukhallos on your field before your first draw. Of course, its only 3 cards, with every mermaid being at 2 there’s a decent chance you won’t hit much. Still I consider it good, since it helps thin out the deck. Oh and I really do think that Havnis specifically just gets exponentially better your first turn onward. You mill so much random shit over the course of your combos that by the end of the game you’re hitting the good cards pretty consistently, provided your opponent can’t stop you.

Chapter 3.3 Literally Unstoppable Combo:

Modern yugioh as the concept of the Handtrap, a card you activate straight from your hand to fuck with your opponent’s plan. They’re very powerful cards, and often a necessity given what a deck can do if its allowed to go uninterrupted. Let's look at, by far, the most ubiquitous handtrap in the game, Ash Blossom and Joyous Spring.

This card can be activated from your hand, discarding it to negate any effect from your opponent that moves a card from the deck to anywhere else, like adding it to hand or sending it to the graveyard. This is, how you say, a very good card. Almost every deck does something this card negates, and some decks can even lose to just a single ash blossom if they open a bad hand. Floo fucking loathes this card. Since ashing your starting monster instantly ends your combo… usually. So, if you would have multiple effects activate at the same time, you get to choose the order they actually activate in, and your opponent can only respond to the most recent activation. This is why banishing a bird for advent actually can help the deck: if you summon a bird and have its effects activate first, then activate a banished bird second, then your opponent can only respond to the banished bird. This helps the deck insulate against your opponent’s interactions. Tearlaments can do this too. But better! Lets look at the yoinky sploinky again, you have kitkallos on field and a merrli in hand, and your opponent has ash blossom. You activate Kit’s effect to send herself and summon merrli, activate kitkallos’ effect first, and Merrli’s second. This means that your opponent now has to make a choice: do they use the ash to negate the mill 3, instead of kitkallos’ mill 5 like they wanted to, or do they save it for another point in the combos. This applies to a shit ton of effects: if you hit multiple of the mermaids in the same mill then, you can decide the order the activate in order to protect the ones you really want to resolve. Okay, okay, lets say your opponent is smarter. Instead of even letting you get to the point in the combo where you can mill 8, they use ash blossom to stop you from adding merrli to hand with Kit’s first effect, preventing you from sploinking your yoink at all. Well shit, goddammit, son of a bitch that’s it! My combo’s over!... except I can just use the Havnis I have in hand, or this second Reinoheart that’s basically dead weight, and would you look at that, I can still mill 5. The result is almost identical! Tearlaments just isn’t weak to handtraps, save for incredibly targeted ones, or the new bystial monsters that banish dark monsters, and like we discussed cards like “cryme” help protect it from board breaking cards, so it's really hard to deal with a tearlaments player. It’s a deck that if you let it have an inch, it’ll take the whole game, unless you’re playing something that can appropriately counter it.

…

I don’t have a good transition to the next section.

Chapter 3.4: Restrictions:

This is gonna be a bit of a doozy, so bear with me. But if you ask me, I would absolutely call this one of the most compelling reasons as to why Tearlaments is such a dominant deck. See uh, the developers of yugioh usually, with mixed results, actually try to stop decks from being insanely powerful. Let's look at Floo, one last time. Every monster in the deck has this little text stapled onto their effects: “cannot special summon during the turn you activate either effect.” Since the deck is focused on normal summons, it cuts you off from special summoning entirely. And I realize that it may not seem like a lot, considering how many summons the deck has, but that’s missing the point. Without access to special summoning, that makes the extra deck, where all the strongest cards in the game are, completely inaccessible. And its good! The floowandereeze cards would be way too powerful if you could use the extra deck, as well as its maindeck combo pieces and boss monsters. Plus, considering at the time the deck came out, one of the other best decks in the game was also entirely based on level 1 winged beasts, it was a good call to not let the two decks mix much. The devs just don’t like it when certain cards become too ubiquitous or generically useful, and to prevent that they place certain restrictions on powerful cards. Branded fusion, the staple card of its archetype, locks you into just using fusion monsters the turn you activate it. Several key cards in the mathmech deck lock you into just summoning cyberse type monsters for the rest of the turn, stopping you from accessing generically strong link monsters the deck would otherwise utilize. HERO, a deck I'm normal about, has all of its strongest cards enforce a strict, “HEROES only” limit on the deck, or hell even more restrictive in the case of Fusion Destiny, which also slaps a Dark attribute restrictiong. They’re, usually, very careful with this!...

Usually.

So, I could just say “Tearlaments has no limitations, and can thus access generic boss monsters” but, but that wouldn’t get the point across. We’d get to the top of the mountain, but you wouldn’t see the horizon. You wouldn’t understand. So, lets so do this. Here’s my extra deck. We’re going to talk about every card here that isn’t a Tearlaments, plus a few others. Strap in, we’re going to hell.

So first we obviously have to talk about generic fusions. Big daddy of them all in terms of our deck is Predaplant Dragostepellia, made using a fusion monster and a dark attribute monster. You may notice. Its extremely easy to get those types of cards on field. So if you already have a Ruk and Kaleido and you have two mermaid activations to spare, just make kit, then make this asshole. What’s he do? He’s a monster negate… that’s it.

Next we have the synchro monsters. But, you may have noticed, we don’t fucking play tuners to make them. To which I say, yes we fucking do.

Every Tear deck I’ve ever seen plays at least one diviner of the herald, which can send a fairy type monster to the graveyard to increase its level by that amount. Why do we play fairies? Don’t ask! Because once diviner is summoned, if we can get any level four monster on the field we can make one of the strongest Synchro monsters ever printed, Baronne De Fleur! What’s it do? It’s an omni negate!... once. Oh also it can destroy cards on field. Oh also it can return itself to the extra deck to special summon just, any monster from the graveyard, for some reason! But wait, there’s more! If we can get a level two monster on field, which we do SO FUCKING EASILY you can make Draco Berserker of the Tenyi, which can banish a monster that activates its effects and also- I’m, I’m kidding no one, fucking else plays that card in their deck.

. Our deck plays like, a million level 4 monsters. Ignore the fact I’ve only discussed two level four monsters. So we get access to one of the most powerful generic toolboxes in the game, the cavalcade of randomly incredibly powerful rank 4 xyz monsters, and it’s fucking annoying! If you do, somehow, get interrupted enough that you can’t end on a full board, don’t worry! Just get two fours on field and you can make Bagooska, which, in defense position, is just a massive fucking floodgate that prevents you and your opponent from activating monster effects. This guy sucks, I hate him! But hey, at least his floodgate is two sided. Unlike This Asshole, Abyss Dweller. You may have picked up on the fact, by y’know the premise of the essay and your massive fucking brain that Tearlaments is a good deck. Mirror matches are not rare. And I really, really like the Tear mirror, but any time someone gets this asshole on board they can use its effect to immediately shut their opponent out of the game. Oh, and its a quick effect! Why, why is it a quick effect! So yeah this does the same thing as bagooska in the tear mirror, except if you’re too broke and don’t want to go through the effort of getting this guy (like me) you get hit by some weird non games in the middle of stuff. At least you can just punch over it though. CAN’T SAY THE SAME FOR THIS GUY.

Time Thief Redoer is unique among xyz monsters. Uh, I promised myself I wouldn’t get super super basic in this, but let me explain something. When a xyz monster is summoned, the monsters used to make it don’t go to the graveyard. They stay under the card as material, which the xyz monster can send to the grave as costs for their effects. Time Thief Redoer, is one of the very, very rare xyz monsters, that detach for effect. So, y’know, if you had a schieren attached to him, that's another way to randomly start a combo in the middle of your opponent’s turn. Is this just me complaining about a bunch of very expensive cards I will never have because I’m broke, and don’t want to craft them? Yes, that’s like half the reason I made this video.

G! You cry out! This is already the longest part of the essay! Surely, we’re done! But no, no we have to talk about the worst, most powerful summoning mechanic in the game, link monsters! So what do we have? Donner, dagger fur hire is just a generic monster that can destroy anything, so there’s no reason not to play it. The primary link monster we use is Spright Elf, a generic link that just requires one of the monsters used to make it is a level 2 monster. You may notice, again, we sure do have an easy time getting exactly the level 2 Merrli on field. It has two effects, one of which protects monsters it points to from targeting effects, and the second, as a quick effect, lets you summon a level 2 monster from the graveyard. So, one more way to play on our opponent’s turn by summoning Merrli back, lol, maybe, just maybe, even lmao. Oh but we got some more. There’s one that’s uh, really, really funny in the Tearlament’s mirror match, Dharc the Dark Charmer, guess what the fuck she needs a as material to be summoned, and uh she just lets you summon a dark monster from your opponent’s graveyard. So you can do this really funny thing, where you can steal your opponent’s Merrli and activate her effect if you wanna, or really any of the tear monsters sans Reinoheart exactly. Uuhh it doesn’t actually come up too much but like, what if you destroy your Opponent’s Kaleido Heart twice and wanna fuck with them?

OH I LIED BY THE WAY WE’RE NOT DONE WITH FUSION MONSTERS. Because, BECAUSE, halfway through writing this they released an update to the game that added a stupid as hell card. Garura, Wings of Resonant Life, is a silly fucking card. It only requires two cards who share a type and attribute, which describes most archetypal cards in the game. It deals double damage for, some fucking reason, and if it’s sent to the graveyard for like anything you just draw 1, draw 1 card for no reason yeah that’s not busted even a little, Christ what do you even say to a card like this?

Sigh, well, that’s it! We’ve talked about basically every reason Tear is powerful. We’re done. We, we don’t have to look, any further.

Chapter 3.??:

… What? This, was supposed to be the conclusion. I, I talked about every card, shit I talked about a bunch of stupid cards I don’t even play there’s no way I missed something. Surely, surely, I haven’t been blindly ignoring the problem, the final missing piece, the key that will open Pandora’s Box. Surely, I’m not afraid of what’s beyond it. The realization of the inevitable; that this game will ascend and ascend, creep it’s way up this mountain until it can see it, finally, its next horizon. No, no, surely not! There’d be no going back! No way to return to the world I knew before. To before I realized, that it will find its way across, to that next horizon, again, forever, until time is a forgotten dream and all that remains is dying stardust and smoldering cardboard… Before I realized that you can’t forget what you saw beyond the horizon. No matter how awful.

Surely, no one, would be cruel enough to inflict another with that kind of curse. Condemned to the climb, forever, ‘till even the black holes burn out. Just for a chance to see something as beautiful as that first horizon again.

…

Fuck.

Chapter 3.5: Yugioh and the Heat Death of The Universe:

Ishizu Ishtar is a character from the Yugioh Duel Monsters anime. She’s the older sister to one of the show’s antagonists, Marik, and tries to involve Yugi and his friend into a scheme to save her brother from the darkness within him. She duels at multiple points, playing a deck focused around earth fairies. This leads to the creation of Mudora, Agido, Keldo and Kelbek.

These are four cards that do nothing and are very bad. But, in the year 2022, a demon came to the konami dev team, and foretold to them the inevitable death of the universe. They realized all was lost, that the horizon would never, truly, be crossed, and lamenting their woes they vowed to try, anyway.

So they made the cards again.

This is how we got Mudora the Sword Oracle, Agido the Ancient Sentinel, Keldo the Sacred Protector, and Kelbek the Ancient Vanguard. These are the last cards we're really gonna talk about in this. So let's get started.

Two things, one, all of these cards mention a card called exchange of the spirits, a trap card that I do not play. The trap modifies their effects slightly, but I’ll just be talking about the effects I actually resolve in a duel.

Second, these cards are split into two unique groups: the millers, and the shufflers. Let’s talk about the millers first.

Agido and Kelbek have similar effects, but not quite the same. If your opponent sends a card to their graveyard from the hand of deck, you can summon one of them and activate a unique effect: agido summons an earth fairy from the graveyard, Kelbek returns a monster on field to the hand. Alright, but that’s not why we play them. If these cards are sent to the graveyard from the hand or deck, you and your opponent just mill 5. Yup. Yup. these cards are, uh, insane! If you can hit both of them over the course of a standard Tearlaments combo, congrats, you get to mill at least half your deck, maybe more. Near guaranteed access to everything you could ever need.

Mudora and Keldo also share a summon effect. They can both discard an earth fairy to summon themselves, Mudora also sets a gravekeepers trap (a trap card I don’t play) onto the field, and Keldo adds another earth fairy to your hand. These effects are, also, good, but we play them for the one they share. As a quick effect, while they’re on the field or in the graveyard, you can banish either of these monsters to shuffle 3 cards from the graveyard into the deck… which is really good to have, when everyone is trying to fusion summon with monsters in their graveyard.

Chapter 5: Tear 0

When talking about a deck’s viability, its ranked into tiers . Most of the time in any given format of the game, there’s a couple tier 1 decks that stand as the “best decks”, as the decks most worth playing. Very rarely, a deck with be tier 0. So represented, so definitively “the best deck” that, there’s no arguing it. Tier 0 means that if you want to take competitive yugioh seriously, you have to play that deck. With the release of the Ishizu monsters, Ishizu Tearlaments was born, the first tier 0 deck in years, really to my understanding. It’s kind of funny, the rise of Ishtear was happening just when I was getting back into yugioh. I was watching creators in the scene talk about the deck, complain about the deck, complain about it a lot, really. People don’t like tier 0 formats, and reasonably so. People don’t like it when there really is a “best deck” with no variation between what people are playing, people don’t like it when they can’t play their favorite decks competitively anymore. People don’t like staring down the fact, that we are looking at a new horizon. People just didn’t like the deck for all the reasons I’ve just spent, who knows how long talking about. They complained about how powerful it was, about its ability to play on both turns, about, well, everything it did. In the tcg, it got hit into oblivion, and in master duel the deck was slowly torn apart. Shit in the middle of making this they limited each of Ishizu’s monsters to 1 copy per deck, making it a lot harder to get chains of their effects going. Earlier this Fall they just straight up banned Merrli, severely weakening the deck’s game plan. But even before it was full torn asunder, I didn’t really see people playing Tear much, at least, not as much in comparison to other decks. Do people just not like the deck? Did they get frustrated by the asshole stun players making decks to just counter Tear? I dunno, I dunno. Though, I’ve run into like, 5 different people playing that branded tearlament pile deck, maybe, maybe I should take a look at it at some point…

Sigh

Y’know, I played against a tier 0 deck before.

So, Spyral, was an insanely powerful deck back in 2017. Don’t worry I’m not explaining what the cards do, just, know they were good. So good that they dominated the game for months, it was really the only thing worth playing for a while, and people hated it too. The deck got eaten by the banlist hard, but in Master Duel it’s at full power. Not only that, but cards have been released that are just stronger than what were available at the time. So, a person playing Spyral in master duel today is actually playing a stronger version of that tier 0 deck…

And that’s what I went up against.

I was still new, playing a janky brew of HERO because, well, wanting to play HERO was why I got master duel in the first place. I’m not claiming to be like, superb at the game, but I’ve made it to diamond playing Floowandereeze and Tearlaments, I think that’s a far cry better than how I was when I started. Anyway, I was going second, no idea what my opponent was doing, I had a single ash blossom that they played through like it was nothing. And I sat there. For… like, 15 minutes. While my opponent did a bunch of combos that just left me sitting there lost and confused, and by the time they passed the turn over, finally, they had a board with 10 negates, and I had nothing good in my hand. I was hit by the crushing realization, that I could not win this duel. I tried in any case, and in just 3 negates they ate all the resources in my hand, and I conceded. I sat there and thought about how I had wasted 15 minutes of my finite existence, just to lose at a card game. I play this game to have fun. I did not have fun. Did my opponent have fun? Did they enjoy the time they spent, building an impossible board with their expert combos? Did they feel happy when I conceded, proud? Did they realize, that they spent 15 minutes, of their finite existence, comboing off on some jackass playing HERO? For me, it was an interesting experience. I’m not gonna sit here and pretend it like, radically altered how I viewed the game. I knew stuff like that was possible from what I saw, but its always something else to really see it up front. I had been forced to find a new horizon. And I did, time and time again, playing decks I had fun with, getting better with, and I managed what I thought was impossible: diamond, in breathing distance of the highest rank available at the time. And I was glad, because I got in just days before Tearlaments came to Master Duel, and I really wasn’t sure if I’d want to be playing before they got banned. But, I was curious, and I did…

Floowandereeze, was, my favorite deck. Despite everything I’ve said here, I want to be clear: I like Tearlaments. I think it’s a fun deck. Does it suck that its head and shoulders stronger than the other decks in the game? Yeah, obviously. But I’ll tell you what, some of the most fun I’ve ever had playing yugioh, was the Tear mirror match. It’s a thrill, it’s insane. The Ishizu cards add such an interesting dimension to the games that just wouldn’t exist without them: the fact that the millers hit both players deck means you and your opponent can easily just keep turning your card effects on, same for theirs, and the shufflers allow for really interesting games of hitting mermaids trying to fuse and forcing out shuffles from your opponent at bad times. You and your opponent interact with each other constantly, regardless of who’s turn it is. And once I had built my deck properly I rarely felt outmatched by my opponent, except in matters of pure skill. Luck obviously plays a factor with random mills, but the combos are so consistent it's nearly impossible to never have something in your back pocket to use on your opponent. This, this is what was actually waiting on the other edge of that horizon, something so fun I… really, can’t go back. I played Tearlaments until it was rendered unusable. Since then, I’ve just been bouncing around decks None of them grabbed me the way ishtear did. And I’m just left here to hope that this isn't the last time we see a deck Like Tearlaments. Konami, generally speaking, is not a company known for its good decision making, and I’m worried they’ve taken the wrong message from the responses to Tear. If you ask me, well, I don’t know if the game should have ever gotten to this level of power creep to begin with, but lord if you’re going to print a deck so obviously, blatantly busted you could at least have the decency to print other decks around its level. Then maybe people wouldn’t have complained about fuckin, merrli set sulliek pass.

Conclusion: Staring Directly Into The Sun

So, why, the fuck did I make this? Well like I said at the beginning I just wanted to talk about it, because it interested me. And then, over the course of this project, it stopped being just intellectual curiosity. See, for as much as people talked about Tear, how strong it was, its place in the meta, I never really saw anyone sit down and explain why, exactly, this set of 55 cards was the single best set you could be playing. Could it be that these were just, apparent to everyone involved, and that I’m either too stupid or too new to really understand? Maybe, probably, but I’m really not one for leaving things unsaid. Uh, learning this game from basically scratch has kind of been a nightmare. Constantly, consistently, I’ve looked at cards and strategies that I thought seemed really, really powerful, only to learn that no, actually, these cards are just bad. And while now, I’ve learned to intuit why some cards are just bad, it took a lot of frustration and confusion that just, could have been avoided if someone explained why in plain terms. So, be the change you want to see, eh? Not only that but, iunno this came to be a matter of preservation for me. I thought about reworking it to take the new banlists into account, but ultimately decided that I wanted to capture the image of the deck at the time I was first writing this. And, damn I’m gonna be pissed at myself for a while for not getting a picture of my actual decklist from back before the big limits but, what can you do? I just hope that this weird essay could actually explain what it is that makes these cards so powerful, and allow people like me to get these concepts into their head to keep in mind when considering future cards. I… really, really hope we get another deck like Tearlaments again. Yugioh will not stop its power creep, not the way it’s currently run. Deck’s will continue to get stronger, get more powerful tools, and I’m worried about eventually things getting to the point where it’s basically just not even fun to play. Until the last few months, the arguable best deck was Kashtira, which main gameplan is… sitting behind a giant fucking floodgate. That's just not the kind of yugioh I want to play. I think Tearlaments was genuinely a good example for how the game could progress in power level while also staying interactive for both players. Do I want the game to just, keep getting stronger? Not really, I’ve actually started getting into low power versions of the game. But if they’re going to drag us, kicking and screaming over that next horizon, can’t they at least make it fun?

That’s where the original essay ended. I’m mostly keeping it intact for posterity’s sake but, I do want to say, I think somehow Konami did something right. I still haven’t found a deck that’s grabbed me the way Tear did, but a lot of the decks played nowadays are allowed to be as free form and potentially insane as Tear was at the height of its power. Which, I’m happy to see, and I really hope to keep seeing this in the future.

Forgive the melodrama

Have a nice day

#yugioh #essay I've been sitting on for like half a year #figure it's time to do Something with it.

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