#And it's the third one that's actually in the SP set

[cobbled-peach]

proposal(s)

aka: the four times Spencer thinks about proposing to you, and the one time he does

a/n: this is my first time writing/posting here pls be kind to me I just love him and I love books and I hope you love him and love books too !!!!! this hasn’t been edited much so apologies for sp mistakes cw: brief mention of sex, but nothing explicit. Fembau!reader. Lots of literature references (with books named at the end). I think this constitutes as fluff? Pre-prison Spencer, but no specific era. wc: 2.3k

darcy and elizabeth

The first time Spencer thinks about proposing to you, it’s the day you meet him.

The newest agent on the team. You’re emotionally intelligent in a way he can only dream of being.

You cradle a mug of coffee in your hands. His mug, which stuns Morgan into silence mid-sentence, his conversation with Garcia derailed by the sheer surprise of what he’s witnessing. Your mug had smashed thirty minutes earlier, an unfortunate casualty in the first-day desk unboxing. Spencer, seeing your disappointment, pulled a plain white mug from his top drawer, REID printed on the side.

He held it out tentatively. A peace offering. ‘Until you get a new one,’ he’d murmured, offering a small smile.

He’s always been wary of germs, but somehow didn’t care this time.

He watches your hands wrap around the mug. Soft, delicate, holding the item like its something precious. He wonders what it would be like to hold your hands himself. Then scolds the thought. Coworkers, Spencer.

You bring the cup up to your lips, humming in contentment after the first sip. Yor lipstick – or maybe lipgloss? He’s unsure of the correct term – leaves a gentle pink stain on the rim. He secretly hopes that it won’t wash off. He stares for a moment, and wonders, quite randomly, is this how Darcy felt when Elizabeth first touched his hand?

You set the mug down (Morgan still gaping in the background, like you’ve declared war on the Bureau’s hierarchy of personal property) and smile at him.

‘Thank you. Seriously. I desperately needed that caffeine.’

‘It’s not a problem. Did you know that caffeine sensitivity is actually inherited?’ A pause. To see if you’re listening. You are, and he suddenly wonders how appropriate it would be to stain his lips with your lipstick-lipgloss in a kiss. Not very, he concludes. ‘It’s all to do with polymorphisms in your enzymes. Its genetic; they tested it on twins.’

‘You sound well-versed in your coffee knowledge. A fellow connoisseur?’

‘I think the term “addict” is more fitting, actually. And I don’t know how much of my consumption is due to genetics over stress and lack of sleep.’

A laugh from you. He feels the sound in his chest and his stomach flips.

‘Good to know what’s in store for me,’ you tease.

‘Coffee addictions and sleepless nights,’ he replies. Then, hesitating. ‘Maybe I’ll let you use my high-quality espresso beans when it gets really bad.’

‘Literally marry me,’ you joke.

He almost says, I will.

He doesn’t, just stares at the mug like it holds the future.

2. the black cloud

The second time he thinks about proposing is your third-technically fourth date. (The first didn’t count, at least not to you. ‘You asked me to dinner to “celebrate closing the case,”’ you’d later said. ‘That’s not a date.’ He insisted that it was; he’d paid. You said so did JJ, once. Case closed.) They’re also technically not “dates” because dating within the team is prohibited, but Hotch showed some leniency.

Coffee in the park. A foolproof plan, not much room for error. He buys your drink, and you sip it beside him on the bench while he spews obscure facts about the tree you’re sitting under, intertwined with quotes from Ovid and Darwin. He offers to get you a refill as soon as you finish.

‘You haven’t even finished yours yet,’ you tell him.

‘I know. I can still get you a new one.’

‘Just drink your drink, Spencer.’ Accompanied by a fond smile.

You wander together. Conversation flows. He can’t quite explain why its so easy, why he feels so comfortable.

He’s puzzled by the anomaly, so he does what he does best: theorises. He’s been hypothesising for the past three-technically-four dates. Cross-referencing data points. He runs through the evidence, and draws the only viable conclusion:

Love.

Premature, maybe. But true.

You suggest dipping into a second-hand bookshop. He agrees eagerly, following you in like Orpheus descending. He’ll go anywhere, so long as he can find his way back to you. You disappear into your aisle; he into his. Mathematics, physics. The realm of science and fact. Only two minutes pass before you appear again, book clutched in your hand.

‘This is so you,’ you say.

It’s The Black Cloud. Fred Hoyle.

He blinks. Then again. Takes the book from your hand and turning it over like you’ve just handed him the world.

‘You’ve probably read it,’ you say. ‘But you’ve never mentioned it, and I know you like mid-century sci-fi.’

He has read it. Of course he has. But its not about the book. Its about you, thinking of him.

And you say it so casually. Like this isn’t the most intimate thing someone’s done for him.

‘You picked this out… for me?’

‘Yes.’

He turns it over again, shocked. He wants to hand you his heart, neatly wrapped in paper and ink.

‘Oh…’ he breathes out, the sound so quiet. He feels like he’s been winded, in the best way possible.

‘Not to your taste?’

‘No–’ he shakes his head. ‘No, its exactly to my taste. I think I have an older copy, but not this edition.’

‘Do you want it?’

‘Yes.’ The answer comes out before he even registers it. He does want the book. Not because he needs it, but because you picked it out for him.

You smile, gently take it back, and go to the register. He watches lamely, feels compelled to place a hand over his chest an steady his beating heart.

He thinks of Dante first catching sight of Beatrice. Of Gatsby staring across the bay. Of Gabriel and Bathsheba, paths destined to intertwine.

In the middle of the bookshop, he almost gets on one knee.

3. the hour of the star

The third time he thinks about proposing is directly after sex.

Not the first time, or the second. Somewhere in the quiet middle.

You’ve been officially together for six months. You transferred to a different department, and he asked the moment you were in your new office. (‘No interdepartmental fraternization,’ he’d quoted, followed by a nervous, ‘so, can you officially be my girlfriend now?’)

You’re both tangled beneath the sheets in your apartment, the place half his by default now. His toothbrush lives in the bathroom, his go-bag in the hallway, his own mug in your kitchen.

His copy of The Black Cloud lives on your bookshelf, annotated. He took it straight home, writing his thoughts in the margins, little notes to you. Fred Hoyle writes “There is a coherent plan to the universe” and beneath it, in Spencer’s barely legible font, is yes, and I think its you.

The book had been kept out of your sight for seven months, before he “sneakily” slipped it onto your shelf. “Sneakily,” because you watched every movement through the kitchen doorway. You’d read the whole thing that night, cried, and set to work annotating a book of your own for him.

The books are a love language themselves. If he could frame every annotated page on his wall, he would.

He’s reading aloud to you now.

It’s become a ritual. You, soft limbs and warm skin. Him, thumbing through whatever book is on the nightstand, voice a little hoarse. Sometimes it’s a play, sometimes poetry. Once, quantum physics (he didn’t take it personally when you instantly fell asleep to that).

Tonight, its Clarice Lispector. The Hour of the Star. Skin still flushed, he clears his throat and reads aloud, backed by your steady breaths. Each turn of a page is a pause in which he can press a kiss to your skin. Shoulder, cheek, temple. Wherever he can reach.

‘“Things were somehow so good that they were in danger of becoming very bad, because what is fully mature is very close to rotting.’” The sentence hangs in the air. Heavy. His voice stops, like he’s contemplating the words he’s just read.

You turn your head against his chest.

‘Everything okay?’

His quiet. Thinking, as always, a crease between his brows.

‘Mm.’ His arm shifts to wrap around your shoulders. ‘It’s just… interesting, isn’t it? How even the best things are fragile, maybe. Decaying.’

He doesn’t need to say “us” for you to catch what he’s referring to.

‘You think we’ll decay?’ you ask, propping yourself up on one elbow. He looks at your eyes, soft, unworried, and thinks again.

‘I think that… real things are vulnerable. We’re real. And I think that makes us susceptible.’ He hesitates, brushes some hair from your face absentmindedly. ‘Entropy. Everything tends towards disorder.’

‘Only if you don’t control it,’ you say. Factually incorrect, but he appreciates what you're saying.

And perhaps that’s it. Your unwavering faith. You’re a realist, not a romantic. Offering certainty in a world of disorder.

‘Decay isn’t death,’ you point out, continuing. ‘Its transformation, right? Compost to soil. Stars collapsing and becoming galaxies. Things can break and become something beautiful.’

His world shifts in that moment. He looks back at the line, reads it maybe 20 times in the span of five seconds.

‘We’re not going to rot, Spence.’

‘We’re not going to rot,’ he repeats. He knows it’s the truth as you press your lips to his chest, over his frantically beating heart. ‘Do you want me to keep going?’ he asks, lifting the book slightly.

‘Please.’

You adjust your position, curling into his side. He resumes his reading. He’s turning the page again when you mumble quietly.

‘We’re not going to rot, because I love you.’

Every syllable brands itself into his soul. He’s heard those three words before, but there’s something more to them in his context. He almost drops the book, catches I before it hits your head. He wants to tell you that you are his Eurydice, the person he’s always been trying to reach.

Instead, he says:

‘I love you, too.’

It falls easily. Inevitable, as always. No drama, no prelude. Just the truth, spoken to you many times before and many more to come.

He almost attaches a “marry me” to his words but instead kisses your hair and returns to the book. He’ll wait.

He already knows the ending will be worth it.

4. metamorphoses

The fourth time isn’t once. It’s every day.

You hand him coffee in the morning? Marry me.

You nurse him through a cold, unconcerned about coughing and sneezing, just wanting to be near to him? Here’s a ring fashioned out of Kleenex.

You coo over Henry in one of JJ’s photos? Let’s make one of our own. Just marry me first.

He asks Rossi for advice. (‘You’ve been married a lot, statistically speaking.’)

Garcia catches on quickly. Spencer Reid combined with search history is a concoction for whatever the opposite of “stealth” is. He looks at rings on his lunch break, tilting his computer screen like its classified information.

Pretty soon everyone knows. You remain oblivious – or pretend to be.

It’s simply a matter of when.

5. darcy and elizabeth

It’s a Tuesday. Raining.

Not a dramatic kind of rain. Unassuming. Soft and relentless, quietly soaking the world, a constant tap against the window of his apartment – now permanently shared with you.

He wonders if the rain is a piece of pathetic fallacy. A warning against his plans.

It’s four years to the day since he met you.

He had a plan. Of course he did. He was Spencer Reid. A riverside walk in the park. Take a picnic, surrounded by ducks. Bookmark a page in Much Ado About Nothing with the ring. But the weather has altered his plans, made him go off script.

But maybe that’s a good thing. Gentle touches and heartfelt gestures over big declarations, that’s what he’s always preferred. He just needs a moment.

You’re making coffee. Barefoot, hair damp from the rain that interrupted his plans. Wearing an old shirt of his effortlessly. A perfect picture of home. His home.

He stands in the doorway with a book in his hand. Pride and Prejudice. Not his favourite. Nowhere near his top ten. But it’s your favourite. You’ve worn it down with love, left your own story between the lines with annotations. And that makes it his favourite now, too.

His mismatched socks shift awkwardly on the floor.

‘Hi,’ he says, calling your attention.

You look up from the mugs with a pre-formed smile. Yours, a copy of the mug you’d smashed on your first day. His, the mug with your lipstick, now washed, but imprinted with you forever.

‘Hey,’ you respond. ‘Dry from the rain?’

He doesn’t respond. Crosses the kitchen and holds out the book. Why does it feel like a brick?

‘This is… mine?’ you say, unsure.

‘Yes,’ he confirms. ‘I added some annotations. For you.’

You open the cover. His handwriting – messy, familiar – sits below your own in black ink.

You know I am not very good with words. So, I thought I’d borrow someone else’s. Please turn to page 301.

He watches your breath hitch. Watches as you carefully flip the pages.

There’s a line. Circled not once, but many times over, holding the weight of what couldn’t be said with words.

“I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.”

Beside it, tentative but certain at the same time, his writing: but if you ever choose to be bound to someone, I hope it’s me.

He’s already on one knee when you glance up. Ring held out in his hand. A quiet promise, forged from the pages of books you’ve shared and the one you’ve written yourself.

Your hands are cradling his face. He’s crying. And you’re crying.

‘I will always choose you.’ Quiet, definitive. A fact.

He slips the ring on and kisses you. Pride and Prejudice lays open in the background. Page 301. A circled sentence. A note in the margins. A love undoubted.

hi I’m super awkward but I hope you enjoyed yippee!! I thought I’d quickly mention all the books I referenced/have implied references to because I love them all and if you like literature you should read them teehee (in order because I’m super sweet) (also I know darcy doesn’t touch her hand in the books pls don’t come for me <33) Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen Metamorphosis, Ovid The Origin of Species, Charles Darwin The Black Cloud, Fred Hoyle The Divine Comedy, Dante The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald Far from the Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy The Hour of the Star, Clarice Lispector Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare Hamlet, Shakespeare

[lmvari]

⟳ 22. STALLED

When you finally step out of the building, the sky dimming into the soft lavender of early evening. The campus is quieter now, with scattered students loitering by the gates or heading toward the nearby street stalls. Your footsteps feel heavy as usual as you consider going straight home.

It’s been almost a week now, and still, you show no signs of feeling any better. It frustrates you. How everyone else seems fine and happy, while you’re still stuck.

A familiar voice snaps you out of your daze.

“[Name]!”

You turn to see Lumi waving at you from across the walkway, Ajax and Kaz beside her, all three of them standing by the parking area.

“Come eat with us,” she offers. “You look like you’re about to go home and crash out.”

“Shut up,” you say when you reach them, but Lumi just raises an eyebrow. “Where are Ven and Hu?”

“They’re all busy, it’s just us,” Lumi sighs.

You fix your gaze at the unfamiliar company. Ajax tagging along is normal. You’ve lost count of how many times you’ve hung out with Lumi, only for her to bring Ajax along and turn you into the third wheel. But being with Kaz is a first. You know him. You’ve seen him around campus, even exchanged waves now and then, but you’ve never actually hung out with him like this before.

Kaz seems to notice your attention on him and gives a small smile. “I heard what happened. Hope you don’t mind me joining in. Come join us, it’ll be fun.”

You want to argue, but you don’t. Because maybe they’re right. Maybe putting yourself out there is a good way to start moving on.

The four of you end up at a small food place just outside campus, one of those spots students always flock to after long days. You squeeze into a booth, the table already cluttered with shared plates and paper cups filled with soda. Ajax and Lumi sit beside each other while you and Kaz sit on the opposite side.

Lumi pokes you with a fry across the table. “See? Better than sulking in your room.”

You roll your eyes. “I wasn’t planning to.”

Lumi laughs. “It’s alright to be sad about it, you know. Just not to the point that it messes with your everyday life. That’s why we’re here to help you.”

Ajax chuckles, leaning back in his seat. “You’ve gone quiet lately. It’s good to see you out.”

Kaz glances your way. “So you and Kuni are really done?”

You freeze for a second, then sigh.

Of course he’d be brought up.

“We were never anything more than friends, in the first place,” you confirm.

“Heard that,” Ajax says with a cough.

You roll your eyes and look at Lumi in deadpan. “I’m starting to hate your boyfriend.”

She just shakes her head with a laugh.

“You two had something. I don’t know why neither of you admit it.” Ajax shrugs. “Did you get to talk about it properly?”

Define properly.

Does telling him to end things outside a convenience store late at night, in the pouring rain, count?

“I guess,” you answer vaguely, stirring your drink. “I told him we should stop. He just agreed. Which was the most painful part.”

“Why?” Kaz asks, listening intently.

You set down your drink. “We haven’t been sexually active lately prior to that. I thought I meant more to him. He didn’t even try to fight. Not even for our friendship.”

“That might be for the best,” Lumi mutters.

You raise your brow at her.

She continues, “Could you handle being ‘just friends’ while he gets back with his ex?”

You stay quiet, unsure how to answer that.

Can you?

Handle seeing him with her? Handle watching him treat her the way you thought he’d treat you? Handle knowing the delusions you had in your head are real with her?

Handle imagining how he’d touch her the same way he touched you?

And the worst part is the thought that you probably weren’t even the first to be handled like that.

She was.

Nothing was ever yours to begin with. It was your fault for being too attached when you knew it was only ever physical with him.

The answer is no. You can’t.

Do you really have the right to be upset?

As if reading your thoughts, Kaz’s voice is calm when he speaks. “You’re allowed to be mad at him, you know.” Ajax quietly agrees with a nod.

You glance beside you in surprise. “Aren’t you two his friends?”

“Yeah,” Ajax says with a shrug, “but not always.”

Kaz doesn’t say anything for a moment, then rests his elbow on the table. “We had an argument, actually.”

You blink. “You and Kuni?”

He nods, like it’s not a big deal. “A small one.”

You hesitate. “Over what?”

Kaz gives a faint shrug. “Just didn’t agree with some stuff he was doing. That’s all.”

It’s not much, but something flickers in your chest. You don’t push. Not yet.

Then Ajax adds, almost absently, “I’m surprised he got back with Mona again that fast.”

Lumi furrows his brows. “So they’re really back together?”

Ajax pauses then shrugs. “Dunno, they might as well be.”

You shake your head slowly, trying to keep your face blank.

Lumi watches you carefully. You press your lips together. Your mood dims slightly after that.

The conversation shifts to other things while the group eats their dinner.

Eventually, Lumi checks her phone and winces. “Shit. Ajax and I have to go. Something urgent came up.”

She stands up, grabbing her bag, and pulls Ajax with her. She leans down to put a hand on your shoulder. “You gonna be okay?”

You nod. “Yeah.”

Ajax ruffles your hair on the way out. “It’ll get better, alright?”

You watch them leave, the restaurant door swinging shut behind them.

You expect Kaz to get up too, to follow after them and leave you alone but he doesn’t. Instead, he stays seated, like he’s in no rush to go anywhere.

“You need a ride?”

You glance at him. “You don’t have to.”

“I know,” he says casually. “I’m offering.”

The car is quiet at first, save for the hum of the engine and the occasional splash of water as Kaz drives through the slick streets.

You sit in the passenger seat, arms crossed loosely, staring out the window. Neither of you talk for a while. It’s not awkward, just… quiet.

Comfortable, almost.

Kaz finally breaks the silence. “You okay?”

You nod. “Yeah.”

He doesn’t look at you, but his voice stays steady. “You don’t have to say you’re okay if you’re not.”

You smile faintly at that, then shrug. “I don’t know. I guess I’m just tired.”

Kaz simply nods and doesn’t speak, eyes focused on the road. After a long while, “You really love him, don’t you? Kuni.”

You look at him, slightly taken aback.

Love? Did your feelings really progress at that stage?

“I don’t. It was just a fleeting thing,” you deny.

“I doubt that,” he says. “I can see how much it weighs on you. A person who isn’t in love won’t grieve like you do.”

You don’t respond.

Kaz sighs through his nose. “I’m not gonna pretend I know everything that happened. But I do know something more was developing between you two, whether you admit it or not. It was obvious.”

“He had chances. But he didn’t take them,” he continues. “He’s my friend, but that doesn’t mean I’ll defend him when he does something stupid.“

Stupid?

“What exactly did you guys argue about?”

Kaz presses his lips and shakes his head. “It’s about something you shouldn’t be hearing from me.”

Huh.

“Okay,” you simply accept. You shift in your seat, watching the blur of headlights outside.

After a few beats of silence, you speak. “It’s not that simple to just move on. Even if he was just a fling.”

He was never just a fling.

“I know it’s not,” he agrees. “But you shouldn’t keep waiting for someone who can’t even promise you anything.”

“I’m not waiting for him. I already ended it.”

Kaz hums and shows a small amused smile “Whatever you say.”

“You don’t believe me?” You scoff.

“I think there’s still a big part of you that hopes he comes back and chooses you instead. That’s why you’re progressing as slow as you’re going now.”

You let out a humorless laugh. “Didn’t know you were some kind of therapist.”

Kaz briefly looks at you, softly chuckling, then turns his attention back on the road. “Well, I’m right, aren’t I?”

You don’t answer right away. Your weak smile falters into a thin line.

Then, under your breath, you admit, “It’s hard to let go of someone when part of you still hopes they’ll stay.”

Kaz’s voice softens. “I know. But you can’t put your healing on pause while he figures his shit out.”

You blink hard, swallowing down the sting in your throat.

He adds, “You deserve someone who doesn’t make you feel like you have to wait to be chosen.”

Silence settles again, heavier this time.

He pulls up in front of your house a few minutes later.

Kaz puts the car in park and turns to you with a reassuring smile. “You’ll be okay.”

You nod slowly, fingers resting on the handle.

“Thanks for the ride,” you murmur.

He gives you a small smile. “Anytime.”

You were about to open the door but you hear him speak out again. “You have my number, right?”

“I do. Why?” You saved it long ago from Lumi but never used it.

“Message me? You can talk to me if you need someone.”

“I will.” You smile at him, slightly feeling at ease. “Thank you, Kaz.”

You open the door and step out, the cool air brushing against your skin. Kaz waits until you’re safely at the door before driving off.

As the door clicks shut and his headlights vanish around the corner, you realize you never knew Kaz could be this steady.

For the first time in days, some of the weight finally lifts off your chest.

⟳ BLURRED LINES — PREV | MASTERLIST | NEXT

You say you’re just friends. You say it every time you leave a party together, every time you wake up tangled in sheets, every time you swear it’s the last time. But habits form, lines blur, and pretending gets harder when jealousy starts to sting.

NOTE some of ya’ll are hating on mc for being counterproductive with moving on but i feel like u guys don’t get it.. even in a fwb setup, sex is inherently intimate and can build emotional bonds. on top of that, kuni has never clearly closed the door on “something more,” sending mc mixed signals, which naturally drags out her healing. mc still doesn’t have closure. she’s piecing together why he let mona back in, why he didn’t fight for her, without clear answers. it’s normal for her to linger in that in-between space. + it hasn’t been a month guys chill out 😭 it took me over one month to completely get over my one week talking stage that i was deeply attached to. anw this chapter is kind of poorly made since i’m still fighting my writer’s block sorry

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[reagent-leon]

Okay guys, I’m really sorry, but this is going to be another vent piece rather than a proper essay. Once again, I’m here to despair about the inconsistency in Coyle’s comic design. 

So, as we can see, Coyle's uniform is based on the New Mexico State Police uniform

This image in particular.

Everything is present and correct, except that Coyle's uniform has a mandarin collar rather than an open one. It really bugs me because while the image has been manipulated slightly, it just kinda looks like they stuck the standing collar on top of the uniform without trying to blend it? I mean look, you can even see the badge on the lapel has been copied over to the comic, even though they didn't use the open collar. What the fuck is that?

This is derivative and I've mentioned it before in another post, but I'm going to mention it again because it still pisses me off. They even left the SP on his Sam Browne belt. SP stands for State Police! The Blackwell Police Department is a municipal police agency! The Oklahoma equivalent of the NMSP is the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.

Coyle having a Russian shoulder patch and no Sergeant's chevrons? Lazy. And I mean that with my whole chest at this point, and imma tell you why I'm losing patience with this comic.

So, going back to the original image, above the rectangular name badge is a badge that I couldn't identify.

In an earlier post, I misidentified this pin as something similar to the badges below.

This style of badge appears to be connected to the Union, given its laurel theme. I admit, I was kind of surprised to learn that Oklahoma and what was known as Indian Territory at the time, were a part of the Union and not the Confederacy, however, the American Civil War isn't my area of expertise.

But on closer inspection... do you see what I see? The four thunderbolts? That badge is an EOD, an Explosive Ordnance Disposal Badge.

Now that as a concept is cool as fuck. Coyle being part of the bomb squad actually makes a lot of narrative sense. Coyle is implied to be very good with electrics (and possibly just DIY in general, given we hear him referencing power tools). By the time he's killed his third wife, the man is rigging full-on saw traps to get rid of his in-laws.

So if Coyle's got the brains and the will, what's the problem? Well, the thing is, EOD badges were originally created for the military in the 50s, and we have no evidence that Coyle served in the Korean War to have earned such a badge, nor would he have reason to display it on his police uniform. Those credits don't transfer.

There isn't any one set Law Enforcement EOD badge, and it differs from agency to agency, but for a small agency like the Blackwell Police Department to have their own designated bomb squad in the 1950s... while it's not impossible, it's a pretty big stretch. If Coyle had been part of the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, it would make more sense as it's a larger agency, but from my limited research, even the OHP didn't have a formal bomb squad until the 1970s.

So while it would be super cool if it were canon that Coyle is a bomb disposal expert... I just don't see enough historical evidence for it.

I would give Red Barrels actual physical money for them to remake Coyle and Phyllis' comics in the original comic styles, because this photomanipulation-collage type shit just isn't it.

Imagine if something happened to Coyle that made him unsuitable to be a prime asset, so they take him on as an engineer... hopefully not in the same sleep room as Noakes.

I hope this rant has been educational, or at least entertaining to watch me get heated over. Coyle could be such an interesting character, but I keep running face-first into walls of inconsistency 😔

[ranbling]

Hi i had a couple of thoughts about BTs and their shipping, which i posted on my own blog a while ago, but I'd like to throw out here for your thoughts -

BTs and T stans' love for BT seems to be based on a LOT of assumptions and unfounded headcanons, the primary one being that T's racism and sexism and his entire unpleasant personality is not really him, it's all a facade, a self-defence mechanism he developed in response to the discrimination and repression he's suffered, but now that sunshine Evan is in his life, he's going to learn to open up and love again and be vulnerable and transform back into his true self, a sweet kind gentle warm affectionate compassionate loving man who's perfect for Buck - basically they think he'll turn into Eddie (and they're already writing fics like that).

(and some of them think s8 Eddie will turn into T - a lackey and Yes Man for Gerrard)

I feel like the other misconception/assumption that BTs make, which leads them to imagine and root for endgame BT, is that caring about and validating and accommodating buck's feelings and reassuring him and affirming him when he's insecure and showing an interest in and enthusiasm for things he's excited about (you know, like Eddie does)-

Doing all that is actually infantilising him and is bad for him! and what he REALLY needs is someone who doesn't particularly go out of their way to make him feel safe and comfortable and heard and understood. It's time for buck to grow up and mature and get over himself! and T in all his cynical snide casually dismissive condescension is the perfect partner to do that!! This is an ADULT relationship (with lots of sex), as BTs like to say ad nauseum

Hi!

I think the reason why the perception to Tommy's character is so divided is due to multiple things. First is Buck is bi! This is a great thing to be confirmed and a lots of people got so happy about it that they didn't really cared about Tommy (who is quite literally a plot device during that moment. Any male character could have replaced him and the scene would have stayed the same).

Second: many bt stans started to watch the show after the kiss and refused to go back and watch the rest of the show. Or they went back, but somehow missed the whole point of the Hen and Chimney Begins episodes. If you look into the tag for those episodes, it's filled with gifs about Tommy, raving about how good he looks and don't mention the fact that he was an asshole. There is also a mandela -effect happening and people are trying to make it seem like Tommy was actually in the background and did nothing wrong, when he was the most vocal in the whole group. Chimney Begins shows that Tommy was the one to start the racist comments. They're literally saying that Sal DeLuca (a guy who wasn't even in Chimney Begins and looked annoyed through the whole Hen Begins) was the one who acted like Tommy did in canon.

Third: Lou and his cameos. Not really talking about the fact that he kept raising the price to exploit the fans (though what were we expecting from a nepo baby, who posted pictures of himself lusting after women's asses to insta. Absolutely disgusting). He was the one who set the precedent when he called Tommy's behaviour teasing. He's the one who keeps coming up with tragic backstories to Tommy to excuse his behaviour. He was the one who lied multiple times on his cameos to make his character more relevant. He was the one who decided to fuel all the headcanons by confirming them as long as someone payed him 150+ dollars for a few minutes long video.

Also, I find the whole self-defense mechanism stupid. Tommy was a grown white man during Chimney and Hen Begins (he had to be 28 at the youngest during Chimney Begins for his military backstory to make sense). He could have protected himself by just staying in the background and not participating in the racism. He shown no sign of being uncomfortable with Gerrard's behaviour and the only time he looked annoyed was when Hen was giving her speech. It makes more sense that he just stopped saying bigoted things out loud because the captains after Gerrard were not tolerating it. There is a reason neither Hen or Chimney kept in touch with him after he left the 118. Chimney calling him once for assistance was for work reasons, and in s3 they both make very clear they don't keep in touch with anyone from the old 118.

All of their characterization of Tommy is only fanon. They totally disregard canon. In canon Tommy couldn't care less about Buck's feelings. He left Buck standing on the curb after he annoyed him (and I 100% believe Buck did nothing wrong, that was his first time on the date while being out) and somehow put the blame on Buck for it (which he tends to do a lot. He also blames the enviroment and Gerrard for his racism). Then he totally ignored Buck's planning of the bachelor party (how you show an interest in someone when you couldn't do the fucking minimum), made condescending comments (the henley comment). Being on call is not an excuse, he had to change anyways. Yes, he was in the hospital, but he probably was going there anyways.

I'm not gonna touch the last paragraph with a ten feet pole, because I hate that part and I fear I wouldn't be able to stay civili if I started to talk about that, however if you say things like "fuck the sad out of him" when Buck's dad is in the hospital and how concerned about Tommy is about him, I think it's pretty clear you're only fetishizing them

[vaestro]

RAM 6.2 - Night Hospital

Translated by: Vaestro

RAM 6 Masterlist

✝ Chapter I

"Hospitals, hospitals are fun~♪ You go in sick, you come out dead~♪ Once you're dead, it's okay~♪"

"That's enough, Sister Kaya Syokka. This is a hospital room. Please be quiet."

In a corner of the intensive care unit ward, Caterina Sforza sternly reprimanded the humming that continued incessantly from the front. The source of the humming — a gypsy girl with a dark, deep-set face — shrugged and nodded lightly. After throwing her a glance, Caterina urged the black clad man who was standing nearby to continue his report.

"My apologies for the interruption... So, regarding Sister Kate's report, is it true that two deputy enforcers are currently missing?"

"Yes, Your Eminence. After the incident at the opera house, they were unable to contact Crusnik and Sword Dancer."

The one who answered respectfully was Major Federico Alvarez, squad leader of four SPs[1]. He was well over fifty years old, but he had the best physique of them all. With his back kept straight, the middle-aged veteran resumed his report.

"There is an eyewitness testimony from Gunslinger that Crusnik went to the city with a key witness in the Barcelona incident. As for Sword Dancer, there is no information whatsoever regarding his sudden disappearance."

"So, our combat strength has been reduced by one-third before we could even identify the perpetrator."

The beauty rested her pointed chin upon steepled fingers and sighed deeply. She slid her gaze to the bed beside her and murmured with sorrow.

"I'm failing to understand why six enforcers were dispatched then... What exactly are those two doing?"

"Shall Kaya go to Vienna too, Lady Caterina?"

The girl who was swinging her legs in boredom suggested to the cardinal who was enduring a headache. However, when the beauty tried to reply, she had already given herself the answer.

"Yes, that sounds good. Let's do that. Sing and dance, then kill all the bad people~♪ While we're at it, we'll decapitate the slacking priests, squeeze their blood dry, fry their hearts in a frying pan and feed them to the birds~♪"

"Let's do that another time, Gypsy Queen."

Caterina calmly rejected her enthusiastic proposal.

In truth, she was fearful that the girl might actually mean what she said, but more than that, she was terribly hesitant to deploy her reserve forces at this point. Of all eight existing deputy enforcers, Gypsy Queen was Caterina's only reserve force. With two still missing and one unconscious, sending the girl to Vienna was out of the question.

"I do at least hope you'll be all right, Doctor Wordsworth."

Caterina spoke sympathetically to the gentleman before her who was connected to countless IV tubes.

William Walter Wordsworth — self-proclaimed "Rome's greatest intellectual".

Three days ago, the deputy enforcer, who was injured in a battle with a vampire that attacked Castel Sant'Angelo, was still in a coma. According to the hospital, the emergency surgery was a success, but his condition was still fluctuating despite that. His pale face showed no signs of life and she could only hear faint breathing from his mouth, where an oxygen inhaler had been placed. The pipe and cane placed beside the bed may never be used again.

I am perhaps their grim reaper.

Wearing a blank expression, Caterina suddenly thought to herself.

The one constantly pushing them into danger and jeopardizing their lives was none other than herself. Even now, her subordinate was on the brink of death and yet all she could do was watch in vain. She was perhaps the worst superior or master ever.

Staring at the long-faced gentleman's limply closed eyelids, Caterina sighed again.

"Please come back soon, Professor. It's difficult not having someone to talk to..."

"Uhm, Your Eminence? Are you still with me?"

Alvarez's voice brought the cardinal, who was traversing through a swamp of anxiety, back to reality. It appeared the SP captain had been reporting right from the top. His polite face peered into Caterina's beautiful face as if to confirm the expression of his unresponsive superior.

"Is something wrong? Are you unwell?"

"Oh, no, sorry. It's nothing... Uhm, were we talking about Vienna?"

"No, we're on the situation in Milan right now. It concerns the replacement of Captain Visconti."

The elderly captain modestly corrected his superior. He handed her a file with the Sforza family crest — the snake and sword — engraved in wax and opened it reverently.

"As instructed by Your Eminence, Galeazzo Visconti has been relieved of his duties as commander of Castle Sforza's guards as of yesterday. He has also voluntarily retired from the private army of the Duke of Milan's household. Furthermore, President Lorenzo Visconti has approved of this personnel change. He is extremely sorry about the scandal of his nephew firing a gun at Your Eminence and would like to visit sometime to apologize in person."

"Ah, I'll leave that matter to you, Major Alvarez. Please handle it as you see fit."

Caterina shook her head as if the topic had been about a stray dog that had wandered into her garden. In a split second, she pushed the matter of the nobleman who had thrown away both his career and future into oblivion and steered the conversation back to the main issue at hand.

"The most pressing matter now is Vienna. Inform Sister Kate to keep the reports confidential. If she contacts you, let me know even if I'm asleep. Also, tell her to do everything in her power to find the low-frequency weapon. It's fine to leave the two missing enforcers as they are for now. We must prioritize the disposal of that weapon."

"Understood. I will notify her as soon as I return to Palazzo Spada. By the way, it's almost midnight, I humbly suggest heading back for some rest. You have a meeting scheduled at seven o'clock tomorrow morning with Cardinal Medici. I think you should take care of yourself a little bit more."

"Ah, that's right. That person is strictly punctual. I wouldn't want to be late."

She had rushed to the hospital as soon as she returned to the Holy City from Milan so she hadn't visited the Pope's Palace, let alone seen her brother. Ever since the last Inquisition trial, her relationship with Francesco had been extremely cold, but she had no intention of taking that into consideration at this point. For now, they should at least maintain a ceremonial relationship.

But is this okay? Is it okay for me to be the only one to "take care of myself" when my subordinates are teetering on the edge of life and death? Then again, it's true that even if I stay, there is simply nothing I could do.

"Is something the matter, Your Eminence?"

"Huh? Oh, it's nothing."

Caterina stood up when being questioned again. That's right, there's nothing I can do here. I should get some rest and prepare for tomorrow.

"All right, it's time we head back. Please fetch the car downstairs."

"Going home, going home, the cardinal is going home~♪"

As one of the SPs bowed and left the room, the girl who had been sitting with a bored look leapt to her feet. In contrast to her superior who was looking at the bed reluctantly, she headed towards the door without giving the patient a second glance.

"This is a hospital, everything happens here~♪ People grow up here and get old, get sick and get well, are born and die here — yay!"

"Oh, excuse me."

The ominous but cheerful humming was interrupted by a scream from the girl and a man's voice. The door had been pushed open from the hallway just as the girl reached for the knob. She hit her nose by accident and fell on her bottom. The young man in a white coat on the other side of the door reached out in panic.

"I'm sorry, miss. Are you hurt?"

"Are you the doctor on duty? Doctor Amalfi?"

Caterina called out to the young man who was helping Gypsy Queen to her feet.

"Cardiac Surgeon Dino Amalfi" — her eyes swiftly examined the name tag on the chest of the young doctor who had his hair parted like a playboy.

"Cardiac surgeon... Has the patient's heart weakened?"

"Yes... It seems the bleeding and organ damage were too severe."

The young man cleared his throat, his eyes darting back and forth between the chart he was holding and the priest lying on the bed. He then shook his head solemnly and added.

"Indeed, he was in quite a dangerous situation at one point but he's recovering fairly well now. Don't worry. I will help... No, I'll definitely help him."

"Please, doctor, he's like family to me."

Caterina gave in to the young doctor's confident assurance. She leaned her beautiful face forward, which was unusual for her, and pleaded in a firm tone.

"We may not be related by blood but he is an important family member to me... No matter what happens, please save his life."

"Leave it to me, Your Eminence."

The young man's face flushed at the beautiful woman's words. He closed the chart and nodded vigorously.

"I will definitely save him, even if it means sacrificing my own life. Please rest assured that he is in safe hands."

"Thank you. I'll be counting on you from now on. Let's make a move, Sister Kaya."

Casting one final glance at the bed, Caterina left the intensive care unit.

"Lady Caterina, why is Professor a family member to you?"

The girl beside her suddenly inquired as they descended the stairs and heard a commotion in the lobby.

Caterina wasn't dressed in her usual robes tonight. Opting for a plain suit and a thin coat, she resembled a company president's secretary at first glance. Furthermore, her face was hidden behind large sunglasses, but in Rome, many people were familiar with the beauty of the "world's most beautiful cardinal" and the sister of the Pope. The deputy enforcer gazed innocently at her superior who was heading down the stairs with her head slightly inclined, choosing to avoid the elevator.

"Lady Caterina, your family is no more, right? They all died ten years ago. They were murdered. That's what Kaya heard."

"Yes, my immediate family. But at that time, I met some important people... He was one of them."

Caterina offered a somewhat forlorn smile to the girl who had tilted her head.

In that horrible incident ten years ago, her mother, Lucrezia Sforza and her legal father, the former Duke of Milan, both died. Having lost everything, she inherited the Dukedom of Milan, a legacy of blood, glory and vast fortune. At the same time, she was taken in by her biological father, Gregorio, who was Pope back then, and entered the Holy World.

However, to the girl, who was still in shock from the incident, Rome was practically enemy territory during that time. There were those who bore animosity towards the Pope's biological child who appeared out of nowhere, those who were interested in the enormous fortune and status she had inherited, and those who were simply after her beauty... If fate had not placed several knights by her side back then, the girl would've been physically and mentally torn apart, and "Cardinal Caterina Sforza" would never have been born.

"Since then, Doctor Wordsworth has always been devoted to me in every way. If he had returned to Albion, he would've been rich and successful, but he stayed in Rome and became my right-hand man... It's all thanks to him that I am in the position I am now."

"Hmm... But Kaya doesn't really like that man. He stinks of cigarettes, he's always so arrogant and he's never nice to Kaya."

"Professor's pride is the flip side of his sensitivity... He probably has trouble showing his kindness to others."

Kaya's overly honest opinion made Caterina's smile turn into a bitter chuckle. As the girl turned away, the cardinal placed her hand on her subordinate's hair and continued speaking in a somewhat admonishing tone.

"I admit that his pride can be exhausting for me at times, but Doctor Wordsworth is still precious to me... Huh?"

The beautiful woman who was trying to placate Gypsy Queen suddenly looked away.

Several police cards were parked in front of the entrance, their blue lights flashing. Furthermore, in a corner of the lobby, people were moving about in a hurry.

"What's the commotion about?"

"I'll go have a look, Your Eminence, please wait here."

With a nod, Alvarez hurried into the crowd. He peered around and spoke briefly with one of the onlookers, then returned.

"I don't know the exact details but it looks like a murder case. A doctor was found dead. A forensic examination will begin soon... Your Eminence, we must remain inconspicuous. Let us use the side entrance."

"Agreed."

Caterina nodded when prompted by the captain.

Rome was a safe city but murders were not uncommon. Nevertheless, a group of curious onlookers had gathered in one of the hallways. No one paid any attention to the group heading for the back door.

"He was in such good spirits when he came to work just a while ago. Who could have done this to him?"

"The victim was stabbed repeatedly in the abdomen..."

A few people were being questioned and their words reached the ears of the cardinal, who was walking briskly. She shifted her gaze in that direction and saw a police officer having a deep conversation with a chubby nurse not too far away from the crowd. 

"Given the brutality of the method, it was very likely a grudge-driven murder... So, do you have any idea who might have had a grudge against the victim? For example, women-related issues or medical malpractice... Was there anyone who wanted to revenge against the victim?"

"Revenge?! No way, I can't imagine such a thing happening to him!"

The elderly nurse was dabbing her eyes vigorously with a handkerchief, but when the police officer spoke, she raised her voice and shook her head with conviction, like a priest at a confirmation ceremony.

"He was really kind and everyone liked him. I can't imagine anyone having a grudge against Doctor Amalfi!"

"Amalfi?!"

Caterina looked up as if she had been struck by the proper noun that had spilled from the nurse's mouth. However, at that moment, everyone, except for Gypsy Queen who was staring longingly at a chocolate bar in the store, looked tense. Alvarez was the first to react. The elderly SP captain turned his sturdy body around and entered the group of people he had just left behind. Caterina reflexively followed suit.

"W-Who are you guys?!"

Ignoring the officers kneeling on the floor, Alvarez placed his foot under the body of the man lying face down in his underwear. With practiced movements, he turned the body over.

"It's him?!"

Recognizing the bloodless, upturned face, a groan escaped Caterina's lips as though she was the one who had died.

The dead man's membrane had already begun to fall from his vacant, wide-open eyes. A massive chunk of his neck had been chomped off, which was likely the fatal blow. However, it wasn't the tragic sight that made Caterina and the others gasp. The face of the corpse — a young face under that playboy-style parted hair — was familiar to all of them. Yes, it was the exact same man they had just met.

"So, that was... Oh no! Professor!"

"Y-Your Eminence?!"

Caterina turned around as to not hear Alvarez's panicked voice.

Anyone who knew her would be surprised to learn that she was indeed the "Woman of Steel". With a stiff expression of anxiety and fear, she immediately tried to slip past the man in a hunting hat who was standing right behind her.

"Oh? Are you, by any chance, Cardinal Caterina Sforza?"

A voice that sounded extremely exhausted, yet somehow imbued with abhorrent vitality, caught the cardinal's shoulder.

Or rather, to be precise, it was the man's strong hand that grabbed Caterina's slender shoulder. However, what caught her attention was the dark hatred in his voice. The man in the hunting hat stared into the face of the beautiful woman. He was a handsome young man but his expression was hollow and the corners of his lips had curled into the shape of a crescent moon.

"Have you forgotten my face? The face of Your Eminence's loyal vassal... The face of the subordinate you dismissed."

"Captain Visconti?"

Galeazzo Visconti — the nephew of the president of Visconti Enterprise in Milan and the commander of Castle Sforza's guards until the day before yesterday. Caterina was slightly taken aback to see his face, but she immediately raised her hand to pry his fingers away.

"What a surprise. When did you come to Rome? Ah, if you're here to talk about getting a new job, let's do it another day. I'm in a hurry right now..."

"A new job? No, I have no intention of doing that."

Galeazzo pursed his lips nervously and pulled out his right hand which had been in his pocket from the start. He seemed to have consumed a considerable amount of liquor. He exhaled a breath that reeked of alcohol and pointed an automatic pistol between Caterina's brows.

"After all, it's all over for me now. I was not only fired, but with Your Eminence's instigation, I was also disowned by my uncle, abandoned by my family and lost everything...  Therefore, Your Eminence, I came here today to give you a taste of your own medicine!"

"Y-Your Eminence!"

Caterina couldn't move as she heard Alvarez's shriek-like cry. With widened eyes, she stared blankly at the flames spewing from Galeazzo's pistol.

✝ End of Chapter I

[1] Security Police.

[whatbettyread]

Pulling Swords from Stones: What's the matter with YA King Arthur Retellings

I have read a lot more this year than I have in a long time, and basically read anything someone recommended me. I tried to stay in the umbrella of queer, indie, and diverse voices. Unfortunately, that means I never want to be mean! I don't want to kick diverse voices or smaller creators, and I don't want to discourage those creatives. On the other other hand, I appreciate people being bitchy, especially when it's about a book that I was interested in. So I'm splitting the difference-- overly positive on goodreads, with my negative comments here, where nobody will read them.

I know part of the Cait Corrain (sp?) drama was that she was reviewing indie authors and friends positively but being negative on alt accounts, and I hope that's not what I'm doing here. I think both of these books are relatively big, and I don't know the authors personally, but I also think they're small enough the creators might come across the reviews. Hopefully they're smart enough to avoid reading reviews.

This is about the following books:

Once and Future

Gwen and Art are Not In Love

Probably needlessly negative, which is why it's under a cut, but:

Once and Future is the only book I definitively DNFed this year. It should be a slam dunk for me: I love sci fi, I've had "Arthur comes back as a marginalized person" as a concept in my head for decades, I love queer characters and characters of color taking the lead. Once and Future has all of these things!

Once & Future, by A.R. Capetta, Cory McCarthy, is billed as a "bold, sizzling YA retells the popular legend with the Once and Future King as a teenage girl -- and she has a universe to save." The protagonist is a plucky teenager, a woman of color, and queer-- sapphic, even-- living with her brother and on the run from a spacefaring megacorporation.

Even setting aside the Arthur of it all, I had a few issues with this book from the jump. Capetta and McCarthy both seem uncomfortable with writing a woman of color as their protagonist-- one of the authors is part Lebanese, but there still seemed to be a lot of discomfort with how they wrote those characters. You could feel the difference between how they write Ari and how they write Merlin: Merlin is immediately a comfortable point of view.

The introduction of Merlin into the story is actually where I fell off. Merlin is The Merlin, from the Arthur Times. He wakes up in the far future and misgenders someone, and then is corrected. He immediately apologizes and becomes Woke.

And this made me feel crazy! Because it was simultaneously too easy and not easy enough. Merlin is The Merlin from Arthurian Times, who Wakes Up Every Few Hundred Years and Updates His Knowledge. So... he has never met a single nonbinary person for thousands of years? He is not held to any sort of social norm from the Arthurian time period, or does he just update his understanding super quickly once corrected? There's no bafflement from the protagonists-- who have only existed in a world where gender is fluid-- why someone would struggle with the idea of nonbinary people. And then Merlin explains that he is from the past and has outdated ideas!

Third genders and nonbinary genders were on Earth during the Arthurian era, just outside of England-- did Merlin just keep all his vast knowledge confined to the British isles?

It felt like a handwave: a way for Merlin to stay "outdated" and to address the changes in time, while also showing that he's a good dude who will update his ideas immediately when confronted. It felt too easy-- and if you want it to be easy, why not have him interact with nonbinary people at a previous time? He is specifically written to be The Merlin, but the authors seem like they don't want to tackle what having a dude from the 5th century running around would actually be like.

Similarly, Gwen and Art are Not In Love wants to split playing with the time period with having things be Easy. The novel doesn't commit to a time period, so the extent to which homophobia existed is hard to pin down. We are in generic middle ages time period, maybe after the 12th century: the references to Arthur are about cycles, rather than a true retelling. This is the story of Gwen and Art, who are betrothed, but Gwen is in love with the Only Lady Knight, and Art is gay. They fake date to get people off their backs.

Unlike Once and Future, Gwen and Art is mostly just trying to be a good time. It really reads like fanfiction. I enjoyed it! Really. But the second I turned my brain back on, the ramifications. The rammies. The book is interested in some of the history and politics, but is fearful of making any institution seem truly flawed. There is a civil war coming, but we aren't shown why people might want to fight against their ruler: Gwen has a servant she mistreats, but they're actually friends its fine. Once you have a rebellion: people who are unhappy under a ruler-- one has to start asking questions.

I don't tend to like stories about royals. I'm originally from the UK: I don't like the idea that magic blood makes someone better than me. But I can deal with this for a story written well: either one that explores what royalty means, or one that ignores it.

I think a lot about Bridgerton in terms of this. The race-blind casting in the show is fantastic and the actors are brilliant and beautiful-- and then they explain it by saying George III married a black woman and it... ended racism? And I didn't need an explanation! I didn't want one. But once you say that, I start thinking about the period being built on the slave trade, the British Empire built on the stolen wealth of Africa and India, and George III being mad, and how he would never be allowed to marry Charlotte, and if he used his royal power to do that-- would the colonies revolt sooner? I mean, think about what the west did to Haiti--

You see what I mean?

Both books try and straddle between "legitimate retelling" and "don't worry about it." But I'm going to worry about it if you bring it up!

The Goblin Emperor is a book that is very concerned with the morality of Empire. It doesn't shy away from the idea that Empire itself is a toxic thing, even when led by a good ruler, and that even a good ruler will struggle with the machinery of empire. The Twelve Kingdoms tackles the idea of royalty differently: the Royal in charge of a Kingdom is actually tied to the well-being of the land and its people. Many of the snapshots we get are to see how different rulers manage-- or don't manage- their kingdoms. You are King as long as you serve your country-- and emphasis on Serve.

Additionally, they seemed to suffer from the "fujoshi's curse"-- something I say fondly, as a sufferer myself on occasion, but still a detractor.

The fujoshi's curse is this: you are more interested in your male characters than your female ones, even as a woman or as a queer person ostensibly writing about multiple genders of character. Both this and Gwen and Art suffer from this: the authors seem to struggle to enjoy the female protagonists, or to understand their attraction to women. In Gwen and Art, Gwen is implied to be demisexual: this is fine and good! But since she's the only queer woman whose interiority we're invited into, we get the vibe that her attraction is only to this particular Lady Knight. When her attraction is described, it doesn't feel comfortable for the writers. In Once & Future, once Merlin is introduced, he is immediately the writers favorite.

Both books seem to feel like wlw relationships are an obligation, something you need to avoid people telling you that you're just fetishizing mlm relationships. They feel flat. Gwen has been in Love With Lady Bridget, but also kind of wants to be Lady Bridget. The writers keep adding elements to their relationship as though adding hooks will find something to keep them interested. But Lady Bridget, and Gwen, are somewhat superfluous to the story. They are given things to do that seem plot important, but the narrative exists primarily for Gwen's brother and Art.

Gwen is punished by the narrative for her cowardice, without the narrative leaving any room for why a woman might be more cowardly than a man at that time period. Gwen is portrayed as being in the wrong for caring what other people think: her arc is her being brave and breaking the rules and maybe being nicer to servants.

What is the point of a King Arthur retelling? What is the point of taking a story about Kings and Royalty and the Inevitable Good of The Ruling Class and rewriting it with members of the underclass? Gwen and Art say: everyone else gets a fun middle ages romance, in the system of middle ages royalty, so we queers get one too. Once and Future says: you think you like the inevitable power of the ruling class? Well this is a brown, queer woman from the underclass, and she has been gifted this power. They do not go beyond that. They do not ask more questions.

At one point, in Gwen and Art, Lady Bridget, the only female knight, the only character of color in the book, lifts the sword from the stone and wields it in battle. What are the consequences of this? A few jokes. When she is at tourneys, some people talk about it, but she doesn't like it. Gwen's brother, Art's boyfriend, becomes the King. The Good King. And he Makes Gay Marriage Legal.

We know there are flaws in the kingdom, in the system. We know that, in Once and Future, the Evil Corporation infects everything, is galaxy spanning and all powerful. But the problems are fixed, in both, without violence. Violence comes from outside: from the violent members of a cult. Their invasion is repelled, and the system is fixed by the royals from the inside. In Gwen And Art, the Good King rising to the throne brings about a period of liberal niceties and wokeness, but with the King. In Once and Future, paperwork and a marriage Fix the galaxy.

Both books tackle Class with characters from different ends of the system, but both conclude with remarkably similar ideas. The rise of liberalism, and a 20th century moral outlook, brought about by the Right People Being in Charge.

What do the villains want? In Gwen and Art, they want to be in charge, because they're part of an Arthurian cult. In Once and Future, they're a fascist neoliberal government corporation. But it never feels like the enemy is an ideology or a people: the enemy is an obstacle we need to get past, but it doesn't come from anything.

I'm not just a killjoy: like I said, I enjoyed Gwen and Art well enough when I was reading it. But both retellings seemed to stop at "we are recasting with diverse characters." Why? What does it say? What does it mean? What are the themes, and how are they challenged by these changes? Royalty, empire, corporate oligarchy, the existence of Kings: all of these things are parts of oppressive systems, and the stories we tell about them are about those oppressive systems.

Secret royalty stories have existed forever: the pauper who is a prince is a classic tale. Those stories say: royal blood always floats to the surface. Subversions, too, have something to say. But you have to figure out what.

[avis-aestrimer]

ooc: Random ooc lore-drop bc Avi was my first TMA oc! And he holds a special place in my heart bc of it.

This version of him, [human], was not his first iteration! Initially Avis was made as a Spiral avatar whom I only delved deeper into his backstory after realizing I love just how goofy he was and I needed to give him trauma.

Technically he has two other avatar designs, other than spiral, The Eye and The Slaughter! The eye bc he has had so many hyperfixations and just has too much knowledge in that skull of his and he would absolutely fall into the eye even knowing the dangers. The Slaughter was more so a curious thing, a role-swap with his sister Eleanor! His slaughter design was actually stranger themed bc overall his character is meant to have those themes throughout.

He also has a design and loose story of if he ever escaped the sprial! It never really went anywhere but it's a lil thing I jump back to from time to time.

In the terms of his Spiral/original design, my favorite spiral episode is a tie between Upon The Stair and Binary, and so when working on Spiral!Avis I wanted to lean to one of those elements. I went the Binary route bc I just find the paths to go there v interesting.

Technically this vers of Avis has already dealt w the Spiral in a big way once! It's the whole reason that he isn't a nurse anymore and why he decided it may be a good idea to get hired at the Magnus Institute! [oh my sweet idiot boy, it was not a good idea.] Also, if he ever mentions taking antipsychotics, its bc of his spiral interaction! He has convinced himself that what happened to him wasn't real, and all a stress-induced psycosis!

Initially, Avis stumbled into the spiral once, and escaped. He gave a statement and continued on w his life. It then happened again. He gave another statement. Went on his way. Third time is the charm, and he got pulled into the spiral Via his phone!

Due to the way he was taken, Sp!vis is very arcade themed. He also has roller skates. He has a domain and its like the worst mix of 80's arcade/roller-rink/laser-tag course. Bright colours, flashing lights, and loud music.

Sp!vis also has ambient music whenever he's around, all videogame sound tracks. The music changes with it's mood, though 80% of the time, the song that accompanied it is "BIG SHOT" from Deltarune.

There is technically more but these are the key bits!

I do intend for this vers. of Avis to become an avatar, and it likely will end up being the Spiral [bc I adore sp!vis] this being said, I am very down to traumatize my special lil guy even more before then, esp entity related trauma! He is book-smart-everything-else-dumb.

Also, the things listed above as his spiral things, technically happen in the his future! His age on this blog is a bit before he got taken in his original story! [This being said, if extra trauma stuff happens in rp, none of the things said here are set "these have to happen in this way" thing, I'm just rambling ab what his initial story was!]

For now I think that's all, he's just my silly lil guy and I wanted to ramble about him!

[thewickedbohemian]

Thoughts on an Elsbeth that seemed like a return to form until an ending that made me have to keep reminding myself there's two episodes left in the season and a third season next year

blue light and rich preppy people up to no good is this Grosse Pointe Garden Society?

god I hate pools

third wheel, wonder if that's gonna thematically echo into our heroes' storylines (and worried how)

a little more light shed on their dynamic

why do people never call 911

was that just a perfectly cut transition or did we just get some mythology-ass mythology!

so we've assembled the avengers but that sadly includes the nepo detective

they finish each other's...sandwiches

shoe's on the other foot for Kaya and Crenshaw's making her point

I thought Teddy didn't want to follow in her footsteps (maybe it's just he didn't want her pushing him)

Legally Blonde mentioned (and Elsbeth can notice the differences between movie and musical)

road trip time (and more evidence for ADHD Elsbeth)

Elsbeth trying too hahd

snooping around and found the link like usual

so parallel kid stuff

Elsbeth again with the weird-ass theater-ass crime reenactment

pieces being put together

dudes, don't talk about "fight club" at the club

afraid Kaya was gonna barely be in the episode but now I'm getting Law & Order flashbacks

high school drama be high school drama-ing

"ugh men" (I caught that)

seriously, dude sounds like Todd Wright

I was so scared this was going to go worse for Elsbeth

never mind it's just going worse for everyone else

TFW you have to tell yourself it's two episodes left in the season, they can't metaphorically blow up the world

wonder if the Celetano (sp) thing is foreshadowing her becoming a permanent consultant

Wagner and Claudia doing a little bluff

let's go steal (metaphorically and literally) a DNA sample

don't go saying shit

Kaya actually managed to get answers out of Rivers

but Elsbeth winded af with the smoking gun

relating to Teddy real hard right now

not the kind of bad news I was expecting with Kaya acting like that

I like how blue seems to be Kaya's thing perfectly counterbalancing Elsbeth's brights

time for a standoff and what is that coat

keep making me want to punch you in the nards dude (with that ASMR-ass voice with the creepy words making it even creepier)

oh, that's a twist

making a sociopolitical point are we

looking at both Teddy and the camera

even more than "Hot Tub Crime Machine" this is the before-the-climax-of-the-movie moment

I mean seriously even though Elsbeth only said "I don't know" I didn't like her faith wavering and I especially don't like the idea of Teddy changing the path he had been so heart-set-on just because justice tripped over its own feet one time so I'm just telling myself there's two episodes left in the season there's two episodes left in the season

[khryswilliams]

Character Strategy Thoughts: Zelkov

Yunaka was great, but I had to bench her around halfway into the game because this beast came along! Zelkov is hella complex, but somewhere in that killing smize lays a heart of gold... and maybe a pocket full of gold, as well. Spoiler alert: no reclass for him!

I'm looking at his stats, and while I'm happy with most of them, one of them sticks out like a sore thumb — RES. Now, I can either help it or ignore it. But with a stat that low and so far gone, I might just double down on physical attacks. Even if I bump up that RES stat, it won't be enough to survive an attack from a third-level tome spell like Bolganone. Let's see what skills I can glean.

Potential Inherited Skills

Marth’s Perceptive set grants a direct bonus to a unit’s Avoid stat when the unit initiates combat (max +30). The bonus increases by one point for every 4 SPD. Accumulative cost of 500 SP.

Marth’s Avoid+ set grants a direct bonus to a unit’s Avoid stat (max +30). Accumulative cost of 4,500 SP.

Micaiah’s Resistance+ set grants a direct bonus to a unit’s RES stat (max +5). Accumulative cost of 2,000 SP.

Roy’s Advance allows the unit to move one space toward a foe that is two spaces away and attack them. Costs 500 SP.

Leif’s Knife Precision set grants a direct bonus to a unit’s Hit and Avoid stat when the unit is equipped with a knife (max +15). Accumulative cost of 2,000 SP.

Lyn’s Alacrity set allows a unit’s follow-up attack to trigger before the foe counterattacks if the unit initiated combat with a given SPD advantage. (Required advantage: ≥9 → ≥7 → ≥5.) Accumulative cost of 3,000 SP.

Lyn’s Speedtaker grants a stacking +2 bonus to a unit’s SPD stat each time the unit initiates combat with a foe and defeats them (max +10). Lasts for the remainder of the battle. Costs 2,000 SP.

Corrin’s Draconic Hex inflicts -4 to a targeted foe’s basic stats after the unit initiates combat with them. Penalty shrinks by 1 each turn. Costs 2,000 SP.

Eirika’s Lunar Brace set allows the unit to deal extra damage equivalent to a percentage of the foes’ DEF stat when the unit initiates combat with a physical attack. (Max damage = 30% of foe’s DEF.) Accumulative cost of 5,000 SP.

Eirika’s Dodge+ set grants a direct bonus to a unit’s Dodge stat (max +30). Accumulative cost of 2,500 SP.

Eirika’s Gentility set reduces damage taken by a unit. (Max -5.) Accumulative cost of 3,000 SP.

Tiki’s Starsphere grants enhanced stat growth rates (+15% to all stats) when a unit levels up. Costs 1,500 SP.

Whittling Down

Making Zelkov an elusive little thing wouldn't take too much effort. His base Avoid stat is 56 without the bonus from weapons, terrain bonuses, and other skills. So giving him a bonus with Marth's skills like Perceptive or Avoid+ would make him more slippery the more that he levels up. But again, the Avoid set is just too expensive for me to consider investing in it outright.

But if I pair Perceptive with Knife Precision, he could make something shake. I have no idea how high a unit's Hit stat can be, but I have a feeling if I make Zelkov's Avoid stat go over 100 after all the calculations, that reduces a foe's hit rate to at least 50%. That's a pair I could actually consider, especially considering his personal skill reduces a foe's Hit stat by 10 every time he's in combat with them.

I did include Resistance+ here, but like I said before — Zelkov's RES stat is lower than T-Pain on that one Flo Rida song. Whatever boost I'd get from here wouldn't be significant enough to affect durability in the endgame. I'd be better off equipping something like Starsphere to increase the growth rate for that stat from 15% → 30%. Or better yet, Gentility to directly reduce how much damage he takes. And still... his Avoid stat is right there. I mean, look at it.

Using Zelkov to take care of approaching enemies with Advance seems like a fun idea; but if I'm gonna do that, then I'd prefer to kill them outright. And my fear here is knives being so light of a weapon that it won't do much damage. A unit with partial HP can still kill. But that's where Draconic Hex could kick in. Other units that foe attacks might be able to survive if the foe's basic stats are reduced. That might be a viable strategy.

I have faith in Zelkov out-speeding other foes in future level-ups, so the Lorcan One-Two Punch™ really serves no real purpose rather than to be the final nail in the coffin. There's other skills that cater more to what I think Zelkov needs.

Lunar Brace could be really useful. Knives aren't powerful weapons, and they essentially do chip damage against foes with high DEF stats. That amp in damage output could make for pretty meaty hits. However, I see nothing it might pair with. And Dodge+ suffers from the same problem.

Further Whittling

So, I started with twelve ideas and whittled them down to four: Perceptive, Knife Precision, Advance, and Draconic Hex. And truth be told, I might go with the former pair.

As a Thief, his class skill makes his Movement stat unfettered, which is where a good chunk of Advance's value can come in. And there are other folks in my army that are slated to get Draconic Hex, so it isn't the end of the world if one additional unit doesn't get it.

Perceptive and Knife Precision allow him to hit more enemies and dodge more attacks, which I honestly cannot complain about. There are my *winners*!

Patron Emblems

Honestly, it's a three-way tie between Byleth, Camilla, and Chrom. I guess the question here would be what I'd use on Zelkov and Seadall.

This is what I said about Kagetsu's Patron Emblem. And honestly, there's a strong case for Byleth here. As a Covert unit, he gives out SPD bonuses to adjacent allies, and some of them are in dire need of it. But the problem is, maps have chests hidden behind doors, and Thieves can get to them the fastest. There are going to be times where he's either a lone wolf or paired with someone who can deal damage. The Sync Skills he has in his pockets wouldn't get the most optimal use 100% of the time.

The same could be said for Chrom. His sync skills can help adjacent allies — except for Brute Force and Surprise Attack, which could be nice on Zelkov. I imagine this would be a nice middle decision if not for Camilla existing.

Camilla could also be a good fit for Zelkov. The boost to RES is nice, and the Dragon Vein ability gives him a better chance to dodge attacks and be more accurate (thanks to Zelkov being a Covert unit.) He'd be unfazed by negative terrain effects, AND critical hits would deal more damage. Definitely more fitting for the lone wolf, seeing as how that Dragon Vein effect might be indiscriminate, thus harming adjacent allies... except for the ones whose skill strats bank on HP being below a threshold?? Hmm...

Honestly, I could pair Zelkov with Camilla and Kagetsu with Byleth... which would leave Seadall with what, exactly...?

UPDATE: Seadall gets Chrom, which I'm okay with. As a result, Zelkov stays with Camilla and Kagetsu stays with Byleth!

(back to masterpost)

[darkx-the-dragon-kn1ght]

Chapter 30- Part 5

Uh…I’m gonna…move on from that rant of mine and get back to explaining what makes Suna so neat. 

The third thing is her moveset:

Specifically, the fact that she has Sand Tomb, a move that gets powered up on Ashen Beach. Combine that with Suna’s pretty good Sp. Attack, and she can probably do real damage with that (and Shadow Ball once she learns it).

Of course, that's just one team member. The rest…well, lemme think about this.

I'm expecting Kiki to have a Medicham and/or a Lucario, those seem like staples of Fighting teams, and they can learn moves and have Abilities that synergize nicely with Ashen Beach. I don't think she's gonna have another Fighting/Psychic-type in the form of Gallade, since Victoria already had one and there are plenty of other Fighting-types to choose from. Like…Hawlucha! To use special Flying moves to mess with my own team's Accuracy! And maybe Heracross to deal with Psychic-types? 

She doesn't seem like the type to use Dark-types, and using Poison-types seems…darkly ironic given her condition so I doubt we're gonna see any of those either.

But Ame also brought up the move Meditate specifically. Other Fighting-type Pokémon who can learn that move in some fashion include:

Hitmonlee

Mienfoo/Mienshao 

Mankey/Primeape

Machop/Machoke/Machamp

Ame also said something about her Pokémon still being able to hit despite Accuracy drops, so that makes me think of Mind Reader. Other Fighting-type Pokémon who can learn that move somehow include:

Poliwrath

Tyrogue/Hitmonlee/Hitmonchan/Hitmontop 

Breloom

So…yeah, a good amount of options, still. So now, let me see what I can do in terms of teambuilding. I already mentioned Suna, and Riptide is a given, but outside of that…I mean, I already know not to rely on Flying-types, so that's one option out. That just leaves Psychic- and Fairy-types. Kirin seems good with Zen Headbutt, and Asano can learn that same move so I can probably add him too. I could also add Glare to the team, Intimidate goes hard and she can resist Fighting moves as a Poison-type. And…heck, let's bring Gust back in, priority Cotton Guard and Charm also go hard.

So in the end, the team's looking like this:

I'm gonna get everyone up to Lv. 44. I was considering Lv. 43 at first, but I'm also highly paranoid and so I'm going an extra level to be safe. Training time!

(Yet another training montage la

So I made a mistake.

I trained, I even got Asano to evolve-

But while I was training, I thought to myself, “Huh, shouldn't Asano have gotten Zen Headbutt by now?” And Bulbapedia seemed to agree with me…until I realized I was looking at the wrong thing. I was looking at Meditite/Medicham's Gen IX moveset, not their Gen VII set. And in Generation VII…the only way Meditite or Medicham can learn Zen Headbutt is through the Move Reminder. In fact, they can't learn any damaging Psychic-type moves (besides Confusion) just by leveling up. 

So…I can't use Asano for this fight. I need a different Pokémon, someone who can actually take advantage of Ashen Beach. Another Psychic-type probably, hmmm…

Looking at my Boxes, I can see…OH! Shimmer the Munna! She's got-

She's got Lucky Chant! That protects against critical hits! That'll be really helpful in case Kiki has more Telluric Seeds! And…she can also learn Psychic, which gets boosted on Ashen Beach! And I have a good amount of Moon Stones too, so I can easily evolve her!

Okay, so-

Yeah! This is gonna be the final team! Now we can really do some training!

(One ACTUAL training session later…)

So, with everyone evolved, this is what things are looking like now:

Shimmer is holding the Twisted Spoon to further boost her damage output with Psychic, while Suna is holding the Zoom Lens to make sure Sand Tomb will actually land. I didn't think anyone would really benefit from the Telluric Seed this time, so I'm holding onto it for now.

So now, here we are again. The other NPCs don't really say anything interesting, so let's talk to Victoria instead.

Thanks Victoria, no pressure-

Alright, let's see how this goes. I'm going to lead with Shimmer to start strong, and go from there.

Oh, Victoria's acting as the referee? That's neat, proud of her for moving up in the world.

What, can't even open your eyes to look at who you're fighting, Kiki? More disrespect! Can't have anything in the Reborn region …

Also- I'm sorry, but what the heck is this music? It's like…I can't even describe it, but it's not at all what I was expecting. What kinda whimsical wizard boss theme is this?? 

(Future edit: So I tried to look for what this track was because it was killing me, but I couldn't find anything. I'm sure it's a remix of some kind, by GlitchxCity or otherwise, but I just can't parse it. This is going to haunt me until the end of my days, if someone knows what this track is, let me know-)

Lv. 40…am I overleveled? Maybe. But still…let's just make sure we can kill and open with Calm Mind.

Oh, that might not be good. Unless…I mean, as long as it doesn't use a super effective attack, maybe it'll still be fine.

Previous

Next

[crystalelemental]

Unit Teambuilding - Winter Bugsy

I actually love that Bugsy got an alt. I love Johto, and I have a soft spot for Bugsy. The fact he's getting Kricketune is also delightful. I like this alt a lot.

General Overview Support/Field. I have mixed feelings. Bugsy can set Bug Zone one (1) time off his Buddy move, which is infinite use but only gets the Zone the first time. His buffing profile is pretty poor, getting +2 Def/Sp Def when he sets Circle, and +1 crit when Kricketune uses a move. His passive also doubles up the PMUN and SMUN on Circle, which is fine. His Buddy move needs a Circle to be up, but there's no extension effect anywhere. Overall, Bugsy is selling nothing particularly good.

Now, all that said, this is not Bugsy's main fixation. Bugsy's fixation is healing sustain. Something I shit-talked really hard with Eri. Bugsy I like, though. His healing involves a 2MP trainer move that can target anyone for Potion recovery, removal of status conditions and changes, and applies Endure and Gradual Healing. The Buddy move, on each use, recovers 10% HP for all allies. You know how Elaine is considered good in part because of permanent rotating 10% HP recovery? Bugsy is every action.

With that preamble out of the way, the tragedy. Field effect supporters are generally great, and Bugsy is the rare type that actually benefits both sides. He gives +2 to both PMUN and SMUN, and he has +2 Atk/Sp Atk for the team on entry on grid if needed. This should be great! Unfortunately. The state of Bug types right now is Dire. SC Barry can only nuke every other action. Noland does not have the self-buffing to manage. Winter Viola kinda helps out with persistent Bug Zone, but she's not really a damage dealer to make use of it so your third needs to be on point. Alder is an option, though he's not that strong. SS Hilbert's pretty good? SC Emmet is strong, though SC Ingo can't buff himself to make good use of this. There just aren't great bugs to make use of this.

EX and Role? Support so yes. The Field is iffy. I think it's decent, but he's not getting as much out of the Field effect in the current meta. Again, Bugs aren't that strong.

Champion Stadium Bugsy's healing takes a huge hit under typical CS parameters, so this is a rough one. Not that he can't manage it, but with lower stats, no Endure, and weakened healing, I feel like Bugsy is less potent in this mode than others. Though admittedly, with Winter Viola backing him up, there's a good chance to just deny actions. Strong enough partners also make great use of the Zone for quick clears, so your Alder or SC Emmet.

Legendary Gauntlet Persistent healing is an excellent trait to have, and Bugsy's Buddy move can debuff a random stat by 2, so there's a good chance to handle those kinds of gimmicks. It's not ideal, but he has a lot of small pieces that are nice.

Damage Challenge Nope. Absolutely nothing to value for this mode.

Battle Rally I actually think this is a decent one. Field is a rare one, and Bugsy with the role can make it work. I feel like I also tend to want for Supports when Field comes up. It's not like Tech or Strike are common for Support either, so he'll fill a relatively scarce niche.

Ultimate Battle Potential What are you nuts? Listen, he has a couple tricks for something like Gauntlet, but his stats are not high enough to handle the raw offensive power being thrown around by your average Ultimate Battle. Not to mention the healing is just not keeping pace. At best the repetitive Endure effect can keep him alive longer than other tanks, and allow a really solid offensive combo to take care of a stage, but even that's pushing it.

Final Thoughts Much like Lillie, I think Bugsy is more interesting than good. Bugsy's traits are interesting to me, and I kinda like this variation of sustain tank where you can Endure cheese and keep your allies alive with you. But I do think he suffers some pretty significant issues that will keep him from true prominence. Maybe when Alder gets an Arc Suit, eh? They're gonna do that, right? It's all Champions so far, so they have to, right? Please?

[dracononite]

7, 19, and 22 for the ask game !!

sorry this is a long one

7. What are your favourite relationships between your OCs? (romantic or platonic!)

oh I love this question. I'll focus just on my main headworld Sparrowmage for this one since character relationships are the main focus of the story.

Ryuuji and Haru. there's a secret third character in this relationship, Jun'ichi, belonging to my girlfriend - the three end up in a polyamorous relationship (all dating each other) and Ryuuji is such a big gentle giant for Haru and she kinda teases him for it LOL. there's a lot of intricacy to the story outside of just their dating, but like. bisexual queen pulling two literal spirit boyfriends is kinda iconic. I could talk about these three all day.

speaking of Haru, she's also besties with Juji, who's friends with Jun and Ryuuji as well. they're the type of friends to do spontaneous silly things, go clothes shopping, buy snacks, talk about dramas and music, have sleepovers and do each other's nails. they are SO cute.

Benjamin and Iosefa are the two that started it all. from the beginning, Benjamin was the "main" character and Iosefa his eventual love interest. The two have a very interesting and nuanced dynamic that I'm still working out... It takes until years after they both graduate for them to get together, because Benjamin has commitment issues and Iosefa has confidence issues. But finding each other again, they both saw how much the other had grown, and the puppy love stage they were in at Sparrowmage quickly grows into an actual relationship.

I love these two wives, Olivine and Jiya. they still need a LOT of fleshing out, but already the dynamic is lovely. Olivine is a trans femme lesbian wyverntaur, and a magical beasts professor. Jiya is a butch lesbian beastfolk who also works at the same academy as a dueling instructor/referee. Olivine is like three times Jiya's size which is the cherry on top. I NEED to draw them together (and finalize Olivine's design oops..)

honorable mention: Reuben and Lucian. these two rich boys fucking haaaate each other they HATE each other. they feud at school. it's so funny.

19. What are some things that inspired your stories? Real events? Maybe a dream?

I mainly pull from various media for worldbuilding inspiration! any narratives are inspired by my life or stories I like.. in order to nail those down I'd probably have to write an essay, so here are some media inspirations:

Sparrowmage: Harry Potter (decided I'd make a magic world of my own, as I have a lot of childhood nostalgia for the first few movies, but... yeah), Pokemon Mystery Dungeon (some of the areas like the academy being on the edge of a big cliff, giant crystal caves, etc). this is the story I've most projected my life events and relationships into

Dungeon RPG (unnamed story/world, but technically an AU for my main sonas?? I guess): Dungeon Meshi, Sword Art Online (yea. I know. look the setting and aesthetics of the first season go fucking hard and that's all I care about). I wanted a classic dungeon RPG setting to make cool areas and monsters and boss battles for. and a whole class/equipment/mount/etc system. sighs dreamily. It's not started in earnest but we're getting there.

Magica Terra: definitely Avatar. the alien planet one. I wanted to create a unique combination of sapient bipedal species (some anthros like insectoids, giants, elf- and troll-like humanoids), megafauna (giant bug creatures, draconic animals, dinosaur-like animals combined with the first two, etc) and magic (the magic system for the planet is quite literally fueled by the cosmic bodies in the same solar system and in the galaxy.. which is actually Arp's Loop. so basically what time of the orbit you're born ties you to the magic of whatever cosmic body is closest / in the most power. this includes the planet's multiple moons, the solar system's sun, recurring comets, etc)

Arp's Loop: it's a space bounty adventure with eldritch horror undertones. Lilo & Stitch, Space Dandy, Interstellar and probably some Star Wars thrown in, just with the alien design though

22. What are all the “kinds” of writing/art you do? (short stories, poetry, screenplays, digital, painting, clay, etc.)

Digital art for business mostly, traditional for fun ONLY. I scrapbook, doodle, very rarely paint.. I don't do any 3d art, I don't have the finesse really. occasionally I'll write poetry on my phone. short stories and blurbs featuring my OCs. I've written chapters for single-player TTRPG challenges but I'm not good at sticking to long projects so those have all been abandoned. I've written quite a few short fanfics in my day. a mini comic here and there.... I'm good at small projects cause I like the thrill of setting up and starting new things. that's probably why I have so many headworlds at this point :')

[masonhawthorne]

What I read in April!

Many times this month I have thought "oh no! I've not posted April's reading list yet!" and then I continued to not post it.

But now is the time.

The Hungry Earth, Nicholas Kaufman ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Heiress of Duniyasar, Derin Edala ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Obsidian Island, Aiden Powell ⭐️⭐️

From the Depths Anthology, Ed. Mike Ashley ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Wheel of the Infinite, Martha Wells ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Community Minded (ss), Carmilla Voiez ⭐️

Conversion Therapy (ss), Carmilla Voiez ⭐️⭐️

Their Heart a Hive, Fox N. Locke ⭐️⭐️

City of Bones, Martha Wells ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Meeting Infinity, Ed. Jonathan Strahan ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Rosemary & Iron, Dorian Valentine ⭐️

Bridging Infinity, Ed. Jonathan Strahan ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Reach for Infinity, Ed. Jonathan Strahan ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Infinity's End, Ed. Jonathan Strahan ⭐️⭐️

The Beetle, Richard Marsh ⭐️⭐️

The Forty Hour Train Murder, Derek Des Anges ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Oedipus the King(sp), Sophocles trans. David Greene ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Cold Fire, Dean R Koontz 😡

The Rise & Fall of the Third Reich(nf), William l Shirer ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

So this month felt pretty slow, but I actually did get through quite a few books. Where I really got bogged down was Cold Fire by Dean Koontz, but we will discuss that in a moment.

This was my first reading of Oedipus the King in any form, and I have to say that it was a fantastic experience. Even getting the book was a really nice experience. Not that there are many occasions where getting a book is a bad experience. Anyways. I had decided to stop by the local Collective Bookshop in town after work, because I had seen their posts on the facebook community groups about how they were raising funds for the next year of their operation, and I thought well, I could be part of the community and go buy a cup of coffee and maybe a book or two. So I did! It's a weird sort of space up some stairs from the main road, and I think it probably used to be an apartment or something because the layout is not very shop-like. Which is nice, the different rooms each have some seating space, and every wall is full of shelving which is full of books. Different genres in different rooms, artwork on the tiny bits of wall not obscured by books, and a decent space for small community events like book launches, art shows, and video game nights. I found a very nice copy of Oedipus the King, and my sole complaint is that it is a standalone play, and now I really want to read the other two Oedipus plays that Sophocles wrote. I also found a paperback of Goodbye to All That by Robert Graves, which I haven't gotten around to reading yet. But y'know. Soon.

Oedipus the King is one of those plays that as I was reading it, my latent theatre kid pathology started waking up. I could imagine how I would stage it, and the kind of casting that I would want to do, and how many fun ways you could use the chorus for dramatic effect. I even know which local theatre group I would trust to do the staging with enough flamboyant set dressing and costume design. I read it on the train to Sydney, now and then reading aloud some of the most killer lines for the friends I was travelling with. If you like reading plays, do give this one a go, the dramatic irony is delicious, and just about every character has some ripper smart arse lines.

And from there, we'll have to discuss something less fun. Cold Fire by Dean Koontz. Now, granted, the first three quarters of this book are very fun. It's an action-movie-like plot with some pretty cool set pieces, and characters that are fairly cardboard cut-out-y but in a way that works just fine for an action thriller. Unfortunately after all of that run-up, the book entirely fails to stick the landing in a way which retroactively makes the whole thing awful. The plot is essentially that there is a man travelling around the USA (and around the world), showing up in random places just in time to save random people from random events where they otherwise would have been killed. He then leaves without sharing his identity or sticking around to talk to reporters about his deeds, and so for a long while, this goes under the radar as a bunch of unrelated local interest stories. Until one day he happens to perform one of these rescues while a journalist is already on site, interviewing someone else, and witnesses the whole event.

The journalist corners the guy, gets his name, and they part ways. She then goes back to her unsatisfying job, writing about small town stuff, and she gets an idea. Maybe she should investigate the guy, and find out what he's really up to. So she finds a whole bunch of news reports that can be linked back to him, and starts putting together a timeline of the crazy rescues he's been doing. Meanwhile this guy is off rescuing some people as usual, and so on and so forth. Eventually the journalist decides to track him down at home, and finds his house, starts canvassing people who know him to find information, and then she shows up at his place and demands to be let in with the threat of writing a big story about what he's been doing. So he lets her in, and at this point the story falls apart.

Cold Fire sets us up with a few options for what might be happening, some of which are very cool, some of which are a bit goofy, and then it goes with the goofy option, with a side order of misused psychological terminology, and a baffling about-face from action packed set pieces, to a sedate tour of a small town, including a long slow interlude at a retirement home. Apparently, the main guy is a psychic, with DID (not that what is represented here resembles DID, but we'll get to that), and one of his alternate personalities is eeeeevil, and has been doing all of the horrible scary things that the protags have been stressing out about. Such horrible scary things as: feeding death threats and psychic torture directly into the journalist woman's mind, while they're supposedly falling deeply in love over the course of three days, and she sets out to 'cure' his DID with the Power of a Good Woman.

The thing is, the 'DID' in this story sure does read a lot more like maladaptive daydreaming. Apparently after the trauma of watching his parents be murdered as a kid, this guy got heavily invested in a sci-fi novel about a kid who speaks to an alien living in a space ship in the pond on his family farm. He then psychically then manifests his own 'alien presence' on his grandparent's farm, but adds the figure of an evil alien who wants to do bad and naughty things. The character 'gets messages' from the 'good alien' which are how he gets the information on how to perform his daring rescues, and he has nightmares about the 'evil alien', and is afraid that the 'evil alien' is going to show up and do...something bad. The alien 'personalities' aren't taking over so that the guy can get through a truamatic time, they're fantasies that he has the power to make visible because he's a psychic.

Anyway, the whole thing's a moot point because after a long, boring conversation at the retirement home, the journalist loves him hard enough to exorcise the mental illness out of him or whatever. It sucked, and at that point I was so annoyed at the experience of reading this book that I had to put it down and do some vigorous pacing around my office.

Did I mention that the 'evil alien' (the main dude) psychically tortures the journalist woman and threatens to kill her? Like a lot? In graphic detail? And she decides that she needs to marry this guy? Immediately?

Ugh.

A more interesting reading experience was The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, by William L Shirer. The author had been a journalist, posted in Germany for the duration of WW2, and after the war had access to files and documents that the US seized after the fall of the Reich. It is a very interesting book as an artifact of the time it was written in, and as a recount of first-person experiences of the author being a reporter in that time and place. The of-its-time of it has bizarre moments, though. For instance there's a vibrant homophobia which pops up at various points throughout the book. It was striking how often the author was able to rightly point to examples of Germans being 'duped' by what he thought of as obvious propaganda, and outright fabrications, but then that he turns around and does the same thing with his own prejudice. It's an interesting example of reportage which makes use of the writer's own experiences, but I probably wouldn't rely on it for strict factual accuracy for events outside of the author's personal experience.

I'll finish off here with an honorable mention for The Hungry Earth. It wasn't the greatest book I've ever read, but it was fun! It is what I would call a 'fungal horror', and it is actually a fairly shining example of its genre. Finally. I think fungus has such a great potential for horror writing, but it seems like every time I find one, it ends up being bad in weird and uncomfortable ways. Usually to do with gender. If you want to have fun, fungal body horror, check out The Hungry Earth.

And that's that for that.

[lilyblackdrawside]

Gensou Shoujo Taisen has two Combination Units. The Three Fairies of Light, which you get access to on Disk 2 after Sunny, Luna and Star witness the Prismriver Sisters turning into a combined unit for their bossfight. A combined unit has its own unique body stats that scale with the upgrade levels of each of their members, but the pilot skills and stats are those of the leader. This makes them a bit expensive to upgrade, since each upgrade is only a third as effective, but both of the CUs are made of characters that are fairly cheap to upgrade thanks to their low individual cost. 1.5 each for the fairies and 2.0 each for the Prismrivers. Still, more expensive than other characters. Though I guess it makes sense, since higher cost stat = more expensive to upgrade and the CUs are 4.5 and 6.0 respectively. The weapons are also fully unique and both the body and weapons can't be viewed from the intermission screen. You have to go into a stage and actually combine to look at them. A bit inconvenient.

A lot more under the fold.

A CU has access to all Seishin skills of its members and unlike how it works for a Pair-Up, all self-targeting ones will affect the whole unit. This is easily their biggest strength, because it gives them at least three times the Seishin skills to play with and actually more than that, because you can give SP-increasing pilot skills to the two non-leader characters. (Merlin and Lyrica, Luna and Star) The other big upside is that they gain three times the EXP and PP, because all three characters count as participating in combat. This isn't quite as useful as it seems, since only the leader character's skills and stats matter, where in a Pair-Up the backline character also gets EXP and PP and their stats do play a role. But it helps to get more Pilot and Personal skills on all three of them.

In my previous playthrough, I used the Prismriver CU for the first time. I'd been quite resistant to that, because all three of them are excellent backline units with their strong assist attacks (especially Merlin and Lunasa) and great support Seishin skills. The Three fairies are similar in that regard, but not quite as good. By using the CU, you do miss out on useful backliners. But in the end, you don't "miss out" on them, since you're still getting all their utility. And they're really strong!

They count as size L, so dodging can be a bit of a tough task for them, but they're really sturdy to compensate. Their accuracy is also really high, so they don't suffer at all from being L and get to reap all the benefits. (less damage taken, more damage dealt) Individually they're M (Lunasa), L (Merlin) and S (Lyrica). The Unit skills on the center right are the one that lets them separate and Synchronize, which set the character stats to the highest of each of the individual characters.

Lunasa as the leader leans towards high evasion, accuracy and skill stats. She has Daunt (target enemy Power -10), Sense (Strike + Alert), Gain (double EXP from next battle), Grit (next damage taken is 10), Fury (next attack ignores certain damage reductions) and Chain (gain an extra turn when shooting down an enemy this turn, can only be used once per turn). This is a fairly solid lot, especially Sense and Fury do a lot of heavy lifting.

Merlin has high melee and ranged as well as defense. Her Seishins are Yell (+10 Power), Strike (100% accuracy for a turn), Guard (half damage taken for a turn), Infuse (grant an ally the effect of "Fortune"), Valor (next attack deals +50% damage but can't crit) and Rouse (all allies' Power +5). The first three she starts with are only so-so on her in the light of Infuse and Valor, which you'll find yourself using most with her. But you only need one or two good Seishin skills to have a good set.

Lyrica has high evasion and accuracy. Her Seishin are Cheer (grant an ally the effect of "Gain"), Alert (guarantees evasion of the next incoming attack), Trust (target ally recovers 2000 HP), Focus (+30% Accuracy and Evasion for a turn), Fortune (double Points from next battle) and Hope (target ally recovers 50 SP). These are fine. Fortune is always good to have and so is Focus, but Lunasa already covers defensive stuff just fine with Sense and Grit. Well, she has Fortune and that's enough to make a character good. :V

Merlin and Lyrica also have personal skills active that increase their stats in some way. Merlin gets increased ranged attack and defense at the cost of skill and evasion while Lyrica gets increased evasion and accuracy - all signified by the +/- 20 behind those stats. This is without Synchronize, so here they are with it:

Lunasa's personal skill adds an extra +10 to all stats while Synchronize is active, so it's just a huge boost to everything. Synchronize then also carries over the bonus stats from Merlin's and Lyrica's skills, without taking Merlin's stat losses. The Prismriver Sisters' CU is all about just having really high stats. The pilot skills I gave to Lunasa give her even more evasion and accuracy as well as a chance to strike first when attacked as well as parry S-type attacks. Both scale with their skill levels and Lunasa's skill stat, so with how high it is they usually attack first and often parry eligible attacks. The parry is kinda just for fun. Lunasa is one of the few characters who can parry, but doesn't innately have the "Blocking" skill. But with her high skill stat, she's really well-suited to it, for what it's worth. S-type attacks tend to show up, but it's more of a nice to have. I just like Lunasa's parry animation, since she strikes down the incoming attack with the bow of her violin. S-type attacks is anything physical - basic melees with weapons and solid projectiles like vegetables or stakes. All in all, this CU is easy to use. You can just throw them into enemies, they'll tank whatever attacks come through and usually two-round most stuff. They can struggle with MP, since all their attacks use it.

As for equipment, both CUs have 3 equipment slots, since they take the first item equipped by each member. Ever since using the Prismriver Sisters, I've figured out some tricks that I've been applying to the Three Fairies unit.

I've considered that one to be quite a bit worse, because it doesn't seem like they get much out of combining. They don't have Synchronize and Luna's and Star's personal skills don't contribute anything to the CU. A CU doesn't get Friendship boni, I should mention. Both trios have huge friendship that can be further augmented with personal skills, but as a CU this doesn't apply.

So here are the Three Fairies. Their body stats - HP and MP especially - may look a fair bit worse, but that's because they are. The Prismrivers in that image are at level 10 everything for Lunasa and Level 1 everything for Merlin and Lyrica and they're equipped with a +80 MP item, while the Three Fairies are at an even Level 5 on all three. They're leaning more towards Mobility (evasion), especially since the CU is size M - all three fairies individually are size S. But even then, they're quite sturdy.

Their pilot stats are also lower, on account of me not being as far into the game with this playthrough yet. 20 levels make quite a difference. These three don't have any particularly different stat leanings, but in the end only Sunny's stats matter anyway.

Sunny's Seishins are Vigor (Recover 30% HP), Guts (Recover all HP), Alert, Grit, Stealth (can't be targeted for a turn) and Valor. This is terrible. Until she learns Valor anyway. Guts is overkill when two Vigor recover 60% for the same cost on top of the 10% to 25% from her passive HP regen. You'd have to be really left near death for Vigor to get actual value, especially with 25% regen. Stealth has some uses, but Sunny already has a Personal skill that does the same thing in an area! Alert and Grit are both really good and there's actual merit to having both, since this lets you attack, have Alert get consumed and then you're still safe from a counterattack on the enemy turn. But the Three Fairies CU is generally sturdy enough to take a single hit from full health so this too is a bit much. More useful when she's by herself, but when is she ever by herself... if you use them separated, you'll have Luna in the center with her Support Defense. And yet, it's strangely reassuring to have in your back pocket. Can't go wrong with Valor.

Luna has Focus, Guard, Strike, Gain, Yell and Accel (+3 movement for one move). Yell is great to have to get the team to 130 Power with two uses at the start of a map if you're in a hurry. 130 is where all of the good stuff activates after all. Accel is my favourite Seishin cause I love going far. 20 SP is a bit high, because it's usually just 15 but Accel is Accel. Gain is nice too, Strike not usually required.

Star has Scan (reveal information on target enemy), Cheer, Alert, Focus, Fortune and Fury. Scan is kinda whatever. Nice to have on your first playthroughs, but information is revealed when you battle an enemy anyway, but in Yume it does get some more utility, since at that point enemies have the amount of Points they drop in their stablocks, so you can plan your Infuses and Fortunes more easily. Doubling up on Alert isn't the worst thing, but Luna already had Focus covered just fine. Having Fury in the overall loadout is wonderful. There's a huge difference between characters who have it and those who don't. For a lot of bosses, I'll be separating by that criterium either because they have Berserk and/or special other damage reductions. As I used them, I found them to be pretty much okay. Their damage is kinda low, their P-options are bad (1-3 range on their weakest weapon) and their other weapons have pretty restrictive range, while their most powerful one consumes an impressive 60 MP. Like the Prismrivers, they also struggle with MP issues. Even moreso, I think. But in the end, they're just less straightforward to use. Ironically, the fairies require more finesse to handle. Sunny innately has Instinct Dodge 7 and Berserk 6, which works really well for the CU. I'll get to that in a bit. To that I added Power Limit Break because that's what you do, extra movement because that's what you do as well as Predict and Morale to shore up her stats. I actually have been struggling to decide what else to do with her PP, as evident by her having an entire 768 stocked up. Luna and Star just have Extend and SP Increase added so I can make more use of their Seishin skills. So as a Combined Unit, the Three Fairies of Light inherit two skills from Sunny and add a unique one. Sunny contributes Hp Regen (Small), which is inherent to all non-Lily fairies and Sunny Barrier, which is a breakable anti-laser barrier. By herself, she can hardly make use of that barrier, but in the CU I've seen it negate quite a few attacks. The unique skill is Open Fairy, which is a Bunshin-type skill that gives them a separate 25% chance to evade any incoming attack by breaking formation and scattering as it's about to hit them, before reforming. It's a cute animation. The HP Regen can be augmented by one of Sunny's personal skills that increases it from 10% to 25% during daytime stages, which is most stages. This makes them somewhat weaker during the Imperishable Night portion of the game, but there happen to be a lot of laser attacks there (mostly from bats), so Sunny can just switch to another personal that increases her barrier from 1800 to 3300 and become laser-proof. Between the 25% regen, pretty large health pool of the CU and Sunny's Instinct Dodge and Berserk, it's totally okay for them to take hits. As their health drops, their evade, accuracy and defense increase and once your turn comes around they recover 25% HP. It's a pretty laid-back style, very fairy-like to keep bouncing back like that. But if it was just that, I'd still call them pretty much worse than the Prismrivers. No, you have to dig deeper. You have to delve into the heart of combining.

This is what the Three Fairies look like before combining. They're just individuals. To combine, every member of the CU must be touching. This can be a line like this, but diagonals are fine too. So if I were to move Luna and Star up one tile each, the combination would still be available. Then any of the three can initiate the combination (but Sunny will always be the leader) and the CU will appear on the tile of whoever did. This doesn't take a turn, you can combine, separate, recombine, decombine as much as you like. You can do this even when one or two of the members have already taken their turn. Separating restores the formation they were in before combining, centered on whoever initiated it. So if Sunny were to initiate the combination, move four tiles up and then separate on the next turn, Luna and Star would appear one and two tiles to her right respectively. Since Luna and Star don't have any personal skills that benefit the CU, I instead gave them their Friendship +4 skills. With this, the center fairy gets a total of +16 (6 with Sunny who doesn't have the Friendship skill equipped and 10 with Luna or Star who does) (I always have Sunny on edge of the formation) and the edge fairies get +6 (Sunny) and +10 (Luna or Star). +6 Friendship grants +24% Accuracy/Evasion, +6% crit, x1.066 damage dealt and x0.933 damage taken. +10 Friendship grants +36% Accuracy/Evasion, +21% crit, x1.233 damage dealt and x0.766 damage taken +16 Friendship grants +54% Accuracy/Evasion, +39% crit, x1.433 damage dealt and x0.566 damage taken. With all three of them having the friendship skill for a total of +20 it would be +63% A/E, +48% crit, x1.533 and x0.466. Kinda gross. Usually you get like Level 3 Friendship for +15% A/E that's it, but the Fairies get a bit out of hand. (they need it)

So with this friendship we can, instead of just attacking as the CU, separate and have Luna and Star attack as individuals. By nature of combining, the three's regular combination attack will be available after separation, which is only slightly weaker than its CU equivalent and actually stronger when backed by friendship. Sunny should hold her attack, because she isn't equipped with the friendship skill and one of them has to remain available for recombining. In this way, you get three entire attacks out of them. Of course, the Prismrivers can do this as well, but since their personal skills are better set to benefit the CU, their individual performances aren't nearly as potent and due to their lack of passive health regen, any damage an individual may take (which will be much higher when not combined) will be much harsher on the CU. Star also innately has the Support Attack skill, so if you're really finesseful with your formations, you can have an outsider next to her and make use of that as well. In Ei, she can only fire one of her two regular attacks, but in Yume you can use combination attacks for support as well.

But that STILL isn't it! The next trick fully applies to the Prismrivers as well and can be a bit dangerous. Like I said, the combination can be initiated by any member and upon separating, the formation they were in before doing so will be restored around that member. Like this, it's possible to cheat movement. If in the above formation, Sunny initiated the combination and on a later turn you find yourself in need of the Three Fairies roughly two tiles further to the right than they can move, you can separate and let Star initiate the combination, which will center the CU on her instead! From there, you can attack as if you hadn't moved and move as normal. This is essentially "borrowed" movement, because now when you do this again later, the formation will be centered on Star so you can't move to the right again. But you can move left now. You can even use this to escape orthogonal encirclement if you were in a diagonal formation before combining. You separate, two of the fairies slip out of the encirclement and you recombine on the who isn't trapped. A full diagonal also allows for a total of 4 tiles of shifting via this method. But that's where the risk lies. If you're in a crowded space, separation can leave the members separated and unable to recombine without at least one of them moving. Worst case, you can't find a way to recombine so always keep in mind what your pre-combination formation looked like. The third trick I figured out is that while only the first equipment of each member matters for the CU, any consumables in the other slots are totally okay for use by the individuals. This is once again easier for the Three Fairies, because they each have three equipment slots, while the Prismrivers only have two each. So you can give HP or MP restoring consumables to the individuals, separate and use them as needed. This will only give you a third of the potency of each item when recombining, but a heal's a heal. Especially on the MP side.

I still have to make sure to use the extra attacks trick more, it's quite fun!

[lovestelle]

March Subeta Log

Battling:

Valechka, T12 | To Next Tier: 17,533 > 19,420/22,001

Estelle, T8 | To Next Tier: 5,234 > 5,379/5,400

Serah, T8 | To Next Tier: 4,828 > 4,999/5,400

Snow, T7 | To Next Tier: 4,125 > 4,308/4,400

3/4: Unlocked Bruno and Carmela.

3/9: Enyalios is now tier 8.

3/15: Traded my extra Baal for a Hydragellos Maniacal Core… Nice. Torn between the Slappy Hand and Essence though. The Essence would be helpful against Final Corruption… but IDK. I’ll just stick it in my armory for now.

I grinded two more wins against Final Corruption for five total. I thought the sword would've been an achievement prize at 5 wins like Meatslab. I even grinded three more Fatal Fires with my other pets... Though I think this confirms that maybe I can skip the Essence for the Slappy Hand. I feel like it's a matter of stats at this point and having a better blocker won't help me.

3/29: I unlocked The Faceless Ones and The Giant. I managed to eek out 8 wins on The Faceless Ones. Those stealing bitches. I hate them.

3/30: Caught up on grinding the Very Hard+ opponents in the Secret and Cash Shop tabs for their tomes at 15, 20, 25 wins with Valechka. Even got some 10th wins on opponents I didn’t know I skipped.

–

Pet Progress:

3/2: Bought my 48th and 49th pet slots today. Adopted Glaive, my 48th pet. I picked him up, because he was already T5 and had 700 books read to him. Saves a lot of time and sP for me…

Changed his name to Beryl. As a pleasant surprise, he was already in the SubQ career. I hit max promotion with him. Free money woo! He’ll pay off his pet slot debt quicker than anyone else. Going to turn him into my Hydrus Kora whenever Merana pops up.

Decided to make Moonflower spotlight-ready. I've been sitting on her for more than a year, picking away at her story. Decide to just post the first excerpt and scrap the rest. I think it'll be another year or two to write something more in-depth and that's way too long.

Her TC is also a massive pain to organize, so I wiped my Wishlist of any remainder. Feels like a weight lifted off of me to finish it.

Bought the last flowers I needed for Meganium's TC. I also added more to the Pokemon TC list.

3/3: Read all the cheap books to Vaim.

3/8: Hit max promotion at Criminal career for Wing.

3/9: Beryl has been transformed into a hydrus pet!

3/10: I finished Altaea's overlay.

3/11: I have obtained the legendary Wooden Legeica tile for Otome... That one Tutani tile I got was worth it. I wasn't actually expecting to trade for it anytime soon.

Finished drawing friesian a third time, designed, and coded his profile. He's set to be nominated, because I'm ready to be done and move on to a new pet.

3/12: Read all the cheap books to Bisharp.

3/26: Reached the top position in the SubQ career with Moonflower.

–

Event Progress:

3/3: Unlocked my first zombie skin in the last three years. I was planning to skip, but thought the blue fucked-up deer person was too cool. Plus, I need to start getting all the alchemy books for my pet. I’m not paying 100k per for each one 48 times.

3/5: Bit my first user today. Only… 99 more bites to go. How long is it going to take to get to 100.

I love being a zombie. I made three (3) HAs so far. That’s more than I made in the last three years.

–

Shops:

Lenora's Garage | Lifetime sP Made: 1,601,938,348 > 1,821,017,632

Lenora's Garage | Lifetime Items Sold: 47,087 > 51,870

Unicorn Mart | Lifetime sP Made: 238,991,004 > 352,495,229

Unicorn Mart | Lifetime Items Sold: 24,482 > 29,534

–

Other:

Discount Card: 25,760,671 > 29,449,171 sP Saved

No. of Morty Cards: 30

3/2: Today's my Subetaversary! 15 years. :D Unlocked my 50th slot.

3/8: Got a Graveyard Potion from a Lizard event!

3/14-15: Got the Wizard quest buff both days on his weekend quest. Nice.

[openteq---123]

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