#And the one about the enemy kingdoms with elemental bird magic | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

lordofchickens · 1 year ago

Text

Catching up on DnD, The Siege of Trife Parts 1-3

A lot of self brought dread in the last 4-5 sessions, my grand plan for a "kill the monsters and save the city" scene dragged onto a roughly 20 hours of combat with little roleplay during. Handful of cool moments though which I'll try and recall.

Descriptions for later reference: Each enemy creature was an "[Animal] S.C.U.D". (a mild reference to The Minute Hour SCUDs) The idea is that each S.C.U.D was an experiment in polymorphing creatures, everything from seeing if you could morph something half way or if you could shape it into multiple creatures at once.

Ape S.C.U.Ds: Giants that have been experiments on, limbs taken from other monsters and all imbued with an element, their apelike fur shimmering like embers, or their hairs stood on end as electricity sparks off of them. Axe S.C.U.Ds: Turkey sized birds with blades attached to their heads, and an magical jet engine grafted into their body. Centaur S.C.U.Ds: Humanoids and horses twisted together to make artificial centaurs, then with carts and a catapult style weapons mounted onto them. Lizard S.C.U.Ds: Humanoids spliced with reptilian parts, using scimitars or flintlock pistols, some having a lizard head instead of a hand. Octopus S.C.U.Ds: Basically just Octoroks but would explode after attempting to grapple someone, if otherwise failing they would coat an area in tar after dying. Owl S.C.U.Ds: Harpy-esque hybrids with rifles in their talons. Nothing too special. Wasp S.C.U.Ds: People horribly stitched together, their wings and legs mismatched and a large barrels of acid they'd shoot stingers from. Gibbering S.C.U.Ds: Attempts to turns multiple creatures into a single one, leaving behind amalgamations of bodies, writhing and screaming in multiple voices.

With that out of the way, continuing the story.

The Party gets to work right away dispatching the S.C.U.Ds and rescuing the citizens of Trife, Wasps giving them mild trouble as none of the barbarians can reach them until Dave discovers his love for jumping.

Following some fleeing citizens, the Party comes across a small makeshift refuge nestled in a small park, there they meet a veteran guardsmen by the name of Garrel who lets the Party rest after watching the them cut a few Axe SCUDS in half and almost blow themselves up.

During their rest a heavily burned guardsmen starts rambling about a gorilla made of fire that incinerated his group, a tortle chef gives him some soup and tries to console him. Enter the newest Party Member, Tortilla the Cuisiner, who in his tour of the Kingdom got caught up in the conflict of the city. In behind him is his suis chef (who I don't think got a name but I'll call him Gimi), who is also doling out soup, albeit in a unorthodox way. Tortilla is distracted from the burnt guard when he realizes Gimi is sticking his hand into a large soup pot, using it as a ladle when filling everyone's soup bowl. Tortilla confronts him on this and remarks that he'd never let anyone in his kitchen do something so unhygienic, in-fact (with a Insight high roll) he realizes that Gimi isn't someone from his kitchen, and that despite Gimi doing his best to convince him that they're lifelong business partners, Tortilla's never met the fellow.

It's at this moment that Cronwer recognizes Gimi's jerky, uncertain movements as the same as Jimothy, the Stable Owner from Medina Mince, and subsequently The Raggedy Man. Cronwer greets Jimothy and exclaims that he's glad to see he didn't die in the fire there, attempting to catch the trickster in a lie. Gimi then quickly scrambles to search a nearby pile of rubble, hoisting up a burnt body up to his thigh. With one hand around the soup, and another around the body, The Raggedy Man attempts to keep both disguises going, Tortilla seemingly too distracted by the disrespect to his cooking continues to berate Gimi for how he's handling the soup. Tortilla attempts to take the pot away from Gimi, only for a mysterious third arm to wrap around the pot and hold it firm, he then threatens Gimi while Cronwer talks to Jimothy, forcing The Raggedy Man to decide which guise to keep, eventually deciding to "quit" working for Tortilla while also excusing himself from his conversation with Cronwer. The Party watches as both the suis chef and the corpse burrow into a wall of rubble, and see a stranger cloaked in red emerge on the other side sprinting away. Tortilla decides he can't work in these conditions and decides to leave the city, the Party asking him to join as they travel a lot and would like good food while they do, as well as showing off rare herbs they've found that they offer to give him.

After the upset in the camp and a short rest, everyone starts to hear a pounding and growling echoing from the southern streets, the burnt guard recognizes the sound and screams about how they're all going to burn.

Spilling out into the street, the Party accompanied by Garrel and another guardsman go to investigate, Vahlok's the first to see the Ape S.C.U.D as a bright fire reaches around a building and strikes him with a burning fist. Rostam attempts to communicate with it using Speak with Animals, since the creature before them resembles a beast more than whatever it used to. He partially succeeds, able to communicate with it just enough for the giant to decide to kill him last. As the fight continues the Ape goes for Tortilla and grabs him with both hands, the fire enveloping the Ape start to intensify as it tries to crack him like he's a coconut. Garrel quickly remembers something that the burnt guard told him and sprints to help Tortilla, barely managing to wrench open the Ape's hands as the rest of the Party attacks the beast. Angered by this the Ape lets out a huge torrent of flames from his mouth, doing minimal damage to every except Garrel, who until now thought that dying as a hero would be much less painful. Meanwhile Cronwer, doing his best to magically mend Garrel's burns, hears something disturb rubble a fair ways behind him, he quickly gets out of the middle of the street, narrowly avoiding a giant piece of stone speeding through the air as it turns the nearby guardsman into paste.

Climbing above the rubble appears a Centaur S.C.U.D, filling its catapult with debris it's collected in its cart. Fortunately it's only able to fire one more shot at Dave before he and Cronwer take it down, allowing them to refocus on the Ape, which does take much longer thanks to Vahlok tying it down with his chains, and Rostam's mace crashing into its ribs. As it dies the fire inside of it consumes its body and it turns to ash. Garrel rushes up to Cronwer thanking him profusely for saving his life, and insists that he takes a good luck token his family kept as an heirloom.

After sifting through the ash pile, the Party searches nearby for survivors and dispatches with a third group of S.C.U.Ds, effectively clearing the northern half of the city. Next they were decide to cross the canal that separated the two halves of the city.

Little funny things I remember.

Throughout the fights, little bloodsucking creatures called stirges had been only targeting Dave, and when filling up with his blood sometimes they'd be a bright blue, similar to Starlight, but no one seemed to think anything of that. However when 6 or so of these creatures had attached themselves to Dave, he decided to light and explode a small barrel of black powder, resulting in a lot of team damage.

Both Tortilla and Cronwer rolled high enough Insight to realize that Gimi and Timothy weren't who they said were, but Tortilla's player decided he'd be more upset about Gimi's treatment of food than his lies, and Cronwer's player was curious what the Raggedy Man would do if put under pressure. The entirely of Tortilla's introduction was probably my favourite bit of roleplaying we've done this entire campaign.

When Garrel was hit by the Ape S.C.U.Ds flame breathe, it did 55 of his 56 HP, leading me to describe his condition as being "legally distinct from a corpse". The token he gives Cronwer is a single-use item that prevents fall damage, leading Cronwer's player to comment that he hopes Garrel stays away from any ledges he sees.

#chicken plays dnd

0 notes

fallenlightsif · 3 years ago

Note

What does everyone like to do for fun in their spare time (if they have any)?

Florian - His current project is trying to mimic stars via elemental magic. It’s very pretty, and... romantic? 👀 He also enjoys bird watching.

Marcella - Physical training is her go to, but when she wants to relax she really loves reading trashy romance novels or going on an adventure in the woods. Loves flowers literally so much.

E - They initially do whatever their family tells them to 24/7. Every action once they reach a certain age is tailored to protect their reputation. In their room, though, they hide paint supplies.

Dimitri - Has been experimenting with glass art at the forge. Or he likes making random toys for the village children. Anything with his hands, be it making or fixing something, he enjoys.

Ari - Like to forage for herbs or work in her garden. She knits really well, too, and likes to read books on politics of kingdoms for the sole purpose of annoying Dimitri with facts about nobility.

Rowan - Not much free time being the Archmage, but any time they can scrape up they work on [REDACTED] for [REDACTED].

Orion - No one will train with him so he has a lot of free time he uses trying to figure out how to bake bread, but the cook won’t let him in the kitchen. Otherwise, can occasionally be spotted at his favorite bakery.

Cier - Outside of all the free time he puts towards escaping various sticky situations in taverns and then going to cause more sticky situations, he enjoys archery and playing the lute. Annoying Orion at their shared favorite bakery is enjoyable too.

Kira - Plays the harp and sings for the court, but she absolutely detests it. Her favorite hobby is experimenting with alchemy, a very controversial hobby among her hometown.

Ilaria - Spends most of her time trying not to die as she does have quite a few enemies. However, she really enjoys any kind of dancing. Rarely gets the time to partake, but equally enjoys watching it.

#Fallen Lights #character asks #Florian Vasil #Marcella Dumont #E Renaud #Dimitri Volkov #Ari Novik #Rowan Lozano #Orion Morosov #Cier Katsaros #Kira Argyris #Ilaria Thayer

101 notes · View notes

sailormoonandme · 4 years ago

Text

Why does Usagi think Mamoru might leave/cheat on her?

Occasionally during Sailor Moon R, S and SuperS Usagi seemed to have these moments of insecurity where she was concerned that Mamoru was either interested in other people or else other people might make a play for him.

The real life reason for this I suspect is simply because Sailor Moon has a lot of sitcom sensibilities alongside it’s romantic elements, so milking comedy from a romantic topic by having our lead act over the top or goofy is a logical writing tool to reach for. Especially when you have such a large quantity of episodes to produce.

However, I have a more in-universe explanation to propose.

In real life Usagi’s behaviour would most likely be connected to trust issues with her partner, with other people or else concerns about her own inadequacies. However, I don’t think that’s the case here.

Rather, I think it’s actually far more connected to the numerous times Usagi has loved and ‘lost’ Mamoru.

Back in the Silver Millennium days there was this low key implication that romantic mingling between the Moon Princess and Earth Prince was somehow forbidden. After all when Endymion came to the Moon and tried to warn Serenity about Metalia and Beryl the royal guards chased him away and he needed to disguise himself. So from Serenity’s POV the social system she was living in was limiting her ability to be with the man she loved and made their future together at best uncertain.

Now, I admit that’s perhaps a bit too big of an extrapolation to draw from, especially for the anime version of the characters where we got far less info about their past lives. However, the more significant part here is the fact that Endymion was taken from her when he was killed by the Dark Kingdom. Seeing her lover murdered in front of her whilst her home were also being destroyed (and her friends killed) would obviously be very traumatic, particularly if Serenity was mentally and physically the equivalent of a fourteen year old like Usagi.

In her next life she was crushing very hard on Tuxedo Mask who routinely showed up to aid her and then rarely lingered. That’s not exactly traumatic, but the early days of their relationship would’ve still been founded by Usagi seeing the person she wants to stick around and spend time with her leave her when she wouldn’t want him to.

She also feared Tuxedo Mask had died in episode 13 when Jadeite announced that he’d killed him. True, he was revealed as alive and well shortly afterwards, but the horror of that moment (however brief it may’ve been) could’ve stuck with Usagi.

Then, in the iconic 34th episode of the show, Mamoru was violently impaled right in front of her. We can debate if he died and was consequently revived by the Dark Kingdom or if he was merely close to death before his abduction. But either way that’d inevitably be an instance where Usagi once again traumatically lost the man she loved, or at least came extremely close to doing so if not for the emotion of the moment re-awaking her old memories.

Speaking of which, as episode 35-36 make clear, the mere act of abruptly regaining all her memories would be emotionally wrenching all on it’s own. When combined with the tragic and traumatic nature of those memories, it’s far from unbelievable that subconsciously this would further mark Usagi’s psyche.

The reveal that her lover is alive but no longer remembers her and is actively a threat to her now would obviously compound this. As would the fact that in episode 36 he uses a rose to hurt her. It’s not a serious wound at all, but he still hurt her and used an object that up until then he’d used explicitly to help and protect her. Within Usagi’s mind his roses would’ve likely been ‘coded’ with positive emotions, so seeing them used in that way would’ve been further upsetting for her, in essence a perversion of what they should mean to her mind. The roses now being black are an apt metaphor for this point.

Of course during the final stretch of episodes in season 1 Usagi almost restores Mamoru. But that’s the key here, she almost succeeds. First it the ski episode where he briefly seems to break out of his brainwashing and then again in the episode where Ryo (and the other Rainbow Crystal hosts) returns. In the latter she actually succeeds in restoring him to normal but he’s abducted immediately once again. Not only did Usagi lose Mamoru a few more times but her active efforts to bring him back to her failed.

We then come to the most traumatic events in Usagi’s second life (up to that point), episodes 44-46.

In episode 44, not only did she once again re-experience the tragic destruction of the Silver Millennium, but she got a ‘bird’s eye view’ of everything that happened, including the specific moments she, Endymion, her friends and even her mother died. True, her sadness or trauma over everyone else isn’t specific to her losing Endymion/Mamoru, however because these events happen so close together and are connected it’s not unbelievable that Usagi’s mind might’ve created an association. So her pain over seeing her mother die is associated also with her ‘losing’ Endymion as well. By that same token, the death of her beloved friends in episode 45 might’ve consequently become associated with what happened next.

In episode 46 Usagi is outright attacked by a brainwashed Endymion. First she sees him loyally serving her enemy who (by proxy) murdered her friends like an hour ago. Worse she might’ve picked up on the obvious romantic undertones between Beryl and Endymion, including him kissing her hand, and let’s not forget in the flashback from episode 44 Beryl clearly desired Endymion. Whilst intellectually Usagi might know he’s not in his right mind, emotionally seeing him like that with Beryl in that context could emotionally upset her, almost as though he was betraying their love in the worst possible way.

Endymion’s efforts against her are also significantly more violent and active than anything he did before since episode 36. Dashing a rose across the back of her hand pales in comparison to ensnaring her and shocking her with his roses. Not to mention trying to slice her up with the very same sword he would’ve used to defend her in the Silver Millennium. Even if you don’t buy into my point about perverting these symbols of their relationship, the mere act of him hurting her and trying to murder her like that is going to obviously be emotionally arresting.

In a sense in those horrible moments for Usagi Endymion/Mamoru really was ‘lost’ to her, he merely looked like her lover. This I think is why it was significant that she actually fought back against him with her tiara. But since he still looked like her lover and intellectually she knew he wasn’t to blame (and emotionally hoped he was still salvageable) her own act of self-defence horrified her.

Of course she does save him, but then he dies again. Depending on how you look at it, from Usagi’s POV this is at least the second time he’s really died and that number climbs higher if you include his presumed death in episode 13 and the number of times she had to re-experience his death in the Silver Millennium. And that isn’t even counting traumatic dreams about him dying in the aftermath of episodes 34-35. It doesn’t help that his mortal injuries in episode 46 are eerily similar to the ones he sustained in episode 34, namely a violent impalement.

We might even argue this is categorically the worst instance up until this point of Usagi watching her lover die or seemingly die. In the Silver Millennium she herself died seconds later. In episode 13 they weren’t nearly as close as they’d become by episode 46 and she at least had friends and family in her life she knew she could lean on. This equally applies to Mamoru seemingly dying in episode 34 and even his abduction in episode 35. In fact with Minako, Makoto and Artemis Usagi had an even larger support network than before. In episode 46 though her lover has died in her arms, she’s left to go on and the Inner Senshi are dead, Luna and Artemis aren’t around and the end of the world is imminent. She’s truly all alone in her grief and intellectually she knows that even if somehow she resolves the crisis her support network has been mostly gutted. THEN she herself dies to defeat Beryl/Metalia and save the world.

She gets her fondest wish, to go back to a normal life, but that’s also taken from her due to the arrival of Ail and An. Yay for Usagi, she gets to have ALL of those traumatic memories from the Silver Millennium rerun through her head AGAIN. And this time they’re complimented by the Hell she went through in losing her friends, her lover and dying herself in the Arctic.

But hey, at least now she and her lover can finally be together right? Nope. He literally doesn’t know her. He isn’t Endymion. He isn’t Tuxedo Mask. He isn’t the Mamoru she knew and doesn’t even want to know her. Meanwhile a prospective romantic rival is sniffing around him and for all she knows he may well be interested in her. She gets a tiny ray of hope when Moonlight Knight shows up but that’s abruptly squashed when she receives (seemingly) hard proof this guy who seems oh so similar to the man she loves definitely isn’t that man. So her tiny hope of maybe getting him back is taken from her almost as quickly as it came.

After Ail and An depart Earth Usagi finally has what she wants…until two episodes later. This time in the cruelest twist of fate for her, it isn’t external forces that tears Mamoru away from her. This time he takes himself from her. From a certain point of view this is sort of worse than him dying. Usagi knows death and reincarnation are a thing and that magic exists. She already knows that, as traumatic as it might’ve been, the pair have been given more chances than most people to get together. But how is that to happen when Mamoru, in his right mind and fully possessing all his memories, clearly conveys he doesn’t want her. In the same way Tuxedo Mask pulled a disappearing act early on, now Mamoru in normal life begins actively avoiding Usagi and even saying hurtful things to her.

It is in episode 61 (the break up episode itself) that we arguably first see this insecure side to Usagi where she questions if Mamoru prefers a child under 10 years old to her. From there we also see Mamoru try to hint to her that he’s seeing Unazuki.

Of course Usagi eventually learns that it WAS another external force pushing them apart again (well sort of but that’s for another day). However, to lose Mamoru again after all she’d already gone through to be with him was emotionally going to be a serious twisting of the knife for her, in addition to his efforts after episode 61 to push her away. The fact that his own desire to be with her caused him to still help and even hang out with her on occasion would’ve further confused her.

But even after this mess is cleared up, in Sailor Moon R The Movie: Promise of the Rose Usagi has to witness Mamoru nearly die for her again. And like on other occasions it comes via an impalement right in front of her and a consequent abduction to boot. And the abductee happens to be someone she and her friends suspect might harbor romantic feelings for Mamoru as well, someone who actively insulted her, actively tried to dissuade Mamoru from dating her and who literally pushed her away from him.

When taken collectively, I think all these traumas associated with Usagi ‘losing’ Mamoru or otherwise being prevented from being with him would make Usagi subconsciously on the alert for the next thing that might take him from her.

I propose that this is the actual reason for Usagi’s concerns that Mamoru might like Chibiusa more than her, for why she gets concerned when Ami and Mamoru chat together in S, for why she goes all ninja in SuperS, etc. Deep down she does trust him and deep down she trusts her friends and doesn’t actually feel threatened by anyone who might try to hit on Mamoru.

It’s in reality a case of her gripping too tight precisely because the object of her desire has slipped through her fingers far too many times in the past.* Or if you like, from Usagi’s POV destiny might’ve pre-ordained that she fall in love with Mamoru but she may well be concerned that it’s also pre-ordained that they be allowed to enjoy being in love, not for too long anyway.

However, I think this in turn set up a great example of character development for our heroine.

First of all, in episode 132 we have Chibiusa outright warning Usagi she has a romantic rival and that if she doesn’t shape up she will lose Mamoru to her, and yet Usagi shrugs this off.

Of course, we could argue that this is Usagi trying to simply one up Chibiusa in this moment, or else she is dismissive of the warning precisely because it comes from Chibiusa whom is both a child and someone who makes a point of trolling her. On the other hand we might view this as an example of how Usagi has in fact grown and is more at peace with the idea that she isn’t about to have Mamoru taken from her for the umpteenth time.

Granted her over reaction in episode 136, wherein she dresses as a ninja to ensure Rei and Mamoru don’t get up to anything, goes against that idea. However, we could just as easily argue that Usagi’s reactions in that episode were an example of her backsliding precisely because of Rei and Mamoru’s history. She might not worry about Rei and Mamoru deep down, but the idea of them living in the same place when they used to date and when she knows how active Rei was in pursuing him back in the day? It’s not beyond belief that in these specific circumstances Usagi’s resolve faltered whereas she’d have been less concerned if it’d been a stranger or someone with no romantic history with Mamoru.ffff

More significantly though is Sailor Stars. Once more Usagi ‘lost’/nearly lost Mamoru. This time this was due to Queen Nehelenia, whose efforts poisoned the Earth and by extension endangered the life of her lover. Then she did that AGAIN, this time outright brainwashing and abducting him.

Even if this didn’t remind Usagi of her horrible experiences with Evil Endymion and Beryl, it would’ve still been disturbing and upsetting, especially when Mamoru developed a mirror fetish. Usagi went through Hell and physical torture to try and save her lover and this time the stakes were even higher. Because this time losing him would also mean losing the other person she loved the most, (Chibiusa) a horrible event that she eventually witnessed happen.

Sure, she saved the day and got both her future husband and future daughter back, but she still had to live through those horrible experiences to get to that point.

And yet, despite these fresh traumas regarding losing her lover, in episode 173 Usagi handles Mamoru leaving for America surprisingly well.

It’s made clear she’s upset by his departure and doesn’t want him to go. But she comes mere inches from seeing him off with a smile as she intended, demonstrating her increased strength and maturity.

And despite her tears, despite her not wanting him to go, she still sees him off, she doesn’t try to dissuade him, she isn’t worried that he’ll meet other people or that their relationship will get torn asunder once more. She is sad because they are going to be physically separated by a long distance for a long time, but that’s the only thing that’s of concern to her. And her reaction even then is relatively reigned in (by her standards) even in the privacy of her own home.

And from a narrative/emotional POV it is almost like the universe rewards her for that growth via Mamoru giving her a promise/engagement ring, saying he loves her and kissing her in the airport.

Whilst the significance of the ring is obvious (albeit not to Usagi) we shouldn’t undersell Mamoru’s words or the kiss.

I’m willing to be corrected on this but I’m fairly certain that episode was the first time Mamoru (not Endymion, not Moonlight Knight talking about Mamoru, etc) had ever told Usagi he loved her. Of course, his actions spoke louder than words on this front. Even before Usagi knew Mamoru was Tuxedo Mask she suspected the latter rescued her because he was in love with her. Nevertheless, having your partner actually look you in the eye and say the words can be incredibly emotionally significant for a lot of people. In a sense it is the ultimate unambiguous proof of the other person’s feelings (in theory anyway). Even if Usagi hadn’t been waiting to hear him say the words (personally I think her expression implies she had been) it would’ve nevertheless been a significant development in their relationship all the same.

And as for the kiss, I admit I only vaguely know about Japanese cultural norms regarding PDA, but it is to my understanding that kissing in public is frowned upon. Even if I’m wrong about that, Mamoru (as evidenced by the R movie) certainly doesn’t like to kiss Usagi when anyone else is around. If you go back to check most of their kisses, either they are alone or else it’s obvious Mamoru doesn’t think anyone is observing them. The fact that he kisses Usagi not only in a public space, but an airport of all places (when there are crowds there for three big celebrities no less) is a huge deal for him. And in turn it’s a huge deal for Usagi because, whilst Mamoru might have more reservations, Usagi clearly cared a lot less about PDA, typically being the one to initiate their kisses.

Consequent episodes further demonstrate Usagi’s growth regarding her old insecurities with Mamoru. Putting aside how we never once see her worried about him seeing other girls, in episode 181 Seiya outright raises the idea of him seeing other people. Usagi casually, without a hint of aggression, dismisses the idea.

The irony is that it is Usagi who’s in the situation she so often worried about regarding Mamoru. She is the person being pursued by romantic rival to her lover, namely Seiya.

The cruel irony is that Usagi having matured enough to accept Mamoru leaving (despite being deeply upset and lonely about it) actually had lost him yet again.

She just didn’t know it.

*Not to mention…she is a teenager. Those people tend to be ever so slightly prone to emotional over reactions at the best of times.

#Sailor Moon #Tuxedo Mask #usagi tsukino #Usamamo #Mamoru Chiba #Chiba Mamoru #tsukino usagi #pretty soldier sailor moon #pretty guardian sailor moon #bishojo senshi sailor moon #Prince Endymion #Princess Serenity #My Essays

133 notes · View notes

megsironthrone · 3 years ago

Text

Meg's Game of Tales: Tale 8

*Familiar characters are NOT mine! The original story of "The Swan Princess" is actually pretty muddled as far as origin, but it appears to be based off a Swedish or German fairy-tale*

Warnings: Swan Princess AU, angst, violence?, a little fluff. Kind of long.

Pairings: Viserys Targaryen x fem!reader

"Are you excited, Brother?" a young Daenerys asked Viserys as they waited once more for the yearly visit from your family. "For what? Another summer with that little brat? Not exactly my idea of fun, Little Sister." Daenerys rolled her eyes. Viserys was always like this when the summer rolled around. He hated not getting his way and never once had he gotten his way when it came to you and your family.

"Well I like Y/N. I can't wait for her to become my sister." A frown made its way to Viserys' face. He despised being reminded of the arrangement between your kingdoms. You and Viserys had been arranged to wed practically from birth. In order to make the idea more "bearable", your parents along with Viserys' decided that you and Viserys would spend EVERY SINGLE SUMMER together. And this particular summer would be the last before the wedding planning would begin. Needless to say, Viserys was not looking forward to it at all.

Growing up, Viserys had found you annoying. You were always trying inject yourself into everything he did. No matter what Viserys was doing outside of his own bedroom/bath chambers, you were there. He never knew if you were simply trying to bother him or if you were trying to get to know him the way your parents wanted you to. And as you grew older, you became close to the guards and other servants in the palace. You were constantly talking to them when Viserys wouldn't talk to you. It was almost like you were flirting with them. Viserys hated it and he grew to hate summers.

The sound of trotting horses reached Viserys' ears and soon enough, the carriage appeared. After a soft scolding from his mother, Viserys straightened up to his full height and he tried not to run as far away as possible. That usual feeling of annoyance and dread began to fill up his stomach while Daenerys chatted away. If she kept it up, Viserys was certain he'd box her ears.

When the carriage pulled to a stop, Viserys held his breath. Your father was the first to step out, offering his hand to someone inside. Viserys was struck dumb when he saw you step down from the carriage, smiling at your father. There was absolutely no way this was the same person that visited him every summer. How had he not noticed how beautiful you'd become?

Your eyes met his and you held your head high as you approached on your father's arm. Your gaze never wavered while you greeted Viserys' family. "Good day, Prince Viserys. It is lovely to see you again," you told him softly with a curtsy. Viserys barely managed to bow before you were all swept up into the castle for preparations for the welcoming feast for the evening.

The feast was, as always, a beautiful and probably over-done affair. But Viserys made it through, his gaze often making its way over to where you were sitting. Whenever you caught him looking, you'd given him a soft smile before going back to your meal. Viserys wanted to speak to you, but he had to wait. When it was finally time to begin the traditional after-feast dance, Viserys couldn't get to you quickly enough.

"Princess," he greeted before sweeping you up in his arms as the music started. For a moment, the two of you were quiet and then began making small talk. All-in-all, things were going well until Viserys made a comment about how beautiful you were. "Thank you, though I suppose that isn't a good enough reason to suddenly be happy about our arrangement."

"And why not? Why should my future queen not be beautiful?" You rolled your eyes. "Beauty isn't what makes a queen, Viserys." Viserys' brows furrowed. "Well, what else is there?" You suddenly stopped dancing and shook your head. "You are an idiot, Viserys. A complete and utter idiot."

With that, you ran off and no one saw you the rest of the evening. In fact, no one saw you the entirety of the next day either. It wasn't until evening that it was discovered that you were missing. The state of your chambers indicated that you had not gone willingly. Viserys instantly saw red. Someone had the audacity to sneak into your chambers and take you from him?! And where the hells were the guards when this happened?! Viserys was livid, executing the two guards that were supposed to be guarding you and your chambers. When he anger was finally spent, Viserys set out to find you.

*time skip*

Viserys spent weeks looking for you. Weeks! And there was nary a sign of you. Viserys was beginning to lose hope and when Viserys lost hope, people suffered. As he searched, Viserys realized why his family and yours had insisted on this arrangement and the summers spent together. You were the only one able to calm Viserys' temper. You could make him see sense. You were the compassionate one. You were everything a queen needed to be. Not just beautiful.

After another long day of searching, Viserys came to a clearing with a lake sitting in the middle. The moon was reflecting off the lake as Viserys sat down on a nearby bench. "Where are you, Y/N?" As expected, no answer came to him. Just a lone swan swooping in and landing on the lake. The swan stared at Viserys, making him a little nervous. That wasn't normal behavior for birds. Was it? Viserys didn't have a chance to think about it when a faint light hit his eyes.

The light grew brighter. So bright that Viserys had to shield his eyes. When he brought his hand down, Viserys was once again speechless. "You came for me," your voice was soft and tears welled up in your eyes. There you were, in the place the swan had just been. Viserys whispered your name and stood up. He barely had time to brace himself before you crashed into him.

"Y/N? What happened to you? Are you hurt?" You pulled away a little and Viserys missed the warmth of having you close. "H-He took me. And awful sorcerer used magic to get into the palace and took me. He's trying to force me to marry him so he can take my father's throne. When I refused, he turned me into a swan. I can become human again when the moonlight hits the lake. That's when he comes to ask me for my hand again."

"He cast a spell on you? Where is he? I'll tear him apart with my bare hands if I have to!" You placed your hand over his mouth and shushed him. "He'll hear you. You can't take him, Viserys. He's too powerful. You'll need the element of surprise. He may have magic but he is not a strong fighter like you." A voice calling your name had suddenly had you jumping away from him.

"You have to go. Go back to the castle and come up with a plan. Any plan. The spell should break if he's dead. Go now. Before he sees you." Viserys wanted to argue, but seeing the fear in your eyes made him do what you said. It was the first time Viserys had ever seen you afraid and that was enough to scare even him a little bit. So he did what you said and returned to the castle to plan a strategy. He would save you. He had to save you.

A few days later, Viserys had his plan and he made his way back through the forest to the clearing with the lake. However, as soon as he set foot in the dark wood, something felt wrong. There was something heavy in the air and a feeling of dread came over him.

Viserys tried to brush it off, but as he pushed forward, the feeling grew. Without even seeing you, Viserys knew you were in danger. He picked up his pace only to stop short when he heard a voice, raspy and eerily calm, calling through the air. "Hurry, little prince. Hurry and I might let you see her one last time." Viserys shook his head to rid himself of the voice, but it simply kept calling to him.

"You thought you could outwit me, but I cannot be so easily defeated. Your princess is dying because of your foolishness." Viserys felt his heart beginning to race and he forced his feet to carry him onward toward the lake. He could feel tree branches cutting at his face and nearly getting tangled in his hair, but he paid it no mind. He would worry about his vanity later. You were his priority. Well, you and making the sorcerer pay dearly for taking you. You were Viserys' and NO ONE took what was his. At least that's how he viewed it in his head. He'd never say that out loud to you. You'd probably slap him.

Finally, just as Viserys was about to give up hope, he broke through the trees to the clearing. Your captor was there, a gloating smile on his face. He didn't look like much. In a physical match, Viserys could easily overpower him. Still, he radiated power like Viserys had never felt before. But the dragon was never one to back down from a fight and this time, the stakes were higher than ever.

"Where is she?" he growled out. The sorcerer simply laughed before stepping to the side slightly. The lone swan laid on the ground, breath hitching more and more every second. You were really dying. "What did you do?!" Viserys shrieked and the sorcerer's disgusting grin grew. "You did this. You and the princess. You could have simply given me what I wanted and this wouldn't have happened. But no. You had to go behind my back. Now, she is dying and there is nothing you can do."

If there was one thing Viserys could not standing, it was losing. The only thing worse than defeat in his eyes was his enemy gloating about the fact. Rage consumed him. Viserys felt hot. Fire welled within him and he was not aware of what was happening until it was too late. The sorcerer screamed in fear as Viserys screamed in agony. His bones were shifting. His skin was changing. Sharp talons grew where nails once were. Wings sprouted from his back. A dragon. A true dragon.

The sorcerer was quicker to react the changes in Viserys, firing some magic spell or other at him. It hit Viserys and the dragon let out a screech of pain. He glanced down at your still form. Fueled on by his need to save you, Viserys steeled his nerves and did the only thing he could think of. He blew fire and before he knew it, the sorcerer was gone. Nothing but a pile of ash.

Once his enemy was gone, Viserys looked at you. No longer a swan, your body was still not moving. Where there was once anger, grief hit Viserys like a sudden storm. His wings and scales disappeared, his limbs shrank back, and the fire in his belly was gone.

As soon as he was back on the ground in his human form, Viserys was at your side. "Y/N?" He scooped you up in his arms and held you to him. For the first time in his life, Viserys felt his eyes filling with tears at the thought of losing you for good.

"You were right," he whispered though it was difficult for him, "There is so much more to marriage and being queen than being beautiful. And you are more than just beautiful. You are everything I ever wanted. Come back to me. As your future king and your husband-to-be, I demand you come back to me." He held you closer to him.

"Who gave you permission to order me around?" your voice rasped out. Viserys let his arms drop a little and he looked at your face to see your beautiful eyes staring back up at him. "You're alive." You nodded and smiled as you tried to sit up a little. "Thanks to you. I guess you really are a dragon." Viserys chuckled. You wrapped your arms around him.

"I love you, Viserys. So much." He didn't reply, but held you more tightly as if he were afraid to let you go. After a moment, you released him so you could look at him again. This time, your face was stern. "But seriously, don't think that just because we're to be married that it means you can order me around!" Viserys shook his head fondly and then captured your lips in a bruising kiss.

(a/n: Okay, so I had this ready over the weekend and just completely forgot to post it because I'm silly. That means you'll get 2 tales this week. These will be the only things I post during my hiatus since they're for a celebration. Anyway, I hope you liked it!)

#meg's game of tales #game of thrones #fairytale au #the swan princess au #viserys targaryen #viserys targaryen x reader #viserys x reader

51 notes · View notes

tigerkirby215 · 4 years ago

Text

5e Qiyana, Empress of the Elements build (League of Legends)

(Artwork by Aley Ghallan. Made for Riot Games.)

So it turns out I was wrong about Evelynn: there is another champion who doesn’t have “the” in the title! Leave it to Qiyana to be special. Anyways: after making this post my brain decided to hype fixate on a potential Qiyana build and then... oops. It suddenly got made. Truth be told I still haven’t got a goddamn clue how Qiyana works in-game.

GOALS

Not my fault; they should have bowed - Qiyana’s an assassin which of course means we need assassin damage.

Let us throw rocks at them and laugh - The Empress of the Elements needs elements to control! Earth, Wind, Fire, and Air!

Why are you in my space? - Riot sort of just... decided Qiyana should have two dashes in her kit? I guess?

RACE

Qiyana is clearly human but the Ixtali have some innate magic to them, so for control over the primal magic of (area with trees) go for a Half-Elf for Fey Ancestry to resist charms and sleeping.

But we won’t just be going for any Half-Elf. You know me I use Dragonmarks way too much, but it works since the Dragonmarked houses are above the rest. We’ll be going for a Mark of Storm to control both the oceans and the river! As a Mark of Storm Half-Elf your Charisma increases by 2 (as per usual) and your Dexterity increases by 1. You have Windwright’s Intuition to add a d4 to any Acrobatics checks you may make (as well as Navigator’s Tools which is slightly less important), and the Storm’s Boon to resist Lightning damage. "I see you have mastered the element of wind."

Of course what we’re mainly here for is Headwinds for a bit of elemental manipulation! You can cast Gust at will, and at third level you can cast Gust of Wind once per Long Rest as a very shitty version of your ultimate! You can also learn a language of your choice and Primordial would let you speak to the earth; it’s up to you to make sure it listens!

IF DRAGONMARKS AREN’T AN OPTION: Both Drow Half-Elf and Wood Half-Elf work very well for Qiyana. Drow gives you more spells while Wood makes it easier for you to hide. You’d also get more ASIs by going for a regular Half Elf (as opposed to a Dragonmarked race) so put the +1 you’d get into Strength.

ABILITY SCORES

15; DEXTERITY - Qiyana is a master of acrobatics, doing flips and kicks as she so desires.

14; CHARISMA - A ruler is meant to be attractive... and imposing.

13; STRENGTH - That ring you carry is heavy. Also it’s a multiclassing requirement.

12; CONSTITUTION - Qiyana is squishy in League but that doesn’t mean she has to be squishy for this build.

10; INTELLIGENCE - You must know your legacy in order to rule, and while your magic is a natural gift it’s good to know your way around Arcana.

8; WISDOM - So what if you have a hot head? You can shape the river to cool yourself off!

BACKGROUND

And here you were thinking I’d use Noble... Not many know of the Ixtali people, so you’re more of a Far Traveler than anything else. You get proficiency with skills but they don’t really fit you to be honest, so take Arcana and Nature proficiency to know your natural magic. You also gain proficiency with a musical instrument or gaming set of your choice (pick your fancy) and a language of your choice (also pick your fancy!)

But most importantly you know that you have All Eyes on You. Everyone knows you’re from the great land of Ixtal, and some will offer you service to know of the history of your great land. Won’t they be excited to know they’ll be joining your kingdom too?

(Artwork by Jennifer Wuestling. Made for Riot Games.)

THE BUILD

LEVEL 1 - ROGUE 1

You are an assassin, and an empress needs as many skills as she can get. Take proficiency in Acrobatics (obviously) and the three big Charisma skills: Deception, Persuasion, and Intimidation. You could get Performance instead for some TRUE DAMAGE, but trust me when I say Performance barely ever comes up in standard D&D. You also get Expertise in two skills: Nature and Arcana are kinda your thing, so...

As an empress you know just the right way to word your phrases to sound like Thieves’ Cant, and can understand any roguish discussion of those trying to overtake your throne. But of course as an assassin you’re expected to build lethality and Sneak Attack, doing an extra d6 to any enemy who mispositioned.

LEVEL 2 - ROGUE 2

Second level Rogues get their Cunning Action, allowing you to have the Audacity to Dash, Disengage, or Hide as a Bonus Action. It’s really nice when I can recreate League of Legends dashes as just... the Dash action.

LEVEL 3 - ROGUE 3

Third level Rogues get to choose their Roguish Archetype and Swashbucklers can move from enemy to enemy with ease and taunt them all the while. As a Swashbuckler you get two features but it’s more like three features: Fancy Footwork lets you dash away from a foe you’ve just hit without taking opportunity attacks.

Rakish Audacity meanwhile lets you Sneak Attack anyone who doesn’t have bodyguards, and has the added benefit of letting you add your Charisma to initiative rolls! "Some wait their turn, and some take what they deserve." Speaking of Sneak Attack: your Sneak Attack also increases to 2d6, and you also get Gust of Wind from your race now!

LEVEL 4 - ROGUE 4

4th level Rogues get an Ability Score Improvement: Dexterity kind of controls... everything that you do at the moment? So a +2 increase to DEX will go a long way.

(Artwork by eollynart on DeviantArt.)

LEVEL 5 - PALADIN 1

Did you swear an oath to Ixtal? Well it doesn’t matter. As a Paladin you have a Divine Sense to know the lay of the land: if there are any Celestials, Fiends, Fey, or Undead walking through your river or if the land is Consecrated or Desecrated. The ability does have a limited number of uses and a limited range however, so be mindful.

You can also heal yourself (or others, I guess) with a Corrupting Potion thanks to Lay on Hands. You can even cure Poisons or Diseases with 5 health points, because no one is assassinating this empress!

LEVEL 6 - PALADIN 2

Second level Paladins get to choose their Fighting Style: while it may not be the most effective you need to control the elements, and Blessed Warrior will give you some more minor control over the world around you. Thaumaturgy is the main one we’re here for because we can’t get Prestidigitation, and while it’s perhaps not the most in-character Guidance is still always useful to have, if only to use it on yourself.

Now would also be a good chance to talk about your Ring Blade ohmlatl: I actually think opting for Two Weapon Fighting with Qiyana works quite well to recreate her weapon! I’d opt for two Scimitars but Shortswords obviously work well too. Alternatively a Rapier and Shield would still let you Sneak Attack while also letting you block attacks.

Of course you don’t just get cantrips: you get actual Spellcasting! You can prepare a number of spells equal to your Charisma modifier plus half your Paladin level (rounded down.) Divine Favor will let you use your passive to get more damage and Thunderous Smite will let you knock a foe down as if stunning them with an icy blade.

Other than that? Command suits you well but there are few other spells we really need. I’d recommend you ignore all of that and concentrate on Divine Smite, turning magic into raw damage with your blade! "I command you to die!"

LEVEL 7 - PALADIN 3

The magic of Ixtal is ancient and to bend it to your will look no further than the Oath of the Ancients. You learn both Ensnaring Strike and Speak with Animals as Oath Spells (one of which is far more in-character than the other, but hey the birds can bow to you too), and you get two Channel Divinity options:

Nature’s Wrath will let you ensnare a creature within 10 feet of you. (It’s supposed to be flavored as vines but I’d reflavor it as ice from the river.) They can make a Strength or Dexterity saving throw or get free, but if they fail they will be restrained until they break out. Yeah there’s no max duration on this! Yes they can repeat the save each turn but the point still stands!

Turn the Faithless meanwhile is your standard turning effect, only this affects Feys and Fiends. The jungle natives know to bow to you, and usurpers shall be made to bow!

LEVEL 8 - PALADIN 4

4th level means another Ability Score Improvement but I don’t think we’ve hidden in the grass enough. The Shadow Touched feat will let you increase your Charisma by 1 and will also give you the Invisibility spell for when you need it. You can also learn a first level Illusion or Necromancy spell like Disguise Self to change up your wardrobe as necessary. You can cast both these spells once per Long Rest without using a spell slot, but can then use your spell slots to cast them some more.

Speaking of spells you can prepare more of them. But again: not much I really want. I’d recommend waiting for...

LEVEL 9 - PALADIN 5

5th level Paladins get an Extra Attack, allowing you to attack twice in one turn for more chances to Sneak Attack, Smite, or both!

Additionally you get a lot of good stuff at this level! You can learn Misty Step and Moonbeam as Oath Spells to recreate Flash and what we’ll call your ultimate for the sake of this build. You can also prepare Branding Smite for more Elemental Wrath and uhhhh... oops that’s kinda all I want. I mean Lesser Restoration is nice in a pinch. Truthfully it’s 3rd level where the true Qiyana spells come in.

(Artist unknown. Artwork made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 10 - PALADIN 6

6th level Paladins can evade any danger with their natural beauty. Aura of Protection grants a saving throw boost equal to your Charisma modifier to yourself and anyone within 10 feet of you, so their empress can lead and put those who oppose her in the dirt.

LEVEL 11 - PALADIN 7

Oh did you think a bonus to saving throws wasn’t enough? Well as an Ancients Paladin you get Aura of Warding as well, giving yourself (and your allies) resistance to magic! This means that if you succeed on a saving throw against a spell you’ll take a quarter damage total (half of a half), and even if you (somehow) fail you’ll still only take half damage! "You are right to fear my greatness."

LEVEL 12 - PALADIN 8

8th level means another Ability Score Improvement: cap off that uneven Charisma score as well as your uneven Strength, because a +2 modifier is nice even if you aren’t really using it.

LEVEL 13 - PALADIN 9

9th level Paladins can cast third level spells which means oh boy: I get to tell you all the spells you should prepare to be in-character for Qiyana that you’re never going to be able to cast with your limited spell slots! Regardless Ancients Paladins get Plant Growth and Protection from Energy added to their spell list, to manipulate the elements to their liking. But with four other spells to prepare what should we take?

Elemental Weapon is the “yeah duh” spell, letting you invoke Elemental Wrath and really get value out of your passive. (It also makes your weapon a +1 which is helpful.)

Spirit Shroud is like Elemental Weapon but objectively better except for the fact that it doesn’t deal elemental damage. (Well it can deal Cold damage.) But instead of a d4 extra damage you’ll do a d8, and you can also slow those near you!

And again: I don’t really want any other spells. Almost like Qiyana is an AD champ masquerading as a spellcaster. You are allowed to take Cure Wounds you know? Just saying.

(Artwork by Mavoly on DeviantArt.)

LEVEL 14 - ROGUE 5

Hey aren’t you an assassin? Shouldn’t we be concentrating on like, assassin stuff? 5th level Rogues get Uncanny Dodge, letting you spend your reaction to halve the damage of an attack against you. This would affect attack rolls from spells like Shocking Grasp, meaning it would stack with Aura of Warding, but you can’t Uncanny Dodge a spell to only take an eighth of the damage.

Oh and your Sneak Attack (finally!) increases to 3d6.

LEVEL 15 - ROGUE 6

6th level Rogues get Expertise in two more skills. By this point you should probably be at peak performance with Acrobatics. After that pick your poison for one of your Charisma skills if you want to deal in public relations, subterfuge, or pop music.

LEVEL 16 - ROGUE 7

Are saving throws still (somehow) getting you down? Well Evasion just makes it so you take 0 damage if you succeed on a Dexterity saving throw, and only half damage on a failure! It’s probably worth mentioning that you currently have a +13 DEX save. To put this into perspective Tiamat’s breath weapon is a DC 27 DEX save; meaning that you have a 30% chance to take zero damage from an attack from Tiamat.

Oh and your Sneak Attack increases to 4d6, so you can then destroy Tiamat with a Supreme Display of Talent.

LEVEL 17 - ROGUE 8

8th level Rogues get another Ability Score Improvement: Dexterity still controls our AC and attack rolls (along with many other things) and it still isn’t maxed, so capping it off at 20 would be a good idea. "Jaw-dropping, I know."

(Artwork by LittleKumaArt on DeviantArt.)

LEVEL 18 - PALADIN 10

Rounding this build off with a final few levels in Paladin: level 10 Paladins get Aura of Courage, because if you’ve lasted long enough to hit level 18 why would you be afraid of anything? "So basic."

LEVEL 19 - PALADIN 11

11th level Paladins get Improved Divine Smite, letting them add a d8 Radiant damage to any hit with your weapon (not just hits with Divine Smite, despite the name.)

But I’m going to be honest: what I really wanted was the extra third level spell slot. Not that an extra d8 every attack isn’t good though! Show off that Royal Privilege!

LEVEL 20 - PALADIN 12

12th level Paladins get our final Ability Score Improvement: cap off your Charisma for a +5 Aura of Protection, and also more spells to prepare. "If talent were an element, perhaps I could throw some at them."

FINAL BUILD

PROS

Smash these idiots, won't you? - It may be a surprise to you but Rogues and Paladins are both very good at doing damage. 4d6 of Sneak Attack damage is never a bad thing, and that d8 from Improved Divine Smite helps too. And if they’re still standing then a regular Divine Smite will quickly force them to bow. What’s really nice is that unlike other Rogues you are practically guaranteed the Royal Privilege of Sneak Attacking your foes!

I would say “watch and learn,” but unfortunately you cannot learn this - Having a few spells in your back pocket never hurt anyone, and even your weakest spells pack quite a punch. Divine Favor stacks up over a long combat, and Ensnaring Strike can set an enemy up for failure.

Some people are just born better - I swear this happens whenever I make either a Rogue or a Paladin but it turns out that Rogue and Paladin are both extremely good at resisting damage. Evasion combined with Aura of Protection is huge but the biggest factor that makes this build so crazy is Aura of Warding. Ancients Paladin is one of the best Paladins in the game specifically because you take half damage from magic. Add this all onto a Rogue who can dash as a Bonus Action every turn, essentially got the Mobile feat for free, and has 135 health? You can be everywhere at once and you foes can’t do anything about it.

CONS

It is exhausting to crush you so much - While all your spells are amazing they’re also very limited. 3 spell slots for your best tricks means that you won’t pull them off too often. It also means that your Smiting abilities are a little limited overall.

That was no crushing; that was merely a squeeze - Multiclassing does give you a taste of everything but it also means that you miss out on the best of both worlds. Your sneak attack could be higher, and you didn’t get any of the particularly powerful Paladin features.

I'm extremely good... at everything - Well except for one thing: Wisdom. While Aura of Protection helps you somewhat with Wisdom saves +4 means nothing against higher tier spells. And of course a -1 to Perception and Insight never helped anyone.

But your greatness far overshadows your flaws. Show them that greatness and let the nature around you help magnify your magnificence. It is your right to conquer above all, and subject those beneath you for the glory of Ixaocan. Don’t let silly things like “sisters” or “birthright” or “hard CC” stop you. Go fight that 1v5 and prove how great you are!

(Artwork by Jessica “OwleyCat” Oyhenart. Made for Riot Games.)

#dnd #dnd build #dnd guide #League of Legends #League of Legends Qiyana #dnd rogue #dnd paladin #Ixaocan #earth #water #grass?

10 notes · View notes

freedmfighter · 3 years ago

Text

dossier — JET.

FULL NAME. jet MEANING. named after the gemstone, it is known as a highly prized magical and protective stone, meant to guide those on their journeys and protect against evil. NICKNAME. n/a GENDER. cis male. ETHNICITY. earth kingdom HEIGHT. 5′11″ AGE. 16/17 ( verse dependent ). ZODIAC. aries ( passionate, motivated, and confident leader / impulsive, temperamental, daring ; element : fire. ; ruling planet : mars. ) SPOKEN LANGUAGES. verse-dependent ; multilingual .

physical characteristics !

HAIR COLOR. dark brown, almost black in some shades EYE COLOR. a dark hazel, perceived as brown unless in the right light they have hunts of a forest green SKIN TONE. warm brown BODY TYPE. between ectomorph and mesomorph ; has the body of a martial artist ACCENT. / VOICE. confident, somewhat drawling , someone who when speaking everyone listens to despite what volume he’s using. DOMINANT HAND. ambidextrous POSTURE. slightly hunched but because everyones so fucking short, in all fairness. THE WAY HE CHOOSES TO SIT IS ON HIM, THOUGH. he has a relatively loose and confident stance, often putting his hand on his hip SCARS. beneath his clothes, he is actually branded with several areas of scar tissue from sword fights and burn marks -- significantly ones that wrap around his ankle when he couldn’t climb a tree fast enough and on his shoulders and upper-arms. he also has scars ( undetermined location ) from having to be self-taught with his lethally sharp hooked swords. TATTOOS. eventually he does in modern verse via stick-and-poke... MOST NOTICEABLE FEATURE(S). his eyebrows are seemingly always in an arched state, he’s significantly taller than a lot of his company, and he has very fluffy/shaggy dark hair. he also usually is chewing on wheatgrass.

background !

HOMETOWN. a small earth kingdom village somewhere near gaipan MANNER OF BIRTH. natural. FIRST WORDS. undetermined ; debating on “ma” ( which daiyu was really happy about ) or “jet” ( which was a response to them saying ‘your name is jet’ , and him echoing that. ) alternatively, it’d be funny if it was something he wasn’t supposed to repeat, like a curse word. SIBLINGS. n/a, but he thinks of the freedom fighters as his siblings. PARENTS. daiyu ( birth-mother, deceased ). qingling ( non-biological mother, deceased ). PARENT INVOLVEMENT. raised by two mothers until the age of eight years old when they were murdered ; his biological father wasn’t really in the picture, but I’m still weighing between whether he was merely a donor or someone daiyu was in a relationship with but went off and was killed in war, and qingling stepped in the picture to originally help but in the process they fell in love with each other ; up until his parents deaths, they were extremely loving and protective of him, attempting to balance between letting him have fun and educating him in very blunt means on the horrors unraveling around them. jet loved both of them equally, and mourned them intensely. in how he raises the freedom fighters and orphans he takes in, he mirrors a lot of their mannerisms and keeps their legacy alive in that way. ( hot take: they would be very proud of who he became, though greatly saddened by the cause for it. )

OCCUPATION. social activist, public speaker, and founder of post-war orphanages and shelters. CURRENT RESIDENCE. changes depending on his travels, but he likes to stay in the earth kingdom FINANCIAL STATUS. born in a respectable “middle-class” home turned destitute CRIMINAL RECORD. theft, aggravated assault with a weapon, attempted murder, acts of terrorism, murder ( though out of self-defense or legal in war-setting facing hostilities ) VICES. anger, arrogance, swearing, wrath

relationships !

CLOSE FRIENDS. all his freedom fights <3 , eventually he likes to consider aang a close friend with hopes for the rest of the group. RELATIONSHIP STATUS. single. SEXUAL ORIENTATION. bisexual. ROMANTIC ORIENTATION. demi/biromantic. LOVE LANGUAGE. physical touch & acts of service.& words of affirmation RELATIONSHIP TENDENCIES. jet is fairly unexperienced regarding romantic relationships as his priorities have been directed towards survival and familial bonds ; as a resort of this, he often makes exceptions towards romantic interests by bridging the familiar with the new, picking partners that can reflect what traits he praises himself for: goal-oriented, seeking justice, talented, can hold their own, and come with flaws. he is very affectionate when having romantic attraction and tries to find ways to hold their hand or face or shoulders. he does have jealous tendencies based off fear of loss, but over-all those of romantic interest are those he has deep admiration for and trusts them. he will only be protective if he feels like he needs to step in, which in case he doesn’t hesitate. seeing as he’s NEW to relationships, he will go about having conversations about what they like and don’t like, what they do and don’t want him to do. he’s big on communication. it should, however, be noted he has slight manipulation tendencies/tactics if he feels he has to prioritize something over the relationship.

miscellaneous !

THEME SONG. Landslide - Fleetwood Mac ( especially because of this video ) / You’ve Got to Run ( Spirit of the Wind ) - Buffy Sainte-Marie / Take Back the Power - The Interrupters HOBBIES TO PASS TIME. practicing his swordsmanship, sparing, climbing as high as he can and seeing how fast he can either get down, or helping others pass the time by inventing games. On the occasion when he wants alone-time, he spends time trying to mimic bird-calls. MENTAL ILLNESSES. severe case of post-traumatic stress syndrome ( ft. insomnia, constant attempt to re-live/re-enact trauma, violent flashbacks, constant vigilance, angry outbursts, intense distress at real or symbolic reminders of the trauma. ), possible borderline personality disorder ( seeking an explanation for such a black/white mentality , impulse, and rage that might not stem from PTSD, but unsure if i’m just projecting. ) PHYSICAL ILLNESSES. due to PTSD, his body suffers from a state of autonomic hyperarousal with hypervigilance, an enhanced startle reaction, and insomnia ; I’m still working out the lasting effects from the lake laogai incident LEFT OR RIGHT BRAINED. a balance, but slight leaning towards right brain for creativity and intuition. PHOBIAS. I would say he has pyrophobia, but he isn’t afraid of fire so much as the people who weaponize it ; and even then, he’s less scared of fire-nation, rather than scared of what they’re capable of. I wouldn’t put that under a phobia, as its reasonable or an attribute to his PTSD symptoms. SELF CONFIDENCE LEVEL. extremely high to the point he almost has a god-complex and I debate if he has narcissistic personality disorder ; he is unbothered by criticism and is extremely self-assure and confident in everything he does. VULNERABILITIES. it is very easy to manipulate jet by triggering his ptsd ; he also has lasting effects from the dai li brainwashing him to the point the phrase “the earth king has invited you to lake laogai” still triggers him, though not to the extremity aang had witnessed, as jet was capable of breaking out of it once and had a short-lived experienced with the dai li. ( HEADCANON UNDER CONSTRUCTION ) ; he is also extremely loyal to his friends and loved ones to a point he’ll do anything to keep them safe ( don’t mistake this as cooperation with the enemy, rather I will kill anything that stands in the way of their safety without hesitation )

TAGGED BY. stole from @burnbanished TAGGING. YOU?

#ⅱ. › STUDY.#ⅴ. › HEADCANON.

2 notes · View notes

lady-divine-writes · 5 years ago

Text

The Prince of the Sea and his Child of Fire (Rated M)

Summary: Blaine is a water sprite, prince of the undersea kingdom and sole heir to the throne. Five days away from turning seventeen and his big coronation, he decides to take a journey to the surface, to seek out a legendary flame said to be tended by an evil witch. Instead of a witch, he finds something else entirely …

Kurt is a fire fairy, prince of a race of fire fairies and heir to the throne. Five days away from turning seventeen (on the night of a full solar eclipse when he will transform and become king), he sees for the first time in his life a water sprite - a member of a race that he’s been raised to hate.

What will happen when these two mortal enemies fall in love? Is there any way for them to escape destiny and be together?

Notes: This is inspired by the movie ‘The Sea Prince and the Fire Child’, which itself has elements of 'Romeo and Juliet’ and other tragic love stories in it. However, it isn’t a word-for-word retelling. As a child when I first saw the movie 'The Sea Prince and the Fire Child’, a lot of it bothered me. There were things that the characters did that I thought were ridiculous, and I didn’t like the way the story ended. So this is me fixing all of those problems and telling the story the way I want it :) It’s a re-write of another story I wrote for a different pairing a while ago. It’s complete, and I will be posting a chapter or two a day. I hope you enjoy.

Read on AO3.

Chapter 1

“Psst!”

“What?”

“Psst!!”

“What!?”

“Come on! Hurry up! We don’t have all night, you know!”

“If I can’t keep up on your little adventure, maybe we should both stay home then.”

“Not a chance. Maybe a tiny bit of jellyfish venom will get you moving.”

“You … wouldn’t … dare!”

“Ha! Try me.”

A face peers around the smooth edge of a wall. Golden eyes shimmering with bioluminescence pierce the surrounding shadows in search of guards.

“Is the coast clear?” a hushed voice echoes too loudly in the cavernous hall.

“Shhh!” the first escapee snaps. “Yes, but you’re going to wake the whole castle if you don’t learn how to whisper!”

“I know that,” the second escapee whines, huddled beside his friend.

“Then stop talking!” is whispered in a hiss that can be heard for miles.

“Ugh! I don’t even want to do this, Blaine!”

“Well, we’re gonna, Trent! And I don’t want to hear another word about it!”

Blaine grabs his friend’s hand and drags him around the corner. Sticking close to the wall, they sneak down the hall. It’s woefully dark, lit only by a shaft of soft blue light, courtesy of a mob of phytoplankton congregating outside the castle windows. The two friends spiral up and up a rarely used tower of the west wing to a cramped turret obscured by a growth of coral. Out through the open window they swim, throwing anxious looks over their shoulders until the castle is completely out of their sights, and the fugitive water sprites reach the open ocean.

“We shouldn’t be doing this!” Trent says, tossing a few extra glances back. “If your father finds out we’re gone, he’ll send the royal guard!”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Blaine mutters, “he’ll be super disappointed in me. So what else is new?”

“Well, maybe. But I don’t need him angry at me, either!”

Blaine chuckles. “Are you scared of my father, Trent?”

“Yes. Dreadfully scared. And I’m not ashamed to admit it.”

Cutting through the water, the two sprites swim, passing schools of fish that decrease in size as they make their way up to the world above – a place no sprite dares to go.

Trent stops just below, but Blaine breaches the water’s surface and looks around, searching out the fabled lick of fire burning in the darkness of the wood. He narrows his eyelids and peers through the veil formed by the interwoven tree branches and the moonless sky until he spots it - a yellow and orange drop dancing magically on a branch hovering inches above the water.

Blaine smiles. He reaches down blindly, grabs Trent by the hair, and yanks him up out of the water.

“Owwww!” Trent groans, but Blaine turns him roughly toward the light flickering in the darkness.

“Bingo.” Blaine releases his struggling friend and claps him on the back - hard enough to make him cough - before paddling his way toward the fire.

Trent follows close behind, not wanting to be left alone where any manner of animal can swoop down from the trees and swallow him whole. “Are we really going to do this, Blaine?”

“Yup,” Blaine answers without turning to look at his frightened friend.

Trent’s swimming slows as his body trembles. “Why again?”

“We’ve heard legends about this flame our entire lives! Don’t you finally want to see it? With your own eyes? Once and for all?”

“No, I don’t. Not particularly.”

“Why ever not?”

“You know why!” Trent argues. “They say these woods are haunted!”

“Of course they do,” Blaine murmurs. “That’s how they keep us in line.” He continues treading water, barely listening. He reaches a log jutting out that blocks his path. On the other side of the log, he sees a small pool surrounding the light, blocked off from the sea. From this distance, he can see the flame just fine. But there’s something else he’s searching for.

“Blaine!” Trent snaps, realizing he’s being ignored. “Th-they say that the fire is tended by a hideous witch, and that the flame is kept lit by the bones of water sprites who got too close and were eaten alive!”

Blaine rolls his eyes. “Oh, please! Do you still believe those stories, Trent? Look at yourself! You’re a grown sprite, a member of the royal court, personal advisor to our kingdom’s one and only prince. How can you still believe in ghost stories?”

“B-because some ghost stories are t-true,” Trent stutters as a chill breeze blows past, whistling through the leaves.

“Jeez, Trent. If you’re going to be such a baby, why did you even come?”

“You didn’t give me a choice!” Trent yells, Blaine’s arrogant comment making him forget all thoughts of evil sprite-eating witches. Blaine clamps a hand over Trent’s mouth and holds him still, both sprites staring wide-eyed, willing whatever might be lurking in the shadows to stay there.

A mouse rustles the underbrush as it scurries through the leaves. An owl shrieks over their heads, causing them to duck, submerge up to their chins. A moment of silence, and then a tortured squeak as the mouse is carried away in the owl’s deadly talons, joining the monstrous bird for dinner.

Blaine’s hand drops away from Trent’s mouth.

“B-besides, you n-need me,” Trent stammers unconvincingly. “I’m s-sworn to protect you.”

“So how come it is I spend so much time saving your sorry behind?” Blaine shakes his head and leaps over the log, landing with a gentle splash in the water on the other side.

“Wait!” Trent calls. “You saw the fire! Isn’t that enough? Can’t we go home now?”

“Not yet.”

“Why?” Trent whisper-yells to the prince’s back. “Why not yet?”

“Because we got this far. I’m going to go find myself a witch!”

“No, Blaine!” Trent sinks his fingers into the soaked log, his arms shaking. “No! Come back!”

Trent’s pleas are lost to the wind and the bowing trees as Blaine swims closer and closer to the crackling flame. The fire lures him to it. It sings him a song both beautiful and heartbreaking. It fills his eyes and his mind with its music. It leads him from the safety of the water to its light.

Blaine has seen hot things before, in places beneath the ocean where volcanoes pour their lava into the water. Beneath the sea, it blinks red for an instant, then turns hard and black forever.

But this flame has a soul. It has life.

It wants Blaine to become a part of it.

He reaches for it, the heat drying his skin even though he’s nowhere near close enough to touch it.

“Blaine!” Trent continues to yell, but Blaine doesn’t care. He doesn’t care about friends or family or life or his kingdom beneath the sea, as long as he has this flame in front of him.

Singing him lullabies with its mystical voice.

Something steps out from behind the fire and blocks his view. A sardonic, “Hey!” gets locked in his throat when he sees a pale body materialize. Blaine has sense enough to drop down into the water, but he keeps his eyes glued to the spot where a figure dances, twirling on tip-toes, arms waving in the air, feeding the fire with petals and leaves until the light dances with him, higher and higher, touching the sky.

Blaine squints against the blazing light so he can see the figure more clearly.

His mouth drops open.

“A fairy!” he breathes, watching as it twirls with eyes closed, fragile wings of silver fanning the flame, turning pink as they catch the light. The fairy faces the fire, singing (and Blaine now realizes that it is this fairy’s voice he was hearing – high and otherworldly, carried on the wind) and Blaine dares to emerge once again.

The fairy seems about Blaine’s age, and has a head of brown hair – the shade of autumn chestnuts and turning leaves. He is shirtless, the muscles of his back throwing shadows back and forth over his smooth, pastel skin. The play of shadows fascinates Blaine, as does the line of his spine – so straight and so strong, probably earned by hours of flying. Blaine sighs. What it must feel like to fly – to be free to travel the skies and into the clouds, to leave the world and all of your responsibilities behind.

Responsibilities that Blaine feels pile on top of him every day, more and more, threatening to crush him dead before he even has the chance to live.

Sea King at only seventeen.

The thought leaves its bitter tang on his tongue.

Some sprites would see it as the ultimate honor, but for Blaine it’s a trap. Which is why he took this trip to the surface – his one and only trip, since the moment he is bestowed the mantle of king, he will never be allowed to leave the sea. Not that sprites actually can leave. His own father, the most powerful creature below the waves, has spent an eternity under the water, and to Blaine’s knowledge, has never once been on land.

Never once looked up at the sky.

Blaine’s father didn’t have dreams. Or if he did, he stopped dreaming them long ago.

The fairy stops singing. He turns his head to the side, ears pricking up at a faint sound. Blaine drops beneath the surface before the fairy’s eyes sweep his way, sighing in relief that he managed to get away before he could be spotted. He peeks up, letting the tension of the water hold him under as long as it can before he breaks through, but the fairy is gone.

Blaine turns his head side to side, frantically trying to find the mystical being. He goes still and holds his breath, waiting for the fairy to emerge, but there is no sign of him. He couldn’t have been a hallucination, could he? A trick of the light?

No.

He was real.

He drew Blaine out of the water and led him here. He may be made of magic, but that hypnotic creature was definitely real.

Blaine creeps up higher. He looks into the fire, but the fairy dancing around it has disappeared.

“Hey!” he calls out. “Fairy! Where are you?”

“Blaine!” he hears Trent call, trying to keep his volume low but on the verge of panic. “What are you doing!?”

Blaine waves him off. He doesn’t need Trent scaring the fairy away. He wants to coax the fairy back out and then hide again. He needs to see that vision once more before he leaves and never returns.

“Fairy!” he yells, braving a move closer to the flame. “Hey, fairy!”

The flame, all but forgotten by the brazen sprite, flashes brightly in Blaine’s eyes, filling the cove around them with its radiance. Blaine screams, throwing his arms up to protect his face, but the light endures, growing brighter. It turns white, breaking through every gap, weeding into every space. Blaine is blinded, knocked hard into the water, and sinks like a stone.

“Blaine!” Trent calls from his hiding place behind the log. “Blaine!”

When the flash disappears, Trent looks into the secluded pool, but the prince is nowhere to be seen.

“Blaine!”

Trent throws himself over the log and into the water, heedless of the fairy or the fire, and swims down with all speed to the spot he last saw his friend.

From behind fire, back to being a softly crackling flame, the fairy peeks his head out and watches the two figures dive beneath the inky water.

***

“Blaine!” Trent turns a full circle, alarmed at being in this strange water alone. It’s too dark, too quiet, brimming with some kind of enchantment that Trent feels prickling along his skin. “Blaine! Where are you? Blaine!”

He spots the prince’s limp body below him, falling through the water, heading down to a trench – a black, bottomless void cut into the ocean floor. Faster Blaine falls, his unconscious body pulled by denser water. Trent swims at full speed after him, beating his arms against the water, trying to keep up. Trent gains on him when Blaine slows, reaching out an arm to grab him, but Blaine swirls out of reach as a current sweeps him away, dragging him further under and fast. Trent kicks his legs furiously, feeling the invisible pull the nearer they get to the gaping hole, as if hands are reaching for them … icy fingers closing around them …

“Blaine!” Trent screams, putting on a burst of energy, a last desperate effort that will either save Blaine or doom them both.

But it seems that whatever god protects water dwellers is siding with them today. The current stops dead and Trent grabs the sea prince under the arms, kicking with all his might to take them far from the fissure.

“Urgh! I’ve got you, Blaine!” he says as he fights up through the water, heading back in the direction of their underwater kingdom. “Don’t worry, your highness! I’ll get us home!”

#klaine fanfiction #klaine fic #klaine fanfic

26 notes · View notes

makairodonx · 4 years ago

Text

Keiko Tells A Story to Melinda

“Can you tell me a little summary of your exciting story?” Melinda asked me as we had tea together on a round wooden table at her house one summer night. “Sure,” I replied. “Here I go now...” “...It all started when my parents gave me a nice, shiny telescope for my fifteenth birthday. After receiving grim news that the Last Trian, an ancient, benevolent ruler of the Wider World, may not recover from a serious illness, I used my new birthday present to spot a mysterious comet landing far away upon a huge, ancient tree which was probably the last of its kind. Afterwards the Thubanians invaded the Southern Glens where I used to live for over fifteen years, and, despite my best efforts to stop their leader, Tarjus the Just, from threatening me and my family, I decided to run away into the surrounding woods so as to escape their onslaught, and after I fell asleep for a while, Venkula the Raccoon and her human master Robert Hide came to wake me up and tell me important news. They told me that they were both sent by the great prophet Magellon to find me here in these woods, while he magically whisked the rest of my family into his protective custody. So Venkula and Robert told me that Magellon knows that only I could fulfill a prophecy he foretold which concerns the fate of the Wider World following the death of the Last Trian: That after the Golden Orb falls upon the Lonely Tree, only a fifteen-year-old black-haired sorceress dressed in red, who could tame the forces of nature, can, with certain allies at her side, prevent two warring races from fighting over the Golden Orb and destroy the object herself, so that a hundred-thousand white birds may fly over the Forest of Hope where the Lonely Tree is.” “Nice...” Melinda said, “Keep it up, my friend!” “So Venkula and Robert magically turned my ragged clothes into a fine, crimson-red dress with a white collar, white sleeves and a white hem, replete with grey boots and a crimson-red hat with a white bow tied to the front, and my hair quickly grew longer till it almost reached my hips. With this new outfit the two told me that I now had magical powers related to controlling the natural elements and summoning the nature spirits to come at my side, and so, throughout my journey to reach the Lonely Tree, they said to me that it is very important for me to use my magical powers in bringing justice to the warring races for their actions towards nature and destroying the dangerous celestial spirit which hatches out of the Golden Orb, so that I could finally fulfill the prophecy as expected.” “Good...” Melinda replied, “So you had to use your magical powers when it came to stopping the Warring Races from spoiling the nature-ruled world around you wherever you went, right?” “Yes, Melinda,” I replied, “That’s right. Robert Hide and his pet raccoon Venkula told me that ever since the Golden Orb landed upon the Lonely Tree, the Thubanians and the Udoli have invaded and plundered the nature-ruled lands surrounding the Forest of Hope in search of the huge, ancient tree, so that they could seize the Orb held within its branches and use its very destructive power for their own greedy motives. They also told me that if I was to fail in preventing this from happening, then the entire Wider World might suffer the wrath of the great celestial spirit which hatches out of the Golden Orb upon getting aroused to anger. So Robert and Venkula said to me that throughout my journey to reach the Lonely Tree before the Warring Races do so, I can manipulate the four natural elements of Water, Earth, Air and Fire, summon forth any powerful nature spirits to assist me, or cast any sorts of spells, all for the use of either stopping the Thubanians from building a factory, logging down a forest, or polluting a river, or stopping the Udolai from terrorizing villages of innocents, hunting down any spirits or harassing those who revere them, and so forth. All this proved to be highly important for the health of all the nature-ruled lands I visited, as well as for those who venerate the nature spirits for keeping their lands sacred and pure...and above all, proving to others around me wherever I went that I was a young sorceress of great renown, steadfast in bringing justice to the actions of Warring Races so that they won’t be able to invade the Forest of Hope, and therefore fulfill the prophecy concerning the destruction of the Golden Orb which rests in my magic hands and not theirs.” “Nice, Keiko...So did Robert Hide and Venkula the Raccoon give you a short, little tutorial on how to use your magic powers the right and proper way? For I’ve seen from others that you have not attended a school for young sorceresses like you lately.” “Ummm....” I explained, “Of course they did. It was Robert who, out of thin air, presented me with some small obstacles for me to face with any of the natural elements to manipulate at hand. He told me that it is Water which works against Fire, it is Earth which works against Air, and so forth, and it was also he who said to me that most of the Elements are represented as balls or streams of colored flame which fly straight out of the user’s hands to inflict certain levels of damage against opponents when used for combat purposes. Venkula also said that I should only use the elements for benevolent purposes only, such as for healing others, and she also gave me a special kind of whistle called the ‘Spirit Whistle’ which I could use to summon any nature spirits to help me out in any situations which require their use, such as for when it comes to going across a difficult area which cannot be easily traversed by foot, or whenever I encounter bands of the Warring Races intent on threatening others into their submission. She and her master also taught me how to cast spells and heal others correctly as well.” “So after this quick tutorial, you were all set to go on your long adventure to the Forest of Hope...with your..companions?” “Yes, Melinda. It was the audacious Robert who helped me to get along with people whom I was not familiar with, while his wise pet raccoon gave me practical advice on any decisions I was to make, as well as important tips on how to seek understanding with the Warring Races without ever having to bring revenge upon them for their actions, as well as some clever little jokes sometimes...and I clearly remember one big tip of advice from her, and it is that ‘your eyes shall not be blinded by hate as you find anything bad which exists in anything good, and anything good which exists in anything bad.’” “Wow...” Melinda said, “What a nice saying!” “Anyway....” I continued, “throughout my journey, I had loving companions with whom I could talk and relate to, and they both served as important guides of information for all the places, landmarks, people, creatures and objects I would stumble upon each strange, new land I came across. And they also gave me a special diary which would automatically create a new page each time I complete the previous one, and permanently save all that I wrote, so that the collective memory of all my travels, and what I did at the time, will never be forgotten....for anyone like you and I to read!” “That’s wonderful! I hope your stories will live on and on for others to see-“ I giggled with a small smile. “I hope I may get a successful career as a prolific writer of short and long stories, perhaps!” -followed by some more giggling. “But well, then, let’s get back to the journey for now. Are you ready?” “Of course I am,” Melinda replied, “Go ahead.” “Okay...” I began. “I happened to do so many things and deeds at the time that they’re all properly recorded in the pages of my diary...but let me just tell you about nearly all that I did throughout those weeks and weeks to crescent the Lonely Tree and fulfill the prophecy regarding the Golden Orb, though. “So I first went down to the Green Marshes, which my companions said was the home of the Udolai, the dark-skinned spear-wielding enemies of the Thubanians. After exploring the swampy forests, we crossed a small river with the use of a single vine hanging from one of the trees, and then I used a wooden canoe to cross a great cypress swamp which was full of many birds and other creatures. And after rowing past a giant steamboat and through a fishing village on stilts, we headed straight to the nearby woods to spend the coming night, and we slept on the branches of one of the big trees. Soon, as the full moon rose up over the woods, a small herd of Moon-Crests came by to munch on the leaves of the trees and bushes before our eyes...and quickly disappeared behind the brush, since my companions told me that they were very shy creatures not eager to come near mankind, and that much of their woodland homes have been destroyed by the logging activities of the Warring Races for a while. “The next day, we went out to explore more of the Green Marshes, which included seeing two Hook-Jaws fighting over a large turtle, encountering a party of wandering knights led by Beshalus the Bold at a small stream, and fending off an angry swarm of Peg-Heads trying to protect their treetop homes from our presence. Yet we eventually came across a great, wooden watchtower which my companions said was the famous Tower of Aebatin, with which the Compteians had long used for keeping a watch of the southern borders of their kingdom for any enemy intrusions or anything of the like...but for now, though, we used the watchtower to get a high, high view of the lands surrounding the Green Marshes, and from there, we also saw a mysterious green-and-white train passing by the Black Mountains, situated in the Black Valley where the Kingdom of Compteia was. So we boarded the train for that land...(I remember how I used to sleep on a bunk-bed and gaze at the Full Moon sometimes, while my companions slept on a bed below me, and I also remember all the delicious foods given to us in a separate dining car...more or less like a tavern or a pub than a dining car...known as “The Leaping Tabby”.)...and soon we ended up in Compteia, where me also met Beshalus the Bold for a second time. And when I asked him of a safe passage to where the Forest of Despair was, he told me that the only path to reach it lies deep through the Black Mountains, and that it is too narrow and dangerous to be set upon by foot. So I heeded the advice of my companions to go at the foot of the mountains and tame a Sky-Horse which we could use to fly over the mountains and reach a huge hill which sits before where the Forest of Despair was. There we found a small cottage where an old woman and her granddaughter gave us food to eat and a place to sleep. But they told us that the the Forest of Despair is full of huge, Dark Serpents which slither among the trees and devour un-cautious people from above. So once we went down into the woods the next day, I used my magic to fend off the attacking serpents one by one, till we entered the Silver Plains and came across a flock of Field-Swans which were grazing upon the grass and bushes. When Thubanian military airships flew overhead and caused the big creatures to bound off over the wide, grassy hills, I used one of them to take me and my companions off towards the Sands of Fate, where it is said that there is an underground passage which leads anyone brave enough to face its dangers straight into where the Hills of Fire are. So through the Amber Caverns I used my magic to ward off dozens of huge spiders which blocked quite a couple of tunnels which led me and my companions straight into a huge, dark, stalagmite and stalactite-ridden lair where an enormous, terrible centipede resides. After quite a tense battle, though, the monster left behind a wooden staff which I could use for manipulating the four elements with, and then we finally found a portal which lead us straight into where the Hills of Fire were. There we met a Hill-Worm named Julius who, despite looking like a menacing beast with his long horns, sharp teeth and fiery breath, happened to help us reach where the Great Canyon, the landmark which separates the Hills of Fire from where the Forest of Hope was, with his incredible sense of smell, all while helping us to fend off any dangers we would face along the way, such as advancing bands of the Warring Races, which were eventually taken care off with the help of Field-Swans, Stone-Worms and other nature spirits which I summoned with the use of the Spirit-Whistle. And when my companions and I finally reached the Great Canyon, we used the same Sky-Horse which flew us over the Black Mountains to take us over to where the Four Cliffs, the landmark which marks the southern borders of the Forest of Hope, was. But upon getting there, though, we found out that the Thubanians had just built a great Factory-Fort situated not too far from where the Lonely Tree was. It had tall smokestacks billowing tons of reddish smoke into the air, a few military airships circling it from above, huge chambers for which dozens of tree trunks were being burned and churned, and from high over its spiraling walls, weapons of war were being built for a final battle against the Udolai. I questioned the reason as to why one of the two Warring Races would have an installation close to where the Lonely Tree was, and so, with Julius summoned at our side to help us with his horns, sheer size and fiery breath, we burst into the Factory-Fort, tackled the armed guards and soldiers one by one as we ascended the spiraling way up, and soon we entered the throne room of Emperor Tarjus the Just, situated at the top of the installation. It was the first time I ever met him in person ever since I tried to stop the advance of his army from threatening my family about 10 weeks prior, and now, armed with magical powers as the Sorceress of Leaf and Sand, I was able to confront him and ask him repeatedly about why he would base his troops dangerously close to where the Lonely Tree was, and what his main motives to seize the Golden Orb were. But upon explicitly telling me that he sought the powerful energy of the Golden Orb just for the recovery of his dying homeland, which had been devastated by countless natural disasters, Emperor Tarjus the Just went out to the balcony of his fort and showed me much of the Forest of Hope being burned, so that his troops could use the clearings to reach the Lonely Tree before the Udolai, who were also burning parts of the Forest themselves, could do so. After telling him urgently that to seize the Lonely Tree would mean provoking the wrath of the celestial spirit which hatches out of the Golden Orb, I used the Sky-Horse to fly me straight to the woods, where I could intervene to stop the Warring Races from waging the battle for the Lonely Tree with all my magical powers and the aid of all the nature spirits at my side, while Tarjus the Just went ahead with trying to restrain his own troops from reaching the tree, despite the actions of his own fiercely rebellious generals. Initially the great battle went quite well for me and my companions, and even the knight Beshalus the Bold and his knights came in to help me in my cause, but soon I got knocked down by a Thubanian war-machine which was eventually brought down by none other than Julius himself, who continued to help me in restraining the Warring Races as I went ahead with destroying the Golden Orb with all the natural elements and spells brought at my disposal. Yet however, though, the Lonely Tree itself suddenly caught on fire somehow and the celestial spirit was immediately released out of the orb. I desperately tried to restrain the spirit from climbing out of the burning tree, but it unleashed its impressive wrath of destruction upon the whole Forest of Hope and everything inside it, including the Thubanian war-machines, and soon, all that was left was a very desolate landscape and a great crater from upon where the ancient tree stood. But much to the astonishment of my companions and all the others around me, all the nature spirits were able to find my unconscious body and raise me up from the ground, and then, in an instant, all sorts of grasses, bushes plants and trees sprang up to bring the Forest of Hope back to life, including even the Lonely Tree itself, which arose in splendid fashion from the ash-laden crater, as my eyes beheld the sight of a hundred-thousand white birds flying over the woods and across the clear grayish-blue sky. And After I thanked the nature spirits for helping me to bring justice to the Warring Races, fulfill my mission to destroy the Golden Orb, and therefore save my life in the process of doing so, my companions and I saw the Thubanians and the Udolai departed the newly-risen Forest of Hope and the surrounding lands, never to come there for any riches once again. I decided for a while to lead a happy life with my companions and allies such as Beshalus the Bold...yet one day, though, Robert and Venkula told me that from a message sent to them by messenger crows, Magellon the Wise has finally been happy to witness his ancient prophecy being fulfilled, and that he has also returned my family back to my old house situated deep in the Southern Glens, which have also completely recovered from the celestial spirit’s wrath as well. So, after a visit to Magellon the Wise, with whom I had quite an excited talk regarding my relationship with nature, Robert and Venkula allowed me to return to my old house one fine evening, as the sun was setting down under the hills and trees, and tell my excited family all about my great adventure to fulfill Magellon’s Prophecy at dinner that night. And I also allowed my parents and siblings to have a look at everything that I wrote in my diary, too...now it’s in their custody....after I allowed Robert and Venkula to come in for a visit with them at my old house, and after they allowed Magellon to visit me with my family the next day as well. And I’m really sure, too, to let you know that my family is amazed of my magical prowess as The Sorceress of Leaf and Sand!” “Fantastic, Keiko Yamamoto!” Exclaimed Melinda with a big smile on her face, “I really love it! It’s so amazing!! I’m sure you’ll become a prolific writer of great renown, won’t you, my friend?” “Oh...” I smiled jokingly, “Sure I may....yet it’s a possibility, though, since I need to make copies of the same story to be read by other people besides my family and close relations, after all...” “So can you let me read your diary some day, then?” “Yes I can, but only when you visit my family and get permission from them, though. For my parents may not like it if some stranger like you takes anything belonging to their household without them knowing it.” “Good, my friend....” Melinda remarked, “now I’m starting to become a sorceress like you are..With all the bronze coins and silver nuggets I have, I’m currently getting my own spell-book and my own tools for casting my own spells...” “And you still haven’t learned how to manipulate the natural elements, summon nature spirits or heal others, haven’t you?” I asked. “For I know how to cast spells without the aid of wands, stones or other kinds of objects or tools, based on what Robert and Venkula showed me...” “Well...um...I’m beginning to learn stuff related to alchemy and divination, so that I can practice transmutations of base metals into noble metals, and of how to read peoples’ minds or foresee the future...and I’m also learning a bit about stuff related to shape-shifting, too, so that I can know how to shape-shift into a cat or anything else I want, soon...” “Nice, Melinda...” I said. “I think I have to go back to my family now. They’re probably waiting for me to return before the moon rises!” “Thanks, Keiko,” Melinda replied as I got up and pushed the wooden chair forward. “Thanks for telling your great story for me to hear. And I really love it, too.” “You’re welcome, Melinda,” I replied as she got up. “You’re welcome for letting me have some tea with you at your kitchen in this house of yours, and I also look forward to visiting you again someday...” “Sure, my friend,” Melinda smiled. “You’re always welcome into my house, and it’s a nice pleasure to spend time with my loving family and I whenever you come around, either alone or with your family...and I’ll see you soon, too, by the way!“ “Okay then, Melinda,” I turned to face my friend as I headed out the front door and straight into the cold night, “Sleep well with your family, and dream sweet dreams as you do so!” “For sure, Keiko Yamaguchi!” “Yamamoto!” I replied with a quick giggle. “Sorry if I forgot to say your last name the right way!” “That’s alright...so just go to sleep for now!” “All right, then...” Melinda closed the front door and turned off the lights of their house with her parents and siblings.

#Fantasy #Keiko #keiko

1 note · View note

dlkardenal · 4 years ago

Text

Vampires of Tenebris - A brief look at

There are many a soul in the cursed lands of the Towers, yet all know who they owe allegiance towards. They all remember the name of the dreaded building that casts a perpetual shadow spinning around like a clock, always expanding its domain onto another piece of land. That is the home of the vampire families. That is the fortress of their lords.

There are seven of these cyclopean constructs of dark magic and wonderous machines. Each houses a clan of blood drinkers related by blood and calling.

Thesantei

Most pleasant of the cursed tribes are the family of diplomats calling themselves the Thesantei. They act courteously and speak with great caution because they forever dance in the battle of wits and words. Their smiles and kind invitations serve none but themselves, bettering their position while they bleed kingdoms dry without cutting a wound. Not that they are incapable on the battlefield. They lunge and pierce like an artist painting with steel, commanding birds of prey and slithering drakelings to severe a life thread by thread. Their Curse is the most clandestine, capable of snatching and twirling the very thoughts of people, reading the most hidden perversions, and planting seeds of doubt.

Nerinai

People fear even the name of the Nerinai, the vampire physicians addicted to the pain and misery of others. They march in capes red as blood to threaten all who dare look upon them. They are suffering given form to most, humans and vampires alike. They are masters of flesh, bone, and blood, their Curse can mold living matter to heal, harm, or mock life itself. Using their knowledge they create Wretches, mutant abominations serving them without a spark of conscience. That is the root of their menacing fame; the ability to create life, and the cruel intent to morph it into something hideous.

Ataris

One family is like a shadow, a whisper you barely heard on the wind. Some aren’t even sure they exist. Some hope they don’t. They are the Ataris, a clan of vampires dedicated to unraveling the Curse itself and its tendrils into reality – magic. These mages learn nothing and care for nothing but the secret, occult powers they received during the Collapse, mastering it beyond any other. Their Curse calls onto the element of umbra, the smoke-like darkness that coils around every shadowed corner, manifesting it as liquid flame or straining tentacles. They are powerful, yet they don’t care for victory. They only learn fo the sake of learning, and never sate their infinite thirst for knowledge.

Sciria

Every soldier dreads the black blades wielded by the vampire legions because they radiate cold bloodlust and contempt. Those are the weapons forged by the Sciria, the family of blacksmiths that found their calling in the ore veins running under the Shadowshield Mountains. Their Curse allows them to smelt the black iron untouchable by any other soul, as it burns and corrupts every living thing around itself. For the Sciria, it is more than a metal. It is a god, a religion, an amalgamation of all their cries. Through the flames of their forge, it seeped into their blood and now all they touch manifests as their iron god’s avatar.

Tarquin

Even the Towers had builders; the Tarquin. The stone-blooded. The vampire masons. They are like the stone they cut, rough, cold, and immovable. Their Curse tears the border between creature and creation, giving them a sliver of divine power to damn statues with life and servitude until death. Their death. They welcome none, be it man or vampire, they work unseen and isolated and once they are done, only the stone speaks of them. But it speaks. It speaks of the Tarquin’s shame, the creation of the gargoyle horde that once threatened every Tower but remains to this day, scourging the outskirts of the accursed lands. So they build, higher and higher to forever bury this shame under the stone.

Hirinia

The Hirinia embody everything humans fear about the night. They prey in the darkness, silently scouting through the shadowed forest around their Tower and hunt everything that dares to make a sound. They are feral, bloodthirsty and savage, and they heed no warning or wisdom. Because they only hear the call of the wild. No Hirinia ever snuck in the night like a rat, because their Curse makes it their castle. They hear more, see more and sense more than a hound, their dark armor makes no sound and their shape is obscured in the fog of darkness that follows them. And when you hear the silent whistle of a crossbow bolt cutting through the air, it’s done. You are their trophy.

Venetesh

When the Towers go into war, the Venetesh are the first to answer. They are brutes, heartless butchers only kept alive by their everlasting rage and their desire to maim and carve up anyone they have an excuse for. They are the bloodhounds, the mercenaries, the expendable bulk of the vampire army. Their Curse is fury unbound, dark blood that rips them from death’s clutch, straining their muscles until they tear, flogging them forward until their bones break, creating monsters that sow terror on every field of battle. That is the call of the Venetesh.

These are the monsters we fight against. This is the enemy we shall smite in the name of our Lord, and all the Angel Legions in the high Heavens. That is His will. - Alexandros, Exarch of the Divine Church of Heliogaia

#writeblr #writerblr #writingcommunity #wip #writing wip #fantasy #dark fantasy #vampires #excerpt

2 notes · View notes

precuredaily · 5 years ago

Text

Precure Daily Halloween Special 2019

Episodes: SPC 37, HaCha 37, GPP Movie, MPC 38-39, KKPC 37, HUG 38, STPC 37 Dates watched: 30-31 October 2019 Original air dates: Sunday in October 1-2 weeks before Halloween, 2011 & 2016-2018, and the Saturday of Halloween, 2015

Is that little girl in the witch hat dressed as Akko from Little Witch Academia in a nod to her seiyuu, Han Megumi, playing Hime or is this just a coincidence? These are the questions that keep me up at night.

You may remember the PCD Christmas Special I did last year, where I watched every Precure Christmas episode and compared them to each other, charting the common elements and evolution in how they handle the subject. Well, I really love Halloween, but for a while, Japan didn’t celebrate it. It only started to catch on in the late 2000s and into the 2010s, and so despite several episodes of Precure airing on or near Halloween night over the years, the first time it was brought up in the franchise wasn’t until 2011′s Suite Precure. You can read more about how it became acceptable to celebrate and the ways in which the Japanese people enjoy themselves in this article, but the important takeaways are that Halloween events are more about food and festivities, and trick-or-treating is a highly organized activity, no going door-to-door.

At this point in the shows, all extra heroines have been introduced and the team is usually on the cusp of acquiring a new powerup. The villains have suffered significant losses and are preparing to pull out some form of trump card (this will facilitate the team getting their new attack). Typically, the monster of the week will be made from a Jack O’Lantern or some other Halloween decoration. In more recent years there’s been a tendency to explain what Halloween is about, but they don’t always do this. The biggest draw of a Halloween episode, though, in my opinion, is getting to see the characters in costumes. I’m going to briefly run down each Halloween episode (or movie) and then compare common elements at the end.

Note: At the time of writing, I am about 6 episodes behind in Star Twinkle Precure, did not wish to skip ahead for the purposes of this article, and didn’t have the time to catch up. I will add my thoughts on STPC 38 at a later date, and I will announce when I have done this via a reblog to @pcd-status. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Star Twinkle section added 12 Nov. 2019

Suite Precure 37 - “Wakuwaku! Everyone Transforms for Halloween!” Original air date: 30 October 2011

With Mephisto freed of his brainwashing, Falsetto takes charge of Trio the Minor and leads an attack on the girls. Ako has decided to stay in the human world, and the older girls take her to a Halloween celebration to brighten her spirits. Ako isn’t really enjoying herself, but some younger kids rope her into playing with them and that brightens her up. When Trio the Minor turn a pumpkin into a Negatone, they try to perform a new attack with Crescendo Tone: Precure Suite Session Ensemble Crescendo, but it falls apart, so Ako uses her invidual attacks while the older trio uses their group finisher. At the end, Falsetto sings an incomplete Melody of Sorrow to speed up Noise’s revival.

Costumes and references: Hibiki is dressed as a pirate, but specifically she resembles a genderbent Captain Marvelous, the red ranger from the contemporary Sentai series Gokaiger. Kanade is dressed as a pumpkin witch. Ellen is dressed as a black cat, an allusion to her true form, and Ako is a dressed as a princess, which she is. (not digging very deep for this)

HappinessCharge Precure 37 - “Big Bang, Defeated! An Unbelievably Strong Enemy Appears!” Original air date: 19 October 2014

Oresky, Namakelder, and Hosshiwa are all feeling weakened after taking the Happiness Big Bang attack, so Queen Mirage concludes they may not be useful to her anymore and prepares her next agent. Meanwhile in Pikarigaoka, Megumi encourages Blue to join them at the town’s Halloween festival, and he agrees. They all begin to share pumpkin cakes with each other, a local tradition. Seiji shares his with Megumi, Megumi eagerly shares hers with Blue, and the other girls look on from a distance as they recognize the love triangle unfolding in front of them. Oresky appears, trying to ruin the Halloween festival that makes people happy and attempting to prove his worth. He really wants to be the number one general in the Phantom Empire, as he feels that if he’s not first, he’s worthless and he doesn’t want to be replaced. The girls transform, and begin to persuade him that there’s enjoyment to be had in fun things, and it’s okay if you’re not first. They hit him with Happiness Big Bang and it begins to purify him, when suddenly an attack interrupts it. As the smoke clears, their new opponent is revealed to be a corrupted Cure Tender, Iona’s missing older sister.

Costumes and references: Megumi is wearing a Halloween-themed dress, orange with jack-o-lanterns on it. Hime is dressed as a princess, which much like with Ako, seems kind of low-effort since she’s an actual princess. Yuuko is dressed as a witch, and Iona is a fortune teller. Also, Blue is dressed as a vampire.

Go! Princess Precure: Go! Go!! Gorgeous Triple Feature Original release date: 31 October 2015

The Princess movie was experimental, being made of three shorter films: a chibi short with no dialog, a 50-minute traditional feature, and a 20-minute all CG adventure. The film leaned hard on its Halloween theming, with Pumpkins and Halloween being prominent motifs in all three parts. I’ll break them down individually.

Cure Flora and the Mysterious Mirror

This is a cute sketch where Cure Flora finds a fancy crown, puts it on, and accidentally startles some mischievous sprites on the other side of what she thinks is a mirror. They have the ability to transform, so they take on her appearance and mirror her, but they forget to duplicate the crown and eventually they begin to compete with the real Flora, doing tricks. She accidentally breaks the crown, so the sprites decide to transform into a special pumpkin outfit for her, just as the other girls come in. The 5-minute short uses a super deformed art style with all CG animation and has no dialog.

Costumes and references: Cure Flora’s pumpkin dress and hat.

The Pumpkin Kingdom’s Treasure

Haruka, Minami, Kirara, and Towa are transported to the wondrous Pumpkin Kingdom, where the royal chancellor Warp is hosting a Princess Contest to find a princess for the kingdom. Towa, being well-versed in evil schemes, smells a rat and is on edge. Haruka finds the true princess of the kingdom, Pumpururu, who is locked away, and learns that the Pumpkin King and Queen are under Warp’s control. Minami, Kirara, and Towa each win their rounds in the contest, but the former two are captured while Towa is able to avoid capture. Haruka participates, even managing to snap the monarchs out of the control. She transforms, frees the others from their capture, and Warp transforms to a giant monster. Pumpururu, the sprites, and the Precures’ strong feelings summon Halloween Dress Up Keys that the girls use to defeat Warp and save the Pumpkin Kingdom.

Costumes and references: The girls get special outfits to wear for the Princess Contest (not halloween themed), as well as Mode Elegant Halloween dresses that feature pumpkin flowers on them.

Precure and Leffy’s Wonder Night!

This is an episode-length feature using the CG animation style from the dance endings. Haruka discovers a doll on her desk, when she’s suddenly transported to the Pumpkingdom, already transformed, and the doll is now a girl named Leffy. Leffy tells the cures they need to defeat Night Pumpkin, who has taken over Pumpkingdom and stolen the daylight from them, making it always night. What follows is essentially an ongoing chase through the city to the top, where they fight and defeat Night Pumpkin and restore daylight to Pumpkingdom. Haruka is then transported back to her room, and the Leffy doll is gone. It’s worth noting that Leffy appeared as Pumpururu’s doll in the previous portion. The connection to this section of the film is unclear. Also, Minami, Kirara, and Towa do not appear in their civilian forms at all.

Costumes and references: Leffy isn’t overtly pumpkin themed, and nobody else gets any special forms in this one. However, there is a glorious moment where Flora accidentally bonks Night Pumpkin on the head.

a proud Precure tradition

Maho Girls Precure 38 - “Is it Sweet or Not? The Magic Pumpkin Festival!” Original air date: 23 October 2016

This isn’t explicitly a Halloween episode, because the Magic World doesn’t celebrate Halloween, but they have fall traditions that involve pumpkins and sweets so it counts. Their tradition is to chase a Pumpkin Bird that appears every year. It shoots candy from its mouth, and if it hits someone, they turn into a giant piece of candy. If you capture it, you get a special prize. One of the villains brings up the actually valid point that the creature may not like being chased and that’s why it runs, but Mofurun talks to it and finds out it just has a cavity. The girls transform into Topaz Style to fight Shakince in a creatively silly battle. When they beat him, Mofurun gets the credit for “capturing” the Pumpkin Bird and so she gets presented with its prize, which turns out to be a seed that grows into a tree which sprouts toothbrushes. I am not making that up.

Costumes and references: Mofurun gets a special orange and yellow dress to wear when she receives the prize but it’s never shown in closeup from the front. Also, there is a cameo appearance by Watanabe Mayu, who sings the insert song for the Maho Girls Movie that was in theaters around this time, and also served as the ending theme for episodes 38 and 39 (only on the TV version, on home release they use “Magic a la Domo”). She makes a special appearance as herself. Even better, in a flashback, she’s seen beside giant statues of Mipple and Mepple.

Maho Girls Precure 39 - “This is Halloween! Everyone, Smile!” Original air date: 30 October 2016

The girls from magic school come to visit the non-magic world and learn about Halloween! But Jun, Kay, and Emily have to be reminded, even when things seem bad, to not use magic to help out. The students of the non-magic world are running a crepe stand and the magic world students decide to chip in, and after being scolded for using their powers, they learn how to do things the old-fashioned way and appreciate the value of hard work. In the middle of all of this, Ha-chan changes costumes almost every scene. Benigyo is extremely confused by all the Halloween festivities and doesn’t understand what the girls want when they tell her to stop ruining it. They never do give her a proper explanation, but she summons a Donyokubaaru that blows air and the girls have to transform to Sapphire form to fight it off. There’s a small plot point about Mirai’s grandmother recognizing the magic school Headmaster from her own youth. At the end of the episode, it’s implied that Liko’s father has made a big breakthrough about relations between the magic and non-magic worlds, and more ancient powers. Kind of a disjointed episode.

Costumes and references: Mirai is dressed as Mofurun, Liko is dressed as a cat in an orange and purple dress, Mofurun is dressed as Cure Miracle, Chikurun is dressed as a bunny, and Ha-chan is dressed as:

an alicorn

a sarcophagus

a mummy

a sphinx

a UFO

and a thunder god (Raijin)

And just a cool thing I noticed, the final stage for the ending dance was updated with a Halloween theme. I’m really curious why, since they replaced the ending with “The Right Way to Use Magic” in the initial television broadcast of this episode, and I don’t think the Halloween version was seen in any previous or subsequent episodes.

Kirakira Precure a la Mode 37 - “Salut! Ciel is Going Back to France!?” Original air date: 22 October 2017

Ciel’s old boss, Madame Solaine, finds her and tries to get her to come back to Paris and work for her there, feeling that Ciel’s talent is wasted in this small town. Not wanting to admit that she initially came searching for her brother, and that she’s got responsibilities as a Precure, she tries to demonstrate what she likes about Ichigozaoka. Everybody is worried that Ciel is going to leave, and even lowkey encouraging her to do what’s best for her career, but she wants to stay. Ultimately she wins Madame Solaine over with a dish inspired by Ichika’s cooking style. Elisio is the antagonist of this episode but I honestly found the battle to be completely irrelevant. The most notable point for the villains is that Grave makes some kind of discovery at the end of the episode.

Costumes and references: Their costumes here are modifications to their patisserie uniforms. Ichika is a jack o’lantern, Himari is an angel, Aoi is a devil, Yukari is a cat (of course), Akira is a vampire, and Ciel is a witch.

HUGtto! Precure 38 - “Charged with Happiness! Happy Halloween!” Original air date: 28 October 2018

Hagukumi town is going to be hosting a Halloween Party, with Papple’s business providing food and entertainment. Daigan is tasked with food prep, but he gets frustrated with a very delicate task, and a visit from Bishin has him questioning his loyalties. The girls are ready to hit the town, and have even prepared costumes for Harry and Hugtan. They made a lot of costumes for Hugtan, in fact, but Ruru detects that she doesn’t really like any of them, so they ask her what she wants to be, and she responds “Pwecyua!” They set to work making her a Precure costume in short order, but an Oshimaida attack secretly requested by Daigan threatens the party. The girls transform and make a show of it to keep people’s spirits high, finishing the monster off with Cheerful Attack. Papple knows that Daigan was responsible and chides him for defecting, even momentarily, and informs him that everybody loved his food. Up at Beauty Harry, the girls finish Hugtan’s costume and show her to Harry, who briefly has a flash of Cure Tomorrow.

Costumes and references: Hana is a witch, Saaya is a lolita devil, Homare is a cowgirl, Emiru and Ruru are pirates, Harry is a werewolf (because he’s.... hairy, IDK if that was the joke), and Hugtan is dressed as Cure Yell. Foreshadowing ahoy!

Star☆Twinkle Precure 37 - “Cryptids Will Win! The Halloween Costume Contest” Original air date: 21 October 2019

Mihoshi Town is having a Halloween costume contest with prizes for best group, so everybody brings their A-game. Except Yuni, she takes the chance to walk around in her true Rainbownian form. Everybody is having fun and the girls get to explain Halloween to Yuni and Lala. Unfortunately, Kappard is hanging around, reminiscing about what happened to his planet, and he doesn’t like the festivities. Everyone thinks he’s just dressed as a sexy kappa and they want pictures with him, which annoys him even more, so he steals one arguing couple’s imagination and goes on the attack. In an effort to guide him away from all the people and hide their identities, when the girls transform, they claim to be the Mihoshi Stars and do a full Sentai roll call, finally settling the debate over Milky and Cosmo’s color designations. (I was probably one of the last people to maintain that Milky was blue by this point, tbh) They lead him away from the festivities and then try to talk him down, but all he can say is he doesn’t believe different species can live in harmony, that Lala and Yuni are living a lie by celebrating Earth customs, and he doesn’t understand this holiday at all, so they defeat him and return to the festival. Elena wins prizes as part of two different groups, but Kappard is declared the overall winner. Too bad he’s MIA. This episode doesn’t do much for the plot, but it does give a little backstory to Kappard, as we see that his planet got destroyed by a non-native species monopolizing all of their natural resources. Considering what we see of Eyewan and Tenjou in the next few episodes, it’s possible we’re aiming to redeem the villains. Hard to tell with an ongoing show.

Costumes and references: Hikaru is a yeti, Lala is a tsuchinoko, Madoka is a cat, Elena is a flower (with her family) and a cat (with Madoka and Yuni), Yuni is herself, Fuwa is a sheep I guess, and Prunce is the Michelin Man (TELL ME I’M WRONG).

Analysis

Halloween episodes, unlike Christmas episodes, don’t have as much of a running theme. Halloween is more of a dressing than an opportunity to explore feelings. The placement of these episodes in the series means that things are usually starting to ramp up, but none of them features a major conflict. In a few episodes, the fight with the villains felt downright inconsequential, while it was more meaningful in others. There was a trend in more recent years to explain the origins of Halloween, as a gathering of spirits, but otherwise there aren’t as many identifiable patterns or shifts in patterns as there were in the Christmas episodes, it’s mostly been “this is Halloween, have fun.” The Go Princess movie had the opportunity to make the most of their halloween theme, but instead they just focused on pumpkins, pumpkins, and more pumpkins without really diving into what makes Halloween as a holiday special or significant. It’s an alright movie but it’s a sour note on an excellent series that knew what it was doing. HappinessCharge probably utilized Halloween the best as a setting, using some Halloween traditions to create romantic tension, and I appreciated Maho Girls’s attempt to create a Halloween-ish fall holiday for a fictional culture, and then also bringing those people in to explore our Halloween. Since it’s a newer holiday for Precure to work with, only getting regular exposure since 2014, we might see them figure out more ways to spin Halloween in the future. Honestly I hope so, and I’ll be here to write about it for you.

Happy Halloween, everybody, and look forward to more Yes 5 coming soon. Hopefully I’ll finish that by the end of the year. Hopefully. (yeah not likely)

#Precure #Pretty Cure #Suite Precure #HappinessCharge Precure #Go! Princess Precure #Maho Girls Precure #Kirakira Precure a la Mode #HUGtto! Precure #Star Twinkle Precure #PCD Halloween

28 notes · View notes

365daysofsasuhina · 5 years ago

Text

[ 365 Days of SasuHina || Day Three Hundred Thirty-Two: Gateway ] [ Uchiha Sasuke, Hyūga Hinata, Uchiha Itachi ] [ SasuHina ] [ Verse: Divine Light ] [ AO3 Link ]

Well...this isn’t how he planned this journey to go, if he’s going to be honest with himself. When Itachi approached him with a plan to make a mountain of gold with what would likely be only average effort...well, he wasn’t about to say no. Sasuke isn’t a greedy young man, but he is a bit desperate. Their family, fallen from grace when he was a boy when their homeland was conquered, are only shadows of their former glory and influence. If they could just get some of their money back...then surely the Uchiha name would have a fighting chance!

But that means earning it. Their new ruling class aren’t too fond of those able to wield the elements...and that’s made things hard. So a job like that Itachi had described - rescuing a kidnapped princess from the clutches of her personal hand mage gone rogue - seemed the perfect opportunity. Their magic would put them on good footing. Add in that it would be two on one, and...surely they couldn’t fail.

Plans, however, have a way of...changing.

Because while they did indeed find the missing princess they’ve been looking for...there’s a slight problem. For Hinata, daughter of the king Hiashi of the line Hyūga, was not kidnapped. Or so she claims, backed up by the woman painted as the guilty party. Oh no...the tale was indeed far more complicated than that.

What Itachi had been told was that a woman - a mage and bequeathed to the princess when they were both only children - had stolen the princess away as a means of leverage for her escape. A citizen of a conquered land, she had been treated as an object, gifted to Hinata as a servant and plaything. The story went that her hatred had grown silently, never shown, until she stole the princess away to ensure her safety until reaching the border.

But...that’s not the truth, or so Hinata claims.

Itachi had held up a hand upon her rather blunt declaration of the true reason behind their being missing. “...your father was going to have you killed…?”

The princes gave a grave nod. “...several weeks ago...he discovered a truth I’d been hiding from him for quite some time. My mother - his first wife - was n-not what she seemed. She was a mage, but kept it hidden from all. My powers woke when I was young, and it was my handmaid who helped me hide it, and helped to teach me.”

The brothers’ eyes had gone wide, exchanging a knowing glance.

Hinata’s eyes dropped somberly to the floor. “...I knew he’d be furious should he ever discover it, but also that - eventually - it would slip. And when it did, he f-flew into a rage. Forbade me from ever using it, and began seeking ways to strip a mage of their powers. It was then we began to plot an escape. But just as we were preparing, my father revealed his own plan: a coverup. He would have me killed, and place the blame on my handmaid: spin a tale of hate and jealousy when in fact...she’s my closest friend.”

“...so when you escaped, he altered the tale…”

“Yes. We’re fleeing for the northern border - the lands Hiashi lost in the last war, and my previous homeland,” the maiden mage then offered, stepping up. “We plan to find asylum there. If we do, Hinata will be safe...and I can try to find the remnants of my people. We just have to evade those like you seeking to take Hinata back. If they were to succeed...I can guarantee she’d be dead within a fortnight.”

Itachi hummed in thought, a hand at his chin. “...might I make a suggestion?”

The women exchanged a look, and then warily nodded.

“First, let me ask: have you any coin? Surely you need it to make such a journey. But I can’t imagine you were able to raid Hiashi’s coffers before you fled.”

At that, Hinata gave a hint of a smile. “...I have my inheritance.”

“What, on you?” Sasuke asked skeptically.

“In a manner of speaking, but...for safety, I can’t really tell you.”

“I see...forgive my brother, he often speaks before thinking,” the elder then apologized, tone hinting at Sasuke to curb his tongue with a glance. “Then perhaps we could make a bit of a deal…?”

“What kind of deal…?”

“Well, when we began this quest, we sought to earn gold for our family by returning you ladies to the king. But now, we can hardly do so and keep our consciences happy. So what if we were to turn our intentions on their heads?”

“...meaning?” the handmaid asked.

“Rather than capture you...we could escort you. We know these lands well, and we are both adept in magic like yourselves. With which we could guide you through the safest routes, and help protect you...respectively.”

While the princess looked hopeful, her handmaid held out a bracing hand. “...why should we trust you?”

“I realize you have little more than our word to go on, but...in a sense, we know your struggle, ma’am. Our family was also assimilated unwillingly when we were conquered. It’s for them we work to refill our own coffers. In truth, we’ve little love for Hiashi...as mages, he sees us as lesser and tainted. By helping you, we could kill two birds with a single stone. Perhaps earn some coin, and also deliver a bit of a blow to the man who reduced our family to ruin.”

“...so you’re loyal not to Hiashi, but to yourselves...and your family.”

“And - out of necessity - coin. Should you agree to part with a small sum of the princess’ treasury, we’ll gladly lend you our aid.”

“And if someone were to offer you more to harm us?”

Itachi gave a wry smile. “Well...you also happen to have the advantage of being an enemy of our enemy. It will take more than that, I assure you.”

“...I think we should go with them,” Hinata had murmured, earning an uncertain glance from her companion.

“But, my lady…?”

“They’re right. We need help. And we have a common enemy.” There had been a small flicker of an emotion across her face at the word none of them could identify. “As far as I can s-see...we’ll all help one another. And it’s safer to travel together. Please…”

The mage sighed heavily. “...as you wish. But your safety is still my utmost priority, my lady.”

“I know.”

It was then, after a few more haggles over details, that the group of four had left the strange cave and took to the road. With only two horses between them, they maintained a slower pace to the next town. The mage had saddled up with Itachi, and Sasuke was stuck with the princess.

Thankfully, she hasn’t said much, just sitting behind him with a careful grip around his middle for balance. Sasuke’s never been too keen on women. Needless to say...he’s a bit unsteady.

“May I ask...which war saw you become citizens of my father’s nation…?”

“...it was when I was fairly small,” he manages to reply, tone a little terse with exasperation at the small talk. “Maybe five or so.”

“I see...the same, then, that I was given my handmaid. Only for the north to be conquered instead by the Namikaze king a few years later.”

“...that’s where we’re headed, eh?”

“Yes. We hope to find safety there.”

“What would they want with a princess no longer tied to a kingdom?”

“Their king and ours have a-always been at odds. My father’s loss to him left him embittered, and there’s been a long-standing stalemate between them. But unlike here...mages are free to live as they please in the north. It would be a personal blow if they played a hand in t-thwarting my father’s attempts to be rid of me. And even if no longer a princess by rite, I still carry royal blood.”

“Hn...never been one much for politics.”

That earns a soft laugh. “Nor have I. In all honesty...I’m glad to be rid of my title. It’s better suited to my sister.”

“...so, she’s a half-sister, then?”

“Yes...my mother died when I was four or so. Father then remarried, and soon had Hanabi. And after all of this, I wonder…”

“...what?”

“...if her death was planned as mine was. If Father remarried and had another child for fear that I would be like her…”

In spite of himself, Sasuke balks a bit in surprise. “...would he…?”

“...I can no longer assume he wouldn’t.”

Unsure what else to say, Sasuke instead looks up as they pass beneath an arch that houses a gateway into their next destination. The women need horses if they’re to make any decent pace. “...well, we’re here. My brother and I will buy the mounts. You two stay out of sight, and do your best to disguise yourselves. Speak to no one, and try not to leave the inn.”

“...right.”

With two rooms rented for the night, they settle the pair in before leaving for the livery.

“We’ll bring a meal with us,” Itachi promises. “Just be patient, if you would.”

“Thank you.”

Glancing to Hinata, Sasuke hesitates a moment. “...keep yourself safe until we get back.”

“...I will.”

.oOo.

(This is a sequel to day 321!) I'm super tired sooo I'll be brief! More of the old RP-turned-fic...thing. Kinda. I dunno how to describe it xD Fantasy stuff! Mages! Not-so-kidnapped princesses! Evil kings! All we need are some dragons and our checklist will be complete, right? I dunno if I'll do more of this - I'm...unsure about a lot lately given just how DRAINING and busy life has been (and will be) for...a while. So forgive me with how much I'm falling behind, I just CANNOT keep up. But as always, I WILL FINISH THIS. It's just gonna stretch past. ALSO! Since we ARE nearing the end, please PLEASE let me know somehow - be it comments here, messages on Tumblr, etc. - your top pick(s) for ideas from this challenge you'd like to see given more chapters! I AM going to take a fairly big break after this challenge cuz OOF, but I DO want to do some short multichap fics once I'm recuperated, so...if you have a favorite, let me know, and I'll see if I can do more with it! Anyway, I reallllly need to sleep, so I'll leave it at that - thanks for reading!

#sasuhina #uchiha sasuke #hyūga hinata #uchiha itachi #divine light [ au ]#365daysofsasuhina

12 notes · View notes

scoutception · 5 years ago

Text

Final Fantasy Type-0 review: Depression central

If there’s one Final Fantasy subseries whose fate gets me feeling down, it’s the Fabula Nova Crystallis series, a novel and ambitious concept based around various games and stories of different settings and casts of characters, but sharing common themes and mythos, putting them in different contexts in each. While a fascinating idea, it ran into nothing but trouble with each of its entries, with Final Fantasy XIII and its sequels being very divisive, to say the least, Final Fantasy Versus XIII running into an infamously extended development hell, only to finally emerge as Final Fantasy XV, now almost completely separate from its original concept, and the final big entry, Final Fantasy Type-0, vanishing until 5 years after its announcement in 2006, as a PSP exclusive that only came out in Japan, a rarity for the series when it comes to its higher profile spinoffs. Thankfully, in 2015, Type-0 got a remaster on the PS4, Xbox One, and PC, finally allowing other audiences to enjoy it. Was it worth the almost 10 year wait? Well, that’s something we’re about to find out now.

Story:

Final Fantasy Type-0 takes place on the world of Orience, divided into 4 great nations blessed with Crystals: the Dominion of Rubrum, a place for the study and teaching of magic granted by the Vermilion Bird crystal, the Kingdom of Concordia, a female led monarchy able to communicate and control monsters and, more importantly, dragons, and home to the Azure Dragon crystal, the Militesi Empire, a technologically advanced state able to produce great machines of war known as Magitek Armors, or MAs, through the power of their White Tiger crystal, and the Lorican Alliance, whose citizens are much larger and powerful than any other in Orience thanks to their more direct connection to their Black Tortoise crystal. Orience is, unfortunately, not a place of peace, with each of the 4 crystal states wishing to unite Orience under them, and making plenty of attempts to in the past. The motive behind this is the legend of the Agito, a messiah said to appear during Tempus Finis, an apocalyptic event prophesied in the somewhat dubious, yet widely believed, Nameless Tome, with every crystal state seeing it as their divine duty to create Agito, to the point of Rubrum training so called Agito cadets from its brightest and most magically adept citizens.

The story opens with yet another war being started in the year 842 by Milites, whose emperor has been deposed by the brilliant and ambitious Imperial Marshall Cid Aulstyne (Final Fantasy games have a tradition of having a character named Cid somewhere, and finally, he made it as main antagonist), who immediately sets out to attack Rubrum. What would otherwise be a “normal” invasion quickly turns disastrous for Rubrum when Milites unleashed a new device called a crystal jammer, which cuts Rubrum’s legionnaires from their connection to the crystal, rendering them helpless before the Militesi invaders. Even worse, Milites also deploys a l’cie, a human chosen by their nation’s crystal to become its direct servant, in exchange for immense power and near immortality, the use of which in warfare was mutually banned by each of the 4 nations. Just when Rubrum seems doomed, the mysterious Class Zero arrives, 12 cadets who are unaffected by the crystal jammer, raised by Rubrum’s even more mysterious archsorceress, Arecia Al-Rashia, who proceed to liberate the capital, Akademia. Now, with the addition of two promising but otherwise normal cadets, Machina Kunagiri and Rem Tokimiya, Class Zero becomes a vital part in Rubrum’s efforts to reclaim their lost land and defeat Milites, once and for all.

To just come out and say it, the story’s biggest weakness is the cast, or, more specifically, its use of the cast. While the playable cast alone is certainly large, at 14 characters, and the supporting cast only grows from there, almost nobody gets proper focus. The main 12 members of Class Zero, named after playing cards, consists of Ace, Deuce, Trey, Cater, Cinque, Sice, Seven, Eight, Nine, Jack, Queen, and King, and despite being the “proper” members of Class Zero, they all only have a few character traits each. Trey is a knowledgeable type that tends to ramble, Sice is an arrogant loner, Nine is a violent muscle head, Cinque is nice, but downright weird, and so on. While after a while they all grew on me, it’s still pretty unsatisfying, especially when Ace, the face of the game, gets neglected just as badly. The supporting cast gets it even worse, as outside of Arecia and Class Zero’s commanding officer, Kurasame, most of everyone else that’s notable either has minimal at best story presence, or doesn’t show up in the story, period, being relegated to sidequests. Ultimately, the most focused on characters are the two “normal” people in Class Zero, Machina and Rem, which kinda makes sense, giving a more grounded air compared to off how putting the others can be to begin with, but even they don’t work out quite well. While Rem is fine, she doesn’t do very much interesting with the time she gets, while Machina, on the other hand, is very, very unlikeable to the point of hurting the story, whether it be his own cold attitude or broodiness to put the usual RPG protagonist stereotype to shame, he ends up way more unsympathetic than near anyone else in the story, even most of the antagonists. While the cast overall is definitely flawed, though, they’re definitely entertaining at a lot of points, whether they come from the main cast, mostly Trey or Cinque, or from some of the side characters, mainly the extremely greedy Carla and, most memorably to me, the paranoid, bombing throwing Mutsuki.

Since the story doesn’t focus on the characters very much, the main focus is instead the war itself. While it definitely has a few twists and turns, especially starting in chapter 4, overall, the battles and events of the war aren’t the most interesting subject by itself. More interesting is the elements around the war. This is by far one of, if not the darkest game in the franchise, and it doesn’t shy away from showing just how messed up Orience is. Rubrum’s main strength comes in the form of its Agito cadets, meaning, teenagers, as young as 14, at that, and the tactics the military uses means they tend to die in droves. Even when it’s technically pragmatic, between magic proficiency peaking at teen years and decreasing with age, plus not having many other means to resistance, it’s still very uncomfortable, and keep in mind, this is what the good guys, or the relative ones, get up to. Milites, meanwhile, is all too happy to deploy superweapons, such as literal nukes, and its soldiers are disturbingly fanatic, being more than happy to massacre towns, and even refer to Class Zero as demons. Class Zero themselves were raised to be soliders, and feel almost nothing in battle, and Rubrum’s leadership are paranoid and petty, to the point of the military commander actively trying to get Class Zero killed out of pure spite. Eidolons, extremely powerful monsters able to be summoned by mages, demand the lives of their summoners, and there are outright suicide squads of cadets who are only meant to summon more powerful Eidolons. Additionally, a very important plot point is that the crystals automatically erase the memories of anyone who dies from everyone’s minds, to the point Rubrum’s citizens need to wear dog tags just so it can be confirmed they even existed after they die. While they try to justify it as a blessing from the crystals that allows people to move on and not be held back by the dead, all it’s done is completely desensitize Orience to death, and having characters casually talk about being informed of their friends or family dying, and not feeling a single thing, is pretty disturbing, especially when it’s named character involved. It does a very good job of showing how constant warring and lack of reverence for the dead has corrupted this world, even when many of the characters affected still remain sympathetic.

Unfortunately, the biggest flaw of the story to me is that there simply isn’t a lot of it to be found, at least in regards to the main story. While the game is comprised of 8 chapters, that’s more than a little inaccurate, as half of those consist of a short introduction and a singular mission, rather than the 2 or 3 missions in the rest of the chapters. The story only really gets moving in chapter 4, and even then, many important points aren’t addressed until chapter 8, which is a downright bizarre and sudden change of subject and tone compared to the rest of the game, to the point a second playthrough is required because of how many holes are left otherwise, and even then, it can be a bit difficult to figure out just what is going on. The biggest achievement of the writing, on the other hand, is the lore of the setting. Orience is a fascinating world, with a detailed history of each nation, plenty of info to find on the various characters, and examinations of the various enemies of the game, all stored in a book in the hub called the Rubicus. It’s also quite interesting seeing the perspective flip compared to Final Fantasy XIII; instead of l’cie “merely” being granted the use of magic, and quickly going through their usefulness, at least by their masters’ consideration, along with the main cast being comprised of them, l’cie in Type-0 are near demigods who often live hundreds of years, and are just as fearsome to the party as to everyone else, for instance. Overall, though, while there are certainly many problems with the writing, I can’t help but say it works quite well regardless. Even with the limited time for both the story itself and the characters, it still builds a cast worth rooting for throughout the horrible situations, and an effective atmosphere that’s quite good at leaving you feeling somber. Moments like the entirety of the opening chapter, showing the utter devastation inflicted on Akademia in a mere three hours, and the various costly, large battles are very effective moments, and the ending is easily one of the saddest endings I’ve seen in a video game, for all the right reasons. Even the final chapter, odd as it is, has a lot of cool revelations and setpieces to me, at least now that I comprehend it.

Gameplay:

Type-0 is an action RPG that has you control the 14 members of Class Zero on various missions, each one possessing a different weapon. Ace uses cards, Deuce uses a flute (I swear they aren’t all this weird), Trey uses a bow, Cater uses a magic infused pistol, Cinque uses a mace, Sice uses a scythe, Seven uses a whipblade, Eight fights with his bare hands, Nine uses a lance, Jack uses a katana, Queen uses a longsword, King uses dual revolvers, Machina uses dual rapiers, and Rem uses dual daggers. Each one possesses a vastly different moveset and playstyle, such as Cinque being slow, but strong and tanky, Sice encouraging an aggressive hit and run style of play, even getting stronger for the more enemies she defeats while taking minimal hits, Trey excelling at range to a much degree than anyone else, while being near helpless up close, and Deuce being more of a supporter, having great support abilities, while her attacks are fairly weird to get used to, though effective on their own once you understand them. Despite the huge amount of characters, they’re actually fairly well balanced, all of them having important strengths and weaknesses, and while some can definitely be better than others, with Trey in particular coming to mind, possessing absurd range and the ability to charge his shots, it’s never quite game breaking. You can have up to three characters in your party, though their AI isn’t exactly great. They can certainly distract enemies well, and will make sure to heal you if your HP gets low, they don’t tend to be aggressive, and are terrible at avoiding the attacks of most enemies more complex than your average imperial trooper, and are near guaranteed to die to bosses. Speaking of which, the main wrinkle is that, while it varies, overall, your characters are not very durable, and in fact take hits about as well as wet toilet paper when faced with most enemies. This is balanced by the sheer amount of people you have. One person dies on a mission, don’t sweat it, you’ve got 13 backups. Of course, this also encourages training them all up and learning to play them as well, which is complicated by only characters in the active party gaining experience. Leveling up, in addition to granting the usual stat boosts, also grants ability points, which you can use to purchase or upgrade command or passive abilities and moves.

While just attacking enemies normally is decently effective, it can put you in unnecessary danger, and while you do have items like potions you can use to restore your health quickly, the most efficient way to fight is to use breaksights and killsights. Every enemy has at least one attack that leaves them vulnerable for a short time either before or after using said attacking. Hitting them during this period will trigger a break, or, if their health is low enough, killsight. Breaksights take a good chunk of their health away and stuns them, giving you a chance to attack them freely, while killsights just kill them outright. This one mechanic adds a lot to the gameplay, encouraging you to learn enemy patterns and attacks to see when they are vulnerable, and getting the timing down can make otherwise fearsome enemies easy to take care of. Of course, some enemies won’t take this very well, and may counterattack or even go into berserk states after recovering from breaksights, so you still have to be careful. Every character has 4 commands: regular attacks with their weapons, 2 slots that can either hold abilities or offensive magic spells, and a defensive command, whether it be the cure spell to restore health, putting up a magic wall to nullify some attacks, or just flat out blocking, which, while still causing you to suffer damage, prevents being knocked down, letting you score breaksights easier than if you were to simply dodge. Magic can be upgraded by harvesting phantoma from dead enemies, coming in various types like red for fire magic, green for defensive magic, and purple for unique spells. While powerful, magic usually takes a large chunk out of your magic points, meaning it’s better to save it for more dire situations, though harvesting phantoma restores small amounts of MP. As for equipment, aside from weapons, you have access to accessories that do things such as increasing HP by a certain percentage, giving immunity to status effects, or raising defense, though everyone can only have 2 accessories at a time. You also have three different squad commands: triad maneuver, which simply causes the party to do 3 powerful, rapid attacks, Eidolon, which summons an Eidolon you can control for a short time, in exchange for KOing the character that summoned it, and Vermilion Bird, a powerful spell that, to actually become powerful, has to be upgraded using crystal shards, which, while fairly easy to get most of the time, aren’t very numerous.

Type-0 uses a mission system, throwing you into various locations to complete objectives, though it usually equates to to reach the end of the area and kill an enemy commander. Most locations are pretty linear, though they all have a few side areas you can go to, usually for more items. You get graded based on how fast you completed the mission, how much phantoma you harvested, and how many party members got KOed during the mission, with getting the best rank on all three categories getting you an S rank, which gives a bonus item. Beating each mission on a difficulty above easy also unlocks other bonuses, whether they be additional items up for purchase or unlocking new spells or Eidolons, or just flat giving you a rare item. Completing missions also gives you money, with more the higher the difficulty and the higher your rank. Speaking of difficulties, there are 4 of them: cadet, which is just easy mode, officer, normal mode, Agito mode, which is a hard mode that makes every enemy 30 levels higher than on cadet and officer, and Finis, which is only available after completing the game once, and is, just plain absurd. All enemies have their levels increased by 50, they’re in permanent rage mode, causing them to move twice as fast and hurt twice as much, and you’re restricted to only being able to use one person per mission. It’s not much worth the effort. Aside from completing missions, your main source of items, magic, and Eidolons is from completing special orders, optional objectives that can pop up in various areas. While there’s various generic, white orders that only give items at the end of the mission for doing stuff like not getting hit for 30 seconds or not using magic for a few minutes, there are also specific, red ones with more specific objectives like taking out certain enemies, that give out better rewards. The main problem with accepting them is that, if you fail to complete them, you risk instant being killed over it, though you can avoid it you’re fast enough, as it’s delivered through portals on the ground.

In between missions, you’re allowed to explore Akademia, chatting with NPCs or party members, or engaging in “free time events” which are either conversations with random people, or cutscenes that tend to have much more interesting information. You only have a limited amount of hours until the next story mission starts, with each event taking two hours away, though time doesn’t pass just running around and talking to people without events. While a neat concept that could easily be like Persona, in practice, it doesn’t add much. While you can get some interesting information at times, and doing events also gives you items, it’s not very in depth otherwise. Even the sidequests with the more prominent side characters just consist doing their events whenever they’re available and doing a sidequest for them, eventually getting admittedly very good bonuses at the end of their little storylines. The other thing you can do with your free time is go out into the world map, where you can visit extremely small towns, get into random encounters, visit dungeons, and... not much else. While the world map isn’t tiny, there’s just not much to find. While there’s many towns, they are, again, tiny, only consisting of a single small area with a shop or two, a sidequest, and a little unofficial side quest to get a l’cie stone, which can be traded into a certain NPC to unlock lore entries in the Rubicus. There’s just not much of interest, and you’re very heavily restricted in where you’re allowed to even go on the world map, only being able to go to areas officially reclaimed by Rubrum, or that are the destination of the current story mission. Only in chapter 7 do you finally get some kind of freedom, to the point of being able to gain an airship to allow easy traversal of the world. Plus, most dungeons aren’t even meant to be explored on a first playthrough, with only about one or two being reasonable at that point, not that there’s even much to find besides l’cie stones and a chance at a rare item, emphasis on chance, since they’re always in a specific chest at the end that can only be opened once without reloading your save, and the chance of getting the most valuable item from them is rather low.

As for other activities, you can train in the arena, for downright piddly gains, or take on sidequests, most of which just contain of going out and defeating a certain amount of specific enemies, giving over items, and so forth. Most rewards aren’t great, but a few, namely from the more notable characters like the leaders of Rubrum, Kurasame, and Arecia, give very notable rewards. Sidequests don’t take time to do, but often require you to leave Akademia, meaning you need to weigh the time lost going out to do the quests against the time you could use doing events, which is difficult when you don’t know just what rewards either give out. When it comes mission time, though, you gotta venture out on the world map to your next destination. Speaking of the world map, along with the regular missions, there are also RTS style missions, where you, controlling a party member on the world map, help the dominion army reclaim forts and towns by taking out enemies and having units generated by controlled areas weaken said areas until you can invade them in a regular mission style. Instead of being graded on phantoma harvested, you’re instead graded on objectives completed, as occasionally you’ll get orders to do stuff like defend a fort for a specific amount of time or taking out a large enemy. While technically optional, you get bonuses for completing them beyond mission grade, such as access to “hero units” and direct control of certain areas. There’s a decent amount of these missions in the game, and they do make for an interest change of pace, but they aren’t much notable. You’re even allowed to skip participating in them, though obviously you miss out on rewards.

The highlights of the game are, rather sensibly, the end of chapter missions. Not only are they much longer than typical missions, they have much more unique settings, and, of course, bosses. This game has some very enjoyable, if difficult, bosses, ranging from the giant mech Brionac that is more than capable of wiping you out in a single attack, to the highly mobile mech of Qator Bashtar, Cid’s second in command, to several fights with the near invincible Gilgamesh (another recurring character in the series). My personal favorite is the boss of chapter 5, the dragon Shinryu, which is also all too happy to instantly kill you with most of its attacks, even more so than Brionac, and spend most of the fight enveloped in the darkness surrounding the arena you’re in, only being visible by the lights of its glowing red eyes. It makes for an amazing setpiece, and losing to it is almost more enjoyable than winning simply due to the failsafe implemented since the devs expected most players to lost, the details of which I simply cannot spoil. Finally, on a second playthrough, two new types of missions are available for you: expert trials, and Code Crimson missions. Expert trials are optional missions you can do during your free time, which you’ll likely have a lot of since events you see on a previous playthrough can be viewed again at no time cost on repeat playthroughs. While technically available in the first playthrough as well, they are way too difficult for the average player, i.e who isn’t insane like me. Code Crimson missions, on the other hand, are replacements for the end of chapter missions, consisting of you going off to do other stuff. While an interesting concept, in practice, they aren’t anything special, especially when they’re replacing the most interesting parts of the game, and they barely give any more story context either. The chapter 7 mission is the one exception, being very short, but an interesting concept and adding a bit more to the story. Plus, completing them all on one playthrough unlocks an interesting alternate ending, so that alone makes them worth a go.

As for the hardest challenges to be found, they’re a bit lacking. Aside from the regular optional dungeons, there’s one notable bonus dungeon and two notable superbosses. The bonus dungeon is the Tower of Agito, which can only be reached by airship, which consists of 5 floors where you need to fight 100 specific enemies, such as tonberries and behemoths, with plenty of chests to open in between, ending off on an extremely disappointing end boss that is just a Malboro that happens to be massive. While it certain sounds difficult, and pretty much everything is capable of one shotting you, once you get into a good pattern, it’s really just boring. Most of the time, they just spawn so slowly, and while after a while more of them come out at a time, it takes about an hour and a half at best to get through even if you’re otherwise efficient. As for the superbosses, there’s Nox Suzaku, only available in a second playthrough and onward, who has a chance of appearing whenever you harvest phantoma, stealing everything you try to harvest until it decides to go away. Aside from making it go away on its own, you can beat it up, which is quite a doozy. Instead of fighting you directly, it summons phantoms of various enemies to fight you, and while you could just defeat them all, this doesn’t do anything to Nox itself. Instead, you have to let the enemies defeat you, causing Nox to appear for a short time, allowing you to attack it until it retreats. Rinse and repeat, it’s not that difficult, and the rewards aren’t that great, so the main reason to beat it up is just to make it go away, because it stealing your phantoma is extremely annoying, especially when it can show up during missions, since you can’t just leave to fight it, and it’s entirely possible for it to flat make it impossible to get an S rank on that mission it decides it doesn’t want to leave. Not exactly a fun mechanic. The other superboss is, per tradition, Gilgamesh, in a stronger form than in the story. He only shows up on a third playthrough, at a few different locations on the world map, in the form of a portal. Entering said portals causes him to randomly select one of your characters to challenge. If you win, you get that character’s ultimate weapon, but if he wins, he steals your character’s current weapon. The ultimate weapons are kinda underwhelming, especially considering you may well have everything else done after a second playthrough, and it’s annoying getting specific people picked, but it’s actually a fun and fair fight, if easy to figure out.

Overall, Type-0 has some of the tightest gameplay among all the Final Fantasy spinoffs, and is the main thing that holds it together. It has a fast, hectic pace to it, interesting enemies to tackle, and a wide variety of people to try out. Really, the main criticism I have is the actual missions you have with which to try them out. The other main story missions aren’t much to look at, and same goes for the expert trials and Code Crimson missions. I’m sure this is at least partially due to originating on the PSP, and having to deal with its limitations, something that’s about become a theme in this review. Overall, though, it’s still more than satisfactory.

Graphics:

The visuals of Type-0 are a very mixed big, unfortunately leaning more towards negative. More than anything else, they make it very apparent that Type-0 was originally a PSP game. While the members of Class Zero themselves have decent looking models, if rather unemotive, everyone else, except a few important characters like Arecia, are much lower quality, especially the faces. Here’s a comparison between Ace and Carla.

The textures don’t fare much better, looking very blatantly stretched and blurry, especially on the world map, where bridges are just one long, hideous texture. Most locations outside of, again, the end of chapter missions don’t look anything special, and so many areas are just reused over and over. You go into a town, it’ll look like every other town, at least of that region. You invade a fort, it’ll look like every other fort. Repeat for almost every mission in the game. Thankfully, the big story missions look quite impressive and creative, my favorites being chapter 5′s, taking place on frozen clouds that end up near breathtaking, and especially the setting of the very final mission, which is, to avoid anything too specific, downright insane, in a good way. Another positive are the enemy designs, more specifically, the actual monsters, with enemies such as bombs and flans resembling their earlier FF designs much more than most modern entries. Unfortunately, there’s just one problem: the actual variety of enemy designs is rather lacking, with the majority of enemies being slight alterations or palette swaps. It’s a more minor point than most, but still something. The original enemy designs are quite inventive though, and overall, this is a game that excels more in general design than actual fidelity, like the spiraling Concordian capital surrounded by a sea of clouds.

Sound:

The music of Type-0 is plain great, as is usual for the series. The boss themes especially are fantastic, along with the main theme, The Beginning of the End. It also sounds quite distinctive compared to most of the rest of the series, having a greater focus on metal, fitting the more modern aesthetic. The English voice acting, on the other hand, isn’t quite great. It’s pretty obvious the dub was a rush job, considering Type-0 lacked the simultaneous localization process of the main series games, resulting in it being very lackluster overall. There are some notable voice acting names in it, like Cristina Vee as Cinque, Bryce Papenbrook as Machina, Danielle Judovits as Carla, Cassandra Lee as Mutsuki, and even Matthew Mercer as Trey, and they all do good jobs, but the rest of the cast varies, especially Class Zero itself. Ironically enough, the side characters tend to have much more solid performances, with special props going to Steve Blum as Cid, giving a very menacing perfomance, as well as other characters like Aria, Class Zero’s orderly, and Kazusa, the resident mad scientist. Corri English as Sice and Heather Hogan Watson as Queen also fair quite well. Beyond that though, the performances can be rather forced, like Nine and Cater, or just weak overall, like Rem and Deuce. This is not helped by the normal, in game cutscenes themselves, with their structure causing many long, awkward pauses nearly every sentence. It does, however, improve as the game goes on, to the point of the final cutscenes not being hurt by it near at all.

Conclusion:

Overall, this is a solid recommended by me. Even with the weakness of elements like the graphics and the short, underdeveloped story, the core gameplay just holds up that well, and there’s quite a bit to enjoy in the weaker elements even beyond that. Overall, this is one of my favorite Final Fantasy spinoffs, and the fact that it will most likely never get a sequel due to the departure of its director, Hajime Tabata, makes me very sad. With that unneeded note, this shall be the last of the Final Fantasy spinoffs I play in some time. The next time the name Final Fantasy pops up as the subject of one of my reviews, it shall be about the main series. Till next time.

-Scout

#Final Fantasy #final fantasy type 0 #game review #long post #action rpg #JRPG

7 notes · View notes

kiarazuri · 6 years ago

Photo

Cover Appreciation: The Shadow and Bone Trilogy / Grisha Verse by Leigh Bardugo

Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee. Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life—a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling. Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha . . . and the secrets of her heart.

(Shadow and Bone, Goodreads)

My least favorite is Ruin and Rising while my favorite is Siege and Storm.

Question: I haven’t read this series so I don’t know if this has a narrative reason but, why does book 2 have a different palace than 1 and 3? Shadow’s palace being smaller than the other two bothers me because it gives the cover a lot more empty space than the others.

Siege and Ruin both have a background that gives the illusion of light coming from behind the palace like the sun’s about to crest it but Shadow, doesn’t? It’s not bad it just bothers me because it makes the background of Shadow really flat compared to the other two.

That. Font. *heart eyes* I don’t know what the font is called but it’s beautiful and the way they’ve manipulated it, adding the wisps that look like smoke/shadow and curl around to dance with the rest of the design elements is brilliant. The wisp that swirls around the spire of Ruin is my favorite part of that cover. (Why is the “and” on Ruin so awkward? They should have had the swirl on Ruin’s “R” take up more of that empty space so the “and” didn’t look so out of place.)

The covers all follow a gray+black+white+red format EXCEPT for the yellow on Ruin and I think that’s one reason why it bothers me so much. I think if the other two had their own accent colors I’d be less put off by the yellow bird, like if the waves at the bottom of Siege had a blue tint. Something that wouldn’t make the phoenix so out of place, yknow?

I like the above covers more than the new covers but I’ll show them anyway.

Again, Ruin and Rising is my least favorite. I don’t know why but something about the bird really bothers me. I’m sad that they changed the font because the original font is one of the best aspects of the original covers. Of these new covers Siege is my favorite, the teal-blue looks gorgeous against the black (why are the other two not perfectly black backgrounds like Siege? They would look SO. MUCH. BETTER.)

Indigo has some alternate color versions of the main covers as well. Personally I prefer the gray Shadow cover (above) and the blue Siege cover (below).

This series has a lot of nice foreign covers as well:

The Hebrew covers from א' ניר are really great. They have one of my favorite Ruin and Rising covers.

They’re so perfectly coordinated and insync, it makes me extremely happy. I like the minimalist and cut-out aspects of them as well as the use of very simplistic design elements, the stereotypical waves on the water and flames. (I also really like that the phoenix’s flames aren’t the same as the flames at the bottom)

The Vietnamese covers from Nxb Trẻ:

I don’t know why the first cover doesn’t look like the second and third (AT ALL) and I KNOW this isn’t a complete set because of that but I liked the second and third covers so much that I couldn’t NOT include them. They’re just, so great. I wish the first book had a matching cover.

The Polish covers from Papierowy Księżyc:

Did anyone see The Nutcracker and the Four Realms? (It was terrible and I kinda loved it) The palaces on the Polish covers remind me of the palace from Nutcracker.

My favorite covers, tho, are the Japanese and French, which both feature illustrations of people in very different styles but with light as the main focus.

Here are the Japanese covers from 早川書房.

I love these. My biggest issue is that Ruin is black instead of white like the other two but that works for the book itself (from what I know) and I can’t be mad at it.

The French covers from Milan Eds are also really great too. My biggest annoyance is the Six of Crows banner on book 1.

That’s all for today! If you have a series with covers you really like let me know!

Side Note: Does the Phoenix in the original cover kinda look like a muppet with those shaggy wings? Why is it so weird?

See ya next time!

- Kiara

@tcstu @grimoireoffolkloreandfairytales @brynwrites

#Cover Appreciation: The Shadow and Bone Trilogy / Grisha Verse by Leigh Bardugo #Cover Appreciation: The Grisha Verse by Leigh Bardugo #Cover Appreciation: The Shadow and Bone Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo #The Shadow and Bone Trilogy / Grisha Verse by Leigh Bardugo #The Shadow and Bone Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo #The Grisha Verse by Leigh Bardugo #Leigh Bardugo #The Shadow and Bone Trilogy #the Grisha Verse #Cover Appreciation #Cover Appreciation post #Cover Appreciation posts #Cover Appreciations

17 notes · View notes

mondxs-blog · 6 years ago

Note

i wish i knew more about your fandomless ocs :( could you tell me a bit about each of them??? they look interesintg.

// Oh my gosh, I saw this message and knew I had to come back online to answer it! Of course you’re always welcome to come ask about any of my characters!! I would absolutely love to answer your questions.

Naturally, as I do have quite a few ocs, I’ll be talking about them under a read more.

First there’s Akila. He’s one of the sons of my oc, Dhakkan, and he’s a snake god, otherwise called a naga. While his father is well-known among the believers, Akila isn’t. He doesn’t really care for this, however, since he can still have his fun and educate people about snakes. Did I tell you he loves snakes? Cause oh boy, he do, lol. He can also transform from his human form to his snake form and vice versa. He doesn’t really speak with his father tho.

Then there’s Alethea Ihintza Aranta Bihotz. Or otherwise just known as Alethea or Thea by those close to her. Technically, she exist within a universe made by my friend, but that hasn’t been made public yet or anything, so she’s still considered a fandomless oc. She’s the princess in her kingdom and fiercely believes in war and strength. She has absolutely no regard for the weak, and wouldn’t even blink if someone died in front of her. Somewhere behind that tough shell tho lies a soft heart. You just need to work a little to get to it. Do that and she will protect you with her life.

Augustus Blanco. He’s a young centaur made to flee from his home and then he got captured by a group of circus people and made to work for them. Despite this, he still has a strong heart although he’s shy around strangers. He tends to stick around his sister, Kriemhild.

Baak. I don’t have any fc of him or anything, so you’ll have to settle for this claw hand. Anyhow, he’s actually sort of a human/monster hybrid, meaning he’s part human and part “monster”. In actually, he’s not all that bad. But because of his appearance, he was thrown into jail for a crime he didn’t commit and was sort of forgotten after that. Every time he tries to fight back against the humans who feed him tho, he gets shocked and put back in his place. He hates humans as a result. He’s actually friends with Alethea, but naturally the two hasn’t spoken together for a long time due to his imprisonment. Alethea is actually worried for him, but won’t speak of it.

Cadence. An energetic little girl who lives on the streets due to her ability to see and talk to ghosts. She has a speech impediment and tends to be quiet because of that. During kindergarten, she kept telling the other kids and adults about the “people they couldn’t see” and she freaked them out as a result. She started to feel guilty of that and decided to run away (not the best choice to make, but hey, she’s a kid. She doesn’t know what else to do). She’s only able to survive on the streets cause the ghosts around her help her and tell her what to do.

And Dhakkan. He’s known as the Rainbow Serpent in the mortal world and has quite a few believers. If he happens to meet one, however, he expects them to treat him with utmost respect. But in reality, he doesn’t really hold much interest in humans and only sleeps around with them if he’s bored. If you anger him tho, you’ll meet his wrath and that will be the last you see lol.

Eva, also known as Patient 153. She’s one of many experiments in her universe where they try to make man fly. She’s the most successful so far, with functional wings and strong bird legs, hollow bones, etc. She can even chirp and still speak human tongue. Yet she refuses to speak to anyone cause she hates humans. She’s not even aware she used to be human herself since she’s been experimented on even before her birth.

Evelyn, an android made to please her master, whomever they may be. Technically she’s inspired from the Detroit game, but she can be put in any universe you’d like.

Eris, the goddess of war. Technically she could be in the same universe as Baak and Alethea, but I’m still contemplating on that. Anyhow, her character hasn’t really been fleshed out that much, so I can’t really tell you much about her other than she roams the Earth to try and create war as it is what she thrives for.

Gale Ainsley, the king of Nista. He exists in the same universe as Baak and Alethea, only there’s been a curse put on him by a supposed enemy. No one knows who did it, not even himself. But he tries to live with it the best he can and help his people with it. In reality, he’s more of a chief rather than a king, but in the universe he’s in, also called Kingdoms of Eibon, saying you’re a king makes more sense than saying you’re some sort of leader. He’s also mourning over his missing nephew, Hyacinthe.

Gin, a water phoenix. They’re exactly like a fire phoenix, only they use the water element. Basically I created them on the premise of, “Why does only fire phoenixes exist in myths? Why not water or earth?” So I made just that with the premise that these phoenixes hide themselves better than their cousins lol. Btw, Gin is also a hermaphrodite, so they struggle a lot with their identity, not knowing whether they’re one thing or the other.

Hyacinthe Blythe, the nephew of Gale. He got kidnapped by an organization called the Order of the Raven and was thus raised by them. He has no knowledge of this, however, and believes himself to be one of them. He too, carries a curse, altho I haven’t worked out those details yet.

Imani Aukema. He’s basically a werewolf. I need to revamp his character cause I’m currently not happy with it. Ugh.

Jumaane Kayode. He’s also from Kingdoms of Eibon (you starting to see a pattern here?? Lol.). He was born with magic in his voice, but he never learned to control it, so he always wears a mask to not speak by accident. His voice alone can cause your ears to bleed and exposed enough, you’ll go deaf and in worst case scenario, die. (Btw, I made this characters BEFORE I watched b.nha, so excuse the similarities between him and Mic.) He has a shop tho, where he sells magic imbued items and potions. He has an assistant that translates for him, so if you need anything specific, go talk to his assistant.

Kade Sawyer. He’s a prostitute. ... That’s really all there is to his character lmao. I made him for smexy times and that’s it.

Kriemhild Blanco. Her story is basically the same as her brother’s, Augustus, only she’s more fierce and determined. Losing her home and family certainly hasn’t rocked her spirits.

Nephthys, the Goddess of Death. Like Eris, I’m contemplating whether to put her in the Kingdoms of Eibon universe, but her premise is basically the same as Eris, only she’s the goddess of Death. She can kill you with a touch if she so desires lmao.

Nesia, one of Dhakkan’s daughters. She’s still young so unlike the majority of her family, she can’t fully transform into a human yet. Thus her humanoid snake form.

Nyarai Kasun. He’s actually an acquaintance of Imani, and I sorely chose this name for him cause of Nya. And he’s a werewolf. And I thought it was hilarious at the time lmao. It’s ironic, is what I’m saying, pfft. Anyhow, he’s a bastard who looks down on people and especially belittles Imani since Imani pisses him off the most.

This is Shiki, third cousin to Nesia and Akila. He’s a kitsune, otherwise known as a fox god. He’s a real trickster this one lol.

I also have an oc named Susan, but I’m contemplating whether I should get rid of her or not. I’ll think about that.

Thoko Pretorius. He exists in the Kingdoms of Eibon universe and he’s the head general of Alethea’s army, actually. However he believes there’s strength in kindness and does whatever he can to display that kindness without being brandished an outsider. It’s a really tough job.

Vale Bosch, an Earth phoenix. She’s essentially the same as Gin, and she does look up to them. She’s cheerful and kind, but can lose her temper at times. My brain is getting tired talking so much, sorry for the lack of info.

Wisdom, Gin’s mother. She’s older, so she’s a tired bean. Like always. Seriously, when is she NOT tired?

And here’s Yared Sato, Jumaane’s assistant and childhood friend. He’s got a bad mouth, but wouldn’t really harm a soul unless prompted. He can be rather insensitive tho, so ignore him whenever he says something stupid.

And that’s it!! That’s all my fandomless ocs. Phew. If there’s anything more you’d like to know, whether it’d be for a specific character or as a whole, feel free to ask me! I don’t bite! :D

#;grey face #;thinking outside the box

3 notes · View notes