#I felt this meme was obligatory lol

[killemwithkawaii]

K.E.W.K.: *Walks back into the blog 8 months later with a mug of cold coffee and even bigger eye bags* Self-Care~ 👑✨

[enter-the-performapals]

Ive been playing LoZ: Tears of the Kingdom lately.... Have a feeling Hugo would love the Zonai devices.

And;

If you cant believe in yourself who will

Refs, ect. Below the cut

The outfits the boys are wearing are Archaic Set (Hugo), Snoquill Set (Yuya), Hylian Set (Ute) and Charged Set (Joeri). I could have gone the easy way out and just given Joeri the Royal Guard Set, but the Charged Set just felt right lol.

Took a few creative liberties, but this is roughly where Hugo is! This is pretty close to the Ukouh Shrine on the Great Sky Island if youd like to find it in game!

And obligatory meme ref :3

[karoiseka]

obligatory 💙 for the kiss meme but also 💕!!! any combination of your bard trio. also 💜 for kar'a and hyth

You are a menace and I love you. lol Sorry for the delay, but here's all three!! A bit smaller each, but I think they all came out to be about the length of one of the prior prompts once combined!

obligatory 💙drunken kiss / tipsy for the kiss meme but also 

((Micro-fic for this one. lol))

The bottles swam in front of Karo’s vision as she tried to focus on the Doman Prince across the table from her.  This was probably not a wise choice the night before battle, but, she had needed to unwind, and for once felt safe enough to do so in the company she was with.

A long blink later, and she realized she was being carried to her bedroll in the corner near the twins.  Hien pressed a kiss to her forehead as he tucked the blanket around her, pointedly leaving a glass of water just within arms reach–but not close enough to spill if she flailed in her sleep.  Curling onto her side, his watchful smile was the last thing she remembered before dawn.

💕kissing somewhere other than lips!!! any combination of your bard trio. also 

The warm water was a very welcome and pleasant change from the chilly air of Sharylan, and Karo couldn’t get enough.  The fact that it was completely private and isolated away from all responsibilities was a boon, and the overwhelming thought that all this land was hers, well, that was a thought for another day.  There had been enough guilt for pushing and pulling everyone on the Star as far as she had–yes to save literally everyone–but it didn’t make the flexing of that power feel any better.  Getting rewarded for it in this fashion was–a little unsettling–yet the benefits were starting to wear down at her frugal mind.

“You, my dear, are not supposed to be thinking that hard right now,” the words were spoken after strong arms bore her to the surface of the water, wrapping around her and lazily keeping them both afloat.  An affectionate kiss was nuzzled into her neck by Thancred, as she belatedly realized that her lack of paying attention had led to her quietly slipping underwater while she was thinking.  Not that this was a problem with the blessing of the kami, however, it was a tad embarrassing.

G’raha glided over to where they were floating, butting heads gently with her, and kissing Thancred on the cheek.  They both had of course come with her when Tataru had dropped her off on the island initially, seeing as she was still technically recovering.  This was a last little adventure for the three of them before having to buckle down on more serious work–Thancred going exploring with the ever patient Urianger, and G’raha starting to take up full time duties with the Students of Baldesion once more.  

For now though, it was time to enjoy the sun, and her loves–so that was what she planned to do.

💜 surprise kiss / impulsive kiss for kar'a and hyth

Amethyst eyes popped open as Ikarus leaned over her friend and lover, a good-natured scowl crossing her face.

“That sight of yours makes it very hard to surprise you, did you know?”  Closing the gap, she finished the motion, kissing him as he chuckled.

“Sorry, little bird,” gracefully, she sank the rest of the way to the ground next to Hythlodaeus, curling up around him as he wrapped an arm around her.  It had taken her longer than she liked to admit to find him, hidden away in a favorite clearing in the part near his office.  Said office was of course the first place she looked, it being one of his working days, but she found the room empty besides abandoned concepts, yet to be reviewed.

She wasn’t supposed to be in Amaurot currently,  as she was assigned to a task half the star away to survey the farms there.  The rest of her friends and compatriots in the field were scattered for the time being, busy with their own missions, so she had been alone.

And alone was not how she wanted to be this night–for it was night where she had teleported from, bleary-eyed, and desiring comfort.  It was a silly thing to feel so lonely when she was so respected and cared for when out in the world–yet here she was.  Desiring someone to call her Ikarus again, not Azem.

When she awoke, Hyth had already slipped away, most likely to return to his daily duties, however, she wasn't alone.  Emet-Selch, Hades, sat a few feet away, guarding her while she slept, oblivious to the world around her.  How like Hythlodaeus to get one lover to watch the other.  Her co-worker was reading, his own reports it looked like, so still not off the clock despite being dragged away from his desk. 

Rolling over, Kar'a crawled the few feet to his side, peeking over his shoulder as he scowled at her–not as fiercely as he used to, but still at least pretending to be annoyed. 

"Thank you," she leaned her head on his shoulder for a moment as he sighed with great exaggeration. 

"Thank your partner in mischief," he turned back to his work as she chuckled.

"Ah, but you did come when he asked, so my thanks shall go to you," her childhood friend sighed again as her spirits rose.  Moving quickly, she pressed a kiss to his cheek before he could jerk away, teleporting away immediately after.  As the park disappeared around her, she could see him turn to watch her, expression softening to an exasperated fond smile.

[perexcri]

!!!

“Mike’s shoulders instinctively scrunch up to his ears, his posture curling over a little to try to bring himself down a few inches in height. He looks like he’s trying to fold himself up into some younger version of himself where these doubts lie, to make his eighteen year-old self fit properly with the insecurities he’s carried around for this entire decade.” This paragraph is a) Very in character (u continue to have characterization in a chokehold), and b) a extremely big and painful mood that stabbed me in the throat.

The tiger !!!

Us 🤝 Mike wheeler: knowing Will deserves a stuffed tiger rheikedidj

(Tbh cheating at a fair game is Well deserved lol bc those games cheat so.)

also lmaooo at the matching rings of power, Mike is such a nerd I’d die for him.

Mike being afraid of heights!! Leah u are 1000% correct and also Ow😭

“You two have very bright futures ahead of you. Only lightness–no more shadows from other worlds around us.” 🤔 their history teacher tapped into some magic methinks. Maybe some latent power from byler’s previous life? i wonder what Mike was hoping for from her that he didn’t get?

Tbh this is Very realistic of a first date w the awkwardness between them—even if it’s someone you know as well as these two know each other (aka literal reincarnated soulmates) it would be unrealistic for it to go perfect for them. Esp since they can’t fully relax since theyre in public and it’s the 80s. Is the night over tho? 🤔

Also just wanted to say your friend’s binding of THABA is Literallt So cool and it’s awesome that you have a physical copy now!!

I hope you are doing exceptionally well!!💐

Vee!! i'm glad i could get his character down well (something that i am often Very Worried i am not doing for ANY of these characters), but ACK sorry for stabbing you in the throat (metaphorically, of course). i think Mike is relatable to a lot of us for lots of reasons like this, unfortunately :')

Will deserves all of the stuffed tigers!! and honestly after his Vegas comments in the van, it only made sense that he and Mike cheat to get it. like you said, those games are rigged anyway, so who cares?

they are loser nerds, first and foremost. i wanted them to have matching necklaces like in aftry, but i thought the lotr spin would make it funnier. lol nerds

OH YEAHHH the heights thing!! the funny thing is i was originally gonna have them have their first kiss in that scene? the more i thought about it though the more i was like "eh this doesn't feel right," and then it occurred to me that after Mike. you know. willingly threw himself off the cliff at the quarry, that maybe he's a little scared of heights now. it makes sense to me :D and ahhh i'm glad you can appreciate some of the awkwardness of their first date!! again: they are loser nerds!! and it's basically both of their first official dates, so i felt like they'd be a little awkward about everything. to a certain extent, i think they're both trying to live up to their own expectations, but also the expectations that get put on first dates in general by *society* or whatever. *insert obligatory we live in a society meme here*

heheheh some of Mike's behavior is addressed in the rest of the fic (or at least i sure hope i managed to convey it - anyway that's going up right after i respond to this, so i guess we'll know soon, right?). i've been dissecting his character with a spoon lately and it unfortunately bled into this fic. oops

AHHHH i'm glad you liked my friend's fic binding!! T_T they're such a lovely and talented friend, and they do all kinds of cool stuff!! it made me so happy to get, but it also made me happy seeing other people talk about how impressed they were with their handiwork. they deserve so much heheheh 💜

i am wishing you all the best as well, Vee!! i hope you're having a good weekend :] 💜💜💜

[honorhearted]

A soundtrack for Mary & Ben , please and thank you!

@anoseforrottenapples

opening credits: Ingrid Michaelson - Are We There Yet? (They say that home is where the heart is / I guess I haven't found my home / And we keep driving round in circles / Afraid to call this place our own first meeting: The Narrative - End All ( Silence is stating intentions, louder than anything we've ever mentioned.) hey, i kinda like you: Bruce Springsteen - I’m on Fire (At night, I wake up with the sheets soakin' wet and a freight train runnin' through the middle of my head / Only you can cool my desire) i’m going to kiss you now: Aquilo - So Close to Magic (And the fire burns with great desire as the stories start to flow) falling in love: Jim Croce - I’ll Have to Say I Love You in a Song (Well, I know it’s kind of late, I hope I didn’t wake you / But what I’ve gotta say can’t wait, I know you’d understand) your place or mine: Charlotte Sometimes - Waves and the Both of Us (I want the moon and the stars, I want the whole nine yards / I want your hands on my waist, there’s no need to wait) naked in bed: Stars - Wasted Daylight (Three in the afternoon, we still haven’t moved / Siren sighs echo, a pulse through our window) first fight: Azure Ray - Sleep (I can’t sleep, I can’t speak to you) i want you back: Yellowcard - Only One (Acoustic) (Here I go, scream my lungs out try to get to you / You are my only one) will you marry me: The Stylistics - You Are Everything (You are everything, and everything is you) we’re getting older: Gregory & the Hawk - A Century is All We Need (A second is a century / And a century is all we need) if you die i’ll go with you: Breaking Benjamin - Without You (Acoustic) ( Say something new, I have nothing left / I can't face the dark without you) end credits: Vancouver Sleep Clinic - Someone to Stay (Hear the fallen and lonely, cry out, “Will you fix me up? Will you show me hope?” / At the end of the day you were helpless / Can you keep me close? Can you love me most?

[dennydraws]

Good Morning it’s ... what year/month is this again?

Hello, hello dear new/old friend! It’s been so long since I’ve written here. Since march last year time has been so strange. It feels like eternity passed and yet none at all. Hearing others feel the same help me from thinking I’ve gone mad. :D;;

This will be obligatory life update that no one is required to read! Please feel free to skip!

My god, where do I even begin... I’ve been home office once again since November and while nice at first it began to slowly but surely chip away at my brain. Bless friends online I could talk to @_@ and I wasn’t exactly the most outgoing person in the first place but the repetitive - get up, go to the computer, work for 8 hours and go back to bed and repeat, began to really drain my brain.

Little things that used to make me happy started to slowly fade - like posting on tumblr and doing these little life updates, sharing whatever doodles I made, working on my comic project ... ... which I’m still absolutely dragging my feet with that chapter next chapter or logging and playing FF14, doing silly memes. It’s like my motivation for everything began to fade. Most of the time my brain just goes “eh why bother...” or I feel too tired and end up sleeping for 10 hours or so.

And with that I started to feel progressively less happy, more petty, more grumpy as if the world is at fault I’m not feeling like my usual bouncy ball of sunshine. I feel upset at circumstances that are way outside my control and it bleeds into all the little things I used to enjoy. I’ve stopped journaling, I’ve stopped taking DnD notes, stopped my lil goal of at least 1 sketch per day, I stopped my gratitude log, heck I started biting my nails again >.< No!! Little things started to annoy me or set me off, which a year ago I’d have wave my hand at and laugh at. And the worst part is, all this felt so, so familiar.

I’m not any special snowflake, everyone had dealt with depression or still deals with it. I had my bleak episode in my 20s where I had a period of, by my own choice, I didn’t go out of my home for months. Now it feels like my brain looks at the lockdown and goes “Oh hey I know this! We’ve been through it before! It goes like this, you lose interest in everything and stare at the wall most of the day and everything that breathes annoys you!��� and honestly brain, this is the worst time to try and push this mode onto me! 

I feel like I find it so hard to admit I’m regressing and by an extension, type it down cause I was so, so proud that I climbed out of that pit. I was proud I felt like I was loving the world once again! And now I feel like I’m just floating in existence every day - I’m here but not really. (Bless my patient online friends for being understanding beans in these trying times.)

But hey admitting you’ve got a problem is first step towards taking care of the problem so here I am, typing this down and soon to hit submit so no way to back away now! >u>

Yes, yes I know we can’t all be sunshine and rainbows every day and I get that. I’m not trying to force positivity into myself or the people around me. But when I begin to paint things that normally make me happy in negative colors then something is wrong cause that’s not me.

With that said...  What should I do?

I’m picking Ring Fit Adventure again (I slacked for a month OTL;; ) to kick some activity into this potato body. Sure I can’t walk outside and my country is in front of second full lock down but I can pretend I save the world from a buff dragon through power squats and jog on the way!

I think to take some art requests sometime soon cause seeing people happy sparks joy and I really miss that! Maybe I can make like Friday Night Art Request thing?

Maybe I need social media break at some point. I really want to finish a sketchbook I started and maybe make another flip through video! But youtube is distracting lol :D;;

Maybe push myself to do weekly posts here? Sort of like a journal... and well, to sort of start communicating again with everyone.  

And this post got long and intimidating to hit submit! But going to try my best to climb the pit before it gets too deep. ^o^9 If you have any suggestions or, tips don’t hesitate to drop me a message! Thank you for reading this my old/new friend! I hope your day goes well and you find a spark on the way!

[inmyarmswrappedin]

Now that Nora's season is coming to end, what are somethings that you want for amira's season

Hi 😁 I bet you thought I’d never reply to this ask! Well, after you sent this in MARCH, I am finally posting an answer. 

Btw, I did the same for Nora’s season, and as a note, I’m a white European and an atheist. If any of this is offensive or not my place to say, I preemptively apologize.

1) I would like for Amira's arc not to be about being Muslim. That is, Cris' arc isn't about being bi, it's about learning (and accepting) that she's more than the fun friend. That she has and can offer more to the people in her life. Nora's arc isn't about being a feminist, it's about not being so set in your first impression of someone that you don't notice red flags or don't notice them trying to be better people. Same with Eva and not being defined by her mistakes, or about Viri and her financial situation. And I would like the same for Amira.

2) I think one common denominator of all Sana seasons so far is that they've shown the mains doing something that people assume hijabi can't do when it's more like they're systematically excluded from participating. For Sana, it was basketball. For Imane, it was dancing. For Amira M, it was boxing. I joked on twitter that Amira N's thing should be binging TV shows and eating junk, proving that hijabi are really like anyone else, but on a serious note, I'd like for Amira's thing to be photography (and maybe modeling? since Amira's friend was taking pics of her).

3) A scene where Amira explains how she can be a feminist and a hijabi both, just so we as a society have that scene to point to when the question inevitably comes up again. Seriously, I feel like that's one of the questions I most often see people asking Hajar.

4) I want the association girls to have their own youtube channel. Or at the very least, their own instagram and/or twitter account. I would love for them to post memes punching up about their experiences.

5) I feel like, much like with trans narratives, there's this "acceptable" narrative for hijabi in mainstream society, which is: the character made the decision to cover after coming up with solid reasons to do so. I.e. she made the decision early and can defend it with inarguable rebuttals. It's like women can't be trusted unless they know 150% what they're doing, be it covering, or dating a girl, or going vegan, or any number of things. I really appreciate that Amira started covering just because it felt right, and she's finding meaning in it after the fact. I would like for this to be a thing in her season, that she's still figuring herself out, that she's not already an Islamic scholar.

6) I also think that's what makes her stand apart from the other Sanas. I feel like (maybe with Zoya's exception), none of the other Sanas would entertain a crush on a white guy. They'd have never drunk or flirted (like we know Amira used to do). It's like they're not allowed to fuck up, or can only fuck up in acceptable ways, like engaging in a flirtation with a non Muslim only because they didn't know he wasn't a Muslim, or had booze at home, but it wasn't theirs, etc. I'm hoping that they've made Dani a love interest specifically to explore this idea (and not because they wanted to whitewash a character or give less time to an actor of color).

7) On that note, SKAM Hajar brought up an idea that, because the hijab makes them super visible, hijabi are perceived as ambassadors of Islam, expected to be able to answer any question about Islam, but also that people will judge all Muslims based on whatever mistake they individually make. I would like for a potential bench scene to allow Amira to say that it puts major pressure on her to feel like she can't make any mistake, because every Muslim will be judged based on her making a mistake, having a shitty day, being in a bad mood, not wanting to be Muslim wikipedia that day, etc. That sometimes she just wants to be Amira, not Islam personified.

8) I would like for Dani's character to represent not just white society, but also childhood, the safe choice, the choice her parents would love, and for Sofian's character to represent not just Moroccan culture, but also like... SEXY risk, independence, novelty... Because I feel like when I see Muslim girl/Muslim boy/white guy love triangles in fiction, the Muslim guy is positioned as the boring choice (but still incredibly wrong because he's abusive or maybe even secretly gay and forced to beard by his parents), the safety, the guy you'd bring home to your parents, whereas the white guy represents independence and carving your own path away from your parents.

9) Just once, I would like for a Muslim character to say, "what do you think of Catholic priests abusing kids?" to someone asking them what they think of such-and-such Muslim majority country doing such-and-such to its citizens. Bonus points if it's Sofian's character.

10) I would like for Dilan to get an insta and a storyline. And for that storyline to connect to Amira's.

11) In general, I would prefer that parents be kept to a minimum (not to get rid of them entirely, of course, but to be kept at the level they've been in other Sana seasons). I just have never thought the point of Skam was the parents. And I get why they have a larger presence in a second gen kid, but I, personally, am more interested in what they represent in the main's life, rather than in giving them a lot of face time.

12) And, on that note, if they do with Amira what I've outlined above, I don't think there's a necessity for Amira to have siblings. Particularly if eskam isn't going to continue after this season. I think it'd be far more interesting if Amira's character contained the elements of figuring her identity as a Muslim living in a Western country that Elias, Idriss and Essam had. (And maybe that way Dani is both Yousef and Elias, stealing not just one role for an actor of color, but two! lmao)

13) I really hope that the obligatory evak s4 side plot be kept at a minimum tbh. I'm really not interested in a) Eloy coming back to cause drama, b) Amira's friend causing croana drama because she's Joana ex or whatever, c) a physical fight breaking out because of (perceived) homophobia.

14) I want Amira to tell Cris that amiris es lo más real que hay. 😭 I would love it if, as a parallel to Cris' season, Amira doesn't tell Cris about her interest in Sofian's character at first because she's afraid of her reaction, only for Cris to be supportive of whatever she chooses to do.

15) I would be so fucking happy if eskam adapted the "is your faith stronger than your lust?" scene in this season. I have always wanted to love that scene, because how often do you get a scene where two girls get to talk that long and that much (even in Skam most of the iconic dialogue scenes between just two people aren't between two girls in the squad), but I just haaaated the purpose of the scene in Skam.

16) I would cry buckets if we got a scene like Det Beste fra Islam where Amira and Sofian's character both talk about what Islam means for them. Particularly if Sofian is introduced as not the Perfect Muslim Man, but it turns out he has THOUGHTS about religion.

17) And, finally, I would love for the unquestionable villain of the season to be a white guy. If the villain is going to be a woman, then I would want her to be Cris' mom, not a high school aged character. Not because of white feminism yayyy! but because I think the major issue Sana seasons have run into before is that the showrunners want to touch on white girls being the problem, but they also don't want to villainize white girls. So we have stuff like Sana inviting Sara and Ingrid (of all people!!) to Eid, Imane apologizing to Ingrid (of all people!!), random one clip white women attacking Amira M (and the Kiki/Amira friendship of course), etc. I'd just rather they didn't have girls doing shitty stuff to Amira N, if they're going to go back on it. Which they inevitably would, because eskam's overall message is sisterhood.

Bonus clips

18) I would love it if Skam España was like, "you thought we were dropping storylines left and right? Nope!" and resolved long standing mysteries like who was behind Eva's hate ig, who had the pills, who outed Cris to the school, who's the owner of the keys that were left behind at GSC, and so on. Will die if it turns out to be Ramón!

19) I want Joana to get that job she wanted so bad last season!

20) I would love for Emma to show up and come out as a lesbian, just as a last hurrah lol.

21) I don't feel strongly about which couples should be endgame and not (other than not Dani/Amira hghvvh please), BUT in my most embarrassing fantasies, I want Skam España to hire Alejandro Reina's irl boyfriend to play Lucas' boyfriend for the finale. Not because I can't separate fiction from reality or anything, but because when I thought Lucas would be getting a season, I wanted his boyfriend to be a poc, and I was highkey buttmad that they hired random white bread when they could just as easily have hired a poc.

22) I think it would be really cool if Inés got a clip on her POV, but I don't think we're going to get it. I think all bonus clips will be from the squad's POV, i.e. Eva, Cris, Nora and Viri. Not even Joana.

23) I want a Mallorca special or episode so bad, and I will be so FUCKING ANNOYED if we don't get it. Seriously, I can't imagine the team didn't feel betrayed when they watched Skam for writing purposes, and didn't get their russetide. So they should know how angry we would be if we didn't get even a little bit of Mallorca time.

[haec-est-fides]

Tower of Nero Reactions

Tower of Nero absolutely wrecked me, exactly as I knew it would, but I can now say -- without a doubt -- that Trials of Apollo is my favorite Riordan series by far. It feels like a fitting ending in many ways, a capstone to an amazing journey that started back in 2005 (not that I’ve been around quite that long, lol).

Anyway, below the cut are some of my thoughts on this last book. Emotional roller coaster is an understatement, and I am still very much processing. (Also, I will keep tagging Tower of Nero spoilers until the end of November, just fyi.)

I don’t even know where to begin. This is going to be a long post...

I’ll start with the good news: ✨💜✨💛✨NERO✨💛✨💜✨

Not even kidding, I will never shut up about Nero. Trust me, if you told past me, at the very beginning of ToA, that in 2020 I’d be stanning Nero, I wouldn’t have believed you. Nevertheless, here I am.

Obligatory shout out to Pajama Nero, the moment I knew there was no going back 💜

I actually high key appreciate how the Triumvirate’s power was handled. I assumed as much at the end of Tyrant’s Tomb, but for Commodus and Caligula’s power to consolidate in Nero was perfect.

I’m trying not to scream about Nero, I promise. He’s just? God tier. Literally. 💛

The ultimatum? Throwing a party while NY burns? Even Dionysus said Nero has panache. His interior decorating and architectural sense? Impeccable. 💜

Ngl, Luguselwa betraying Nero had me VERY nervous until he completely called them out. His entire monologue? “I’m afraid your hands have offended me.” ??? 😳

Let’s be honest: every throne room scene killed me. Every line Nero had killed me. Why is he Like That?

How Nero made himself a metaphorical Kronos? Poetic cinema.

FaceTime Nero TM

The Sassanid gas was an absolute Power Move just btw

THE IMPERIAL HOUSEHOLD 💛

Nero and his fucking Purple Sofa TM

THE REMOTES !!! Dumb tech boiiiiiii 💜

When Lucius stabbed Apollo? So fucking proud of him. Next time, hit something vital, sweetheart. 🗡

You don’t know how hard I laughed when Apollo shot Nero directly in the face and Nero just glared at him and yelled “stop that!”

The Bee Gees TM

WHEN NERO CATCHES NICO’S SWORD WITH ONE HAND ?

HE BLEEDS ICHOR. ACTUAL, GOLDEN ICHOR.

WHEN HE BACKHANDS NICO ACROSS THE ROOM !

WHEN IT SEEMS AS IF HE PUSHES THE RIGHT BUTTON AND EVERYTHING IS OVER ?

Perfect Moments Do Exist 💜💛💜💛💜💛

Ofc, Will and Co. had to show up and ruin everything. Nero Panics TM and he is such a Baby TM ???

His fasces tho,,, ✨

HE GLOWS ? SHINY RADIANT SUN BOI ? ✨☀️✨ Commodus who? Caligula who? Nero said fuck Will Solace rights. How dare anyone outshine him in his own throne room? 💛

I should say something other than “Nero is a god” huh,,,

Making Nero tear apart his own fasces? I’d noticed that Riordan included the fact that Nero committed suicide in the glossary since book 1, and,,,yeah I was scared something like this would happen. Not this. This was worse.

His death scene? Oh my gods, I was a complete mess. How dare Apollo revoke Nero’s divinity? How dare Nero be burnt by his own divine power? How dare his last moments be spent sobbing, terrified? How dare Python literally drag Nero’s essence to Delphi and absorb it? *on the verge of tears*

I’m not going to get super into this rn, because it’s complicated and I’ll start crying again, but Python being the evil behind it all? The snake playing his own game, using both Apollo and the emperors as pawns? Whatever horrific power he had over the Triumvirate, and over Nero specifically? Nero taking it upon himself (for selfish, terrible reasons, yes) to step in and make sure that Python didn’t destroy humanity? When Nero, even with all his power, was fucking terrified of Python? I-

In Other News

I’ll be nice. Good for everyone who got their happy ending. I think Apollo’s “check-ins” were written fairly well. I think his personal feelings regarding being a god again were handled well in relation to his story arc.

How Apollo addresses the reader in closing? Oof.

Me @ Nico, Will, and Rachel specifically: Never Talk To Me Or My Romans Ever Again

Oh btw, I Am So Tired Of Hearing The Name Jason Grace. We get it. He’s a hero. Pls shut up.

What hurt the most, I think, is the way Triumvirate Holdings / the Imperial Household was handled. I knew it wouldn’t be done well. It still hurts.

We get some throwaway lines about Meg maybe inheriting the tower, CHB getting the Greek fire, the Germani being “regular people” but like,,, No?

Triumvirate Holdings is the largest, most influential company on the planet. Nero directly mentions the issue this poses: “You can’t destroy bank accounts with a bow and arrows.” All of that? Just? What? Isn’t a big deal?

I refuse to believe the Germani are just peachy integrating into society.

I refuse to believe the Imperial children are just peachy potting cacti in Palm Springs.

^ All of this will get its own post, because I’ve written posts about it before that I should follow up on. I’m just Bitter.

When Dionysus said “it appears some of us do get happy endings” I Felt that.

I suppose that’s the general overview. I’ll start posting my trash memes soon and work on like,,,real posts. This is also an open invitation to come yell at me btw!

[palbabor-writes]

hi hello friend ! (о´∀`о)

hope youve been doin well! its been a hot minute but i just came thru to ask a few of those weird meme qs if thats ok w you lol

30, 55 and 61 seem interesting ٩( 'ω' )و

any hoot, hope youre takin care of yourself!

cheerin you on, 🌱✨

hi my friend! i’m so happy to see you in my box  ( o˘◡˘o)

i’ve been doing good! busy, busy, but that’s springtime for you! 

of course it’s alright! i’m excited to play so let’s see what we got here.

30. Places that you find sacred:

oooh! i like this question! the first spot that comes to mind is a pond that’s out in the piney woods. 

i used to walk out there everyday when i was younger, no matter the weather. i loved when it was misty and cool, or when there was a breeze that made the tops of the trees groan and snap. our family dogs would often come with me so it always felt like i was going on some kind of adventure & at any second i could step over the threshold to another world. once i reached the pond i’d sit beside the banks for hours, just skipping rocks, reading, or jotting down my ideas into my little notebook. 

even now, being at the edge of that murky water makes me feel like time has fallen into some kind of suspended state & i can just be me again.   

55. Favorite fairy tale:

gosh. ok, so imma give the obligatory: “Beauty & the Beast” & “Sleeping Beauty”, but there are a few others that i love just as well.

one (and imma give some trigger warnings here, just in case you opt to read it yourself: tw.child abuse, tw.murder, tw.cannibalism - like, this story is brilliant, and a cool example of a more mature & developed fairy tale, but it’s dark) is the “Juniper Tree.” It’s sort of an amalgam of a bunch of other stories and it certainly doesn’t shy away from some of the other themes that the Brothers Grimm often toned down or censored in their other sets of fairy tales, but i love all of the symbology, the nastiness of the villain, and that payoff at the end is well worth the read.  

the second is another bummer of a story, but the “The Pied Piper of Hamelin,” has always fascinated me because there is a ton of real life evidence to back it up. there’s a manuscript from the 1400′s that talks about how a colorfully dressed piper came to town & seduced away 130 of the town’s children and supposedly a stained glass window (i think it’s gone now...so, this one is less concrete) even bore an inscription that described the events. like, whether or not there was a real flesh and blood piper that took the youth of this town, this event likely happened & it haunted this town.  

61. Favorite line you heard from a book/movie/tv show...

the other day i said i kept my old & marked up copy of Wuthering Heights. well, i took a peek in it & i stumbled on this quote:

“We must be for ourselves in the long run; the mild and generous are only more justly selfish than the domineering.”

like, this woman only wrote one book in her lifetime & this was it. what i wouldn’t give to create raw lines like that & this work is absolutely littered with other hard hitters too.

alright! just as an aside & since i have you, i am working on your other ask! i’m hoping i’ll get it (& others, don’t worry! i see yew) out in May!

hope you have a beautiful day & are staying safe out there! lets talk soon (´꒳`)♡

Thanks for playing! Weird asks that say a lot     

[amozon28]

review below

this is a monster review even for me and its 1am and im not proofreading this lol. so enjoy my ramblings and all the spelling errors i know are there XP

i continue to find the one off women and their families during the shoe adventure very amusing. also the mom clearly being the one to falsely claim the shoe was her daughters in hopes it just fit and is now realizing in a panic it isnt only for gabe to come in for the save lol.

she looks back at Brad, “Flat feet,” . . . Gabe very quickly takes notes of this

this cracked me up XD. again gabe really getting into this.

The prince literally has five different charts back in his quarters at the palace and there’s yarn on the walls–it’s a fucking nightmare.

*inserts obligatory it's always sunny in philadelphia meme”

“I… actually have it on good authority that the prince is looking for a new portrait,” says the prince.

“Oh—‘cuz the current one makes him look like a still-curing ham?” Eunice tilts her head.

the prince excitedly hopeing for a new royal painter since the current one isnt the princes favorite currently lol. also its one thing to not recognize the prince in disguise after meeting him once for 30 seconds at a evening lit party. but itll be another when he invites her to the palace and she realizes she called told the prince his portrait looks like  a stuffed sausage XD. luckily i think hell find it all very funny

“…quite liberal with your footmen, aren’t you?” Eunice’s father looks at Gabe.

“He’s a new hire,” says Gabe, looking over his shoulder at the Prince who’s kind of glancing off, casually.

the prince looking all innocent in the background like @u@

Brad in the background like

same brad same

“That dog’s eyes aren’t facing the same way,” Brad murmurs.

“That’s just how his head is,” the prince shrugs.

im inlove with the kings derpy looking dog omfg.

ok the prince getting all scruffy and looking bone tired i feel so bad for him, but i will admit my first thought was “aw poor little meow meow” and im not proud lol. 

my first instinct was the make fun of the prince for his rat tracking idea to find cindy but honestly hes dealing with mind eraesing dressed and magically size changing shoes, all rational points of logic have left the stage long before this. at this point rat tracking is the next illogical logical step.

again between the queen insightfully pointing out the fact that the prince may have missed mystery girl in the introductions because he wasnt paying attention and Gabes very valid arguement that maybe she just isnt into you bro, the prince is being gas lit by the fae and unintentionally gas lit by his peers so fucking hard rn. if it wasnt for the fact that i KNOW whats going on, id 100% be siding with Gabe like, i know u dont want to hear it but maybe youre far more interested in her than she was with you.

“Well—that would suck!” The prince blurts on reflex, “Like… what, she’d think the ball was the only thing she could have to keep her happy until she could…”

ok but the prince accidentally hitting the nail on the head but for a very different reason than he means.

but she did give a shit! She gave so many shits about so many things! She gave shits about things that made him give far more shits about things than anyone could ever imagine! Who would just… inflict that on another human being?

i love his little internal ramble

“I cannot say if I’m sure it really counts, highness,” Gabe’s lips draw back from his teeth with distaste.

“Oh god, please don’t tell me—”

“I’m afraid so,” Gabe says quietly and everyone in the carriage has this collective ‘Ugh’ moment

listen, LISTEN, i know how this story ends, i know you wouldnt do this to me, but these feel like such real people that i felt it in my bones the pure panic that “omfg DONT SKIP THE LAST HOUSE I BEG U”

Neurodivergent nightmare, unless you’re Cindy who, the entire time was operating under the assumption that this is her one fun night out like… ever.

Yeah he wanted the prince to find love but also the prince was such an “I don’t want to be here” weirdo that everyone ended up falling back on typical debutante behaviors and just fucking lined up.

this made me think back to the first part where the king laments that it would be so much simpler if the prince was a horney piece of shit XD. ah princey boy ur literally creating a self fulfilling prophecy of insufferable ball vibes for yourself noooooooo

that’s kind of what’s made this whole slipper quest more enjoyable than anyone thought it would be because now princey boy gets to know all these girls in their own homes, and see their whole situations with their families, and like I said, for the most part, they’re all really cool or friendly or funny girls who are just trying to do right by their folks

i unironically want the prince to collect a whole new group of friends from this whole experience. just that once guy that has a lot of female friends, which has an added bonus of exposing cindy to more female friends too (that she gets to host parties for yay)

“I’ve been told I have child-bearing hips” these guys were hitting the prince with “I’m currently ovulating so chop-chop”

i didnt think you could make the “i have child bearing hips” a more hilariously awkward pick up line even more awkward and hilarious but you did XD.

The prince absolutely remembers the stepfam, and he remembers that they are overall people with the worst fucking vibes you can possibly imagine. . . . They’re dicks. They brought the whole vibe of the party down.

geeeeezz you know youre bad when the guy who spent the majority of the party isolated at the center of the room and then wasnt even present for the rest of the party not only remembers you but notes how you literally brought the entire party down that he wasnt even enjoying from the get go. im just waitinf for the prince to learnt that THIS is cindys family she lives with and all the puzzle pieces just falling into place.

so her body seems possessed by this energy which doesn’t seem 100% her own, but she also knows she’s gotta keep a cool head so that the stepfam doesn’t pick up on the idea that she might be fucking getting out of here. Deep breaths, Cindy.

gosh u can just FEEL the anxiety, excitement, dread, adrenaline thats coursing thru her body this whole day. like it was stated earlier that hope is dangerous for cindy, shes learned the hard way over and over and over again over the years to not be hopeful because it never works out. but here she is the most hopeful shes EVER been and its both exhilarating and terrifying at the same time.

i like the detail of her sewing pockets specifically for carrying her rats, its such a character detail but also makes me think that the pocket is also prob intentionally more insulated to protect her rats while she carried them around so its perfect for carrying around a fragile glass slipper. and while i imagine shes carrying it around just to make her feel more grounded that this is all REAL that she really is getting out while also being a hmmmmmmmmmmmmm nice little set up for later

“He said he liked duck so I made curried duck mince pies, . . . I know he’s probably not going to show up, because he’s so busy with prince stuff, but I just felt it in my gut, you know?

guuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrl you have a crush on hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimmm ♥♥♥. thats embarrassing!!!

ok but this is super freaking sweet, espeically since she doesnt know for sure that hes even going to personally come. but my first thought besides fangirling was that unfortunately i dont think hes going to have any if the stepfam is likely to treat the prince as the footman hes disguised as. they prob going to dicks to him and only offer food and refreshments to gabe and brad to kiss up.

she’s saying to the hazel tree. She doesn’t cry on it as often

as often, as often.....its been maybe 2-3 weeks since the ball and like, i know her home life is horrible and i know shes being horribly abused everyday. but sometimes its not the overt stuff that hits you, its the casual throw away lines that hit you because its so casual, and this was it for me. like i know she cried on the tree when it all became too much, but “often” just....she prob cried on that tree every night for years didnt she, or almost every night. geez

But why are you passing that work onto someone else instead of like… I don’t know, being with people who make you want to make things better for yourself?

this whole paragraph just. so true. i have had too many friends and a few too many family members who are just so self depricating and negative and everything it a pitty party or “out do each other” on who had the shittier day because you can just complain about how ur tired to them because theyll make it about them. and i dont mean ppl who struggle with mental illness, because thats different. its the ppl who actively dont want youre help, who refuse it and them dig themselves deeper in their toxic behavior. and cindy is living with 3 of them. geez. too real

“Given the… unfortunate situation regarding Cinderella’s name and the name on the deed to the house, we might run into some… awkward questions from the representatives of the palace.”

me looking directly into the camera like

Something’s.. shifted about her, lately. Something’s off. I don’t trust it. I think it better if she’s out of the way while the palace representatives are here.

i really like that the stepmother doesnt actually know specifically what is going on with cindy, but she knows enough to not trust her new behavior around what she considers her two daughters chance and snagging royal dick.

the one sister suggesting letting her try on the shoe to be mean is hilarious XD “it hurt itself in confusion”

Best draw a full bath. Heaven forbid you’re all sooty and sweaty in front of the palace representatives. ”

Cinderella gasps excitedly. “I can use the bathtub?”

i dont want to quote the entire fam and cindy convo because i will be talking about the entirety of it anyway, but i just want to quote this first part. like cindy is so conditioned to constant verbal abuse that the stepmother causally calling her dirty and sweaty in such a casually negative way and it doesnt even register to her. like. this is by all accounts a positive interaction with her step mother and thats just, so fucking sad. makes me wonder what fucked up stuff cindy talked about as positives to the prince that she thought were normal and the prince was just like “what the fuck????” about her home life.

the stepmother getting offended at the idea of cindy dirtying the bathtube that she regularly cleans is just, so insidious and blatent favoritism and othering of her stepchild. but again its not said in this “im purposefully trying to be mean to you to put you down way” its said in such a “thats the way things are” way and thats just....so much worse.

and oh gosh everything about the wine conversation, especially when you learn later she didnt even need to send cindy down there! she had cindy locked in her room during her bath!! there was no need for this! they werent even going to use the wine!!!! she just didnt like that cindy was in good spirits and wanted to knock her down a peg. and especially how she phrased her request as “how can we serve representatives of the palace anything but the best?” as if shes being completely reasonable and cindy is being the irrational one, come on dear done be so selfish, its just wine, dont make a fuss. its everything that isnt said behind that line that turns the power away from cindy, she cant win that fight even though the statement is unreasonable out the gate because its CINDYS WINE that the stepmother has no business giving away. just ugh. it makes me so angry in its effectively and its simplicity!!!!! good shit.

“Sweetie, what I am going to ask of you next will require significantly higher brainpower than any you’ve displayed in your tutoring, do you think you can do that for me?”

ok i know the stepmother is just being her toxic self here but unless there was a second part to the “lock cindy in her room” plan i find the idea hilarious that “turn lock on door” its a serious mental hurtle for her daughter like

rats bring her violets, lavender sprigs, and rose petals from outside to float in the water as she bathes.

“I mean.. they said ‘Intended bride’ so I guess opening the port here would count. Sort of,” she mutters

i really needed this scene change after the last scene ending like. even tho shes in her small basin its just nice seeing her surrounded by her pets that love her and treat her to gifts, and see cindy even through all of this, still, still finding the willpower to be positive and kind despite it. people who dont see cindy female character as strong can come fight me!!!!

i love the little details around cindys room outside of things weve already been told. like we know she has to make all of her clothes from old clothes that her sisters throw away. and here she has a small basin the bath in, a ratty towel to dry herself in, probably her only towel. and old moth eaten table clothe. just everything she owns being old and worn out the end of its life because she never gets any new things from her family.

i love her little interactions with her rats, so cute, i can see their funky little pet personalities, and i can see mr snazzy vest boi is going to be a key player next chapter? maybe? specially if bored princey boy happens to be looking outside a window.

Stupid! So distracted with dancing! And with the shoes! And with those stupid little pies! Her pies! She never made the yogurt sauce! Wait—focus—life being ruined.

my adhd ass felt attacked here lol

Cindy knows, so long as she is in the fucking basement, she is not in charge of the narrative

YES YES YES YES THIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISSS!!!!! especially as you said, this is a time when mental illness and mental care isnt treally a thing and having people put away to the furthest room in the home out of embarrassment or shame was a socially acceptable thing. calling out for help would more likely work against her than help her.

the palace carriage is pulling up to the estate.

im going FUCKING FERAL they are literally a stones throw away from each other, how tf am i going to act like a normal person when the next chapter drops wtf.

around their little rat feet, shining in the light of the basement window, are sewing needles.

yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeessssss my girl is so smart im so fucking proud.!!!!! ok but i was honestly really curious how you were going to write this part bc the cartoon obviously has the cartoonish mice go on a cartoonish adventure to grab the key. when real rats, no matter how smart, wouldnt be able to do that. having her try to pick her own lock using the needles she makes her clothes and her rats clothes with is a nice tie in. also also also literal feminine tool used for traditionally feminine work being used as her tool of liberation!!!! we love to see it!!!

Cindy Part 10

I swear I don't mean for these chapters to keep getting longer and longer. But also no gods, no editors. I am George Lucas and the year is 1997, baby.

Anyway, for all previous chapters, please refer to the masterpost.

----

The latest shoe candidate is sprawled lazily on her couch with her foot extended as Brad awkwardly tries to jam the shoe on. This girl is cool. The prince thought Mystery Girl was cool when he met her, but not the same kind of cool as this girl is cool. This girl is cool-cool, with thick dark lashes and semi-wiry black hair and a Cleopatra nose. She looks more bored about this whole thing than anyone here. Her parents are standing behind the couch nervously, shooting glares at Brad like it’s somehow his fault he can’t get the shoe on.

“Yeah—okay—that’s—” cool girl clicks her tongue, “It’s fine. You don’t have to keep trying.”

“Oh—she’s just being shy—I’m sure it’s just—” her mother cuts in.

“It doesn’t fit, Mom,” she looks back at Brad, “Flat feet,” she says in a low voice, and she subtly flicks her eyes in her dad’s direction before mouthing ‘from his side.’ Brad gives a sympathetic, conspiratorial nod. Gabe very quickly takes notes of this. At this point all of the foot data they’ve collected from throughout the kingdom is a podiatrist’s wet dream. They don’t really know what they’re going to do with it, because podiatry as a branch of medicine isn’t really established yet, but goddamn this is a lot of data while the prince is on his desperate quest for a girl who makes clothes for rats and far be it from them to not write it down. The prince literally has five different charts back in his quarters at the palace and there's yarn on the walls--it's a fucking nightmare.

“But, Eunice, darling, we wrote a letter to the king. You don’t just…” the mother lets out a high manic laugh, “Claim the shoe will fit to the bloody king! Then what are you supposed to do when the shoe doesn’t fit, hm?”

“There’s been general amnesty over the er… shoe confusion, madam,” Gabe glances up from his own notes, “There will be no claims of perjury.”

“Oh…” the mother noticeably eases up where she’s standing, “That is… good to know.”

“Does this mean we can use my dowry for art school like I asked?” Eunice looks over her shoulder at her parents.

“Eunice!” Her mother reddens.

Keep reading

[daemoniumsmajesty]

@thefatalmarksman​ asked: Fandom: Kingdom Hearrrts (obligatory) 

Fandom Meme

Of course Kingdom Hearts was Obligatory. I am not surprised in the slightest XD

The first character first fell in love with:       I played the very first Kingdom Hearts when it came out all the way through. Even went so far as to find every single dalmatian to get the secret ending. So the first character I ended up adoring was from that game as well naturally. It was Ansem seeker of Darkness. I’ve always adored Villains.

The character I never expected to love as much as I do now:       Thaaaaat’d have to be Vexen. I wasn’t expecting to like him when I first saw him in Chain of Memories... but around the tail end of his role in that game and all throughout KH3 and what parts he did have in 358/2 days I ended up adoring him.

The character everyone else loves that I don’t:       I Don’t really know. There aren’t many characters in the series I dislike tbh. hmm... but I guess I never felt a particular inclination towards marluxia. I mean not everyone loves him like the question asks but it’s hard for me to pick out many characters I genuinely dislike. And the ones I love to hate aren’t that popular either.... Maybe Ava falls under the category more... I don’t love her but I don’t hate her either.... Or maybe Axel... I just find him canonly annoying.

The character I love that everyone else hates:       Now this one is far easier to answer, lol. I like Chip and Dale in Kingdom hearts... especially their roles in the recoded games with Data Sora. Well I don’t really see them as hated by others but I also never see them get any love either and they are wonderful!

The character I used to love but don’t any longer:       Oddly enough this answer is the same as the answer to the first question. As the story developed I just don’t find myself liking Ansem seeker of darkness as much as I used to. I don’t hate him but I also don’t really like him as much with all the lore that has been brought about.

The character I would totally smooch:       I don’t actually know. I don’t really think of that kind of thing with fictional characters lmfao. Sorry. If this question is instead meaning which character I find physically appealing, I guess Lexaeus?

The character I’d want to be like:       None of them completely, they all have their own flaws but if I were to say which one who’s positive traits I’d like to emulate I guess Larxene? I can admire how little she cares about how others see her and to what lengths she goes for the few that are important to her, her loyalty to marluxia despite not even remembering as to why that loyalty is there.

The character I’d slap:       Old man Xehanort AND Eraqus for many a reason. Too many to list here, though almost every single one has to do with the care and traumatization of Terra, Aqua, and Ventus.

A pairing that I love:       Call me Basic but I love Aqua x Terra. It’s such a lovely pairing with so much canon backing, and their is so much potential for exploration and angst.

A pairing that I despise:       Honestly I don’t exactly DESPISE any pairings really... though I’m not exactly a fan of Demyx x Xigbar but that’s just me.

[xaeneron]

On Path of Fire

I haven’t done one of these in a while (or rather I wrote them and then forgot to post them lel), so maybe I’ll actually post this one for the new GW2 expansion after spending the week running around.

Overall, I found the expansion to be pretty solid; the maps are beautiful, the mounts are hilarious and well-implemented, the story was interesting and decently paced, and I’m still experimenting with the new elite specs.  Massive spoilers below the cut!

Questions on anything I wrote, thoughts of your own?  Feel free to boop me; I know I wrote a lot.  

But really, don’t say I didn’t warn you.  There are a LOT of bullet points beneath that cut.  xD

On the maps

Obligatory: they are huge.  It’s fitting since they were designed against HoT’s verticality and more geared towards the use of mounts, so it’s more of an observation, less of a complaint.  There’s a lot of detail and a lot of little things here and there, and it’s incredibly fun to see what you can get away with using mounts to get around the terrain.

That being said I do miss the verticality of HoT maps.  Maybe a combination of both pls? :3

I kind of wish there were more large obvious meta events, but I haven’t gotten to see all of the sort of meta events that go on in the PoF zones. I do think the large metas add replay value, but again a balance is a good thing.

We spur-of-the-moment yolo’ed the Ruptured Heart meta with 11 people.  It was actually pretty fun.  Also so many cannonades ;-;

Hearts feel like they take just a little bit too long.  Some of them are amusing, but when trekking through zones doing map comp (or redoing hearts to get collection items) they drag on a bit.  Guild chatter about hearts was fantastic though:

“These nobles are useless.  What should I do with the chamber pot, throw it off the side or throw it at one of them?”

“I’m throwing flowers at people and making them happy?”

“Matchmaker heart best heart.”

Bounties are hilariously fun?  Sometimes you get unfortunate bullshit combinations of modifiers (anti-stacking fleas + pls stack in the bubble to actually be able to hit the boss mob, I’m looking at you), but overall they’re quite fun.  We spent a good few hours trekking through all five zones murdering things and getting murdered.

These actually look super promising for replayability; our goal/challenge as a group has always been to optimize and work together, so it should be fun to go track down bounties and see what kind of dumb shenanigans we can get up to.

I actually find these really fun in small groups of 5-10.  Zergs sound...unfun.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The caffeinated skritt is...kind of annoying.  Mostly because it doesn’t operate like the treasure mushroom in HoT and you have to be on the class you want the collection item on, and the maps are so large someone could trigger a chest and no one would be the wiser.

A tip though for people wanting to complete multiple collections: you only need to loot the last bag it drops.  If you’re wandering around with friends and they’re nice enough to chill at the bag, you can reload with other characters and grab the bag again for another collection item (until it despawns).  I have no idea if this was intended, but I burned a few TP to friends on this for the lulz.

I had a lot of GW1 feels running through these maps, especially going down to the Desolation and Vabbi.  I appreciate that these places still exist but have changed with the years, and it’s nice to see what happened.  

Although Vabbi is one weird-ass place now.

BUUUUUUT Zomoros’ lair was hilarious.

I haven’t explored for the sake of exploring in a very long time and it was really, really nice.

CHOYA PINATA.

On the elite specializations

I haven’t actually gotten to try all of them yet, but I’m also not super enthused about all of them (Spellbreaker, I’m looking at you).  Also a gentle reminder that my opinions are mainly based on my background as a PvE player and moreso as a raider.  Also they’re just initial opinions.  Opinions change.  

I started with thief (duh), and proceeded to do the entire story with Daredevil.  I’m not particularly a fan of Deadeye; I appreciate the archetype but I don’t really see rifle having a place with a game designed more around active response in combat.  Also as someone who still can’t shake the seaweed salad dance, rifle just feels really static and dull to me.  But we’ll see.  Maybe I’ll have to make the Predator hue. D/D Deadeye also felt strange, so idk.  But we’ll keep fiddling with it.

Mirage still feels kind of odd but I need to get poor Naois the spec since he’s actually specced for condi, unlike Eet.  It seems like an upgrade to condi mesmer, and the triple blink is hilarious.

I really hope Scourge ends up with some sort of place.  Initial benchmarks look hilarious (but then, so did Soulbeast/Weaver/Firebrand ones), but I took out Richter again for Scourge and I’m actually really happy to play him again.  It’s been so long ;-;

My brother told me, “do yourself a favor and put down a sand shade near some enemies, then press F4.”  I tried it.  I laughed pretty hard.

Weaver is so much button-pressing but it’s really fun?  I’m still getting the hang of it but I do like it a lot.  At least it’s more challenging than condi tempest. *grumbles eternally*

Soulbeast looks promising, although I hope it doesn’t lead to another “let’s use condi ranger/thief on absolutely everything” situation again.  The new pets are also...interesting.  

Although when it comes to ranger I’m a druid at heart, so we’ll see.  Not that I’m usually conscripted for DPS roles anyway

Firebrand looks silly.  And broken.  I’m all for alternative sources of quickness (and alacrity in the case of other specs), but I don’t really want to see raid meta go to 2x PS 2x druid 2x chrono 2x firebrand (or something like that) with only 2 flex spots.  That doesn’t sound fun at all.

Also I’m guessing Firebrand will be the first to get the nerfbat.  The damage numbers people are getting are bonkers.

And hey look, they got the nerfbat.  Down to 33-35k.  At least that’s better than 50k? Ugh.

Renegade feels pretty decent.  Revenant has always been in a weird “built around elite specs” class, and that hasn’t changed.  I’m not sure how I feel about condi rev being more of a thing and less of a meme, but ayyy

Holosmith seems like it would be a lot more relevant if the transform wasn’t currently borked.  Scaling damage to a level 76 fine weapon is...sad.  If it’s fixed power Holosmith could be something legit?  Maybe?  Overall though I like the theme and look of it.  Also lol lightsaber.

Spellbreaker I...idk.  Thematically I like it a lot; I was a big fan of mesmer and shut down mechanics in GW1 and I like the idea of Spellbreaker, but from a mostly PvE perspective, it’s just kind of...eh? WvW and PvP I see it being incredibly useful but with limited boons to nom in PvE it doesn’t really look particularly great (especially with condi berserker getting tuned through the roof).

On mounts

I keep dyeing them funny colors.  Yes Quill’s are all some shade of yellow.

I honestly think they were well done.  I was never a supporter of adding them to the game (not against, but not for them either), but now that they’re here, I’m pretty okay with them.  

I like that each mount is useful in some specific capacity - raptor for flat open stretches, springer for verticality, skimmer for no touchy floor, jackal for portals and evasion through high mob density areas, and griffon for the absolute lulz of flying.  

I keep getting the “mount doesn’t render so your character model is riding away sunk in the ground while your camera remains in place” bug (I think it’s attached to trying to mount up before things are completely loaded), and while it’s funny, it’s kind of frustrating.

Mount swapping is a bit awkward, although binding each mount to its own key helps a lot.

I appreciate that the starting mount (the raptor) is still relevant even when you pick up the other three (four), as it’s definitely the fastest mount on flat ground and it’s improved leap is hilariously long.

Also it’s a giant scaly puppy so I have no problems with this.

The springer is hilarious.  And super terrain-breaking.  High cliff?  No problem, bunny hop.  Core and HoT map comp probably just got much, much simpler.  Also JPs that don’t have mount restrictions.

The skimmer is adorable, and riding it around is strangely...calming?  idk.  Also as one of my guildies put it: “maybe this is Anet’s answer to underwater combat: glide right over it.”  rip.

Of the four core mounts I think the jackal (blink doge) is my favorite.  It has a gorgeous design and the blink/portals are super cool.  Although the blink can get a bit titchy if you’re trigger happy with the jump button.

Of course I have the griffon.

IT’S SO FLUFFY.

I think it handles a little strangely (esp when you can’t dismount quickly, although you can divebomb), but it’s pretty solid.  And adorable.

250g was entirely worth it.

Also that Tahlkora cameo hit me right in the feels.

On the story

I’d get here eventually!  Eventually...;-;

All salad-shaped biases aside, the male sylvari VO is still my favorite and no one can convince me otherwise.  There was a good amount of sass, seriousness, and everything inbetween.  Ive is one to take everything with a “hahahaha you’re kidding what am I doing here help,” so overall the voice acting and dialogue fit him fairly well.

I’m a little disappointed by the lack of race-specific dialogue.  Humans don’t seem to have any special dialogue with or concerning Balthazar, and everyone else doesn’t really have a chance to comment as an outsider.  I know it’s more work and I still enjoyed the story as is, but it would have been a nice touch.

Like Ive would literally not give a shit about half of the things brought up.  Not because he doesn’t care about others, but because he has no clue what anyone is talking about.

This was particularly funny with Joko in the Domain of the Lost, because his whole tirade about the PC not knowing who he is could quickly be shut down with “I’m a salad, I have no idea who the fuck you are.”

The “decisions” were interesting, although unsurprisingly they had very little impact on the game as a whole (maybe in the future?  Doubt it).  I did appreciate that depending on the order the “decide on Amnoon’s independence” steps are done in, the dialogue changes.

I admit that I’ve gotten a little less partial to Taimi as she’s edged closer to Deus Ex Machina territory, but her dialogue and conversations (both with the PC and with others like Phlunt later on) are quite funny.

I wish there were more Vlast/Gleam before he died.  It’s sad that he showed up and just...died, but I can understand why they chose that path as well.  

Although some of that was my own fault; the chapter with the Exalted and Vlast’s upbringing I got supremely distracted by the jumping puzzle and spinning around on my new skimmer.

Still.  More Vlast!

RYTLOCK.  RYTLOCK WHY.  Nice job breaking it hero.  Surely you would know better than to accept help in the Mists from a random shackled man who CONVENIENTLY knows how to relight your magic sword.  Sigh.

I thought a lot about the Herald of Balthazar after finding the notes in Night of Fires.  I went back to it after talking to my brother and came to a very similar conclusion as a theorizer on the GW2 subreddit.  If that theory is true, that makes me very sad.

Pls say it’s true I like gut-punch feels.

Speaking of gut-punch feels, The Departing was amazing.  It was super disorienting not having access to the inventory or the minimap, but it was a very well-done instance and I enjoyed it immensely.  I appreciated that they stuck to the “you lost your name and purpose” thing to the point of replacing your character name (including in the hero panel) with Lost Spirit.

Balthazar murdering the PC was pretty neat. 

Also Aurene showing up exactly on time was both cliche and NO BALTHAZAR BAD STAY AWAY FROM BABY DRAGON. 

This, like a few other story missions later on, is super awkward to do as a group.  It’s supposed to be rather personal, and so the not-instance owners are reduced to buffing wisps (like later on in the thrall party instance, not-instance owners are just awakened thralls), and idk I was lucky I was instance owner but that seems rather :|

Ive had a lot of feels hearing everyone’s voices again.  Also the feels of him not exactly remembering everything and having to follow his purpose through his own memories and not quite remembering everything.  Including Trahearne.  

Also tfw the story mission is essentially Full Circle (as a sub-section of Closure) with a bit of bonus Balthazar.

Joko is being very obviously set up as a “you left me in a cage I swear vengeance rahhhhhh” villain.  Or Anet is going to pull a fast one and he will never show up again, which would be hilarious.

Bonus feels for everyone else surviving and Ive being the only one dead (think Eet).

Backtracking slightly, I’ve never liked Kormir.  I still don’t like Kormir.  And the human gods are miserably terrible people.  At this point there’s not much questioning as to whether or not they exist, but with the extent of their influence, their decision to just kind of peace is...rather appropriately god-like, for better or for worse.

Seriously though, gods pls.  I can see some of the logic of “world will be destroyed anyway if god attempts to fight god,” but surely there are other things that need be maintained.  

Also I like how Kormir notes that Balthazar had been stripped of his powers, and yet he still curbstomps the PC (unless it was entirely the imprisonment in the Mists that just locked his powers away, but Kormir’s dialogue suggests otherwise).

I would kill for a library like that.  Seriously.  So jelly.

The “let’s disguise ourselves as the Archon and go and convince Palawa Joko’s army to fight for us” part was so incredibly stupid that of course it worked.  We spent the entire time laughing at how incredulous it was.

The battle at Kodash Bazaar was actually kind of awesome?  There was stuff everywhere and my only inclination for the first part of the instance was “go hit things.”  

It was incredibly weird to just have Sohothin for the entire instance.  Yes I’m aware I could have dropped it.  But it was hilarious in a Caladbolg sort of way.  With less idiotic knockback, and more 300s cooldown skills.  

AURENE.  Balthazar stop hurting my dragon >:(

Also because he just yolo killed her other brother before she had a chance to meet him in person?  rip.

Although now that I think about it, how would that meeting even go?  Talking to the Exalted indicates that Vlast was isolated and not well-acclimated to the world around him, so by the time they realized he should be interacting with other races it was too late for him to form any empathy for anyone.  His dialogue seems to imply that his motivation was simply the fulfillment of a goal; he seemed far more interested in fulfilling his legacy as Glint’s son than the reason why she needed him and Aurene to do anything in particular.  He doesn’t really have a reason for what he’s doing, he just does.

Aurene is implied to have an empathic link with Vlast similar to her connection to the PC, but idk, it just seems like any actual meeting between the two of them would just be incredibly awkward.

I very much enjoyed both the penultimate and ultimate fight against Balthazar.  Also because if you turned around, you could see Kralkatorrik’s massive face just chilling in the sky because oh shit angry elder dragon.  It was...quite something.

I understand the PC’s current caution about killing elder dragons because of magic imbalance, and I also understand the need to stop Balthazar from being a total moron.  I also understand that there’s not much you can do to stop a mad god besides killing him (since those with the means to imprison him decided to float on).  But uh.  I’m not sure what anyone expected would happen if you kill the god who absorbed two dragons’ worth of magic with another dragon just chilling nearby.  Surely Kralkatorrik absorbing everything and flying off into the sunset while extending the Brand wasn’t a surprise.  

Seriously though what did you think was going to happen.

Baby dragon absorb magik and is not quite so baby anymore.  Aurene come back I miss you already ;-;

I commend you if you actually read all of that.  xD

Overall, a solid expansion with quite a bit of content.  We’ll see how replayable it ends up being as time goes on, but I am still quite amused by it and have plenty to do as it stands.  The story was fairly solid (although sometimes strange with questionable logic, as always), and I’m looking forward to where they take it with LWS4.  

[shadowlink720]

FE: Birthright Randomised Chapter 27 and Endgame

 (aka ‘we’re finally here, hoooo boi’)

It’s that time again soooo let’s go confront King Garon (obviously going to have spoilers ahahahhahh;;;;;)

aaaaaallllll righty are you all even ready I sure as heck hope I am hahahah

all right let’s go

fite me

.... “(laughs evilly)” the subtitles for the cutscenes are gonna end me

it sure has, old man

yeah, Anankos happened

more vanilla stuff yadda yadda

excuse u I’ve heard people call a sword a letter opener before and then look what happened; it turned out to be Excalibur

I just got axed in the face while you and Azura just stood by and watched dO YOU THINK I’M OK

hoooooo boi can u imagine like sURPRISE QUICK TIME EVENTS how messed up would that be

uhm ok

so we’re just not going to question how Kagero is clipping through Garon, ok--

and also hear how it’s Not gonna happen at all

uhh Azura- Azura that’s not gonna work

yeah definitely not gonna happen

her voiceline was ‘that was impressive’ Azura you could have been killed

freaking- FINALLY

heck yeah it is, Felicia

ehhh not quite but pretty much

420 blaze it hello, yes i am a cheap meme gremlin

oh I know that’s why I’m gonna use the daikon

Git Gud

her voiceline was ‘Fine execution!’ which is actually pretty darn fitting hahahah;;;

you would have sounded significantly more confident if you had left out the ‘practically’

oooooooki doki battle prep time ohhhh I hope i’m ready for this

oh shit there’s a Berserker with Swordbreaker, Vengeance and Counter;;;;;;;; I need to be so careful around him yikes, the maid and sorcerer are also pretty scary ;;;n;;;

this is just defeat the boss though but it’s not a good idea to just charge up to him blindly

...ok I think I’m ready let’s go

it’s not quite a kill, but it’s a start

... if I kill him with the Hunter’s Knife then I can deal with the great knight as well

hooooooo man-

ii don’t think I’m gonna be saying very much, I’m sorry;;;;

just as predicted >:3c

hooooo man

and Kagero too >:y

Bye, bitch

now let’s finish this Hero off

aand we can finish that Great Knight off with Saizooo

oshit Sakura gets doubled by Bow Knights iasdoasudgauweigf

how ‘bout you Don’t Do That Again

... I need to confront that Berserker eventually

Azura /does/ have Axebreaker and Strong Riposte .......... let’s try it

and kill that Wyvern Lord with Kaze

... this guy has Swordbreaker and Azura still has 100%--

Azura you are by far the mvp of this fates run wow, she ACTUALLY got a point of Magic in that level up! :V

yeeeees Shigureeeeeee

... if I use the Iron Yumi on this guy

then we can have her equip the Dual Yumi for the incoming Malig Knights :’D

well it’s a start

oh wait I could have just done this or smth ... actually I’ll give it to Silas

hehEH

that works for me

hooooo

sure I’ll take it

yEAAAAAHHH BOIIIII

I see what you’re trying to do there how bout nah

aww Saizo proced Lethality and I missed it :’’V

ok nevermind he got another one! :’’’’D ‘There’s another’ indeed

well it didn’t kill him but it helped a lot :’’D

how about you Die before you Entrap someone

I love Hidden Weapons, man they may not be strong but their utility is great

and that’s all the Dark Knights dead just one last General then it’s the Sorcerer, the Maid and Garon left >:3c

let’s give it to Hana :V

the maid has countermagic, but like oh, wait Garon has 1 to 3 range

but I still need to get rid of you

yeeeeaaah

I also need to get rid of you

yooooo

ok, time for the moment of truth

ahh, but he has Draconic Hex

... I could start with the Yato? and then have someone switch them around? idk

I think I’ll do that it may cost the life of the person who switches the items but we’re right at the end of the chapter

let’s try it

oh yeah, forts so he heals--

lmao I didn’t do that you just went for her b/c why not

I’ll just keep the daikon equipped

oh- she said ‘For Hoshido!’ again-

right, let’s end the turn

and let’s go again

this may take a while

oooohhhhhh? still not dead-

....... ...... >:3ccccc

ooOOOOOHHHHHHH AND SHE SAID ‘FOR HOSHIDO!’ AGAIN AAAAAAAH

we pretty much won we will win the endgame, at the very least

we really did kill Garon with a daikon

oh yeah but he’s not really dead

he’s a dragon now lol

oh yeah this cutscenes like really long;;;;

but most of it will be vanilla, so I’ll not bring up every other line

that being said tho

We’ve got trouble indeed, Felicia

wh-

Azura’s just bobbing up and down constantly-

as Wonderful and Good and Pure as you are, Mozu it won’t make a difference-

ok she’s stopped bobbing now

HAH hah yeah could have

I can’t believe Corrin is fucking dead

aaand we’re at the Endgame kinda, we still have some cutscenes

but as you can see it’s all vanilla sooo

not quite just in some weird purgatory

time for everyone to say a thing hahah;;

oh ok, not quite yet

now it’s Time

oh my Farore, Setsuna-

what a time for the ‘Time for some murder’ voiceline--

oh wait it was just everyone who came with me to the chapter-

boi just let me fight the dragon

aaand the yato was miraculously reformed-

holy hylia, Felicia--

ohhh my god we still aren’t at the battle prep;;;;

fINALLY

... oh yeah we can’t save it shiiiiiit

but no one except Garon has any skills

ok I

I think we may be ready

hopefully

let’s go

welp it was nice knowing ya, Kagero;;;

fiiiight me Garoooooooon

outta my way, bitch

ok Takumi’s almost dead

but there’s infinite reinforcements so I should really just charge for Garon anyway

i could do the same thing as I did before and switch afterwards

yeah Sure

I should get someone to clog up the throne and the dragon veins, actually

//sigh yep Takumi’s down

let’s try that again;;

oh dear she proced Dragon Fang;;;

oh, he survived :V

aaaand there goes Hinata :’’’’D

now’s our chance

awwww yeah

aaand vanilla cutscenes, yadda yadda

aaaaand he dead

ohhhh dear, there goes Kagero

yeah nah, she Dead

all the more reason to play Revelation hahahh;;;;

oh she just stood up hahahh

still technically not the ‘Good Ending’ tho lol

idk man I mean you kicked ass in a lot of chapters

lmao she’s like perfectly fine-

oh yeah, the cutscene where she tells Corrin to smile one last time

aaaand

she done evaporated

aaand Corrin talking to themselves and such

well that’s ominous

aaand back in Hoshido

does that mean she’s finally found her chill? I doubt it hahahh;;;;

soooo I guess she has then huh

well, ever since she was born she had been preparing herself for if it ever happened-

aww geez, Mozu oAo

(i should clarify they’re talking about Mikoto)

HEH

oh Felicia I’m gonna miss your sass in Revelation

no shit, Sherlock-

ayyy

and there’s also always a grey area ... i wish Revelation felt more morally grey tbh;;;

wait aside from mounted/armoured units and brave weapons; what does Nohr have that Hoshido doesn’t? :V

ayyyyy

(they basically all started crying lol)

yikes, hey

oh, nvm

you? nervous? naaaahhh

ayyyy what’s up Camillaaaa

and the meme gremlin

no, it probably wouldn’t

aand obligatory mention of Elise and Xander just ya know just in case you forgot they’re dead

oh yeah, and her too

guys, she’ll be fine ... at least in Revelation

pfft

lmao tru

well being the reigning monarch isn’t for everyone, sooo

no need to yell, Takumi

(i’m taking so many screenshots I’m sorry)

Felicia let them have fun

oh hey, Hana

and Kaze toooo

who knows but you’re still the excitable puppy you always are

hhhhh just one more cutscene

poor Kagero, man

you probably are, because there wasn’t any sound lol

theeeere she is

oh, ok then

do u see Valla? ‘cause if not you will soon in Revelation

yeah, like the Hidden Kingdom

sorry it’s like we’re at 200 screenshots but i just don’t want to skip too much;;;;

aaand she’s gone again

yeah it’s it’s called Revelation hahahh;;;

I know that personally I would have left within like a few minutes-

aaaaand the ending animated cutsceene

we’re finally at the credits! aaaahhh, that was so fun ;;;u;;;

I’ll miss Felicia as Takumi and Azura as Ryoma and all that, tbh, buuuut there’s nothing much we can do hahah

I hope people who have been reading these have had as much fun as I have :’’D

if uhh if anyone has any sort of inkling how to randomise revelation to work after chapter 6 I would uhh greatly appreciate any sort of guidance in that regard because i don’t know what I’m doing wrong;;;;

[teresaleenz]

i11.01.17 - 16.01.17

LONDON

Flight to London via Melbourne and Dubai - I managed to watch The Secret Life of Pets, Miss Peregrine’s Home of Peculiar Children, Snowden, Life of Pi, Skyfall AND The Grand Budapest Hotel so I ended up being more productive in those 30 hours of travel than I was for all of 2016. Via Lewisham - Absolutely SHITE.

London Waste and Recycling Board - Stuart introduced the concept of a ‘circular economy’ where products, components and materials are kept at their highest use and value. Strategies include a ‘sharing economy,’ a ‘performance economy,’ prolonging product life, recovering value at the end of a product’s life and using waste. Shoutout to Adidas ocean plastics shoes, Bio Bean and Entomics on their sustainable approaches. Also, good on London for aiming to be a 0 carbon city by 2050…especially as they exceeded their annual air pollution target in five days. Brief sightseeing - I would elaborate but it was really just a crisp power walk past St Paul’s Cathedral, Big Ben, Trafalgar Square and Westminster Abbey. Very crisp. Institute of Business Ethics - Doing things ethically vs. doing ethical things and obligatory legal practices vs. discretionary ethical actions were two fantastic dichotomies explored in this session. Ask about the loyalty challenge presented to us if you bump into me :) Hummus Bros - A place of unlimited hummus and happiness. British Museum - Just lots of cool stones that have cool shapes. You know, like the Rosetta Stone or the army of Venus (AKA Aphrodite SMH @Romans) statues scattered everywhere.

National Gallery - The painting of paintings or the ‘Cognoscenti in a Room hung with Pictures’ by an unknown Flemish artist blew my mind. What a parallel to the memes about getting tagged in memes that are about getting tagged in memes. Mind = blown. Another highlight might have been Olaf’s head photobombing all of the photos I took outside. Guess Olaf was never really a considerate one. Jamie’s Italian - Not disappointed in the food whatsoever but highly disappointed Jamie didn’t make time for a quick chat with us - fame has gone straight to his head. Covent Garden and Oxford Street - Shopping in London after a lifetime of shopping in Auckland, need I say more? Le Hanoi - Describing ‘pho’ to white people is as difficult as it sounds. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Park - An epic play with an epic pupper in an epic box seat at an epic price.

Tower of London - Debate: This house believes the Tower of London would be the perfect place for a one night stand. Globe Theatre - Not watching a performance here is the perfect reason to be back soon. London Bridge - First hand experience tells me Fergie hyped up London Bridge extremely appropriately. Tate Modern - 15/10 is the rating I would give the gallery after 15 minutes of exploration so I can only dream of the rating it deserves after a lengthy inspection. Harrods - Wondrous bathrooms. I would like to share my opinion of everything else in Harrods but that would require being wealthy. Which I am not. Tommy Hilfiger - The little black boots I bought here surpasses any little black dress teehee :)

UN Global Compact - Steve’s opinion on companies with unsustainable practices was a straightforward Simon Cowell style ‘no.’ Hence, to the many many companies reading my blog, just be feckin’ sustainable; there are no excuses to not keep up plus you’ll fail LOL. NZ Trade and Enterprise - Little NZ tends to do pretty well in the big adult world - especially in terms of scoring the building with the best view of London. Flight to Copenhagen - Would recommend the company of Rafael and Young but would not recommend Ryanair, oh dear. Urban House - Urban House felt like Paratai Drive  after Via Lewisham but even better as it was located in the red light district ;)