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makeste · 4 years ago

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BnHA Chapter 303: And What, Pray Tell, Is a “One For All”

Previously on BnHA: The Todorokis (really just Enji) looked at their children and went “how can we screw up all four of them in uniquely different ways” and proceeded to do just that. Touya was all “just because practicing how to set myself on fire better hasn’t worked to win my dad’s affections YET doesn’t mean it will NEVER work”, because child logic. Turns out setting oneself on fire real hard isn’t so effective at winning affections, but is actually incredibly effective when it comes to burning oneself to death, so there’s that. Back in the present day, the Todorokis basked in their various misplaced (again, except for Enji) feelings of guilt, and were all “anyway but get over yourself already Enji, you still have to do something to stop this kid”, and Shouto was all “I’ll help too”, and Enji was all “(╥_╥)”, and Hawks and Jeanist were all “[surreptitiously listening in from outside the door]”, and that’s basically where we left off.

Today on BnHA: Hawks and Jeanist are all “mind if we join you on this family journey?” and proceed to stroll in uninvited with their puns and their perceptive insights. Hawks is all “so to sum everything up, we’re fucked, but at least you have us here to help you out! by the way, no clue why I’m the first person to ask this in three hundred chapters, but wtf is One For All.” We then cut to Deku, who’s still all “[(－－)]z”, and All Might, who is all “I’m just going to ignore the extremely loud racket going on right outside this room.” Which, btw, is happening on account of Bakugou, who is all “(╬◣Д◢)” as Satou, Tsuyu, and Mineta cart him away. Anyway so that’s a lot of antics, and also it looks like Hawks has gotten tired of the Todorokis refusing to put the pieces together on their own about OFA and so he is fast-tracking that shit. And meanwhile Deku is chatting it up with the Vestiges exactly like we all thought. And now we have to wait another whole week for updates on all of this. This really is not fair.

omfg lol

“our bad, we were kind of accidentally listening in on purpose.” like I said last week guys, no fuss. it’s a tradition

OMG

I am absolutely fucking floored. Hawks literally said that so casually that it’s impossible for me to rewrite it so as to be even more casual. that’s literally what I would write in the “today on bnha” section. in fact I probably will write that

(ETA: just for laughs I tried it and it really worked.)

a couple more things to point out about this panel:

“TOP 3” omg yes. more like “top only” at this point, honestly. interested to see how that goes

Hawks’s phone is freaking the fuck out about something, calm down there

I know this is a standard Jeanist hair-fixing gesture that he does all the time, but I can’t help but form hypotheses about this being a stress reaction because Hawks’s hair is making him internally freak out. Hawks, if this man tries to get you alone with him and some hairspray and a comb, please for the love of god do not listen to him. get out of there and call the authorities

omg Shouto’s face

okay confession, I wasn’t really sold on the whole “Shouto has a schoolboy crush on Hawks” thing until exactly now, when I became 100% sold on it. that is adorable

and heck with it, gotta show Enji and Rei’s reactions here as well because lol

“omg my son who’s not my son, and he just overheard everything about me being a terrible shitty father and person overall, oh and plus my actual-son set him on fire and called him out on a national broadcast. I’m just gonna stare at him baffledly.” versus Rei, who is all “hmm, who are these people”

so Hawks is all “I got released from the hospital after one day for some reason so I made Jeanist drive me around places while we talked about life” but uh, heyyyyy, what’s Rei doing

okay, uh

SO FUCKING FORMAL OMFG. “SORRY MY KID TRIED TO BURN YOU TO DEATH, APPARENTLY HE DOES THAT” REI NO IT’S NOT YOUR FAULT

HAWKS IS ALL “I’M JUST GONNA LAUGH SINCE THAT’S MY DEFAULT RESPONSE TO BEING PROFOUNDLY UNCOMFORTABLE”

let me tell you a secret Hawks, it’s my default response too. ahahahahahahaha oh thank god Jeanist is helping her up -- AND MAKING A JEANS PUN, OF COURSE. IT’S BEEN ALMOST THIRTY SECONDS. MY MAN WAS DYING

“WTF IS ILLEGAL DENIM” he’s talking ‘bout them counterfeit jeans, Rei. Antoine Bugleboy knows

THANK YOU JEANIST!! OUT HERE ASKING THE RELEVANT QUESTIONS

damn straight. we’re not gonna sit around waiting another 300 chapters for this information on this man’s watch

now Hawks is telling Endeavor he used to watch videos of him all the time, and calling him his “childhood obsession” I can’t

OH MY SWEET STARS AND MOONS

1000% CANON. “SO CLOSE...” ARE YOU SERIOUS. YOU REALLY PUT THAT THOUGHT BUBBLE THERE AND EVERYTHING. “GOOD MORNING EVERYONE, SO JUST IN CASE YOU WEREN’T ALREADY AWARE, TODOROKI SHOUTO IS NOT ACTUALLY STRAIGHT.” HORIKOSHI KOUHEI I AM LITERALLY DUMBFOUNDED. THIS IS AMAZING

and meanwhile that look on Hawks’s face while he casually-but-not-really-casually-at-all asks this question. that phone app better be using his actual voice. I’m not sure I could take this scene in the anime at this point if it was like Alexa talking or something

that look in his eyes is basically saying that so far, based on the information he has absorbed up until this point, Hawks is prepared to view his former childhood obsession as a flawed but changed man. however I get the distinct feeling that depending on Endeavor’s answer now, he would be willing to drastically shift some of his opinions on him

(ETA: this is maybe my favorite panel in the entire chapter. the fact that his question isn’t addressed to anyone in particular, but his eyes are zeroing on on Endeavor. and the way his leaning-on-Shouto pose manages to be simultaneously nonchalant and yet ever-so-slightly protective. there’s so much going on in this one question and gesture and I’m mildly obsessed with it.)

however, Rei is all “that was me” and ONCE AGAIN WITH THE FACES IN THIS CHAPTER holy shit

Hawks definitely did not see that one coming sob. it’s so fun watching him frantically recalculate his ideas about this family every two seconds

DAMN IT HORIKOSHI I UNDERSTOOD THE PARALLELS ALREADY, YOU REALLY DIDN’T HAVE TO DO THIS

yes, Hawks, you get it. it’s not exactly the same, but it’s close enough. though unlike your shitty parents, Rei and Enji are at least trying

OKAY I SERIOUSLY CANNOT WITH ALL OF THIS

fljkdlaskfjlwkjl okay we’re doing the bullet-points breakdown here

first of all, the fact that poor little Shouto’s heart is still thumping away at this proximity and all he can think is “CLOSE” all intelligently as he stares at him with that face omg

and meanwhile Horikoshi has these STRATEGIC BANDAGES WRAPPED AROUND HIS CHEEKS TO HIDE ALL OF HIS SHOUJO BLUSHING omfg. SENPAI NOTICED YOU SWEETIE!!!

HAWKS YOU HAVE ABSOLUTELY ZERO OBLIGATION TO WASTE ANOTHER SECOND OF YOUR LIFE WORRYING ABOUT THESE TWO ASSHOLES WHO NEVER SPARED YOU THE SLIGHTEST BIT OF REGARD OR CONCERN IN THEIR ENTIRE LIVES. THE NICEST THING YOUR MOM EVER DID FOR YOU WAS BUY YOU A $2 ENDEAVOR PLUSH FROM THE DISCOUNT BIN TO KEEP YOU QUIET, AND YOU WERE SO AWED BY THAT ONE ACT OF SORTA KINDA APPROXIMATE KINDNESS THAT YOU SHAPED YOUR ENTIRE WORLDVIEW AROUND IT. PLEASE LET ME PICK YOU UP IN A BIG HUG FOR JUST A SEC, YOU DESERVE THE WORLD AND YOU WERE ONE THOUSAND PERCENT JUSTIFIED IN LEAVING THEM IN THE DUST THE SECOND THAT YOU COULD

but all that said, he immediately recognizes that Shouto would also have had cause to do the same in his situation, and yet hasn’t. and so he has that much more admiration for him all of a sudden, which is just super sweet, and fully appropriate. Shouto does deserve props. I’m choosing to take this as an “it takes a lot of strength to be able to forgive, and people who choose to do that even though they’re not obligated to are really amazing" type of thing, as opposed to “people who don’t forgive other people who severely wronged them are bad.” and if I’m wrong and Hawks’s line here is meant to be seen as actual failing on his part, well then fuck that, but we’ll move on

SO NOW, DOWN TO BUSINESS!

I am so, so curious as to what kind of strategy Hawks has for this (if he even has any), so I’ll just be quiet now and read

so Hawks is summing up basically what we already knew -- that Tomura and his inner circle (curious that there’s no mention of AFO, because if Hawks doesn’t know about him, that implies almost no one does) are still on the lam with a few PLF stragglers and some High Ends; that a bunch of prisons have been “liberated” (I assume this means all of the inmates escaped, so if that’s the case then where’s Kurogiri??); that the HPSC is fucked; and that heroes are resigning all over the place, and so civilians are taking matters into their own hands

OH DAMN!?

does this mean we’ll actually see some international heroes?? I will LOSE MY DAMN SHIT omg

(ETA: apparently people who paid more attention to the first BnHA movie than I did recognized the silhouettes as belonging to some background characters from Two Heroes. so maybe they were just cameos and they’re not actually new characters who are soon to join us lol. oh well.)

anyway so Hawks agrees with the other Todorokis that Endeavor has no choice but to fight

awww

DON’T WORRY ENJI THEY’VE GOT YOUR BACK. WITH YOUR FLAMES, AND JEANIST’S PUNS, AND HAWKS’S BOYISHLY GOOD LOOKS, THE THREE OF YOU CAN DO ANYTHING YOU SET YOUR MINDS TO

so Enji is very pertinently asking why they’re standing by him in spite of the... [gestures vaguely to everything]

oh my lordy lord

Shouto you had better do something to combat this soon, or this man will sneak past you on my favorite character ranking after all. his face. his cheeky lil finger gun. the fact that he sums it up so fucking simply. “if someone is trying to do the right thing, I want to support them.” exactly. exactly

(ETA: and one last thing I love but forgot to mention, which is the fact that Hawks calls it a team-up despite the fact that he is clearly in charge.)

meanwhile Jeanist is all “as for me, at this point I just straight up don’t give a fuck”

I can’t handle how fucking cool this chapter is you guys

so Hawks is all “you good?” at Enji. and Enji...

if anyone needs me, I will be building myself a discourse-proof fort made entirely out of problematic characters. I don’t even care. I will go on living my life very happily in here

lol at Natsu being all “BUT DON’T THINK THIS MAKES US FRIENDS”

I’m living for this weird and no-doubt entirely unintended implication that Natsu and them all are gonna join in the fight with the rest of them. I mean, they do presumably all have very powerful ice quirks. and Natsu has medical training on top of that, and Fuyu is skilled at getting eight-year-olds to behave which could be a useful talent for dealing with Tomura hahaha I kid, but I’M JUST SAYING. who needs hero licenses anyway

OH SHIT FINALLY SOME DISCUSSION OF AN ACTUAL STRATEGY. even if it’s just a PR strategy

WHAKLHL

and now for some reason we’re flashing back to Natsu and Fuyu’s attempts to navigate through the media crowd outside the hospital

well I guess this is why I’m not the mangaka. if I were writing this I would have done something trite and predictable like using that “One for All” line as an excuse to cut to Deku!! as opposed to this entirely unrelated scene!!

seriously though why do we need to see this lol

no one in this crowd has ever heard of Alexander Dumas huh. or even the popular 2007 Disney Channel original movie, High School Musical 2

so now there’s an entire page of Hawks saying they need to know what One for All is, and Endeavor having one of those patented Todoroki WHOOSH realizations lmao look at this

just wait until this man figures out that one of the scrappy new interns he took on three months ago was actually the main character all along

SKDFIOHWIERLKSJGLWLK!!

NOW IS PROBABLY A GOOD TIME TO ASK MYSELF WHY I CHOSE THIS CHARACTER WHO KEEPS DISAPPEARING FOR SIX OR TWELVE OR FORTY CHAPTERS AT A TIME TO BE MY FUCKING FAVORITE. WELCOME BACK SON PLEASE DON’T SCREAM YOURSELF TO DEATH YOU STILL HAVE A HOLE IN YOUR TORSO

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

(ETA: can we just take a moment to appreciate how Bakugou even got so close to Deku’s room in the first place though. in this giant hospital with no idea of where to even go. does he have Deku Radar or something.)

YOU SIX ARE OFFICIALLY ON MY HIT LIST!! SPARE ME YOUR GOOD INTENTIONS!! MY BAKUDEKU REUNION KEEPS GETTING POSTPONED WEEK AFTER WEEK!! YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO BE HEROES WHERE IS YOUR CONCEPT OF MERCY

(ETA: btw just to be clear, I’m not actually angry lol; it makes total sense that they don’t want this rampaging feral toddler who was still in his own coma all of fifteen minutes ago to come and start screaming at the other coma child until he tears all his stitches out. if there’s anything we Bakugou fans should be familiar with by now, it’s being patient.)

also, Tsuyu wrapping her tongue around Bakugou’s still-healing torso wound absolutely can’t be hygienic at all. also wait is that Inko??

(ETA: pretty sure it is her. she got all of one line smdh.)

Iida is all “thank god Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight pulled through, I thought for sure he was a goner back there”

for the record this is actually really sweet to see how relieved he is. he’s one of the few people who saw the original injury close up, back when he was still at the battlefield and unconscious, so I imagine it really did freak him out quite a bit

JIROUUUUUU

“sometimes I just like to stand here and tug on my imaginary suspenders, what of it”

how come you guys get to loiter around Deku’s room but Kacchan doesn’t. god fucking dammit. AND WHAT DOES THIS EVEN MEAN

I BET KACCHAN COULD WAKE HIM UP FROM HIS COMA WITH THE POWER OF RIVAL INTENSITY!! BUT NOOOOOOOO, [is dragged away back to my fort]

OH MY GOD!?!

"this seems to be an entirely normal and above-board situation that we have just stumbled onto”

I see Jeanist comes from the Iida Tenya school of respectfully using people’s full names

Jeanist becoming one of the main characters is the best thing to ever happen to this series

EXCUSE YOU, IIDA

BUT I’M SURE HE’D MAKE AN EXCEPTION FOR KACCHAN THOUGH!! [elbowing my way back out of the fort] HAWKS, PLEASE --

DON’T GO ALL OMINIOUSLY PUTTING THE PIECES TOGETHER ALL ON YOUR OWN GODDAMMIT

“there’s absolutely no way this angry wriggling shoulder burrito kid here could answer literally all of my questions, so I’ll just ignore him”

OH MY GOD WE’RE FINALLY CUTTING BACK TO HIM BUT THE CHAPTER IS ENDING

[jumps up, throws a folding chair at Iida and the rest of the gang, and then runs]

oh my god. actually this chapter was awesome. but I’m so fucking mad at this cliffhanger though lol

at least we got a couple of answers! and some hints and teases! poor Deku looks so worn out even though he’s asleep dlwkjl my little green baby. and is it just me or is his quirk activated?? All Might’s all “I can feel it” as if it isn’t obvious just looking at him, why are you trying to be all mysterious dude

anyway! so at least we finally have confirmation and a date for those vestige antics at long last. looking forward to meeting Mister The Fourth next week so we can finally ask him “hey dude, what the fuck”

#bnha 303 #takami keigo #hawks #todoroki shouto #todoroki enji #endeavor #best jeanist #todofam #bakugou katsuki #class 1-a #bnha #boku no hero academia #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #bnha manga spoilers #makeste reads bnha

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lazaefair · 3 years ago

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Fic Writer Interview

Tagged by @aimmyarrowshigh - thank you, lovely!

Name: lazaefair

Fandoms: Primarily The Old Guard, primarily Kaysanova. With occasional wistful remembrances of The Magnificent Seven (2016), Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Rogue One. And I guesssss the MCU, but I haven't published fic in years.

Two-shot: Had to scroll all the way back to 2019 for Refuge, a Mag7 Billy/Goody/Red Harvest PWP. And it's not really properly a two-shot, it's a one-shot with a dashed-off epilogue that I wrote months later as a quick gift for a friend. Still counting it.

Most popular multi-chapter: Going by number of hits, it would be (appropriately) With The Punches, Bruce Banner/Everybody PWP, clocking in at three chapters of about 1000 words each. Still counts!

Actual worst part of writing: Toss-up between 1) staring at the place where the next sentence is supposed to go and my brain just being one big blank because my ADHD has lost interest in the project, and 2) the dread-filled lead-up to that moment when I can feel my interest draining away even though I just want to finish something for fucking once.

How you choose your titles: I lied, this is the actual worst part of writing. For a while there I would enter keywords into song lyrics websites and click around looking for any line vaguely applicable to the fic. Now I don't even do that much - I take one of those keywords, bung it into the title field, and call it a day.

Do you outline: Sometimes. When I spontaneously work out the structure/events of a piece and have to write it down before I forget. Unfortunately, this also makes my brain think that I've done the actual writing, whereupon it fucks off to some other project and the whole thing ends up another WIP. This is why I stick to short one-shots.

Ideas I probably won’t get around to but wouldn’t it be nice: The Old Guard/The Crystal Singer fusion. Can you imagine??? The immortals as Crystal Singers??? Andy, the originator of the Scythian Transition, currently Guild Director along with Quỳnh and Lykon as her seconds-in-command? Joe and Nicky, going out to the Ranges as partnered Singers? Booker, the bitter Singer who signed up solely to forget, and forget often? Nile, the special ex-military recruit who just passed the training period with flying colors...and a Scythian Transition?

Callouts @ me: prev tags: FINISH A THING.

Best writing traits: Good similes and metaphors. Pretty decent smut.

Spicy tangential opinion: Sorry, V, but drabbles are shortish fics under 250 words or so. It's more about the approach and intent to tell a whole story in a few words than the strict word count.

Tagging @northstarfan, @agent-aurelie, @fontainebleau22

#fanfiction #tag meme

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help-im-a-gay-fish · 4 years ago

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The Birth of Sun and Moon. Part two.

Part 1, Part 3 baby blues

The following in part 2 of 3 of a piece of writing about the birth/spawning of the Dark-Cream ship kids Celestial star and Luna light.

This takes place in a universe separate to @zu-is-here dark cream story and splits of somewhere around 'the price of happiness'. Any continuity errors should be accepted as being part of an alternative timeline.

Synopsis: a few days after the last piece of writing. Dreams soul spawns the twins. It happened out of no where. Confused and alone. How will cross react?

Why.

How?

Why.

These (for the most part) where the only things going through Shattered's mind, as he lay on the floor of the void, where he'd collapsed a few minutes before. He lay almost paralysed. Unmoving.

His eyes were locked on it. A tiny little thing. It was completely covered in the gloop and wasn't moving at all. If Dream hadn't known any better, he'd have thought that it was just a lump of gloop.

But he knew better.

It had started with a leach from his soul. Then a deep and sudden pain. It had been a very painful experience. Though not the most painful, that prize would always belong to his corruption, his consumption of the golden apple and being turned to stone. Yeah, the pain hadn't been anywhere near the pain of those events.

However, it's suddenness had made it the most shocking. It had felt like his whole body had been shocked with electricity and burned with fire all at once. Then it felt like his soul was splitting apart, he supposed it kind of had been.

Was it... Was it dead?

Dream moved his hand underneath his chest and attempted to push himself up. However his arms gave out under him and he weakly fell back down onto his chest. It still hurt to move his body. He felt even more drained then he did after to much positively.

Shattered didn't take his eyes of the gloop. He waited for it to move. It still didn't.

Come on Dream! He thought to himself. He couldn't just lay on the floor until Cross came back. After taking a deep breath, he attempted to push himself up again. His body complained as he did so. Through gritted teeth, he pushed himself into a sitting position.

His body ached and complained, but now he was sat up.

It still hadn't moved.

Maybe it was dead. It wouldn't surprise him if it was. His soul was very damaged due to the corruption, so it wasn't a good soul for spawning. It had never been an issue before, since he'd never wanted or even thought he'd be in a place to have children.

However, a trickle of sadness ran through him, as he stared at the un-moving blob.

This child was un wanted, but no person could ever be happy about a child being born dead.

It hurt a bit, although he knew it couldn't be helped. He could never be a parent anyway. It wasn't really in his nature. On top of that, Cross had never expressed a desire to have children to him, so... maybe it was better this way.

It also hit him that since the spawn with accidental, it was most likely a unpure spawn. Unpure and born from a corrupted soul? There was no telling what that could cause. So in the end he started to feel relieved.

Despite that, it would probably hurt Cross if he found out about it..... So he should dispose of the body as soon as possible.

After a brief pause, Shattered summoned a tentacle. It hurt a lot more then normal and felt a lot heaver then he was used to. It fell limp at his side. He truly hated these tentacles, they brought him so many painful memories. He'd swarm off using them unless absolutely necessary. The pain was subsiding now, but it was still ever present. Slowly and carefully he lifted the tentacle up and moved it over to the blob

He curled it around it and tugged slightly. But then something happened.

There was an ear splitting screech and suddenly it sprung to life.

Dream jumped backwards, then shuffled back. He continued to shuffle backwards until his back hit the sofa.

His soul hammered in his ribcage. What. The. Hell.

His eye lights locked onto the blob again, it was now moving. Squirming, convoluting and making a most uncomfortable gargling noise. 1000 thoughts and ideas ran through his mind in an instant. But in the end he settled on one.

It was alive, he was a parent.

This thought froze him in his place. He could no longer feel the pain rippling through his bones, or his soul racing. He felt nothing but numb.

It continued to wriggle and started to cry. It was in distress and was calling for him. But feeling nothing, he simply continued to watch it rive in pain.

So many times he had heard people talk about an instant love. An instant connection to their children the moment they are born, a special feeling from deep in the soul. People said it was the most amazing feeling. Like a feeling of being complete. But Shattered felt......... nothing.

The gargling and crying continued, but now it just felt like background noise to him. He just stared.... spacing out.

He didn't notice as Cross returned to the void, he didn't notice as Cross approached the scene and he didn't notice as Cross bombarded him with questions about what had happened? where the gloop had come from? and what the blob on the floor was.

But what he did notice was Cross approach the wriggling mass and wrap his coat around it, picking it up gently. He noticed as Cross rocked it slowly from side-to-side and he noticed as it quieted down and stopped screaming.

He blinked. "Cross..?"

Cross looked over at him, "Dream... why is there a baby here? where did this come from?! Are you alright?"

Now that Dream has been snapped back to reality, the pain that ran through his bones hit him again. He winced slightly and leant his head back against the sofa.

"I.... I guess... I spawned..... I don't know how to describe it properly"

He felt suddenly very weak and very dizzy again. The gravity of the situation was crashing down upon him. Now that Cross knew about it, there was no going back.

Cross simply stared at him for a moment, then back at the tiny creature.

"........ Are you saying that this is your baby?" he paused for a moment before adding "or.. our baby?"

Dream slowly nodded.

Cross had a look of pure disbelief on his face. "How? why? How it this even possible?"

He rocked the tiny creature a slightly.

Shattered simply stared at him. He felt slightly disheartened that cross hadn't seemed to notice he was in a bad state, but he figured that the situation must have just been a big shock to Cross.

"it's...." he said running his hand across his face "an energy being thing.... I'm not really fully sure about how it works myself.... it must have been something to do with when we were soul touching"

Cross continue to rock the tiny bundle. The gloop started to drip down his arms slightly from where it's still covered the baby. He didn't seem to even notice and didn't seem to be listening to Dream anymore.

It was then Dreams saw something that truly made his heart drop.

Cross smiled.

Dream could see it right then and there in his eyes and in his face. The happy, natural, instant connection kind of starry-eyed Love. The one people claimed to feel upon first seeing their child. The same kind of love that Shattered had been unable to feel.

His soul twisted in his chest: he felt truly horrible. He wanted to cry but decided it was better not to.

Cross walked over to Dream and carefully sat by him.

Dream could now see Cross had wiped off the majority of the gloop from the child. They seemed to be sleeping now and they seemed peaceful.

But then something else court Dreams eye, a tiny little of light next to them. A second being. There were two.

"twins.."

Dream said, his voice shaking slightly. Twins!? was this some kind of a cruel joke. Was life trying to make a mockery of him? It wouldn't be the first time.

"Twins!?" Cross said, turning to dream "what are you talking about?"

Dream simply sighed and gestured slowly to the tiny ball of light. It moved slightly.

"that's what energy beings look like upon their birth" he said. He was so defeated.

Cross felt another rush of joy follow through him. But this soon faded as Cross finally noticed his partner's condition. Dream looked more exhausted and drained then he'd ever seen him. He felt like an idiot.

"Wait.... are you alright? you don't look so good Dream"

Dream gave him a sidewise glance. Finally he noticed.

If today had been a normal day, Dream would have taken the opportunity to mess with him a bit. After all, playing with Cross was always fun.

But today? It wasn't a normal day. He just wanted a hug.

"it's just the process is very straining.... I'll be fine..... my soul just needs to rest for a while"

With that Cross seemed relieved and turned his attention back to the baby. He nuzzled it slightly. Dream looked away from the scene.

".........."

Dream felt himself wishing to cry again. No Dream. Stay strong.

"look..... I didn't know or I would have told you" he said quietly "I had no idea... I'm sorry about this. I know you didn't really want children"

Cross let out a light chuckle.

"Are you kidding? this one of the greatest gifts you've ever given me" he smiled softly.

Dream looked back to him instantly. "What!?"

Cross turned to his lover.

"I'd always accepted that I'd never be able to have children... and I was fine with that because I had you, but now... " He smiled wider

"I know that your whole thing is shattering dreams but right now you've made another one of mine come true".

Cross kissed him on the forehead and nuzzled him lovingly.

"I love you so much you know"

Normally a kiss or a nuzzle from Cross would have made Dream's soul skip a beat. But right now, it made him feel sick. Truly and utterly sick.

Resting his head on Cross' shoulder, he relaxed his body weight against him. It was all to much. Way to much. He couldn't take it. He just wanted it to stop.

Maybe he could just rest for a while and when he woke up this will all just be a bad dream.

He closed his eyes and slipped unconscious.

***************

Part 2 yay! So happy! @zu-is-here I hope you like this like the other part.

Thank you everyone! Part 1 was taken very well, so I hope this is a good follow-up! Thank you for reading.

Original cross and dream belong to jakei95 and jokublog

Original shattered dream belongs to @galacii

Dark cream comic and story is by @zu-is-here

The Dark cream twins belong to me :)

@official-darkxunshine-kids

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inevitably-johnlocked · 5 years ago

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i never see top lock anymore, and i get why— but do you have a list of sherlock being dominant? i love when he’s possessive over the people who he loves.

Anonymous said to inevitably-johnlocked: do you have a master list of toplock?? i just love seeing sherlock jealous of possessive over john :)

Anonymous said to inevitably-johnlocked: do you have any possessive smut fics with sherlock topping? (or just rough sex in general) i really love jealous sherlock.

Anonymous said to inevitably-johnlocked: Hi, do you have any top!lock stories? It can be fluff, or smut. I really was in the mood for some top Sherlock, and if you could maybe some Jealous top!lock too. Thank you very much!

Hey Nonnies!

I hesitate to say you’re all the same nonny, but the wording is very similar and these all came a few days apart. If you aren’t please accept my apologies, for that and for the delay; when I get fic requests for fics I know I have a decent amount of, it takes me awhile to go through all 1000+ of my bookmarks to pick fics to rec for y’all. That said, I know I don’t have EVERY fic I have bookmarked with toplock in it, but I do have a few already tagged, so that’s what this list is for you today

Hope you enjoy, and as always, lovelies, please add your own fics or recs to this list! haven’t added ALL my fics with toplock in it, nor fics with switchlock (that will be a separate list when the time comes), so I’ve definitely missed some fics I’ve recced in the past

TOPLOCK

See also:

Omegaverse

Jealous & Possessive Sherlock

Possessive Sherlock Pt 2

Husband by jinglebell (E, 2,003 w., 1 Ch. || Est. Rel., PWP, Anal, Multiple Orgasms, Fluff) – Sherlock orgasms when John refers to him as ‘husband’.

Caught in the Act – by Mycroft by ShirleyCarlton (E, 2,040 w., 1 Ch. || Unintended Voyeurism, Mycroft’s POV, Blow Job, Humour) – Mycroft had only planted the camera for Sherlock’s own good, simply to keep an eye on his little brother and make sure he was alright. He hadn’t quite meant to see his brother this content, however… Part 4 of Caught In The Act

Stay by msdisdain (M, 3,561 w., 1 Ch. || First Kiss / Time, Angst / H/C, Bed Sharing, Nightmares, Blow Jobs, Anal) – John’s nightmares are nothing new. Sherlock’s inability to ignore them, however, is.

Wasted Hours by songlin (E, 4,973 w., 1 Ch. || Omegaverse || O!John/A!Sherlock, Pining, UST, Angst & Porn) – John is respectful. John keeps his distance. He doesn’t look at Sherlock when Sherlock decides trousers are for dull people. He doesn’t breathe in and savor it when Sherlock flings himself onto the couch first thing in the morning, wafting alpha scent, dressing gown settling around him in a cloud of blue silk. He doesn’t linger when he’s piecing Sherlock back together after a fight, even though he’s half-dressed and beautiful and right there. He can ignore it. He can control it.

See Recipe for Details by pandoras_chaos (E, 4,981 w., 1 Ch. || Oral / Anal Sex, Food, PWP, Fingerfucking) – John knows Sherlock’s mouth will never water over the sweet smells of baking chocolate biscuits or a lovely roast chicken, but he’s watched Sherlock nick mince pies out of Mrs. Hudson’s fridge often enough to deduce that the man does have taste, albeit confusing and obscure. So John makes a list: Things Sherlock Likes

Caffeine and Adaptive Programming by DemonicSymphony (E, 5,540 w., 1 Ch. || Androids AU / Bond Fusion || Android Sherlock, Coffee Shop AU, Pining John Hinted Bond / Q, Toplock) – Sherlock is a coffee shop android slowly falling for a regular customer. But he’s not supposed to be able to feel emotions.

The doctor is in by PlainJane (E, 7,581 w., 1 Ch. || Omegaverse || Sex Therapist, Anal, Hand Jobs, Frottage, Virgin Sherlock) – Sherlock is a young alpha with an aversion to his cycle. John is a gender medicine specialist. Nothing could possibly go wrong… Part 1 of Doctors and detectives

Just Like That by sussexbound (E, 8,442 w., 1 Ch. || First Time/Kiss, Frottage, Virgin Sherlock, French Kissing, Anal, Emotional Lovemaking, Enthusiastic Consent, Tenderness, Crying John, Bathing/Washing, Insecure John, Toplock) – John doesn’t want to talk anymore. He wants. Oh dear god, how he wants. For the first time in what feels like years he WANTS.

London Gods by a_different_equation (E, 11,092 w., 5 Ch. || American Gods Fusion || Magical Realism, Sex Magic, True Love, PTSD John, First Kiss/Time, Marathon Sex, Sensuality, Genie Sherlock, Human John, Internalized Homophobia, Star-Crossed Lovers, Soul Mates) – Sherlock Holmes is a jinn who does not grant wishes. However, when Dr. John H. Watson, recently returned from the war in Afghanistan, gets into his cab by “accident”, it might not even need magic to grant both men their deepest wish: love.

And if you say the word, I could stay with you by CaitlinFairchild (E, 12,842 w., 1 Ch. || Domestic Fluff, BottomJohn / Topping from the Bottom, Fluff and Romance, Dirty Talk, Proposals) – What Sherlock thinks is, On the day I die, be it in a dirty alley at forty or in my bed at eighty, the last thing I will remember is tonight, the way you looked at at me on the snowy pavement, cheeks pink with the cold, breath puffing in frosty white clouds, your heart in your eyes and snowflakes in your hair. I will remember that single perfect moment in my life, that moment I knew I had everything I ever wanted, and whatever happens next, I will die content. What he says is simply, “Marry me.”

Take My Breath Away by Quesarasara (E, 14,240 w., 1 Ch. || Emotional H/C, Angst & Fluff, Toplock, Smut, Lingerie) – Sherlock opens his eyes and looks at his friend—his best friend—and slowly tips his chin down until his forehead rests softly against John’s. They stay that way for a long moment, lips just a whisper apart, warm puffs of air mingling as each of them struggles to breathe. It’s no wonder they ended up here, really, locked in this breathless moment balanced on the cusp of something new. They’ve spent years taking each other’s breath away…

The Palmyra Atoll by elwinglyre (E, 16,609 w., 3 Ch. || TSo3 Divergence / Episode Fix-It, Stockholm Syndrome, Kidnapped John Watson, John Whump, Evil Mary, Angst, Cuddling & Snuggling, Toplock, Limited 3rd John POV) – As John’s preparing for the wedding, Sherlock is preparing to have his heart broken, and Mary is prepared to do the unthinkable. Intervention required. Enter Sherlock. Set before Sign of Three with a far different outcome. John is drugged, kidnapped, and left on an island, but not just any old island.

Maintaining A Personal Life by Gingerhermit (E, 24,284 w., 6 Ch. || Alternating POV’s, Bisexuality, BAMF!John, Jealous Sherlock, Romance / Drama, Sort-of Case Fic, Peril & Angst, Love Confessions, Toplock, Soft Idiots in Love, Post S3) – Sherlock and John discover some interesting revelations about each other’s sexuality, which lead them both to question the assumptions they’ve made about one another for years. In the midst of their mutual discoveries, a dangerous psychopath looms on the side-lines who threatens to destroy their new beginning.

The Whore of Babylon Was a Perfectly Nice Girl by out_there (E, 32,897 w., 1 Ch. || Past Drug Use, Blowjobs, Toplock, Mentions of Switching, Rough Sex, Background Cases, Sherlock’s Past, Sherlock’s Sexual History, Experienced Sherlock, Past One Night Stands, Fingering, Cuddling, Possessive Sherlock, Paris Holiday, Bed Sharing, Naked Lie-Ins, Bathing Together, Confessions, Worried Sherlock, Laying in Bed All Day, Meddling Mycroft, Naked Lazy Day) – Sherlock walks into a room and takes all the space right out of it. He does the same inside John’s head.

The Wrong Wagon by DancingGrimm (E, 35,663 w., 20 Ch. || Alternating POV, MollyxJohn [Molly pines for John], Public Sex, Casual Sex, Obliviousness, BAMF!John, Awkwardness, Angst & Humour, First Time, Virgin Sherlock, Jealous Sherlock) – Molly sees John in a new light and realises that she may have hitched her horse to the wrong wagon…or something like that. John pines for Sherlock and worries what he will think if he ever finds out. And Sherlock doesn’t know what Molly’s up to…but he knows he doesn’t like it.

Only To Be With You by SinceWhenDoYouCallMe_John (M, 40,768 w., 4 Ch. || Black Mirror / Future AU || Character Death, Future Technology, Sickness/Cancer/Illness, Heavy Angst with Happy Ending, First Person POV John, Pining John, Heart-Wrenching Angst) – I tell myself that next time I’ll come near this same place again. Wait around for the mysterious stranger in his coat to dash past me, hot on the heels of a new criminal in black. I think this all the way back to my Exit, planning where I’ll wait and what I’ll say when I see him. Scheming on how to get his name. It’s only once I reach the Exit Point door that I realize two hours and forty-five minutes have passed, and I realize that this won’t be the last time I Visit. It won’t be the last time at all.

Guidelines by WithLoweredVoices (M, 43,018 w., 15 Ch. || Winglock || Angels, Fantasy, Angst, BAMF! John, War, Jealous Sherlock, Possessive Sherlock, Jealous John, Falling in Various Ways, Needy Sherlock, Wings) – The Good Soldier, one of the oldest and strongest of the fallen, is offered a bargain: to live as John Watson and to Guide a fledgling archangel so that he will stay on the path of good. Of course, Sherlock Holmes has different ideas about his destiny. Fantasy AU. Warnings for violence, occasional gore, and a whole load of hurt and angst.

Bloody But Unbowed by BeautifulFiction (E, 43,211 w., 8 Ch. || Abduction, John Whump, Mild Torture, Background Case Fic, Friends to Lovers, Post-TRF / S3 Rewrite, Hurt/Comfort) – When a familiar argument threatens to destroy the last remnants of John and Sherlock’s failing friendship, both men are left questioning their worth to one another. Before either of them has the chance to make amends, circumstance intervenes. John is left at the mercy of his abductors, and this time, he’s not sure Sherlock will bother coming to his rescue.

Triage by scullyseviltwin (E, 51,612 w., 14 Ch. || Character Injury, Introspection) – Sherlock’s mind goes exceedingly, devastatingly quiet and gray-blank. When he speaks it’s through a thick haze, it’s through molasses, he’s so disconnected from the words that it may as well be the unconscious shooter speaking.

Uphill by scullyseviltwin (E, 77,750 w., 18 Ch. || Olympics AU || Sherlock POV, Skier!Sherlock / Medic!John, Rivalry, 2014 Olympics, Happy Ending) – Sherlock Holmes is striving for gold in this, his fourth and final Olympics as a downhill Alpine racer.

Secrets and Revelations by Hisstah (E, 83,535 w., 9 Ch. || Sentinel / Guides Omegaverse AU || Adventure, Violence, Anal / Oral, Omega!John / Alpha!Sherlock, Case Fic, Politics, Mild DubCon) – Dr John Watson has some major secrets that he’s kept from his flatmate, Alpha Sentinel Sherlock Holmes. Now the Sentinel Tower is after him. Can John stay out of their hands until he can reveal his secrets to Sherlock? Part 1 of Secrets and Revelations

Secrets and Revelations by Hisstah (E, 85,535 w., 9 Ch. || Sentinel / Guides AU, Omegaverse, Aventure, Violence, Anal / Oral, Omega!John / Alpha!Sherlock, Case Fic, Politics, Mild DubCon) – Dr John Watson has some major secrets that he’s kept from his flatmate, Alpha Sentinel Sherlock Holmes. Now the Sentinel Tower is after him. Can John stay out of their hands until he can reveal his secrets to Sherlock? Part 1 of Secrets and Revelations

31_Days_of_Porn_Challenge_2017 Series by distantstarlight (E, 96,540 w. across 31 stories || Prompt Ficlets, Assorted Kinks, PWP) – A collection in response to the 31 Days of Porn Challenge issued by AtlinMerrik! Thanks for doing that because this has been buttload of fun (that joke never gets old). All stories will be brief stand-alone one-shots.

A Fold in the Universe by darkest_bird (E, 152,869 w., 26 Ch. || Omegaverse / Prime Universe Crossover || OmegaJohn / AlphaSherlock, First Kiss / Time, Friends to Lovers, Established Relationship, Angst, H/C, Dub Con, Humour) – Alpha Sherlock and Omega John are in a relationship. Prime Sherlock and Prime John are not. So what happens when a freak fold in the universe switches one John for the other?

Proving A Point by elldotsee & J_Baillier (E, 186,270 w., 28 Ch. || Me Before You Fusion || Medical Realism, Insecure John, Depression, Romance, Angst, POV John, Sherlock Whump, Serious Illness, Doctor John, Injury Recovery, Assisted Suicide, Sherlock’s Violin, Awkward Sexual Situations, Alcoholism, Drugs, Idiots in Love, Slow Burn, Body Image, Friends to Lovers, Hurt / Comfort, Pain, Big Brother Mycroft, Intimacy, Anxiety, PTSD, Family Issues, Psychological Trauma, John Whump, Case Fics, Loneliness, Pain) – Invalided home from Afghanistan, running out of funds and convinced that his surgical career is over, John Watson accepts a mysterious job offer to provide care and companionship for a disabled person. Little does he know how much hangs in the balance of his performance as he settles into his new life at Musgrave Court.

#steph replies #johnlock fic recs #my fic recs #toplock #Anonymous #e-rated fics

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planesofduality · 5 years ago

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The Story Behind Solas with Dragon Age Lead Writer Patrick Weekes - Dialogue Wheel (Part 3 of 3)

The final piece of the interview!

Here is Part 1, Part 2

Time: 25:35

One of the most beautiful scenes I think in Dragon Age Inquisition is the scene that you get with Solas if you play as a female elf Inquisitor. Talk a little bit about that choice to have this romance option very, very specific. It’s race- and gender- specific. Why that scene - what that scene meant and a lot of the subtext, because it is a very rich sequence of scenes, not just one. And, I think it’s really one of the most interesting romances in the game.

I love that scene because that scene for me shows how far we’ve gone past - not the make myself irrelevant anymore - but how far we’ve gone with the digital acting. Jonathan Epp the cine-designer for that scene put it together and when you take everything that Gareth David Lloyd - the voice actor - everything he did on his lines. And just putting so much tragedy, and making it clear in every line that he wants to say more than he can. And with Jon Epp the cine-designer, just in the wordless scenes: showing the tragedy, showing the heartbreak, showing how much he does genuinely care against his better judgement, and how he finally forces himself to step away.,

You know how I said when we were talking about the Iron Bull - everything, every major moment we do, is there for a specific type of player fantasy fulfillment. And you know, not all types of fantasies are the happy ones. There’s a reason why The Phantom of the Opera was on Broadway for so many years and it’s not because it has a happy ending.

The Phantom of the Opera isn’t exactly the theme for the romance - the razor was something closer to almost professor and student in some ways. He definitely comes across as a mentor in some ways. When he finally steps back it is him beating himself up, not you, saying “Wow what I have done here is actually really unfair to you, and you, player, at the time don’t know that I’m beating myself up because I’m actually 1000s of years old and not the person you think I am and it’s disrespectful to you for me to continue this relationship.” So it’s a very moral perspective for our ancient, quasi-evil, trickster god to come with.

Time: 28:41

And it’s amazing because it’s another instance of content that so few players would actually get an opportunity to see. When it comes to making it that specific, I guess, why was that choice made? Because usually a lot of your content - most of the Dragon Age content - it’s very easy to get really rich, wonderful characters right in your face and have those wonderful “eat-em-up” experiences, why for this one was it such a steep price to get in?

You know, I won’t lie, a lot of it came from some of our designers. Some of the women in the design department really, really loving his voice and saying, “You are absolutely fools if you do not make him romance-able in some capacity.” And, really, his story overall is - and, you know, I think we’ve only hinted at that but I think we have hinted at it enough that I can at least say this part of it - his story isn’t a happy one. His story is one, where, if you look at him and Mythal, there is clearly some grief, there is clearly some tragedy. And, adding in the option - even for players who don’t take it - on my end as a writer, knowing that some players will have this as a star-crossed, forbidden romance, you know, it makes him more sympathetic. It’s important to me as a writer because when you’re writing about someone who, according to Flemeth, is at least somewhat responsible for the bad guy getting the magical item that he used to blow up half a mountain in the prologue, it’s important to have something in there that you can always have, as a writer, look at as your touchstone and go “This is a real person. This is someone who experiences sadness. This is someone who falls in love.” Even if he doesn’t do it with that Inquisitor on that playthrough, this is always someone who can be like that.

Time: 30:58

Where do you see a character like Solas ending up?

(Big sigh) Musical theater.

(laughs) Right when we reach those beautiful moments, Patrick!

I think that it is fantastic that people have emotionally engaged with Solas and I hope we get a chance to explore that in some future content.

Alright and that’s the most that we’re getting right now.

Time: 31:37

Oh, and here’s a little tie in: Here Lies the Abyss, the demon that spoke to Solas - what was all that about, what was that going on?

Oh yes - the demon who speaks perfect Elven!

Yes perfectly to him, and if you remember any of that - did you have anything to do with that?

Yes, Here Lies the Abyss was mine. It was a fun plot. It was a terrifyingly difficult plot, because - I’m not sure how clear this is to players that have one done one playthrough or with one import state - but your key characters throughout the events at Adamant Fortress and then the events of the Fade, it’s a customizable Hawke. Which means it could be a male Hawke or a female Hawke and within that, Hawke from Dragon Age 2 is characterized by one of three different attitudes: friendly, grim, or sarcastic. So, that’s three attitudes times two genders, that’s six different Hawkes and three different possible Grey Wardens: Alistair, Loghain, or Stroud. So, the process of going through Adamant Fortress and then going through the Fade was a crazy juggling act of trying to keep track of “Okay, now one of these five people, these five Schrodinger’s cat quantum people, will say this line, and then another of these five Schrodinger’s cat quantum people will respond with this line.”

It’s important to remember that as we went through everything in Adamant Fortress and the Fade was taking place in that contest. There was a long period time when we were looking at that really going, “Okay, I just have to hope this actually makes sense when it’s nothing but Alistair and my sarcastic female Hawke.”

But, to actually answer your question. As I recall, the Nightmare, who as a friendly, chipper guy was basically - I do basically two types of villains: I do the villain who thinks he or she is the hero, and is misguided and has opposed goals, and is kind of tragic and tortured in that way. And then I do the mean-girl villain who says snotty high school insults.

That’s it - that’s the gambit.

Well, just about, yes. I’m looking forward to see who writes the villain in the future Dragon Age games - so get ready for either tragic pathos or really, really good high school mean-girl zingers.

As I recall, he was speaking Elven to Solas and if I remember right, he said, “Your pride is responsible for everything that has gone wrong” and I think he said “You will die alone.” And then Solas said something that translates to either “Nothing is known for certain” or “Not necessarily.”

And what does all that mean?

Well I think it’s fascinating that people are emotionally engaged, and I hope we have the chance -

It was a very asked question - it was a question that was asked a lot. Specific to that.

Oh, I’m not surprised, and I hope one day that we can tell you. But, obviously, that demon knows that Solas is hurting and Solas feels guilty about some stuff and really wanted to dig in there, and Solas was shouting back.

Literally just describing what happened (laughs). All right, so something that will clearly be talked about in other games.

TIme: 36:22

Dealing with this particular quest I really think that this was one opportunity to involve the Grey Wardens in a story, and a world, that kind of progressingly, after the first game had less and less of a need to exist - let alone in the world - but in the main characters arc. Talking to David I remember initially there was some idea for this particular mission they would just fall into the hole and be hanging out in the Deep Roads, and having out with the dwarves, so tell us a little bit about this creation.

A lot of the process of writing these large plots, like I talked about the razor, you figure out what the core concept is, you always start with a lot of things, and in most cases what you then end up having to do is cut. And if you’re not someone in the studio, talking about having to cut things sounds like you’re losing awesome content, you’re ruining what would have been clearly the best part of the plot. Inside the studio though, most cases what you’re cutting is the stuff that didn’t actually help tell the story you wanted to tell.

So yes in the original version, in a very early draft, actually this was before I was actually on the plot - this predates me - there was, yes, going into the Deep Roads, and when you fell in instead of ending up in the Fade you ended up down in the dark. And finding out what the Grey Wardens in this version of the story had been involved with the Architect from Dragon Age: Awakening. It was an interesting direction, and it was, I think, a very cool direction, but it did not help tell the story of the Inquisition. It was more a story of “Hey, if we wanted to do more with the Hero of Fereldan, here is an interesting place we could go” and it did not help tell the story of “What is the Inquisition doing?” “What is Corypheus doing?”, “How do these two organizations bounce off each other and who’s caught in the middle?” So trying to come to terms with the Grey Wardens in this game not being the protagonists, not being the group that is in the center of the action but being the group that is caught in the middle of this power struggle was something that led to us having to eventually do the re-jiggering that got us to the plot you saw.

#solas #dragon age #patrick weekes #patrick weekes interview #da4 #dragon age: inquisition #dai #solas x lavellan #dread wolf #the dread wolf rises #dragon age 4 #dragon age lore #fen'harel #fenharel #part 3

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jmsa1287 · 5 years ago

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With Her Quarantine-Themed Opus 'How I'm Feeling Now,' Charli XCX & Her Clique Level Up

Charli XCX has been at the forefront of pop music over the last decade and with "How I'm Feeling Now," a quickly-made album created entirely in quarantine with a madcap collection of Internet musicians and input from fans, Charli goes to the next level.

Between 2014 and 2017, Charli XCX almost became the next Lady Gaga. She had released bonafide hits like her Billboard Hot 100 top 10 banger "Boom Clap," from the soundtrack for the tragic teen romance "The Fault in Our Stars." She wrote songs for huge pop stars like Selena Gomez, will.i.am, Blondie, the K-pop group Twice. She was also featured on chart-toppers like Icona Pop's "I Love It," and Iggy Azalea's no. 1 hit "Fancy." But instead of choosing a path where she'd work with producers Max Martin and Pharrell, Charli looked further ahead, stayed online and became the most interesting pop star currently working.

Last week, she released "How I'm Feeling Now," what she's calling her fourth studio album. It arrived on streaming platforms after the British musician announced its conception about six weeks ago on April 6 via a Zoom chat with fans, stressing that it would be a D.Y.I. project with them while she's under lockdown and in quarantine at her Los Angeles home. With 11 songs and a 37-minute runtime, the album, a collaborative effort to be sure, is a masterpiece where Charli makes the most vulnerable and powerful album since Beyonce's 2013 self-titled surprise release. It's an urgent piece of emotional art that finally unifies Charli's ethos and talent into an impressive synthesis of sounds, songwriting and style. And it arrives at a vital moment.

"HIFN" follows her eponymous album from last year — a collaborative effort in a different way as it features several popular artists (Lizzo, HAIM, Christine and the Queens, Kim Petras, Troy Sivan, Sky Fierrea, Cupcake, Big Freedia and more) contributing vocals and felt like, at the time, it was meant to elevate Charli's status in the pop world. It's Charli at her most polished — so much so that the edginess of her music was scrubbed too clean and not everything worked. Her frequent collaborator A.G. Cook, the leader of the internet-dwelling musical collective PC Music, had his signature 00s computer nostalgic sounds bump up against other producers' ideas. A few years before "Charli," she shared the four-track EP "Vroom Vroom" — a maximalist effort from Cook and SOPHIE (another prominent member of PC Music who has had a successful solo career while working with huge names like Madonna) that marked a pivotal career turn for her; a flag signaling that Charli had fully invested in PC Music's chaotically beautiful inorganic sound. In 2017, she released back-to-back mixtapes: the stellar "Number 1 Angel" and the critically acclaimed and fan-adored "Pop 2." Over the release of those four projects, her partnership with Cook grew, morphed and worked out its kinks. On "HIFN," Charli and Cook — both credited as executive producers — unite their best talents while welcoming other sounds from producers, like BJ Burton (a Bon Iver collaborator who is also credited an executive producer), Danny L Harle (who got his start with PC Music as well), Dijon, Palmistry and Dylan Brandy, one half of the mind-bending duo that feels like the logical evolution of PC Music, 100 gecs.

At a time when major-label pop stars are delaying the release of their music — like Lady Gaga, who put off her long-awaited sixth album "Chromatica" a month-and-a-half due to the coronavirus pandemic — Charli is seizing the moment. (Similar to Charli, rising pop star Dua Lipa bumped up the release of her disco-inspired sophomore album "Future Nostalgia" a week back in March.) By directly working with fans — asking them to submit phone footage for music videos and gathering their input on songs by sharing demos to social media and hopping on Zoom chats — Charli has turned her new project into something beautiful and hopeful during a time when most of us are craving any sort of interaction, never mind from a legit pop star. The pandemic is forcing everyone inside and closing us off from family and friends. But Charli is rising to the moment — a moment that feels destined for her —reaching out to her fans to make something that's so of our time.

Though "HIFN" is an impressively made album with music that sounds like it simultaneously comes from both the past and the future, it's untimely successful for being a cathartic and freeing album. Charli has full creative autonomy here and isn't constrained by label meddling. "HIFN" is loud, abrasive, sad, confident and sexy. It's a patchwork of sounds that are stitched together by Charli and Co. where she jumps from genre-to-genre (and sometimes from mico-genre-to-micro-genre) in a matter of seconds, similar to the 100 gecs album "1000 gecs" from last year. It'll give you whiplash where songs are so complex and intricate it's hard to believe it was made in about a month, like on the pulsating and glitchy "Claws," co-produced by gecs' Brady, bounces from love-song to a rave banger that gives way into an eruption of static. To call "HIFN" visceral would be an understatement as a number of tracks are and raw; walls of sound pummel you like on the opener "Pink Diamond," where she sings, "Every single night kinda feels the same I'm a pink diamond/ I need space" as a cacophony of synths and sound effects ram into each other.

"HIFN" defies expectations in many ways; not only that it exists and is excellent from start-to-finish, but the songs themselves are like puzzle pieces arranged in such a way that they pull tricks on what you expect from convention songwriting and producing. Production on "HIFN" is constantly shifting with some tracks initially feel like two or three songs slapped together but careful listening is rewarding as it's revealed how stunningly crafted they are, like "c2.0." That song begins with a sludgy beat but sheds itself to reveal a slick pop song, sounding nothing like the first 90 seconds. It also interpolates Charli's self-titled album cut "Click": "I miss them every night / I miss them by my side / Catch my tears when I cry / My clique on me for life," she sings about the lost days and nights with friends.

Songs you think are about to end go on for another two minutes (like the ethereal and wound-up "Detonate," an album highlight) and songs that you expect to climax collapse inward, like the epic "party 4 u" — the album's best song. It's a lovelorn track full of yearning about throwing a party for a crush who never shows up. It's a simple message (when you're into someone but they don't quite reciprocate those feelings) that's been expressed millions of times throughout the history of pop music - but not quite like this. It opens with an otherworldly synth and builds and builds until it reaches its apex. But instead of a release of sound that you expect, "party 4 u" — the longest song on "HIFN" (nearly 5-minutes) — goes silent and starts from the beginning, becoming one of the most powerful moments on the album.

The track also brings "HIFN" full circle in a profound way. It's a song that's been around for a few years and, after leaking online, it quickly became a fan favorite where people would request it at shows. Charli and A.G. Cook said they always considered putting it on an album but Charli said she was "hesitant...because I like the mythology around certain songs." Nevertheless, Charli said that including "party 4 u" on the album might seem "small and silly" but "it's the time to give something back." Indeed, it's a payoff for those who have invested in the world-building and mythology Charli has created for the last five years as "party 4 u" closes with a live recording from a concert in which fans are requesting the track itself, prior to its official release. It's a beautiful sentiment that propels the album and Charli and her team to a new level of artistry.

#charli xcx #how i'm feeling now #music #pc music #a.g. cook #ag cook #100 gecs #bj burton #Danny L Harle #dylan brady

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atamascolily · 5 years ago

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lily liveblogs “terminator: dark fate”, part 2

“It’s raining men (and women)”.... hallelujah? Or not, as the case may be.

(For those just joining us, part one is here)

I was kinda hoping they would run the credits after the title, but I guess filmmakers... don't do that anymore, because we all have short attention spans these days?? Some of that is George Lucas's fault, I know, but tbh I kinda enjoy the creative ways in which filmmakers USED that space occupied by the opening credits... like how The Karate Kid uses it for Daniel and Lucille's road trip between Jersey and California, how it establishes how many friends Daniel had, the importance of his bike, and the whole "putting the car in neutral" and rolling it to get the engine going AND the motif/promise of the pool... all in a minute or two. Magical. I kinda miss that compared to earlier films.

Anyway, highway at night in what the screen tells me is Mexico City 22 years later. Okay, then. There's ice... and then lightning crackling on the road edge, which can only mean one thing -- a visitor from the future!!

There's a woman making out with her boyfriend underneath the highway, and she says "Oh, my god," and the boyfriend thinks it's all his doing, LOL. Sorry, dude, not today.

THE SPHERE IS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE HIGHWAY OVERPASS, HOLY FUCK, WHO SET THOSE COORDINATES?? It's a good thing the spheres destroy everything around them, or else this movie would be very, very short.

As it is, Grace falls naked from a great height, banging on supports as she goes down. Ow. Great way of showing she's not quite human.

Of course the watching girl goes over to help while her boyfriend sits there slack-jawed until she shames him into going along. They pick her up and carry her towards their car, only for the police to show up and demand to know what's going on. They think that they're drug dealers (?) and don't believe that she fell from a bridge.

"I love it when it rains naked ladies," says the cop, which is movie-speak for, "I'm an asshole about to get my ass kicked and the audience is going to cheer while it happens".

He grabs her, and Grace sees his gun, and goes for it. Yup, he's down. She's got some sort of augmented vision like the Terminator though anyone who's seen the trailer knows already she's on the side of good.

Grace takes out all the cops completely naked, and I love how this scene is filmed because it's so not focused on anything sexual and it's not sexualized at all, at least for the male gaze that I can tell. It's just... a naked woman kicking ass without obsessing over the fact that she's naked, and it's so goddamn refreshing.

The boyfriend thinks she's amazing. His girlfriend walks over and hugs him. Grace strides up to him and compares her bare foot to his boot. "Don't thank me yet," she says in a deadpan.

Cut to Grace wearing his clothes driving away in his car as the boyfriend stands around in his boxers and yells for her to go to hell. And I like this because it's so much more effective this way to leave the details in the reader's head and show us the results. The girlfriend steers him away, and he starts blaming her, for getting them involved in the first place. Fuck you, dude. I hope she dumps him that night, too.

Cut to Dani in the street somewhere, carrying flowers and chatting with a tamale vendor. We learn from this that she always has flowers -- an association with life and spirit, and not letting the grind get you down. I approve.

Dani has a brother, Diego, who wants to be a pop star, and a father whom she reminds to go to the doctor. Caretaker of the family! Of course they have a dog, named Taco. I'm sure this will be relevant later. I hope Taco survives. Diego tries to chat up a neighbor named Julia, and I'm sure this will all end tragically. I hope she survives.

Dani and Diego leave just in time... for another naked person to drop from the sky in a glowing electric sphere! What are the odd??!

Okay, I don't remember the spheres forming ice in previous films, but it's a cool detail that it makes all the laundry on the lines freeze and shatter... so it's gotta be SUPER COLD. Like, liquid-nitrogen levels of cold.

Like Grace's sphere, this one drops its inhabitant off in mid-air, but the Terminator is able to do a beautiful leap and land on his feet like a cat. He looks like a marble sculpture here - beautiful, smooth, polished, muscled grace. Hot damn. There is absolutely no emotion on his face as he stands up, and even without the music cues, you know right away something is wrong.

There's a woman staring at him when he turns around. And now he looks friendly... earnest, helpful. "Good morning," he says in Spanish as he reaches out to touch the jacket she has in her hand, and it spills up out of his skin HOLY FUCK THAT IS CREEPY AND AMAZING at the same time.

The woman FREAKS OUT and he SMILES at her ever so slightly, and--

Cut to a busy city street. Unlike the highway where Grace appeared, this in the middle of the city, with lots of apartment buildings and traffic. Dani and Diego are on a bus.

Cut to Dani's father answering a knock on the door while Taco the dog barks hysterically. I know, I know, I'm so sorry, Taco. There's the Terminator, and he's so charming and earnest in his plaid jacket, looking for Dani. He claims to be a friend. Her father is shocked. "That's strange. Her friends call her Dani..."

"Dani?" repeats the Terminator. "Yes, of course." AND HE SMILES... fuck. A TERMINATOR THAT CAN MIMIC HUMAN FACIAL EXPRESSIONS AND SHOW EMOTIONS I AM NOT PREPARED FOR THIS.

(but it actually makes PERFECT SENSE for reasons that will be explained later [kinda] in the film!!!!)

Cut to a factory. Arius Motors. Dani and Diego going in to work as cars swing by on the line. There are robot arms and it's all very timely and metaphorical. Somebody goes by on a bicycle INSIDE THE FACTORY and I have no idea how that works, but okay.

Diego's station has been replaced by "a new guy,"--an orange robot arm. Dani asks the supervisor what's going on and he says, "The future," and the manager wants to see Diego in his office. Dani goes in his place, the supervisor says no, Dani pulls out her hair tie, and goes anyway. THIS IS WHY SHE'S THE LEADER OF THE MOTHERFUCKING RESISTANCE, Y'ALL, she’s ALREADY taking no shit from robots.

Dani's father shows up at the factory claiming his kids forgot their lunch and can he come in? Poor dad is definitely dead. I hope Taco at least survived, but I doubt it. Meanwhile Grace is approaching and just leaps over the turnstile like it's no big deal and I LOVE IT. Then she follows a security guard into a corner and mugs him for his uniform and it's all so goddamn quick.

The security guard tells "Dad" that he can't come in without a helmet and vest, which is bullshit, because most of the employees don't wear them, but whatever. Grace keeps walking. How the fuck did she dress so fast, but she looks great. She's got a jacket awkwardly covering her gun, and it's not subtle, but no one seems to notice.

Dani is arguing with the boss, who is... American? At least he's speaking English. She's trying to keep her brother's job, but he's all "well, he's not as good as you are," and Dani is Not Having It. She threatens to tell them that machines are coming for ALL the jobs, and god, I love her so much because EVEN WITHOUT TERMINATORS MESSING UP HER LIFE, SHE WAS GONNA GO PLACES.

"Dad" goes to Dani's station and she isn't there, but he talks to Diego. (I don't know how he knows so much, but I'm sure it wasn't pretty.) The Terminator makes that lame excuse about bringing lunches, and Diego is confused, because Dani already took care of that--

Then Dani shows up and the lunch morphs into a gun, and I'm not sure how they did that, because wasn't the morphing stuff not supposed to MAKE GUNS--ok, maybe he took the security guard's gun and morphed the lunch OVER it as a cover with his polyalloy bits--but FUCK this dude is SCARY--and points the gun at Dani as she and Diego stare--only to have his head blown open as Grace fires.

Grace keeps shooting as Dani screams, and grabs Dani before she can get to "Dad". Grace is way better at explaining things than Kyle Reese: "That is NOT your father. That was a machine that sent here to kill you. " It helps that the Terminator has lots of metal bits exposed at this point, and rapidly shifting back to normal. Come with me or you're dead in the next thirty seconds!"

Dani doesn't buy this, but she runs as Grace shepherds both her and Diego away.

And that back arch as the Terminator sits up and regenerates back to his "original" persona--which, I'll note, he DIDN't steal from anyone in our present; it was the one he came with UNLIKE the T-1000 in T2--and it's scary as hell. And even watching him run, and leap--it's not human. It's a predator disguised in human form. Well done, filmmakers.

I like how they show Grace's augmented senses here, and how she has the extra warning to shove Dani and Diego out of the way when the Terminator goes flying for her. He slices her cap off with arms that are suddenly sword-knives, and she swings a mallet at him, knocking him flat--and flinging him into a wall when she hits him again. She is really fucking strong, and I've never seen a woman be this strong before and it's AMAZING.

She hits him on the head over and over again, and then he starts crawling up the mallet towards her and it's so creepy HOLY FUCK and then he sends her sprawling and pops the mallet back out of his head OH MY GOD.

Grace starts using a piece of car siding as shield because she lost her weapon, keeping herself between the Terminator and Dani at all times.

Diego crushes him with a machine--I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE, FILMMAKERS, NICE CALLBACK. Unfortunately, it doesn't take, but it does give them some breathing room. Meanwhile, Grace is tired and out of breath, and visibly overheating. The perfect time to introduce herself to Dani!

Grace explains the situation on the run, and throws Diego into the truck they steal outside when he hesitates. I gotta hand it to her, she's doing this whole thing pretty well.

Diego sees her arm. "Are you a machine too?" "No I'm human, like you!" They don't believe her. "No, I'm augmented." THIS IS GOING TO BE A THEME, OH MY GOD. More on this later. Grace can argue with them AND hotwire the truck at the same time. #goals.

They bust out of the factory. The police immediately go after them, not sure how that worked, and Grace says "Oh, shit," seconds before the Terminator (now revealed as the Rev-9) busts through the wall with a truck and a... snowplow? I guess it's for moving stone and metal bits around the factory? Whatever. It's a lot. The police cars go flying.

Somehow Grace manages to drive AND explain backstory at the same time, which I admire, because I can barely talk and drive at the same time.

There's a lot of civilian casualties, mostly due to the Rev-9 snowplowing everything. They end up going backwards up the highway off-ramp and onto the highway. The Rev-9 busts through more things and loses the snowplow. It's a bad day to be driving in Mexico City, let's just say that much.

Grace gets the first "FUCK!" of the movie, as the check engine light of the truck comes on, so Dani gets to drive while Grace makes improvised weapons out of rebar. Oh, wait, Dani can't drive, so Diego gets to do it. (Hahaha, I guess Dani's going to learn how to drive soon because METAPHOR)

Graces eases off her jacket so she can blow off steam and leaps into the back of the truck, yelling for Dani to put her seatbelt on OH MY GOD THIS MOVIE. I love it.

She targets the Rev-9 and throws. He doesn't even flinch at the first one and catches the second one. She stabs him several times through and then he grabs the rebar and moves the polymetallic alloy portion of himself onto the front of the truck while the metallic Terminator skeleton drives.

[COMBINING THOSE TWO PARTS IS REALLY CREEPY AND ALSO THE BEST DECISION THEY COULD HAVE MADE 10/10 APPROVED]

It looks like the skeleton is laughing at Grace, but I think that's just his resting bitch face, lol.

Grace changes tactics and shoots for the tires. The Rev-9 jumps and throws a rebar back at her and Grace deflects it so it misses Dani. Then the truck is dragging the Rev-9's protoplasm while the other half crashes and Grace has to fend him off. Rev-9 takes this opportunity and slashes at the tires with his sword-hands. Grace kicks him off and he gets run over, but it won't take. Diego crashes the truck as the tire blows and Grace rolls and takes a bad fall onto the pavement. The Rev-9's skeleton crawls out of the flames.

DANI WORE HER SEATBELT SO SHE'S FINE WHILE DIEGO DIDN'T AND IS INJURED OH MY GOD THIS MOVIE THE DETAILS FUUUUUUCCCKKKK. Like, Grace knew Dani had to wear her seatbelt BECAUSE SHE'S FROM THE FUTURE AND OLDER!DANI TOLD HER TO DO IT! And younger!Dani DID IT! OH my GOD! (either that or they really are just that drift compatible)

Oh, no, Diego has rebar through him, he's not going to survive AAAAAAAAH no whhhhhhyyyyy

Meanwhile, some poor motorist tries to help the Rev-9 and is murdered for his troubles. sigh.

Grace has to pull Dani over the body of her dying brother seconds before the Rev-9 smashes into the car and everything explodes in fire. Dani tries to run to Diego and Grace holds her back. Grace makes Dani run.

All of the Rev-9's protoplasm is oozing back towards the skeleton in liquid dark smears on the ground and it's so creepy FUUUUCCKKKK

Oh god HE WALKS THROUGH THE METAL HIGHWAY GUARD LIKE IT'S NO BIG DEAL HOW CREEPY CAN YOU GET FUUUUCCKKK

And then the skeleton starts throwing rebar at them from the other SIDE fuuuuckk. this movie so isn't subtle, because there's the machine part and the human-looking part, and they're both working together as one, and this is a METAPHOR, we're meant to see the Rev-9 and Grace as FOILS to each other AAHHHHHH and the Rev-9 is also a SYMBOL OF WHAT HUMANITY CAN BECOME IF IT MELDS WITH AI, AHHHHHHH

Can I just note here that the skeleton part DOES NOT HAVE A ROUND HEAD THERE IS IN FACT A GAP WHERE ITS BRAIN SHOULD BE AAAAAAA

"When they start to kill me, run," Grace says to Dani. But... AN SUV pulls up, knocks the skeleton flat on its ass as the human part of the REV-9 just stares in dull, placid confusion.

next up: my fave returns!

#terminator #terminator: dark fate

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cherrycoveredpythia · 5 years ago

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Extended thoughts on Brave the Tempest

2017’s Ride the Storm closed out the four-book arc that also included Hunt the Moon, Tempt the Stars, and Reap the Wind. In these books, Cassie battled Ares and his minions while drawing closer to Pritkin and eventually hunting him through time and space. She learns more about her abilities while trying to save his life, and also becomes a reluctant power player in supernatural (and inter-dimensional) politics. Without her faithful companion by her side, she becomes more confident in her own powers and resourcefulness. Of course, she’s still Cassie, so all her discoveries and victories are slapdash and hard-won. But they are still victories. She’s a daughter of Chaos, give her a break.

Brave the Tempest focuses on Cassie’s political duties and her complicated feelings about being a leader and a “hero”. She’s now slain two gods (with help), but that doesn’t result in easy respect from the witches or the vampires. The witches see her as a tool of the Silver Circle, while the vampires see her as an extension of Mircea. They are all so wrong.

Cassie has to demonstrate her full strength to convince these factions to cooperate with her. It works, but nothing is ever simple. In the long run, who will love her and who will fear her?

She’s becoming more like her mother every day.

Overall feelings

There are some amazing, joyful moments here. Please understand that I adore these books and characters, so I say this with love…

… but the book felt disjointed to me. We buzz back and forth from the witches to the vampires to the demons, and then go to Faerie and Victorian England. We get emotional scenes with Mircea, Pritkin, Marco, Rhea, and Rico. Augustine brings home a kidnapped fae. Tami needs to hire some staff but no one will take the job. Fred is a spy. Cassie is exhausted. I felt kind of exhausted too.

Important plotlines: Cassie’s growing pains with her powers, the political trouble with the witches and vampires, and the imminent invasion of Faerie. And then there was the timeline rupture. The rupture was terrifying and the fight with Jo in Victorian London was a full-on horror show. Cassie learned more about Pythian spells and then linked up her powers with Pritkin through the Lover’s Knot spell. She’ll probably need these tools for the coming showdown. She and Pritkin are even more powerful together than they are apart. And they are both forces for good. But will everyone see them that way?

I think Karen is just laying out all the pieces for the next arc. It’s a little messy right now, but it will all fit together soon. I’m glad that Shatter the Earth is coming in December. If I had to wait another two years for the next book, I would be upset.

Favorite moments

Pritkin flirting and Cassie retaliating during S’mores night. Especially the marshmallow at the end. Goddamn.

The Dickening.

Everything related to Saffy and Vi, and seeing Saffy and Rhea becoming friends. I think she is a great influence on Rhea.

Pritkin and Cassie’s meeting with Adra. I high-key love Adra. He’s a really interesting foil for Caedmon, who leads their alliance with the “heavenly” planes. Caedmon is manic and charming, while Adra is pleasant and even-keeled. Except when he forgets to animate his glamourie. I reallllllly want to know what Adra looks like under there, but I figure he’s a Lovecraftian monster that would drive us insane.

Adra shading Pritkin for never attending demon council meetings like other “heirs apparent.”

Cassie nonchalantly offering to bring Adra to the vampire council.

Gertie nonchalantly easing Pritkin out of the room and shifting him to the depot.

Cassie borrowing Pritkin’s powers to suck the energy out of Jo.

Big events and revelations

Pritkin is not shy and neither is Cassie. I thought we would get some pussy-footing about their relationship, but we DID NOT. Pritkin came on strong and Cassie reciprocated. I wish I had a chance to read Siren’s Song first. They had some time to let the tension build and I *do* love a slow burn… torture me, baby!

Ancient Horrors! Children of Tiamat/Tethys! Pritkin is 1/16th divine! Kind of a watered-down Ancient Horror, if you will. Minus the tentacles.

Lover’s Knot

Fucking Jonathan

Invasion of Faerie needs to happen ASAP

Jo is more dangerous as a ghost because ghosts can absorb infinite power. (Can we turn Billy Joe into a super soldier???)

MIRCEA THE BOLD!

Cassie agreed to go find Elena because she’s afraid that Mircea will do it himself. And she doesn’t want to kill him.

Fred is a spy working for MARLOWE! And I guess his master power is camouflaging his aura.

Rico is from Napoli (this explains a lot, because I was confused when he said putanas instead of putane. Dialect!)

NEW PYTHIAN SPELLS: Shards and Chimera!

Young Agnes is a real bitch.

The pros

I said this in a separate post, but I’ll say it here too. Cassie and Pritkin are back together and their relationship is so healthy and mutually supportive that it makes my heart ache. This is real #relationshipgoals. They are confidants and protectors and cheerleaders for each other. They don’t keep secrets or manipulate or gaslight. We need more of this sci-fi/fantasy and romance. There are too many dark, brooding male love interests who are borderline abusive. (Ahem, Mircea.)

MORE LGBT REPRESENTATION!

The emergence of Mircea the Bold. I like Mircea as a character, but not as a love interest for Cassie. I’m happy to see him going through this transformation. He’s becoming more open and genuine. He’s not going to win Cassie’s affections, but I do think that he’s going to redeem himself in Dory’s eyes.

GERTIE IS BACK! And *not* as a roadblock. She’s a powerful woman who helps other women, and I am all. about. that. mood.

The cons

TOO. MUCH. RECAP. Especially recap that broke up highly emotional moments. I don’t care if you are trying to explain things for new readers. Fuck ‘em. Anyone who buys a book, discovers it is part 1000 of an ongoing series, and tries to read it anyways… is a psychopath.

Too many plot-lines

I miss Rosier.

We all knew that something was up with Fred, but I don’t think that his revelation as a spy got as much weight and screen-time as it deserved.

I feel like the “wrap-up” with Jonathan felt rushed. He’s supposed to be terrifying but I’m like “meh, whatever, Jonathan, small fry compared to Apollo and Ares.” But I think she’ll get back to it in greater depth in the next book, so I can deal.

Can we PLEASE have some consistency about Agnes’s age? We see her as a teenager in late 19th-century London, for god’s sake. She must have been *at least* 130 years old when she died, and that’s being charitable. Previously, Cassie has said that Agnes was about 80. Lies.

The questions

1. My BIGGEST question. Cassie is changing. Not just maturing, but changing on a metaphysical level. The coldness, the hunger… I’m frightened for her. It’s not withdrawal from the Tears of Apollo and it’s not normal exhaustion. I have some theories.

Her divine side is becoming stronger and she’s beginning to require life energy in the same way that her human side needs food, water, and sleep. Why is this happening now? Maybe the Tears of Apollo are part of the equation, albeit indirectly. She’s been using more and more Pythian power thanks to the potion, and perhaps that has awakened her divine side more strongly. This is a little worrisome because she may have to feed on a regular basis to stay functional. Can she get all the energy she needs from incubus sex or from the Lover’s Knot? What are the moral considerations here?

Less likely, but she might really be pregnant. I’m not a huge fan of this idea, but Rosier does mention in Reap the Wind or Ride the Storm that the incubus-child feeds on the life energy of the mother as it grows. That’s why his attempts at procreation failed until he impregnated Morgaine, who was part royal fae and part divine. If this is the case, Cassie might be having life-energy cravings instead of food cravings. Or maybe this is the divine/demon/fey version of morning sickness? Pritkin, please start using birth control.

2. What happened with Pritkin in Siren’s Song? Does Jonas know his true identity now?

3. So who is Pritkin’s divine great-great grandmother? Any speculation?

4. Cassie begins to wonder if any of the gods might be open to diplomacy. This must go somewhere. And it’s true, there are a number of gods in the pantheon who are traditionally friendlier towards humans than others. Athena is the first that comes to mind. There’s also the mythic trope of the Trickster/Fire-Bringer who helps humanity: Prometheus, Anansi, etc. And there’s Loki, who doesn’t so much love humans as he loves to trouble the other gods.

MVPs

Ok, Cassie is the real MVP, as always. But barring her, I’m awarding this prize to the no-nonsense, sisterly duo of our hearts: Gertie and Hilde. They are officious and annoying, but that’s because they tell you what you don’t want to hear, and they are RIGHT. They are so right.

#btt spoilers #brave the tempest #my disorganized thoughts #please feel free to disagree and discuss #cassie palmer #karen chance

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clarion-call-of-football · 5 years ago

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Instructions to Live a Luxurious Life on a Not-So-Luxury Budget

Like Coco Chanel, I cherish extravagance. My heart does palpitations when I stroll by the boutiques in Paris. A three-star Michelin café brings out groans and moans. Also, a spectacular tote and an inn staff that is always saying "My pleasure" at my every solicitation makes me grin.

I even built up an extravagance brains program where I have the pleasure of coaching an astonishing gathering of ladies while we travel to probably the richest places on the planet, for example, Aspen and Monaco. I believe it's significant that ladies figure out how to inject their organizations, lives, and spirits with extravagance. (Coincidentally, that pic is of us at our sleep party with a private cook at the Ritz.)

Call me vain, materialistic or whatever word you have for individuals like me. I couldn't care less. Actually, I get it. I use to feel the equivalent about individuals carrying on with "easy street," and, guess what? It wasn't on the grounds that I thought they were terrible individuals. Where it counts, I was simply envious, in light of the fact that I needed it as well.

This is what may not think about me. I haven't generally lived such a sumptuous way of life. Truth be told, I've been dead destitute. I'm talking about eating Ramen noodles, living in a twofold wide, pursuing down the K-bazaar blue light unique and putting 25 pennies worth of gas in my vehicle broke.

I'm likewise not a cash mentor, which means I don't show you how to get more cash-flow. I show you how to take advantage of your wants, make wellbeing, pursue your interests and live full out. Cash just appears to pursue such a lady.

What I've found is that you should initially figure out how to be a sumptuous individual to draw in a lavish life, which is the thing that "French Kissing Life" is about - filling every day with joie de vivre, energy and want - which can all be accomplished with minimal expenditure in the bank. Indeed, this strategy, not some cash the executives' framework, is actually how I pulled in the richest life.

I need to tell you the best way to do likewise, on the grounds that I realize where it counts, you'd most likely appreciate a decent container of wine or a night at the Ritz Carlton. What's more, there's nothing at all amiss with you for needing it. Actually, I state, "Pull out all the stops sista!"

Making it Obtainable

Not very many individuals are blessed enough to turn out to be medium-term tycoons, however, in the event that you need to carry on with a lavish life, you should adjust your vitality to extravagance. Anyway, what is a young lady to do?

All things considered, you may need to reclassify extravagance to make it realistic now, in such a case that your present definition is fine yachts and you drive a Pinto, prepare to have your mind blown. You're in a bad way.

Along these lines, we should consider extravagance this: quality individuals, encounters and things.

At the point when I chose numerous years back that I was tired of the poop in my life, I began looking for quality. I was finished with the low-quality nourishments, crying individuals and plastics made in China. I needed more for myself, yet I couldn't bear the cost of Chanel at the time (and in spite of the fact that I expound on her like we're closest companions now, despite everything I don't claim a piece.) I needed to begin indicating appreciation for the extravagances I needed to draw in a greater amount of it into my life, and trust me, in case you're understanding this, you have a PC. That is an extravagance.

Extravagance is about quality and in some cases the most quality encounters are free. I can't consider much else sumptuous than spending time with my girl on the couch viewing a great motion picture or my morning mug of espresso on my back deck.

Rather than me giving you some charm law of fascination direct on vitality arrangement to pull in more cash, I am going to share my genuine instances of how I started to encounter extravagance sometime before my first Ritz-Carlton remains (BTW, j'adore the Ritz). At the point when I began accomplishing the accompanying things, the universe of extravagance opened its enormous arms and grasped me:

1. I quit spending time with griping individuals who were continually discussing how broke they were. Significant extravagance repellent.

2. I searched out quality associations with individuals who were no aliens to extravagance. I needed to figure out how to think like them.

3. I invested more energy in nature. There's nothing as extravagant as strolling shoeless in the grass on a mid-year evening or a decent climb in the forested areas.

4. Extravagance despises scramble, so I backed off and delighted in cups of espressos discussions with companions.

5. I quit spending my cash on the poo 2 for $20 shirts and set aside to purchase the pleasant $100 one. Extravagance isn't about amount; the quality issues.

6. I hung out in the anterooms of fine lodgings and simply encountered the universe of extravagance. They don't charge you for anteroom space.

7. I drove a garbage vehicle so I could spend lavishly on great nourishment. Despite everything I drive a not exactly sumptuous vehicle, however, my life has not endured one piece.

8. I pursued my energy and went to sommelier school. The $500 starting speculation opened me up to an entire diverse degree of extravagance where I had the option to taste a $1000 jug of wine and state something extravagant like, "Hhhmm...I think it needs to breathe for some time." Major extravagance minute. (Coincidentally, by following my craving to study the universe of wine, I was approached to compose café surveys for a provincial magazine and make a wine program at a nation club, which prompted increasingly lavish encounters that paid me. How cool is that?)

9. I dressed and strolled like a lady of extravagance, which means I didn't leave my home in loose pants and a T-shirt with my shoulders drooped.

10. I turned into an understudy of extravagance, perusing quality writing, watching exemplary movies and understanding Town and Country and Vogue.

11. I quit tuning in to my musings that made statements like, "Young lady, you experienced childhood in a trailer. Who do you think you are?" It's simply unnecessary prattle.

12. I began completely captivating with my reality and the individuals in it, posing inquiries, looking for answers and always putting myself out there.

13. I put new blossoms in my home.

14. I visited my folks more. They generally make me feel like a Princess, in any event, when we lived in a twofold wide.

15. I searched out quality discussions that talked about the significant stuff, similar to death, life, religion, style and nourishment and wine. All things considered, at any rate, those things are imperative to me.

16. I went to extravagant occasions, for example, a direction for ladies at Duke's School of Business. Remember, I was filling in as full-time nurture and had never been doing business. These occasions likewise didn't cost me a dime other than the gas to arrive.

17. I began strolling through Saks as though I had a place, dislike some oddity whose eyes were going to fly out of my attachments when I saw the cost of a Louis sack. No, only a shoulder shrug like it wasn't the sack for me.

18. I ended up aware of what I put into my body and how I traveled through the world. Indeed, this implies eating well and working out.

19. I cleaned (and keep on cleaning) my universe of low-quality individuals, things and encounters. Extravagance doesn't coincide with mayhem, show, and mess.

20. I trusted I merited a lavish life. This is the most significant of all. Numerous ladies are strolling around feeling regretful on the off chance that they put $20 dollars in themselves. On the off chance that that is you, hear me out. You are not doing yourself or the universe of support by preventing yourself from claiming a lavish life. The most giving individuals I know enjoy a quality lifestyle, which is the manner by which they can help such a significant number of others. You must tidy this idea up to give extravagance access.

Reward: I recollected this one after I completed the article, so allows simply to consider it a reward. Something I began doing was favoring the individuals who carried on with an extravagant way of life, rather than judging and covertly loathing them. By saying, "You go young lady" each time I saw a lady shaking out her Prada dress, leaving the back rub parlor or sashaying into the Four Seasons, I was opening my heart to the Universe and saying, "Expedite it. I'm prepared!"

Tonya Leigh Williams is a mentor, speaker, and essayist. She is devoted to enabling ladies to make astounding lives and bodies without slimming down, hardship and show. Her enthusiasm is helping ladies discover opportunities from self-perception, weight, and nourishment issues. Tonya shows the insider facts of normally thin individuals, mentors ladies on ordinary eating without hardship, and tells ladies the best way to at the same time change their bodies while additionally living settled inside them. She has helped ladies get thinner, gain clearness and reason, and venture into another life free of battle. On the off chance that you are keen on getting familiar with training with Tonya Leigh.

#luxury #luxury lifestyle #strategies & tips

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bluerosesburnblue · 6 years ago

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This very nearly became a Kingdom Key Only run because I like challenge runs like that but honestly I never felt like sticking to the Kingdom Key was ever really a hindrance

...so let’s talk about that ending, from the start of the Keyblade Graveyard to the credits, yeah?

I cannot BELIEVE that Nomura gave us the Beach Party Ending we were all hoping for just to rip Sora away at the last second. Good GOD, man, who spit in your coffee?

So I guess we should get the elephant in the room out of the way, first. I’m actually not... that upset by the ending? Like, yes, I find it extremely ironic that the game that made me love Sora more than any other character in the game would essentially kill him off, but... okay, when Nomura said that the ending would be “hard to swallow” I had two worst case scenarios in mind. And I mean “worst case” in the “Nonononono he’d better not do that if he does I’m done” way

Scenario 1: Xehanort unlocks Kingdom Hearts. Either he’s stopped or he succeeds, but either way the damage is done and he’s too far along to stop and the universe is reset. All of the heroes are alright, they survive the ending, but the world of the game is changed irreversibly, forever. It’s all one World again, the Disney worlds are gone, or they’re there but they’ve been forced together in a weird jigsaw-puzzle way. The details don’t really matter, I just didn’t want a status-quo shakeup like that that gets passed off as a happy/bittersweet ending because the heroes survived

Scenario 2: Xehanort unlocks Kingdom Hearts. Either he’s defeated but whatever he started can’t be stopped, or Kingdom Hearts is the only thing that can defeat him. Either way, Sora has to use the power of Kingdom Hearts. He keeps the world exactly as it was, but has to give up his own physical existence to do so. After all, he who opens the door will become a god in the next world. Maybe he persists as a “force” that watches over his friends, but Sora is gone for good

What we ended up getting was... very similar to that second scenario, but it differs just enough to save it for me. At the very least, knowing that Sora and Kairi are connected and that Sora’s in Shibuya in the Secret Movie gives me enough hope that he can and will come back. Which, when compared to what I was afraid we were gonna get, leaves me weirdly optimistic. I still cried a lot (NOMURA I AM TAKING CUSTODY OF YOUR SON THAT’S MY SWEET BABY BROTHER NOW FIGHT ME) but I’m nowhere near as emotionally devastated as I could’ve been

And here’s the big thing, I liked most of the scenes in the Final Battle sequence. As scenes they were (mostly) fine. The reunions were heartwrenching (even if Sora is just kind of... there for most of them), the KHUx stuff was incredible (Ephemeeeeeer <3<3<3), the locales and concepts were all interesting. My problem was actually the order events happen in

So, first off, everyone dies way too fast. WAY too fast. It’s one of the two scenes I have a problem with. Everyone arrives at the Graveyard and fights a swarm of Heartless. They walk down a crevice and see Terra. A surprising amount of people get knocked out or injured trying to take care of just Terra-Xehanort? Then another big wave of Heartless shows up and everyone just... dies? Like, the second big scene in what is a very long finale and everyone dies? Hell, Aqua just gives up!

They also blew the KHUx Union X attack WAY too early. A set piece like that (it’s SUCH A GOOD CONCEPT AND THE SCENE WAS BEAUTIFUL) and you waste it on a big cloud of Heartless at the start of the final battle? Guys... guys that’s some last minute “all hope is lost, so here’s unexpected help” stuff, you shouldn’t just have that happen that soon

And the thing is... both of those scenes would be so much more impactful if they had happened later in the finale. Ideally, picture this:

The team takes care of the first swarm of Heartless. (You could have moments in that fight where you get a different guest Keyblade wielder, one at a time, in a callback to the KH2 Battle of 1000 Heartless with the FF characters). They’re feeling pretty good about it. They just all worked as a team for the first time together and they did alright. Maybe a little shaky. After all, most of them don’t really know each other that well. They can’t know each other’s styles or predict each others’ moves. Their teamwork is shaky, but they managed and that gives them some confidence. Maybe they can do this if they work together

Then Xehanort shows up. We can’t be having any of this “friendship” and “teamwork” nonsense. He throws up the labyrinth to try and separate everybody and pair off the Darknesses each to 1-2 Lights so that they clash, but the Darknesses are at a clear advantage. Unlike in the actual game, the labyrinth is crawling with Heartless to break up the tedium of the boss rush a bit. (I liked the idea of having to choose who to rescue first in the actual game, but it didn’t actually effect anything except which order you took the fights in.) While running through the Labyrinth you encounter different friends in different sections to help you fight off Heartless, and their boss fight is at the end of their section. That would give everyone just a bit more time to bond with each other. Maybe put in a few puzzles or something that make use of them creatively, like Ven and Aqua using wind and barriers to traverse their section of the Labyrinth. Just... everyone needs more time together. Some things about the fights and reunions would need to be changed, though. I wouldn’t be adverse to changing it up just slightly so that Lingering Will shows up as a guest for the Terranort + Vanitas fight, and it takes both Lingering Will and The Guardian to wrest Terra’s body back (instead of having Lingering Will only show up for Attempt 2 of the Terranort and Heartless Tornado Kill Everyone scene and then fuck off somewhere? Never seen again?) The Saix and Xion fight is also changed up. Roxas doesn’t just... appear from nowhere, and while this seems to be Xion... something’s off. It’s not really Xion, just a puppet made to look like her using data from the finale of 358/2 Days that had, miraculously, survived. This Xion is like the second Replica Riku (and can I just say thank GOD it’s not the “Riku from the past when he was controlled by Ansem” like they thought for the longest time because that was SILLY. Though I’m slightly disappointed that it wasn’t Data-Riku’s digital heart shoved into a Replica body like I’d theorized based on the trailers). This Replica gets purged, too, leaving two Replica bodies conveniently wearing Organization coats behind at the Keyblade Graveyard. We’ll get back to that

(Also, and this is just me, but I actually like how unrepentant Vanitas is. I think a lot of people forget that his sympathetic traits and background of abuse were novel-only things and the novel canon isn’t game canon in the same way that the Harry Potter movies aren’t book canon. Game!Vanitas has never been anything other than a completely unrepentant jackass, and Sora and Ven still gave him a chance to redeem himself. He just refused to take it, and I like that. It’s refreshing to have a character in KH not even try to justify their evil. He’s evil because he wants to be. It’s as simple as that.)

So, anyway, we have the labyrinth stuff. The team is worn down. NOW is where you place everyone dying. I don’t care if you keep it the same, or the Heartless Tornado is controlled by Ansem, or even just Ansem, Xemnas, and Young Nort pick everyone off because they’re all the same person, so of course their teamwork is stronger. You all weren’t good enough friends. You couldn’t have won, because none of you had fought together before, so your friendship was a detriment as you stumbled over each other and just assumed you’d be okay. Sora is left alone. And then he’s gone, too.

And here’s where you place the Final World. I think there was a big opportunity missed here. We get Namine separated from Kairi here. So here’s what I propose: remember all the talk throughout the game about the hearts within Sora’s melding with his, but they might be able to be saved if their memories and the parts of themselves were placed in the right boxes? Fffffffuckingggg... HAVE NAMINE AS A GUEST HERE and have it be just as much about putting Sora back together as it is separating the pieces of Roxas and Xion from him. Once you meet up with Namine’s star (or just have her have a physical form, too, since she’d be tethered to Kairi, too?) she helps out because now that Sora’s in pieces, it’s just a simple matter of sorting those pieces. Putting the scattered links in the chains of memories in different chains, back where they belong. Two hearts are released, now to find everyone else’s. Chirithy is still there, just give Nami some more time

(Also, add a colored tint to the stars or something that goes away after talking to them they were so hard to see)

Anyway. Dives. Lich. I don’t hate this section, I just think the Lich fights could’ve been a little more interesting? Also uhh... maybe have the characters hearts be found in worlds that actually, like... mean something to the character thematically? I guess Aqua in the Caribbean makes sense because water but it would make more sense to have her in Arendelle because ice is also water and she’s basically Ven’s big sis and there are quite a few parallels between the two relationships? The hell does Axel have to do with San Fransokyo? And since Terra would theoretically be there in the rewrite, we’ll need an extra world so place Axel in Twilight Town. Then I dunno. Donald in the Caribbean because he’s canonically a sailor. Ven in Corona because his isolation by Eraqus has parallels to Rapunzel only a bit less evil in intent. Terra in Olympus because that was the world he learned he could be a true hero and beat the darkness. Goofy in Monstropolis because out of all the characters he’s the funniest and they use laugh energy. Mickey in Toy Box because he’s the face of a major franchise and has so many toys based off of him you have no idea. That would place Riku in San Fransokyo where his Norted Replica counterpart was and also poetically make him and Kairi the last ones saved

SO EVERYONE’S ALIVE. We return to the land of the living. There’s no weird... like, time repeats or anything. The last four Norts are... kind of shocked! But also laughing it up because Sora just abused the Power of Waking to hell and back and they know what that means. Also, the lights are still at exactly the same disadvantage they were before they got revived. Or so they think until two bright lights emerge from the labyrinth behind them. That’s right, Roxas and Xion are here, having had their hearts freed from Sora’s in The Final World and taking the abandoned Replica bodies from the Labyrinth. Now we have the Sea-Salt reunion, sans the stuff with Isa because why the hell should Roxas and Xion just be sympathetic to Saix? Save that for a scene in the finale. Doesn’t even have to be spoken, just make it seem like Saix, Roxas, and Xion are trying to come to an understanding but still awkward around each other

After that I’m a little shakier, admittedly. I know you leave Ephemer’s appearance to summon the ancient Keyblades until the very end. I’d also have given him some line like “You remind me of an old friend” or something. Just... slight reference to Player

I have no idea how to work around the Kairi getting killed stuff and still get the ending Nomura wants! That’s the second scene I have a problem with. Sora doesn’t “need” motivation, he’s already prepped to bash the old man’s face in. I dunno... maybe opening Kingdom Hearts messes up Kairi’s light or something and that’s why she disappears? I dunno, there were better ways to do that if you HAD to kill Kairi, and better scenes if you didn’t, tbh

So in summary, I like the pieces of the ending, just not how they were put together. There was a lot of cool stuff in theory, it just wasn’t executed as well as it could’ve been for a more satisfying and emotional finale. The ending’s fine, and I honestly expected it to be a bit rushed considering how much they had to wrap up in this game, but I think it was a low point in what was otherwise a really fun and enjoyable finale to the story arc

I mean... I think that’s all I have to say about the ending, so here’s some assorted thoughts:

I think it was a missed opportunity to not have a Max Goof cameo at the end when the Disney trio is reunited with their loved ones and Goofy just stands there with Jiminy. Max wouldn’t even have been voiced. Just let him show up

I’m torn as to characters’ outfits in the Final Battle. On the one hand, I like how in the end all of the trios are wearing outfits that match the other members of their respective trios. On the other hand, I would’ve killed for EVERYONE to have had a new outfit with the black and plaid/gingham theme to show that they’re not just disjointed trios that happened to come together, but a big group of companions. Everyone is a Team, it’s not just a Team made of Everyone. They made excuses for Mickey’s shirt and Lingering Will’s cape. They could totally have done some “oh weird I guess getting brought back from the dead changed our clothes isn’t that convenient” thing

Why did they “break” Lea’s Keyblade only to have it be just fine when they needed to lock Kingdom Hearts? Why was that there?

I heard someone once say that KH3 was an “obligation.” And I can see where they’re coming from. While I loved the game overall and can feel the work and love put into it, between the sheer amount of sequel hooks and the rushed resolution, it does feel like Nomura just wanted to move on to the stuff he’d thought of in KHUx but had to wrap up the ongoing arc first. I’ve been spoiled on SOME of the Secret Reports, not all of them, but the Subject X stuff and Luxu’s true role with the box could’ve easily been put elsewhere. Maybe in a game in the next arc. That would’ve freed up some time in this game for a few more things, like giving Dark Aqua more screentime (she’s defeated in the same scene she’s introduced? Really?) and just in general spread the original plot stuff out more. As it is now, I feel the sequel hooks just distract from the current plot arc

I appreciate that they tried to give reasons for the Organization members to be in different worlds, but I don’t think it was executed that well. Yeah, we get explanations, like in some they’re performing more experiments on the heart and in others they’re searching for the New Lights, but they never do anything with what they accomplish in them. I was so sure they were going to do something with Data-Sora or Data-Riku because of the “digital heart” stuff in San Fransokyo, and NOTHING came of it. Here’s an idea: Data-Sora in Xion’s place among the Norts and Data-Riku in the Riku Replica’s place. Have Data-Sora look like Xion or act like her before the reveal. I dunno, just do SOMETHING with them. Have the Norts reference the Lights they found in the final battle or something. Just don’t drop them once the world is done

That being said, the worlds themselves were amazing, I really liked the original plots in Toy Box, Monstropolis, and San Fransokyo. The character interactions in Corona and Arendelle were delightful. I also loved the design for the Ice Labyrinth in Arendelle and Galaxy Toys in Toy Box. Would’ve loved to have seen more of the town in Corona but loved what we did get to see of it. The Caribbean was... alright, but did contain my favorite party member: a shambling pile of crabs that were gifted sapience by an ocean goddess so that Sora could free her, only for her to get freed by someone else offscreen

Funny enough I actually didn’t care much for The Caribbean and San Fransokyo, but for opposite reasons. The Caribbean was FAR too open for its own good (I am NOT an open-world person and bad at navigating, so the ship, while interesting in concept, was a nightmare) and San Fransokyo was too scripted (I felt like I was locked in Hiro’s garage). I didn’t hate them, but I also 100% completed every other world and decided that with those two, it just wasn’t worth doing before beating the game. I didn’t hate either of them, and my feelings may change when I go back for treasures and lucky emblems

I absolutely killed Davy Jones with the Pirate Ship attraction. Pass up the opportunity to summon a neon pirate ship on top of a hyper-realistic pirate ship during a climactic battle? Who do you think I am?

I love how Ephemer’s name in the journal is just “???” because that’s an accurate representation of Sora’s reaction. “Who is this guy? Why is he here? Huh???” But I know. I know who the best dandelion boy is. So typical of him to swoop in at the last minute to save you and then disappear to who knows where

I ADORE that the final battle is Sora, Donald, and Goofy together and that the final attack is Trinity Limit. Sora coming back on his own from no health just for Trinity Limit was AWESOME and such a perfect end to the series, gameplay-wise

And finally, I am a little sad that the one theory I had throughout the game was wrong. I’d thought that, since Young Xehanort and Eraqus are always shown in in Scala ad Caelum, that it wasn’t a flashback but simply their spirits playing a metaphorical chess game in the afterlife. Their dialogue after the final battle seems to indicate that that isn’t the case

Also, and this is just for me, but my final death count was 5

Once to the Tornado Titan due to having a poor grasp of Airstepping and NO grasp of Rage Form, killed myself thanks to spamming Riskcharge

TWICE to the electric arena trap in Verum Rex because I am SO BAD at shooters and ejected myself directly into the Death Pit twice

Once during the ship battle portion of the Zombie Kraken fight

Once during the Union X Keyblade summoning because I was too busy reading the list of names to notice the text on the screen that said “HEY IDIOT DODGE ATTACKS DON’T JUST SIT THERE WHAT ARE YOU DOING”

But for now, I think I’m out of stuff to say about KH3. I’m sure I’ll find more once I’ve processed everything, but for now...

now we’ve just got to wait for Sora to come home

#liz's shenanigans #kingdom hearts #kingdom hearts 3 #kh3 #kingdom hearts 3 spoilers #kh3 spoilers #kingdom hearts iii spoilers #khiii spoilers #i should mention that this isn't ONLY final battle stuff #i threw some opinions from other parts of the game in there #it's just primarily about the finale

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makerof150papermasks · 6 years ago

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The Three Governments of Spyro the Dragon

Today, I have something really interesting that I feel would be worth talking about. Now I remember recently reading a post titled “’Kirby Super Star’ is a Marxist critique of the Soviet Union,” which delves into the titular 1996 SNES video game so deeply and somehow matches it up with certain pieces of USSR history (Reddit). After viewing this, I began to think, “I know a few other games that I could analyze like this guy did with Kirby.” Yes, I was motivated so much by this blog that I had a hunch to work on my own research chat.

Now the games I am about to talk about are the first three games in the Spyro the Dragon series first released for the PlayStation from 1998 to 2000, titled Spyro the Dragon, Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage, and Spyro: Year of The Dragon (Additionally, all three titles recently received a remake collectively titled “Spyro Reignited Trilogy,” which makes this document relevant as of 2019). With a little research, I was able to pair those games with a government that best defined them in a nutshell. Of course, not all real-life elements of these governments may actually match up with how any of the fictional societies depicted operate, but I’ve tried my hardest to make sure the details match up strongly enough that they can be talked about.

*If you haven’t played the games yet and don’t want to be spoiled, then don’t bother reading!

Spyro the Dragon: Confederation (Left)

I want to start this discussion by saying something unique about this first third of the review: unlike the latter two titles, Spyro the Dragon seems to promote the idea of its featured form of government rather than point out the significant flaws and ensure the audience doesn’t sympathize with the concept at hand. First off, I want to give you folks a good look at how the populace of the Dragon Worlds goes about their lives and organizes themselves socially speaking. For those of you don’t already know enough about the game’s context, there are five socially-unique sectors that each owe something important to the well-being of the larger society. The Artisans represent the working class, the Peace Keepers are equivalent to a military system, the Magic Crafters are most likely representative of the business owners and upper class (As noted by the sheer presence of overly-elegant architecture in their specific area), the Beast Makers represent those who work in health, medical, biological, and other science-related fields, while the Dream Weavers can be considered a spiritually-grounded group of dragons who are experts in the field of meditation. Then there’s the extra sixth sector known as Gnasty’s World (Residence of main antagonist Gnasty Gnorc, who holds no true political power under any circumstance; therefore, I will leave him out of the equation), which I’ll just shoehorn into the sanitation sector, even though it would still easily be associated with the working class (Artisans).

With the exception of Gnasty’s World, these groups all serve an equally vital role in establishing the economic stability and societal foundation of the Dragon Worlds, in the form of a confederation. Now if you folks are wondering what that’s supposed to mean, here’s the definition; “an organization which consists of a number of parties or groups united in an alliance or league.” For a historical example, the United States operated in this manner under the Articles of Confederation of 1777, which was ratified in 1781 and formed a society whose power lay mostly in the hands of the member states. Up until 1789, these states could establish laws without having to worry about a federal government trampling over those laws since the existing equivalent had far less political power than the one present (Reference.com).

Revisiting my view from the previous paragraph, it can be noted that each of the first five sectors can be viewed as separate, autonomous states that, in spite of their different approaches to solving daily situations, hold a common view of some sort that unites them into a larger entity. While it’s not known in canon if the sectors that dragons live in have ever come into conflict with each other at any point, I will bring up some backstory later on that may be worth identifying.

Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage: Empire (Middle)

Now looking at the titular villain and his path to wretchedness, picture him as this small, colonial society. From what we’re aware of based on the context provided in-game, Ripto and his cronies have no idea that Avalar (The main setting of this sophomore title) even exists at first. Now keep in mind that since Ripto despises dragons, he’s picky about where he wants to expand his influence. But anyway, once he finds himself in this dragon-free dimension, it becomes the perfect opportunity for Ripto to slowly nibble away at the land until there is no more for him to take over, aka, colonize. Of course, once Spyro shows up, the horned, red midget becomes rather peeved, prompting him and his goons to actually begin setting up the framework for his proposed kingdom.

Throughout the events of the game, Ripto not only uses his magic to spread his negative influence across the dimension (AKA: Cause various beasts and baddies to run amok and result in calamity), but we are also shown the blue banners of Avalar being rolled back in favor of emblems donning the antagonist’s mug, THRICE. According to my searches, an empire is defined as, “an extensive group of states or countries under a single supreme authority, formerly especially an emperor or empress.” In this case, Ripto can easily be seen as emperor because at his highest position, he holds control over not just his two reptilian brutes (Who serve as a metaphor for his “kingdom” at its most basic), but also numerous realms scattered throughout Avalar, each serving as their own formerly independent municipalities until he enters the picture.

Now here’s another point: even with Spyro around, Ripto still feels the need to settle in Avalar because there are no dragons around other than Spyro himself currently present to scare him away, which thereby gives him access to a shipload of land and resources. When it came to real-life empires, they were strategic regarding which areas to conquer. For example, the Roman Empire wouldn’t go east into modern-day Germany because the cost of conquest in that area was far above the monetary worth earned from the extractable resources available in that region (The Daily Reckoning).

Moving on, the western half eventually collapsed primarily due to internal conflicts over power that left them exposed to outsiders (The eastern half, dubbed “The Byzantine Empire,” managed to survive until 1453, when it fell to Turkish invaders as a result of their victory in the Byzantine-Ottoman wars). In-game, the biggest reason Ripto is defeated is because he overlooks the possibility of Spyro collecting Avalar’s sacred talismans and orbs, which collectively allow the young dragon to pass through the barriers that separate both parties.

Spyro: Year of The Dragon: Totalitarian State (Right)

Jumping ship to the final third of the original Spyro trilogy, we now examine the Forgotten Realms and its central government in the form of the despotic, blue crocodilian-esque Sorceress. Now the previous two games sugarcoated their subject matter immensely (Though the second game still views the concept of an empire as a detrimental idea), but this time the game doesn’t make things look as rosy. First and foremost, The Sorceress displays a position of superiority around anyone in her vicinity, and in an overly aggressive manner most of the time. Already, we’re seeing her being established as a straw tyrant; alas, there is still so much more to discuss regarding the Forgotten Realms operating as a political body that blatantly abides by the guidelines of totalitarianism. Now where do we begin on this topic?

My first point of conversation in this segment is that unlike Gnasty Gnorc or Ripto in the previous two games (Now although the latter does become “ruler” near the end of his respective game, he doesn’t spend nearly enough time to be officially considered a grand-high patriarch by any of the residents of Avalar), The Sorceress is a formally-recognized monarch, is referred to as such by the inhabitants of the Forgotten Realms, and to make matters much worse, has been ruling this same exact dimension, in the same throne for AT LEAST 1000 YEARS. Not only that, but at one point, the dragons currently living dwelling in the Dragon Realms once lived in the Forgotten Realms. But when they left, they took their magic with them and as the centuries passed, magic began to drain and caused their fancy-schmancy portals to stop working. We’re convinced to think that the reason The Sorceress has become so wary of Spyro’s presence is because he will disrupt her plans to gather the eggs they had stolen from the dragons; she is supposedly gathering them in order allow this upcoming generation of winged reptiles to bring magic back to the dimension she rules over.

I will bring up that part about the dragons and the eggs again, but there is an important detail that points further to establishing The Sorceress as an antagonist known for taking full advantage of her position over everyone around her and therefore preventing anyone from reasoning with her other than Spyro and a slew of animal friends she had recently imprisoned. A little more than a quarter way into the game, Spyro finds himself in a realm known as Enchanted Towers; it is here that he discovers that a slew of lavender-skinned counterculture humanoids had been tasked with erecting a statue built in their highness’ likeness.

There’s just so much to talk about regarding what the statue situation represents, but first let me define what this government is. Totalitarianism is described as being, “a system of government that is centralized and dictatorial and requires complete subservience to the state.” The aforementioned statue in Enchanted Towers is probably one of the biggest pieces of evidence pointing to the Forgotten Realms operating under that kind of system. To start, the Sorceress displays unrivaled power in the world she inhabits and no one dare beg to differ with her on that matter. This is clearly evidenced by the fact that the citizens of Enchanted Towers mention that they certainly did not enjoy creating this tremendous work of art (Though they agree that it looks prettier than the actual character herself, further driving the sense of rebellion in), but they completely understand that going against what The Sorceress is telling them to do is like flirting with death.

You, the reader, have to realize that this is a form of government where there isn’t a legislative or judicial system to limit executive power. Heck, that’s not even getting into the fact that the denizens of the Forgotten Realms have neither a right to free speech nor the freedom to vote in elections, as far I’m aware. It’s certainly no fun living in a society where one person holds all the social and political power and you’re not that one person, nothing delightful about that (And there’s nothing anyone can do to change the fact unless someone successfully uses force to overthrow the one in power so they wouldn’t be able to enforce their laws any longer).

Before getting to the climax of this essay, it’s that time I bring up a real example. Although I’d be talking about a dictatorship along the lines of Nazi Germany, I’ve decided to take a more interesting example from further back in history. The Qin Dynasty, an empire to which China borrows its name from, relied on an authoritarian set of regulations that would become hugely influential to every Chinese-based dynasty that followed. Although it only lasted from 221 to 207 BC, there’s still some valuable information to extract from this chapter of human history. It also makes sense for me to select this example because the game’s title, Year of The Dragon, references a specific birth year on the Chinese Zodiac (Speaking of which, the year the game itself originally released just happened to land on a dragon year, which only happens once every twelve years).

Now allow me to continue with the example. Under the commissioning of Emperor Qin Shi Huang, the very first leader of a unified China, came a standardized system of writing and a strictly-guided formula for measuring the width, weight, and length of highways. Huang also oversaw construction of what would become the first section of The Great Wall of China and eventually went on to abolish the feudal system that flourished during the Zhou Dynasty decades earlier (In which landowners owed allegiance to the emperor as a result of kinship rather than fulfilling legal obligations). In addition, he commissioned the burning of almost all of the books currently available in that region at the time, only sparing those that provided information on topics like medicine and issued gigantic tax levies in an effort to pay for his military and construction expenses. This matrix of catastrophes led to a rebellion following Qin Shi Huang’s death in 210 BC, which went on to ultimately knock the Qin Dynasty out of power and make room for the Han Dynasty roughly 3-4 years later (Britannica).

Now what I’ll be explaining next is going to be extremely horrifying in hindsight, so grab your popcorn and hold your breath. While exploring Evening Lake, the third home world of the game, Spyro’s close friend Hunter winds up in a subterranean trap set up by The Sorceress that was meant for Spyro himself to prevent him from collecting any more of the dragon eggs that she desperately wanted to remain untouched. He is then approached by her servant, a magician-in-training named Bianca (To whom he has a developed a liking for over the course of the synopsis), who comes to tell the caged cheetah that the reason the dragons left so many years ago was because it had to do with their wonderful wings. As they began to realize that the obese blue saurian autocrat wanted to clip them off to give her immortality, they had no choice but to find solace in another reality. Linking this information to Spyro 1, we can now go back to viewing the example of confederation as the United States during the era of the Articles of Confederation, trying to recuperate from their religious tension with the monarchy of England and emigrating from there before ultimately deciding to settle in North America and establish a self-governed nation over the course of several decades. In the Spyro continuity, the dragons succeeded in building an autonomous series of societies in the then-vacant Dragon Realms following their disastrous affair with The Sorceress, where they then proceeded to push aside Gnasty Gnorc to the wastelands at some point later in time so they would have enough room to properly establish their footing in this uncharted land.

But sadly, that is not the end of the suspense; when Bianca returns to her master’s throne room, she discovers a dreadful truth she hadn’t been aware of until now. Ever since her henchmen brought the yet-to-hatch eggs back from the Dragon Worlds, The Sorceress hoarded them not because she wanted them to return their magic to the Forgotten Realms once they did hatch, but because she wanted to KILL THEM FOR THEIR WINGS LIKE SHE ATTEMPTED TO DO WITH THE ADULT DRAGONS BEFORE THEY LEFT. What she’s basically telling us is that she plans on committing an act of GENOCIDE ON AN ENTIRE GENERATION OF NEWBORNS in a similar manner to how Hitler promoted the large-scale massacre on an enormous number of Jews during the Holocaust.

With not a pinch of sympathy for anyone but herself by this point, the malevolent indigo monarch has become nothing short of a filthy caricature for the horrors of tyranny and dictatorship. By the way, she didn’t have to kill the newborns at all for that to happen, she just felt the need to do so JUST BECAUSE SHE DIDN’T WANT TO SEE THEM SQUIRMING AROUND IN HER QUARTERS. Prompting a drastic change of heart, Bianca decides to cease working for her master, opting to rescue Hunter from the trap her former supervisor had set up in Evening Lake. Fed up with the treason her lackey recently committed, The Sorceress decides to create an absurdly powerful, bat-winged monster intended to annihilate practically everyone in her opposition (Simply put, that means almost the entire population of the world she governs, plus Spyro and some of the friends he bought along).

Even though Spyro manages to eradicate The Sorceress for good, (Much to the satisfaction of the Forgotten Realms inhabitants) the atrocious myriad of actions she takes during that one game position her as an antagonist who is regarded as a dark villain for a normally light-hearted sugar bowl series like Spyro, thereby leaving an indelible mark on the narrative of that franchise’s continuity. Serving as a harsh critique for the concept of autocracy and its consequences on the people, Spyro: Year of The Dragon uses a surprisingly pathos-inducing series of events that favors a call to action for executive reform, appealing to the wants and needs of the governed rather than the desires and aspirations of the government itself.

Sources:

Kirby Super Star: https://www.reddit.com/r/FanTheories/comments/39dbqi/kirby_super_star_is_a_marxist_critique_of_the/

Confederacy: https://www.reference.com/government-politics/examples-confederate-government-230a5f967d7f24fa

Empire: https://dailyreckoning.com/how-empires-really-work/

Totalitarian State: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Qin-dynasty

https://www.reference.com/history/feudalism-ancient-china-8ddd0bf737a29fc5

#spyro reignited trilogy #spyro the dragon #playstation games #i need to post more often #my very first critique #enjoy ur day

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grad502davidneville · 2 years ago

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True Cost Notes

lBiggest producers of fast fashion

H and m

Zara

Forever 21

Gap

Export work to have happen in whatever way we want and then the products come back to me cheap enough to throw away without thinking about it - tonight show star

Globilised production basically means that all the making of goods has been outsourced to low cost enconomie partially where wages are very low and kept low -

931 dead because they were trying to skip corners and keep on manufacturing so ignored an evacuation

Runa plaza disater

The workers already knew and pointed out that there were cracks in the building and was structurly unsafe and advised to management but workers forced them back in

$2 a day

Bangladesh prices

More than 1000

litterally in same week, another factory caught fire and killed 8 people

3 out of the 4 worst fashion related tradgedies had happend in the last year

2015

as the death toll rose, so did the profits generated

3 trillion dollar industry

low wages, unsafe conditions and factory disasters are all excused because of the needed jobs they create for people with no alternatives

current conclsuion- the elimantation of fast fashion eleimates a huge amount of jobs that are needed for these people

recyceling clotehs will elimae jobs

making the same amount of good clothes with better working conditions, wages and better for environment means same amount of jobs but ultimately wouldnt work as demand would be less as clothes are more expensive

Our planet, or are people?

40million factory workers in tyhe world, almost 4 million in banglasdesh

now its 75 million

over 85% woman, minimum wage of only $3 a day

terribly hot ]

chemicals inside factory

1 in every 6 people today work in some part of the global fashion industry, making it the most labour dependant industry on earth

2015

80 billion pieces of clothing each year

400% more than the amount we bought 2 decades ago

fashion can never and should never be thought of as a disposable product- woman

average american throws away 82 pounds of textile waste each year

adding up to 11 million tonnes of textile waste by the us alone

most of being not biodegradable so sits landfull to 200 years or more while releasing harmul gases into the air

She has to leave

the incredibly low wages that attract fast factory industires have left millions working incrediby long hours unable to afford to keep their children with them, in order to give their children a better future then life in factoriers, leave thier children to friedna and family only getting to see them once or twice a year

I belive these clotehs are produced by our blood, people have no idea what hard work goes behind it, they only wear it

I dont want anyone wearing anything produced by our blood

capatilism must expand infinetelty in order to survive, capital

the real world does have limits

stop treating people like things

stop treating people in ways that were just about profit

imagery idea- person with clothes that are dripping in bloof, list of all the recent accidents

statisfied with a system that makes us feel rich while making the rest of the world so desperatly poor

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juniorformulamotorsport · 6 years ago

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Wednesday, May 16th – Day 12, Pugnac, Bordeaux, Saint Emilion

It was a stupidly early start for us (well, not for E and W) because we were off on an excursion into the vineyards of Bordeaux. Our restaurant owning friends at Rascills had recommended that we take a long look at Winerist for getting the most out of trips to wine growing areas, and finding ourselves in Bordeaux, I’d taken them at their word and had a look to see what trips were available. We settled on their full day trip to Pomerol and Saint Emilion, through Ophorus, at a cost of €130 per person. The trip would involve no more than 8 guests, in an air-conditioned minibus, with our own dedicated tour guide, and we would get to visit three vineyards, with tastings at each, and would also visit the medieval town of Saint Emilion, where we would have time for lunch. The pre-sales service was most impressive, with answers to my questions about the difficulty of getting into Bordeaux during the early morning rush provided rapidly and accurately (as it turned out).

The bad news was we needed to be at the Bordeaux Tourist Information office at 12 Cours du 30 Juillet by 09:30. We set the alarm for 06:00 and headed out onto the road by 07:30. This meant we were at the rendezvous in good time. It meant we had time to buy a new batch of Bordeux City Passes, and then use them to book a dinner cruise on the Garonne at a 25% discount. With time to spare, we nipped next door into Baillardran for a coffee and a canele, and then congregated outside to wait for our driver to come and collect us.

By 09:30 we were in the bus, and Hugo, our guide, was filling us in on the Bordeaux appelation and how it all works, including the information that Saint Emilion contains around 850 chateaux, a chateau basically being any building on a piece of land that has vines on it, no matter how tiny said building is; it could even be a garden shed and still be a chateau. Hugo was incredibly knowledgeable, spoke excellent English, and was more than happy to engage with us all. We were quickly out of town and heading towards Saint Emilion. Our first stop was one of the Pomerol vineyards, Chateau du Tailhas, where the charming Aurelie showed us round the vines, explaining the way in which grapes grow and develop, and how they are trained and pruned and harvested, and speaking entertainingly and amusingly about the wines as if they are particularly awkward children who need to be pushed to leave home.

She was happy to answer any questions any of us had, discussing the ways in which they try to protect the crop, and explaining that the massively empty field next to where we were standing was about to be replanted with new grapes, the old vines that were there previously having been grubbed out after frost damage to the vines in 2017 meant they really would not have had much to harvest. Their intention to replace the vines “some time in the future” became “might as well do it now”.

We were then guided into the chai (where we learned about the tanks that are used for the initial vinification, which at du Tailhas are a choice of stainless steel or concrete, both of which have their pros and cons when it comes to maintaining a steady temperature.

We would hear a lot about these tanks during the day, with opinion varying on which is best. The one thing all three of the vintners we visited agreed upon was that French oak barrels were the way to go. On how long they should be used for, it again varied, between one and two years, but again there was consensus on who they should come from, all three places using the same three coopers.

Finally we returned to the house where several wines were set out ready to be tasted. We’d been told that if your were after the best possible Bordeaux wines, you could do worse than to rely on the rule of 5/10, with 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2015 being particularly good.

We tasted several wines and Lynne and I agreed that we particularly liked the 2008 because we are not patient people, and do not want to wait for the 2015 to be ready to drink. Laying down wines for a decade or more is fine when you’re in your 20s or 30s, but not when you’re pushing 60 in my opinion. I want wines that will be good to drink now. We also liked the 2008 because it had developed a splendidly jammy flavour, the fruit dense and lovely, and so we asked about returning to the chateau in two days time, with the car. We really didn’t want to have to drag a couple of cases back with us via public transport and a boat cruise. That would be fine, Aurelie said, though I’m not sure she expected to see us again.

From there we were back in the minibus, with Hugo explaining how the classifications for Saint Emilion wines work, with only four chateau making it to the top level (but also how there are apparently certain things they need to have that have absolutely no bearing on the wine and its quality, such as private parking for the security of VIP guests!), and 14 in the second level. It’s clearly a process that is rife with controversy, which is understandable when you see the prices the top four get away with charging for their wines (€2000 a bottle in some instances, more as the wines mature). We were utterly stunned by this price list – and yes that does say €15,950 for a single bottle of 1945 Chateau Mouton-Rothschild.

Before there was more wine, however, we were treated to a brief but informative tour of Saint Emilion, which is a glorious place, another UNESCO World Heritage site, and as a result an obvious tourist trap. We started in the Collegiate church, formerly a monastery church, now the parish church for Saint Emilion. It has something of an identity crisis going on, one end of it being solidly Gothic in style, the other Romanesque, as if someone had bolted two different churches together.

The cloisters are beautiful and contained some fascinating art works.

The main piece seemed to be a depiction of the apocalypse in a serious of panels, some monochrome, some colour, which wasn’t exactly cheerful, but was rather wonderful. I particularly liked the almost medieval style of the work, though I had no idea who the artist was or why it was currently sitting in the cloisters. I have since found this so I have a better idea. I would say that if you’re in the area, it’s definitely worth a look, though you’ll need to get a move on as it’s only there until July 2018.

We then walked to the upper part of the town, and the bell tower of the monolithic church where the original Saint Emilion had his hermitage. The were super views of the whole town from up there, though the weight of the tower is apparently now causing problems for the church which is basically a cave carved out of the rock below it, which means that visitor numbers have to be limited.

We did also briefly look at the Hostellerie de Plaisance, which looks like our sort of place, though the prices made our eyes water a bit! It has a 2 Michelin starred restaurant, but we decided not to go there for lunch… Instead, we asked Hugo where he would recommend for good, regional cooking, and he made two suggestions, the one we took being the very pleasant Lard et Bouchon, described by the Tourist Information website as a “restaurant and wine bar is located in Chateau Larmande‘s former cellars” where it “enjoys the perfect air conditions of a 14th century cellar”. It was a hot day outside so the cool cellar was very welcoming, as were the front of house staff.

We ordered aperitifs (of course we did) and had a study of the menu du jour, deciding that once more we would not have starters because we’d just end up falling asleep in the afternoon. Armed with our new found knowledge, we also tackled the wine list from a much more informed position, ordering a half bottle of 1999 Chateau Cadet-Bon, which we thoroughly enjoyed.

It went well with the veal sweetbreads, which were well cooked and served with mashed and croquette potatoes, and a small handful of seasonal vegetables.

Lynne had a confit duck leg, with the same accompaniments.

It wasn’t a stunning lunch, but it was solidly well cooked, well presented and we were happy at the end of it. We didn’t have dessert, we didn’t even have cheese, we just walked back through the winding steep streets to rejoin the party. What the others did, we have no idea – they were pretty uncommunicative, the Japanese couple because only the wife spoke any English, the American couple I have no idea why, though they did open up a bit later in the day after a few more wine tastings.

We went next to Chateau Guadet, which is actually in the town itself (with its vineyards a stone’s throw from the front door). Here we were again shown the chai, with those same oak barrels, but here only the concrete tanks, not stainless steel. The owner’s son, Vincent-Petrus Lignac, showed us round, and then took us to see the underground tunnels they use to store the wine. Apparently they put aside 1000 bottles of every vintage for the family’s own use and as a sort of wine archive, and have done since 1901. It’s naturally cool down there, but to keep it that way visits can only last for four minutes. It’s also down a very steep stairway which you need to negotiate sideways or backwards, rather like being on a ship. As a result, the Japanese couple opted to stay in the garden and wait for us, as he was not especially young or mobile.

No photos were allowed so I can’t show you the cellars, but the garden is very peaceful and lovely, and the Japanese couple were most amused when we popped up at the other end to where we’d vanished underground before.

Guy also talked about the fact that they, like many other wine makers in the appellation, have moved first to organic production, and then to bio-dynamic planting and growing. There is a suggestion that in the next decade or so that will be the case with all the growers in the region. I find it hard to be convinced by the who bio-dynamic thing, but the people we spoke to all seemed utterly certain that there were benefits to it, and I suppose it’s just a way of taking working with the seasons a step further. Anyway, after that we walked to one of the many, many wine shops in the town, with Guy then taking us through a tasting of several of his and other people’s wines.

We settled on a case of 2015 Chateau Martet Réserve de la Famille AOC Sainte-Foy Bordeaux, unusually made from 100% Merlot grapes. In addition we picked up a case of dessert wines, and were able to arrange to have it all shipped back via UPS. That was a far better option than having to carry it back to the bus up the steep, slippery paths from the town square. It was hard enough hauling ourselves up there.

Back in the bus, we had one more chateau to visit, and one more tasting to look forward to. This time we went to Chateau Grangey, which has as long a history as the other chateaux, but not in its current form. Franck and Elodie Mio are the young couple now running the place, his parents and grandparents having had other jobs rather than being full time winemakers. The result was that the grapes were sent to the cooperative cellar of the Union des Producers of Saint-Emilion. That all changed in 2009, when Franck took over, and starting in 2012, carried out a complete restructuring of the winery and all the buildings. He and Elodie made their first wine on site in October 2013, and we tasted that, plus some of the other wines that have been produced since. First, however, we needed to see the winery itself, and again there was agreement on the French oak barrels, and not on the tanks (stainless steel, computer-monitored and controlled here).

I found the flatness of the vineyards especially fascinating after our Mosel trip last year. It always seems odd to me that such different terrain can be used to grow what is essentially the same thing.

The tasting was good, and again we made a note to come back on the Friday, having checked that they would be open to sell us some wine then. Visit over, Hugo rounded us up and took us back to Bordeaux, dropping us off tired but happy at the Tourist Information office with one last nugget of information to keep us entertained. Apparently there is a good market for any wine that doesn’t make the grade, with much of it being added to the 2% that goes to the government for the use of the French armed forces. The extra is sold for cosmetic use, most of it to Caudalie!

Travel/Food 2018 – French Road Trip, Day 12, Pugnac, Bordeaux, Saint Emilion Wednesday, May 16th – Day 12, Pugnac, Bordeaux, Saint Emilion It was a stupidly early start for us (well, not for E and W) because we were off on an excursion into the vineyards of Bordeaux.

#2018 #Bordeaux #Cooking #Europe #Food #Food and Drink #France #French Road Trip #Hospitality #Lard et Bouchon #Lunches #Pomerol #Pugnac #Restaurants #Saint Emilion #Sightseeing #Travel #Wine

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murasaki-murasame · 3 years ago

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So I was planning to just wait until the big end of summer banner in GBF to spark, but then they decided to put Summer Mimlemel and Kumbhira on rate-up in this banner, so one thing lead to another and now I’ve sparked on this banner instead and I have to hope I don’t regret it too much, lol.

TL;DR: if water’s first grand in over 1000 days ended up being the boss from an event that came out like six years ago would that be fucked up or what

On top of the fact that Mim and Kumbhira are the summer units i’ve been wanting the most [and this would be the last chance to get Mim until like the next annitix or something], and the fact that fire GW is coming up next month, this was an extremely tempting banner for me because basically all the tools to set up an agni grid have been falling into my lap recently, so I figured it’d be a good idea to just keep leaning into that.

Like, I got four Ixabas in my Nehan spark, I have a Rein fist and one or two copies of Benedia, I have two Agnis, and one Wilnas. So in terms of grid pieces and stuff I have basically everything I need to set up a good Agni grid, and I have a huge amount of good flame units, with Mim and Kumbhira being some of the main ones I was missing. I don’t have Alanaan, Fraux, or Tien yet, but they’re a whole different story.

Anyway, long story short, here’s what I got:

-Summer Mim [three times, lmao]

-Grand Poseidon [I’m honestly not even sure how much use I’ll get out of him but it’s nice to have him, lol]

-Yukata Yuisis

-Summer Farrah

-Summer Lowain

-Summer Ippatsu

-SR Jeanne

-Water Yuel

Then I sparked Summer Kumbhira.

Also I got Yukata Yngwie from the recent summer star premium, and SSR Therese from the PG ticket we got from the new summer missions.

So at the very least I got the two main units I wanted, and the new grand, but I was kinda hoping against hope that I’d get both of them during the spark so I could go for Grand Narmaya instead to prepare for wind GW. Oh well, lol. Even if I had waited to spark until the end of the month, it probably would have been even more likely that I’d have had to spark for Kumbhira or another new summer unit instead of her anyway, I guess.

I’m also a little sad I missed out on Summer Meg, but I have enough good dark units that it’s not a huge deal, and all of the other new summer units that I don’t have by now don’t interest me much. I know we’re gonna get one more batch of summer units this month, which is part of why I was scared to spark here, but ultimately I think the ability to get Mim from this banner outweighed the possibility of those unknown units being worth saving for.

At least I avoided the worst case scenario of getting neither of my two targets during my summons, lmao. I’m not entirely sure who I would have prioritized sparking in that case.

Anyway I guess now my plan with my next spark is to just start hoarding for the end of the year. We should get roulette during the gala banner that introduces the next zodiac, so that’d be a good time to spark, especially if I want another chance to spark Grand Narmaya. I’ve exhausted most of my farmable crystals and tickets at this point, but there’d be like five months between now and then, so surely that’d be enough to save up enough to spark, especially since we should get roulette over new years, lol.

In the slim chance that I actually get one of the Tier 2 or 3 prizes from the summer lottery event thing, I might end up using that to get Grand Narmaya. Assuming that you actually get to choose which reward you want, Tier 2 includes a free spark worth of crystals, and Tier 3 includes all the grand weapons, so I could either just do a spark at the end of this month [or a later month before wind GW I guess] to spark Grand Narmaya, or I could just directly trade for her, depending on what I win. I know Tier 3 also includes Belial which would probably be a way better choice, but it’d be really hard to motivate myself to choose a summon over a grand character, lol. But on the other hand if I somehow get a Tier 1 reward and get the Sierotix from that, I’d probably just use that on Belial.

Either way I’m not actually expecting to get any of those rewards in the first place since the chances of getting winning tickets for them seems pretty low on paper, but honestly I just have a lot of questions about how the heck this entire event works. Like, one thing that seems kinda odd to me is that the rule about the tickets being rigged so you get at least one ticket for every ending digit from 0-9 seems to imply that the chances of getting a Tier 2 prize is actually around 10%, unlike how the Tier 3 prize is still probably a 1% chance since the first two digits on each digit are pure RNG, which sounds kinda strange and backwards. I think it’d also imply that Tier 1 would be a 1% chance, rather than a 0.1% chance, since one of the digits would already be there no matter what. It also seems like, outside of the more or less guaranteed Tier 4 winning ticket everyone should get, the other ones would have the same 10% chance as the Tier 2 winning tickets, since they both effectively just boil down to one digit being correct.

In general it just seems like a kinda bizarre and overly complicated event with weirdly skewed probabilities, considering the sorts of prizes each tier contains.

Mostly it just bugs me that last year everyone got a guaranteed 30k crystals from treasure rush, but it seems like the only guarantee with this event is that everyone will get a Tier 4 prize, but the only worthwhile items in that tier are like . . . two gold moons or a few damascus crystals, lol. The upper ceiling on the rewards you can potentially get from the event is pretty crazy, with stuff like the 100k crystals, the Sierotix, the unticketable summons, and even the uncapped gold moon weapons, but those all seem to be pure RNG.

Part of me’s hoping that maybe in the summer stream they’ll announce that everyone will also get a guaranteed Tier 3 prize as well, but I kinda doubt we’d get two layers of guaranteed rewards like that. And I kinda doubt that they’d effectively give everyone a free Belial.

I’m also still super unclear about how the winning numbers system works, and how many of them we’ll actually get. But I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

So anyway I guess I have basically all the tools I need to set up a good Agni grid. To recap, before this banner I had 4 Ixabas, one Rein fist, one or two Benedias, two copies of Agni, and one Wilnas. I also have some other random fire gacha weapons that might be worth using in certain situations, and now I have a copy of Kumbhira’s spear. I also have three copies of Mim’s weapon now, but I don’t know if it’s worth using.

I don’t have Alanaan, Fraux, or Tien yet, so that’s kinda awkward, but I still have a lot of good flame characters. In particular I have Athena and Christmas Nemone, which was a big reason why I’ve been wanting to get Summer Kumbhira since she came out. I also have Metera [and now Therese] who can fill out an auto-attack team comp once I get Alanaan. And other than that I have some generally good flame units like Siegfried, Yuisis, Zeta, and Yuel.

Even without Alanaan, I think Mim will still be pretty useful, especially for stuff like OTK in fire GW. And if I still can’t do a 2-button OTK by that point, Summer Kumbhira’s third skill seems very useful for OTK.

In terms of OTK, I suppose at this point I have the option of suptixing Shion when I next get a chance, since I can set up an Ixaba grid, and I have all of the main fire katana units I’d need to make her work. I feel like it’d probably be a waste to use a suptix on her at this point when I can presumably set up a fine OTK team as it is, though. I also really want to get Vane from the next suptix instead, lol. And in terms of fire suptix options, Michael is also kinda tempting since I don’t have her yet.

I’m kinda curious to see how much of an impact setting up an Agni grid has on my flame team’s damage at this point. I imagine it’d be pretty big, since right now I’m using a super basic M1 flame grid. I think at the moment I only have enough bars to uncap three Ixabas, but we’ll see how that goes.

So yeah I think this went pretty well. Better than my last spark in Dragalia Lost, at least, lmao.

EDIT: Since I don’t wanna make another whole post about this, I did the new fire/dark star premium, which ended up weirdly similar to my last one, since even though the actual guaranteed SSR I got was Veight, I randomly got a Summer Kumbhira dupe during the bonus tenfold, and I was trying to get a dupe of her weapon from this in the first place so I’d have two, lol. Since I just got it from the normal gacha part it’s not fully uncapped like the guaranteed one would be, but oh well.

#murasaki rambles #let's see how salty I get about the summer lottery event results in two weeks lmao #this got kinda long but most of it wasn't even really spent talking about the spark itself

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