#I’d also like to give them all unique weapons since that wasn’t done last time

[into-crazy]

little something

Just some headcanons where J gifts you Louboutins

Ledger!Joker x Reader

Warnings- Cursing, mentions of criminal activity, brief nsfw points, ages 18+

Disclaimer: I do not own or claim any rights to the products that are mentioned in this post. Copyrights of the mentioned products belong to Christian Louboutin.

This is probably the most random set of headcanons I've done so far. I don't know exactly how this came to me, but it did and I just kinda rolled with it. To be honest, I'm not sure if anyone will like this or not. But if you do, then hey thanks!!

J never criticized your style or choice of clothing. The man found you gorgeous in everything or nothing at all. It wasn't the clothes which made you attractive. No. The fact that you're so unapologetically you, now that he found attractive. You were fearless in expressing yourself in and out of your clothing.

Sure J didn't care much, but he did pay attention. His attentiveness had him noticing when one of your articles was new. Every so often would he even give his attempt at a compliment on them.

"I like that shirt. It's new, right?" // "Those jeans are lookin' real good on ya, doll." // "Oh is that a new little bra ya got there, bunny? Hm, I want nothing more than to tear that off of you right now. But I won't since ya just got it.. although, ya could get another.."

To others, these might have come off as creepy. But you found them pretty endearing.

With a unique taste for various styles, you appreciated going to thrift shops. Those places usually have the cutest clothes which you could mend to your liking. Cheap articles to style and wear as your own. Department stores with moderately priced clothing were a go-to, too.

Without bragging, you had a great talent for wearing cheap clothes and making them look expensive. You knew how to style and accessorize. Put together a $15 pair of jeans, $4 top, a $40 pair of shoes and you've got an amazing outfit to work with.

You avoided high end departments. Even though you had the money to indulge and shop in them, you simply chose not to. You didn't see the appeal for overpriced clothing.

Hundreds, sometimes even thousands, of dollars for something that you'd just wear. Simple attire that was priced as such because they're popular and high end. No way you're going to cough up $150 for a simple brand top with a tiny logo. That should be a crime all in its own for robbery! Plus, often times the department clerks and other shoppers in those shops were snobby, rude, and rather nosey.

Though there was one luxury brand item that struck your fancy- Louboutin red bottoms. The high-end stiletto footwear that incorporates shiny, red-lacquered soles. Now those are a sexy pair of heels. Very elegant and stylish. Also in the hundred/thousand dollar range, but ohh are they so worth it. Although you thought it would be nice to own a pair or two, you wouldn't buy them.

You casually brought it up to J one time as you skimmed through a magazine. On one of the pages, there was an advertisement for the stilettos. You'd shown him the picture. "Now, I'm not one for material things. But these, I'd definitely wear these."

J listened in curiosity, he knew you so well. You didn't buy expensive things for yourself, and you never asked him for them. However, he seen it in your eyes how much you wanted them. If you saved up, you could buy them for yourself. Plus J had a large amount of stolen money to give to you- which you never asked him for any of, either. He could steal them for you. But then again, you never asked. So he engaged. "If ya like 'em so much, why don't you have any?"

"Hell no!" You retort. "Could you imagine if I were to walk around Gotham in those expensive heels? I'd be a walking target!" You remind him that your goal is NOT to draw unwanted attention while you go about your daytime life.

I mean, you both know that you can take care of yourself. You had knowledge of basic self-defense combat and how to handle a various array of weapons. Special thanks to J for helping you spruce up on your tactics and even teaching you new techniques. Also, you always carry a concealed handgun when going out. So to the best of your abilities, you can hold your own. It's just better not to opt for any more problems.

J doesn't say anything after that, he simply hummed. But the thought had started bouncing around in his already busy mind. A new task. He figured since he wore custom high-cost clothing, the best of the best, then why shouldn't you own a nice pair of shoes? After all you're his, and he wanted to give it to you.

A few days later, you came home to a sight that genuinely surprised you- Set up nicely around your living space, there were 8 large Louboutin gift bags arranged on the floor. No question, you already knew they were from J.

You chuckled and shook your head in disbelief. You hadn't thought that J had actually taken that brief comment you made about liking these shoes into consideration.

Each bag contained a brand new pair of the signature stilettos in various colors and styles. Two of them being boots for when the weather's colder.

You were surprised that he'd gotten them in the correct size. He really does pay attention. Or perhaps he rummaged through your closet to find out for himself. Whatever the case was, you didn't care. Since J rarely ever got you any gifts, and never anything as pricey as these. So you savored the precious moment.

He left the receipt in the gift bag containing the classic black pair of stilettos. He'd actually bought them rather than just steal them, which would've been a more ideal and convenient thing for him to do. Come on, he's The Joker. When's the last time he ever paid for something?

He'd even left a note for you to find in one of the boxes. Written in his own scraggly handwriting- No one's gonna mess with you, I will make sure of that xoxo -J

Tears formed beneath your eyes, how much you wanted to thank him. Hug him, squeeze him tight. Kiss his painted lips and face repeatedly while his face scrunched in mock annoyance to your affections. It deeply frustrated you that you couldn't right then. But alas, he had a city to terrorize and a caped crusader to antagonize. So you had to hold on to that energy for a later time.

You don't know what you've done to deserve such a bitterly sweet(but will never fucking own up to it) man as your J.

Pairing the red bottoms along with the articles in your wardrobe was a tricky task. But with your natural talents and a bit of shopping, you've managed to put together some classy and elegant outfits.

You'd even purchased a tasteful, sparkly anklet with a letter J on it. Which undeniably, J surely liked to see on you- THEN coupled with a pair of heels he'd gotten you? Now that's a sight he's very pleased to see.

It was something which J was quite fond of- you expressing your appreciation for his gifts. Just don't expect him to admit that.

It's also no surprise that you'd wear the stilettos with lingerie(or nothing at all) and it leads to some pretty steamy sex sessions.

J especially savors the pleasant sting as they dig into his lower back when he's on top of you. So don't be shy to dig those heels in there!

When you just so happen to wear out your red bottoms, J might consider getting you a new pair or two. Again, as receiving gifts from him are rare occurrences. But at the times which he does surprise you with a gift, no matter what it is, it never fails to take your breath away.

[makeste]

hello! I’ve seen some debate as to whether the 2nd meant allies in general would bolster izuku and although I do think that’s true (ofc any sort of support system that he lets himself rely on would bolster him) I feel like if that was what was meant it would’ve been made clearer? maybe instead of just katsuki showing up, the final panel would’ve had several students burst onto the scene. what are your thoughts?

agreed. and incidentally this is another big reason why it's not Toga. if it was her then Horikoshi wouldn't have devoted any time to OFA II's little hype speech. it just makes it kind of pointless, unless this whole time we've been sleeping on Toga's hidden ability to bolster Deku lmao.

but anyways, yeah. and I mean, Two's commentary here is really just acknowledgement of something we've long since known already. Kacchan is the one who will ultimately be able to reach Deku. we don't actually need a piece of dialogue to tell us this, because the manga has been showing it to us since day one. his resume is fucking stacked. I mean, let's go through it.

he is mean.

I love this you guys. I honest to god love it. because the thing is, if you ask anyone what Kacchan's absolute worst quality is, this would be the obvious answer, right? "he's an asshole" lmao.

but that's exactly what we need right now!! someone who's not afraid to tell it like it is, and won't try to sugarcoat things. someone who's not afraid to argue back and risk hurting someone's feelings. because right now Deku is walking all over anyone who can't do that. All Might tries to feed him lunch and he's like "nah I'm good, anyways bye." Endeavor tries to tell him to rest and he's all "I'm fine" and fucking hangs up the phone. nuh uh. enough of that. what we need is someone who will call him out on his shit. "hah!? don't tell me you're fine when it's obvious to anyone you can barely stand on your own two feet, dumbass."

he is stubborn.

kind of ties into the other thing, but yeah. right now we need a bullheaded asshole who won't take no for an answer if he thinks he's right. good luck trying to sweet talk your way out of this one, Deku.

he understands the situation.

this one is important, because in fairness, simply standing in front of Deku and saying "you shall not pass" isn't gonna be enough to actually accomplish anything here. ultimately he's going to have to be able to reason with Deku too. and so in that respect, it certainly doesn't hurt that Kacchan is someone who understands the OFA situation as well as anyone, and has always had clear judgment about it. he understands the threat of AFO ("they all died young"), and he understands the burden of All Might's legacy. he knows what Deku is dealing with, and that's going to give him an edge when it comes to finding that elusive-yet-critical talk no jutsu knockout blow.

he's been where Deku is now.

Kacchan knows a thing or two about burdens. granted, they've more often than not been ones that he's put on himself, but that didn't make them any less heavy. Deku right now is struggling not just with his feelings of responsibility, but also with all of the misplaced guilt that's feeding into it. AFO is targeting him. if innocent people get caught in the crossfire then that's on him. every minute that AFO stays out there getting stronger and causing more chaos is all on him, because he hasn't defeated him yet. and so on and so forth.

and Katsuki knows what that's like. because he blamed himself for what happened to All Might. that feeling of "if I'd only been stronger" is one that he's intimately acquainted with. that feeling of blaming yourself, of not being able to look someone you care about in the eye because you think it's your fault they got hurt. this is something he knows. this is a road he's already been down. and so if Deku tries to pull any "you don't understand" nonsense, Kacchan is uniquely situated to immediately shoot that shit right down.

he's immune to low blows.

lol I keep thinking of all the different counterarguments that Deku could make, and all the different ways in which Kacchan is perfectly equipped to handle them. anyway, so this particular thing is a very recent development, but very fortunately timed. so as we all know, Kacchan was a first class dick to Deku during their childhood. something which Deku, with his abnormally kind and forgiving nature, has never once confronted Kacchan about, even though he would have absolutely had the right. but anyway, so here's the thing though -- right now I fully believe that Deku can and will do or say just about anything in order to get Kacchan and the others to leave. and that includes hurting them in order to save them. so it would not surprise me at all if Deku goes as far as to throw Katsuki's old, cruel, selfish behavior back in his face as part of a last-ditch effort to get him to back down. desperate times and all that.

and maybe there was a time when that actually would have worked. but here's the other thing -- we know something Deku doesn't. namely, that Kacchan has recently leveled up emotionally and has finally unlocked his atonement quest. he finally understands that it's not all about him. which means that it doesn't matter even if Deku pulls out the big guns. he may hurt his feelings, but he's not going to scare him off, because Kacchan's focus right now is on atonement, not forgiveness. he's not doing this for a pat on the head. he's doing it because it's the right thing to do. and no amount of insults will be able to sway him from that.

he learned from the best.

I said this in another post a couple of weeks back, but yeah. Angsty Nomad Deku has nothing on early Kacchan in terms of pushing people away. early Kacchan was the motherfucking king of pushing peeps away. if you so much as LOOKED at this kid in such a way that SUGGESTED you might even be THINKING about possibly trying to save him, he would straight up throw a ten-year hissy fit lmao. Deku's "All Might, you don't have to tag along anymore"s ain't got SHIT on all of Kacchan's "STAY BACK DEKU"s and "I'D RATHER LOSE!!!"s and "OMFG HOW DARE YOU BE THE ONLY PERSON TO TRY TO SAVE ME FROM THIS RAMPAGING SLUDGE MAN WHO'S ABOUT TO SUFFOCATE ME TO DEATH"s. Kacchan is the undisputed goat here lol.

but anyway, so what this means is that he has accumulated a whole HOST of iconic lines and fateful parallels which he can throw back in Deku's face at a moment's notice. and the best part is that he learned it all from THIS EXACT MOTHERFUCKER, RIGHT HERE. what is Deku even gonna do!! argue against his own past actions?? "well, uh, I guess now that you mention it I should have just sat back and watched you die all those times" OH REALLY?? YOU DON'T SAY. THAT SOUNDS SO CONVINCING.

and so guess what, Deku -- if Kacchan was worth saving, then you're worth saving too. it's an ironclad argument. congratulations son you played yourself.

he always wins.

okay so real talk, we all know that what's really driving Deku right now is his fear of losing people. he's helpless against that. he saw Kacchan get stabbed right before his eyes and it fucked him up. he saw all these other people getting hurt and killed because he couldn't save them, and he straight up could not deal with those emotions at all. he's scared. he's more afraid of that happening again than of anything else. and AFO knows that, and that's why he's resorted to his current tactics, which have isolated Deku even further and caused him to push even All Might away.

what Deku is missing right now, and what he needs to have restored, is trust. trust is the antidote to fear. and when you're as scared as Deku is, it takes an extraordinary amount of assurance in order to ease those fears. basically you don't want to place your faith in anything less than an absolutely sure thing.

but Kacchan is exactly that. this is the exact type of situation that Kacchan's "aiming for the top" overkill confidence was made for. he's the one who never loses!! the hero who's going to surpass all other heroes!! Deku inherited All Might's compassion, but Kacchan inherited his determination. Kacchan is someone who brings reassurance. his confidence is unwavering. and in the end, I think it will be strong enough to pull even Deku back out from the darkness.

he is strong.

Kacchan is Deku's rival in every sense of the word, and I fully believe he's capable of matching him step for step even now. and so Deku can try to push him away, but Kacchan is capable of withstanding that force and staying his ground. Deku can try to run, but Kacchan still has him matched for speed. and as a last resort, Deku can even try to defeat him -- but Kacchan won't ever concede to defeat.

and all of this ties back into what I was saying about trust. because Kacchan is strong. strong enough not to die. strong enough to live. strong enough to not make others worry about him. and that's what Deku so desperately needs right now in order to finally let go of his fears. Deku needs someone who can get him to trust in others again, and to do that, he has to be able to trust in their strength.

and last but not least...

he has a secret weapon up his sleeve.

several, as a matter of fact. his hero name reveal. his apology, if he chooses to give it now (though I could see him waiting for a more sincere moment, rather than whipping it out now when it could be misconstrued as a manipulation tactic). but perhaps most importantly...

never underestimate the power of an iconic role reversal. because that's what I'm getting at here, if it wasn't clear lol. this probably would have worked better if I had a picture of him actually reaching out to Deku. but I mean, that's kind of the point lol. I don't have one because he hasn't done it yet. BUT CAN YOU IMAGINE. good luck withstanding that, Deku.

so yeah. look at all that. he really is a one-man Deku-saving army. which is not to say that the other kids won't have a part to play as well, or that it's not important for them to be there, because it is. but as far as the lead role goes, it's Kacchan. like that astronaut meme guy says. always has been.

oh and as a bonus he was smart enough to finally leave the mask at home today lol. LET DEKU SEE THE SINCERITY IN YOUR EYES. YESSSSSSS.

[seerofmike]

The Writing In Apex Kinda Sucks And Also They Use Ship Bait As A Plot Device I Hate It Here

a stupid essay/rant encouraged by @zombiegloss that originally started as a youtube video script so if its like. weird at points. this was intended to be a verbal rant SNZISKSIA

basically i'm gonna talk abt the caustic-wattson-crypto relationship drama and how i think it was mishandled and how much the writers kind of Suck because i Can

you are free to disagree with me on any of my points and think that this aspect of the story was handled well, this is just my opinion, and i'd love to hear your thoughts and counterpoints !

first, addressing some things:

i know this is a battle royale and not necessarily a story-based game, so i can’t expect it to have masterful witcher-style writing.

but with the direction the game seems to be going; putting quests, evolving interactions, and comics in the game, plus coming out with a lore book and hinting at something bigger in the future, i think it’s fair to criticize it for lackluster writing, especially since what i’m criticizing has been something present since Apex’s story technically began.

secondly, i am not a professional writer. i’m a high schooler who writes as a hobby. i don’t have the decades of experience that some of the apex writers do, and i can’t claim to be a better writer than they are--but i also don’t have to be a five-star chef to realize that something tastes bad. when i critique something and give suggestions, i am not saying i could’ve done it better. i’m just bringing up what i think could have worked.

third, before i upset anyone , when i say a relationship is badly written, i’m not telling you that you can’t ship it or that your ship sucks. i’ll briefly touch on the shipping aspect of this and how it’s a detriment to the story but Ye

okay, so with that out of the way, let us Begin

relationships are often the emotional core of a story, and how strong your reaction is to conflict in these relationships depends on how the story sets them up. if you want the audience to care about these characters and what they go through, you need to develop them and establish the type of relationship they have well. it’s why so many people cried in the last episode of telltale’s the walking dead. you’ve spent roughly 12 hours bonding with clementine and protecting her, and your relationship with her is part of several story beats as well as character beats for lee. 

when these two characters’ relationship reaches its peak at the end of the game, it’s powerful, and it’s emotional. you care. you feel something, and the fact that you have to choose what to do to lee only makes it more gut-wrenching. 

now, the walking dead is entirely story-based and especially character-driven, so it may be unfair to compare it to apex, but i just wanted to lay the groundwork down for what i think is a strong relationship that makes you feel something when conflict arrives, in this case the conflict being lee getting bit and clementine having to decide his fate.

the broken ghost in general is kind of not-good sometimes, tom casiello previously wrote for soap operas and you can really, REALLY tell sometimes.

this story feels like it should’ve taken place a little later, and that we should’ve had a season to actually set up the characters and their relationships, but that’s a story for another day.

to put it bluntly, the set-up for the crypto, wattson, and caustic conflict is done poorly. for caustic and wattson's relationship it’s a little better, but not by much. 

wattson and caustic having a relationship was hinted at in season 2, when her lore indicated that caustic was among one of the Legends who comforted her after her father died. In season four lore materials posted on Twitter, an email from Jacob Young states that Caustic is acting paternal towards Wattson. In season five, interactions get added to the Game, and this is the first time we actually see their relationship in action, as they have unique revive voice lines for each other. in the quests, when wattson is injured, caustic lashes out at loba and attacks her out of what seems to be anger at wattson’s current state.

Side Note this plot point was really stupid and done for cheap drama because she literally wakes up like two chapters later and they don’t even give her anything to say it’s just suddenly oh yeah crypto and wattson are working together. the same exact injury thing happens to octane later but nobody gIVES A SHIT because again, it’s just cheap soap opera drama.

their relationship might seem a little bit sudden for anyone who wasn’t on top of twitter lore drops, but like, it’s okay, i guess. i’ll give it the slightest credit for at least establishing something between the two in terms of voice lines and stuff, even if for some it might seem like it came out of nowhere.

what did come out of nowhere, though, was crypto and wattson’s friendship. in the quests, crypto and wattson are tasked with rebuilding the broken ghost because of their respective skills, and they’re seen talking in chapter six while they work on it. we’re not really given a clear timeline on how long the story in the broken ghost is, but i think it takes about a week, maybe.

unlike wattson and caustic, their relationship has been given absolutely zero material to work with before now, not even a passing glance in the trailers--which is a little weird considering crypto took down the repulsor tower and destroyed wattson’s home, but. Whatever.

tl dr of the chapter: crypto and wattson talk to each other while doing nerd shit, crypto laughs at wattson’s bad pun, and then suddenly they’re BESTIEEEES, until a couple dozen lines later in the same chapter. then they’re Not.

crypto’s drone gets hacked by revenant while everyone was kind of on edge after the reveal of a spy in their midst, he gets framed as the spy by caustic, anddddd wattson gets upset.

before i get into how dumb this storyline is, i’m gonna talk about the set-up to this conflict.

we have been given no reason to believe that these characters have ever talked to each other, and quite frankly, their friendship doesn’t really make sense.

ignoring the fact that crypto destroyed wattson’s home--which she probably doesn’t know about, so that’s forgiven for now--crypto is a paranoid guy. in the lore book he makes people stand on fucking footprints in his house so he can scan them for weapons and listening devices, and he apparently doesn’t stick around much after the games and nobody knows anything about him because he doesn’t talk to them.

a key part of crypto’s story is the fact that he is undercover and afraid of anyone finding out anything about him ever. him becoming friends with wattson kind of comes out of the blue, and we’re not even given a reason as to why they supposedly became close in the first place. i would kind of understand if like, maybe he draws parallels with her and mila in his mind and it makes him open up a little more, but that doesn’t happen. he just laughs at her joke and suddenly they’re friends.

maybe they’re trying to go for this ‘wattson can become friends with anybody’ angle, kind of hinted at with caustic but not really we’ll get into that, but that also? kind of doesn’t make sense since so many of her voice lines straight-up say she doesn’t understand people and electricity is more her thing, but honestly, she also does have those really friendly elements in her voice lines too, so its not as egregious as what they did with crypto.

their sudden out-of-the-blue friendship would’ve been fine if they spent a little more time fleshing it out, and giving us something to work with, but instead, the story immediately tries to rip it apart and frame it as this grand conflict where crypto is framed as the mole, crypto then accuses caustic, and wattson feels betrayed.

except it doesn’t really work, because we don’t give a shit. for several reasons. 

one: crypto and wattson became friends and then ended their friendship in the same exact chapter. they did not speak to each other onscreen until this chapter began, you can read the entire quest on the wiki and see for yourself that their interactions up until that point were nonexistent aside from mentions in the narration that they were building something together.

the reason wattson feels betrayed is kind of stupid too. why does she really care that much if one of them betrayed loba? nobody else really cared about the fact that one of them was a spy, in fact, nobody even seems to like loba that much, and they just found out that loba’s been lying to them this whole time, and wattson was conscious for that conversation and had a speaking line, so she’s fully aware of the situation. 

maybe it’s just like, the idea that one of them lied, but that’s still kind of a weak reason. 

this entire betrayal thing is just dumb, and it gets even worse when you realize that there could have been an actual legitimate reason for wattson to feel betrayed by crypto--even if it still would’ve come across as weak conflict because of their newly established friendship, it would’ve made more sense than this. 

Crypto destroyed Wattson’s home. He took down the tower and then all the flyers and stuff invaded Kings Canyon and made it their bitch. Not only that, but Wattson considers the Syndicate her family. The Syndicate are the very people who framed Crypto for murder and he’s trying to take them down. 

They could’ve set up actual conflict with these things, and it almost seemed like they would, because Caustic briefly brings up that Crypto could be working with Revenant because he has something against the Syndicate but then that doesn’t really go anywhere and we’re just back to Wattson feeling betrayed because either Crypto or Caustic was a spy and she doesn’t know who.

Weak conflict could’ve been made better by a strong relationship and a weak relationship could’ve still been interesting with strong conflict, but both the relationship between Crypto and Wattson and the conflict that drives them splitting up as friends were really weak and didn’t make much sense. 

It would’ve been ten times more interesting if Wattson found out Crypto ruined her home, the arena she grew up in, and was now participating in the Games to take out the people she regards as her family. That’s where her distrust could’ve manifested and conflict could’ve began, but instead it was the stupid betraying loba thing. why do you care. you just started talking to this guy like 2 hours ago.

also caustic’s whole reason for framing crypto feels stupid as fuck. he didn’t just frame crypto randomly, he framed him specifically because he doesn't want him to influence wattsob because he likes her Big Brain, but this is the FIRST time we have seen those two interact. 

what influence is he talking about? wraith and wattson have been shown to be friendly with each other in the trailers, according to tom’s tweets, and in the story too so why doesn’t he frame her? at this point the audience had slightly more build-up for those two’s relationship than crypto and wattson and a betrayal storyline would’ve felt a little more deserved if still weak.

this is the point where i briefly want to touch upon shipping, and the fact that part of this conflict feels driven by shipbait. 

aside from their relationship coming out of nowhere and the writers trying to make the stakes seem high and deeply emotional to the characters involved (despite this essentially being the first time they’ve ever interacted) tom casiello literally addresses shippers in a tweet regarding chapter seven, and as the story between these characters progresses, it becomes clear to me, at least that the crypto-wattson thing is just bait for shippers, and it’s lazy. 

it’s easy to get away with giving your characters little to no relationship development if you’re just counting on shippers to do the heavy mental lifting for you

why should i put any effort into making this relationship seem believable? people are going to see a young guy and a young girl having bare minimum interaction and assume there’s romantic interest! then i don’t have to do any work, see look, it’s a ready-made relationship wrapped in a bow for me! all that’s left for me to do is give them conflict so i can keep teasing shippers with lines like ‘you never deserved her’!

i think it’s reasonable for me to suspect shipbait, since tom casiello likes doing darksparks shipbait on twitter, and i’m like, eighty percent sure mirage and bloodhound suddenly being childhood friends in the book is shipbait too, because these characters were the number one ship in apex for a long time despite little to no interaction, and then all of a sudden in the lore book they’re childhood friends despite this literally never being mentioned before?

like bloodhound is set up to be mysterious and nobody knows what they look like, or where they’re from, or who their family is--except for mirage Apparently, who played with them when he was a kid on their home planet, and has seen them with their mask off, because bloodhound did not wear a mask when their parents were still alive.

its weird.

i’m pretty sure they’ve said somewhere they were working on this book before apex even came out, so i could just be completely wrong and they always planned for mirage and bloodhound to know each other, but if that’s the case, why did they never mention it like they did octane and lifeline?

i refuse to believe MIRAGE never brought it up either like ‘heeeeyy bloodhound remember when we used to throw eggs at our parents lab haha wanna go do to that to bangalore’s room’ 

[silence]

‘good talk buddy’

ANYWAYS I GOT OFF TOPIC. POINT IS, shipping is a detriment to the story because the writers don’t feel like they actually have to put any work into establishing or developing the relationship between characters when they know the community’s just going to do it for them anyways, and that they can put in shipbait and it’s fine and it makes sense when it really doesn’t.

imagine watching captain america civil war after not seeing a single other marvel movie.

why would you care about the avengers splitting up or tony and steve butting heads or steve’s commitment to bucky? you wouldn’t care, at least not as much as someone who’s seen all the movies and knows the relationship between the characters and why the sokovia accords exist in the first place. you don’t have context and you don’t have any reason to be emotionally invested in these characters’ relationship.

 this feels like that. the writers tried to squeeze this relationship and stuff into a single chapter and we don’t fucking care unless we were already invested in the idea of their relationship (shippers) because we barely spent any time with it.

so to summarize this little section, the set-up of this storyline Kinda Sucks! crypto and wattson barely seem to know each other, because we the audience barely saw them together and the writers are relying on shipbait in place of a relationship.

wattson and caustic are a little better but not great, but the conflict is stupid and it only gets stupider.

moving onto summarizing the rest of the broken ghost, gibraltar and caustic talk, caustic LITERALLY confesses to being the mole and says he framed crypto so he couldn’t corrupt wattson and to appear innocent because his identity was suspected, then that wraps up the season storyline.

season six begins with new voice lines, where wattson has had enough of crypto and caustic’s shit and is all passive-aggressive and going ‘this doesn’t change anything’. she has to decide who to trust, and how to figure out The Truth for herself because she’s not a little girl anymore. crypto and caustic are both trying to convince her they’re innocent and it creates some interesting conflict.

just kidding. it’s terrible conflict. you want to know why?

BECAUSE GIBRALTAR TRIED TO TELL HER THE TRUTH, RIGHT AFTER THE SEASON 5 QUEST HAPPENED, AND SHE LITERALLY REFUSED TO HEAR IT.

LIKE THERE’S A SEASON 6 LOADING SCREEN WHERE HE’S TELLING EVERYONE THE TRUTH ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED, AND WHEN HE GETS TO WATTSON AND IS LIKE HEY I KNOW WHO THE MOLE WAS AND WHY THEY DID IT, SHE JUST GOES i dont wanna hear it. i need to think

IF YOU WANT THE TRUTH WHY ARE YOU REFUSING TO HEAR IT

SHE SPENDS ALMOST TWO ENTIRE SEASONS MAD AT CRYPTO FOR SOMETHING HE DIDN’T DO BECAUSE SHE TOLD GIBRALTAR TO FUCK OFF WHEN HE TRIED TO TELL HER WHAT HAPPENED

ITS SO DUMB

i think it was towards the end of season 6 or the beginning of season 7 where apex posted this picture of wattson asleep at her desk where she has a letter from gibraltar on it that looks like it tells her the truth, so she knows now, she knows what happened, but NOW her issue is the fact that she doesn’t know anything about crypto.

WHAT THE FUCK. WHAT IS YOUR GODDAMN DAMAGE. YOU DON’T KNOW SHIT ABOUT BLOODHOUND EITHER ARE YOU THIS UPSET WITH BLOODHOUND TOO?? HAVE YOU EVER TALKED TO PATHFINDER. DO YOU HATE PATHFINDER TOO

oh but she was friends with crypto and now she’s mad that he lied to her EXCEPT THEIR RELATIONSHIP WASN’T BUILT UP WELL SO IT JUST FEELS STUPID. THEY SPENT LONGER BEING NOT-FRIENDS THAN THEY SPENT BEING FRIENDS. THEY BECAME FRIENDS IN ONE CHAPTER AND THEN IMMEDIATELY AT THE END OF THAT CHAPTER THEIR FRIENDSHIP ENDED AND THEN WATTSON SPENT LIKE 2 SEASONS MAD AT HIM FOR SOMETHING HE DIDN’T DO . 

AND THE WRITERS TRIED TO RECTIFY THIS BY SAYING OH SHE’S NOT MAD ABOUT THE TRAITOR THING SHE’S MAD BECAUSE SHE DOESN’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT HIM AND IT’S LIKE WHY THE FUCK DID YOU NOT MAKE THAT CLEAR WHY DOES SHE SAY ‘IT DOESN’T CHANGE WHAT YOU DID’ IN HER VOICE LINES WHY DOES SHE CALL HIM A TRAITOR IF HER CONFLICT WAS HER NOT KNOWING MUCH ABOUT HIM . WHAT DID HE DO. 

HE JUST STOOD THERE AND LAUGHED AT HER JOKE AND THEN HE GOT FRAMED AND THEN THAT WAS THE END OF THE CHAPTER AND NOW SHES SUDDENLY LIKE IM ACTUALLY MAD BECAUSE YOURE A LIAR AND I CANT TRUST YOU EVEN THOUGH I NOW KNOW YOU WERE FRAMED I STILL DO NOT LIKE YOU AND HES LIKE YEAH THATS MY FAULT

The Caustic voicelines are stupid too, again his reason for framing Crypto was stupid and a lot of his voicelines just seem to be that shipbait thing again but like from the angle of overprotective dad who doesn’t like the new boyfriend. it’s stupid but not as egeregious as this next part which is

crypto telling wattson his identity.

CRYPTO was framed for MURDER and is paranoid and can’t trust anyone and doesn’t talk to anyone and the last time he did talk to someone he got framed for Another thing and the person he was talking to turned her back on him and actively refused to know the truth for like 2 seasons and then he went This Is Fine I Can Tell Her My Identity

the stupidest update to this storyline was crypto telling wattson the truth

why did they do it on the dropship where there are presumably syndicate members and other legends around.

why didn’t he scan wattson for listening devices like he did for pathfinder in the book.

why is he telling her his identity when he knows she has very close ties to the people that FRAMED HIM for MURDER. Does he trust her that much? WHY? They spoke to each other in a chapter and then spent two seasons not talking to each other beyond passive-aggressive BS. why are you so fucking stupid taejoon

their relationship was so poorly set-up that even if the writers maybe intended for them to come across as close friends who had spent weeks bonding, it really feels like they became friends in a single conversation, had a falling out, and now crypto suddenly trusts her with his identity after an undetermined amount of time because he wants to be friends again. 

that does not make SENSE this conflict feels contrived AS FUCK and the resolution feels even worse and unearned UGGGHHHH

it honestly comes across as crypto feeling desperate for friendship, and maybe this would’ve worked better if that’s the angle they played it as.

he’s been alone for roughly two years, and just wants a friend, and he’s honestly so lonely he just breaks down to the first person who’s really talked to him. it could’ve been an interesting little part of his character, and they could've gone into depth about how much this situation has affected him, but that’s not what they’re doing. he’s still paranoid and anxious and doesn’t trust anyone, except for wattson, because the plot needs him to or else there won’t be any stupid soap opera drama.

and to rub salt in the wound, wattson’s new voice lines with caustic have him telling her that she forgave crypto.

WHAT ARE YOU FORGIVING HIM FOR. ARE YOU FORGIVING HIM FOR BEING FRAMED? WHY DID HE HAVE TO APOLOGIZE TO YOU WHEN YOU WERE THE ONE WHO REFUSED TO HEAR THE TRUTH?

 did the conversation just go hey my real name is taejoon park and something bad happened to me and she went aight i forgive you WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT

Caustic’s new voice lines to Crypto where he’s like ‘what did you tell her’--YOU TOLD GIBRALTAR STRAIGHT-UP YOUR EVIL MASTER PLAN LIKE A SUPERVILLAIN AND NOW YOU’RE SURPRISED WATTSON AND CRYPTO ARE ON GOOD TERMS NOW?!

THAT’S LIKE TELLING SOMEONE YOUR SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER AND THEN BEING SURPRISED WHEN YOU BECOME THE VICTIM OF IDENTITY FRAUD. YOU SET YOURSELF UP FOR THIS WHY ARE YOU ACTING LIKE CRYPTO DID SOMETHING SINISTER OR LIED OR WHATEVER. WHAT THE FUCK. WHY DO YOU HAVE LIKE 3 BRAINCELLS

this is at like ten pages already so i’m going to just try and wrap this up quickly. 

it’s frustrating seeing this storyline play out when there are actually good relationships and storylines written into apex. i’m kind of getting tired of the loba and revenant conflict, but we at least had set-up to it in the form of a few animated shorts and it doesn’t play out as stupidly as this story does. bangalore and loba’s friendship is actually developed well, even if the point between the end of season 5 and season 6 where they suddenly talk like each other feels like it could’ve used a little more. 

where crypto and wattson having an established friendship in the broken ghost failed, lifeline and octane’s established friendship works because we’ve been told since octane’s release they were childhood friends and given lore materials that indicate they’ve known each other for a very long time.

apex wants this storyline between crypto and wattson and caustic to feel dramatic and tense and ultimately rewarding when crypto and wattson did become friends for real and stuff, but instead it just comes across as hollow and empty. 

there’s nothing there. it’s a case of tell, don’t show, and it looks like this stupid conflict is gonna keep going for another couple of seasons at this rate. 

side note: this entire script was written before the new twitter comics

please tell me ur thoughts and feel free to respond with ur own lil essay

also believe it or not this is not the "shipping is a detriment to apex's story" essay i was gonna write this is a completely different essay that has some overlap SKXISOSOW

[something-very-special]

Call Her Back

Probably already a post with this title from the Let’s Play but it’s appropriate.

Thoughts on Replicant up to Ending A (and change):

This game is pretty. I guess it didn’t really hit me because I’ve always thought that the original NIER was pretty, but this game can be very pretty.

This in particular just kind of struck me as I was going across the Northern Plains. It had been dominantly gray, overcast skies up to that point because Part II of the game is meant to be. You know. Bleak. But I walked out onto a bright, sunny day with an expanse of blues skies, the mountains in the backgrounds, the ivy a burst of green growing up the rusted sides of the train tracks and it just kind of hit me that the game can be very pretty.

(Then I got punched out by a Shade.)

It’s definitely not a matter of massive graphical overhaul. The models look much better (getting a good look at the Twins during the finale, they really are beautiful) and I’m sure the environmental poly count is much higher and just overall smoother, and there are little touches here and there and just the capacity for better atmospheric lighting... I mean it all helps. But NIER is a game that’s always had fantastic art direction, making the most out of its budget through atmospheric tuning. There’s something uniquely beautiful about its muted palette and the way it uses its spaces that elevates it beyond the its actual technical limitations. It doesn’t look like an end-of-generation PS4 game, but that’s not an insult; it looks very much like itself from ten years ago, with its solid art direction, but touched up where it matters.

Does the sidequest grind seem... better...? I haven’t really dug into the BEST part of the game (spending 30 hours grinding out weapon upgrades) but I mentioned before my theory about how the sidequest grind is supposed to be carried out across multiple playthroughs and that’s why it sucks. To my surprise I finished Ending A missing only one sidequest (your friend and mine, Life in the Sands), with all of the other ones being more or less... pretty natural? The only thing I really needed to go out of my way for was Memory Alloy but all the other components didn’t really give me the kind of grief I remember from my playthroughs of the original. ‘Grief’ of course being relative to getting the platinum trophy, but my first time through the game I gave up finishing a few outstanding sidequests (specifically, fixing the lighthouse broke me-- I could not find 10 Mysterious Switches!)

Maybe I just got lucky, especially with the Machine Oils. Maybe some weird muscle memory kicked in. I feel like there were a few purchasing options that weren’t open originally, too, to ameliorate some of the grind, but it might also be a case of those options being cost-prohibitive so I just didn’t really acknowledge them... whatever the case the sidequest grind felt overall pretty painless. I dunno!

I really need to know how to manipulate events. For literally seven playthroughs straight of the latter half of the game I always did the keystone quest as Junk Heap (start) - Forest of Myth - Junk Heap (end) - Facade - Aerie. It wasn’t until I did a run with my college roommates and Popola gave me the Aerie letter before the Facade in invite that I realized the Aerie wasn’t actually programmed to be the last event.

Absolutely blew my mind, and ever since I became aware of it, it feels like the game goes out of its way to make sure the Aerie always comes before Facade. When I did my Let’s Play of NIER I kept a save file from the start of the kystone collection so I could re-do the events in case they went ‘out of order’ (according to my headcanon)... which they did. I replayed the latter half of the game again in order to get things the way I wanted them to be, same order, and fortunately it cooperated the second time, but I still don’t understand what the trigger is, if there’s a way to manipulate it, or when the determination is even made.

And then they throw the Little Mermaid into the mix, which I wasn’t expecting (that is, I knew it was added, but I’ve been mostly avoiding spoilers -- and happily, the changes have largely been a delight, I’m so excited for the subsequent playthroughs -- but the way it was posted about made it seem like it would happen after and apart from the keystone quest. Not so, my friends).

The reason for this is just the emotional escalation of each factor of the quest. The Forest of Myth is weird and little else (at this juncture, of course). The Junk Heap is a personal tragedy, but the actual tragedy has already occurred and you’re just experiencing the fallout. Facade is a powerful and personal tragedy that deserves to be experienced later on. The Aerie is a terrible place and nobody misses it it’s an enormous loss and profoundly traumatic for the party, and it feels like the appropriate apex to basically force them to go to the Castle and finish the fight, having already lost far too much.

Also it’s just super weird to me that they see that devastation, they literally wipe an entire settlement off the map, and then the next day everybody’s super excited to go to a wedding.

It also becomes even weirder that you go to Popola post-Aerie and nobody mentions ‘yeah that didn’t go so well’ but coming out of Seafront they have a legitimate conversation about the loss of the ferryman and the people they’re never getting back. I guess that guy had a personality but I still think maybe somebody should mention the smoking crater where people used to be.

Then again it’s legitimately funny to me how basically everybody is just agreed the world is better off without it.

This might also just be an issue of familiarity. Maybe if I’d always ended on Facade, or actually known that they could be swapped out as they are, it wouldn’t feel so weird. I definitely got used to the pacing with the Aerie at the end and I feel like I got into a debate with somebody about how it’s more appropriate for Facade to come last so this might just be a personal thing. But it’s still a personal thing and I’m still vaguely irritated I can’t figure out how it works.

Anyway I blew up the Aerie So that’s that problem taken care of.

I feel like the ambiance surrounding Wendy was a little creepier this time. I swear I heard that good stock creepy child laughter in the background.

Then the ferryman left This was a nice bit of foreshadowing; following the Aerie events I wanted to hop over to Seafront to take care of an extant sidequest only to find the ferry dock in the Northern Plains empty. I thought that maybe this was just a weird way of railroading you to make sure you went through the Village first, even though there were no scenes that would trigger just by being in the Village.

Alas.

Not gonna lie, when the couple was first introduced I thought for SURE it was going to be the wife who wound up dead. I guess it’s because the guy had a purpose as an NPC so yeah, I was tricked. Good design decision; the ferryman is talkative and bright and definitely difficult to forget and even though he was kinda obnoxious there’s a definite void where his dialogue was. It’s clever too that you’re forced to use the ferry at least once so you can’t escape the dialogue that you’re presented with, meaning that even if you don’t really make use of the ferry you’ll always have that contrast between him at the start of Part II and the other guy (his brother, maybe?) taking over the job and just not really talking to you afterward.

Episode Mermaid First of all, to be clear, I’ve not done the Route B playthrough yet. All I know about the Little Mermaid is what’s presented on the surface, what can be gleaned from there, what I remember reading in the Grimoire NieR short story. This is very much just an impression and reaction to the first encounter and it’s pretty cool.

I like that they managed to go into yet another genre style aping a point-and-click adventure.

I like the atmosphere of the wrecked ship. It really brought me back to the ‘ghost ship’ level archetype with its little hints of spookiness.

I appreciate that it ties subtly in to the Haunted Manor (technically the Part I Seafront dungeon) with Weiss’ utterly irrational fear of ghosts.

I love every excuse they find to get Kaine and Emil (and especially Kaine) out of a situation. It’s almost a running gag that Kaine keeps getting knocked out of dungeons and boss fights. None of them are quite as great as her getting Rules Lawyer’d in the Barren Temple, but there’s something delightful about “Let’s get you some fresh air, we’ll be right outside, be careful!�� and then bookending it with Kaine and Emil just chilling at the end like “Well yeah there are a lot of holes in the hull we just popped in.”

(I forgot to go backward to see what happens if you try to take them into Seafront proper, gotta remember that next time.)

Interesting thing when you find some of the dropped apples is that Nier and Weiss talk about the dinner they had with the couple. This was actually a really sweet and oddly emotional conclusion to the added sidequest between the bickering couple-- entirely missable. I would assume the dialogue just doesn’t trigger if you didn’t do the quest but it was a nice touch.

I appreciate the use of dead bodies in the hold.

(That’s a sentence.)

But for the game’s focus on violence and excess of blood it’s very selective in how it uses actual corpses. Any time you see a dead body it really emphasizes the seriousness of the situation. The corpses in the hold and the blood spatter -- especially compared to how bright and clean Seafront as a whole is -- was surprisingly effective. Again, just good atmospheric buildup.

Bit of an anticlimax as a boss, though. It is a really cool boss, between the environmental buildup to the fight and then actually unveiling her, but for how big and scary she is the fight itself went by fairly quick, and the actual finale (the postman whacking her hand telling her to go away she’s groooooss) felt a bit weird in comparison to the way the boss fights in the rest of the game usually play out. Of course, I don’t have context of her dialogue (I can take my guesses, her holding out her hand to Hans as he freaks out and attacks her is already a palpable tragedy) and by the way the scene was framed I suspect the Route B reveal is where the most important part of the scenario lies.

And the seals came back! It’s the little things.

“I wish I was Fyra.” So in the original Replicant the conversation between Emil and Nier before Sech’s wedding was apparently an implication that Emil had a crush on Nier and wanted to marry him. It was ambiguous enough that people had to ask for clarification and some players interpreted it as a weird, childish expression of looking up to and respecting Brother Nier. It was clarified in the Grimoire NieR that Emil is gay and crushing hard on Brother Nier, and this line of dialogue here seems to have been... not made explicit, but changed even between RepliCant and ver. 1.22 to make the implication a little clearer, at least insofar as he isn’t interested in girls. (It winds up missing the implication that he’s into Nier specifically, though.)

...which is funny, because it colors his introduction to the King of Facade somewhat differently. These two meeting is honestly really sweet on a few levels (Sechs recognizing him from Nier’s descriptions, which implies that Nier’s been visiting Sechs regularly and so proud of his interactions with Emil he told the king of another nation all about him, and the King is legit excited to meet him) but then a couple of minutes later Emil is all ‘I’m so jealous of Fyra’. He isn’t crushing on Nier, but he is totally crushing on Sechs.

Endgame At this point in the game the distinction between Brother and Father has become mostly lost and the final charge is pretty much the same as

wait what’s up with the music in the Lost Shrine? This is Snow in Summer.

Or an arrangement thereof. That particular track level from Snow in Summer winds up getting used in a few new places and it has this kind of weird, vague sense of dread that makes it work pretty well. Utterly threw me off in the Lost Shrine, though (I think it’s appropriate given its connection to the Shadowlord/Gestalt Nier so slowly re-introducing it in the climb is pretty cool). It also builds insanely as you climb, which is a very cool effect but, um, I’m just here to pick up some sidequest items right now this feels like a little much.

There isn’t much to say regarding any impact or differences in the large part of this area of the game. It’s a good final dungeon, it carries good momentum, it works as well as it ever did (that is to say, rather well). The emotional beats are great and translate equally well between the protagonists, although I have to give the nod to Papa Nier during a lot of this just for the imagery of such a big, powerful man becoming so broken the further he goes in (and Kaine being strong enough to toss him around like a rag doll anyway).

The final flashback with Nier and Yonah also feels better with Papa Nier. I always read it as, of course, Papa Nier having his moment with Yonah, giving her the flower, and as he lays back down Yonah does the same big sigh like she’s trying to emulate her dad and it’s really sweet. This is another one of those moments where it’s not something that feels wrong in Replicant, but just having that comparison in the back of my head is something that I just can’t help.

Is Papa Nier still Best Neir? Yes.

But there’s room in my heart for Brother. I’m glad the bizarre marketing decision happened and both of these characters can exist.

...and then we reload the save. Okay, okay, so-- so here’s the thing-- I figured that’s a good place to conclude a session, right? Get to the ending, prepare for the next run. But I also know that Route B starts with Kaine’s unskippable novel segments. I’ve read them, of course, so I figure I’ll just reload into Route B so I can make a save after the novel sections, really get into the meat of Route B when I’m fresh.

So skim through those--

Beat up the Knave--

Skim through the rest--

Educated Warrior... didn’t pop...?--

Wait what’s this camera angle--

Why am I outs--

oh my god

oh my god

KAINE AND EMIL HAVING GIGGLY GIRL TALK AROUND THE CAMPFIRE OH MY GOD WHAT IS HAPPENING

THERE’S MORE.

THERE’S. MORE.

I legit short-circuited. Going in I knew they added the Little Mermaid. I knew they added Ending E. Those were things I suspected would be added and went out to specifically confirm; beyond that I’ve been keeping myself completely spoiler free.

I had no idea there was more. I had no idea this was happening.

I’m so excited.

And a goofy thought for the road

“I polished you with a special cloth, I poured warm water on you--”

“Wait, you poured water on me?”

/imagines Emil running blindfolded eight hours across the Southern Plains with an 8oz plastic water cup, getting to the library, splashing it on Kaine, waiting expectantly

/nothing happens

/walks dejectedly eight hours all the way back to the Manor

[zoinkshaggy]

BASIC QUESTIONS

First name? “Sha– uh, Norville.”

Surname? “Rogers.”

Middle names? “Matthew.”

Nicknames? “Shaggy.”

Date of birth? “November 4th, 1995.”

Age? “Twenty five.”

PHYSICAL / APPEARANCE

Height? “6′0.”

Weight? “150-ish.”

Build? “Uh, long.”

Hair color? “Brown.”

Hair style? “I had dreads for awhile, but now I keep my hair short. Not short. Medium length, I guess.”

Eye color? “Also brown.”

Eye Shape? “Like, normal?”

Glasses or contact lenses? “Neither.”

Distinguishing facial features? “I’d say probably my smile.”

Which facial feature is most prominent? “Smile.”

Which bodily feature is most prominent? “My legs and arms, ‘cause they’re, like, twenty feet long.”

Other distinguishing features? “That’s it.”

Skin? “Oilier than I’d like.”

Hands? “Callused.”

Make up? “I don’t wear any.”

Scars? “Nothing important.”

Birthmarks? “Nah.”

Tattoos? “No! Needles? No thank you!”

Physical handicaps? “None.”

Type of clothes? “I really like sweaters. Sweaters will always be my favorite. They feel safe. It’s a little too hot for that here, though.”

How do you wear your clothes? “How they come.”

What are your feet like? “Kind of big, I guess. Two left feet, that’s what my mom said ‘cause I’m such a klutz. Uh, I should buy some more socks and shoes. Some of my socks have toe holes and my shoes are kind of coming apart.”

Race / Ethnicity? “I don’t have my birth parents around to ask, but I know I’m Spanish.” 

Mannerisms? “I have a habit of, like, playing with my necklace or hair or bracelet — my hands don’t always like being still.”

Are you in good health? “It’s alright, I think.”

Do you have any disabilities? “No.”

PERSONALITY

What words or phrases do you overuse? “Like. I use it, like, a lot.”

Do you have a catchphrase? “Zoinks.”

Are you more optimistic or pessimistic? “I definitely think I’m more optimistic, but I have my moments.”

Are you introverted or extroverted? “Introverted.”

Do you ever put on airs? “I… don’t know what that means.”

What bad habits do you have? “Overeating, not eating healthy. Sleeping in too late. Chewing my nails, only sometimes.”

What makes you laugh out loud? “Usually myself.”

How do you display affection? “My idea of affection is kind of, just, hanging around someone. Hugs can be nice too.”

Mental handicaps? “My anxiety.”

How do you want to be seen by others? “A person they came come to and trust.”

How do you see themselves? “Better than I used to be.”

How are you seen by others? “Probably… nervous.”

Strongest character trait? “My loyalty.”

Weakest character trait? “Getting stuck in my head.”

How competitive are you? “Not at all.”

Do you make snap judgements or take time to consider? “Like, I take too much time to consider.”

How do you react to praise? “I don’t know what to say. I guess I get kind of flustered, you know?”

How do you react to criticism? “Just kind of shrug it off.”

What is your greatest fear? “Ghosts, spiders, heights, bees, guns... losing Scooby.”

What are your biggest secrets? “I don’t really keep secrets.”

What is your philosophy of life? “We’re all just here for a little while, so we should make it easier on each other.”

When was the last time you cried? “It’s been a few months, actually.”

What haunts you? “Zoinks. Hopefully not any ghosts.”

What are your political views? “I don’t pay enough attention to politics to have any views, really. I’ll vote for whoever Velma votes for. She knows what she’s talking about.”

What will you stand up for? “I will always stand up for my friends.”

Who do you quote? “Usually if I’m quoting someone, I don’t even know who I’m quoting.”

Are you indoorsy or outdoorsy? “Indoors. I like walking Scoob and everything, but, like, there’s too many bugs outside.”

What is your sinful little habit? “Putting mustard on ice cream.”

What sense do you most rely on? “Taste. But also hearing.”

How do you treat people better than you? “The same.”

How do you treat people worse than you? “The same.”

What quality do you most value in a friend? “Kindness.”

What do you consider an overrated virtue? “I wanna say courage. Biased opinion.”

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? “I’d stop worrying about everything.”

What is your obsession? “Good food.”

What are your pet peeves? “When people are mean for no reason.”

What are your idiosyncrasies? “Gotta make sure I turn all the lights off before I leave.”

FRIENDS AND FAMILY

Is your family big or small? Who does it consist of? “I guess it’s kind of small. I have my dad, my mom and my sister, Maggie. I haven’t seen my real parents since I was a kid.”

What is your perception of family? “I don’t think family has anything to do with blood, it’s how people treat you.”

Do you have siblings? Older or younger? “Maggie, she’s younger.”

Describe your best friend. “I’ve known her since, well... it feels like forever, but it’s only been, like, a decade and a half. She’s the best person I know. She’s so smart and funny, and she’s beautiful. She has a beautiful soul and... just... everything about her is beautiful. She makes me feel safe, it doesn’t matter what’s going on or how much my mind is racing, if I know she’s there it just feels like everything’s gonna be okay.”

Ideal best friend? “I’ve already got ‘em all.”

Describe your other friends. “They’re great. They’re all unique in their own ways, you know? Freddy’s headstrong and he’s the coolest guy you’ll meet, Daph is such a warm energy and she’s a great conversationalist, Buzz is genuine and he’s loyal. I know everyone thinks so, but I really do have the best friends.”

Describe your acquaintances. “I guess that would be the people I work with. Like, they’re okay.”

Do you have any pets? “Yeah, I have Scoob, but he’s more like my brother or something at this point.”

Who are your natural allies? “Probably the Mystery Inc gang.”

Who are your surprising allies? “I guess it’s surprising I’d fit in with them, huh?”

PAST AND FUTURE

What were you like as a baby? As a child? “I was happy. I can’t remember much from being that young, but I know I was traveling with my parents, I remember I felt like the world was so big and exciting. I felt so loved. I guess I kind of lost that feeling when I was adopted, suddenly the exciting stuff was just, like, scary. I was an anxious wreck as a child, that’s all, honestly.”

Did you grow up rich or poor? “The Rogers family is well off. I wouldn’t say rich, but, like, well off.”

Did you grow up nurtured or neglected? “I don’t wanna say they neglected me. I did feel that way a lot, but some of it was... me, I guess, myself worrying. Yeah.”

What is the most offensive thing you ever said? “I hope nothing.”

What is your greatest achievement? “Is it sad to say everything I’ve done in this last year? For awhile it felt like I was just getting by, but right now, I feel like I’m really living. I got a job, like, it’s not much but it’s a job, I’m doing better in school, I’ve got Velma now, really got her...”

What was your first kiss like? “It was with my favorite person. Kind of later than most people’s, I guess, but worth waiting for.”

What is the worst thing you did to someone you loved? “Come into my mom’s life, probably.”

What are your ambitions? “I’ve been thinking I might wanna go to culinary school.”

What advice would you give your younger self? “I would just tell him that nothing is wrong with him, it’s okay to go your own pace and, like, it’s all gonna be okay, little guy.”

What smells remind you of your childhood? “Corn dogs and pizza. Apple pie. Playground mulch. Hair spray and perfume. Dirt.”

What was your childhood ambition? “I just remember wanting to stop being so scared.”

What is your best childhood memory? “It’s so old it’s blurry, but I remember one of my birthdays, I guess it was my last before I was adopted. We were traveling, my parents were happy, I was happy. It was the last time everything felt okay for awhile.”

What is your worst childhood memory? “There’s a few. Most of them involved panic attacks alone in my bedroom.”

Did you have an imaginary childhood friend? “Not that I remember.”

When was the last time you were crushed with disappointment? “Sometime before I moved to Elias.”

What past act are you most ashamed of? “I’m ashamed that I let myself get separated from my parents, that I couldn’t figure out how to get in touch with them. Maybe shame isn’t the right word. I just wish I knew how my mom and dad were doing, my other mom and dad.”

What past act are you most proud of? “Taking whatever the first step was to stepping out of my shell.”

Has anyone ever saved their life? “I feel like Scooby Doo saved my life.”

Strongest childhood memory? “Another birthday. My first one with the Rogers family. I ended up crying in the bathroom. I was so confused and overwhelmed, I felt like the only person in the world. I just wanted to go home. I don’t think that feeling will ever leave me.”

LOVE

Do you believe in love at first sight? “Yes.”

Are you in a relationship? “I’m with Velma.”

How do you behave in a relationship? “I don’t really know what I’m doing, I’m just trying to make her happy.”

When did you last have sex? “I-- uh... that’s personal.”

What sort of sex do you have? “Like, w-why are you asking that?”

Have you ever been in love? “I am right now.”

Have you ever had your heart broken? “Yeah, but it wasn’t in a relationship.”

CONFLICT

How do you respond to a threat? “Run.”

Are you most likely to fight with your fists or your tongue? “Like, neither.”

What is your kryptonite? “All you can eat buffets.”

If you could only save one thing from your burning house, what would it be? “I assume Scooby and Velma don’t count, so I guess I’d probably grab my favorite shirt or something.”

How do you perceive strangers? “Scary.”

What do you love to hate? “I don’t hate anything... except maybe lima beans... and there is no love there, like, at all.”

What are your phobias? “There’s a lot of ‘em.”

What is your choice of weapon? “I’m more of a hider. If I had to use something, I’d probably grab whatever was blunt and close to me.”

What living person do you most despise? “I don’t despise anyone.”

Have you ever been bullied or teased? “Yeah.”

Where do you go when you’re angry? “I don’t get angry. When I’m sad, I just go home.”

Who are your enemies and why? “The bad guys the gang and I try to stop... because we’re trying to stop them...”

WORK, EDUCATION AND HOBBIES

What is your current job? “Right now I flip burgers.”

What do you think about your current job? “It’s not too bad. It pays the bills for now. Maybe one day I can get a real cooking job.”

What are some of your past jobs? “This is my first job.”

What are your hobbies? “Just chilling, mostly. Smoking, eating.”

Educational background? “I’m in college.”

Intelligence level? “I’m not the smartest guy you’ll meet, but I’m trying.”

Do you have any specialist training? “No.”

Do you have a natural talent for something? “I don’t know if it’s a talent, but I have a lot of knowledge on the supernatural. Weeding out what’s real and what’s not, though, that’s the hard part.”

Do you play a sport? Are you any good? “No, I’ve never been good at sports... I hated gym class.”

What is their socioeconomic status? “I recycle, but I should do more.”

FAVORITES

What is your favorite animal? “Dogs.”

Which animal do you dislike the most? “Anything that bites or stings.”

What place would you most like to visit? “I think Antarctica would be pretty cool. Ha, ba-dum-tss.”

What is the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen? “I remember Topanga Canyon being so pretty...”

What is your favorite song? “Two Princes, Spin Doctors.”

Music, art, reading preferred? “Music.”

What is your favorite color? “Green.”

What is their password? “Scoobydoobydoo420 --- like, wait, why are you asking?”

Favorite food? “Like, that’s too hard!”

What is your favorite work of art? “Uh... Mona Lisa?”

Who is your favorite artist? “I don’t know artists that well.”

What is your favorite day of the week? “With my work schedule, it doesn’t really matter.”

POSSESSIONS

What is in your fridge? “What isn’t in my fridge? Let’s see, right now I know there’s barbecue sauce, mayonnaise, mustard, honey mustard, honey, shredded cheddar cheese, American cheese slices, a wheel of Gouda, ketchup, ranch, spicy barbeque, sour cream, strawberry and grape jelly, apple jam, butter, margarine, milk, chocolate milk, Almond milk, strawberry syrup, cherries, a half eaten Philly Cheesesteak, ham, turkey, black forest ham, broccoli, Reeses cups, water bottles, apple juice, leftover brown rice, at least one eggplant, eggs, one slice of buffalo chicken pizza, cabbage, few different Lunchables, green peppers, one red pepper, mild salsa, medium salsa, a microwaveable Calzone, strawberries, raspberries, cream cheese, a bowl of chili and... actually, I think that’s it. Don’t get me started on the freezer.”

What is on your bedside table? “My phone and an old water bottle, probably.”

What is in your car? “I don’t have a car.”

What is in your bin? “Candy wrappers, empty Chinese takeout boxes, probably some junk mail.”

What is in your purse or wallet? “My ID, debit card, a little bit of cash, Scoob’s service dog certificate, a picture of Velma.”

What is in your pockets? “Scooby snacks.”

What is your most treasured possession? “I’m not attached to any specific items, really, just people.”

SPIRITUALITY

Who or what is your guardian angel? “I don’t know, I’d just like to think I have one.”

Do you believe in the afterlife? “I’m not sure. When I think about it, I get a little freaked out.”

What are your religious views? “Uh, I- I don’t know.”

What do you think heaven is? “I think it would be this safe place on the clouds where everyone you love is waiting.”

What do you think hell is? “Bad.”

Are you superstitious? “I guess, yeah.”

What would you like to be reincarnated as? “I guess being a dog would be pretty fun... anything like that. I don’t think I’d wanna be a human again. It’s too much.”

How would you like to die? “Not... painfully...”

What is your spirit animal? “A sloth.”

What is your zodiac sign? “Scorpio.”

VALUES

What do you think is the worst thing that can be done to a person? “Breaking them down. Making them feel like they’re not important, they don’t matter, they have to change who they are to be loved.”

What is your view of ‘freedom’? “Having the chance to choose.”

When did you last lie? “Like, I don’t want to lie, but this guy at work asked me if I liked his new sunglasses, and I didn’t want to be rude and they were pretty expensive, so I said yeah, but... I really didn’t like them.”

What’s your view of lying? “I hate doing it, I don’t want to be lied to.”

When did you last make a promise? “Last week.”

Did you keep or break their last promise? “I keep my promises.”

DAILY LIFE

What are their eating habits? “Whatever I want when I want it.”

Do you have any allergies? “Not that I know of, but I bet I’m allergic to bees, I feel like if I got stung I’d die, so I try to avoid them.”

Describe your home. “It’s just a small apartment. It feels like home when Velma’s there, though.”

Are you a minimalist or a clutter hoarder? “Can I be both? I’m trying to do better about clutter, it’s usually just clothes and trash, I don’t have many belongings.”

What do you do first thing on a weekday morning? “Kiss Velma on the head. Get ready for work. If I’m off, I’ll cuddle a little longer, then we’ll have breakfast.

What do you do on a Sunday afternoon? “Take my shoes off, sit on the couch and watch some TV.”

What do you do on a Friday night? “Whatever Velma wants to do.”

What is your soft drink of choice? “Dr. Pepper.”

What is your alcoholic drink of choice? “I don’t drink much. Mike’s Lemonade is enough for me, and it tastes good.”

MISCELLANEOUS

What or who would you dress up as for Halloween? “I like dressing up as ghosts with Scoob. I think I was the Hamburglar last year. Maybe me, Scooby and and Velma can all do matching costumes this Halloween.”

Are you comfortable with technology? “I guess.”

If you could save one person, who would it be? “Velma.”

If you could call one person for help, who would it be? “Depends on the situation. Freddy, Daph or Velma.”

What is your greatest extravagance? “Food...”

What is your greatest regret? “I don’t think I have any.”

What is your perception of redemption? “Noticing that you need to do better, then striving to do it.”

What would you do if you won the lottery? “I’d pay off any bills my friends have. Put some funding into the Mystery Inc. I guess I’d save the rest.”

What is your favorite fairytale? “Goldilocks and the Three Bears.”

What fairytale do you hate? “Like, Little Red Riding Hood makes me feel... weird...”

Do you believe in happy endings? “Yes.”

What is your idea of perfect happiness? “Being comfortable in your own skin and surrounding yourself with people that are good for you.”

What would you ask a fortune teller? “I’d ask how my birth parents are doing.”

If you could travel through time, where would you go? “I’d go back and spend another day with them.”

What sport do you excel at? “None, no sports.”

What sport do you suck at? “All of them. Especially baseball.”

If you could have a superpower, what would you choose? “I’d like to be able to turn invisible. Not to spy on people. Just to hide when everything got too overwhelming.”

[nickcifonie]

In 2021, Anyone Can Make $ Playing Video Games!

I grew up playing games like Risk, Monopoly, a little Chess... and still remember buying my first computer somewhere around 1986 solely to play a computer game on. It was an Apple IIc, and that first game was some type of Pirate Adventure. I wish I remembered the name. It wasn’t all that good, but still, I was hooked!

Since that first adventure, I’ve spent thousands of hours as well as dollars playing just about every type of digital game that has followed! PC games, Atari, Wii, mobile games... you name it, I play it! I’d always generalize the cost (to myself at least) thinking “some guys play golf 3 days a week at $100 a round... I play computer games”.

That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it! However, the story has changed...

“Pay to Play” has become “Play to Earn”!

If you would be to search terms like “crypto games”, “blockchain games”, “make money playing video games”, and others, you’d find some really incredible statements. Today, quotes like the ones below are becoming more and more common!

“I made $400 last week playing a computer game” “I just sold my RPG character for $200 profit”

“I was offered $1k for a skin for my laser rifle of doom” (I made up the “laser rifle of doom” part)

“I bred my pet thingamajig yesterday and sold the baby!” (it’s digital, for those of you wincing)

In 2021, thanks to the blockchain, there’s a growing community of gamers who are making real dollars daily, mining, fighting, shooting, jumping... all while playing the same type of mobile and PC games that you had to PAY to play just a short while ago...

...but let’s start at the beginning.

You paid $172,000 for a what!?

Yes... all the way back in 2018 a CryptoKitty named “Dragon” was sold for an incredible $172,000. (300 ETH) Don’t be too surprised, it’s justified! It’s an adorable digital image, or “NFT” of a cat, after all.

It’s a lot of money, but for NFTs and blockchain gaming, flipping a Kitty today may as well be considered the stone ages. It’s still a record, but while you can still get started collecting these digital felines for as low as a couple of dollars, big-dollar trades still happen daily.

On the flip side of mortgaging your home to buy a digital picture of a CryptoKitty, Bored Ape, or CryptoPunk, you may feel better if you begin your adventure into making crypto (it’s real money, dear!) by playing a video game where you can “make money” instead of spending it.

I’m not saying owning a CryptoKitty or any of a plethora of “Avatar NFTs” we see popping up on various exchanges isn’t one way to do it... I’m saying to me at least, as a life-long gamer I’d much prefer playing a mobile, console, or PC game to collecting pictures in a digital wallet.

So what the heck is an NFT?

I could go into a long explanation... but since this article is about gaming and not cryptocurrency, I’ll tell you an NFT is a “non-fungible token”, and leave you google it if you really want to dig in deep. I do want to share more, so I’ll ‘splain it as simple as I can for you Lucy!

A CryptoKitty, as stated above, is a type of image called an NFT. (the collection is called “CryptoKitties) It’s a digital picture of a cartoon cat. There are thousands of different ones that have different shapes, colors, expressions and traits. (kind of like a real cat, but eats less)

The difference, is only one of each design is actually a legitimate “CryptoKitty”. (or a legitimate whatever type of image it happens to be) To be clearer... each NFT is a “one of a kind”, so if you’re thinking “but can’t I just make a copy?”, nope you can’t.

I mean... you “can” make a copy of it if you really dig the design and want it on your desktop, but it would only be a copy of that particular NFT, not the real McCoy! Ok... so what makes one real, and the rest fakes? The blockchain.

Now, I’m going to be true to my word and keep my promise of not making this an article about crypto or the blockchain, so just know this: the difference between an image that is an actual NFT, and a copy of one, is there is an underlying digital code that designates the real thing.

So real in fact, that artists are creating or importing their paintings and creations to the web as NFTs, numbering them as they would a lithograph, and selling their entire collections. So if you are an art fan, check with your favorite creators... you may be surprised to find all of their “works of art” on an online marketplace!

NFTs are viewed on certain marketplace websites and digital wallets where the copies cannot be displayed, so that is how we know one is real, and the others are not! Having said that, sure, there’s more to it, but just know that there’s a 100% secure way of knowing an image is a real NFT.

In addition, there can be more than one NFT with the same identical image. However, each has a unique underlying code, so even if they look exactly the same, they are not! Look at it like the playing cards or comic books of old... there may be 1,000 created (or “minted” as it’s called in NFT land) but they will each be numbered 1 to 1,000.

And guess which is more valuable.....? I knew you’d get it!

And these NFT’s make money how?

You’re getting warmer! There are a lot of different types of games coming out these days where you can make money playing. There are RPG’s, MOBA’s, Shooters, games in first person and in third, dungeon crawls... you name it!

If you’re thinking “how did I not know this!”, I was the same until recently! I have been gaming almost daily since I stepped into Ultima Online back in 1997, and I can’t even begin to tally how many hours and/or dollars I’ve invested into gaming.

Now, our hobby pays!

After 30-something years, my wife still thinks I’m bonkers... but I got a totally different look from her a few days ago when I told her I sold my game character for well over $200. Legit. I sold two more yesterday, and another this afternoon.

Some of these only cost me $10 or $15, some much more. Some are free. I sold another NFT character last week for $1,950, and it was sold on the game’s website, not on the black market.

So not only can an NFT be a picture of an Ape, Vegetable, Duck, or Stripper on a pole (we’ll leave it at that) but it can be a character in a game, a weapon, a mount, armor, or more.

One game is giving away free pet turtles with each character. For the uneducated on “pets” in computer games, it’s not the kind you keep in a bowl in your bedroom. It’s a companion that fights with you in an online game and may shoot fire from its eyes, heal you, or similar.

Soon after being handed out for free, they’re now selling for around $60 each.

So an NFT can be an image, a video, music, a meme... or even a shirt or shoes! But we’ll leave the NFT clothing explanation to another article. ;)

Remember that rare skin you paid out the nose for a year ago in Apex? Or the L33T character you built up in Fortnite or Warcraft? If you’re no longer playing that game, it’s money under the bridge. And you don’t own the bridge!

In this new breed of blockchain games, you could have LEGALLY sold that character, skin, weapon, land, house, mount, or whatever it was when you tired of the game. For a profit. Maybe for a LARGE profit.

Yes, in the past we were able to find ways to get around the system and dump our pixels from time to time. We’d sell the account on the black market, or cut a deal with someone like a drug dealer on a Chicago Street corner. Then we’d over who went first...

“You give me the account and weapon first!” “No you give me the money first”.  Sometimes the deals even went through. Others well... let’s just say half of the parties walked away happy.

I made good money when after 4 years of daily playing I sold my Ultima Online account for somewhere around $2,000, but I needed to find a trustworthy “go-between” to broker the deal. Even then, I was sweating it!

With today’s crypto games, not only do the games provide the platform to buy, sell, or trade your character and items, but it’s encouraged, and done with good old U.S dollars! I’ve made $ playing 4 or 5 different games already this week, as well as flipping (buying low and selling higher) NFT characters!

How else can I make money playing games?

The way you earn varies from game to game, but each week seems to reveal another new strategy, platform, or idea. Many are new strategies, and while some have “triple A” 3D animation and graphics, others are simpler and use basic one-dimensional graphics for the gameplay.

Some of these games are actually tied to a token on the blockchain. The game developer creates their own token, not too unlike Bitcoin or Ethereum, and it can be bought or sold on the open market as well as used in the game as currency.

Could you imagine if back in League of Legends, Guild Wars or Final Fantasy, when you were ready to move to a new game, you could sell or easily convert your gold to cash? Some of today’s blockchain games encourage it!

Not only can you now buy and sell characters and weapons, the gold in the game can be traded, bought, sold, or saved like real currency, stocks, crypto, or collectables. Never have I been as excited about PC and mobile gaming as I am today!

As an example, I am doing some work for a new game that will launch soon called Pepper Attack. Pepper Attack has its own token or coin... called MYTE. It can be used in the game as currency, but also be traded like Bitcoin. A lot of today’s blockchain games offer this same benefit.

Hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to mine I go!

Just by owning an NFT from the game, you can login on a daily basis and click “mine” earning real-value tokens passively. Your Pepper goes to work like one of the 7 Dwarves mining MYTE, and later on you can convert it to other tokens or cold, hard cash.

There's more to do in this particular game as well. Like any good RPG or MMORPG, each pepper has a unique combination or skills like attack, defense, evade, hit points, and more. As an example of the possibilities, if you have a high attack score, other characters will be able to pay you in MYTE to “train” them, raising their score as well.

In addition, these NFTs have unique physical traits, some are common and some are very rare. This game in particular have toons that look more like anime-ish elves with weapons and a stem... I have to admit the artwork is really spicey! (see what I did there?) Other games are of course totally different.

Some people will simply collect these NFTs/characters as an investment, like playing cards or comics. Others will use them in the game, and still others will do both. Either way, they can be held, or sold for a profit!

Unlike the games of the past, when you’re ready to move on you don’t walk away and lose all the $ you have spent for characters, skins, weapons, potions, and other items. When you’re done, you’ll be able to sell your character and items... possibly for a profit... maybe a lot of profit... and move on.

These are not your father’s computer games!

As we move ahead in the genre, we are seeing AAA studios coming out with big-dollar productions, like Blankos, Mist, Illuvium, Ember Sword and others. Some of these games actually let you buy the land you build on!

Did you have your own house in Ultima Online, Star Wars Galaxies, or Archeage? What if you could have used It as a shop and been paid in dollars for your wares, rented it to another player, or sold it for cold hard cash at a huge profit down the road?

In many of today’s games, not only is it common, but extremely hard to come by, and quite expensive. Not only are people paying thousands of dollars for a plot in some of the games that have land, but they’re paying it many months before the game is even released.

They do it, because in many cases they know that they can easily 2X, 10X, or even 50X their investment a short piece down the road. Seriously? Seriously... and the early bird catches the worm!

Other games with lesser budgets are more graphic-based, but have super earnings potential as well, and are just as fun to play. These include Splinterlands, (a card game like Magic!) Crypto Blades, Axie Infinity and more.

Regardless of if the new blockchain game of your choice is a RPG, MOBA, a card game or racing game... the fact that you can put some coin into your pocket playing adds a whole new element. It’s heckafun making money playing a game!

The early nerd catches the worm!

In many cases, if you can catch a game before it releases, the land, characters, weapons, and other items... in most cases all NFTs... can be grabbed at a tiny fraction of the future value.

Of course, always check out the game details and team first, and be confident it’s a good place to put your money. Not all games are made the same.

If you’re lucky enough to find out about and partake in an early sale, for example, like grabbing a character NFT or two in   “Pepper Attack”  before the late September launch date, you may be in for a real treat!

There are plenty of new titles coming down the pipe that look to be fun, have great communities, and offer earning opportunities. A web search will find services and websites that will keep you on your toes and alert you of upcoming blockchain game releases, marketplace opening, and more.

As we look forward, the future of gaming on the blockchain is really, really exciting! Not only are the games getting better and more fun, but they’re getting better at making the economics work more smoothly as well.

The games are not without challenges, as they need to be made to sustain themselves economically over the long haul. In addition, they need to have higher levels of security (thanks blockchain!) and of course, work without becoming “pay to win”. Thankfully, the new breed of developers have risen to the challenge!

The next time you look for a new game to add to your phone or desktop, or just want a change of pace, look to a game that pays to play! Your wallet might thank you.

Another perk, is your husband or wife will appreciate it as well! Instead of hearing “are you going to play that stupid game all night again?”, you may start to hear things like “I’ll put the kids to bed tonight sweetheart, so you can get online and play”.

One can only hope...

Author - Nick Cifonie

Nick is a lifelong gamer, who cut his teeth at the local Chicago arcade playing Tetris as a teen. Better known as Znick or Deacon Z, Nick became a Game Master in Ultima Online in 1997, ran a large multi-game guild for 15 years, and now spends his time in the “play to earn” arena. Professionally, Nick is a writer and 4-decade marketer working with the  Pepper Attack team, as well as others. Nick is also a Catholic Deacon.

[terramythos]

TerraMythos' 2020 Reading Challenge - Book 34 of 26

Title: The Harbors of the Sun (2017) (The Books of the Raksura #5)

Author: Martha Wells

Genre/Tags: Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, Adventure, LGBT Protagonist, Female Protagonist (Kind Of), Third-Person

Rating: 9/10

Date Began: 12/11/2020

Date Finished: 12/25/2020

Moon and his friends are reeling from the betrayal of a former ally. With several members of their party kidnapped, and a mysterious weapon stolen by their new enemy, the chase is on. He and the others must infiltrate unknown territory to rescue their missing family and avert a deadly calamity. At the same time, a massive army of Fell are gathering to attack the Reaches. The Raksuran colonies of Indigo Cloud and Opal Night must join forces to defend their home before they are overrun and destroyed. 

“But you don’t want to be near Fell,” Moon guessed. Considering what had happened to Shade when they had been captured by the Fell flight northwest of the Reaches, it was only rational. 

“No, I don’t.” He looked at Moon hopelessly. “Is that weak?” 

Consorts were supposed to be weak and delicate and need everything done for them, but Moon and Shade were different, and nothing was going to change that. And “weak” wasn’t really the right word for what Shade meant. What he was trying to say was harder to express. It was giving into feelings other people thought you were supposed to have about things that shouldn’t have happened to you in the first place, but were not like the actual feelings you did have. There wasn’t a word for that in Raksuran or Altanic or Kedaic or any other language Moon knew. Moon said, “It’s not weak.” 

Full review, some spoilers, and content warning(s) under the cut. 

Content warnings for the book:  Graphic violence and action. Implied past r*pe (it’s the same plot point as previous books). Genocide is a big plot point of this one. 

The Harbors of the Sun is the fifth, and presumably final, book in the Raksura series. And boy what a ride it's been. I've enjoyed settling in with a longer fantasy series. While I'm excited to read something new, I'll miss these characters and the captivating world they inhabit. Since this is probably the last installment, I'll look into book-specific details, but also provide some series retrospective commentary. I won't touch on everything, just things that stick out to me.

From what I can tell, The Harbors of the Sun is a little controversial with long time fans. I can see why, and it's the same reason I added "Epic Fantasy" to the tag list. Most of the series has focused on small-scale conflicts centering on the Raksuran characters. There's hints of large-scale stuff in The Siren Depths, but that crisis is averted, so thus not fully realized. However, these last two books contain a much longer storyline, and the stakes in The Harbors of the Sun are potentially catastrophic not just for the Raksura, but thousands if not millions of people. Think The Lord of the Rings trilogy vs The Hobbit in terms of ramp up.

Due to the larger scale, this book also embraces a rotating point of view. The original trilogy is entirely from Moon's perspective, and The Edge of Worlds only dips its toes into alternate POVs. The Harbors of the Sun features multiple character groups all doing important things to the story, so there's lots of perspective shifts. While I still consider Moon the main character, he shares the stage with many others.

Personally, I like the scaled up conflict. It seems like a natural progression of the series. While not every point of view wows me, finally seeing some stuff from Jade and Chime's perspective (for example) is really cool. While Moon is an enjoyable protagonist, he often interprets characters and motivations wrong. Getting someone else’s take on a given situation or character is refreshing. 

One of my favorite alt-perspectives is Frost. She's a young child and minor character, but serves as the perspective for a tense political discussion between Raksuran queens about impending war with the Fell. This whole section serves to convey important information, but also as great worldbuilding to see how Raksura interact with, indulge, and care for their young. While we have seen adult perspectives such as Moon happily playing with his children, it's interesting to see a child's view of life in the colony. This is emblematic of Wells' approach to the series and her technique when crafting this world. It would be easy to pick a major character like Malachite and tell this section from her perspective, but we would miss many interesting details. Using Frost isn't something I would necessarily consider, and is just a cool writing choice.

By the end, The Harbors of the Sun feels like it's been a long, epic journey-- more so than the shorter adventures of previous books. A LOT of stuff happens in this book, and there's so many different interesting places the characters visit. Even events at the beginning feel distant compared to where everything ends. There is a unique appeal in this kind of story. Maybe it's not for everyone, but I personally like the change of pace and tone, especially as a finale. 

For a series retrospective, the Fell are an interesting subject to discuss. I'm impressed with what Wells pulls off with them. One of my criticisms of The Cloud Roads is the Fell aren't especially compelling villains. They're an evil race of shapeshifters, distantly related to Raksura, who infiltrate cities and eat the population. The Fell are parasites-- they have no real culture or ability to survive except through the destruction of others. They’ve recently taken to destroying Raksuran colonies, kidnapping survivors, and forcing them to produce crossbreeds. Obviously, this introduces two narrative problems. One, "evil races" in fantasy are boring and already done ad nauseam. Two, how can one make the Fell interesting when they're literally irredeemable monsters? 

The answer, it turns out, is a nature vs nurture debate, and it's mostly approached through the Fell/Raksura crossbreed characters. While these ideas have been explored throughout the series, The Harbors of the Sun brings it full circle. The Cloud Roads' main antagonist is Ranea, a crossbreed queen raised by the Fell. She sees the crossbreeds as a natural way to strengthen the Fell and make them an even deadlier force than they are by default, since Raksura have their own set of powers and traits. She’s soundly defeated, supposedly concluding the subplot. Until, of course, it comes back. 

In The Siren Depths, we meet several crossbreed characters who are, for all intents and purposes, Raksura. Malachite rescued them as children and chose to raise them as Raksura of Opal Night. The result is that, while Shade and Lithe are aware of their heritage, they've experienced love and acceptance throughout their lives. Sure, they may have some physical traits and abilities that differ from the others, but often these have practical uses in the story. Their families don’t treat them differently because of this. As characters, they're just as Raksuran as everyone else.

In The Edge of Worlds, we're introduced to another crossbreed queen, a foil to Ranea. While she makes some early mistakes, unlike Ranea she seems capable of reason and compassion. We learn her name and backstory in The Harbors of the Sun. Consolation was born in a Fell flight, but most of her childcare came from her father, a captive Raksuran consort. Hence her name, which is painful with context and distinctly Raksuran. Apparently, the consort's influence didn't just extend to Consolation, but to other outcasts in the flight. After his death, Consolation and her allies slaughtered the leadership and took over the flight, and seek a place to live in peace independent of traditional Fell corruption and influence. 

One of the interesting things about this are the kethel and dakti in Consolation's flight. Throughout the series, these two Fell castes are basically treated as cannon fodder. If you need a big intimidating enemy, throw in a kethel. For annoying imp swarms, dakti. The Raksura tend to think of these creatures as intelligent animals, not people. They only talk when a Fell ruler takes over their mind. They're treated badly among the Fell; cannibalized them when food stores get low, thrown into suicidal situations, etc. 

In The Harbors of the Sun, the kethel and dakti can speak, much to the surprise of the main cast. Consolation's main advisor is a crossbreed dakti named First. There's also a kethel (presumably pureblooded Fell) that follows and assists Moon and Stone throughout the book and engages them in conversation. They clearly distrust it, but over the course of the story go from calling it "the kethel" to "Kethel", like an actual name. It has ulterior motives-- to convince the Raksura to help Consolation-- but is certainly not "inherently evil", nor just an intelligent animal. This is counter to everything we've been led to believe through the series, and it shocks multiple characters and challenges their way of thinking. 

The argument at the end is that the Fell are evil because of a poisonous ideology and the total control of the progenitors (female rulers). Raised with compassion and better treatment, they're very similar to the Raksura. I'm honestly impressed with where the Fell end up vs where they start in The Cloud Roads. I don't know if Wells planned this arc for them from the beginning, but I like the amount of nuance she introduced without it feeling gross or trite. Does it work 100 percent? I'm not sure; I'd have to reread the series in more depth. But based on my current thoughts, it’s a good development; it doesn’t “redeem” or justify the Fell, but demonstrates the ways in which future generations can change and break the cycle. It’s not all sunshine and rainbows, and many characters clearly distrust these “new” Fell (understandable considering the sheer trauma most of the cast has), but it’s an interesting take nevertheless. 

On another subject, we never really learn what was up with the forerunners! Except they really liked flower motifs, I guess. I kind of like this; there's an impression that the long forgotten civilizations of the past were technologically advanced, but no one knows what happened to them. It's just an enduring mystery of the series. Ultimately it doesn't matter to the characters, and that's fine.

Also, we now have confirmation that The Serpent Sea is basically filler. It felt like a side story when I read it, but part of me hoped it would have some relevance to these last two books. Nope. I’m a little disappointed in this, but it’s not the end of the world, just something to keep in mind when reading the series. I think the book is entertaining on its own merits, but there’s little to connect it to the main story besides the characters. 

Overall I recommend these books to people looking for a non-traditional fantasy series. There's no humans or typical Tolkein-esque fantasy races. Instead there are dozens of sapient humanoid species invented whole cloth, with some obvious real world inspirations. The shapeshifting Raksura are lovingly crafted, with lots of interesting detail about their culture, customs, and daily life. I love how they feel like believable people but are distinctly nonhuman. As a setting, The Three Worlds is deadly and fascinating, with lots of interesting places and people. There's always a sense of a big, vibrant world, even when the books choose not to explore it in depth. While The Harbors of the Sun feels like a finale to the current Raksuran story, I wouldn't be surprised if Wells visits this setting in the future.

There are some short story collections in this series which I do plan to read sometime in 2021. However, I'm going to take a break from the Raksura series and dive into something else for now. Thanks for reading! 

[casualcatte]

RP Journal: 08/09/2020

Rae-Hann appeared to visit me today; it’s been a short bit since I’ve seen him, so he was welcome, as always. He has a strangely calming presence, the mystel, and I find I can talk to him about most anything. There was something a little disconcerting about his reason for finding me, though.

[ Courtsey cut for length. Are these ever short?! ]

It was just to give me a book, written mostly in Vrandtic, but with some parts on Astromancy that he thought might interest me. “I don’t want it left unattended,” he’d said, “should I find myself here physically. Or, dead.”  That last worried me. Was he in some manner of trouble?  Trouble always seemed to find Rae, no matter where in the worlds he went. I couldn’t help but ask him. 

A secret, he said. I had to keep it a secret. Especially from Frey and Shieda. I owe more loyalty to Rae than the two of them combined, so being Rae’s secret-keeper was of little concern to me. What followed… I won’t even write here. A secret is a secret, after all. And Frey is a clever catte who would be the type to ferret out my journal just to see if I’d written anything. So, no, Frey, if you’re reading this. You’re not going to get it out of me.  If Rae-Hann wanted you to know, he’d have told you.

He reassured me that I wouldn’t have to hunt him down, so that’s a relief. I have no doubt I could do it easily, but I wouldn’t want to. That’s a position I’d prefer to never have to be in. Still, I plan to keep an eye on Rae as much as I can, which means getting business concluded in Kugane and Ishgard so I can go back to the drama hot-bed that is Ul’dah. Gods, why do you keep dragging me back to that place?

Rae also spoke of helping him on some Vrandtic expedition he’ll be going on soon. I told him that he knows how to call for me if needed, so I suspect I’ll be taking a dream journey soon. I’m curious about this underwater trip that requires no swimming, though. How is that even going to work?

I’d have to figure it out later, because almost as if he has a sixth sense that I’m talking to someone else, Edgard Beaumont puts in an appearance. How is it that he knows just when to interrupt a pleasant conversation with the crushing weight of his ego? He was, of course, uniquely Edgard, making inferences about my relationship to Rae-Hann, who is only mentor and friend.

Though, once he heard mentor he couldn’t help but bring up that gods-awful Hunt and how I’d missed four shots. /Ugh./  Why did he even have to hear about it? I swear, I’m never going to live it down til the day I die.  Or he does.  It makes it very tempting to shoot him. 

Edgard was Edgard, all talk and suave and confident assurance that I was enamored with him. However, the shocking thing wasn’t Edgard. It was Rae-Hann. There was a… concern there that I’d never before seen.  Not like he was jealous, but more like my godfather, questioning if Edgard had untoward motives. Color me doubly gob-smacked when it seemed to… I don’t know, subdue Edgard.  He admitted he liked my company.  Admitted that it was all in good will and that he had no intention of trying to seduce me. I’m almost convinced he meant it.

Once Rae left, Edgard almost seemed uncomfortable that he’d made the admissions, like someone had suddenly pulled the mask off his facade and yelled “Ta-da!”  It was...strange to see him so vulnerable, stripped of the veneer that was his cavalier, womanizing attitude. I only managed to tease him about it briefly before he shifted the topic to Edmond. 

He’d apparently seen his brother somewhere recently and they’d made it a point to make up with one another.  I was genuinely glad to hear it; family is such an important thing. It’s a shame to see people take it for granted, they don’t realize how lucky they are. There are some of us in the world that have no family to speak of. He went on to say that Edmond was in some manner of trouble, though he had no specifics on the why or the how. I offered to help, which, of course, Edgard had to make about him and how much I care about him. I swear, he’s such an idiot sometimes.

It didn’t take long for Edgard to recover from whatever blow Rae-Hann had dealt him. He was soon back to his usual antics. He mentioned somewhere along the line that he’d told me his intent wasn’t serious back in Ul’dah, but it’s hard to take Edgard seriously about anything when he’s talking to me. To listen to him tell someone else that his flirtations were empty and that it was just in goodwill and fun… it brought a strange sense of relief. I hadn’t realized it til then, how I was expecting him to try something or suggest something, prepared to haul off and slap him for it whenever it happened. It was nice to let go of that expectation. I felt more relaxed, less guarded. Like I wasn’t walking across a Garlean mine-field.

I started to feel more at ease, like I didn’t have to question every gesture and every turn of phrase for fear that he’d get the wrong idea. The rest of the night passed easily until the Ishgardian decided to go to bed, virtuously alone, but in those moments he seemed almost happy. Content. More than I’d seen him since the day I met him.

When I got back to the Bokairo, there was a mail moogle waiting with a letter for me from Lorrendor Hauland.  I was sorely, sorely tempted to punt that marshmallow lump back to wherever it came from. I’m not even sure what he expected to accomplish by sending it.  An apology on paper from half a world away? Tch.  If you can’t even muster the guts to face me in person about the harm you’ve done, you don’t deserve to be forgiven.

Tristane was the most difficult thing I’ve ever had to face in my life. I /watched/ him die, even as I tried to save him. I can still feel the heat of his blood pumping over my hands in time with his heartbeat as I tried to staunch the most vital of his wounds. I can still feel his bloodied hand on my cheek, wiping away my tears as he gasped out that he was glad I was safe. Gods damn you Tristane Alexander, I never wanted to be safe!  I wanted to live or die at your side, as your partner and your love. I wanted us to fight this battle together.  But you left me behind…

(whatever came next was scribbled out in a large block of ink)

I buried him with my own two hands beneath the caelumtree where we first met. There isn’t a thing about home that doesn’t remind me of him and why going home is always so bittersweet for me. Sometimes, I wonder if it’s also why I left…

These feelings are not weapons to be used against me when someone finds them convenient. When someone wants to manipulate me into permitting behavior I would never allow. I never share Tristane’s death lightly and to have it used as a crutch to try get me to accept being treated as anything other than an equal...as anything other than a /friend/... I can’t just /forgive/ that. I would never use that kind of knowledge like that.

Gods, just look at what I know about Edgard and Rae-Hann, the loves they’ve lost.  I would never use that knowledge to try and manipulate them. The very idea makes me sick to my stomach. Their pain, that agony, is a symbol of trust and vulnerability that should be kept sacred and precious. Used only to make them better men and for their own gain, not as a method and means for mine.

I just can’t understand the thinking. Maybe I just don’t get it.

Mentions @yokasaris for Rae-Hann @sola-ffxiv for side-mention of Frey I don’t think any of the other nerds mentioned have Tumblrs (yet)

[toomanystoriessolittletime]

Wonderland

Summary: John might be an assassin but he wasn’t a cheater. That’s why when he spotted Josephine the first time at the antique flea market, he stepped back immediately, when he saw her wedding ring. But was she really married?

Pairing: John Wick / OFC

Words: 2.486

Warnings: smut

A/N: Because it somehow feels weird not to post something on thursday (I know the Christmas thingys are there but I finished them a while ago so it doesn’t feel like it) here is a new John Wick One Shot for you lots.

It had been a while since John had the time to hunt for some old books. He was trying to cut back his work for the high table but that was easier said than done. His last contract had taken him to Russia, and he had to postpone some of his customers at his other business. Bookbinding and restoring from old books. Something about it made him reach a relaxation level he didn’t know was even possible.

But now he was off for the rest of the year with nothing on his plate but the 5 books he had to finish. Still, he hadn’t found the edition of “Alice in Wonderland” he was supposed to bind.

 Searching for a unique book was how he had found the antique flea market just outside of New York. It was a chilly but sunny day.  Unintentionally his eyes searched for his favourite booth, which always was next to the frozen yoghurt stand in the summer. But now during the winter there was a stand with hot beverages next to it.

 John had been coming here for at least 4 years. He had been searching for one book when he first came, but ended buying six old books, because he had been running out of questions to ask Josephine. It had been her first time at the flea market too. Having moved here only a couple of months ago to live in the house her father had lived in, before he died. She had gotten the house and an impressive amount of books. Three garages, a basement and an attic full of books to be exact.

“Safe to say, my father loved books.” She had joked as she had talked to John the first time he had visited the booth.

John came back to the flea market every month from that day on.

 “What got you into bookbinding John?” Josephine, or Josie for friends, had asked him once. They were sitting on a bench at the frozen yoghurt stand, enjoying the sun shining on their faces. It had been early spring and as soon as the first traces of sunlight fought themselves through the clouds Josie had insisted on inviting John for a frozen yoghurt.

That was also the first time he saw the ring on her ringfinger. He had been coming here today with the intention of finally asking her out. He never had even thought of her being married.

“It was a hobby first but it seems like I did something right because people came actually looking for me after I made my first books.”

“What kind of books are you restoring?” Josie had asked, as she crossed her legs turning her body towards John.

“Everything really.”

“That’s very informative, Thank you John.” Josie had joked before she had put a spoon full of frozen yoghurt in her mouth. He caught himself starring at her lips, before he faked a cough and laughed.

“What do you want to know?”

“Everything.” Josie had smiled.

 It had been a good 3 months since he had last been here. He saw that she was busy talking to a customer, so he kept himself busy, looking through the different books she had with her today. She was wearing a royal blue coat and a yellow scarf. Josie saw him from the corner of her eyes and gave him a tiny smile as she was packing the books for the man she had been talking too.

She hadn’t seen John in a couple months and had been worried that something had happened to him. Even with knowing him for so many years they had never exchanged phone numbers. Which she found odd, but didn’t ask further questions. She knew where he lived though. And she might have driven by the house a couple times in the last weeks to always find it laying in the dark.

 “John, you’re back!” She smiled at him, when the customer left.

“That almost sounded like you missed me.” John joked, a teasing smile on his lips.

“Me?” She asked hiding a grin. She did miss him. There was no one in her life she really could talk too about everything. Somehow seeing John once every month became the highlight of the month.

“Yes, you Josie.” John grinned at her as he saw the blush creeping to her cheeks, her brown eyes watching him.

“Well the next time you go MIA it would be nice if you can give some kind of heads up.” She said walking around the table to stand next to him.

“Because I’d like to think that somehow we became friends over the last years and I was kinda worried something happened to you, when you just disappeared.” She bit her lip as she confessed that to him, looking up into his soft brown eyes.

“I… I didn’t...” John began, his brows furrowed.

“It wasn’t my intention to worry you, I’m sorry.” And John couldn’t help himself, as his hand came up, his fingers brushing over her cheek.  Closing her eyes only for a moment, as she felt his fingertips on her cheek she sighed and opened her eyes.

“Apology accepted.” She winked. “What you been up to these last months?” She asked.

“Travelling for work.”

“Oh?” She asked.

“Yeah. But now I’m back and I’m searching for an early edition of Alice in Wonderland to restore.”

“I might be able to help you with that.” Josie grinned.

“Really?” John kept looking over the books spread out on the table in front of him.

“Oh not here. I have them in the basement of my house. I keep all the early editions I have found in the many books from my Dad there.”

“You have more?” John asked.

“Oh, Honey. You have no idea.” Josie chuckled, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

“Can you bring it next month?” John asked.

“What about you come by say...” She looked at her watch. “7 pm? I could make us some dinner?”

John was surprised by her invitation. That wasn't anything he had prepared for. He glanced from her eyes down at her hands, seeing the ring on her finger. Josie followed his eyes to her hand.

“John?” She asked.

“Would your husband be okay with you bringing strange men by?”  John asked hesitantly. Josie narrowed her eyes.

“Husband? Wha...?” She began as she looked down at her hand again. Her Grandmothers wedding ring... And suddenly it all clicked. All the times he disappeared when she thought they were getting closer. He thought she was married.

Stepping closer to him she bit her lip to stop herself from laughing.

“I'm not married John.” She said, a little smile on her face. She pulled the ring of her finger and reached for his hand to lay it on his palm.

“See? It says For the love of my life, 04.04.1966. It's my grandmothers wedding ring. It just felt right to wear it on the finger it's supposed to be worn at. It's also a very resourceful weapon to fight of creeps.” Smiling she sucked her lip in. John took the ring from his palm, reading the words.

“So you're not...?” He asked, not finishing the sentence. She shook her head.

“And you and me could...?” John continued and she grinned as she nodded her head. Chuckling he shook his head.

“You are the only creep I wouldn't fight.” Josie chuckled with him.

“Wait... Creep?” He put his arm around her waist, pulling her to his chest.

“A very handsome creep.” She clarified.

“Is that so?” He pursed his lips, his hand on the side of her neck, his thump running over her lip. Josie suddenly felt hot and cold at the same time, as she felt John's thump on her lip.

“Keep wearing that ring.” John said quietly before his lips captured her in a deep kiss. Josie was very thankful for his arm around her. Her arms sneaking under his opened coat to hold on to his back, as she parted her lips for him. She sighed as she felt his tongue exploring hers.

A cough behind her let her jump, making John laugh. Turning her head, she blushed at the grinning woman with a book in her hand.

“7 pm.” She said looking up at John. Grinning he nodded before he kissed her quickly once more and let her go back to work.

 John found himself outside of her house at exactly 7 pm, knocking on her door, a bottle of wine in his hand. For some reason he was nervous. He still couldn't believe that Josie hadn't been married. All this time they could have been together, but thanks to him not having the guts to ask her...

His train of thought was interrupted when she opened the door, a black cat on her arm. Her hair was braided on one side, her face tilted upwards to look at him.

“John.” She smiled, patting the cats head who looked also at John.

“I brought Wine.” John said, returning her smile and couldn't help himself as he leaned down to kiss her softly. She could get used to this. Carefully setting her cat Henry down to the ground, he fled immediately inside the house, she crossed her arms behind his neck, deepening the kiss. She felt his hands on her waist as he carefully picked her up, just so he could walk in and close the door behind him, making her giggle.

“John...” She groaned as one of his hands sneaked under her shirt, caressing the skin on her back.

“Hm?” He asked, kissing her jaw.

“I cooked dinner...” She said hoarsely, biting her lip as he sucked on her earlobe.

“And?” John hummed, his nose brushing against her cheek.

“I'm hungry.” She swallowed, trying to control her breathing. She tilted her head to the side to look in his eyes.

“Then let's eat.” He smirked, kissing her again before he left her standing in the hallway, walking in the direction he supposed the kitchen to be.

 “I have never seen so many rarities in one place.” John whispered amazed as he looked through the shelves. The walls in the basement were covered by big, dark wood bookshelves with endless amounts of books in them. A ledge in front of the shelves made it easier to set a book down, once you had found one. After dinner Josie had wanted him to show the basement with the rare books. She had already searched for the three editions of Alice in Wonderland she knew her father had. Standing with her glass of red wine, leaning with her hip on the ledge of the shelves she watched John look through the books. She didn't know if it was the alcohol, John or the books but she didn't want to wait anymore.

Setting her wine glass down, she saw John's eyes shifting to her, as she pulled on the belt of her wrap dress. John put the book back into the shelf he just pulled it out of and turned around to Josie. Slowly she let her hands wander up to the fabric covering her chest to pull it down. John watched her with hungry eyes, as she slowly stepped toward him, her dress hanging around her like a robe. There was little to no fabric covering her breasts.

Josie wasn't even able to take two steps towards him, before she found herself pressed with her back to the bookshelf, John's lips on hers. One of his hand buried in her hair to keep her face close to his, she felt his other hand running down her waist, down to her thigh, pulling it up to bring it around his waist. She gasped when he began to roll his hips against hers.

“John...” She moaned, biting her lip, as he kissed her jaw, her collarbone, the top of her breast.

“Yes?” He groaned, his tongue teasing her nipple through the fabric of her bra.

“Fuck...” She cursed, her head falling back against the books behind her. The hand that had been on her thigh now wandering up her inner thigh ever so slightly brushing over her wet panties. She heard him chuckle. Her hands coming to both sides of his face she pulled him up to look at him.

“Fuck me, John.” She whispered and kissed him hard. He leaned down to pull down her panties, while she hastily opened the belt of his pants, pulling the zipper down. Pulling her up, so she was sitting on the ledge he shoved his pants and boxers down. She felt his fingers teasingly running through her folds, making her moan out loud when he rubbed her clit.

“So wet for me.” He groaned into her ear as he replaced his fingers teasing her, with the tip of his cock. Quickly she opened the buttons of his shirt, wanting to feel his skin on hers. She felt the muscles on his back tense when he finally and slowly pushed into her. Moaning she threw her head back. His lips were on her neck as he slowly buried himself completely in her. Giving her time to get used to his size he stilled, kissing up her neck to her jaw. When she began to roll her hips he kissed her hard and began to move. Her legs crossed behind his waist she met his movements, moaning his name.

John reached for one of her hands pushing it above her head to hold it there, as he thrusted harder. The sound of hard breathing and skin slapping on skin filled the room, making them both even more aroused. Bringing his other hand between their bodies he began to rub circles on her clit.

“Yes...” She moaned, biting her lip. John looked at her. A blissful smile on her face as he felt her clench around him, moaning out his name, while he fucked her through her orgasm.

Josie still felt her legs tingling from the aftermath of her orgasm when John's thrusts became heavier.

“Come inside me babe.” She whispered against his ear and he growled as he buried himself deep and spilled inside of her. Sighing she kissed his head as he tried to steady his breathing.

“That was...” She began.

“Yeah.” John said and they both chuckled. His lips found hers in a loving kiss, before he pulled out and helped her carefully stand on her feet.

She felt their joined arousal slowly running down her thighs.

“I don't know about you...” She began as she crossed her arms around his neck.

“But I'm in the mood for a long soak in my bathtub.”

John nodded and picked her up, making her shriek.

“You don't even know where my bathroom is.” She giggled.

“I will figure it out.” John grinned and kissed her as he carried her up the stairs.

Taglist:

@meetmeinthematinee / @hisdeadwife​ / @fanficsrusz​  / @ladyreapermc / @theolsdalova

[phoenotopia]

2019 October Update

Woops, I slipped by my stated blog date since I thought September had 31 days for some reason. So here's the end of September update, 1 day late.

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

Writing... And more writing.

That captures the majority of what transpired the last 2 months. The biggest cutscenes have been scripted as well as most towns, so we're really close... I estimate that the writing will conclude within the next 3 *weeks* and we will actually have a game that can be played from start to finish... Don't get too excited though, because then begins the game's vigorous playtesting phase and more polish. And since I've never launched a commercial game before, the next steps (PR, marketing, lot checking, ESRP rating application, trailers recutting, release date finding, etc) are uncharted territory. The only experience I have is launching a flash game 5 years ago, and that was a lot quicker and a lot less complicated... And so, I can't gauge how long it'd take nor give an accurate release date yet. However, as soon as I do know, it'll be sure to post it here first!

--- COMPUTER BROKE DOWN ---

Among the events that transpired in the last 2 months, my computer actually broke down. It would manifest as the computer shutting off about 10 minutes after turn on. And this was really worrisome because if my computer croaked, it would be a huge blow to the game's development. The time it would take to restore the specific dev environment I had set up would be considerable...

Luckily, it was repaired after 4 days of intense troubleshooting. I'll spare you the long list of events that transpired, but eventually my brother and I were able to narrow the problem down to non-spinning fans on the graphics card. I was able to zippo-tie two chassis fans together, and insert them below the Gfx Card's heat sink. Much cheaper than replacing the whole graphics card!

(please hold until the game's done)

--- MORE PLAYTESTING CHANGES ---

I'll discuss here some additional fixes/changes to the game based on my brother's previous playthrough (still going through that list, heh...)

F. Remember you can climb roots

I remember from a public demo I attempted (3 years ago?), that a lot of people got stuck at these roots, not realizing they could be climbed. Since then, we did a few things to ensure that the first encountered roots would be climbed. The roots' colors were brightened so they would stand out. A character, Ernest, comments that others have climbed the roots. And finally, standing in front of the roots will cause the "Press UP" tutorial prompt to appear.

So how did my brother fare when I did the playtest 2 months ago? He climbed the roots, thankfully. He climbed the next few sets as well. However, later on, in a dungeon, he forgot that climbable roots were a thing. Back to square one. So there's a lesson here... Even if you teach a player something, there's no guarantee that it'll stick.

So in the picture above, you can see my next attempt at an invisible hand to remind the player. In the red circle, notice there are 4 blue dots. These blue dots pulsate wherever there are climbable roots (They're a lot more visible in motion). The idea is to tie an unusual image to an action. I anticipate when the player sees 4 pulsating dots, they'll react by attempting a variety of actions, before eventually concluding that you can only climb them. And that this experience will be more memorable for it - to be conjured up whenever the player sees 4 blue dots. I look forward to observing what happens with the next blind playtester. (Btw, in reading this blog, you have disqualified yourself from playtesting :P)

G. Instant Food Eating

As stated in a previous blog post, the player can't eat from the menu. Food must be eaten in real-time. It's up to the player to find a safe spot to eat, away from interruptions. Some foods can be eaten more quickly, proving more valuable in a fight.

However, what about on the world map?

You can't use tools or items on the world map, which means no healing at all! I saw my brother opening the menu and tinkering around, confident that it could be done. Because why couldn't you?

Indeed... he didn't say anything, but I wrote it down as a feature to be added. And after adding it, found that eating from the menu was  fun! After years of using the new system, to have the old flash system's implementation of healing again was refreshing.

And so I decided to add it as a possible new characteristic of food. There's now a special class of food, "candy", that actually can be used from the menu (world map or no). Rest assured, candy items will be balanced - costing more than regular food, and their healing effects will tend to be less than other more timely items.

(the “eat” subcommand appears for "candy" class items. The candy icon on the bottom-right denotes a candy class item)

H. Fishing Hud finally updated

This wasn't something discovered through playtesting, more of an unfinished task that sat around for far too long. 

(Old fishing hud on left. New fishing hud on the right)

In the old fishing hud (perhaps an example of minimalism taken too far), the fish's health is represented by 10 white dots. In the new fishing hud, the fish's health lines up and mirrors the player's own stamina. Whoever outlasts the other wins!

I had actually been sitting on the finalized graphics for over a year. For some reason, the last 10% implementation of a feature tends to be the most boring. In game development, I find myself jumping around often, working on whatever can catch my interest. That's good for ensuring that the game's development is always moving forward in *some* capacity. But now at the tail end of development, only the most boring tasks are left...

--- WRITING ---

So I mentioned writing. One of the things written in the last 2 months was the entirety of the "monster" village's NPCs. This time I also roped in Pirate (formerly artist, now also writer), since she's quite familiar with their lore having drawn them and their town.

When I wrote trolls, I wanted to give them a unique speech, not unlike the Mr. Saturns from Earthbound. My idea was to capitalize all words and then strip away as many unnecessary words as I could, while keeping the meaning identical.

Pirate then took the result and improved upon it, establishing rules their language could follow to be consistent:

Simplified negatives (no instead of not/don’t/can’t/etc);

Object pronouns replace subject, possessive and reflexive pronouns (me/name instead of I/my/mine/myself). 

No ‘be’ verb or it’s conjugations (am, is, are).

No verb conjugation.

No articles.

(A sample of troll language. Harpy language is similar, but no caps, and a few other variations.)

Another neat thing that happened naturally over the past two months was a construction of a "timeline". The timeline takes the form of a 2D chart, with the major players lined up on the left, and the years up top. There are new characters this time around, and having the timeline as a reference, helps to make sure the lore is on point.

(the timeline, blurred. An internal tool to aid writing)

--- FIVE YEAR ANNIVERSARY ---

Speaking of which, it was the game's 5 year anniversary this past August 20th. Thank you to Firana for reminding me!

Five years... Five Years... T_T (I thought I'd be done by now)

It'd be neat to do a longer in-depth retrospective on this game's long development, but I'll wait for the game to be properly finished first.

--- FAN ART ---

We have 3 lovely fan arts that came in the past 2 months.

(Art by Amaury Lorin)

I like how this picture selectively colors the night sky, comet, and fire. Very artistic! Amaury also submitted a poem (in French). Here it is!

Parmi cette clarté que la nuit seule émet, Au-dessus des radis géants qui s'épanouissent, Nonobstant sans souci les herbes qui frémissent, Sous un ciel calme et sombre, un village dormait.

Éprise de liberté, une puki part Là-bas, quelque part où des prés plus verts la tenant. "Oh, s'écrie un enfant, une étoile filante!" Veille, enfant : pour tes grands yeux curieux seuls, ce soir,

Indifférente au sol précipité sur elle, L'étoile tombe... Écoute, enfant, elle t'appelle; L'étoile : "Suis-je un ange, un messager du ciel?

Avec mes feux, suis-je augure, ou suis-je étincelle? Gloire d'un monde haut, d'une nuit éternelle... Et j'arrive!" --Dors, enfant, tes yeux ont sommeil...

                                                         ...mais demain...

(Art by LittleLys Owo)

Gale smiling and flashing the peace sign. Nice! I like the skillful use of vectors to draw the lineart.

(Art by Shafiyahh)

Shafiyahh, who also drew fanarts in the last update, returns with this cool picture of Gale sporting the katana, a hidden weapon that... JK. I Love the composition of characters, and the flashy background - very anime-esque!

That's all for now. Next update will come at the end of November!

[razieltwelve]

The Hamster (Fate/Stay Night/Final Effect)

There were a great many timelines where Rin Tohsaka’s attempt to summon a Sabre went awry. This was one of them. It was also the only timeline in which she summoned a hamster.

Fortunately for Rin, however, it was no ordinary hamster.

X     X     X

Rin assumed she must have done something absolutely awful in a past life. It was the only way to explain how she’d summoned a hamster as her Servant in the Grail War. Sure, the little guy was incredibly adorable, but what on earth was she supposed to do with him? If the situation weren’t so dire, she might actually have laughed. As it was, she wanted to cry.

She probably would have too, if an enemy Servant hadn’t chosen that exact moment to ambush her on her way home from school.

“You might want to duck,” Professor Cuddleborough drawled.

By some miracle of magic, Rin could understand the hamster she’d summoned. From what she’d seen so far, he was cute, cuddly, and came with a dry sense of humour. He also had good instincts.

She ducked.

And a spear went through the space her head had occupied a split-second later.

“Not bad,” Lancer said as Rin rolled away and then leapt back to put some distance between them. “But I’m afraid this is where the Grail War ends for you.” He shrugged and gave her an apologetic smile. “Sorry but my master’s orders were quite clear. It’s a pity you’ve only got a hamster to fight for you. I would have liked a challenge, but orders are orders.” He took up a fighting stance. “I’ll make it quick. I can do that much.”

“Hmmm…” Professor Cuddleborough hopped out of her pocket and landed on the ground in front of her. “You might want to take as step back, Rin.”

“What? Why?” Rin’s heart was beating so fast she was afraid she was going to faint. The only thing standing between her and certain death was a hamster! She was so screwed.

“Because I’m about to show you what makes me different from a normal hamster.” Professor Cuddleborough struck a pose. “For I am no mere hamster… I am… a war hamster!”

“A war hamster?” Rin wailed. “What does that even me?”

Lancer blurred forward…

There was a flash of light, and the Servant was suddenly flying backward. He flew through the air, smashing through a streetlight before continuing to tumble end over end until he hit the next streetlight and thudded to a stop in the wall behind it, hitting the wall with enough force to leave a crater in it.

“Hmmm…” Professor Cuddleborough’s voice was suddenly much deeper… and he was much larger. Instead of the cute and cuddly hamster that had spent the day in Rin’s pocket, he was now the size of a tank and covered in advanced power armour that absolutely bristled with weaponry. Lowering the enormous paw he’d used to bat Lancer away like a pingpong ball, the colossal hamster gave a sound of acknowledgement. “Not bad. You were able to block with your spear at the last moment. Otherwise, I’d have ripped you in half.”

Far away, Lancer stumbled to his feet. His chest was a mangled wreck, and his spear bore the marks of huge claws. Somehow, though, he managed to retain an air of confidence.

“Oh? A giant hamster? I can’t say I’ve ever faced one before.” Lancer chuckled. “I’ll admit you took me by surprise. But you’re no mere beast. That strike wasn’t simply powerful and swift… your technique was excellent.”

Professor Cuddleborough chuckled. “Well, you’re definitely one of the better spearmen I’ve faced in my life although I’d have to fight you properly to see how you really rank.” He stomped on the ground, and the concrete cracked. “Although if we were to fight properly, it wouldn’t be just my claws you’d have to worry about.” On his back, a pair of cannons began to whirr, the ominous glow coming from them hinting at their power.

“Hmmm…” Lancer’s eyes narrowed. “It seems my master has seen enough. I’ve got to run for it.” He nodded at Rin. “It seems you’ve managed to summon a formidable Servant after all.” And then he was gone, vanishing in a blur of motion.

“…” Rin looked at her Servant. “A war hamster? I think you need to tell me a little bit more about who you are and where you’re from.”

X     X     X

“Yes,” Rin said. “He is apparently a war hamster from something called the Arendelle Empire that is, I think, an empire from another galaxy in another universe.”

“He’s a giant hamster.” Shirou stared at Professor Cuddleborough. The massive hamster had come to his and Sabre’s aid during their scuffle with Berserker. He had forced the other Servant to retreat although that had done nothing to quell Shirou’s curiosity. Berserker’s master had known who he was…

“He is a truly noble beast.” Sabre had spent the last ten minutes running her hands through Professor Cuddleborough’s fur before simply giving in and wrapping her arms around the huge hamster, so she could bury her face in his fur. “A truly noble beast indeed.”

Professor Cuddleborough simply gave Rin an amused smile. This was, evidently, not the first time he’d experienced this. “We should be head home,” he said. “I’d rather not use any of my bigger guns in such a crowded area.”

“He has guns?” Shirou asked.

“I’m basically the equivalent of super-advanced heavy artillery,” the hamster replied. “Where I come from if you need something really, really dead, then you send in a war hamster. We’re often the first into battle and usually the last to leave.”

X     X     X

Author’s Notes

Although many hamsters over the years have carried the name of Professor Cuddleborough, this particular war hamster is the most famous of the lot. During his life, he earned the nickname “The Cuddle Hammer” due to his incredible war record. A hero famous through the Arendelle Empire, his deeds in combat were unmatched even amongst war hamsters, and he distinguished himself in countless battles.

Perhaps his most famous feat was singlehandedly saving the life of the emperor after the emperor’s dreadnought was brought down by Grimm during a massive battle. Heroically standing guard over the wounded emperor, the Professor Cuddleborough fought endless waves of Grimm for the better part of three days before reinforcements finally arrived. 

In the Empire’s long and stories history, it is not an exaggeration to say that he might be its most famous war hamster.

In the Fifth Grail War, Professor Cuddleborough was summoned by Rin Tohsaka. He is classified as an Archer due to the overwhelming ranged weaponry at his disposal due to his super-advanced power armour, which was the finest such armour in the Arendelle Empire during his lifetime.

However, as a war hamster, his physical prowess is unreal compared to a human, even a Servant. As a war hamster, he is fully capable of shrugging of artillery even without his power armour, and he can fight giant Grimm barehand. His stats are as follows:

Strength: A++ Endurance: EX Agility: A++ Mana: A++ Luck: A Noble Phantasm: EX

Abilities

For the Empire. Professor Cuddleborough once famously claimed that “As long the still Empire stands, I cannot fall… and as long as I still stand, the Empire cannot fall!” In life, he was a hamster of unshakeable faith and determination, which allowed him to emerge victorious in situations that would have defeated countless others. The greater his belief in the cause he fights for, the stronger he will become. 

Cuddle Factor. Despite his immense combat power, Professor Cuddleborough is a descendant of Professor Cuddles, the cutest, most adorable hamster in history, and he is said to resemble him a great deal. Cuddle Factor grants him an A+ in charisma since all who look upon him will be captivated by his cuteness and adorability should he wish it. 

Mind of the Dia-Farron. As one of the greatest war hamsters in history, Professor Cuddleborough was also a scientific genius with intellect capable of matching even the illustrious Dia-Farron of the Empire. He can easily understand and replicate any technology that he is likely to come across.

Noble Phantasms

Power Armour. The power armour that Professor Cuddleborough uses is unique power armour that was crafted by the finest minds of the Empire using the finest materials in the galaxy. It is considered by many to be the greatest suit of power armour ever donned by a war hamster. In practical terms, the combined nuclear arsenal of the Earth could be launched at it, and they’d be lucky to scratch the paint. Given how much time he spent battling Grimm, it is also designed to withstand more esoteric attacks. When activated to its full extent, it can withstand even planet-buster level attacks.

Power Armour Arsenal. The offensive capabilities of his power armour are equal to its defensive capabilities. His default weapons include plasma cannons, laser cannons, warp claws, missiles pods, and gravity lances. However, he can scale up to weapons designed to break planets if necessary.

Once again, Rin manages to luck out when summoning a Servant. Sure, he’s a hamster, but he’s quite possibly the most badass hamster who ever lived from a galaxy full of badass hamsters.

You can find me on fanfiction.net, AO3, and Amazon.

[danwhobrowses]

Tinfoil Discussions: One Piece Wano Arc

So this is gonna be a new thing; I don’t particularly post on Tumblr but I am the kinda guy who likes to put thoughts out there, so this is the first ‘Tinfoil Discussion’ where I’ll just be ranting personal opinions of various mediums. This first discussion involving One Piece’s Wano Arc.

It’s worth noting that there are Spoilers enclosed in this discussion up to One Piece Chapter 954, if you’re not caught up then I would advise not reading this until then...unless you’re not worried about spoilers. Also this’ll be an essay, no light reading here I have a lot flowing through my head.

So the Wano Arc has been something we’ve been waiting long for, not just because it was promising to be a Zoro-heavy arc but because it had been mentioned continuously and central to many elements of One Piece Lore; it’s where the Meito are made, the Poneglyphs were carved and is the den of Yonko, Kaido. Right now we’re in the second act of the arc, in 5 days the Ninja-Samurai-Pirate-Mink Alliance will take back Wano from Shogun Orochi and then hope to defeat (and potentially even kill) Kaido in Onigashima

Here’s the But though, is that enough time?

Because I don’t actually think so anymore. Undoubtedly the Fire Festival will not go to plan, not that anything ever will, but such bodes the question where we go after. Right now I can only think of two routes; the first is that the Wano Country Arc is utilizing a 5-Act Structure rather than the 3 that’s common with story narrative or Wano is the setting of 2 Arcs (Similar to Jaya/Skypeia or Water 7/Enies Lobby): Wano Country and the ‘War of Wars’ arc. Either one is something I am all for, even both would make narrative sense, so how will it pan out?

What will go wrong? (Note if the discussion cut off here I apologise, it seems CTRL+Enter is to post) The Obvious thing that will halt the Straw Hats is the Alliance between Kaido and Big Mom, both of whom having an axe to grind with Luffy due to their activities in Punk Hazard, Dressrosa and Whole Cake Island. There’s also other things at play though; the threat of Law ending his alliance (doubt he will), Edward Weevil’s pursuit of Marco, the creation of Sea Prism Stone weapons, CP0 in the Flower Capital and the lingering uncertainty that is what Kyoshiro is planning. All of these will likely lead to the Alliance either failing at Onigashima or failing to reach Onigashima, hopefully the latter, but that does not mean that the arc will be for naught. The Straw Hats are not strangers to taking the Big Picture L; Water 7, Sabaody, Marineford and WCI prove this, so what matters to this stage of Wano (possibly Act 3) is the small victory.

The Small Victory The plan on paper is simple; meet at the port, usurp the vulnerable capital, sail to Onigashima, defeat Kaido. Since the last two as we’ve covered are where the L starts to take shape, the victory must lie in saving the people of Wano and fulfilling Toki’s prophecy. Usurping Orochi does not seem to be as troublesome as defeating Kaido, even ‘Hiyori’ was able to throw him into a wall, the only true threat level is in Kyoshiro and the All Stars. This is something that can easily pan out the alliance’s way, but the victory could be gifted rather than seized. As I mentioned, Kyoshiro has yet to play his hand, how ‘Hiyori’ faked her death still unknown, it would seem that the Yakuza boss has his own plans, something that when the Alliance comes could end the usefulness of Shogun Orochi. As a result, Kyoshiro may allow the Alliance to take Orochi down, losing the battle so he can fight in the War. This theory also aligns with why I’m using parenthesis on Kozuki Hiyori - I still don’t trust her. But we’ll get to that, the other victory that would need to be addressed is the cure for SMILE, a role that may happen before or after claiming the Capital, it is certainly a thread we must resolve before leaving Wano and it can be proving ground for Chopper’s medical expertise - already impressive since he easily remedied Queen’s Mummy virus.

Kozuki ‘Hiyori’ Even if she is Hiyori - not that Kawamatsu recognized her, there is the consideration that the considered ‘most beautiful courtesan in Wano’ may be on Kyoshiro’s side. For over a decade he did look after her and they made a note that she knows how to play the long con, Kyoshiro also compares the courtesan like one of his own family, something she may feel like her Father didn’t provide. This could make her the anti-Pudding of the arc, which some may be annoyed by but it would be an ironic juxtaposition since Pudding played the ‘Woman as Temptress’ role for Zoro’s...rival? Brother? Brival? Sanji, whatever Sanji is, but Hiyori has done little to truly connect with Zoro the way she has tempted other men, woman even jumped into bed with him while he slept and he wasn’t impressed. So her turning on her kin can also give a unique personal twist to the Oden Clan’s involvement against Kaido and it may gift Shusui to Kyoshiro for his and Zoro’s proper clash, Enma possibly being a fake as she finally found something she can con out of Zoro - that could just be me wanting Zoro to keep the black blade though. This is whether she is indeed Kozuki Hiyori, and not someone who knows the story, though I’m 80% sure she is on that front, Oda is a man of misdirection.

The Reverie Connection Part of what makes me think that Wano will go beyond the Fire Festival is this connection to the Reverie, the brilliant mini-arc left on a cliffhanger as intermission between Acts 1 and 2, and slightly carried by Bege’s cover story, but it had information that bled into Wano. Come Act 2′s end, I expect the Reverie arc to resume so that we get new action, the Alliance of Big Mom and Kaido will certainly reach the Marines, through moles or CP0 as they return, this is likely what’s going to cause them to converge and let us know more about the Rox Pirates. This may also be position for another mystery of One Piece to rear itself: Dr Vegapunk. Vegapunk is hot commodity, he knows how to manipulate seastone, has most likely treated the Punk Hazard children and knows about the Vinsmoke genetics from his old partnership with Judge, there is also the Warlord Replacement Fujitora and the hidden Ryokogyu have discussed. Atop of the Im and Revolutionary plot notes will lead plenty of butterfly effects for mid and post-Wano storyline, but for Kaido to get his war the WG would need to get involved (and they’d want to keep an eye on the land that wrote the poneglyphs), and it will take time either way, much more than 5 days.

What the Aftermath of the Fire Festival Will Bring The Alliance’s initial failure to defeat Kaido is likely what’ll lead to the thing that makes Oda tout that Wano will make Marineford look small. The convergence of the WG will bring big guns and showcase some more of the Marine’s strength of force and how it can impact the rest of the world, with hope I’d like to see Tashigi get the arc she was due from Wano too, she is a swordswoman and this is the land of swords, also I’m tired of people calling her weak (all her opponents are high tier; Monet almost killed Luffy, Vergo almost broke Sanji’s leg, Law cut a mountain and Vergo in half, I could go on), moments for characters to step up can be built properly in this time as well, because all the Straw Hats need that next level bolster. Sanji may have the Raid Suit, Nami may have Zeus and Luffy is learning the Advanced Haki but the likes of Zoro, Usopp, Chopper, Robin and potentially Franky can use this stage to properly announce themselves to the world. We can also use this time for the much-theorized Zoro origin lore, Poneglyph stuff and Marco’s message to Luffy, this may also provide time to pick up threads left by WCI; Jimbei, the Vinsmokes, Pedro, this may also provide time for Big Mom’s remaining forces (primarily Pudding and Katakuri) and the Straw Hat Grand Fleet to converge on Wano also. There are also loose ends with Wano; the person Hitetsu is waiting for, Kidd’s Crew, Denjuro, Ox Third Boy, Basil Hawkins (hope that guy is alive), the possibility of a codenamed Ace of Kaido’s crew, the frustrating absence of Carrot throughout most of the arc (such a downfall from potential Nakama to not even in background), possibly even the Oars connection to Kaido’s Numbers, above all of them however is the appearance of someone that has been frequently hinted as of late...

Gekko Moria Moria isn’t popular with fans, but his positioning in Wano is something we should take note, Bege was going to Thriller Bark, Moria has escaped Blackbeard’s clutches, Perona is looking for him and his graverobbing has been mentioned. I think Moria could get involved in Wano, and be partly instrumental in allowing Zoro to keep Shusui, his axe to grind with Kaido may also be a useful weapon against him and Big Mom, using Zombie Samurai to improve numbers. Like Buggy and Cesar, he may end up being a reluctant temporary ally to the Straw Hats. Moria can also provide Blackbeard intel, but I don’t expect him to stick, may go the way of Bellamy and bow out after.

So that’s stuff that mulls around my head, theories of factor as to why I expect Wano to last longer, possibly even beyond Chapter 1000. To conclude I’ll just throw on some mini theories I have:

Zoro will at least buddy with Onimaru the Lion Fox, for a while. Zoro is fox in Spanish and he has Shimotsuki connections even if he isn’t of their clan due to Koushiro living in Shimotsuki village

We’re gonna learn something about Ace, he was a Spade Pirate and Kaido names his ranks after playing cards, there is a link

Luffy, Law and Kidd will fight together, just as they did in Sabaody

The Crew will only properly reunite in Onigashima, where they will have a Walk

We’ll learn of why Wano was the City of Gold, and Caribou may reap from it (I like his face turn but I don’t trust his greed)

Sandai Kitetsu will break, probably to Kyoshiro’s hand - this could be a la Rurouni Kenshin, whose Sakabato was destroyed

Kaido will face Monster Point Chopper, Chopper and his Rumble Balls should really be something Kaido would want

Big Mom will betray Kaido (’mama always makes the preemptive move’), Hawkins will join a new crew (I think he was betrayed, there were cuffs on the wall where he lay before Law) - be it Big Mom or the Grand Fleet and Momo will not be the next Shogun, I guess Hyou could be but he was a Yakuza leader, but Momo wants to learn about Zou and I think he’ll stick with that

Dogstorm and Nekomamushi will go Su Long

As well as the Bounty Increase, several Straw Hats will get new titles. Titles like ‘Pirate Hunter’, ‘Cat Burglar’, ‘Devil Child’ and ‘Cotton Candy Lover’ are not befitting of crew members anymore

So yeah, got that all off my chest...I won’t just talk about One Piece I’ll have more, if anyone reads hope it had some refreshing insights, if not then we’ll see how wrong I was XD

[tmnt-veelicious]

Across the Stars - Ch.14

Hoooooolyyy fuuuuuuuuckinngg shiiiiiiIIIIIIiiiiiiTTTTtttt

I am so sorry for the long wait. This chapter actually went through a lot of changes, especially for the ending. At first it was supposed to feature April and Casey, but decided at the last second to change it for Mikasa. And it’s so much better. It also took me a while to get past one scene, unsure about how I would end it and make things follow suit. ANYWAY. NOW IT’S DONE, I can finally move on x’D Thank you for sticking up with my slow writer’s ass HAHA <3

First Chapter --> HERE Previous Chapter --> HERE Next Chapter --> HERE

Perfection. Precision. Steady breath. Strike. Vee never thought martial arts training could be so stress relieving. Sure, she had her clumsy moments, almost falling or slapping herself by accident, but she had potential – as Master Splinter would often say. At first it had been simple trainings about postures and balance, but now she was starting to use weapons... at least non-lethal ones! Her first weapon was a bo staff, which highly amused her. Splinter told her that it would help her coordination, but also provide her a certain knowledge of Donatello's weapon, if the need was ever to use it. Tonight seemed like an usual training session; Vee starting to stretch and prepare herself in the dojo, until the rat made an announcement: ''I hope you won't mind if I've asked for some help for today's training.'' Vee's brows were lightly furrowed. ''Who-?'' Her question was instantly stopped as she noticed Mikasa enter the dojo. She was already dressed for training, her hair up in a high ponytail and a soft smile on her lips as Vee would only show a surprised look – her eyes wide. ''I wanted some human input on your training, as I am mostly used to teaching mutants,'' continued Splinter. ''And since Mikasa is already a teacher herself, I couldn't have asked for a better choice.'' ''Don't worry, I won't go too hard on you,'' started Mikasa, putting down a duffel bag she had been holding. ''I first want to test what you've learned and then I'll adjust in consequences.'' She grabbed a staff, throwing it to Vee, the artist grasping it just in time with a small ''oof''. ''Show me your holding position,'' she added next. Vee snorted a small laugh, getting in place. Splinter was seated on the side, patiently watching as he was curious to see how things would unfold. As the other woman was circling around her, the artist smirked. ''Well … hi! Getting down to business pretty fast, I see,'' she commented. Mikasa stopped for a split second, a short sigh escaping her as she gently moved Vee's arm to a better position. ''Sorry, I completely forgot to say hi,'' said the teacher. ''I'm currently in my 'work' mindset and usually it's straight to the point. Please don't take it wrong.'' ''Not at all, I'm not much into small talk anyway!'' ''Good. As soon as Leo told me master Splinter wanted my input, I could only accept. I've been meaning to spend some time with you and ask you questions anyway.'' ''Oh? What questions?'' ''That's for later,'' Mikasa gently tapped the other's shoulder in an appreciative gesture. ''All good! You seem at ease with that weapon.'' ''It's like holding a broom, but fancier,'' joked Vee. She did not miss the smile on the other's face, but soon enough the teacher was back to a serious tone. Mikasa stood a little apart, though facing Vee. ''Show me your overhead front strike.'' Easy enough. A simple strike of bringing the staff over your head and rapidly bringing it forward while keeping a rather straight composure. Vee had no difficulty with those. ''Overhead rib strike, both sides.'' Ah shoot, spoke too soon. That one was a bit trickier for a beginner, Vee getting into a slight horse riding stance. She had to bring the staff horizontally overhead, then spin it to one side so it would stop at her ribs, right under her armpit. It was good for one side, but then doing the motion to bring it to the other side often was confusing, the whole 'spinning the staff' shenanigan a real coordination feat. ''Front thrust.'' Vee's feet instantly got in position, holding the staff horizontally before her and close, then stretching her whole self to one side, jabbing the staff in a final motion. ''Good, now combine the three.'' Vee blanked for two seconds, rapidly coming up with the most logical combination. She first started with the rib strikes, transitioning to the overhead strike and concluding with the front thrust. Her movements were surprisingly precise, her breathing accompanying her strikes. She smiled shyly as she regained a neutral stance, looking up to Mikasa, awaiting her comments. The teacher smiled in return, moving forward. ''You're still a beginner, but there's some good points here and there. Good positions, you seem well grounded on your feet. Hands coordination could use a little more work, but that was predictable.'' ''Glad to hear I'm not too much of a lost cause,'' ligthly laughed Vee, still regaining her breath. Mikasa grabbed a staff, coming near Vee. ''Oh believe me, there's never any lost causes. Perfection come in due time.'' She swiftly combined some strikes until stopping her weapon near Vee's neck, smirking. ''Now let's dance!'' *** ''You and that tall one, Donatello.... You guys are a couple, right?'' As the training was now over, both women were finally alone in the dojo, doing post-workout stretches. That question seemed to come out of nowhere, but the artist knew the other must have been curious for a while. ''Indeed,'' answered Vee with a smile. ''Since January, but we knew eachothers months before then.'' Mikasa seemed to hesitate with her next words: ''What brought you two together, if it's okay to ask?'' Vee shrugged, somehow amused: ''It all came naturally. I mean, I feel good by his side, so does he. We share many interests and the attraction was there. It's just like any normal relationship.'' ''But he's so different, they all are...'' Both were now seated down on the floor, facing one another. Even in this position Mikasa was standing taller than Vee, her straight, serious position funnily contrasting with her confused, yet eager eyes. ''Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,'' added in the artist. ''I don't see his shape or difference as an obstacle, but rather as a strength – a unique thing. I love Donatello the way he is, who he is. Isn't that good enough?'' Mikasa showed a small smile: ''It's more than enough. I guess I'm still trying to wrap my head around all of this. Ever since I've met Leonardo, a lot of thoughts have crossed my mind...'' ''How are things between you and him, if you don't mind me asking?'' The other sighed, somehow shy all of a sudden. ''Strange? I don't know, it's hard to explain... There's something about him, a certain aura surrounding him. It's powerful, it's magnetic...'' ''Do you think he likes you?'' Vee asked, showing a smirk. A blush suddenly showed up on Mikasa's face, her hands fumbling together. ''Maybe.... I won't deny that things got close at some moments, especially when we were training together. A part of me really wants something to happen, but the other part is just so scared.'' ''Don't overthink it,'' added Vee in a sweet tone. ''Trust me, it will just complicate things. … The best thing to do is simply to let things go and see where it leads. If something is meant to happen, it will. I've been in this exact same position.'' The artist couldn't help feeling amused about this whole situation, suddenly knowing how April must have felt when she would herself express her incertitude regarding Donatello. There was no denying that any type of relationship with those mutants would certainly lead to something out of the ordinary, but it was best not to forget that they were also living, breathing, intelligent beings with emotions and all. Vee could see all that and she knew she wouldn't be the only one... Mikasa was the first one to get up, followed by the other. She still had that slight blush on her face, her smile never fading. ''I guess time will tell,'' she started. ''So far I appreciate this friendship I have with him and I do hope I'll be able to say the same about you and I.'' Vee was surprised for a couple of seconds, though easily returning the smile. ''Of course! I'd be glad to call you a friend as well.'' Both women were now making their way out of the dojo. As soon as they got past the door, they froze as they saw Leo make his way to the room. The turtle also stopped, his gaze already stuck on Mikasa and a small smile appearing. ''Hey,'' he greeted sweetly. The teacher seemed to blush even more, which highly amused Vee. She gently nudged the other, smirking: ''I've gotta go. Now you two be nice, alright?'' Mikasa tried to hush the other, although she was giggling a little. Vee took that as her cue to quickly salute the two of them, next moving away. She prefered to give them as much time and space together, knowing something would probably bloom out of it at some point. *** As she made her way towards Donatello's workspace and lab after the training, she couldn't help her smirk. It was his attention to little details that always made things so interesting about his environment. A lighted up 'On Air' sign that was always on whenever he was working in the lab part. The radio playing some 80's rock music in the background, this time being You Shook Me All Night Long by AC/DC – never too loud to be overwhelming. Sometimes Vee couldn't help being amused at how sucked up in his work Donnie could be, hardly noticing her presence. She admitted being the same at times, getting surprised by others on many occasions. The turtle was hunched over his microscope, observing something through the lense. Vee took this chance to walk up behind him, seeing that he wasn't wearing all his technical gear, and simply started to tap some light rhythms on his shell. Unlike her, he never jumped or got scared. He would only redress himself, already on the lookout for who was behind. ''Did you know that turtle shells can be used as a percussive instrument?'' asked Vee, signaling her presence. Donnie was smiling, turning to face the woman. ''That would certainly imply that it'd be ripped from me and emptied, so I will kindly ask that you do not do that to me, please.'' ''Aww, man, I can't start my tribal music band!'' joked the woman. ''I'd be insanely popular with such a huge shell.'' ''Sorry to be a one package deal. That shell will stay a part of me, whether you like it or not!'' ''Oh I like it very much, alright,'' she added, next bringing out a hair tie as she proceeded to lift her hair up in a bun. She watched the mutant move around, getting to a small box and finally taking out the woman's cellphone. He handed it to her, the screen as good as new. ''It wasn't too much trouble I hope?'' asked Vee as she was finishing her task. ''Meh, I had several screen replacements in my stuff so all I had to do was to look through them and find the right size.'' Vee finally took back the phone, patiently looking at the screen. ''I've also upgraded the firewalls 'cause, you know, wouldn't want people to find about me and my bros,'' he added. ''Also it's for preventive protection.'' ''Preventive?'' asked the woman, arching an eyebrow. ''Well, with the Foot clan back in action and all the other enemies we have, I wouldn't want you to get into trouble...'' ''Ain't that thoughtful,'' smiled Vee. ''The Foot clan won't be able to read my text messages or see that I previously searched for images of kittens. How sad!'' Donnie puffed a small laugh, leaning against the nearby table, arms crossed. ''Better be prepared for anything. That simple thing may sound ridiculous to you, but you'd be surprised to witness as to what extent evildoers like them can go to.'' ''Don't worry, I trust you,'' added the other as she got nearer to the mutant, her hands and fingers tenderly trailing his arms. ''I actually feel a lot better knowing we're prepared. My trainings plus everything you do for me.... I really appreciate it.'' How could he resist her sweetness? His hands moved so they could rest at her hips, keeping her close. ''Everything for you, my dear. You're so important to me, anyway.'' A blush appeared on Vee's traits, her smile ever so soft now. ''How's your training going?'' asked the turtle next. ''I heard you've been trying some weapons now for a couple of sessions.'' ''Yes! In fact my first one is the bo staff.'' Donnie's eyes widened a bit: ''Oh really? I won't say I'm surprised, but I still am nonetheless.'' ''Your father wants me to be able to use yours in case of need, also he's making sure that I won't cut myself by using a blade. I have a bad tendency to slap my body with certain moves.'' She gestured her sides and her outer thighs. ''I have some bruises to remind me of that.'' ''Want me to kiss them better?'' asked the other with an amused grin. ''Absolutely!'' smirked the artist. ''But first, I have something for you.'' She moved out of his hold, getting to a bag she had left earlier near his computer desk. She grabbed something, her smile forever present as she got back to the mutant, hiding something in her hands until the very last moment. It was two keychains, matching ones. ''I bought this some days ago, but completely forgot to give you one,'' she explained. ''It's cheesy, but I like it!'' They were referencing Star Wars as one of the keychains had the words ''I love you'' engraved in it, while the other had ''I know''. Donnie couldn't help a small laugh, his smile ever so sweet. ''Dammit, why are you so cute?'' ''Because you are as well,'' answered Vee with a renewed smirk. ''So, which one do you want?'' ''I'm gonna be a smartass and take the 'I know' one. My bros will never know what it really means and it will assert my brain dominance over them.'' ''Oof, badass Donnie. I like that,'' joked Vee in a teasing way. But the fun stopped right in its tracks as an alarm started to sound off from one of Donnie's computers. The couple frowned, already going towards the screens. A map of the city was now showing, something blinking near the docks of Pier 57, one that was presumably empty of activity as it was mostly occupied by construction and the renovation of an old building. ''What the fuck are they up to now?'' mumbled the terrapin, already tapping on his keyboard to get better coordinates. ''Woh, language,'' commented Vee, amused. She did not miss the smile on his face as he continued tapping. Vee watched as the map was zooming in, but ultimately gave a warning message: 'CAMERAS OFFLINE'. ''What?!'' That remark of his made Vee slightly jump. ''What's happening? What's wrong?'' she inquired. ''The docks' surveillance cameras are offline. It just can't be, they never are!'' ''Well, maybe there's a power outage? Anything!'' Donatello stopped, pensive as he frowned while still looking at his screens. ''… Even then, they would still be on thanks to an emergency power system. Those cameras belong to the city, they cannot afford to lose any footage.'' The woman tried to grab his attention, leaving a hand softly against his arm, trying to get a hold of his gaze: ''You think it's the Foot clan acting up again?'' His sigh told everything, knowing too well it was them. The mutant's hand got over hers, this simple touch helping him calm down, half of a soft smile showing on his lips as he looked down to her. ''Most probably. They'd be ingenious enough to do something like that. … I guess it means my brothers and I have to pay them a little visit!'' ''Be careful, okay?'' That instantly surprised Donnie, somehow touched by her concern. ''I'm always careful!'' he answered, amused. ''I know! …  Just accept my concerns! I know I sound cheesy as hell, but I love you. … A lot.'' Gosh, why was she so perfect? For a split second he forgot about everything – his screens a distant memory. Instead he was now gently cupping her face, giving her a sweet kiss. The way she would enrapture his heart, render him oblivious to the whole world, he could only define her as a siren, a sorceress, a vanquisher of souls! Vee could only giggle softly when they broke the kiss, pointing to the screens. ''Don't forget! The docks? The Foot? Do I need to imitate your alarm to remind you?'' ''Uh..., yes, yes, of course! I need to go.'' He did steal one last kiss before adding: ''Wish I wouldn't have to, though.'' ''Just go!'' laughed the woman once more. *** Seeing that Mikasa was also leaving for the night, Vee did not miss the chance to ask if she could accompany her, the teacher's presence a refreshing sight and addition to her life. The other did not mind at all, even happy that the artist would propose such thing. Bidding farewell to master Splinter, both women then went through the sewers, Mikasa stating that they would need to exit at a certain spot in order to get to her ride. ''A ride?'' questionned Vee. ''A motorcycle, to be exact,'' pointed the teacher. ''Now that winter is out, I can finally ride back on the street. I've been waiting all season to get it out, now I won't hold back!'' Vee could only smile, knowing she wasn't that surprised by that side of Mikasa's life. The tall woman's everyday wear seem to consist of mostly black leather jackets, either skinny jeans or leggings, tank tops or t-shirts. She looked like a woman of action, never wearing extravageant clothing in order to get ready for any eventualities. A motorcycle could only complement her lifestyle. Pushing against a manhole cover with her duffel bag, Mikasa opened the way to an alley, next helping Vee get out and give her a view on the vehicule. The body was slick, built for speed and precision. The main color was of a pure black, but accentuated with gold trims here and there and right above the front wheel. Vee was instantly amused when she noticed the word 'Ninja' written near the handles. ''That's a Kawasaki Ninja 400, pearl solar yellow colored,'' started Mikasa, now next to it and patting the vehicule proudly. ''A six-speed transmission equipped with an assist-and-slipper clutch that helps to keep you in line; this baby never failed me so far.'' ''I have no knowledge of motorcycles, so what you just said sounded very impressive anyway,'' laughed Vee. ''Want a ride home?'' Vee couldn't hide her grin: ''Oh hell yes!'' A helmet got tossed into her hands, Mikasa then already taking place on the driver's seat. ''What about you? No helmet?'' said the artist as she put hers on. ''You're wearing mine,'' simply answered the other. ''And, anyway, I consider myself a good driver. It's not because I'm not wearing my helmet one time that it'll mean an instant catastrophe.'' ''Well that's reassuring,'' added Vee, somehow amused. Passengers and bags duly placed, Mikasa next turned on the motorcycle, revving up the engine just for the thrill of it. She looked over to Vee, showing a smirk. ''Scared?'' ''Ha!'' laughed the other. ''More driving and less talking.'' That answer was good enough for the black haired woman to finally get on the move, Vee instantly hooking her arms around the other out of reflex. Exiting the alleyway and rushing to the street, the vehicule's roaring motor was good enough to rise a feeling of thrill in Vee. She couldn't contain her excitement as she laughed once more and cheered. She had always craved those type of adrenaline rushes, heights and speed being some of her greatest enjoyments in life. Going through New York's streets seemed so much easier on a motorcycle than with a car! Mikasa was at complete ease when going through the traffic, moving effortlessly and in fluid lines. Both women did not notice yet the black van that had started to follow, getting nearer at each traffic lights. At some point Vee could feel a constant pressure at the back of her head, that familiar sensation when you knew someone was watching.... She dared look slightly behind when they were stopped at a red light, noticing the other vehicule and how the windows were tinted, offering no clear sign of who was inside. ''I have a bad feeling,'' started the artist loud enough for the other to hear. She could see Mikasa's hands gripping the handles a little tighter. ''Yeah, me too.... That van has been following us for some time now.'' ''Who do you think they are?'' ''I've seen it before around some of chinatown's bad spots. It must belong to the Purple Dragons.'' Vee gulped, her body suddenly tensing up. She knew this was bound to happen. Not even Leo's plan could have stopped that, she was well aware. The light was about to change color when Mikasa said: ''Hold on tight, I'll try to lose them.'' ''You sure about that?!'' ''Trust me.'' The artist had no time to reply that the light shifted to green and the other roared her motorcycle to life and in an instant race. How she would sway inbetween the cars had Vee scared in an instant, but she could only feel relief at the same time as she glanced over her shoulder and noticed that the van was way behind. Mikasa was not slowing down, knowing the farther she'd be, the better. And that's when they thought they were distanced enough, three motorcycles jumped in, already chasing down the two women. ''Shit!'' spat Mikasa as she noticed a red light ahead and heavy traffic. Vee's blood boiled with adrenaline when she felt the other speed up. She could feel her embrace tightening around the driver as Mikasa's quick reflexes had her moving towards parked cars on the sideway and making her motorcycle climb upon the vehicules in order to boost her up in a high jump. She thought it'd be good enough to discourage her trackers, but she only growled when she noticed the others being as skillful drivers as her. ''Where are the turtles?'' she said loudly so Vee could hear her. ''Pier 57!'' ''Fuck, that's too far!'' She took a sharp turn to an alley, knowing exactly where she had to head next. The tight space amplified the motor's sound, dizzing Vee even more. Everything felt like a strange dream – or rather a nightmare – her heart loudly thumping in her ears and throat. ''Where are we going?'' was able to ask the artist. ''Getting help,'' simply answered the other, expertedly maneuvering her ride across streets and alleys. Vee could still see their followers behind, her mind trying to piece how they were able to find her. She was no one! She had kept her head low and was careful not to dwelve into risky places. But then it hit her; what about Mikasa? Was the teacher involved in something more? Was she the Purple Dragons' next target? Vee's thoughts shifted once she noticed their new environement: neon lights, cluttered alleys and almost no living souls in sight. Various signs were written in kanjis and other asian scriptures, Vee wondering for a moment if they were in some secret part of chinatown. Mikasa moved her motorcycle on a ramp, making the vehicule jump over a fence, but this time she miscalculated her trajectory as a wheel bumped against a trash bin and got the two women flying off directly to the ground. Vee was glad for wearing a helmet, her biggest injury being large scrapes on her palms and wrists. Her whole self was on high alert, promptly removing the helmet for a better vision, looking around only to spot Mikasa flat on the floor. The artist could hardly get on her feet, rather fumbling pathetically towards the woman. ''Mikasa!'' she called out. The teacher groaned, slightly shaking her head as she began to lift her upper body. A large scrape could be seen on the upper right side of her forehead, blood soon starting to drip. Vee knew they had to move, the echo of the other riders coming their way. She noticed Mikasa's ride layed to its side, probably scratched, thanks to the pavement. ''Mikasa, come on, we have to go,'' pressed Vee, although she knew the other might have troubles coming back to reason. Too late. The three gang members were already near their position, Vee already up on her feet as she wanted to get ready for any eventualities, placing herself before Mikasa. She couldn't see the others' faces as they were all wearing helmets, but she could easily see by their statures that they were way stronger than her. Her eyes glanced to the sides, rapidly exploring her possibilities. That's when she spotted a metal pole nearby, instantly grabbing it and readying herself, her stance slightly shaking. She knew she had no chances against them, but it was all she could do! As one of the strangers was about to give a hit, Vee was surprised by a hand grabbing the other's wrist, suddenly twisting his arm and forcing him down to the ground. Mikasa was now up and ready, a frown never leaving her features. ''The door with a golden cat sign, go knock it,'' said the teacher, standing in a defense position, facing her enemies. ''But-'' ''Go!'' Vee jumped, prefering to move. She rushed through the alley, franctically looking at the doors as battle sounds followed her. She finally spotted a neon sign of a golden cat, one paw going up and down at intervals. Without delay she started to bang against the door, sometimes her eyes diverting back to the fight scene many feet away. The door suddenly cracked open, an asian man wearing an apron looking at the woman fiercely, a chopping knife in hand. Vee was panicking, blabblering as she pointed towards the alley: ''Mikasa! She sent me here! She-'' She couldn't continue that the man's eyes widened a bit, stepping outside as he instantly looked towards the raucus. It took no time for him to shout something in Japanese back inside, finally rushing back with two other men, all of them hurrying to Mikasa. Vee wasn't moving, her eyes glued to the scene. Everything seemed to go both in slow motion and so rapidly at the same time. Mikasa and her helpers were moving like blurs, their movements fast and precise. The Purple Dragon men were soon enough on the ground, groaning in pain from their ass being kicked. Their wrists got tied behind their backs, as well as their ankles. Mikasa was already taking her phone out as she got to Vee, inviting her inside the open door by sliding an arm around her shoulders and keeping her close. The artist spotted the numbers 9-1-1 dialed on the screen, a sort of relief washing over her. She only started to calm down once she was seated at a table near a busy kitchen, a damp cloth given to her and her foggy thoughts mindlessly tasking the woman to clean her wounds. … What the hell just happened.

*** No visual in advance meant extra caution had to be put in place. It could've been hard to think that those tall turtles could ever be silent and stealthy, but that was forgetting their training as ninjas. The shadows forever felt like a second home; a place of security and certain protection. A broken window on the highest level of the abandonned building was the group's welcoming entrance, jumping in to a room dirtied by time and dust. A single nod and hand gestures from Leo was good enough for the brothers to part ways and explore the place for any traces of a soul. Silent footsteps had them all across the building, ultimately meeting to a large opened central room, patrolling the highest grounds that gave view to a spacious opening way down below. Windows at the ceiling were letting the nightlife's and moon's glow shine into the building. Nothing. The place was empty, silent, devoid of any life forms. Did Donatello's alarms betray him? The tall mutant did not hesitate to pull down his googles over his eyes so he could scan the place and detect any heat signature, other than his and his brothers'. He frowned as his technology proved him once more that no one was around. Jumping down to the lowest level and landing in the middle of the large room, creating a cloud of dust up in the air, he stood tall, still scanning around. Using his Bo staff, he tapped the cement ground in various directions, noticing how the echo was never disturbed by any unknown presence.

He was soon joined by Raphael, the red clad mutant frowning as well. ''I don't like this,'' he mumbled. Donnie brought up a holo screen, tapping on some commands only to stumble once more on the fact that he couldn't connect to the security cameras around the pier. ''I don't understand,'' started Donnie. ''Why all this setup? Why is there no one around? Why all those efforts to sabotage the cameras when there's nothing happening?...'' The purple clad turtle's thoughts were stopped when he heard the walkie-talkie on his right shoulder strap crack to life, Mikey's voice echoing through it: ''Guys, I think I found something. … Like, several remotes or I dunno.'' ''Coming your way,'' answered Donatello, already on the move with Raphael following. As they got to Michelangelo's position, they also met with Leonardo, the leader as curious as them. They found their brother with several devices in his arms, all with antennas and little lights pulsing here and there. ''They were scattered pretty much all around the building. I don't think I got them all,'' he said. Donnie took one of the devices, only needing a couple of seconds to observe it and know what it was. ''Camera jammers,'' he groaned. ''Of course. By placing enough of them around, they were able to block and disrupt the cameras' signal.'' ''Why though?'' questionned Leo. ''There's no one around and nothing seems good enough to steal or smuggle...'' ''A diversion, maybe?'' added in the orange clad mutant. Shit. That was a logical reasoning. Donnie's mind instantly thought of Vee, a feeling telling him something must have happened to her. Retreating a bit himself from the three others, he proceeded to call the woman, putting her on speaker. Please be ok, please be ok, please be- ''Yes?'' Good gosh, her voice was an instant relief, though the turtle still kept his concerns. ''Vee, where are you?'' ''Huh, funny you're asking... Wait, what is it called again? - Hey, Mikasa, what's the name again? … Oh, ok. - The Maneki Neko. It's some Japanese restaurant in chinatown.'' ''… Wh- what are you doing there?'' Donnie noticed the leader now next to him, having heard Mikasa's name being mentionned. Vee's laughter at the end of the line was shaky, as if trying to shake some feelings away. ''Right now? I'm just trying to calm the fuck down. We both got tracked by Purple Dragons after we got out of the sewers and they tried to kick our butts-'' ''What?!'' cut Donnie. His body tensed up. He could only curse himself for not thinking ahead... ''Don't worry, we're okay! Got some bruises after the motorcycle accident but that's no big deal.'' ''No big deal? For fuck's sake, Vee, you just got chased down by Purple Dragons while we were mislead to some dead end. There's nothing here, no one! This was a set up!'' ''… I don't know what to say, Donnie. Maybe it was indeed a set up. I have no idea. … I'm still a bit confused and shaken right now.'' The mutant sighed, trying to calm down. ''I know where the Maneki Neko is,'' added in Leonardo. ''Maybe we could swing by just to make sure they're okay...'' Donnie could notice the slight concern on the other's face, knowing his thoughts might only be on Mikasa right now. ''… Stay where you are, Vee, we'll be right there,'' announced the tall mutant calmly. ''Wouldn't want to leave without you, anyway.'' *** Vee's mind was blanking ever since she ended the call, her eyes stuck on the various good luck cats scattered around the place, their little left paws swinging back and forth. The pain at her palms and wrists didn't seem to bother her much, mostly preoccupied by Mikasa's wound on her forehead. The cloth she was holding was now showing large red spots of blood, hoping to stop the bleeding at some point. As Vee's eyes were locked on the other, both women's gaze finally met up after a while, scanning their overall status. … And then they laughed quietly. All the tension and adrenaline washing away, they could finally wind down and realize that this was now all over. They were safe. ''I'm sorry,'' began Mikasa. ''For what?'' asked the artist, slightly confused, although still showing a small, friendly smile. ''All this shit that just happened. … If I hadn't bring you along, you'd be safe and sound.'' She lowered the cloth, her eyebrows slightly furrowing. ''… I know the Purple Dragons are after me.'' ''And why is that so? I thought they were also after me ever since April and I surprised them with the Foot clan one night.'' ''It's a bit complicated-'' She could not finish her sentence that the back door that led to the alleyway was knocked upon from outside. A voice rose, speaking in Japanese: ''Sore wa kamedesu. Doa o akeru.'' (It's the turtle. Open the door.) Vee recognized Leonardo's voice. Damn these guys were fast. The Japanese man that Vee first met earlier was the one to go back to the door. The artist shot a panic glare at Mikasa. ''He'll see him!'' she said through gritted teeth. The teacher was only smiling: ''Oh don't worry, the people here all know about Leo. This place is like some sort of a little hideout for him and I.'' The door opened and the blue clad leader was greeted with a respectful ''Leonardo-san''. Vee did not miss the man's surprised, if not amazed, look when the rest of the group got in. The place being already small, the artist could truly observe how giant the turtles were; especially how Donnie's head could almost reach the ceiling and how Raph's mass seemed like a litteral elephant in the room.

Once the purple clad mutant's eyes fell on Vee, he instantly got to her, kneeling down to her height in order to observe her every features. ''Please tell me they didn't touch you,'' he mumbled mostly for himself as his hands cautiously moved her head around, trying to spot any bruises. ''I'm alright, Don,'' tried to reassure Vee. He finally got to her arms, seeing the large scrapes at her palms and wrists. ''How'd you got that?!'' ''The motorcycle accident. Remember I mentionned that? … But Mikasa has it worse, in my opinion.'' Donnie's gaze snapped to the other woman, noticing her forehead. Leonardo had already noticed Mikasa's state, his frown forever present. ''What did you do this time?'' he asked Vee with a stern voice. The artist was slightly taken aback by the leader's tone: ''What do you mean? I did nothing! I kept following your plan and this happened.'' ''There must be a reason why the Purple Dragons found you!'' ''I did nothing!'' repeated Vee. Donnie was already up at that point, staring down his brother as a warning. But that did not shake away Leo's frustration. ''Then all of this is nothing?'' he spat. ''You're both hurt, Vee. The Purple Dragons knew where you were and they clearly mislead us in order to get to you. How is that nothing?!'' ''Yamero!'' All eyes were now on Mikasa, the woman up and frowning at the blue clad leader. Everything was silent and still for some seconds, the only noticeable motion being the many lucky cats statues waving their little paws. ''If you have to put the blame on someone for this, put it on me,'' added the teacher in a firm tone. ''Vee has nothing to do with this. I know you trust her and now you do this? ... I was the one the Purple Dragons were looking for. I caused this because I did not take enough precautions.'' ''Mikasa, wh-'' ''No, let me speak.'' she cut. ''I was foolish enough to think I could do this alone, but clearly it's not the case. … I was investigating on the Purple Dragons ever since we met and you told me about them. They're already an infamous gang around here, I thought my knowledge could serve you. I must have dug a little too deep and they found out about me.'' ''Then why didn't you say anything?'' asked Leonardo. ''I didn't want you to worry and I didn't want you to interfere. … You let your emotions dictate you when in panic and that is not a good thing. You would have compromised things even more.'' ''Ha! I like this girl,'' commented Raph, unable to keep it for himself. Leo tried to disregard everything, slowly breathing in, calming his thoughts. ''… Fair enough. What did you find?'' ''Vee and April were right; the Purple Dragons and the Foot clan are now working together. Ever since Karai got out of prison, she's acting as their surrogate leader, planning heists on important amounts of tech and weapons. I've also heard talks about testing you four.'' ''Testing? In what manner?'' questionned Donatello. ''I'm not sure. I couldn't get enough information on that, but so far it seems like they want to know how you guys work, what are your tactics...'' ''That's probably why they were so easy to find and to battle sometimes,'' added in Mikey. ''They were foolin' us all along and we were dumb enough to fall into this,'' grunted Raphael. The leader was silent, clearly deep in thoughts. ''Leo... you guys have to lay low for a while,'' continued Mikasa. ''There's something wrong about all of this and you have to confuse them. Going at them will only make things worse.'' ''We're ninjas, don't underestimate us,'' spat back Leo. The teacher moved closer to him, gently leaving her hands on his arms, catching his gaze in hers. ''I don't. But you need to think this through.'' The blue clad mutant sighed, his traits softening as he glanced once more at the woman's bruise. … She was right. He couldn't stop himself from gently cupping Mikasa's face, both closing their eyes as the turtle gently nuzzled the top of her head. He kept repeating soft ''I'm sorry'' to her, forever feeling stupid for what both women must have been through. He didn't want to aggravate things, prefering to call it a night and exit the place, knowing he and his brothers were just cluttering it by their sole presence. As the group was now outside in the alley, Leo did not miss the chance to bring Vee aside, a slight look of worry on his face. ''… I shouldn't have spoke to you like that,'' he began. ''Mikasa is right, I tend to let my emotions overcome me when in panic and I shouldn't unleash it like that...'' ''I know it's not easy,'' said Vee. ''But I was able to forgive you the first time. Now it's a bit harder. … You obviously don't trust me enough.'' ''I do trust you!'' his shoulders seemed to fall, feeling weak. ''… Look, I'm still trying to wrap my head around a lot of things right now. But what I do know for sure is that you are now family; and sometimes arguments do happen. That does not mean that I value you any less. … Is there anything I could do to redeem myself?'' Vee showed half of a smile: ''Listen to Mikasa more often. She might actually be a good influence on you at some point. Then that might make things better.'' He agreed to her point, offering a smile in return. He then left a hand on her shoulder, his smile now soft and sincere. ''I'm glad you're okay, both of you.'' ''Likewise. I just hope all this bullshit could stop at some point.'' ''You're reading my mind,'' lightly laughed the leader. Their line of thought was interrupted once they heard Raphael and Michelangelo's voices praising Mikasa's motorcyle – even though it was now scratched on one side, thanks to the pavement. As Leo was back at the black haired woman's side, Donnie was now next to Vee's, observing her palms once more, softly massaging her hands. ''You need to get these healed or else it'll leave some nasty marks on your skin...'' One of his hands did move to her cheek, diverting her gaze to his. ''… How are you feeling right now?'' ''I'm alright, Donnie. Even more since you're here. Don't worry,'' softly answered the artist with a smile. ''I was so scared when I realized they tricked us,'' he confessed. ''I can't imagine what would happen if-'' ''It's over, Don,'' reassured Vee. ''Don't start thinking about that. I'm here...'' A relieved sigh escaped him, bringing the other nearer so he could tenderly place a kiss on top of her head. He didn't want to release her, her sweet scent good enough to calm him. ''Can I stay with you tonight?'' he asked only for her to hear. ''Please do,'' answered Vee. ''I was about to ask the same anyway!'' She needed to feel safe, she needed to hold on to someone throughout the night. She knew she would hardly sleep tonight, the endless possibilities playing in her mind... But right now Donatello was here and she knew nothing and no one would ever harm her in any way. That she knew was the absolute truth.

[nadziejastar]

Lexaeus He's a character with strength to rival Xaldin. While Xaldin has power plus technique, I'd say to Lexaeus is more of a samurai, or that he has bushido-style strength. If you listen to his very last line in Re:COM, I think you'll be able to see his spirit. I wanted to do more with this character. --Nomura

Yeah, Aeleus really did get done dirty. His last line was apologizing to Zexion. In his report, he said Zexion was the only one he trusted. What was their relationship like? In KH3, why did Ienzo say that Aeleus needed to let go of his grudge against Roxas of all people? That confused me. That’s not something we ever saw. What exactly did he have against Roxas? They never even fought and have barely spoken. Roxas had barely been an organization member before Lexaeus got eliminated. 

It’s sad that even after so many years, the organization members are still so FLAT. It’s one of my biggest disappointments with the Xehanort arc. They really needed another game to flesh all of these characters out. Even became remorseful, but it felt like it came outta nowhere, since we didn’t see his past. Isa’s character was a joke in KH3. Even Lea still feels flat with his last minute “apprentice” backstory. Xemnas’s actions now make zero sense, since he was trying to complete Kingdom Hearts to “round up a bunch of empty husks, hook them up to Kingdom Hearts, then fill them all with the exact same heart and mind”. But in KH3...they all had free will. How do they all have the exact same heart and mind, if they could BETRAY Xehanort? They weren’t even Norted...

But I digress. I could tell that the story of the Xehanort Saga was incomplete just by looking at Lexaeus’s weapons in 358/2 Days. I couldn’t help but notice the unique names of them and it aroused my curiosity. They definitely weren’t named arbitrarily. It was strong evidence that he actually had a backstory thought up for him that just never got revealed to us players.

Lexaeus: Forgive me, Zexion. This was a fight I should not have started.

It’s a shame Nomura wanted to do more with him, but he probably never will get the chance to now. I think Aeleus was certainly guilty of doing bad things, but unlike Dilan, I don’t think he was truly evil at heart. He wasn’t naturally good at manipulating people’s hearts. I believe he had misgivings about what the apprentices were doing, and felt guilt. I also think he was supposed to get an actual redemption, and that’s why he was there with Ienzo while Lea was looking for Isa. He wasn’t one of the truly incorrigible members, like Braig. He would try to atone in a similar way to Even. Braig couldn’t be redeemed, which is why he could only kill himself at the end.

“This is my strength… I, number five in the organization… I who was once his favorite pupil!”

His Mystery Gear is “Rockhead”, idiomatically meaning “hardheaded”. He probably wasn’t an intellectual powerhouse. I think Aeleus was tricked by Xehanort. He developed a relationship with him as his “favorite pupil”. It probably started off relatively benign. Aeleus truly thought he was a brilliant man and looked up to Xehanort. Then he started getting gradually more dark and immoral. It took time for Aeleus to cross the line and do unethical things, urged on and pushed by Xehanort. He knew it was wrong, but Xehanort probably said similar things to him that he did to Terra. Only Aeleus actually went all the way.

The weapon is obviously shaped like a moai statue of Easter Island. I think the Mystery Gear represents the memories of the person right before they lost their heart. The people of Easter Island believed that the statues would capture the chiefs' "mana", which was their word for supernatural powers. They believed that the statues themselves were moved and erected by mana. Aeleus seemed to believe that giving up his heart and becoming a Nobody would grant him special powers. I think his motivation was that simple. Power. His lifestyle revolved around martial arts.

Some of his weapons are named after taoist principles. “Heaven, Earth, Man” is a concept found in many martial arts like Tai Chi. Heaven can be described as the effect of Gravity on our frame, tissues and movements. Earth by contrast is the ‘support’ provided by the ground that our structures can work off of. In the ancient philosophies of both China and Japan, the three principles of heaven, earth, and man expressed this view of how human life and society could be integrated with the order of the natural world. 

“Wind, Forest, Fire, and Mountain” is a reference to Sun Tzu’s The Art of War: 

“Move as swift as a wind, stay as silent as forest, attack as fierce as fire, undefeatable defense like a mountain.” 

One of his weapons is named “Cicada-shell”. Cicadas are symbols of rebirth. The shell is a symbol of the old way being discarded. This weapon is part of Lift Gear, which is Temperance in Luxord’s deck. Temperance represents calmness in the face of adversity. It can also indicate a time to evaluate and re-examine the priorities you have chosen. So, it’s a very good fit.

Another weapon is called “Flying Firefly”. Fireflies can represent a little bit of light which can illuminate the darkness. This weapon is part of Ominous Gear, which is The Hanged Man. This card represents indecision or suspended action. It can mean that a sacrifice is needed to make in order to progress. This can be repentance for past wrongdoings, or a calculated step backward to recalculate one’s path onward. 

Interestingly a few weapons are named after flowers. “Camellia” In Japan is called “Tsubaki” and symbolizes the divine. It is often used in religious and sacred ceremonies. It also represents the coming of spring. Generally, it is a symbol of love. The weapon is part of Fearless Gear which is The Hermit. This is about turning your attention inward to find the answers you seek, deep within your soul. I think Aeleus had someone that he was in love with and was rejected. He has been burned by love and this might have driven him to focus on power exclusively.

One of his weapons is named “Holly Olive”. In Japan there is the custom of sticking a sprig of holly olive through the head of and fastening them to the doorway of the house. This is in accordance with the legend that demons hate the sharp thorns of the holly olive and the stink of the fish, and will disperse on being confronted with these. This weapon is Prestige Gear, which is Strength. It represents inner strength and fortitude during moments of danger and distress.

Day 119: Hearts and Emotion

Author: Xaldin

Watching that foolish beast flail about only deepens my disdain for humans and their incessant need to be pinned down by feelings. We became Nobodies precisely to avoid the shackles of emotion. It was only later that we realized the scale of that loss: that some things simply cannot be done without a heart. Nonetheless, I see nary a pleasant thing about it.

Another reason I think Aeleus had someone he loved is his weapon called “1001 Nights”, also called “Arabian Nights”. The Arabian Nights is an epic collection of Arabic folk tales written during the Islamic Golden Age. It’s about a broken-hearted king who was scorned by an unfaithful wife. He chose to marry a new woman every day only to kill her the next morning. One woman survives by telling him stories each night.

This weapon is Ultimate Gear, which is The Emperor. It represents the masculine principle and a powerful leader who demands respect and authority. It’s all about control, authority, regulation, and organization.

“Clear Mirror, Still Water” is a term often used in Kendo. It is also translated as “mind undisturbed by evil thoughts”. It does not apply only to Kendo and other martial arts, but daily life. When a mirror is dirty or it has something on it, it does not reflect things as it should. So it is not working as it is supposed to do. When your mind is not clear, your mind does not work as it is supposed to, either. Moreover, when your mind is not clear or clean, it is usually mean that something evil thing is going on in your mind. So there are two meanings in keeping your mind as clear as a clean shining mirror.

It’s part of Champion Gear, which is The Empress. This is the opposite of The Emperor. It represents the feminine principle. It could be associated with fertility, expression, creativity and nurturing among many other aspects. It's about connecting with beauty and bringing happiness to your life.

One of his weapons is named “Wood Heron” which you just know has to mean something. That’s not something you would randomly name a weapon. I believe it refers to a wooden totem, which is used to represent spirit animals.

It’s part of Rage Gear which is The Devil. This card represents your shadow (or darker) side and the negative forces that constrain you and hold you back from being the best version of yourself. Yeah, I definitely think Aeleus was going to try to atone for his actions.

One of his weapons is simply named “Iron”. And there are symbolic meanings to the different elements, which is where I think they were going with that. Iron is similar to The Emperor. The weapon is part of Crisis Gear which is The Lovers. This card represents conscious connections and meaningful relationships. It gives the same impression as 1001 Nights. Aeleus probably had difficulty with his relationships.

Another weapon is named “Copper”. It is similar to The Empress, as it’s associated with the feminine principle. This weapon is Technical Gear which is The Star. It represents reprieve after a period of destruction and turmoil. The Star brings renewed hope and faith.  

He has a weapon called “Prismatic Gold”. It’s part of Hazard Gear, which is The Sun. It gives you strength and tells you that no matter where you go or what you do, your positive and radiant energy will follow you and bring you happiness and joy.

[aftermathdb]

DEATH BATTLE Review: Weiss vs. Misturu

Y’know, I had a gag planned when that required Weiss to be introduced after two other RWBY Characters that I don’t think I can do anymore since Weiss got introduced before them. Maybe I can do a deleted scenes thing later…

Two Ice Queens battle for the true reign over the ice castle!

Weiss′s Preview.

The world of Remnant is full of many things that make it famous. From the vicious creatures of Grimm, to the Huntsman and Huntresses that are sworn to fight them, and many many more. But in this world, you’d be hard pressed to find a person who has never heard of the Schnee family.

And like any famous family, these guys are like royalty. And their princess, is Weiss Schnee.

Like many children born to great families, Weiss’ home life wasn’t that fun. Her father had high expectations for her, and she was set to just run the place… Whenever that happens. But, in defiance to her father’s wishes, she got out and joined Beacon Academy, an illustrious school where everyone can learn how to fight monsters. And once she joined a team, she put the ‘W’ in team RWBY.

But Weiss can’t just get by with money. So like most Hunters (Which is what I’m going to be calling them so that I can save some space), Weiss got herself a weapon, which Boomstick nicknamed Merc-Nasty.

This rapier is nearly three feet in length, and, much like nearly every other weapon in the show, it doubles as a gun (insert “it’s also a gun” joke here)!

Myrtenaster comes equipped with a six-slot Dust chamber. And unlike the dust in our world, the Dust in this world is special. Similar to the materia from Final Fantasy or Crystals from Storm Hawks, these all come with their own stats and effects.

Weiss is a fan of combining water and wind to create Ice Dust

But, if you’re going to fight giant shadow monsters, criminals, and godzilla dragons, you’re  going to need way more than just a stick to fight them with.

Think of Semblances as “X-Men” powers. They’re all unique in their own ways. However, Weiss’ Semblance is a bit different. In the sense that instead of it being unique, it’s actually inherited through her family line. Kinda like the mark of the Joestar (Before you ask, no. No Jojo character is up next. I’m upset about it too).

Weiss’ Semblance lets her do all sorts of crazy stuff. From manipulating gravity, to time dilation, to manipulating dust.

But most impressive of all, is the summons, which lets Weiss act like Yuna from FF X and bring out monsters she’s beaten to fight alongside her.  And the most powerful one of all, would be knight, the Arma Gigas… Which means “Giant Armor” in Latin.

But yeah. Weiss’ family is pretty dysfunctional, and kinda abusive at times. Her Colonel Sanders-looking dad up there cut her out of the family line, leaving her piece of shit brother as the sole heir to the company.

But if there are any physical weaknesses Weiss has, it would probably be her durability.

Aura is finite, and takes time to recharge. Sure, you’re basically invincible when you do have it, but when it’s out, you’re out.  And compared to Best Girl Yang (Fight me), Weiss’ durability isn’t that great. And since using her Semblance also burns aura, she’s more likely to run out sooner rather than later.

But Weiss is pretty tough. She once managed to survive a train crash. Judging by the size of the fragmentation, and applying the appropriate mathematics, the amount of force Weiss withstood comes out to be about…

Not good enough?- Then how about the time she knocked over a giant mech that was designed to fight giant leviathan grimm?

Judging by the size of her partner beside her, Weiss’ output of force should come around to about…

And it’s unlikely that Weiss is doing this using only dust. So, by using the water,  we can get an estimate as to how much energy is being used for this attack.

For those of you wondering, this translates to over 230 tons of TNT!

Forget Dust. Weiss could make a killing on giving people renewable power alone.

Weiss might not be the strongest of her team, but with her newfound family, she’s certainly proven that she is far more than just a name. And she’s out to prove that this life is hers.

Misturu′s Preview.

In the early 2000s, you’d be hard pressed to find anyone in Japan who hasn’t heard of the Kirjio group, a global conglomerate that was involved in nearly every aspect of daily life. .

And just like any other major company like this, they had a family. And this princess, was known as Mitsuru Kirijo

One day, Mitsuru’s Grandfather was experimenting with some sort of mental world called “The Mind Place.” Officially known as “The collective unconscious.” Because companies doing shady business deals is apparently something we should expect. When is news going to break out that Disney does have their founder’s head in a jar?

Anyways, the Mind Place connects every living being’s subconscious mind. Things known as “Shadows” lived there.

These things are basically demons. But if you want to see an inner demon, you find a person’s “Shadow Self.”

Surprise surprise, Grandpa Kirijo decided to try and get to the shadows for himself. But, as per usual, summoning demons never works out… Unless you play an Archfiend Deck in Yu-Gi-Oh, in which case, go nuts.

So, everything kinda went to shit because of it, and not only were the shadows released into the world to attack an unsuspecting populace, this tower thing here:

the Tartarus, arose. It’s basically the citadel between worlds. The earth was changed with a new “Dark Hour.” A period of time where everything freezes at Midnight.

Most people don’t really notice though. Time resumes as normal when it’s over, and almost nobody really notices.

Almost.

Some people can keep moving around in this time. Mitsuru is one of them. since she felt bad about her family’s company screwing everyone over, so she decided to fix it.

And while her rapier skills are certainly good, on account that she’s in the fencing club at her school, a small sword like that isn’t exactly enough to take down a bunch of evil shadows… Wait, hang on. Do both of these franchises have Heartless ripoffs?- Moving on, Mitsuru also has various abilities that she can use.

And on top of all of it, she even got a Stand Persona, named Penthesilea, which later grew into Artemisia.

With Artemisia by her side, Mitsuru has a lot of powerful ice spells that she can call upon in battle. So it’s basically a Stand except they don’t have that rule of “Only a Stand can defeat another Stand” thing going for them… Huh, note to self: Have Jotaro and Mitsuru get into an argument about terminology. Also unlike Stands, Personas can be defeated, but they’ll come back after a short time.

Similar to Stands, Personas also kinda reflect damage back to the user. But since it’s more linked to the personality rather than the soul or fighting spirit, it’s more mental stress if anything else.

Artemesia gives Mitsuru all sorts of awesome stuff. Like ice powers that could give Elsa a run for her money. It also grants Mitsuru enhanced strength, speed, and durability. In addition, it also makes her completely immune to the cold and ice-based attacks. I’d ask “Why the fur coat?” But, as we all know, Everyone needs a fur coat (And it’s a pretty nice coat). She can also sense her surroundings via analytical clairvoyance, which makes sneaking up on her pretty hard.

But, like all great heroes, nobody really does it on their own. Mitsuru created the S.E.E.S, or the “Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad.” A group of Persona users that were basically the Teen Titans, if they had Stands instead of superpowers. And, as an added bonus, it’s an after school club, so bonus extra credit!

And you might be thinking “How would one summon a Persona?” Well, since this franchise wasn’t done ripping off Jojo (I looked it up, Stands and the Stand Arrows were introduced about three years prior to Persona 1), they decided to uh… Use the Evoker… Which… Fair warning…

(I think I’ll take the Stand Arrow instead).

The idea behind the Evoker is that it evokes a strong traumatic experience to awaken a person’s Persona, similar to how Mitsuru’s first experience in summoning hers was also traumatic.

To add to the unsettling nature of this, you don’t just have it shot at you. You aim it at your face, and pull the trigger. DEFINITELY taking the Stand Arrow over that.

Anyways, with all that power, Mitsuru’s pulled off some ridiculous stuff.

Here’s an added bonus: One Persona user that could outrun a bullet fired from a Magnum. So it’s reasonable to say that Mitsuru could do this too.

If that last feat wasn’t impressive enough for you, Personas can move even faster. One of them reacted to and caught an arrow within milliseconds. And since Mitsuru defeated this user and Persona in a fight.

But if you’re looking for a durability feat, then look no further, because Mitsuru once survived an explosion.

This one to be exact.

This is easily the longest series of images I’ve had to upload in a row. And isn’t Boomstick a Poultry Scientist?- Why’d he say “I’m a scientist now.”?

Ahem, moving on. Artemisia also once helped out in icing these creepy puppet things:

Now, using the surrounding air and accounting for Nitrogen (As it makes up a good chunk of the air we breathe), we can get some calculations for this feat.

The energy output, after the calculations are done, comes to around…

Okay, forget Weiss supplying people with Power, Mitsuru’s where it’s at. Maybe she could slow down out polar ice caps from melting.

And after ending the Dark Hour and redeeming her family name, Mitsuru continued battling for people everywhere. One shadow at a time.

Not too shabby.

The Battle Itself.

Torrian and Kristina are here for animation, Weiss will be voiced by Kara Eberle and Mitsuru will be voiced by Corey Pettit, music (Winter Sonata) by Therewolf,  and audio by Chris Kokkinos.

So, we just jump right into the middle of the fight. No explanations, no story build-up, no nothing. It’s just like RWBY Volume 4! Ha ha! … Sorry, I, I just, I had to get that in there… God, that was a garbage volume.

So, with swordplay looking to be about even, both sides are basically going to be relying on their other skills for this bout. Y’know, a fencing tournament getting out of hand would have been an interesting story for this fight.

So, a bit of talking later, and the fight just picks up. And it occurs to me that they should have used this as the example fight for why the “FIGHT!” soundbite shouldn’t return. Like, c’mon guys.

Back on the fight, Weiss uses her ice powers to try to give Mitsuru the cold shoulder, but as we’re already aware, that’s not very effective.

And out comes Artemisia, which Weiss manages to parry some of the attacks, and opts to get the hell out of dodge after a quick burst of fire.

The Wasp up there is then sent to fight Mitsuru’s Persona while Weiss opts to fight Mitsuru directly.

But, let’s face it. The Rapier Wasp is a Bug Flying type. So Artemisia takes it down.

And with Weiss distracted, Mitsuru then gives her a kick to the face. That’s the face of someone who was wondering why she was just standing around when there was someone trying to kill you right in front of you.

But Weiss isn’t a fan of being kicked in the face, so she uses her gravity glyphs to make some distance.

And with that distance comes…

The Arma Gigas! Let’s be real, we wanted this fight so that we could see this knight fight Artemisia. After a couple of combos where neither side seems to make any headway, Artemisia then fires some frigid projectiles towards Weiss.

Her Knight, being a gentleman, takes the blow for her.

Weiss charges (with added assistance from her time dilation glyphs) and manages to actually stab Mitsuru.

Unfortunately for her, Mitsuru doesn’t go down that easily. And she uses Artemisia to knock them both down.

Finishing blow in 5…

4…

3…

2…

1…

Imperious Queen of Executions indeed.

Verdict + Explanation.

So, to Weiss’ credit, her versatility put up a decent fight. But she was pretty outclassed in other categories aside from speed thanks to time dilation.

But with Mitsuru’s analytical clairvoyance, that speed gap gets a lot smaller. To the point that Mitsuru’s the one that can outpace Weiss. Not that it matters, Artemisia outpaces Weiss a few times over.

Now sure, the time powers seem like an insta-win, right? Well, maybe that would give Weiss a win in some scenarios, but not all of them.

Since Weiss is extra reliant on Ice Dust, and her other Dusts are fairly lacking, Mitsuru didn’t really have to deal with fire at all. Especially since Weiss doesn’t have the best track record with fire (As we’ve seen from that fire geyser from before).

It also doesn’t help that the explosion from earlier is pretty up there in terms of destructive power. Power that isn’t really that low for anything Weiss had to really beat it out.

Using calculation provided by Boomstick (Yes, you read that right), the calculations can be made through the height of the bridge.

This puts the explosive yield to about.

And this is even accounting for the fact that the person setting it off wasn’t even planning on killing Mitsuru too.

Also, remember those big ice structures that each of them made?- Well, comparing them directly, Weiss’ energy output doesn’t come close. Even if one were to cut Mitsuru’s stat in half, on account that she had help for this feat, Weiss falls short. About a hundred times short to be exact.

At the end of the day, Mitsuru had the power, skill, and durability to take Weiss down. Sure Snow White there had versatility, but at the end of it all,

Overall impression.

I heard from a friend of mine (And I  read  it on the Persona Wiki) that Personas can’t really be seen by non-persona users. Whilst this doesn’t really make much of a difference since it was more exciting to see the Arma Gigas directly fighting Artemisia instead of having it flailing around while the Persona just chipped away at it, it would have been nice to have seen this acknowledged.

Also, I kinda had like… Ten jokes that I could have used for my own end quip, but I’ll just post that to my Deviantart account as a list.

Overall, the results are solid, the animation is good, and it feels well-made. Sure, Weiss’ death could have been a bit more brutal (I would have liked to have seen her shattering with the ice), but as far as underwhelming deaths go, this one wasn’t that bad.

6.9/10. It would have been higher, but we didn’t get a “Bites the Dust” reference for Boomstick’s end joke (The song, not the Stand).

Next Time…

MORTAL KOMBAT! DO do do do dodo doot do do doot do doot do do do!

By the Gods I have been wanting to use Johnny Cage for the story. And having another Nintendo rep is always a plus. This… Is gonna be fun!

Is there a fight that you want me to review? - Send an ask/request, and I’ll look into it!

Do you want to read my fanfic based around DEATH BATTLE itself? click here!

Thank you for reading, and I hope to see you next time for…

Falcon Punch vs. Nut Punch

[monsterproblems]

Genre: Sci-Fi’ish Comedy

Premise: In a future where the world has been overrun by monsters, a young man risks his life to get to the woman he’s fallen for.

About: Brian Duffield is one of my favorite writers. One of his scripts, Your Bridesmaid is a Bitch, is on my Top 25. And through no fault of his own, another of his projects, Jane Got A Gun, found itself in the middle of a production circus when on the first day of shooting the director of the film just decided not to show up. This resulted in actors dropping out, other actors switching roles, and a full-on game of production musical chairs. Monster Problems was picked up last year. It’s unclear where it is in development. I’ll tell you this right now, though. If I were a studio, this is one of the first scripts I’d green light.

Writer: Brian Duffield

Details: 113 pages (undated)

Okay, so I want you to imagine Sleepless in Seattle. Mixed with a John Hughes film. Mixed with Harry Potter. Mixed with Pacific Rim.

You may be saying, “Carson, that is an unbelievable combination of films. There is nobody in the world who could make that work.”

Ladies and Gentleman, may I introduce you to Brian Duffield. The only person in the world who can make that work. And honestly, I’m in awe of the guy. I really am. I don’t know anyone else on earth who has this kind of imagination, that is also good with character, who can also create a believable and touching romance, who can also add hilarious comedy and lots of heart, whose writing style is sparse yet packed with information, who can ALSO tell a great story, and who always surprises you with his choices.

You just don’t find that kind of writer often. If ever. And it kind of depresses me. Because we’re all supposed to have weaknesses. Those weaknesses are what make other writers feel like they shouldn’t commit suicide. It’s important for them to be able to say, “Okay, sure he can do comedy. But he can’t develop characters like I can.” Duffield can do it all. I guess maybe in Jane Got A Gun, things were a little slow. Maybe when he’s not able to use comedy, his scripts aren’t as entertaining? Maybe that’s a weakness? I guess. Or maybe he purposefully slowed things down in “Jane” because he didn’t want to make all us other writers feel bad.

So what’s Monster Problems about?

This guy, Joel Dawson. A really good guy, this Joel. But he’s been dealt a shitty hand. He lives in this underground bunker with 37 people and he’s the only single guy there. Everyone else is always making out and having sex while he’s just… dreaming of what it would be like to have a girlfriend. Oh, and then, of course, it’s a hundred or so years in the future where the world’s been overtaken by monsters. Bad hand once again. It’s safe to say poker’s not Joel’s thing.

The one thing Joel’s got to look forward to is a girl. Her name is Aimee. She’s got red hair. He knows that because he asked, though he’s never seen her. See, Aimee is in another bunker 30 miles from his. And they can only contact this bunker for a couple minutes a day due to battery issues. And because the hope of being with Aimee is the only reason for Joel to put on his pants every morning, he decides to do the unthinkable – go to her.

Now that might not sound difficult to you or me. 30 miles puts a lot of stress on your quads but it’s doable. Here’s the problem. Monsters. And this isn’t the monster problem you see in Pacific Rim. Or that indie movie, “Monsters.” You know when Will Smith says in the “After Earth” trailer, “Everything on this planet has evolved to kill humans?” And then you went to see the movie and nothing on this planet had evolved to kill humans?

Well imagine a movie where that was actually the case. The second Joel leaves the bunker, he’s attacked by a strange dog-like critter, a raptor-thing, a giant frog, a giant spider, giant killer moths, a weird seven feet tall ghost-like centipede thing, a three headed T-Rex, a giant sea creature, as well as a few other beasts so strange they’re impossible to describe! And all Joel is armed with is a crossbow and a mangy dog he finds along the way.

Joel fights for his life, almost dies a thousand times, saves his dog, gets saved by his dog, meets a father-like figure, meets an astronaut robot, almost dies a thousand more times, etc. There aren’t many things Joel doesn’t experience on this perilous journey. But will he make it to Aimee? And what will happen if he does? Will she be everything he hoped for?

This script. Was awesome.

Period.

It was awesome. Where do I begin? Oh, I know. I’ll begin at the end. Duffield arcs the dog character. You read that right. Duffield GIVES A CHARACTER ARC TO THE DOG! Remember the scene in Cast Away where Wilson, an inanimate object, floats away forever? And you were crying, desperately hoping your date or parents didn’t look over at that exact moment and see you drowning in tears?

There’s a moment that rivals that here with the dog. The dog, you see, was found clinging to the dress of his long-since disappeared female master. He won’t leave with Joel until Joel brings that dress with him. And he’s so stuck on that dress. He cares more about that dress than he does Joel. And then in the end (spoiler), that dress gets stuck in the ocean, where Joel is battling a monster, and he has a choice to either go after the dress or save Joel. And he picks Joel. He changes. The dog arcs. Not barcs. Arcs. And it was so fucking good you cried just like when Wilson died.

Oh, and did I tell you about the astronaut? Yeah. One of my favorite scenes all year has this robot astronaut, split in two, only wires holding her together, pulling herself across the terrain, bumping into Joel, explaining she only has 16 minutes left before her battery runs out. And the two just share her last moments together before she dies. And it’s heartbreaking. And I don’t fucking understand how anybody comes up with this stuff. We can talk about structure until the screencows come home. But you still have to have imagination. You still have to come up with unique choices. How does Duffield bring a nearly dead cut-in-half female robot astronaut into a story about monsters taking over the earth and make it work? I don’t know but it fucking makes me jealous.

And then there’s the ending. I’m not going to get into spoilers, but let’s just say what you thought was going to happen doesn’t happen. That ALSO is a trait of great writers. They take you to the place you think you’re going, then totally change things up on you. You realize the writer is in control. Not you.

There were a few other reasons I loved this script. The main character is a lovable loser. But when he befriends this dog and loses his loneliness, we officially fall in love with him. It’s really hard to have a character befriend a dog or save a dog and not like him. As ridiculous and simplistic as it sounds: we like people who love animals. Who will protect them. It’s crazy how obvious this is, yet when it’s done well, as it is here, it makes the character irresistible.

And I love stories where the obstacles are impossible, where the writer is never easy on his hero. His hero has to earn every step he takes. Remember in After Earth, where the main character is basically guided by his father the whole way? So he didn’t really earn anything? He just follows orders. Here, Joel earns every step he takes. He finds the solutions to all the problems. He outruns or outsmarts or outbeats all the monsters.

And the sheer number of monsters he has to take on is ridiculous. At one point he’s trying to get over a rickety bridge when giant moths with needle teeth attack him, teeth that inject deadly venom into him, while a 3 headed T-Rex is trying to kill him, while he drops his only weapon, his crossbow, into the monster-infested waters below. There are so many moments like this where you wonder, “How the hell is he going to get out of this alive?” And because the odds are so heavily stacked against him, we hover over the page with baited breath, reading as fast as we can so we can get the answer.And then at the heart of this script is… heart. See that’s the thing. All these big effects movies have zero heart, have zero characters we really care about. I mean does anybody in the world really care about Shia LaBeouf in Transformers? Here, we care about Joel. We care about his dog. Because Duffield knows that none of those effects will matter. This is about the character. And you will like Joel. You will love Joel. You will love this journey he goes on. You will be shocked by the ending. And when it’s over, it’ll be one of the few times you’ve finished a script and wished there were more pages to read.

[ ] what the hell did I just read?

[ ] wasn’t for me

[ ] worth the read

[x] impressive (TOP 25!!!)

[ ] genius

What I learned: The key to writing these scripts is mentally stripping out all the big creatures and monsters and robots and effects, and remembering that it’s a personal journey. Focus on making that personal journey work first. Make your audience fall in love with your main character and want them to succeed. And then build that effects world up afterwards. This is such simple advice and yet this is the first time I’ve seen it done in maybe two or three years? If you’re a big-budget writer, get this right and you’ll be golden.

What I learned 2: Choose action over dialogue to build a relationship. — Let’s say you only have one scene to make us care about a key relationship in your script. In this case, we’ll use Joel and the dog as the characters. Scene Option 1 has Joel talking to the dog over the fire. Scene Option 2 has both of them being attacked by a monster, and Joel has to make a choice between either saving himself or trying to save the dog. ALWAYS choose the second scene option. Action always accelerates a relationship faster than dialogue. Obviously, scripts are long so you’ll have the opportunity to do both, but always favor action over dialogue when you can.