#TANA - Torch

[tanalogyosc]

[saturniasxenos]

FIRE NPT PACK!!

Down below, you'll find firey pronouns, burning hot titles, ignited names, and all the alike fire/flame/lava genders!

Enjoy my firey loves! ❤

Pronouns:

Ar/Arso/Arson/Arsons/Arsonself

Ab/Abla/Ablaze/Ablazes/Ablazeself

Ar/Ardo/Ardor/Ardors/Ardorself

Ca/Cand/Candle/Candles/Candleself

Fer/Ferv/Fervor/Fervors/Fervorself

Fi/Fir/Fire/Fires/Fireself

Fir/Firestro/Firestorm/Firestorms/Firestormself

Fir/Firebo/Firebolt/Firebolts/Fireboltself

Fir/Firebu/Firebug/Firebugs/Firebugself

Fir/Firebo/Firebomb/Firebombs/Firebombself

Fir/Fireshi/Fireshine/Fireshines/Fireshineself

Fir/Firestri/Firestriker/Firestrikers/Firestrikerself

Fir/Fireba/Fireball/Fireballs/Fireballself

Fir/Firewo/Firewood/Firewoods/Firewoodself

Fir/Firepro/Fireproof/Fireproofs/Fireproofself

Fir/Firecra/Firecracker/Firecrackers/Firecrackerself

Fir/Firebre/Firebreak/Firebreaks/Firebreakself

Fir/Firef/Firefly/Fireflys/Fireflyself

Fir/Fireli/Firelight/Firelights/Firelightself

Fir/Firewa/Firewalker/Firewalkers/Firewalkerself

Fie/Fier/Fiery/Fierys/Fieryself

Fla/Flam/Flame/Flames/Flameself

Flame/Flamethro/Flamethrower/Flamethrowers/Flamethrowerself

Flame/Flamma/Flammable/Flammables/Flammableself

Fla/Flar/Flare/Flares/Flareself

Fur/Furna/Furnace/Furnaces/Furnaceself

Kin/Kind/Kindle/Kindles/Kindleself

La/Lav/Lava/Lavas/Lavaself

Ma/Mag/Magma/Magmas/Magmaself

Vol/Volca/Volcano/Volcanos/Volcanoself

He/Hea/Heat/Heats/Heatself

Hell/Hellfie/Hellfire/Hellfires/Hellfireself

Hot/Hotco/Hotcoal/Hotcoals/Hotcoalself

Spa/Spar/Spark/Sparks/Sparkself

Bu/Bur/Burn/Burns/Burnself

Bla/Blaz/Blaze/Blazes/Blazeself

Bla/Blas/Blast/Blasts/Blastself

Bo/Bonfi/Bonfire/Bonfires/Bonfireself

Ig/Igni/Ignite/Ignites/Igniteself

In/Infer/Inferno/Infernos/Infernoself

In/Infer/Infernal/Infernals/Infernalself

Incin/Inciner/Incinerate/Incinerates/Incinerateself

Obi/Obsid/Obsidian/Obsidians/Obsidianself

Oxy/Oxyge/Oxygen/Oxygens/Oxygenself

War/Warm/Warmth/Warmths/Warmthself

Wild/Wildfir/Wildfire/Wildfires/Wildfireself

Wood/Woodfir/Woodfire/Woodfires/Woofireself

Sco/Scor/Scorch/Scorchs/Scorchself

Ser/Sera/Seraphim/Seraphims/Seraphimself

So/Soo/Soot/Soots/Sootself

Smo/Smok/Smoke/Smokes/Smokeself

Smo/Smoul/Smoulder/Smoulders/Smoulderself

Py/Pyr/Pyro/Pyros/Pyroself

Py/Pyr/Pyre/Pyres/Pyreself

Phoe/Phoen/Phoenix/Phoenixs/Phoenixself

To/Tor/Torch/Torchs/Torchself

Com/Combust/Combustion/Combusts/Combustionself

Ca/Campfi/Campfire/Campfires/Campfireself

Co/Coa/Coal/Coals/Coalself

Char/Charco/Charcoal/Charcoals/Charcoalself

Cre/Crem/Cremate/Cremates/Cremateself

🔥/🔥's

💥/💥's

🐦‍🔥/🐦‍🔥's

❤️‍🔥/❤️‍🔥's

☄️/☄️'s

🌋/🌋's

🏜/🏜's

🕯/🕯's

☀/☀'s

🌟/🌟's

⭐/⭐'s

Titles:

(X) Who Burns

The Pyromaniac

The Phoenix

Risen From The Ashes

Born From The Flames

Born From Hellfire

Dancing In The Flames

The Firestorm

The Incinerated

(X) Who Commits Arson

The Fire Dancer

The Lava Dancer

The Volcano Guardian

Guardian of The Flames

The Flame-Winged

(X) Who Will Never Burn

Names:

Fem: Aine, Adara, Alinta, Anala, Apollonia, Aguya, Arpina, Brenda, Bedelia, Caldia, Cyra, Cemre, Cinder, Enya, Fiamma, Fiametta, Helene, Homura, Hinata, Hinoka, Helia, Hestia, Kenina, Kaede, Kyra, Keahi, Kamala, Kalinda, Kenna, Mirri, Mehri, McKenna, Narine, Noora, Pele, Pyraxia, Pyrena, Piret, Oriane, Seraphina, Starfire, Savita, Sunniva, Solana, Tana, Tinna, Vesta, Zinara,

Masc: Afi, Aodh, Ashbel, Apollo, Anatole, Aarush, Aidan, Aiden, Blaze, Blayze, Blaise, Brando, Brantley, Branton, Brent, Brenton, Conleth, Conley, Cole, Cyrus, Egan, Eilidh, Elio, Finlo, Fintan, Fuji, Flint, Haco, Hagan, Hakan, Hayden, Heilos, Heulfryn, Horus, Hugh, Hugo, Ignacio, Ignatius, Inigo, Ishaan, Kai, Kindle, Kaen, Kenneth, Keegan, Kiran, Kwasi, McCoy, Pyrrhus, Ra, Rhys, Sampson, Tyson, Vulcan,

Neu: Ardere, Aizel, Adan, Akosua, Ashfall, Aithne, Agni, Adish, Azar, Ash, Baskara, Brigid, Cymbeline, Ember, Eldis, Edan, Ignus, Iskra, Liekki, Mashal, Nuri, Pheonix, Pyro, Pyre, Surya, Sulien, Solaris, Sol, Seraph, Seraphin, Sol, Soleil, Sunfire, Tanwen, Uri, Ugnè, Xipil,

Genders:

Lavanatomic - A gender under the anatomic system(link), related to lava, anatomy, the "anatomy" of lava and molten rock, the anatomy of something or someone being made up of lava, having anatomy made of lava and so on.

Firegender - Firegender is a xenogender identity in which one's gender is in a constant state of change but never truly extinguishes. It is aesthetically linked to fire as a visual metaphor or symbol.

Fiergender - Fiergender [fier coming from the word 'fiery'] is a gender related to the colours red and orange, fire, foxes, anger, and heat. This gender may feel hot, angry/annoyed, and fiery.

Infernvambatic - A gender identity related to fire and vampire bats; vampire bats that are on fire; vampire bats with fire magic; the emoji combo 🔥🦇🔥; etc...

Burninglogic - .+ a gender related to the log/wood emoji (🪵), and the fire emoji (🔥) in some way. could be the emojis on their own, the smell of campires/burning wood, the aesthetic of wood and fire, etc.

CandLitScentic - A scentic gender related to the aroma of lit candles, scented or not, the smell of a burning wick and melting wax is heavily tied to one's gender.

Firedeity - a gender connected to fire and deities, a deity associated with fire, or a deity of fire.

Ragefiric - a gender relating to raging fires, of course! one may also connect with fiery tempers or things getting burnt

Sunfiregender - a gender related to the sun and fire somehow! could be about how the sun is sometimes called a ball of fire, could be related to setting fires with sunlight, just suns and fires separately, whatever! 

Volcanogender/Lavagender/Magmagender - A gender that is dormant most of the time but sometimes erupts with extreme heat and intensity, similar to how volcanoes erupt. It can be used by itself or combined with other terms, e.g. volcanoboy, volcanogirl, volcanononbinary, etc.

Pyrapanthic - A combination of pyrogender and catgender, in which your gender is connected to big cats, fire, and the way that both are violent/aggressive in nature but aren't "bad" for being that way, they just are.

Lavagender - For a few days it’ll be a stable gender, nice and consistent. But after a while it turns into something completely different. And then that something will change into another thing that’s completely different after a few days time again.

PyromaniEnigmatic - an -enigmatic gender that relates to ones pyromania, being hard to fully understand and deal with, smoke and flames from the urges of pyromania obscuring clear vision and understanding of ones gender and ones pyromania being so deeply tied to ones gender that t becomes hard to understand it from any other angle but by the light of a burning flame.

Pyrofluid - A gender defined by a strong fire aesthetic, like pyrogender, but in this case a person can change between feeling “warm” and feeling “cold” about their gender. A pyrogender person always "feels warm" about the gender, it may just dwindle but never extinguish. Pyrofluid people can “feel cold”, and when that happens it doesn’t necessarily mean that they’ll be agender or on the agender spectrum. It may just mean that they end up feeling apathetic about their gender, not wanting to think about it.

[hotpinkstaples]

i think the tragic thing about the whole 'roxy's in love with superboy' angle wasn't exactly that roxy was in love with him. we knew she was in love with him. she hadn't explicitly said anything, but during that first leg of the series, she was absolutely developing feelings she had to consistently squash because kon was in love with tana and knockout was making a mess of all their lives.

but after final night, there was nothing left for roxy to lose - except there was! she finally squandered her dignity, and all bc she thought the end of the world might let her get away with it, but it didn't. roxy's grief and jealousy are of her own making. she could lived out the rest of her life holding a torch for a guy who Did Not See Her That Way, but she chose to say something, and now it's all gone to shit.

no. the tragic thing about the whole 'roxy's in love with superboy' angle was that kon didn't realize it was an angle to begin with. bc kon had found a way to make his manager and his daughter into his family. he made roxy his sister.

even tho roxy was not! it's facinating bc kon accidentally nuclear family-izes his ragtag support group bc he doesn't know any better! dubby's the closest to a father figure he can get, bc aint nobody takin care of him, so even dubby's subpar care is a luxury. roxy is the older girl in his life that's looking out for him, so he thinks of her as a sister, but that's NOT what she wants to be! she's not tryna be his sister at all, but she gets pegged as such bc she fills a gap in kon's life.

was roxy a mess for indulging in her feelings to begin with? absolutely, but like kon, she also doesn't know any better. and in the same breath, was it kon's fault he saw her as a sister when she wasn't? nope, bc we know he doesn't actually understand what is and isn't normal sibling behavior.

the roxy/kon romantic angle was probably one of the starkest moments where we, as an audience, saw how much of kon's early relationships were all ways for him to 'live up' to an ideal he didn't really understand. a reporter girlfriend, a distant father figure, a shady business manager, a female friend who was older than him with more life experience. for kon, they were pieces that could conform to his idea of a 'family,' but ultimately they did not.

they COULD NOT, because kon himself was never really a person to them. he was superboy, the clone of superman, the rightful heir to the superman legacy. and it's so, so sad bc it showed just how his continued suffering was pretty much inevitable.

[superman86to99]

Super Titles Round-Up (May 1994)

This month: Superboy gets animated! Supergirl gets even! Steel gets that cool-ass Jon Bogdanove cover up there!

Superboy #4 (May 1994)

Superboy is pretty sick due to that pesky Clone Plague running through the Superman titles, so his friends try to cheer him up by showing him the pilot episode for Superboy: The Animated Series. The episode is about two villains called Lock 'n' Lode trying to kill Superboy's manager, Rex Leech, depicted as a handsome "philanthropist and adventurer" in the show (because he's the one who paid for it). Meanwhile, Dubbilex appears as Rex's "wacky telepathic D.N.Alien butler" and Roxy Leech as an "undulating mass of primordial slime," which neither of them appreciates.

The animated scenes are drawn by late Batman Adventures artist Mike Parobeck in that classic broad-chinned Bruce Timm style, so this issue serves as kind of a preview for the other animated-style DCU titles that would come later in the decade (I always thought it was funny that Superboy got an "animated" design before Superman himself did). Anyway, in the show, Lock 'n' Load are defeated thanks to Rex's cleverness, mastery of geometry, and flawless marksmanship, though Superboy helps too. We even get a happy ending for Roxy, as an accident in the "Super-Grotto" causes her to evolve into fungus.

Unfortunately, things are less cheerful in the real world, since the issue ends with Superboy collapsing in the kitchen and his friend Tana remarking that he's not breathing. TO BE CONTINUED!

Supergirl #4 (May 1994)

Final issue! After finding out that Lex Luthor Jr. has been playing her for a gosh-danged fool all these years, the all-new, all-edgy Supergirl goes around the world torching Lex's properties (after making sure all employees have evacuated them, because she's still a sweetheart deep down). Lex figures out what Supergirl is doing and sets an explosive trap in one of his properties that leaves her as a pool of protoplasmic goo on the ground.

But Supergirl was only playing dead, so she uses the fact that Lex thinks he killed her to surprise him at LexCorp Tower. However, once she reaches Lex's office, Supergirl finds out that the red-haired adonis she was expecting to see has been replaced with a frail bald guy in a floating wheelchair. The shock of seeing Lex like that makes Supergirl drop her guard for a moment, which is enough for him to try to kill her again. Lex crawls into his Team Luthor armor for protection, but an even-more-pissed-off Supergirl tears him out and actually throws him through a window to a certain death.

For better or worse, Superman shows up just in time to save Lex, even though he looks like he might drop dead any second anyway. Supergirl is shocked to learn that Lex wasn't lying about his sickness, especially because she would have gladly helped him if he'd just asked her instead of sneakily cloning her to try to make a cure. Supergirl morphs back into her old self as she flies away in tears.

In the epilogue, the Kents let Supergirl know she's very welcome to come live with them again, but she decides she wants to travel the world and grow as a person/sentient lump of protomatter. The miniseries ends a few months later, with Supergirl going to Paris to reunite with Lex's ex-wife Elizabeth Perske, who agrees to be her new mentor. Perske will appear in a few issues of Supergirl's solo series, but the more interesting part in this flash-forward is the mention that U.S. Congress has "passed a measure approving aid for strife-torn Metropolis." Look out for some strife in the main Superman comics, coming soon!

Steel #4 (May 1994)

Steel's evil former employers at Amertek want to get back at him for destroying their headquarters last issue, so they hit him at a place where they know he'll be: at the funeral for a kid who died during a gang fight due to their weapons. Did I mention they're evil? They send a shirtless dude hopped up on Tar, the drug that turns people into Rob Liefeld characters, to crash the funeral, and since John Henry doesn't have his armor on, he has to hit the attacker with church pews until the drug runs out. (Would have been cool if he'd built himself a new armor out of church pews on the spot.)

The attack intensifies the gang war going on in the tough streets of D.C., resulting in another little kid getting shot (an adorable boy named Paco who wanted to be a gang member when he grew up). Then, the issue ends with John's niece Natasha getting ran over by a gang member's car as she's going to the hospital to see Paco. I have a feeling this comic is trying to tell us something about gangs, but I'm not sure what it is.

Oh, yeah, this issue also features a cameo by Lois Lane: John calls her (at home, since she was just fired by the Daily Planet) to figure out what he can do with the CD full of incriminating evidence he got from Amertek's HQ. She hooks him with her college roommate, policewoman/hacker Shauna Beryl (the lady on the cover up there), who will become a recurring character in this comic.

The Ray #1 (May 1994)

In the first issue of his solo series, Ray "The Ray" Terrill takes a trip to Hawaii on the same day that a little troll creature prays to Darkseid next to a volcano, causing a giant lava monster called Brimstone to emerge (Darkseid created a previous incarnation of Brimstone during the Legends crossover). Superboy shows up to help fight Brimstone, but instead of working together, Ray spends most of the issue thinking about how much he hates this kid and calling him a cheap poser. Eventually, after Brimstone has been "defeated," Superboy has enough and punches Ray to finally get him to shut up.

By the way, this issue and the next one are supposed to take place between Superboy #3 and #4, meaning that Superboy was already seriously ill while fighting Brimstone, so I don't blame him for losing his patience with this hater. Ray then hits Superboy back with a big blast of energy and looks mighty smug for a moment... until he notices that Superboy isn't moving or breathing. Yes, that's two comics in one month that end with someone yelling that Superboy is apparently dead. Oh, and then Brimstone wakes up. TO BE CONTINUED, TOO!

Damage #1 (April 1994)

I missed this issue during the April '94 round-up (shout out to Neil in the comments for alerting me of its existence!), so here it goes. Our old pal Metallo is the main villain in the first issue of this series, which is about a wimpy kid called Grant Emerson who occasionally has bursts of explosive strength that allow him to total cars with his fists. Some mysterious villains broke Metallo out of Stryker's Island and gave him a new giant body just to send him to kill Grant at his school. The most interesting part for me is that this backstory is told in the same format as Metallo's backstory in John Byrne's Superman #1, with the green flashback panels at the end of every row.

Damage defeats Metallo, but also destroys his entire school in the process, and then other villains show up to capture him… but that has nothing to do with Superman, so it's none of our business.

NOTE: Our post about Adventures of Superman #512 went up earlier this week, check it here out if you missed it!

[queersrus]

Fire theme

made with pyromaniacs in mind, but not exclusive.

excluding sun related names/words

tagging: @bpdxhoardic, @ponygirl-izzy

(nick)names:

pyr/pyre, pyra, pyro, pyry/pyri/pyrie, pyroess, pyroette, pyroetta, pyret/pyrett/pyrette, pyretta, pyrel/pyrell/pyrelle, pyroelle, pyrella, pyroella, pyrello, pyroello, pyrine/pyrene, pyrena, phoenix, prometheus, pyrrhus, polum'ya, plamya, plomien, pyralis fi/fy, fir/fyr, fire/fyre, fla, flam, flame/flaym/flayme/flaim/flaime, firess, firey, fiery, firette, firelle, firetta, firella, fiammetta, fiamma, flint, fintan, fuego, feu, feuer, fotia, foc, flamme, floga, fervor, flare, flash, flick, flicker ember, enya, egan, edan, eld blaze/blase/blaise/blais, bedelia, bridget, brandr, branton, brand, burn/bern, burna, burnaby, burnet, burnadette/bernadette, bal, bonfire tana, titus, tyson, tanwen, tanguy, tuli, torch, torrefy vatroslav, vulcan, vesta, vuur, vohon, vlam haphaestus, heat, heath, hearth, hestia, hagan, haco, hakan, haphaistos aodh, aodhnait, aodhamair, aguya, aithne, aiden, alev, agni, alight, ardor, afire, ablaze, aflame, ardent, arson logi, loki, liekki, llama, laga, lit, lighter calida, cinaed, conleth, conley, char, caut, cauter, cauteri, cauterize, cal, calc, calci, calcine igni, igno, igna, ignite, igniter, ignacio, inigo, ignatius, ild, incendio, inci, incini, incine, incinera, incinerate, infern, inferno, inferna, inflame kenneth, keenness, kindle mccoy, match, matches ogon, ogien geni, glow smold, smolder, scorch, singe, sear, scald

1st p prns: i/me/my/mine/myself

fi/fe/fii/firine/fireself fli/flame/flii/flamine/flameself i/igne/igni/ingine/ingiself(igniteself) bli/blaze/blii/blazine/blazeself bi/burne/bii/burnine/burnself pi/pyre/py/pyrine/pyreself py/pyre/pii/pyroine/pyroself py/pyrome/pyromi/promine/pyromaniaself ki/ke/kii/kine/kindleself smi/sme/smii/smoldine/smolderself sci/sce/scii/scorchine/scorchineself si/se/sii/sine/singeself si/sea/sii/searine/searself mi/me/mii/matchine/matchself li/le/lii/lightine/lighterself

2nd p prns: you/your/yours/yourself

fo/fire/fires/fireself flo/flamer/flamers/flamerself io/igner/igners/igniterself blo/blazer/blazers/blazerself bo/bur/burs/burnerself po/pyre/pyres/pyreself po/pyror/pyrors/pyrorself po/pyromer/pyromers/pyromaniers ko/kindler/kindlers/kindlerself smo/smolder/smolders/smolderself so/singr/singrs/singerself so/sear/sears/searself mo/matcher/matchers/matcherself lo/lighter/lighters/lighterself

3rd p prns: they/them/theirs/themself

fi/fire/fires/fireself fi/ire, fire/fires fla/flame/flames/flameself fla/me, flame/flames ig/igni/ignis/igniself ig/ignite/ignites/igniteself ig/ni, ig/nite, igni/ignis, ignite/ignites igni/ignite bla/blaze/blazes/blazeself bla/ze, blaze/blazes bur/burn/burns/burnself bu/rne, bur/urne, burn/burns py/pyre/pyres/pyrself py/pyro/pyros/pyroself py/yre, pyre/pyres, py/ro, pyro/pyros pyre/pyro pyre/pyromania, pyro/pyromaniac pyro/maniac, pyro/mania, pyromania/pyromaniac, pyromania/pyromanias, pyromaniac/pyromaniacs kin/kindle/kindles/kindleself kin/dle, kindle/kindles smold/smolder/smolders/smolderself smo/der, smolder/smolders sin/singe/singes/singeself si/inge, singe/singes sea/sear/sears/searself sea/ear, sear/sears mat/match/matches/matchself mat/ch, match/matches light/lighter/lighters/lighterself ligh/ter, lighter/lighterself

titles:

the fire. the flame, the lighter, the match, the burner, the arsonist, the pyre, the pyro, the pyress, the pyroess, the pyromaniac, the kindling, the burning fire, the blazing fire, the smoldering fire, the scorching flame, the ignition, the igniter, the firewatcher, the fire starter, the firefighter

(prn) who burns, (prn) who blazes, (prn) who sets fires, (prn) who starts fires, (prn) who loves flames, (prn) who owns a lighter, (prn) who owns matches, (prn) who watches fire, (prn) who fights fire

this fire, this flame, this pyre, this pyro, this pyromaniac, this arsonist, this firefighter, this firewatcher, this fire starter

[sacred-stanning]

Chapter 19 Part 3: Uh...oops!

During enemy phase, the green unit Armor Knights get summarily taken out by the enemy Druids.

I don't think I've ever seen these guys survive this map.

Tana gets attacked too, but she's fine. 13 hit, lol

Yeah, the four green units on the left start very close to enemies, and they are pathetically bad, so they're lucky if they can make it even to turn 2.

During player phase, I move Knoll to the tile with the Secret Shop. Oh boy!

The shop has cool things like Physic Staves, stat boosting items, and promotion items.

Oh, but remember how I forgot to give anyone torches before starting the map? Well, that wasn't my only inventory screw up.

I also forgot to make space in my convoy, so after buying just a couple things, I hit the 100 item limit and couldn't buy anything else.

:(

Anna: "Ha ha ha ... You're convoy is full. Clean it up and come visit again, ok?"

Anna, I'd like to, but this map has a turn limit, and I can't access secret shops from the world map...

:(

So that was disappointing. I considered starting the map over, but then I decided to play it out a bit more to see where the enemies were...and I just ended up finishing the whole map in the end! So I missed out on some stat boosters I could have bought.

The right group, with Rennac and Gerik, gets rid of the Axe Fighters.

On the left, Lute takes out a Druid, and Ross finishes off a hurt General.

Oh, cool, the General drops the Brave Lance! Ross picks it up and...

Oh, right, my convoy is full. I guess I'll toss out his 5 use Iron Axe...

Ephraim wraps things up down here by getting the other Druid.

Up top, Franz has caught up to the small group and can help them out now.

L'Arachel, Eirika, and Seth take care of the two Armor Knights...

And Cormag targets the Myrmidon. There's some risk in putting here where the archer could attack him during enemy phase, but I work under the assumption that the enemies will prioritize the easy to kill green units over even shooting a bow at a flier.

God, these green units are worthless except as meat shields.

I forget exactly what happened here, but I'm pretty sure the archer took out the other green unit, just like I predicted.

And here are some action shots because why not?

Ross eats a Brave Sword (ouch), Ephraim kicks ass, and Franz laughs at the sight of pathetic, little arrows.

Next time: Finally, Myrrh!

[leaveharmony]

I’m having a crisis of faith in that I’m being blindsided by faith I didn’t ask for

But

It’s beautiful.  I had tears in my eyes the last five minutes of the match, it was so beautiful; of COURSE it had to be Tana.  It has to be Okada, but it had to be Tana.  I’m laughing because he actually said, that Tana woke him up…and you could SEE it happening, I was messaging that exact phrase at Shinsuke before I understood what Kazu was saying, ‘woke him up,’ because they did it so well and the visual made it so obvious, that Tana snapped him out of whatever weird phase he’s been in.  Tana had to light the flame so Okada could carry the torch.

I actually shouted NO at the cheap sit-down rollup, because it couldn’t be that. I was going ‘If he has to lose he has to lose, but not with the fucking Money Clip, at least??’

Every beat they wanted outta me I gave them before I realized I was being played like a fiddle lol, the groundwork was so beautiful.  The crowd wanted Tana.  You could tell cos they weren’t 3 beat clapping when Kazu was in peril, only Tana.  They wanted Tana cos they’d given up on Okada.  And then it changed as he changed, they remembered when he did.

I don’t want to believe that he’s actually going to fix this mess, I want to stay parked at bitterly cynical at the betrayal of the past two years…but…

[moon--toon]

Half Moon

Summary: Growing up like you did was hard. You were constantly hiding and always lying just so you wouldn't wind up on the wrong end of a mob. Despite the hate you would undoubtedly receive from the world, you couldn't bring yourself to hate the world. You wanted justice and equality, and so you sought the knowledge and power to bring true peace.

Perhaps it was an unattainable dream. At least, you thought it was for the longest time, until you found a mysterious mirror hidden in Katolis Castle...

Word Count: 1,601

Warnings: None

Pairings: Aaravos/Reader

[AO3 Link] [Chapter One]

Prologue

Heavy footsteps trampled through freshly-fallen snow as the sun slowly set below the horizon. A lone woman ran hastily to her friend’s cottage, located outside the village in a more remote area at the base of a tall mountain. The moment she reached the doorstep of the cottage, she decided against knocking, and slammed the door open in her frantic state.

Her friend was seated at the dinner table with her husband – an elf, disguised as a human through magical means.

“Tana? What’s going on?” She asked, setting down her fork and standing from her seat. Her husband stood as well, knowing from Tana’s disheveled form that something was most definitely amiss.

“They know – I don’t know how they found out, but the village…” Tana gasped, struggling for words as she tried to explain. “They know about him! They know he’s an elf, they’re on their way to come kill you as we speak!”

Eyes widening, the couple looked at each other in panic as they processed the danger they were now in. The wife glanced down the hall for a brief second before looking back at her dear friend.

“If that’s true, then you need to leave.” She said, “If they find out you helped us, you’ll be killed along with us.”

“But… will you be okay?” Tana choked out, eyes watering as the husband ducked down the hallway and into another room.

“We’re prepared for this, you may not see us again, but we’ll make it out.” Stepping toward her dear friend, she placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “Thank you, Tana.”

Wrapping her arms around her, Tana bade her friend farewell and good wishes, before running back out the door and into the dim twilight. Shouting could be heard in the distance, most likely from the village folk who’ve assembled a mob.

The husband ducked back out of the room he had retreated into, carrying a small child wrapped in blankets.  He no longer wore his human illusion, allowing all to see his purple skin and long horns. The moonstone ring he previously wore to sustain the illusion hung on a silver chain as he gently placed it around his child’s neck.

The noise from the mob grew closer, and the light from their torches grew brighter. The wife removed her own silver ring, and placed it on the chain with her beloved’s on their child. The child, still sound asleep, stirred slightly as a new weight was put upon their chest.

She then pulled a short sword and a steel shield off its place above the fireplace, prepared to fight those who threatened the lives of her family.

“Get out through the back. The moon is full, so you’ll have a better chance of escaping them than I do.” She said, placing a gentle kiss on his cheek. “Keep our child safe. I’ll do what I can to buy you some time.”

He wanted to object, but he could hear the mob grow closer, and as he looked down at their child, he knew that there was no time. If he stayed, then all three of them would die. But if he fled, then at least he could save the small life that they both made together.

Ducking out through the back door, he held their child close to him as he ran. The moon wasn’t fully up yet – and as such, the mob was able to catch a glimpse of him before the light of the moon shined upon him, and allowed him to seemingly disappear.

As he ran, he could hear a select few humans give chase into the snowy woods he ran through. Arrows whizzed past him, dangerously close to hitting him.

“Aim for the footsteps!” He heard them yell.

He cursed under his breath as the freshly fallen snow gave his position away, and let out a strangled yell as one arrowhead pierced his calf.

Even so, he forced himself to keep running. Tears blurred his vision, but he refused to allow these humans to take the tiny life he held in his arms.

As he pressed on, running farther up the chilly mountain slope, he felt another arrow strike into his shoulder. He stumbled at the pain, nearly crippling over when yet another struck his lower back.

He wanted to stop. He wanted to collapse into the cold white snow, and bring the pain to an end. He knew that by now, his wife would no longer be breathing. But, as much as he wished to join her, he couldn’t allow himself to be selfish right now. This journey up the mountain wasn’t just about him.

So he continued on, slower now as the stabbing pain of the arrows refused to let him move any faster. Much to his luck, however, he could no longer hear the humans who had been chasing him before. It seemed that they had finally realised where he had been running to, and refused to pursue him up the Cursed Caldera.

Panting heavily, in the bright light of the full moon, he limped up the long, steep slope, praying that he’d find his salvation before he succumbed to death. Fortunately for him, he was able to easily ignore the frightening monsters and terrors that dwelled on the mountain, knowing full well what the really were. Illusions could never truly harm anyone, no matter how frightening or real they seemed.

The tiny child in his arms wriggled slightly, cooing in their sleep. It was miraculous that they hadn’t woken up during the chase, but he was thankful that they didn’t have to bear witness to such violence at such a young age.

After what must have been hours of excruciating climbing, his legs finally failed him, and buckled under his and his child’s weight. He could go on no longer, it seemed. He was hoping that he would have made it to the mountain peak – to see the Moon Nexus just one last time…

Just then, before he could allow his eyes to close for the last time, a bright shining light appeared from the clouds above, and a shadowy figure appeared before him upon a giant bird. Looking up at the figure, he smiled as they dismounted, relieved that his child would have a chance to survive and live on.

“Lujanne…?” He rasped out, shivering in the cold wind and relinquishing his transparency.

The woman in question knelt down, the light from behind fading and allowing him to see her properly. She stared down at him in shock and horror, eyes looking over the arrows embedded in his back before landing on the bundle in his arms.

“Please…” He struggled, holding his child out for her to see. “Please, help them...”

Slowly taking in the scene before her, she nodded solemnly and carefully took the small child from him. Looking own at their peaceful, sleeping face, she sighed softly before turning her attention to the dying elf before her.

“I’ll do what I can…” She said, speaking softly.

The child shifted slightly in her grip, causing the blanket to fall back and reveal the small set of horns growing upon their head. Furrowing her brows, she moved the blanket back over their head to keep them warm.

“Thank you…”

Blinking at his words, Lujanne looked back down, only to find him slouched forward, and no longer breathing. Tightening her grip on the child she was given, she stood up and beckoned for her avian steed to come closer. The large moon phoenix let out a quiet coo as it approached, lowering its head as Lujanne placed the child on its back.

Once she was sure that the child was safe upon the phoenix’s feathery back, she then turned to the deceased moonshadow elf, removing the arrows protruding from his body before lying him back down in the snow. Her phoenix watched her as she placed blue and purple moon lilies around his body, whispering a prayer for his safe passage to the afterlife, and praising him for the strength he exhibited for his child.

Clouds began to block out the light of the moon, and soft snowflakes then started to fall as she continued to surround him with delicate flowers. The gentle white snow clung to the fragile coloured petals of the flowers, and scattered gracefully over his body.

Finally, Lujanne stood up and stepped back to the phoenix’s side, muttering soft words as a gust of wind blew by. Petals from the flowers scattered into the air, and the elf’s body began to disappear into sparkling dust – swept away into the sky and dancing with the gentle petals and snowflakes.

Soon, there was no trace of him left besides the indent in the snowy ground where he had lied. She remained there for a moment longer, staring up at the cloudy sky above.

Taking a deep breath, she then turned and mounted her moon phoenix, keeping the child secure as they took off for the peak of the mountain. As she flew, she looked down at the small child, gently bushing her fingers over their cheek.

She couldn’t help but feel bad for the child. Not only did they lose their parents to the injustice of humans, but… Growing up as a half-elf, half-human would in no way be easy for them. They would face discrimination on both sides of the border, simply because of what they were born as. An illusion could only do so much to help them fit in…

She hoped she could provide this child with the bright future they deserved.  

[buttdawg]

G1 Final

Just gonna put this behind a cut

Pretty sure SANADA’s got this one.   I just think this is his time.   Something about his post-main-event-victory thing where he has the crowd hold up their phones while they turn the house lights down, we need more of that.  

Here’s my argument against Ibushi.    He keeps talking about becoming God, which sounds a lot more like a heel promo than anyone seems to want to admit.   Ibushi is just a handsomer 2004 JBL.  

Also, this is the same guy who won the G1 last year, then brazenly asked to challenge for the Intercontinental title right after his World title shot.    That always seemed like a shitty thing to do, and then they gave it to him, set up that whole Double-Gold Dash, and he lost both of his matches.

For my money, Kota’s whole arc for this year has been about his team with Hiroshi Tanahashi.    People keep talking about Golden Ace like it’s about Tanahashi passing the torch or coming to terms with his decline, but to me, it’s really about both men learning some humility.    Their tag team worked because they were putting their egos aside for it, but at some point Kota started acting like he was slumming it in the tag division and taking pity on Tanahashi.    And yeah, it’s probably up to Ibushi to be the anchor of the team, but that doesn’t mean he can do the whole thing on his own.   

This “become God” business is dumb in the context of Golden Ace, because God doesn’t need a tag partner, but Kota Ibushi does.   He’s said that he wants to team with Tanahashi in the future.    He needs Tana, but he hasn’t figured that out yet.   I think a loss to SANADA might help him understand. 

Mostly, I just went into this G1 hoping that nobody from Golden Ace or Dangerous Tekkers would win, because their tag team feud is what’s important, and a singles tournament does nothing to move that story forward.  I keep hearing that Ibushi will probably face Tanahashi at WrestleKingdom, but screw that noise.    What would that match settle?    Right now, Tanahashi wants to prove his worth to Ibushi as a tag partner, so it only makes sense for them to win as a team.  

We already got that story moving with their singles matches in the tournament.    Ibushi beat Taichi, and Tana beat Zack Sabre, so now Golden Ace is firmly back in contention for the IWGP tag titles.    No more “can Tanahashi do this?” talk.   He beat ZSJ clean in the middle of the ring, by himself, and Ibushi destroyed Taichi.  They’re ready for a tag title shot, but they can’t get one if Ibushi is busy defending a briefcase and preparing for a singles match in January.  

Maybe I’m underestimating the importance of Ibushi as a singles star, but what I want is for NJPW to actually run with a tag division angle.    Keep Golden Ace strong, have them face Dangerous Tekkers in November, and whichever team doesn’t have the belts should dominate World Tag League to set up another DT/GA match at WrestleKingdom.    Let SANADA be in the main event, and build up a huge tag title match to make the show even bigger. 

Anyway, more importantly, I just want SANADA to have his moment in the sun.   He’s a radical dude, and he’s out there doing things instead of talking about them like Ibushi always seems to do.     

One might point out that Ibushi is the underdog because he fucked up his legs in that Taichi match, to which I respond: Do you actually think Kota Ibushi is going to sell any of that on Sunday?    He’ll act like his legs hurt for like a minute, and then he’ll magically get up like it doesn’t matter at all.    Repeat until the match ends.    The real underdog story is SANADA fighting an uphill battle to overcome Ibushi’s endless bullshit.

[dailydoseofcolor]

I love the Hall of Forms mode, I truly do. I think I actually strategize more in this mode than in others, mostly because winning is so match-up dependent. But I swear that they’re making it harder to get movement skills for these goddamned armor units.

I pulled Flier Guidance and Fruit of Ioun for S!Tana, and that’s helped some, but not pulling Armor March or Armored Stride just hurts. And it’s really relegated W!Eirika to bait status. Because sometimes these units still DON’T MOVE if you aren’t in their attack range, I hate that mechanic.

I also think it’s ridiculous that you can’t earn Torches from any quests outside completing floors. The only thing you’d be truly doing is allowing people a couple of extra tries to clear the highest levels. Only some people even buy Forma souls, so it’s not like you’d really be giving them too many extra pulls for good fodder. It remains stingy and strange. This is all to say that somehow S!Tana carries this team with S!Innes laying Firesweep Axe smackdowns. W!Ephraim notches a kill from time to time and W!Eirika is pretty much dead weight.

[tanalogyosc]

CURRENT Tana 1 Teams

Currently idk if should make a 5 teams of 7 or 4 teams of 7

5t7 would require me making 10 more characters while 4t7 would require me removing a team and distributing the members while only making 3 more characters

[path-through-languages]

ITALIAN: Reading Practice Vocab List #18

1.abbozzare to sketch/to give a hint of

2.attinenza (f) connection

3.avvampare to flare up

4.bianco come un cencio white as a sheet

5.conto alla rovescia (m) countdown

6.diffidare to warn/ to distrust

7.disagio (m) discomfort

8.esaurire to sell off

9.esaurirsi to be used up

10.fiaccola (f) torch

11.groviglio (m) tangle

12.inerte lifeless/motionless

13.inquinamento (m) pollution

14.razzo (m) rocket

15.sabbia (f) sand

16.scuotere to shake

17.sentirsi a disagio to feel awkward

18.siluro (m) torpedo

19.sviluppare to develop

20.tana (f) den/hideout

21.urto (m) collision

22.zittirsi to fall silent

[thepokedexisgay]

A long list of Pokemon-themed pronoun sets

Tried to make sure they weren’t already over on pronoun-provider’s list

cle/clef/clefs/clefs/clefself (Cleffa/Clefairy/Clefable)

ge/gen/gens/gens/genself (Gengar)

mag/magne/magnes/magnes/magneself (Magnemite/Magneton/Magnezone)

cha/chan/chans/chans/chanself (Chansey)

tre/tres/tres/tres/treself (Moltres) (to match the Articuno and Zapdos sets)

dra/drati/dratis/dratin/dratinself (Dratini)

chi/chik/chiks/chikor/chikorself (Chikorita)

cyn/cynd/cynds/cynds/cyndself (Cyndaquil)

tot/toto/totos/totos/totoself (Totodile)

ty/tyr/tyrs/tyran/tyrans (Tyranitar)

tre/treec/treecs/treecs/treecself (Treecko)

tor/torch/torchs/torchs/torchself (Torchic)

mu/kip/kips/muds/mudself or kipself (Mudkip)

ra/ral/rals/ralts/raltself (Ralts)

kir/kirli/kirlis/kirlis/kirliself (Kirlia)

gar/garde/gardes/gardes/gardeself (Gardevoir)

ab/sol/sols/abs/abself or solself (Absol)

sal/sala/salas/salas/salaself (Salamence)

met/meta/metas/metas/metaself (Metagross)

tur/twig/twigs/turs/turself or twigself (Turtwig)

chim/char/chars/chims/chimself or charself (Chimchar)

pip/piplu/piplus/piplus/pipluself (Piplup)

lop/lopu/lopus/lopun/lopunself (Lopunny)

lea/leafe/leafes/leafes/leafeself (Leafeon)

gal/galla/gallas/gallas/gallaself (Gallade)

gar/chom/choms/gars/garself or chomself (Garchomp)

sni/sniv/snivs/snivs/snivself (Snivy)

te/tep/teps/teps/tepself (Tepig)

osha/wott/wotts/oshas/oshaself or wottself (Oshawott)

au/audi/audis/audins/audinself (Audino)

zo/zor/zors/zors/zorself (Zorua/Zoroark)

dei/dein/deins/deino/deinoself (Deino)

zwei/zweil/zweils/zweils/zweilself (Zweilous)

hyd/drei/dreis/hyds/hydself or dreiself (Hydreigon)

vol/volca/volcas/volcar/volcarself (Volcarona)

ter/terr/terrs/terrs/terrself (Terrakion)

dor/doru/dorus/dorus/doruself (Landorus) (to match the Tornadus and Thundurus sets... sort of)

che/pin/pins/ches/cheself or pinself (Chespin)

froa/froak/froaks/froaks/froakself (Froakie)

hoo/hoop/hoops/hoopa/hoopaself (Hoopa)

valcan/volcani/volcanis/volcanis/volcaniself (Volcanion)

ro/rowl/rowls/rowls/rowlself (Rowlet)

li/litt/litts/litts/littself (Litten)

po/pop/pops/poppli/poppliself (Popplio)

mi/mimi/mimis/mimik/mimikself (Mimikyu)

ko/kom/koms/komms/kommself (Kommo-o)

ko/koko/kokos/kokos/kokoself (Tapu Koko)

le/lele/leles/leles/leleself (Tapu Lele)

bu/bulu/bulus/bulus/buluself (Tapu Bulu)

fi/fini/finis/finis/finiself (Tapu Fini)

cos/cosm/cosms/cosms/cosmself (Cosmog/Cosmoem)

sol/solga/solgas/solgas/solgaself (Solgaleo)

lun/lunal/lunals/lunals/lunalself (Lunala)

ni/nihi/nihis/nihile/nihileself (Nihilego)

buz/buzzwo/buzzwos/buzzwos/buzzwoself (Buzzwole)

phe/phero/pheros/pherom/pheromself (Pheromosa)

xur/kit/kits/xurs/xurself or kitself (Xurkitree)

kar/tana/tanas/kars/karself or tanaself (Kartana)

cel/leste/lestes/cels/celself or lesteself (Celesteela)

gu/guzzlo/guzzlos/guzzlos/guzzloself (Guzzlord)

ne/necro/necros/necros/necroself (Necrozma)

po/poi/pois/pois/poiself (Poipole)

naga/nagana/naganas/naganas/naganaself (Naganadel)

ceph/cepha/cephas/cephas/cephaself (Blacephalon)

sta/staka/stakas/stakat/stakatself (Stakataka)

zer/zera/zeras/zeras/zeraself (Zeraora)

mel/mel/mels/mels/melself (Meltan/Melmetal)

groo/grook/grooks/grooks/grookself (Grookey)

sco/scor/scors/scors/scorself (Scorbunny)

so/sob/sobs/sobs/sobself (Sobble)

woo/wool/wools/wools/woolself (Wooloo)

za/zaci/zacis/zacis/zaciself (Zacian)

zama/zamaze/zamazes/zamazen/zamazenself (Zamazenta)

[necoconeko]

Okay

I feel like Ibushi winning the G1 was wrong timing

Cause let's think about it. Ibushi should have won last year. Just cause 1.) The golden lovers reunited 2.) Having a fight between ibushi and Kenny at wrestle kingdom would have been so fucking impactful. But the only reason ibushi didnt win was because he was still a free agent at the time which, yeah I get but goddamn having tana win the g1 than beat kenny ONLY to lose it instantly to Jay white like...... also to me idk I feel like ibushi was very quietly part of the G1 the only real moment I felt like I "saw" ibushi was when he had the match with Tanahashi. Like the fact that Tanahashi ( I guess) "fall from grace" didnt happen sooner is what bothers me. Yes we all love Tanahashi but come on let's have a break from him for a while please.....I dont hate Tana but oof. Last year's G1 should have been ibushi and if he had gone to wrestle kingdom and potential beat kenny for the belt it would have been a passing of the torch type thing and a good send off for kenny.

This year Jay white should have won. I say this because jay white was champion for like 10 seconds before he lost it to okada at the MSG show and the reason jay lost was because having a babyface like okada win would make the crowd happy and they needed the fans to be happy for that show cause it was such an important show for njpw. And towards the end of the G1 jay having won 6(!!!!!) Matches in a row and win the block like they were really setting up for jay to have a shot again at the belt! ( ALSO kenta joining Bullet club that night could have easily been a win for bullet club ) like Jay is overwhelmingly an underrated wrestler like hes a great heel!! If you hate him so much it means hes doing a great job as a heel!!!!!! AND he can wrestle!!! Hes not a heel that's all talk and no show, he can put on main event matches!! Like think of the story that could have happened here: when he joined CHAOS he looked at okada and went : " lol im.gonna take your belt one day" he could've been able to take the belt at wrestle kingdom!!!!!!!!! Ahhhh!!!!!!!!!!! It could've been all full circle!!!!!

Bottom line: Ibushi's G1 win this year while it's good and yes hes FINALLY being given the recognition he deserves his win feels kinda empty? Jay white should've won the G1 for a better story and for him to also get the recognition he deserves. Ibushi JUST signed and hes already getting a shot at wrestle kingdom while jay white has been signed for how long??

Regardless me being upset about this means this is good wrestling!!! That's actually really exciting!!!!!

[puroresu-musings]

NJPW G1 CLIMAX 29 Day 13 & Day 14 Review (Aug 3rd and 4th 2019, Osaka, EDION Arena)

Day 13 (A Block)

KENTA vs. Bad Luck Fale  **

Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Lance Archer  ***1/4

Will Ospreay vs. EVIL  ****1/2

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kota Ibushi  ****3/4

Kazuchika Okada vs. SANADA  *****

Day 14 (B Block)

Tomohiro Ishii vs. Toru Yano  ***3/4

Juice Robinson vs. Taichi  *3/4

Hirooki Goto vs. Jeff Cobb  ***1/4

Jon Moxley vs. Jay White  ***1/2

Tetsuya Naito vs. Shingo Takagi  ****3/4

Photos.

The G1 rolled into Osaka for the annual, and prerequisite, classic matches in the tournament. The A Block night on the 3rd was the stronger of the two, and very probably the best night of Block action so far this year, with three fantastic matches back to back. To kick things off, Bad Luck Fale defeated KENTA after a lot of Bullet Club shenanigans. KENTA worked hard here, laying into the big man with some stiff kicks, then turned a Grenade into Game Over in the middle of the ring. This caused Chase Owens to distract the referee as Jado came in with the kendo stick. The old timer misses with the cane and KENTA sends him packing, however the distraction allowed Fale to sneak up from behind and score the win with a school boy at 7:20 of a very frustrating bout. This was nonsense and the loss essentially eliminates KENTA from this years tournament. Oh well. Speaking of which, the next contest was between two guys who are also mathematically eliminated and members of Suzuki-gun, as ZSJ got the sneaky win over the considerably larger Lance Archer. This was really good, with Zack playing the annoying ant to Archer’s giant. After Zack would keep countering Lance’s power moves into submissions, the American Psycho finally hit a big chokeslam, which appeared to win the match for him, but he inexplicably lifted Sabre at 2. Archer then tried Blackout, but Zack rolled through into a cradle to win at the 10:43 mark.

The next three bouts were all tremendous in their own very different ways. Ospreay vs. EVIL was an excellent battle indeed, and featured a white hot crowd. These guys worked incredibly well together, with their different styles meshing seamlessly and producing one of the hottest closing stretches of the tournament. After Ospreay scored a near fall with the corner to corner dropkick, and EVIL rebounded with a huge Lariat, they went into a crazy strike exchange and counter sequence, before EVIL scores a near fall with Darkness Falls. The King Of Darkness tries Everything is Evil, but Will flips out and hits a massive Liger Bomb for a near fall of his own. EVIL ducks Hidden Blade and charges for another Lariat, but runs straight into the Spanish Fly and hits Oscutter for a super believable near fall. He tries the Super Oscutter, but EVIL catches him in a big half and half German, another big Lariat, and scores the win at 17:08 with the STO. Following that were Tanahashi and Ibushi in a rematch of last years final, one of the greatest finals in the history of the G1. This wasn’t as good as that all time classic, but it was a different match really. This was worked at a breakneck pace (it surprisingly only went 15:53), and featured some absolutely fantastic exchanges. After Tanahashi worked over Ibushi’s ankle, and Ibushi worked on Tanahashi’s knee, Tana attempted an HFF to the floor, but Ibushi countered into a springboard top rope Frankensteiner, and from here the match never stopped. Tana escaped that terrifying Lawn Dart into the turnbuckle spot, then tried Sling Blade, but ate a perfectly timed double stomp, and took the Lawn Dart anyway, which never looks fun. Whilst Tana rolled onto the apron, Ibushi hit his other terrifying move; the Deadlift German off the ropes into the ring for a near fall. After Tana escapes a Last Ride attempt, the two engage in an unbelievable strike exchange, which resulted in Kota getting a bloody mouth, and a Tanahashi hand print across the right side of his face, as the crowd goes crazy. Ibushi sold like he was KO’d, but spins round into his massive Lariat for the double down. Ibushi hits the high kick, but Tana counters Kamigoye into three Twist and Shout’s, hits a perfect Sling Blade, but misses the High Fly Flow. Kota battles back with the Boma Ye for a near fall, then Tanahashi counters another Kamigoye attempt into a small package for a believable near fall. Ibushi is up and hits the Ace with a big high kick, but Tana shakes it off and screams, only to eat another, then the match-ending Kamigoye for Ibushi to take the 2 points and eliminate Tanahashi from contention. There was a ‘passing of the torch’ type moment in the post match as the two showed respect for each other, with Ibushi being emotional at finally vanquishing his God (he’s only ever pinned him one other time previous to this, in the 2017 G1) and Tana rolled out of the ring so Ibushi could get his pop.

The main event had a lot to follow, but somehow ended up surpassing them in a highly dramatic match. This was great, and the best match I’ve ever seen these two have together (and probably the best of SANADA’s career). Whereas the previous bouts were super heated sprints, this was a slow burn classic which took its time to weave its tale, and teasing going the distance. Obviously the story here is that SANADA is 6-0 against Okada, having never beaten him once, and Okada is undefeated in this G1 thus far, looking invincible in the process, so SANADA had a hell of an uphill battle. The Osaka faithful were super into this from the outside, and everyone appeared to be behind the underdog SANADA, chanting his name throughout this. In reality, this was every Okada/SANADA match we’ve ever seen, until the closing stretch, which was insanely intense. SANADA tried the springboard dropkick, but Okada catches him in the Air Raid Crash neckbreaker, then tries Rainmaker, but SANADA counters into Skull End, which Okada flips out of after climbing the ropes, and hits a Tombstone. He tries another Rainmaker, but SANADA again blocks it, this time catching him in Keiji Muto’s Dragon Neck Screw off the ropes. They engage in a great forearm and European uppercut exchange, before Okada wipes Cold Skull out with his patented drop kick. Another Rainmaker is turned into Skull End again, but Okada escapes, only for SANADA to hit a Tiger Suplex for a near fall. SANADA lands on his feet after Okada moved from a Moonsault attempt, but manages to lock in Skull End. This time, Okada counters into two Rainmakers, then tries a third, but SANADA hits one of his own which blew the roof off the EDION Arena. After 25 minutes of action, SANADA locks in Skull End once more, this time for a long time, and Okada starts to fade. Red Shoes Unno was fantastic here, selling that Okada might be out and the he was going to stop it, but Okada begins fighting back as the final two minutes are called. SANADA releases Skull End, then tries the Moonsault, but the IWGP Champion gets the knees up. At this point you got the feeling like this was definitely ending in a time limit draw. Final minute, and Okada hits another dropkick, then tries another Rainmaker, but SANADA counters into a pop-up Ace Crusher. With 30 seconds left SANADA hits a Moonsault to the back, and another to the front to score his first win ever over Okada at the 29:47 mark. This was superb stuff with off the charts tension and drama. SANADA cut a promo in the post match saying he loved Osaka to send everyone home happy.

The B Block show on the 14th couldn’t possibly hope to follow that show, but it was still a really good night of G1 action. Firstly, Block action began with Tomohiro Ishii pinning fellow CHAOS stablemate Toru Yano with the Brainbuster in a great 9:36 match-up. This was Yano’s best match of the tournament, even if it probably was Ishii’s weakest, and was just super entertaining throughout. Yano kept trying to steal wins with cradles and roll-up’s and Ishii would constantly prevent Yano from hitting his low blows and shenanigans, destroying him with chops and forearms in the process. The Stone Pitbull finally hit the Sliding Lariat and the Vertical Drop for the win and the 2 points, meaning he’s ver much still alive in this thing. Taichi defeated Juice in a deathly boring 12 minute outing next. I didn’t like this at all, and reached a crescendo of ref bumps and interference, before spat whiskey in Juice’s eyes and scored the pin with Black Mephisto. Whatever. 

Hirooki Goto and Jeff Cobb clashed next. This match too was just there, much like their uber disappointing NEVER Title match at the Cow Palace last year. On paper, these guys should have great matches togerther, however, they never click at all. The work was ultimately good, but it was just missing something, I feel. Goto scored the win at the 11:20 mark after hitting the Ushigoroshi into the Final Cut, then the GTR to get the 2 points. The Jay White/Jon Moxley match that followed, whilst very good, was another disappointment. Once again, there was just too much bullshit and shenanigans for my liking. There was a lot of stalling, a lot of interference, and the token ref bumps, all of which helped to dilute what should have been a very heated match, even if the closing stretch did save it somewhat. Moxley worked over Jay’s knee, locking on the Cloverleaf and an STF, before Jay came back with the suplex into the corner, a Saito suplex and the Deadlift German (which Moxley barely got over on), for a near fall. The Urinage gets a near fall for White, before Mox fires back with his release vertical suplex, which looked great. He then hit the Regal Knee Trembler, and a double arm DDT for a near fall, before White bumped the ref (yawn), and Gedo ran in and nailed Moxley with the brass knuckles. White then hit two sleeper suplexes, a cross arm Bloody Sunday, and the match-winning Blade Runner to end this at the 15:15 mark. I’m a big Jay White fan, I think he’s great and has a superstar aura, and I know they’re protected Moxley something fierce, but really, this sort of stuff does nobody any favours.

Thank God then for the main event, which was tremendous. L.I.J. exploded as Tetsuya Naito took on Shingo Takagi in a fantastic battle. Naito took an incredible beating here, and even though he won, he put Shingo over huge. This couldn’t really have gone any better, and came across like a classic G1 outing. They started with a nice chain wresting and feeling out process, but then Naito spat in Takagi’s face, which lit a fire under the Dragon. Shingo proceeded to destroy his stablemate with some of the hardest Lariats you’ll ever see. He countered a Tornado DDT into a Death Valley Bomb, then tried to cave in Naito’s chest with the Tenryu elbow off the top. Naito escaped a sliding lariat attempt, and hits an enzugiri. He tries the second rope reverse rana, but Shingo escapes and hits Noshigami. Naito counters a Pumping Bomber with a Koppo Kick, then hits Gloria for a near fall. Shingo hits a nasty looking Wheelbarrow German into the corner, then tries the super Death Valley Bomb off the second, which Naito turns into a Frankensteiner. Naito hits the reverse rana, but in trying a Destino, he runs straight into an ungodly Lariat, which looked like it killed him. A Made In Japan attempt is turned into a Dragon Suplex by Naito, but Shingo finally hits M.I.J. for a great near fall, followed by a Pumping Bomber, which decimates Naito, for another near fall. Last Of The Dragon is turned into Destino. They have a strike exchange, which Takagi obviously wins, crumpling Naito with a headbutt, but Naito hits a brainbuster out of nowhere for the double down. Naito hits a Canadian Destroyer, then Destino, but Shingo kicks out at 2.9! Another Destino follows, and Naito finally puts Shingo away at the 27:15 mark. This was fanatastic, and had a great backstory with both guys training at Animal Hamaguchi’s gym as teenagers, and being rivals. The ending was never really in any doubt, and even though I’d have preferred Shingo to have won this, he lost nothing in defeat, in fact he gained everything in that it was very similar to the Nakamura vs. Ibushi G1 23 match at this very building, which was a star making turn for Ibushi.

After this, the standings are that only Okada, Ibushi and EVIL are alive in the A Block (though KENTA holds a tie breaker over Ibushi and EVIL), so only one of those could realistically win, whereas the B BLock has Moxley in the lead, and a whole log jam of guys tied at 8 points. Those being Naito, Jay White, Ishii and Goto.

NDT

[sacred-stanning]

Chapter 13 Part 7: Wandering around and being inefficient

I left Seth here, but only realized afterwards that he would be in range of the pirate, which means he'll kill the pirate. Seth, I was saving that for Marisa!

Ephraim moves forward and takes out the armor knight. The Great Knight with the hammer is standing there because he also has a hand axe, so he ran to the right and attacked Ephraim from across the river during enemy phase.

Unfortunately for him, that puts him in range of Lute. She uses Elfire for the first time. It does slow her down enough that she can't double, but it also has enough might that she just one-shots the guy!

After last turn, when Selena targeted L'Arachel, I remembered to actually looks at Tethys's stats, and I realized that she could be one-shot by thunderstorm. It only has one use left, so I have her wait over here for this turn.

L'Arachel heals for a level up. She actually has pretty good growths. It's just too bad she joins so late and is stuck only using staves at first. As you can see, she's still only at level 5, and she's been acting almost every turn since she joined.

The shamans around Selena don't seem to move, and also have Luna tomes., so their accuracy is horrible.

Cormag moves in to remove the annoyance. As is usual, the troubadour is pretty dodgy.

But the gamble pays off, and we no longer need to deal with sleep, and we get an energy ring, which raises either strength or magic by 2!

Wait, I mean, it raises strength or magic by 2 and I am excited about that, not that it raises them by 2 factorial, though I guess 2 and 2! are the same thing...

I leave Franz here for some reason...

???

Franz gets attacked and gets his sword rank up to C. Tana also gets attacked and goes up another level. And it looks like Selena targeted L'Arachel again with her last thunderstorm.

Seth finally has a free moment to visit the village, and we get a magic shield staff. Kind of like the restore that we found in a chest at the end of the map where we rescued Tana, this would have been nice to have at the beginning of this map. Selena is all out of thunderstorm now!

But I'll give this to L'Arachel so that she has a staff to spam every single turn even if there is no one to heal. I wanted to do that with the torch staff on this map, but I discovered that you can't use a torch staff if there's no fog/darkness.

I consider having Cormag attack this shaman, but then I have him get the cavalier instead.

Cormag and Tana have supports, so I am able to leave Tana next to Cormag, she can attack the shaman, and she'll be able to counter Selena on enemy phase! Selena does decent damage to Tana, but can't kill her.

Also, I finally have Moulder attack for once just because why not?

Lute also builds her staff rank a bit.

And then I have Vanessa beat up on a dead tree so that Seth can pick up Marisa, and then Franz can take and drop her.

It's that time! It's bully the boss time!

Also Tana takes out this last loser

Next time: Why do I boss-grind when I'm playing this game that allows actual grinding???