#Zale ( interests )

[milkpumpkin96]

So, my dad helped kickstart Sea of Stars—I miraculously (without the code) found the monument dedicated to him, my siblings, and I! It’s a BIG one!!!

[anakinh]

finished sea of stars. spoilers ahead.

overall i really liked it! but honestly? thought it was kinda mid until the clockwork castle. It got really good when you entered the sea of stars, but I've always loved sci-fi more than fantasy (and sci-fi fantasy mixes more than either of the two), so that's not surprising. didn't much care for the golden ending either. I think it's because i didn't love garl? which is surprising, usually I like good good boys.

tbh i think that's because they really mythologized garl. like, he's a 100% great dude, would love to be friends with him in real life, sounds like a wonderful guy. but as a character? he has some trauma but he's well adjusted? he's not snarky or bitchy? he's not even dumb?? but all my favourite good good boys fall under at least one of those categories!

anyway i loved resh'an, serai, and erlina. not surprising. especially resh'an's immortal all-powerful being love affair with a dude destroying entire worlds. i was a doctor who fan.

edit: one other thing to add. Sea of Stars is gorgeous. it's amazingly beautiful. play it for the art alone. hell, play it for the attention to detail in the art - the way it shifts when you move worlds is so great.

[insert-game]

again thinking about how i wish Sea of Stars was Good. painful

[memoriesofthepark]

Update! A couple of these shelves fell so I got to take a closer look at them!!

At first I suspected they were Hairy Hexagonia 》 Hexagonia hydnoides due to their color and fuzzy upper surface, but I didn't see any examples of that species growing in such robust formations.

I believe they are actually a very old and crusty specimen of Shaggy brackets 》 Inonotus hispidus which according to a couple of sources do turn a dark brown/black color with age, and I can see a bit of that rusty red hue still peeking through. And as a lovely bonus, this darling little zale moth 》 genus Zale was resting amid the shelves.

I was so glad to have the chance to get to know these guys from up close after admiring them from the ground for a while. Fate hath truly smiled upon me. 🧡

Southeast Texas, 19 April 2024

This is your reminder to look up while you're out on a foray!

I tend to keep my nose in the dirt while I'm shrooming, but look what I found on campus! I wasn't able to get a good enough look for an ID, but we have some big beautiful polypore shelves here.

The past week has been very up and down emotionally but I'll focus on the highlights.

I got to drive up to Austin and see Merlin Sheldrake's new documentary Fungi: Web of Life at the Bullock museum!! It was fantastic and the first 3D movie I've seen in maybe a decade. It was very beginner friendly (and too short imo lol, about 45 minutes long) but still wildly interesting! I can't imagine what it must feel like to hold a sample collected by Darwin himself!

After the doc we found a cool vegan food truck in town, and I got to try lions mane for the first time! It was fried and soooooo good. 🤤

The doc seems to be running in a lot of museums nationwide thru August. I highly recommend checking it out if you get the chance!

Southeast Texas, 26 Mar. 2024

[thequickbutt]

Zora children design adopts

these are scrapped designs of my OC Zale. And while I still somewhat like them, I don't think I'll use them anymore, so I thought I might give them up for adoption.

the design on the left is based on a black and red guppy. The design on the right is based on a royal gramma.

I'll take either money (PayPal only) or art of any of my Zelda OCs. So yeah, lmk what (or how much) you wanna offer (if you offer art, I'd like to see some examples of your art uvu)! Don't forget to mention which design you're interested in (can be just one or both). And I'll let you know if I'm interested in your offer! <3

After claiming the designs, you may: - *Slightly* change/ add things to their colors/ markings/ fins (I'd appreciate it if it wasn't too much tho, so they'll still be recognizable TvT) - Change their armor/ jewelry completely (since they're old designs of my OC, they were made to have prince-like accessories, but you're more than welcome to just come up with your own stuff for them to wear!) - Change their personality (they're made to look kinda shy and/or sad here, but you can definitely come up with your own personality for them!) - Change their gender (they're male but you can change their gender however you like!) - Give them adult designs

You may not: - Resell them. (Idk, I'd just like for them to get a nice home instead of being given around from one person to another, if that makes any sense TvT)

(also pls note this is the first time I'm ever offering adopts like this so be patient with me if I should get overwhelmed by stuff sdfgsf)

[thefreelanceangel]

OC Smash Or Pass: Esti Kyton

Quick Facts:

Height: 5' 7"

Age: 28

Gender: Cis Female

Pronouns: She/Her

Sexuality: Kinsey Scale: 2 (Predominantly heterosexual but more than incidentally homosexual) [i.e. bisexual but male-leaning]

Pros:

She's VERY driven for financial success and stability, so she'll work her tail off to ensure that you're comfortable, even if you don't work.

'Devoted' doesn't quite begin to touch just how much of herself she'll pour out for you.

With years of aerial acrobatics as a background and the inherited double-jointed flexibility she has...

She's intellectually curious and willing to learn about basically anything, especially if her partner is interested.

Cons:

Rigidly, strictly monogamous. She tried polyamory and it did... bad things to her mental health. She's just not built for it.

She has a large family. She doesn't want her large family and goes out of her way to avoid them except for duty visits.

Her mother. You'll find out soon enough.

She'd still working past the abusive relationship(s) she's gone through, so she is... extremely emotionally fragile. You'll have to be VERY careful.

Additional Information:

Do you like coffee? Lucky for you, she is devoted to coffee and loves to make it. She's also a professional barista and extremely good at it.

She also has that 'must feed people' quirk that makes a success of so many small restaurants. You WILL be fed. Regularly.

Esti struggles with voicing her own wants and with upholding her own boundaries; she may occasionally blurt something out when the pressure becomes too much and then apologize for it.

She doesn't know how to fight. At all. Combat training never crossed her path and she didn't receive the training that all the other Kyho kits did.

Yes, she's a Kyho. Yes, it's very complicated. No, she doesn't claim the surname anymore. (And she'd be happy to change the name she has now, considering 'Kyton' is a combination of 'Kyho' and 'Bolton,' her ex Zale's surname before he married C'allie & Lulu.)

No seriously, she is not poly. At all. She tried and became a neurotic wreck. She'd have to be your one and only.

Sexually: She's a sub. She's such a sub. Everything she does is aimed at pleasing her partner, even if it means strangling back her own wants. She's slowly learning how to voice her own desires, and when she feels safe doing so... she is voracious.

Romantically: She genuinely and truly believes herself to be unlovable. And so she'll never... truly... quite believe you when you say you love her. She won't tell you as much, but she'll always be waiting for you to leave.

Tagged By: @iron-sparrow (<3!)

Tagging: @luck-and-larceny; @dumb-hat; @mirugaidoesthings; @rylen-ashworth; @archaiclumina; @jigschosai; @gatheredfates; @riftdancing; @chainsofaether

Rules: pretty self explanatory. include physical descriptions or pics, and propaganda. the “other” label can be used for “sexuality misalignment” (ie: oc is femme and you’re gay, vice versa or you aren’t into smashing but a specific thing you wanna do with them like perhaps hug or study them under a microscope idc).

[falling-star-cygnus]

KNEES TO CHEST, KNEES TO CHEST oh- oh, you’re in the fetal position oh you’re crying …oh dear

‼️SPOILERS FOR SEA OF STARS‼️

Y’ALL I WAS SO PREPARED FOR GARL TO BE EVIL AFTER ALL THAT BUILD UP IN THE TUTORIAL FLASHBACK

like- losing his eye to protect Zale? being separated from his two best friends bc they’re Children of the Solstice and special. BEING INTERESTED IN A DANGEROUS PURPOSEFULLY MAGICKED ASLEEP ENTITY??

even Valere’s little “Garl….” MADE ME THINK SOMETHING HAPPENED

BUT NO! HE’S JUST A DUDE THAT LOVES HIS FRIENDS <3

he’s such a mother hen about it too, oml. Garl just wants see the world with his family and keep them well fed and that’s beautiful

if you like pixelated, nostalgic found family adventure games…. COME PLAY SEA OF STARS :D

[dread-pirate-mumbles]

high quality sea of stars shitposting incoming

(mid game spoilers)

just imagining the scene that lead to the acolyte confrontation on glacier peak

One, in bunny slippers and a robe-equivalent of the Acolyte uniform, having prepared breakfast and tea for the Acolytes in the kitchen of clockwork castle, is carefully preparing tiny Dweller of Strifes to put on top of some celebratory cupcakes. He can't wait to surprise his Master with the resurrection of the Dweller of Strife, and hopes The Fleshmancer remembers him.

Two is reading a report at the breakfast table and absentmindedly snacking on bacon, which Four keeps trying to steal but keeps getting thwarted by Two smacking his hand with her rod. She reads aloud interesting details in a sotto voice, to avoid waking Three

Three is physically present at the table but laying face down, either asleep or communing with the wood-- the others aren't sure which

One, upon finishing the little details on the mini Strifes' eyes, looks up at just the right time to see Valere/Zale/etc climbing up the mountain in his back yard, and accidentally drops the piping bag of frosting on the plate of cupcakes, which can only mean one thing-

This is war.

[the-starry-lycan]

HIS MASCARA!! THE LITTLE STARS ALL AROUND HIS FACE!! AHH THAT SMUG LOOK!!!

No wonder they call him "Narcis King". I'll bet that the Evil Zale Shadow Clone probably is quite prideful and vain.. and given that his armor possesses a lionly design to it, I'm really interested as to what we might see in a battle with him!

[violsva]

November Reading

Post delayed by a vacation and then PMS. More thoughts than usual, though.

Recent: Finally finished My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness, but fast enough that things did not really sink in, or not all at once. It was good, interesting cultural differences and similarities, probably won't read the sequels.

Reread Steadfast, by Mercedes Lackey. This is not a good book, people. I knew that when I started it. In terms of pacing and plotting and unnecessary digressions and historical accuracy and giving agency to characters it is very very badly done. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Which is maybe what I need, given how much I get tied into knots about the free fanfic I write for fun needing its theme to be supported by a coherent narrative arc.

I read some of T. Kingfisher's commentary on fairy tales in The Halcyon Fairy Book and most of Lace Making by Eunice Close (published by a tiny Canadian press in 1975, don't go looking for it). I tried to reread The Bacchae for catharsis purposes, but it was a not-great Victorian translation and I didn't get very far. I did find out that Alan Cumming played Dionysus twenty or so years ago and the trailer for that is on Youtube.

Read A Phantom Lover by Vernon Lee, which was good for what it was but I did have to force myself to it. On the drive with @consultingpiskies I finally managed to articulate that I am just not up to unfamiliar fiction right now, and maybe that's okay.

I read all of May Morris: Arts & Crafts Designer at the library, which is the book of an exhibition of her work and was absolutely gorgeous and also gave me feelings about her relationship with her father, so that was great. And on the theme of the English Arts and Crafts movement, English Embroidered Bookbindings by Cyril Davenport, which might have been improved with more practical knowledge of embroidery but was generally good.

Also read Meet Me on the Other Side by @sparklepocalypse, RWRB 1890s cowboy AU. I could be nitpicky about a couple historical attitudes but basically this is just a really good romance novel and I liked it.

Current: Rereading Swordheart by @tkingfisher, and I really want to know more about the Temple of the White Rat's embroiderer(s). Like, maybe Zale does their own embroidery, but in that case I would have expected them to take a project along for the wagon ride. For a while I was carrying this around with me everywhere, but now that I am getting to the climax things are going more slowly.

Just gave 3/5 of my library books back unstarted due to the fiction realization above. I have two digital craft books to flip through, and also some from the Antique Pattern Library, and Chats on Old Lace and Needlework by Mrs. Lowes. Look, basically what I want to do right now is get overwhelmingly caught up in craft projects and never talk to anyone ever again. I won't, because there is Christmas shopping to do and people I am trying to make friends with and so forth, but that's probably where my head's going to be all month.

Various RWRB fanfics going on still. Oh, and there's been more Madame C—. Thank god for Madame C—.

Future: I still have The Dire Days of Willowweep Manor by Shaenon K. Garrity and Christopher Baldwin out from the library, which really does seem fun but I don't know if I have the brain for it. I would also like to get through more of my AO3 Marked for Later list before Yuletide adds a bunch to it, but, well. (I didn't sign up for Yuletide this year, not because I didn't think I could manage it but because I suspected I would hate the process, and that was a good decision.)

If all else fails I will relisten to the Roaring Twenties Magic audiobooks while sewing.

[bogkeep]

scattered thoughts on the saint of steel series + swordheart by t. kingfisher just so they're not sprinkled throughout the tags of other posts

- i love zale so much. reading swordheart was worth it for more zale (and also for bishop beartongue. i love her so much also. the entire order of the white rat is So Good)

- all of these books have the same romance arc structure. i think it's like, a good structure, but it gets so samey when you read it five times in a row. especially when they're all deeply allosexual and very founded in Instant Mutual Attraction. i don't think that's a bad thing in and of itself, i can enjoy a story where the characters are just really super horny for one another, ESPECIALLY when the characters are between ages 35-40 and not skinny hollywood models, but i feel like there HAS to be more than one way of writing that. i can at least appreciate that paladin book #4 had a slight spin on the dynamic. (paladin book #3 had a m/m romance and still followed the exact same pattern as the previous ones hahahhaa)

- i think paladin book #2 reads as the weakest one in the series, because book #1 is like hohoho this is so fun and enjoyable!! and then #2 is like, oho, new characters? wait is this just doing the same thing as the previous book. like, the story plot is completely different, but the Romance Arc is beat for beat the same, except in this case the paladin character seems to have NO reason to NOT get together with the love interest other than uhh. self-inflicted paladinly suffering? the paladins aren't even celibate!! all the other paladins so far have Understandable Personal Issues but this guy has some kind of unexplained hangup. this book also felt the least edited bc there were several phrases that repeated multiple times and ALSO...... the love interest lady was tall and muscular, but all the awooga'ing was focused on the more conventional areas, which felt like a truly missed opportunity. i still enjoyed this book!!! but Comparatively.

- all the story plots were really engaging though!!!!! paladin book #1 really had hooked from the get go, and book #4 had me excitedly waiting for a chekhov's gun to go off the entire time, and when it finally did it was so much more interesting than i anticipated hohohoho

- the worldbuilding is so good,, the setting feels real and lived in, very classic feeling fantasy without being derivative or cliché. there's some creatures and concepts that are delightfully creative or straight up eerie. i want to learn more about gnole culture and pronouns please

- i love how kingfisher writes paladins. she really Gets It. the paladin pie chart consists entirely of Guilt and Nobility. i also love that there's different paladin orders that have different Vibes like. the dreaming god needs only the prettiest, sluttiest of himbos to slay demons. it's so fun and i love that for them

- you can also tell that kingfisher has like. respect for people. when i read the stupid robot book, the feeling i kept getting from it was that humans are just soooo stupid and unevolved and it really rubbed me the wrong way. feels good to read something that is much more on the terry pratchett end of the spectrum. does this make sense??? like you read these books and the narrative doesn't hate women or poor people or fat people or any group of people. except maybe cops. there is definitely a disdain for cops which i very much appreciate

- the audiobook narrator for swordheart was different than the one for the saint of steel series, and it was genuinely fascinating to hear how they interpreted the characters that appear in both... and also that they pronounced the name jorge differently. both very talented narrators though, wow

anyway i guess i shall read more t. kingfisher!! maybe not right away but i am vibing with her style

[silent-partner-412]

ok i need to ramble bc playing a second time, the failings of sea of stars' story are sooooo much more apparent to me and it's fucking heartbreaking (SPOILERS AHEAD)

first of all. after back to back banger moments with the introduction of mesa island and re'shan, the whole clockwork castle sequence, the garl death arc, and the introduction of serai's world, the story just. decides it doesn't want to do anything fun or interesting anymore. the last vestige of something interesting happening is at the top of the tower in serai's world with the birds where you get the gay ass moment with young re'shan and aephorul, and then re'shan fucks off for the entire rest of the game. the normal ending pretty much comes immediately afterward, save for a very boring sequence where the artificer gets made. and nothing happens in the normal ending either! you defeat erlina, aephorul admits defeat, and the game ends. it's so fucking underwhelming, ESPECIALLY considering how much momentum they build in the second third of the game.

also... the true ending. look, i'm glad you actually get to fight aephorul, and garl coming back is... cute. it's nice to have another character around i actually care about after a very long time of serai carrying the cast of this game on her shoulders after aephorul leaves. but come the fuck on. garl's death sequence was so well done, and it's practically just thrown away for the sake of a reference to chrono trigger.

to me, it feels like a handful of things could've gone wrong here, broadly speaking. first, it's entirely possible that sabotage studio didn't understand the best parts of what they created here, and didn't lean into them. i wanted more of aophorul and re'shan and their divorced lovers ass relationship, i wanted more of erlina and brugaves and how the solstice warrior coalition might be more toxic than is let on, i wanted more of serai and the story of her world, and i wanted a hell of a lot less of zale and valere. or if nothing else, i want a version of zale and valere that have more going on than they do. i wanted more explanations about this world, i wanted more drama, i wanted more intrigue, and we just don't get enough.

second, i think they may have shot themselves in the foot by trying to make their games into a cinematic universe of sorts. the messenger is a fun game, and it's cool that there are tie-ins, but that game was NEVER built to be the foundation of worldbuilding for an RPG. the story and writing just wasn't made for it. the fact that there are so many tie-ins is cool, but probably a bit too ambitious considering just what the messenger is.

finally, i think it might have just been rushed. it really does feel like the story just... ends out of nowhere. i feel like we're missing, like, at least five hours of game here. it's weird to think about since it's not like this is a small game, and it was five years in between it and the messenger. but it would explain a lot about what happened to the building momentum and the lack of any actual climax.

look, i love this game, or at least i really want to. i still think the music, visuals, and combat are a 10/10. the levels and world design aren't perfect, but they get the job done, and there are so many locales here that i just adore. the story and writing do SO MUCH well, they just stumble right at the finish line. the game has so much heart, and i can see why i got a little high on all its best qualities last year. but i'm not sure i still hold it in as high of regard.

[trampled-and-melting]

Juvenile Delinquency

prompt: gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss

Summary: Annie and her friends do some light trespassing on government property. In their defense, it has a really nice beach. (2k words)

ao3

-

It’s the off-season anyway. 

It’s December. No one travels to District Four in December. 

This is what Annie tells herself, as she slips out of her bedroom window to join her friends. No one will be there. No one uses that beach in December. It’s empty half the year. 

There’s a giddy fear building in her, but she does her best to grind it down under her heel. She’s officially old enough for the reaping this year, after all, which means she’s in the home stretch before she can volunteer. She shouldn’t be afraid of things like this. 

The night is cool, with a slight breeze. She lands lightly in a crouch and runs down to the street, where a small cluster of people is anxiously waiting. 

“You guys could at least stand away from the streetlights,” she whispers as she joins them.

“Please, like anyone’s awake,” says Naia. 

They’re all present and accounted for—all of the usual group, anyway. Naia, Gwen, Gwen’s brother Jason, and Zale. Annie was their last stop, since her house is the last one along their route.

They walk quietly, sticking close together, no one talking. They’d be in trouble if they were caught, they all know that. Though Annie thinks, personally, that this sort of behavior should be encouraged among Career trainees. Are they not, after all, demonstrating courage, resourcefulness, tenacity? Are they not acclimating themselves to danger, playing a game with real consequences, as they’re meant to?

Still, adults insist on laws and time and place. No matter. You can really do whatever you want, provided you don’t get caught. 

It’s several miles to where they’re going, towards the beach and then parallel. 

There are the poorer neighborhoods, the ones that smell like dead fish all the time, which is where some of her friends came from. And then there’s Annie’s area, which is adjacent to Victor’s Village, and then there’s town—everyone just calls it town. With the shops, the apothecary, the bakery, the square. Further on, they pass the school. Everything is dark and quiet, save the occasional pools of yellow light from the streetlights. 

After the school, and a little ways further, there’s the hotel.

It calls itself a resort—that’s what the sign says, anyway. And maybe it is. Annie isn’t actually certain of the distinction. 

It’s so huge and sprawling, a person can’t actually look at the whole thing at once, and tiered, like a wedding cake. Terrace gardens, balconies, a swimming pool high up on a ledge, so it can overlook the ocean—ironic, if you think about it. Hanging plants and umbrellas and lounge chairs. There’s a courtyard on one side, Annie thinks, based on the way the walls curve downwards in a suggestion of a half-moon, but she can’t actually see it. 

Capitol citizens stay there, in the summer months. Sometimes in the spring, if it’s a warm one. They go into town, too. The cute part. The bakery, the clothing stores, the sweet shop. District Four is known for its handmade jewelry. They don’t seem to have much interest in the actual industry, though. She’s never seen them deeper in than the square, and certainly not on any of the normal beaches. Not that she can blame them. Some fisherman’s kids love to wax poetical about open water and a good day’s work, but Annie has never much seen the appeal of fish guts. 

This place is, technically, forbidden to all District Four residents who don’t work here. 

But it’s also one of the only nice beaches in town.

It’s fenced in, of course, to keep out the riff raff, but not topped with barbed wire—which is how you can tell that this is a “don’t do it again” sort of forbidden, or maybe at worst a “ten lashes in the square” sort, but not a “firing squad” sort.

None of them have ever actually been whipped before, there hasn’t been a whipping in District Four since before they were born, but Annie suspects that any one of them would bear it as a mark of pride, if they got through it with dignity.

The fence itself should be no problem, but it’s set on a concrete base which is a little tall for them, so Annie drops to her knees in front of it and makes a sling out of her hands, allowing each of her friends in turn to step up and hop to grab onto the chain link. 

With all of them safely on the other side, Annie takes a few steps back, considers her angle, and jumps for it. She scrapes her ribs badly on the edge of the concrete, she can feel the bright stinging of raw skin rubbing against it, and she has to grit her teeth fast and hard to avoid crying out, but her fingers gain purchase on the lower links, and her shoes scramble for friction on the wall as she pulls herself up, all of this executed under the watchful gazes of the others. They’re not quite brave enough to speak yet, but she can feel their doubts as keenly as if they had voiced them.

It’s scrabbling and awkward, but she makes it onto the fence, up, and over.

And when she drops down, she lands on sand.

They keep going.

There’s a cliff face providing a natural barrier around one side of the beach, and the sand is soft, and there’s no need to watch your step—they leave their shoes in a pile a little ways up the beach—because there’s no broken glass or discarded fishing equipment. The moon is round and bright.

The water is freezing, of course, but that’s not going to stop any of them. They’re not chickens. They run straight into the cold, lapping surf. 

Annie wades up to her chest, knowing that saline is a natural disinfectant and not wanting to let her friends know that she hurt herself. Her lungs are full of ice, but it’s an oddly purifying sensation. 

Gwen darts past her, shouting, “Race you to the cliffs!” and Annie dives after her. 

Gwen is fast, and she’s got a head start, but Annie gains on her. She’s not used to swimming in the freezing cold, and it feels heavier than it does in warm water, but she overtakes her with barely five yards left to go.

She’s shivering. Her lungs are on fire. She’s certain her face is bright red. But she feels real and alive in a way she rarely does. 

Though maybe that’s the winning.

“Race you back!” she shouts as she dives again, and the last thing she hears before her head goes under is, “Hey, no fair!”

This is gratifying. That it’s fair when other people do it, but not when Annie does it. 

They stay as long as they can. Annie gets into two more races—one with Naia, the other with Jason—and wins both, and a splash fight with Zale, which she loses. By that time they’re all pale-lipped and trembling, but none of them really wants to stop.

And then, like all good things, an adult appears to ruin it for them.

There’s a shout from up the beach. “Hey!”

Zale startles badly. Annie abruptly finds her feet, standing up in the water. Naia, like a flinch, covers up the heart she was doodling in the sand. As if that’ll do anything. They’ve all been caught red-handed. 

And now it’s time to be yelled at. Or dragged home to their parents and forced to explain themselves. Or flogged.

The peacekeepers are far up the beach. A few hundred yards away. Sand is difficult to walk on. Even more difficult to run on. Annie has been running on sand since she was two years old. Peacekeepers are never from District Four, they’re sent from elsewhere. All of these facts flash through her mind in succession.

Annie grabs the person closest to her, Zale, leans in, and breathes, “Run.”

He looks at her. She nods. He makes a break for it. 

Once he’s out of the water and on sand, the others catch on, and they follow on his heels back to where they came from. Annie pulls up the rear. At the base of the fence, she throws herself down and offers each of them a leg up, just like the first time. The peacekeepers aren’t fast on sand, she was right, their boots are far too bulky, but that fact can only buy so much time. Jason puts his foot in her hand, hops to grab the fence, starts climbing. He’s the last one. Annie moves to jump for it again, not honestly caring if she breaks a rib this time, when one of the peacekeepers grabs her. 

The others are already running, already disappearing into the dark. Good. 

Annie turns to face the peacekeepers, more than a little terrified, but with her chin up. 

“This beach is Capitol property,” says the one closest to her. He sounds a little winded. “You kids aren’t supposed to be here. You know that?”

To lie or not to lie? If she says yes, then she’s admitted to knowingly breaking the law. If she says no, then she looks like an idiot for hopping a fence and not assuming someone wanted her kept out. “I’m sorry,” she says instead. “I assumed it would be alright, since no one uses it this time of year.”

“Uh-huh. That’s a flogging offence, you know.”

“I didn’t know that.” Not really.

His frown deepens. “What’s your name, kid?”

“Annie Cresta.”

“Cresta? Like–”

“Yeah. My dad.” Her dad, who does—something important. Something that makes a lot of people hate her. He oversees a lot of the district’s industry, she thinks, and takes a lot of business trips to the Capitol. People know the name, and they always feel the need to react to it. Even some people at school will only call her the Cresta Girl.

It occurs to her that this might be useful. “And I doubt my dad would be happy to find out I was out alone after dark.”

“Your problem, kid, not mine.”

“Your problem and mine, I think. I mean, imagine: his daughter sneaks out, you fail to catch her, she gets into all kinds of stupid trouble—” That’s what her dad calls it. Stupid trouble. He tends to assume that she does these things because she is, deep down, secretly an idiot, which is annoying but comes with a certain degree of leniency—”and then you flog her. For something that happened because of your failure to do your job. I was out here for almost an hour. What would your superiors think of how long it took you to notice?”

She’s talking entirely out of her ass. The peacekeepers all share a look, and then the apparent leader rolls his eyes. “Who were your friends?”

“What friends? I’m alone.”

He looks almost amused at that. “Figures. Come on, kid, I’ll walk you home.”

He takes her out through a gate and walks with her silently back to her house. It’s not until they’re about halfway there that Annie realizes they all abandoned their shoes, and she’s padding barefoot through the streets of District Four. 

He seems to know exactly where they’re going, though that’s not surprising. Most people do. The peacekeepers had to round up a group of angry dock workers who congregated on the front lawn a few years ago. 

There’s no sign of any of her friends, as far as she can see. The streets are quiet, and the only moving shadows are stray cats and tree branches. They’ve probably all made it most of the way home by now, but she tries to walk as loudly as she can, in case one of them needs to duck into a shadow or something.

When the two of them arrive at her front door, the peacekeeper says, “Look, I’m letting you off with a warning this once, but if I catch you out after dark again, especially in a restricted area, it’s twelve lashes in the square. Understood?”

“Understood,” says Annie.

“Good. May we never see each other again, Miss Cresta.”

Annie smiles as she slips back inside, closing the door quietly behind her. No, he certainly won’t be seeing her again.

[goodshipskypirate]

If Sea of Stars was a TV show, there would have been an obligatory baseball episode where Garl somehow invents the sport (or hosts it if baseball already exists in their world) in an effort to help a random town with their problem that can only directly be solved by the sport.

You'll see all the main characters in matching baseball outfits and that absolutely, 100% includes Resh'an.

Zale would absolutely take to the bat, but he'll swing it like a sword.

it's Valere who's the best hitter purely because this gal uses Moonerang like it's a Tuesday. She knows how to calculate when the ball is coming; that thing ain't leaving her sight. But she does that thing where she holds her baseball bat horizontally over her chest to get the ball instead of swinging her bat EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

Serai is allowed to use her portal magic because their opponents will also have magic and/or fantastical powers to make it more interesting. She will be the best damn catcher anyone could ask for, positioned in ALL the bases because of her ability.

Garl is the umpire, of course. He is also just the general host of this whole game and the team's captain, but that's a given.

B'st will get every fucking home run because he can swing the bat with such force he breaks every single one. Also his baseball uniform doesn't fit him all the way because that is a comical visual and adorable as fuck.

Just pretend this is Resh'an and not his puppet, because it is infinitely funnier for him to be involved with minimum restraint. He is the pitcher, that is not even a question. The man throws vials like a beast, he will chuck that baseball with such accuracy and speed that you'd be struck out before you could even blink.

[marithefriendlyghost]

sniffles i finished,,, 100% (sea of stars spoilers below)

after 45 hours,,, i did it,,, all achievements, i did everything i could... HOLY SHIT WHAT A BEAUTIFUL GAME MAN. SOBS CRIES

I love their friendship... (dont get me started on ships, we'll be here all night) The ending with elder Garl,, hugging Zale and Valere,,,, gonna think about that all the time.. and then the final FINAL secret i mean just-

and i'm probably gonna go buy The Messenger so i can fully enjoy the studios creations. this humor is very good to me! this is a new fav game ever, idec if people think the story is "boring" I FOUND IT INTERESTING!! i thought the characters were fun!! and i enjoyed them!!! the laughter mixed with serious moments and some real tender dialogue.. a real treat for me at every turn. THE MUSIC AND ART AS WELL DONT GET ME STARTEDDDD i love it all and will listen to the osts on repeat now.

some silly screenshots i took :3 just look at it omfg I didn't play many rpgs when i was "younger" but this captured the nostalgia perfectly Especially with the dlc coming out, I really recommend it to anyone who can afford it, or watch it,,, it's Mari approved!! I will be playing the DLC when it comes out for sure and cosplans are in the mind palace works If i can sum up the experience with an image it'd be these:

thats all okay hyper-fixation moment over

[thebreakfastgenie]

Something that's so interesting about MASH is that Hawkeye and Trapper don't sleep with the local women. The one time it comes up is The Chosen People, it's only because she told Henry it was a doctor from his unit, they kinda give each other weird looks about it, and it's dropped as soon as she accuses Radar. And she's specifically contrasted with the other locals in that episode because she speaks English, which she says the nuns taught her, implying she had some level of education. Hawkeye falls for Kyung-Soon, who has money and a college education and has traveled to other countries and speaks multiple languages. Even Charles's Pygmalion romance with Sooni in Ain't Love Grand isn't played as particularly sexual, shows her holding her own against him, and includes him believing she comes from a family of status.

And yet the enlisted men do sleep with the locals, and this is usually treated as positive, even when it probably shouldn't be. Like the man whose Korean girlfriend wouldn't sleep with him unless they got married, so he lied to her and had the cook perform a fake ceremony. Or Mulligan and Mai Ping in The General's Practitioner. We're supposed to think Zale is scummy at the end of Of Moose and Men, but that's more about the hypocrisy of sleeping with another woman after spending the episode heartbroken and furious that his wife slept with another man. BJ calls him out on rewriting his marriage vows, not on taking advantage of a woman who doesn't even speak the same language he does.

There seems to be a class element to whether American men sleeping with Korean women is too icky for the show or not and I'm fascinated by it.