#added a small note to this effect in the lore post

[midnightsun-if]

wait how can vampires have hickey then if they regenerate quickly 🧍‍♀️

I just assumed it was a fun one-off scenario that didn’t necessarily have to go by the bounds of canon.

It’s possible, if the MC hadn’t fed in a bit, but not to the point where you wouldn’t attract them, that the MC wouldn’t heal, at least not as fast as the body would probably try to conserve energy, waiting for its next meal, and not waste it on healing a small bruise, though it’d still probably disappear within a few hours still. Which is entirely probable too and not something I’ll ever really get into with the game as a whole. 😂

Suspended belief and all that… It’s one of those things where you’re like: I know this isn’t possible, but I want to see it… So we’re gonna pretend it is for the moment.

The lore could shift around a bit too… We’ll just see what happens! Sorry for the confusion in any case. 😅

[inactiveaccount-lovendeepsecrets]

Domestic + Intimate Headcanons

*Minus Caleb only because his myth and cards aren't out yet, and I don't feel confident adding him when there's so much lore and little quirks we still don't know about him. I shall make a separate post for him if this goes well.

But Hi! This is my 1st hc so please go easy on me. I believe some of the bullet points on here are canon, but I can’t help talking abt how cute this all is 🫠 I'm not the best writer and I tried so hard to be impartial, but you can probably still tell where my bias lies LOL

As always these are just my opinions!!

tags: headcanon, fluff, mostly gender neutral, but these lean towards an afab + fem!reader, 18+

***MDNI; by choosing to interact with this content, you have consented to viewing something nsfw despite the warnings and will be BLOCKED***

Disclaimer: I personally think all of them like praise, body worship and are humungous eaters. If the specifications aren't noted under your fav LI, it's because I didn't want this too become too redundant!

✵ ✰ ✷ ✭✮ 𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓇼 ⋆｡˚ 𓆝⋆｡˚ ❅ ❆ ❃ 𓆰· 𓆃

Rafayel

SFW

• Has definitely set up a date where you do that TikTok trend painting portraits of each other

• Hates the caricature you two posed for at the amusement park

• On more than one occasion you've (jokingly) threatened to frame said caricature at his gallery to shut him up during an argument

• Is an escape artist. He has a long history of being captured/on the run. It’s no wonder he could easily untie himself from your ropes

• I don't think we talk enough about how rich this man is, but I think he'd be quite into second hand fashion. Think runway archives, vintage designer pieces, custom couture, etc.

• Always drives over the speed limit

• Will never tease you during your art lessons with him

• THE best bf to take pictures of you for your social media accounts. He’d suggest different poses while contorting himself in odd positions on the ground just to get the perfect angle

• Sings you to sleep

• Surprisingly good at doing hair. If you need help dying, braiding, or putting your hair in rollers, he'd actually do a pretty good job.

• Created an entire album on his phone of candid photos he took when you weren't looking

• Also made a scrapbook of polaroids from all your scenic dates and vacations together, most of them are of you

NSFW

• He’s a mermaid. He is the motion of the ocean. The hip movements? Stamina? Best (and prettiest) dick game goes to him, I’m sorry.

• LOUD, noisy, and talkative. Starts to ramble when he’s close

• Wax play? [in the submissive]

• Nipple play [in the submissive]

• Edging + Milking

• I think his open vulnerability makes people think he’s more sub leaning, but some of it’s for show

• Because of your bond, he’ll submit; but he’ll do it in such a way that you’re right where he wants you to effectively make the switch

• Make no mistake, he doesn’t mind subbing from time to time. He loves seeing you on top of him, using his body. He feels a sense of accomplishment being a vessel for your pleasure

• There was a tweet that explained how Raf would be a bit of a bully as a dom, but in the best way (recommended read)

• Chuckles and coos at you after each of your orgasms

• Isn’t into watersports, but gets a massive ego boost if you squ*rt

• Is sometimes overly arrogant about toys, but is also so obsessed with you, that he made you get molds of each other on the rare occasions you’re apart for too long

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓇼 ⋆｡˚ 𓆝⋆｡˚ 𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓇼 ⋆｡˚ 𓆝⋆｡˚

Sylus

SFW

• Has asked his private chef for a one on one culinary lesson to impress you with a home cooked meal

• A patron and secret lover of the arts. Dabbles in the opera, theatre and certain musicals

• He’s*slightly* better at drawing and singing than he lets on, but loves taking the piss

• This man is so funny, but his life and profession is all too serious, making the small moments of banter more precious for the both of you

• Will also hum to lull you to sleep

• Secret polyglot

• His way of ending petty arguments with you is by throwing you over his shoulder and going to bed

• Retail therapy connoisseur

• Surprisingly handy

• He of course, only likes visiting Linkon to see you, but also likes your apartment. While it’s microscopic in his eyes, he slowly understands what small things make a home feel cozy and tries to replicate that at his

• He’s intrigued by your self care sessions and will often indulge, joining in with the sheet masks, aromatherapy, massages and waxing (he likes the heat of the wax lol). He’ll put on a brave face and deny the pain, boasting about his high tolerance

• Spoils you in general, but especially when you’re sick or on your period

• Will carry you around just cause -much like a typical cat owner who loves to randomly pick up and cuddle their cat LOL

• Would buy out a restaurant for the night and have the orchestra play a medley of some of your favourite songs you’ve discovered from his record collection

• There’s really no such thing as small gestures with him

NSFW

• Marking

• Nipple play (giving and receiving)

• Blindfolds

• Certified munch; almost loves it more than penetrative sex

• AND HE 10000% HOLDS YOUR HANDS WHILE GOING DOWN ON YOU— WHY ISNT THIS WRITTEN MORE IN FICS

• Pleasure dom. He’s not sadistic or a bully when it comes to overstimulation (unlike Raf), he’s the very definition of “will talk you through it”

• Absolutely the type to coo at the sounds and faces you make. You could not look more adorable in his eyes

• Likes watching you solo

• Your satisfaction is his priority, so he’s not intimidated by toys. That being said, he definitely owns a remote vibrator

• Phone sex. No question

• In addition to phone sex, he bought those long distance bluetooth couple’s toys that sync up with each other so it’ll react to both of your movements in real time

• In the submissive, he really loves to see you in control of your own pleasure. He’ll encourage you to use him (eg face sitting, leg humping, cowgirl, etc)

• Slight masochist; those cuffs, paddles and chains are for him 😭 he’s curious to see how far you’ll go. By the end of it all, he’ll use his evol to free himself of whatever restraint he’s under

•As far as a degradation kink, I don’t see it for him, sorry. He adores you too much to call his sweetie a “slut”, “whore”, “filthy,” and so on

• Not as rough as he appears. Really the only time he’s rougher than he realises, is when he’s biting you

• If you want it more aggressive, you’ll have to ask. Even then, he’ll be cautious not to overdo it. The last thing he wants is to hurt you

• It’s canon he loves praise. Giving and receiving

𓆰· 𓆃 · 𓆩♡ 𓆰· 𓆃 · 𓆩♡ 𓆰· 𓆃 · 𓆩♡ 𓆰· 𓆃 · 𓆩♡

Xavier

SFW

• Low-key likes to carry you around and his fav way is by piggyback ride (loves being physically close to you and the way you cling to him)

• Will fast all day just for Hotpot or Brazilian steakhouse

• Is much better at baking than cooking

• Leaves you Post-it note love letters in places like mirrors, cabinets, and drawers, before he leaves after spending the night

• Unintentional comedian. He's sometimes taken aback by your laughter, but it only encourages him to keep talking just to hear it again

• He honestly loves sharing things with you; food, books, (his) hoodies, etc. He just doesn’t like sharing YOU

• Would plan a scavenger hunt date

• Is always playing coy because he knows it triggers your cuteness aggression

• The pettiest of petty when he's upset or threatened (look up his affinity lvl 140 video call)

• Sometimes stricter than Zayne when it comes to your health & recovery. He hates to see you over-exerting yourself after an injury and has scolded you before about taking it easy

• Loves to get ready for bed with you at the same time. Showering together, doing skincare together, brushing teeth together; whatever you’re doing he’s either tagging along or sitting there watching you

• When he’s spending the night, he can't fall asleep without you playing with his hair and holding hands

• Learned your favourite flower and has been secretly sneaking into Jeremiah’s greenhouse planting and tending to a small bush of them to gift to you whenever

NSFW

• Thigh job

• Mating press

• Morning sex, specifically morning head (f receiving)

• While going down on you, he def seems like the type to keep going after you’ve climaxed, but he slows down his movements, giving languid kisses to your center to help ride out the wave of pleasure vs intentional overstimulation (though he isn’t against that either)

• It seems that the consensus on here is that he's the best eater of the LIs? I don't necessarily disagree; I'm just not completely sure if that title goes to him quite yet

• The most primal and rough of the LIs. Hair pulling, choking (safely), spanking, leashes

• Also likes it when you’re rough with him

[I know I said I wasn’t confident making any hcs abt Caleb yet, but I have a slight hunch he rivals Xavier for most primal]

• Goes feral when you say his name

• This man is a dom, don’t let the puppy eyes and bunny ears fool you 💀

• He's not as noisy as he is talkative, especially during foreplay

• BOSSY

• I don’t put it past him to feel like he’s in competition with vibrators. He’d rather him use one on you, but knows he’s being irrational

• While he’s not really into feet, he’d suck toes during missionary to see how you’d react

✵ ✰ ✷ ✭ ✧ ✸ ✮ ✵ ✰ ✷ ✭ ✧ ✸ ✮ ✵ ✰ ✷ ✭ ✧ ✸

Zayne

SFW

• Alternatively to Sylus, this man is comprised of small gestures that snowball (hehe) over time. One more meaningful than the next

• While he respects and admires your independence, he needs you to need him. He’ll never vocalise it, but he feels most useful and accomplished when you ask for his help

• Won’t let you carry any bags when you’re out shopping, not even your purse

• Like Rafayel, he also has an album on his phone with pictures of mostly you. Though he feels odd taking your picture when you’re not looking, he’s snuck in a photo or two when you were looking particularly lively mingling with the people at his work event

• Knows your go-to orders at all of your fav restaurants by heart

• Stargazing dates. When either of you are out of town for a while and are catching up on the phone before bed, he’ll tell you to go outside and look at the moon

• After a long shift at work, he’ll kneel by your side of the couch waiting for you to embrace him, hugging and nuzzling your waist

• He also secretly loves being the little spoon

• Subscribed to a delivery service that sends you flowers on your birthday every year

• There’s something about Zayne that makes me think dogs absolutely LOVE him even though he’s not particularly fond of their energetic nature

• Spoils you rotten when you’re on your period. Full princess treatment; plushie heating pads, full body massages, raspberry tea, and hand feeding you snacks. Basically Dr Zayne turns into Nurse Zayne

• He’s more lenient with your cravings, letting you have a small portion of desserts or snacks only after you’ve finished your meal

• Loves your laugh but knows his dry wit won’t always work, so he’ll just tickle you if the joke doesn’t land

• Fell in love with you after the Drunken Intimacy card. It made him realise how much he likes holding you and tending to your needs

• Doesn’t even bother lecturing you about how bad high heels are for your joints and muscles anymore. He now keeps a pair of slippers in his car just in case you start to complain

• He can never resist the urge to kiss your cheek or forehead when he sees you’re fast asleep (Canon 🥹)

NSFW

• Has a weakness for lingerie, lace and stockings

• In the submissive, he’d be just like the kitty butler in his card -the goodest of good boys

• …Feet? I’m not sure if it’s anything freaky. Kudos to whoever clocked that for sub! Zayne months prior to the kitty butler quad banner

• Soft dom, but not as gentle as his voice lets on. He’s already a bit strict with you in your relationship, and he’s the same way in bed. How is he supposed to know what feels good if you don’t vocalise it?

• The only time he’s pretty rough with you is when you provoke him. But he checks in with you to make sure he isn’t being too hard

• Once he loses his control, he gets a tiny bit greedy too (“We’re not done here. Quitting halfway isn’t something I would do” —Silent Poem Secret Times)

• His methods of brat “taming” aren’t anything over the top or domineering. Though he enjoys spanking, he thinks there are better lessons he could teach you to combat your brattiness

• Has definitely gone down on you and stopped altogether right before you climax as a form of punishment

• Shibari + Hitachi -girl run!

• Ice play

• Nipple play (giving and receiving)

• The size of your chest doesn’t really matter to him, he just really likes to hold and massage them. It’s his favourite way to keep his hands warm

• This man is so good with his hands and in more ways than one. The placement and movement of his hands in the Nightly Rendezvous card sent me into orbit. The body worship he’d do is insane

• Needless to say he’s the best at fingering

• You’re irresistible to him. He breathes you into every kiss, deepening as your bodies continue to merge. There’s no sex without passion, even the “quickies”

• Quickies usually only happen when you’ve teased or provoked him too far during (or on your way to) an event. Otherwise, he likes taking his time with you

• He knows your body like the back of his hand. He’s memorised what triggers the sounds, faces, and jolts your body makes

• Much like Xavier, he loves to hear you cry out his name

❅ ❆ ❃ ❊ ❉ ❅ ❆ ❃ ❊ ❉ ❅ ❆ ❃ ❊ ❉ ❅ ❆ ❃ ❊ ❉ ❅ ❆

[askii-blindingmistakes]

Welcome!!!

This is the official account for a (still unreleased TvT) fanfiction and II AU I'm making

Blinding Mistakes is an AU created by @paraonyx (me)

[This post may be edited over time! I will make a post if it ever is!]

Please note that I suck at speaking. I'm sorry if the grammar is weird or if there are any typing or spelling mistakes :[

Story Explination & Clarifications:

(I tried making things clear while sounding cool. But it sounds kind of cringey, sorry)

A mysterious infection has broken out within a once peaceful town. Turning its inhabitants into feral, violent, creatures. This blog follows the main 6 survivors of this outbreak, who are trying to find a cure and restore the town back to its peaceful nature. Hopefully before things go too far.

Also, Inanimate Insanity does not exist in this AU

Also also, there may be some things that the readers of this blog might not know which can be known by the readers of the fanfic (if it ever comes out. Also, this isn't me urging you to read the fanfic when it does come out. Just wanted to make this clear just in case)

Warnings:

(More will be added if needed)

•Cussing (It will be c☆nsored though)

•Usage/mentions of cigarettes (because idk, it just feels right for a zombie AU)

•Blood/Gore (?)

Rules:

DNI: homophobes, transphobes, racists, ableists, proshippers

•Please do not send real life gore or wounds to me in any way

•Fictional gore is okay, but please be considerate of others and censor it.

•Gorey descriptions are also okay, but please don't go into too much detail. It makes me uncomfortable.

•No NSFW asks, they make me uncomfortable.

•You can send asks relating to flirting, small sexual jokes, etc. But please don't go too far with it

•No fetish stuff

•Be patient with me! I will try to answer asks as fast as I can. But I still have school and am also prone to losing motivation. Do not spam the ask box

•Magic anons are allowed! But I may not allow some magical effects for any reason. If your magic asks aren't being answered, then I most likely don't want to put them into effect. There will also be a "time out" between magic effects (there isn't any specific time between the effects. I'll just add one whenever I feel like it)

•While certain plot points may occur in this blog, you are (mostly) free to ask or do whatever you want :]

•The ships in this AU (things may be changed as I figure out the plot):

-PayJay ("canon")

-Lightbrush (implied)

-Fantube (implied)

-Tacomic (implied)

Characters You Can Ask:

•Fan

•Test Tube

•Paintbrush

•Paper

•Knife

•Taco

•OJ(? I mean, you can try. But you may not get any expected answers)

Sorry if any characters end up acting too out of character :p (they'll be a bit out of characters due to the plot but I'll still try to keep their personalities)

Also in any future posts where I am speaking, I will be using the 🖤 emoji. I will also be using emojis for the other characters, but I'm pretty sure it's obvious what emoji represents who.

Tags:

#ii blinding mistakes - used in any post relating to Blinding Mistakes. This is since I'll most likely also have posts of drawings or videos on their own relating to the AU

#BM answers - used when answering any asks directed towards the survivors in BM or relating to BM in general

#Paraonyx notes - relating to any asks or posts that isn't related to BM or directed towards the BM survivors

#Blinding Mistakes lore - any asks/posts relating to BM's main story or the characters within it

Thank you for taking your time to read this and I hope to receive asks from you /nf

:]

[kiwikarpart]

Mew Berry Revamp/Redesign

I got the urge to try redesigning Mew Berry from Tokyo Mew Mew because...well I don't have a strong reason to. I just got a bunch of ideas for it and chipped away at putting them into a redesign. This is also labeled as a revamp because I didn't worry about sticking to established lore or design rules for this series, only wanted to play dress up and put my own spin on this character.

Before we get into my redesign, I want to briefly talk about her original design and weapon.

This is a drawing of her original design. While there are parts I like, there are also parts that bother me. Why is she wearing a choker and a thigh ring? Why is white such a big part of her outfit when she's (likely) based off a red berry? Why is it so frumpy?(ok I know why, but that doesn't mean I have to like it). These aren't necesarily flaws, but they are things I want to change in my version.

Then there's her weapon.

Like her outfit, there are parts that I like, but I decided to change it because of the parts I don't like.

Finally her(uncolored) design for TMM Return.

I think it succeeds at changing the design without losing its recognizability. Unfortunately for me, most of the things I didn't like are still here. Not that I blame the designer, there's a good chance they couldn't make big changes to her official design because it needed to resemble the original to some degree. But my redesign doesn't need to do that, I can do whatever I want with it! On that note...

Design Revamp

Might as well rip the bandaid off with my biggest change: she's themed after carrots now. Sacrilage, I know. But I wanted her new color to be orange, and between the Cloudberry and the Carrot, I was more inspired by the latter choice. If it still feels weird that she's not fruit themed anymore, remember that 3 of the 5 members from the original story aren't fruit themed either, so it's not super jarring.

I also gave her another theme, something I'd want to do with all the Mew Mews if I get far enough. Best way for me to explain this is by describing the transformation sequences. Mint moves like a ballet dancer, Lettuce does moves, Pudding maybe emulates an acrobat, then the others have nothing. I think it'd be better to make each character resemble a performance art of some kind(and by that I mean something you do on stage, gonna be pretty loose with the term). For no particular reason, I wanted Berry's magical girl outfit to resemble a magician, so I tried doing that with a coat and bow combo. Added some ribbons because of her attack name, then gave her some pigtails to add more symmetry, gave her some color, and:

This post isn't over yet though. Because I also want to do a...

Character Revamp

Small warning: I haven't read the original manga in years and never watched the anime. I was only able to re-read the 1st volume of A La Mode. I will definitely miss out on some details in my revamp, so try to keep that in mind.

As for the revamp, I'm not actually going to change too much. Instead I want to do more with parts of Berry's character that aren't explored well.

I doubt the fish out of water trope hasn't been done to death at this point, but it makes so much sense for Berry. She's an average girl that ends up going to a school full of rich kids, then joins an established group of magical girls with no experience as one. If there was ever a situation to feel out of place it would be this one. Berry would doubt herself a lot at the start of A La Mode because of this, especially since she wasn't intended to become a magical girl. However, that doesn't mean she's too inexperienced to be a good magical girl. After all, Berry wasn't guaranteed a spot at her school. She had to work hard and study for it, but she had the perserverance and skill to do it. Once she realizes this, she'll gain more confidence in herself and be a more effective team member.

The second thing I'd want to expand on is her relationship with Tatsuku. I've got enough opinions on this to make a separate post about it, so I'll spare you guys from the rave/rant for now. But the main thing I'd want to change is Berry's feelings about starting a relationship. There are small hints that Tatsuku and Berry have romantic feelings for each other in the 1st volume, and Berry's response to these feelings is to push them away. I think the main reason for this is because she had a hard time processing romantic feelings for someone's that's always been her friend. I also think it could be more interesting if Berry was afraid of jumping into a relationship. Her peers at school assume she's dating him because they're close, and Tatsuku jokes about them getting married at the start of A La Mode, but there's something about that Berry doesn't like. In her mind being Tatsuku's girlfriend means fancy dates and huge romantic gestures and she's not ready for that. She loves him, but hates the thought of being lovey-dovey with him right away. But she can't articulate these feelings, so she avoids confronting them instead.

Extra Tidbits

There are a few more things to talk about, but they don't need their own section so I'm cramming them into this one.

-Berry only gets fused with rabbit DNA. The cat DNA was barely part of her orginal design anyway so I cut it

-Berry doesn't become the new leader while Ichigo is gone because it makes no sense. She's barely been a magical girl and has no experience working with the other members. Mint is the team leader instead

-The Mew Mews don't work at a cafe anymore. I prefer Cheralla's idea of them being in a band

-Berry role in the team is a supportive one. She's a backup vocalist in the band and uses her magic to buff attacks and mobility

-Berry's debue in the band isn't handled well, which is what gives their fans the impression that she doesn't add much to the group. This adds to Berry's insecurities about being out of place

-Berry's new weapon doubles as a microphone and a magician's wand. The designs are slightly different so people don't make connect the dots

Okay, NOW the post is over. The next character in this maybe series will be Mint and I can't promise when she'll get a post.

You made it all the way down here? I appreciate that! Have some bonus sketches as a reward!

[marinsawakening]

You make very fair points and good arguments! Admittedly I wasn't terribly concerned with the way Skyward Sword's lore affected the fandom's perception of the monarchy when I made the original post, which was definitely an oversight. "(...) Putting divine authority and small-bean sympathies in a single person has had fairly corrosive effects on how fandom treats the monarchy," is a very good way to put it and absolutely reflects how the fandom has reacted to Zelda in regards to Skyward Sword lore. It's true that even if the lore of Skyward Sword changes little about the actual series, it can still change the outlook the fans have on it. I'm very new to the fandom/Zelda games in general so this is a blind spot of mine.

I can't speak on Wind Waker and Twilight Princess, as I have not played those games, but I do want to say that I think something you overlooked in regards to OOT is that it was clearly written as a kind of precurser to ALTTP. Much of its plot is based on the backstory established into that game, and while OOT doesn't quite match up 1:1 with ALTTP, there is enough there that calling OOT something of a prequel to ALTTP is very fair (in my opinion at least). I bring this up because ALTTP is extremely concerned with bloodlines. The central plot is about maidens (including Zelda) being kidnapped because of their special bloodlines, and Link is the hero explicitly because of his bloodline. It is concerned with glories of the past, which the special bloodlines of our protags are the only connection to. That 'glorious past' is OOT. All the problems in ALTTP started because Ganon attacked the special and righteous kingdom, and then they were fixed by a boy from a super special knightly bloodline. That special and righteous kingdom was Hyrule in OOT. I have trouble reading OOT's support for the monarchy as a passive force rather than an active force in light of this. Perhaps it's unfair to me to hold ALTTP against OOT, but when it's so clearly intentionally connecting itself to ALTTP and fails to meaningfully critique the monarchy... well, I just can't help it. It is certainly not trying to subvert ALTTP's stance on the importance of bloodlines, that's for sure. That's not inherently the divine right of kings specifically, but it's also not exactly unconnected.

That said, I agree with the rest of what you're saying. It's absolutely true that explicitly canonizing Zelda and thus the royal family as divine leads to an inability to acknowledge them as being wrong, which large swaths of the fandom have absolutely taken and run with. Claiming to be literally descended from a god is something many leaders across history have done, for exactly this reason. Specifically, what comes to mind to me when I think about Skyward Sword's lore is the Japanese imperial family, who have claimed to be descended from Amaterasu, the Shinto sun goddess. I'm far from an expert on monarchies and mostly speaking from a fantasy nerd's perspective, but y'know. It's a little hard for me to believe that making the Hyrulean royal family's divine ancestor a goddess heavily associated with light was a coincidence. Felt like it was worth noting.

Anyway, I fully agree with your criticisms, and thank you for adding them!

The thing about Skyward Sword's story is that I basically agree with a lot of the criticisms levelled against it, but simultaneously feel that people are wildly overestimating its impact on the series.

My biggest issue with Skyward Sword's story is that it's an incredibly boring, safe take on a Legend of Zelda prequel game (which Skyward Sword actively tries to position itself as). Skyward Sword follows the typical Zelda formula beat-for-beat, with little reflection or deconstruction of it. As a result, Skyward Sword does very little to reframe the rest of the series. Which is why, in a way, it's kind of baffling to me to see how many people got mad at it for 'ruining the Zelda lore'. Frankly, Skyward Sword isn't interesting enough for that. You can't ruin anything if you refuse to innovate.

Skyward Sword added exactly three things to the overarchiving Zelda lore that affect previous entries: Hylia, Demise, and Fi. Of the three, Fi is in my opinion by far the most interesting, and also the one that was handled the worst. I consider the writing for Fi's character to be one of my personal biggest issues with the game, and I genuinely struggle to find a single good narrative decision they made for her. Fi's existence ultimately has little impact on the series for me because her character had little impact on me. Your mileage may vary.

Fi's not really the addition people take issue with though: that would be Hylia and Demise. And I get where people are coming from. Largely I don't even disagree. I also think that having a flat good/evil dichotomy represented by gods is boring as hell. I just think it's weird when people get mad at Skyward Sword for introducing this to the series, because. Like. All Skyward Sword did was add gods to the flat good/evil dichotomy already present in the series.

Establishing that Zelda, and therefore the Hyrulean royal family, is descended from a literal god absolutely has a ton of unfortunate implications. Like, y'know, in general you should probably think twice about canonizing the literal divine right of kings. But here's the thing: the series was already operating under the divine right of kings. That doesn't mean the choice to make it an explicit in-universe correct belief is now exempt from criticism, but, well. What does it actually change?

LOZ never meaningfully critiques the Hyrulean royal family; even when it acknowledges them as having done bad things (rare in its own right), the narrative will still ultimately position them as the good guys against the evil Ganon/Ganondorf/[insert villain here]. In at least the seven games I've played to completion, their right to rule is never questioned, and neither is Hyrule's dominance over other peoples, for that matter. The Hyrulean royal family's rule is treated as a self-evident fact of reality, as fate and destiny, the correct order of things. What is that if not the divine right of kings?

The divine right of kings was already the logic the series was operating under. What does Hylia's addition change about the framing of the previous games? Were there protests from non-Hylian peoples against the royal family's rule that have now been invalidated by canon? No. Because anyone who challenged the Hyrulean family's right to rule was already the bad guy. Skyward Sword did not introduce the unquestionable divine right of kings to the series; it merely agreed with it. That warrants criticism, but blaming it for 'ruining the lore' is strange when all it does is fall in line with the previous games and their framing.

I can't argue against the critiques regarding Demise as much, since they mostly center around what it does to Ganondorf's character, and the only game I've played with him as of yet is Ocarina of Time. Until I've played Wind Waker, which apparently does a lot to deepen him as a character, I'm not comfortable making statements on his character (that don't strictly pertain to Ocarina of Time). I will say, however: Demise is not out of character for the series' treatment of evil either. The vast majority of villains in the series I've encountered so far are evil for the sake of being evil. The flat good/evil dichotomy that Hylia and Demise represent changes nothing about the rest of the games I've played, because that dichotomy was already part of the fabric of the universe. Whether or not there is an Evil God causing it materially changes nothing about the series.

Also, I've seen people blaming Skyward Sword's introduction of Hylia for Breath of the Wild's Fantasy Christianity and monotheism, which is just blatantly unfair. Breath of the Wild very obviously wanted to create a world even more in line with typical Western-style fantasy than Hyrule already was in previous games. That's why they added Monotheistic Fantasy Christianity and did away with (or at least ignored) the Golden Three and other gods established over the course of the series. Skyward Sword did not do that. Din/Farore/Nayru are canon and heavily implied to be far more powerful than Hylia and Demise ever were. If Hylia hadn't existed Breath of the Wild would've picked another god to be monotheistic about, or invented one. Blaming Skyward Sword for Breath of the Wild's narrative decisions is simply unfair and unfounded.

Lastly: the Zelda series does not care about what previous games in the series have canonized. Skyward Sword is actually probably the game I've seen that is most careful about not contradicting previous lore, even if it did obviously go ahead and make a bunch of stuff up. Pretty much every Zelda game I've played so far has blatantly contradicted previously established characters or lore in some way. The games use whatever canon and lore they want to use, and discard the rest. Skyward Sword hardly ruined the possibility of the series ever challenging the Hyrulean family's divine right of kings or the good/evil dichotomy, because if a Zelda game wants to do that, it can simply ignore Skyward Sword's very existence, or radically retcon its lore. The lore established in Skyward Sword is not any more binding than the lore established in the rest of the series, and it's silly to pretend otherwise. If the series ever wants to take on the daunting task of confronting the unfortunate implications baked into the very fabric of its reality, Skyward Sword's lore is hardly going to stop it. Like, TOTK completely retconned the entire game's plot pretty much, come on now.

(And if the LOZ series itself is perfectly content ignoring or retconning parts of its lore, I don't see why fans can't do so either. Skyward Sword does not stop you from forming your own interpretations.)

There are a lot of rightful criticisms to be made about Skyward Sword and the lore it established, but they're largely extensions of criticisms that apply to the series as a whole. Skyward Sword did not invent these issues, nor did it remove the possibility of confronting them. Its lore is the product of the series' unquestioned acceptance of the good/evil dichotomy and the divine right of kings, not its cause. It's a symptom, not the problem. The worst you can accuse it of is being a particularly blatant symptom.

I agree that Hylia and Demise are uninteresting additions to the series' lore, and I think it's fair to be pissed at the way they give an explicit in-universe validation to the games' framing. But ultimately, all Skyward Sword did was fall in line with logic the series has long since operated under: that Hyrule and its royal family is good and all who oppose them are evil. Singling it out as uniquely problematic does nothing except let the other games off the hook.

Skyward Sword's story operates under some very concerning logic and has some extremely unfortunate implications, and criticism for that is warranted, but saying it 'ruined the lore' is disproportionate. The lore sucked to begin with.

[still-a-morosexual-help]

I think a lot of fans also forget that Obey Me is a mobile dating sim— it’s not gonna have the best writing ever. A lot of the time, the writing is going to be flat with plenty of plot holes because the devs don’t care that much. But that’s also why I love reading blogs like yours with character interpretations and theories! The story and characters truly lack some depth, but the fandom brings so much life to it. Mammon’s behavior in s4 could really just be poor writing and wanting to bring back the “haha look he’s a tsundere” lines… but thinking about it the way you do brings so much more enjoyment! Obey Me plot/lore is going to be whatever you make out of it!! (love ur blog a lot btw <3)

I'm really glad you liked my insane rambling! Thank you!! It means a lot ^^ Like so much! But I'm sad to say you're also getting whacked upside the head with a rolled up newspaper😔

Plot and specially lore is going to depend on how you interpret it and the fandom definitely brings more life to the overall story

BUT

I don't agree with you about the writing being flat or lacking depth.

Some characters are severely underutilised and explored because the devs put more focus on others (eg: Asmo being pushed to the side in favour of Lucifer or Mammon) but even then those characters have their shining moments where they're given more depth (eg: the S1 conversation with Asmo & Simeon about Asmo's need to be pretty and Asmo vs Lucifer in the S2 RAD popularity contest)

So,

I definitely wouldn't say, "The story and characters truly lack some depth"

If you compare it to an anime or manga then obviously it's not going to hold up because it's not either of those things. But OM! is definitely one of the better written otome games out there and if you take the time to actually read it more thoroughly or if you take note of the little details you'd notice that it has a lot more depth that you'd expect. Don't just read the words, actually pay attention to their facial expressions as well.

One of my favourite instances of this is in S2 when the brothers find out that Diavolo, Barbatos, Simeon & Solomon were keeping secrets about MC's power which led to lucifer losing his memories.

Asmo asks both Diavolo and Solomon what was more or less the same question. Basically "You've been keeping secrets from us?" or something to that effect.

But his expression changes while he addresses them each separately.

When talking to Diavolo, Asmo's expression is angry - he's frowning.

But when he talks to Solomon, his expression softens and turns sad.

It's such a small moment that adds so much depth. It instantly shows that Asmo feels betrayed about Solomon keeping secrets from him. It gives a deeper insight into their relationship.

(Link for S2 Asmo with screenshots)

Detailed examples of where their expressions add depth to the story/are important

OM! is full of small moments like this - the most recent was from Lesson 69 when Mammon called Luke a chihuahua (link) <- this wasn't me filling the plotholes or speculating. This was literally just me stating what I saw on the screen. Just because I'm adding more words to describe what is happening doesn't mean I'm making it up or theorising.

If you clicked the links in my Mammon post that you're referring to in this ask you'd see that only about 5-6 of them are my theories. Almost everything else (there are maybe almost 15-20? links) is just me commenting on screenshots from the actual game. Literally just me pointing out or reacting to what the characters said. A few others are where the game gave me "1 + 1" and I went "Oh! It's 2!" (Eg: Mammon's lunch pancakes, Mammon seeing Luke as family <- which had already been stated as a fact in S3, I was just laying out all the s4 evidence that contributed to it). There are about 30-40 points in that post, and the ones without links are just me stating things Mammon has canonically said or done in S4.

As much as I love filling the gaps/plotholes none of that^ is me doing so. It's literally just me saying what happened in canon.......

Also, even with what I said in this post about why Mammon was acting more tsundere in S4, that really only applies to lesson 61-62 because after that he more or less eases back to how he is in S3?

Eg:

Walking around RAD and holding hands with MC

Standing up for MC in front of Mephisto

Asking Diavolo about the people who don't like MC so he can go fight them

Enthusiastically helping MC find the magic card

Blushing and looking bashful when MC calls him "cute" even though his brothers were there at the time

Liking a dating sim character because they reminded him of MC

Hugging MC for warmth

Telling MC they had a fiery personality with a cute side and that he wanted to know about all their sides

Turning to MC for support when he first confronted Simeon

Going on a cute taco truck date with MC

Bringing MC with him to confront Simeon for the second time and backing down when MC told him to calm down

Have yall who have problems with how Mammon acts in S4 just considered that maybe after three full seasons that heavily focused on him.....you're just not used to him being pushed a bit to the side and to, when he does appear, him not focusing all his overwhelming love on MC 24/7?

Which is a good thing in my opinion because:

1. I'm a shameless Mammon stan (as you probably know) and I miss him being in the game so often but it's good that everyone else (specially the new characters) are getting their time

2. From both a fictional and realistic standpoint it's good when a large part of a character/person's personality/drive/motivation/screen time isn't focused on their SO. It helps to better establish their character and shows that they're more secure in their relationship that they can stop clinging to their SO so much. It also allows you time to develop their relationships with other characters. I love Mammon from all 4 seasons but S4 Mammon has put a lot less focus on MC and because of that in the little bit of screentime S4 Mammon gets they've managed to give more insight into his relationships with Simeon, Luke, Raphael, Satan and, to an extent, even with Thirteen and Mephisto. We already know what MC and Mammon's relationship is like. We don't have a desperate need for more insight. What we do need is for him to grow as a character and interact more with the others outside of MC and so, obviously, because of that he'd spend less time swooning over MC. That isn't anyone being "haha look he's a tsundere"

You could look at point 2. and say "But this is a dating sim! They wouldn't care about other relationships outside of MC's romantic relationships! As a dating sim LI Mammon should spend all his screentime swooning over MC!" Except OM! did something no other dating sim I've played has ever done (and I've played a lot) it made MC wait one year in game time to have any sort of significant romantic interaction with the LIs because they were too focused on developing the friendships and platonic relationships between MC and the LIs, and sometimes even the relationships between the LIs. Even in S2 & S3 romantic interactions/relationships were pushed to the side in favour of solving the issues in different platonic relationships. MC's romantic relationships rarely have any drama, conflict in OM! mainly stems from the platonic relationships. So yes, 2. is important.

Yes, I went on a tangent and this isn't really what this particular anon was talking about but I really needed to talk about this too because a previous anon said that people were upset when Mammon didn't pay attention to MC 24/7 and the first anon in this thread thought Mammon was falling out of love with MC. (You don't need to be attached at the hip to be in love💀)

Overall, the main point of this ask & answer amounts to:

As much as I live for any type of praise or validation, I don't want any type of credit where it's not due.

I'm the one filling in the occasional potholes, I'm not building the road.

[trigun-manga-overhaul]

Trigun Ultimate Overhaul: Multiple Bullets Teasers and Commentary - Chapter 7, 8 and Extra.

OVERHAUL FRIDAY 12/16/22 - MULTIPLE BULLETS POST 2

Welcome to the last of three post in the series of teaser posts for Trigun: Multiple Bullets.

These will be simple and quick posts to give people a small taste of the upcoming volume. Some may be unsure what exactly Multiple Bullets is, and to give a short answer to this, it’s a collection of small chapters by various guest artists. This time we’re digging into more varied artists and their small tribute chapters to the Trigun series.

Pictures and commentary below.

THE CHAPTERS:

RAIJIN – RISING

- By Yusuke Takeyama (Other works include: Kaizer Spike and Samurai Leaguers.)

Who exactly is the lonesome rocket-skater samurai, Rai-Dei the Blade, Gung-Ho Gun #9? Where did he learn his technique? What did he do before serving Knives?

This is a full chapter about Rai-Dei that both gives us a new story and some background into the mysterious character. Handled in proper seinen fashion, it is gritty and gory. The way characters spoke was also very different from what we're used to from Nightow, as the dialogue clearly has more edge to it in this chapter.

I've come to personally appreciate this chapter a lot more than I did to begin with, noting nice details added in the dialogue that refer to existing lore from the original manga, seeing how the story fits well within the world and how it brings up a couple of intriguing concepts for existing lore.

~

CUTTING IS FIGHTING

- By Akira Sagami (Other works include: London-tuo no Nue and Shounin Yuusha wa Isekai wo Gyuujiru! )

Vash is in dire need of a haircut and Meryl reluctantly obliges. However, she is unware of the unexpected dangers lurking within those blond locks.

Well, this is a chapter without a single word being uttered. The only work done in this one is edge damage clean-up and a single bubble with sound effects. This is a chapter that would've been improved with sound effect translation, something we don't quite have fully covered as of yet. In the future, once we get a second Japanese translator to help us out, it'll be possible for us to have a go at the heavily stylized effects.

~

TRIGUN BADLANDS RUMBLE CHEERLEADERS

- By various mangaka.

This is only one out of several pages of small scribbles from various mangaka, sharing their love and excitement for Trigun and its movie release. Some of these will be missing, as they only included text that has yet to be translated. The reason these notes haven't been translated just yet is because, without somebody super used to handwritten Japanese, it can be very hard to decipher the tiny handwritten notes. We hope to share them with you in the future!

~

MORE INFO NEXT WEEK!

[peppermint-ginger]

DOWNLOAD mesh/texture replacements - simfileshare (3.3 MB) | MEGA (3.1 MB)

DOWNLOAD Midge the Tree’s Name Fix mod edited (ENG/PL) - simfileshare | MEGA

Another one of these. I wasn’t particularly happy about already existing matchmaker overhaul mods (I wanted something more... magical than just modern businesswoman, lol) and I stumbled upon Meduza’s conversion of TSM Alchemist outfit and really liked this idea. Also, it kinda works since matchmaker she also sells potions.

I even made a “lore entry”/backstory for her, in case you like this kind of stuff:

The Alchemist Once powerful and energetic member of The Mage Brotherhood, after having a major disagreement with her colleagues, she was forced to leave for good. Banished and on her own, she found source of income in giving her magical services to common folk. However, after living hundreds of years, magical community started to fade away and people stopped believing in the effectivity of magic. Her services become redundant and she started to struggle to make ends meet.

Immortality became more of a curse than a blessing. Exhausted and broke, she started to perform cheap tricks rather than real magic to her customers. Now she mainly gives matchmaking services, through she still sells some of her potions. Sometimes, her old personality still shows up. From time to time, you can see her sneaking into somebody's backyard and leaving a small gift...

(Long post - more under the cut.)

I also take a step further and edited MtT’s/Shasta’s/ Chris Hatch’s name mod to rename her to The Alchemist (or Alchemist Matchmaker in some cases) where I could. Still, in “Call... >Services” menu, she’s still named as in the original. I tried to find its string in the game files to edit it, but I couldn’t.

Dodałam też polskie tłumaczenie do moda MtT. Zastąpiłam “C-gańską swatkę” na Alchemiczkę, Alchemiczkę-Swatkę lub Wróżbikę (ostatnie tylko w kartach kariery, bo “Alchemiczka” nie pasowała do kontekstu).

I also added one resorce to the mod for Love Potion thingie and edited the text.

It’s my 1st attempt to make/edit actual game mods, so please let me know if something is wrong!

Ok, so now the DFR info:

fhairg-psy default replacement: dfr file mine | mesh: Stealthic Envy (9k poly, @eir-sims-uploads‘s conversion) | yf-ef | unlocked in CAS | enabled for townies*

efbodyg-psy default replacement: dfr file mine | mesh: TSM Alchemist (~3,9k poly, @jellymeduza‘s conversion, my recolor) | yf-ef

effaceg-psy (costume make-up) default replacement: texture made of @digisims2‘s XOD Eyebag Rcs and @mouseyblue’s Superlashes (short brown). Should look fine on any skin color.

NOTE: I actually kept original naming of the DFR files. I did that so people downloading my defaults can easily navigate those files in case of potential conflicts. Sorry about that. If you’re not comfortable with that, you can rename the files as you like.

Anyway...

Credits: @midgethetree, @shastakiss, Chris Hatch, @stealthic, @jellymeduza, @digitalangels, @mouseyblue, Ephemera, @eir-sims-uploads, @zeusar​, @poppet-sims​, @pooklet​, pastry-box, @ikari-sims​

[carminite-wyrm]

A Genshin Impact Hermitcraft AU Idea, God Help Me

Last year, on September 28, a particular gacha rpg game was released and I, occasionally regrettably, fell straight into playing it. In honour of the fact that this will mean I have lasted nearly a whole year (I got the game a week after bc uni) determinedly not spending any money on Genshin whilst also trying to roll good characters…here’s a bunch of Hermitcraft Genshin AU ideas that I initially came up with at roughly 2.40 am.

The general idea of this AU is that the Hermits end up in a new world that has Genshin-esque mechanics, on top of the usual Minecraft shenanigans. So, Visions and stuff. Also, we’re gonna just…briefly ignore the actual Genshin lore in regards to how Visions and Gnosises (Gnoses?) come about, for this one.

Post-S8, the Hermits are travelling to a new world, ready for another season.

The moment they arrive, it is clear to them all that…something is different. Something is vastly different with this world, for all that it appears much like the previous servers that they have lived in and travelled to. There is something of a…presence to it, in a sense.

When the Something Different doesn’t appear immediately, being the demigods/almost-deities that they are, they go about their days, setting up starter bases, gathering the basic resources and tools, the usual beginnings.

Things change when Doc wakes up one morning after a hard day at work building a new redstone machine, to find a small glowing chess piece lying next to his head, crackling with an ethereal purple light

Upon picking it up, he feels a burst of energy, almost like that one time in the previous world where he and Ren built a lightning-summoning tower

However, the changes it has wrought become apparent later that day when Scar comes out of nowhere with the recording of a creeper’s tell-tale hiss and explosion, and Doc sends him flying backwards with a startled blast of lightning

At first, they chalk it up to ‘Something Funky With Doc’s Current Project’, but after some tests, some experimentation to confirm if it was a one-off reaction…they end up confirming that they may have found out what the Weird Thing about this season’s world is

The duo go to Xisuma with their findings, and, to their collective surprise, X can’t find anything blatantly broken in the server’s code, but he does find a few interesting lines within.

By all appearances, this is not a glitch, but simply an intended feature of the server

Seven lucky hermits, designated as Archons in the server code, will receive a Gnosis, an artefact of elemental power that the server can assign, given to the ‘player who best suits the element’

The server notes speak of how the power granted (and represented through the chess-piece-shaped item) will grant the receiver the capability to shape the land around them

By random chance, other players on the server will also be gifted a Vision, a somewhat lesser artefact that will still grant them a form of elemental power

Given that the Hermits are practically gods in their own right, considering they are already capable of shaping the worlds they arrive in as they see fit…are more curious than worried, at this point

They agree to keep an eye out, to see how chaotic the sudden acquisition of elemental powers will turn out

The next person to receive a Gnosis is Grian, who delights in the bursts of wind he can use to buffer his flight, gliding across the server with naught but the turquoise magic the server has seen fit to grant him

After that, most of the Hermits soon receives some sort of Elemental power from the server

A Summary of Who Gets What (That I can think of so far):

Doc: [Electro Archon]

Can summon lightning, without need for a trident, a thunderstorm, or a machine that can generate an ongoing thunderstorm for as long as its activated

Can also generate an Electro shield, though it does require his active concentration to maintain for longer than a few seconds. This shield appears like a charged creeper’s aura, except purple

Capable of generating a thunderstorm at will, but rarely does it on account of mob spawning dangers

Has found that by channelling a low level of Electro energy, he can in fact power redstone machines just by tapping them/being in close proximity to them

This has proven to both be a blessing and a curse, considering that on occasion, when startled, he has short-circuited some of his machines

Grian: [Anemo Archon]

Generally, uses his powers as a free rocket boost for flying around the server

Upon finding out that he can use the Anemo energy to create pockets of energy that can boost flight, he takes to leaving them all over the server, in convenient locations to make flight that much more efficient

Yes, he absolutely sets up a fancy elytra course that makes use of his flight-boosters to send players rocketing around a course at breakneck paces (poor Scar experiences many instances of kinetic energy)

Bdubs: [Geo Archon]

Suddenly, making mountains and other works of major terraforming is a lot easier

Certainly, he still prefers to sculpt them and detail them by hand, but bringing the basic shape of the mountain forth by brandishing the power of Geo is something that he can do with ease, in this world

A new shop pops up in the shopping district rather quickly after this realisation: Bdub’s Landshaping Service, Now offering quick terraforming at a budget price! (it is, in fact, a service that makes him quite the amount of money)

And when he wants to sleep, without the other hermits breaking his bed? A glowing shield of steadfast golden magic takes care of that.

Gem: [Dendro Archon]

The patch of the server that Gem has claimed for herself quickly springs to life as plants of all varieties grow to surprising proportions, energised by the power that she now can radiate

The effect is most notable in and around her home, of course, but wherever she travels, the plants grow more vibrantly for days afterwards

Adding a forest of birch around her house takes little more than a thought, a fact she uses to prank some of her friends, those who in the last world were rather vocal about their dislike of non-stripped birch

Another power Gem finds herself with is the ability to summon vines even without a surface for them to initially grow upon, and thus it is not uncommon to see Gem building or resting in a hammock of woven vines

Cub: [Cryo] (cannot make up my mind if I think he’d be Archon material or not)

Gathering powdered snow has never been easier, as instead of waiting for a storm to form and last longer than it takes a Hermit to get into the nearest bed, he can simply clap his hands together and a lump of snow shoots out from just above his shoulder.

It does hurt, getting hit by the sudden snow barrage that Cub is now capable of, but except for the occasional snowball fight, his newfound snow-creation ability is used for making increasingly more insane mob farms and snowy building decoration

False: [Pyro]

The magic her Pyro Vision grants her doesn’t become apparent, not for a while, until she visits the Nether for the first time in this world

A mis-swing in a bastion, and suddenly a horde of piglins and hoglins are chasing after her, and there isn’t enough time to pillar away.

She readies her sword and shield, ready to fight, and suddenly her blade crackles to life with bright flames, unlike the fire aspect enchantment in that it actually is on fire.

Every attack she lands, whilst her sword is alight, seems to invigorate her, return strength and stamina that was lost when she had first tried to flee the enraged inhabitants of the bastion

Xisuma:

The admin is one of the few to not receive a Vision or a Gnosis

Quietly, he does admit to being relieved, considering his powers as an admin are already much greater than that of the other Hermits, for all that they are still his equals

And then, one day, whilst X is placing his diamonds to sign up to one of Grian’s newest competitions, he feels a rush of foreign magic, so unlike the familiar ordered pulses of server code

The blast of wind that comes with a swing of his sword, much later whilst he is mob-farming, is greatly surprising, if not unexpected.

The funny thing about all these new powers, granted by the server itself in the form of artefacts that can easily sit in one’s palm, is that for all they are miraculous on their own, the natural capabilities of the Hermits are already enough to rival them

In the hands of an ordinary person, an ordinary player, the powers from this world would bring them close to the near-omnipotence of Creative, could even be the driving force of server-wide conflict.

Powers such as these, while they can build great things, can so easily be used to destroy, to cause war and destruction, and in other realities, they have.

Perhaps whatever trick of fate that caused the server to be capable of granting these powers hoped to create that conflict, to see what would happen when only a few of their number were gifted such strengths.

Later, when the initial surprise and rush to test out the limits of the server’s granted magics dies down, Zedaph approaches Xisuma, one of the few to not possess an artefact of elemental magic, with an observation

Zedaph notes that, from his studies of the Hermits’ new powers, almost all of them are oriented vastly towards combat, whether they be summonable blades of frost, elemental shields, or even the ability to soothe aches and hurts

And even though the Hermits have all found ways to make those powers work in the ways that they wish them to, it does not take away from the fact that the likeliest original purpose of this server’s magic was for fighting

Any other server, any other group, Zedaph quietly says, and there would more than likely have been bloodshed, given the inequality in the range of power granted

At the end of the day however, unexpected gifts of power or not, the Hermits, at their core, are a group that creates and innovates, a band of friends that shape entire worlds with naught but their own ideas and willpower, and regardless of what powers they now possess in this particular realm, that will not change.

[animerina]

Your Eyes Are like Starlight-6

Haldir X F!Reader

Chapters: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (15) (16) (17) (18) (19) (20) (21) (22) (23) (24)

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Summary:  Haldir and his patrol rescue a woman outside of the forest and bring her to Caras Galadhon. She is allowed to stay to recover from her injuries, both physical and mental. Haldir quickly finds himself as her protector and worries what will happen when she leaves.

Note: Warning eventual smut, minors DNI. I wrote this a while back and it is incredibly self-indulgent. I know I probably screwed up actual lore, but I really enjoyed writing this so I hope you do as well. It was previously posted on A03.

Thank you all once again for the love and support. The poem is Nin Meleth and can be found here: x

All Italics are Elvish.

Chapter 6: Exploring Caras Galadhon

“And this is Lothlorien’s library,” Lindiel exclaimed as she opened the door for her companion.

Y/n stood in awe of the amount of books shelved on the walls. From what she had already seen on their journey to the front doors, this was only one of many levels. Her eyes skimmed over the countless shelves and desks in amazement. No wonder elves were so knowledgeable.

“How can you have so many?” She gasped.

“We have long lives and many interests,” Lindiel teased. “Now come, I want to show you my favorite place in here.”

The two headed down two floors passing many ellyn who were scattered about reading and scribbling silently. Lindiel brought Y/N over to the corner of two shelves. As they approached, the woman realized that the shelves had a small gap between them, enough for someone to slip through. Lindiel ushered her in and she was surprised to see a small nook hidden by the shelves. In the corner was a large window allowing light into the hideaway. There were two chairs along with a window seat carved into the wall. Light blue cushions were strewn about the seats for comfort. Y/N quickly took note of the blonde elleth lounging on the seat, red leather bound book in hand.

“Ah, good morning Y/N,” Alassë nodded in greeting. “Lindiel.”

“Good morning, Alassë. We did not see you at morning meal.”

“We did not see Berendir either,” Lindiel added with a smirk.

“I am afraid we were quite preoccupied this morning,” the elleth confessed, a blush barely dusting her pale skin.

Her admittance caused y/n to blush as well. She hid her face by acting preoccupied with the stack of books by the blonde.

“What are you reading?”

“Yes indeed, mellon nin. What are you reading?” Lindiel asked as she examined the book in Alassë’s hands.

“Romance? Oh poetry!” She exclaimed as she sat beside her. “I love this one.”

“It is very well written,” Alassë agreed.

“May I see?” Y/N asked as she moved the seat closer to the two.

“It is in Sindarin,” Lindiel explained and watched her face fall in disappointment. “I can read you a bit if you would like.”

“Yes, I think I would like that.” Y/N nodded eagerly.

Alassë handed the book to Lindiel and she flipped to the page her favorite poem was on. Taking a deep breath for dramatic effect, she began.

“My beautiful

The moon in my night

The star in my eye

My warrior

The outcry in my silence

The crossing of my road

My love”

“It is simple but so sweet,” the woman smiled.

“Agreed,” the ellyth responded.

“I think if I am to stay here, I should probably learn your language,” the woman stated.

“You are going to stay? For how long?” Alassë asked. She was pleasantly surprised thinking that after healing the woman would want to go home.

“May I tell her?” Lindiel all but begged.

With a sigh, Y/N agreed. “I am sure it will not be a secret for much longer.”

“Haldir has asked her to stay,” Lindiel explained to her friend enjoying the shocked expression that spread across her face. “He has asked to court her.”

Alassë’s jaw dropped, a most unbecoming look for an elf, and if Y/N had not been so shy about the reveal, she would have burst out laughing. The blonde elf recovered quickly.

“I must offer you my congratulations!” She exclaimed, her pitch raising sharply.

“Thank you. Everything has been very fast for me, but Haldir is giving me two years to decide and I really would like to get to know him better.”

“I see. I forget how different humans are in their customs. You would not be able to sense your One if you saw them, but if Haldir believes you are his I would trust his judgement. He is not the Marchwarden for nothing,” the elleth offered.

“I suppose I am just unused to people falling so quickly, especially for me.”

The two elves reassured the woman, speaking highly of her as well as Haldir and his qualities. They spent much longer than they meant to sitting in the nook enjoying themselves and relaxing amongst the books. Alassë and Lindiel took it upon themselves to start teaching her simple Sindarin and Silvan words, promising to teach her more in the time she lived among them.

Before noon rolled around, the group began making their way to the dining hall. Alassë said she would only be grabbing something to take with her as she had afternoon duties. As they headed across one of the many walkways, they heard cheering coming from one of the clearings nearby.

“What is that?” Y/N asked.

Lindiel leaned over the railing, her eyes able to see much farther than the human woman.

“It appears they are having an archery competition. Shall we watch?” She asked the others.

“Let’s,” Y/N agreed. The ladies started towards the commotion until they saw the group of elves lined up. There were targets hung from trees in the distance, some so far, Y/N strained to see them.

“It is Haldir’s patrol,” Alassë noted.

Sure enough, Y/N spotted him walking behind the row of archers, his own bow gripped tightly in his hand. As if he could sense her, which he most likely could, he turned and locked eyes with the woman. Smirking, he slid next to Orophin, knocked an arrow and let it fly. The resounding thunk rang through the clearing when the arrow hit one of the furthest targets. The woman watched in awe at how smooth his movements were. His smirk grew as he met her amazed gaze, only interrupted by the pats on his back from his brothers.

“Show off,” Y/N muttered under her breath with a smile.

Rúmil also spotted the ladies watching and quickly pulled out an arrow from his quiver, spinning it effortlessly between his fingers. He knocked it, pulled back and letting the arrow fly into an equally distanced target. Haldir clapped his brother on the back as the arrow hit.

Y/N was about to ask if they could join the growing audience below, but caught Lindiel’s eyes locked on Rúmil. The elleth could not hide the smile even if she tried. Her eyes followed his movements, filled with mirth and tender fondness. She remembered their conversation about their relationship earlier and without thinking whispered to her companion.

“Do you wish he would ask?”

“More than anything,” she replied lovingly.

Tag list: (If you’d like to get added please let me know.)

@numbxinside

[mitsuki-simps]

Springtime ☆ Chapter One

Mommy and Me Day

Summary: Demeter, noticing a slight decline in the latest harvest’s quality, grants Persephone a rare visit in order to investigate. 

★Paring: Hades!Corpse Husband x Persephone!Reader ★Genre: Greek Mythology AU, fluff, angst, friends to lovers, slow burn ★Word count: 1006 ★Warnings: Bending of Greek Lore™️ for narrative convenience lol

Author’s Note- Like I mentioned in my last post, this is a Mommy and Me Day :) It’s boring worldbuilding shit yk the drill as if the intro wasn’t enough worldbuilding oops- Anyway lmk what ya think! Taglist is still open- if you asked to be added, tysm!! It means the world to me <3 And Corpse is gonna have a proper appearance next chapter, I promise!

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☆Taglist☆ (If your @ is in italics it means I couldn’t tag you!) @lunariasilver @jazzydoesstuff @neenieweenie @rosy-feels​ @open-minded-chip101 @delicrieux

The sun dipped past the peaks above you and nighttime crept forth in return as you sat at your kitchen table with your mother. Loafs of bread, sweet spring fruits, and chilled water blanketed every available surface. Demeter visited so rarely that, along with the gifts she provided, you deemed it necessary to shower the occasion with every expense possible. She wiled away the hours, deftly spinning charming tales and recounting the most entertaining moments of life on Olympus- all of which, despite your best efforts to suppress it, tinged your delighted laughter and awe with a sense of bitter loneliness. You gawked openly at the recounted tale of Dionysus’s latest feasting hall exploits, cooed in amazement at the imagery of Artemis’s latest hunt, and swooned at the description of Aphrodite, which you only needed to gently pry from your mother.

If Demeter noticed your subtle envy of her colorful life on Olympus, she hid it well- her kind, glimmering eyes peered at you fondly over her chalice of wine, a small, sly grin of muted amusement gracing her weathered features as you gushed over this season’s harvest. The harvest, after all, and the months leading up to it, occupied much of your rather dull life. It was your duty, your raison d'être, and who were you to defy it?

Eventually, Demeter set down her chalice and uncrossed her legs, shifting her elbows to the table, slowing your steady stream of chatter to a halt. The shift in atmosphere was ever so slight, but you knew better than to challenge it. Mother had something important to discuss with you, and much like your very nature, Demeter’s will was not something you could ignore. You braced yourself, settling your wavering gaze on hers, and folded your hands in your lap expectantly.

“Tell me,” she began, her gaze piercing, “what else has occupied your mind, child?”

Your carefully constructed cheery façade failed to fool her, it seemed. You furrowed your brow in contemplation as your mind began racing. Did she know about the shadow haunting the penumbra of your woods?  If so, she would surely put a stop to his visits, and as much as you dreaded the thought- as frightening as his presence may be, any company is good company in your eyes.

As such, you weigh the consequences of granting Demeter the truth. You are well aware of her brother, Helios, and his all-seeing eyes. It was him, after all, who informed Mother of the darling Nymph Eurydice and her husband- what was his name? Orpheus?- which lead her to send a viper after her, putting a swift end to her visits. You considered divulging the information you had to offer, but indecision wracked your reeling mind, and you could scarcely open your mouth to answer her before she made your decision for you.

With a low hum, she rested her chin on her hand, supported by a propped elbow with a sense of casualness that only you could have the privilege to witness, and pulled you out of your thoughts.

“You are lonely, aren’t you, dear?” she muttered wistfully, her eyebrows pulled together in a gentle expression of worry. Your eyebrows shot up, folded hands unfurling in surprise, and you cocked your head to the side.

“Mother, that should come as no surprise- you know full well how lonely I am.”

She nodded, eyes slipping shut momentarily, before continuing. “Of course, I’m aware, Kore. That much has never changed.” Her eyes drifted back open and her gaze returned to yours, unwavering as ever. “But something must have happened,  dearest. Something to upset you, to scare you, to…” she waved her hand in the air idly, and let it drop to the table with a discontent huff. Pausing for a moment to collect her thoughts, she brought an apple to your attention. Its shiny surface reflected the gentle amber glow of the nearby candles dully as you studied it, confusion clouding your thoughts.

“This, dear, is not your best work.” She set it back on the table and directed your attention to a head of lettuce. “Neither is this.” She leaned back in her chair and, in a broad sweeping motion, gestured to the contents of your little feast. “None of this is your best work.” She crossed her arms loosely, eyeing you in a way that felt like she was picking you apart, and raised an eyebrow. “Why don’t you explain yourself?”

You felt heat rise to your cheeks at her pointed criticism. Did she find your apples sour, or your lettuce bitter? Did pride not blossom in her chest as it might have in prior seasons? Frankly affronted by her words, you mimicked her body language and crossed your arms over your chest stubbornly.

“I’m not sure what you mean, mother.” You pouted ever so slightly, careful to downplay your genuine frustrations, ever vigilant of her temperamental nature. “I’ve been hard at work, day after day, just like always.”

She nodded to herself, almost distractedly. “Yes, my dearest, that much is clear to me. However,” she chirped, and you braced yourself for her inevitable lecture, “your foul moods effect those beyond the fringe of your glade, you know.”

You groaned loudly and slung your head back, followed by a carefully placed forearm which you masterfully crashed across your eyes, and wilted into your chair. “Mother!” you wailed, deep in feigned agony. “I know, I know!”

Demeter sharply sucked in a breath and jolted back, fully offended by your childish display. “Tut-tut, child, who raised you to act in such a way!?” She stood briskly and marched her way across the table, a jovial spring in her step as she fell knowingly into your usual lecture-avoidant trap.

You brought your free hand to your mouth, trying (and, to Mother’s delight, entirely failing) to muffle your giggles as Demeter descended upon you. She grasped your shoulders playfully, bending down to scold you, full of the warmest mirth and affection, allowing you to deflect the incoming storm.

Masterlist. Chapters.  ☆  Previous. Next.

[pantheon-god-of-war]

If possible, are there any Pantheon skins that you wish to be Canon?

Just give us a Legendary The Warrior skin of Pantheon reborn.

Lore wise it could be after the Ruination. Atreus has expelled Pantheon from his body with his own gritty resolve, Pantheon requires a vessel to take form in mortal shape but the war of the Ruination has caused so much havoc and strengthened him so much that he manages to keep a corporal form for a brief while. He retreats to the peak of Targon and to spite Atreus revives his long-dead friend Pylas to possess and mold his flesh to the war gods needs. Pantheon is fully in control because Pylas has long since died, only using the body himself.

Now Pantheon pursues the interests of Targon and his own dark desires while Atreus tries to actively counter the War god. Both will still fight the darkin, but for different reasons. Pantheon will do so because they threaten Targon Prime and Atreus does so to save the humans that's would undoubtedly die in the wake of the darkin.

VOICELINES

Pantheon differs from Atreus in a few key aspects (heh) where Atreus is noble and stalwart, Pantheon is deliberate and ruthless, where Atreus anger towards the gods is a cold and determined hate Pantheon's contempt for mortals, darkin and all those who would face him is clearly made evident, he speaks with pride, being condescending to everyone he encounters, thirsting for another challenge to vanquish. His LoR voice lines already highlight his personality quite well and I think the sound effects work perfectly for him, that could all be ported from LoR into league to replicate the sound effect. Voice line wise he could have interactions with the following:

Pantheon (Atreus) - While Pantheon does not outright hate Atreus like let's say Aatrox for example he sees the mortal man as a failure of a warrior, knowing only defeat his entire life. Interactions would be more condescending.

Ascended Pantheon - Here Pantheon would see Ascended Atreus as a worthy challenge, something along the lines of "Perhaps now you can prove yourself worthy." Or something more condescending. "No matter the cosmic might you hold, you will always be a mortal."

Aatrox - He loathes Aatrox with a passion for what he did to him, but also realizes that the Darkin might be his only true equal combat-wise.

Leona - Pantheon would be fond of Leona, applaud her for her fine work, call her the daughter of Targon, and that the sun is proud of what she has wrought upon the Mountain. He would tell her that she is right, that she needs to defend her people from the coming darkness and not grow careless upon her golden throne. He would support the militaristic order of the Solari and goad on their zealous witch hunt as in the end all he cares about is war and the more carnage Leona causes on the mountain in the name of the sun, the stronger he gets.

Diana - Diana is the same as Leona, he would tell her to keep fighting, to hold on and think of her people. That he can see the cracks in the Solari foundation and that soon the moon will triumph. Much like Leona, these are sweet lies to goad both of them onward to fight harder and grow more reckless in their pursuit of victory.

Taric - Taric is the antithesis to Pantheon, championing love and life against his war and hate, He would call out Taric and try to kill the noble hero because he spits on the ideals Taric protects.

Soraka - Pantheon would be disappointed in Soraka, to have forsaken the stars for these mortals, he would never understand and while he is not hostile he also tells her that she is dead to him. Just another mortal.

Zoe - He would want to know how Zoe sealed the Darkin away, and if there is a way to make them disappear forever. He would also be annoyed by her childish appearance/demeanor since Myisha was a lot more mature than Zoe.

Aurelion Sol - He would remind Aurelion Sol that with his return the tether locking him to Targon grows stronger again. It has been Pantheon for ages to bind Aurelion to Targon and now with him returned Pantheon will make sure Aurelion is put back in his place.

Other Darkin - He would simply tell them that their end is nigh, that Pantheon has found them, and that they are about to expire.

Other Gods/Demi Gods - here it depends on how many interactions would be wanted, he could comment on the powers of the sun disc being borrowed from the Sun/Solari/Leona's aspect or challenge Volibear to a fight. Lots more here if interactions need to be stretched out.

Sion - Pantheon looks kindly on Sion, a beast revived for war, its very humanity dull and eroded where only violence and anger remain. Pantheon would call Sion his champion of War and tell him to go slaughter in the name of war.

Other Warriors (Garen/Tryndamere/Darius/Olaf/etc) He would salute them and challenge them to combat, noting how a death at his feet is the greatest honor they can wish for.

A cool idea for VO would be that he gets a Taunt like normal champs but then you get different voice lines for ally champions when you hit taunt.

Example

Enemy Pantheon - "Atreus, you come before me again, with my very own spear. Kneel boy. A dog should recognize it's better."

Ally Pantheon - "You feel the power, let loose Atreus, show me your rage and perhaps you will be worthy of my favor."

Enemy Aatrox - "Another one of your flesh puppets for me to rend Aatrox? Pathetic!"

Ally Aatrox - "You and me against them?! Who can stand against Aspect AND Darkin?"

Enemy Leona - "You say you burn as the sun does! So then, show me your fire girl!"

Ally Leona - "The daughter of Targon and War eternal who could hope to stand against such a phalanx of spear, sword, and shield?"

I always wanted to have more interaction with allies, since you only see enemy champions every now and then, and even if you do they mostly attack you and never let you enjoy the interactions. Whereas if you play with friends you can actually enjoy this content of ally interaction. Idk why Riot has not done this before.

MODEL

The base design doesn't have to differ so much from the Legends of Runeterra Warrior design. (KEEP IT RED) Red stands for hot-headed aggression, red stands for fire, red stands for blood. Red is a color much more fitting to war than blue and the argument that Pantheon's cape is blue to show his allegiance with the stars is null and void since LoR showed us all HOW GOOD red looks on Pantheon. It fits so much better.

Some small tweaks here and there perhaps but overall the base model looks great. If the cape would be longer and more flowing like Yoric it would be great, aside from that there could be small visual design changes for reaching levels 6/11/16. Also as a longtime Pantheon main I really love the aesthetic of his face being shrouded, I dislike the new post rework Pantheon skins for that very reason. Pulsefire, Ruined and even Ascended Pantheon are all marred by the face that they show his face, when his facelessness was something that made him stand out. In this skin he should absolutely not have a face since he is a divine being that helmet should be his face, the face of war, nothing else.

The colors get brighter and hotter, to signal that Pantheon is getting supercharged with the psychic energies of war, colors would go from red-orange to bright yellow, additionally, the number of spears in his cape could also increase from 2/4/6 at levels 6/11/16 with small edits like the passive fire on spear and shield and the fire plume increasing in sizes slightly.

ADDITIONALLY

There could be a number of smaller tweaks to make the VFX stand out. Like pulling a new spear from his cape after Pantheon throws it. Or that Pantheon doesn't even throw the main spear but shoots a spear forward from his cape as he can manifest them. Voicelines like "Unstoppable, War eternal an Invincible!" could be added to his E whenever he uses it as if he mocks whoever dares attack him. "Here mortal, or just Heel!" when he stuns you.

His ult could be Pantheon coming straight down where the spear lands, instead of in an angle, and the angle is then covered by either a spear storm or meteorite shards. The straight-down Pantheon landing being a homage to Grand Skyfall. He does not land sooner and he still shoots down a spear first, but this time he just lands from above.

As for the dance, either you give him some workout to flex on people or you give him the Ricardo Milos dance. Which let's be honest, everyone wants to see.

Lore wise I think Pantheon is very important. Currently, we have Pantheon (Atreus) Diana and Taric who are all outright heroes. Aphelios serves under Diana and Zoe does not really care she does whatever she wants. Soraka while a hero lives secluded. Targon only has Leona as a villain and the celestial Pantheon would fill that slot very well. He is the god of war, he would try to rouse them all against one another and also give them a reason to unite against him. To fight together, and perhaps even be incentive enough for Leona and Diana to lay down their weapons and join forces.

Additionally, all it takes is a skin to create a champion's worth of impact on the league universe. There doesn't need to be a new champion from Targon to push the narrative forward which means less time that needs to be invested on Riots part.

Thank you for your time, I will be sitting here on my mountain top, waiting and hoping that I started a fire.

[old-archivist]

Hearler’s Field Guide Info

So apparently some one brought the plant nerds to me, so welcome. It was a burst of interest and it made me realize I haven’t really posted much on what is going to be in this. So little background. Was going to be a small project, but I have found *checks notes* 209 individually unique plants mentioned at some point in Dragon Age lore. So... thats too massive for a first time book project and I was originally wanted medicinal and alchemic plants only. Which still rounds up to somewhere around 170 plants. 

So for my sake, and the sake of being a new resource, I focused on plants unique to Thedas specifically. And let me tell you 51 is much more manageable. Still, there isn’t a lot of information on plants. Heck, some of the herbs introduced in Inquisition don’t even have a codex. So to be clear, there will be canon info. But I’m also going to be adding personal thoughts and real life botany and herbalism to flesh it out further. But I will be adding a list of sources for the information so people can find the canon stuff for their own reference. This is intended to be a source for lore nerds, fanfic writers, and just plant people who think things are neat. That said, if this goes over well I do intend to eventually put out a more exhaustive resource of all the plants (as well as make up some food recipes) for both medicinal/alchemic plants and culinary plants. Hopefully by then DA4 will be out and I can add new information and draw more pretty plants.

Oh also, this is written in universe so the “authors” are:

Petunia - a Vashoth herbalist who likes to use her poison resistance to eat things she probably shouldn’t.

Greenie - her dwarf alchemist partner who treats her when plants fight back and the brains behind making more effective recipes in the book. She really wishes Petunia would stop eating things but... you know. What can you do? 

What you can expecting the field guide once it is finished:

How to Use This Book: Basic Tools Plant Structure Harvesting Herbs Drying & Storing Herbs

Recipes Toxins and Antidotes Agents and Extracts

Seasonal Availability Types of Medicinal Herbs Biomes Speculative Designs - This is where I will explain what parts are speculative and the thought behind my decisions.

Here is the prospective page layout, and yes, the nug will be there for scale.

Yes, I also made some botanical names for them, have a sample. (Still in review but we heading somewhere :D)

I’m also fiddling with making small info things for people who want to use it for TTRPG or just RP. So stats and things like that. 

And have the parting treat of these to plant partners. Still wips but heading down the right vibe I think.

Petunia

Greenie

Anyways. If you have any questions, suggestions, or dreams of what this project (or the Healer’s Handbook) should have feel free to send it through.

[sanstropfremir]

by request, the first post-kingdom stage roundup! this one is a best to worst by group!

some introductory notes:

i’m not going to be ranking the 100sec stages in here because they are too different of a scale. but i will be talking about them as a part of the process. i’m not going to be including the team stages here either, since i talked about them in my episode seven and eight reviews and i do think they stand separately from the individual group stages, because we don’t know who the creative teams were behind them. this is not meant to be an overall best of all the performances, i’m intending this more to be a look each of the groups’ stages overall; seeing how they adapted and improved and how effective the trajectory of their journey as a whole was. also, a very important definition to make right at the start so i don't have to explain it every time: by ‘worst’ i do not mean the stage was actually bad. by ‘worst’ i literally mean ‘not the best.’ if i break it down, i’m ranking these by ‘most amount of successful components’ to ‘least amount of successful components.’ there were no stages that were actually bad or unwatchable; they were all successful in one way or another, but some of them more so. i’m ordering these in my own personal ranking of reverse who did the best overall, which obviously is not how the actual show rankings went down, but we all know my thoughts on the official rankings.

in case you want to catch up and read my more in depth thoughts, here’s all of my episode reviews: one, two (with added tbz costume breakdown), three, four, five, seven, eight, nine, ten! oh and also here’s my very first review of the dance solo performance film, since i’m also going to be referencing this a bit.

tbz

monster - the least involved with their overarching story concept and it’s stylistically the most interesting because it’s a departure from the glittery royalty concept we have primarily seen them in. it also helps that it’s a great song that they did a relatively good cover of.

kingdom come - the solidity of the choreo is the thing that puts this stage up here, because it’s some of their best. and it’s not as explicitly reliant on the game of thrones theme as their other stages.

o sole mio - this has real potential as a good small concept vaudeville themed stage; it starts off really strong and then they blow it by shoehorning in the unnecessary lore.

no air - they tried to start off with a big conceptual bang in the first round with a semi-explicit narrative, but it relies entirely too much on the viewers knowing the references for it to make any sense.

to be honest, i’m not that surprised about how tbz constructed their stages and how they turned out. i know a lot of people have been disappointed with how lackluster their stages have felt in comparison to their rtk ones, and i think that’s fair because i agree, i don’t think they ever captured the same energy they did for danger or for shangri-la. if you’ve been following along (or have just read all my reviews now) than you know most of my complaints about how tbz have been working with their lore and concepts, so i won’t rehash them here. but i do think it’s warranted to point out that theoretically, being first in rtk would logistically put you at the bottom of the initial ranking for kingdom. i know they’re not technically the youngest group, but in the execution of their stages in comparison, it does make sense to me that they come out looking as the most inexperienced group. even though they were intending to have a similar overarching story like they did on rtk, it was not at all very fleshed out and there wasn’t a strong enough connection between that story, the themes of their stages, and the narrative shapes of those stages. which is a shame because they are not unskilled performers, and they have the most members of all of the groups on the show, so they had a lot of opportunity to be doing interesting choreo and blocking work that never seemed to materialize. i also think they never truly got used to the size of the stage in comparison to the rtk stage, and they were always struggling to fill it in an intentional way. they tried valiantly to recoup their ground and bring everything together in a full circle for their last stage, and even though they somehow came in second, i think by the finale they had been worn down and lost a lot of their steam. it also doesn’t help that they lost a member to injury right near the end, which can be very demotivating, especially for a young group.

skz

god’s ddu du ddu du - the most stylistically different and interesting of the bunch, with a lot of interesting elements and well designed movement, even if the overall arc was half baked and lackluster

i’ll be your man - this was an actual attempt at a departure from their normal bluster and even though it never makes it all the way there and they don’t do that great of a cover, it’s different enough.

wolfgang - although watchable for hilarity and/or cringe value, nothing about this stage demonstrates a significant amount of growth from the first one. it fact it just feels like they injected a load more money and time into the premise of their 100sec stage, without any of the reflection that this kind of circular final stage concept should have. it’s exactly the stage of a group that’s been propelled to first in every round through an artificially inflated system.

god’s menu/side effects - the most scattered of all their stages. there’s not quite enough material to tie everything together and it feels underformed.

we all knew what the outcome of the show was going to be the moment that very first round of fan voting came in. now i don’t actually care about final outcome of the show, because the most valuable experience of a show like this is learning from what your competitors around you are doing and how to improve your work for further rounds. if the ranking system had been solely expert + judges based, all of the weekly rankings would have looked a lot different and skz would have actually had a chance to grow from this experience. but because they have the biggest and most aggressive fandom, their stages constantly ended up in first place and they never actually had the opportunity to sit back and reflect on their performances to figure out how they can do better. because the truth of the matter is that they did not have the best performances on the show. they consistently made stylistically stagnant stages and never managed to correct any of the issues that have been plaguing them since the 100sec round. the closest they got was god’s ddu du ddu du, which was aesthetically the most different and had the most interesting subversions of the stage format, even if it ultimately fell flat because they still missed the mark on managing the shape of the narrative. if you watch all their stages back to back you’ll see that there’s an overreliance on the same types of stylistic decisions and thematic elements, including in the sound and feel of the work. this is a bit hard to explain, but even though the stages all look different, they don’t convey any nuanced emotion or intention other than ‘stray kids world domination.’ now nuanced intention is not necessary for a kpop song performance, but skz took it upon themselves to try and tackle some fairly complex thematic ideas, which is commendable, but they fall flat because the members themselves don’t know how to act. and acting is supremely important when you are doing themed stages. i talked about this same principle in this response about orange caramel and wjsn chocome, but most newer idols don’t approach performing as a character, they approach performing as themselves, and skz are big victims of this. that’s why even i’ll be your man, where they do actually attempt to be a bit more nuanced in their delivery, still comes off like all their other stages. they don’t ever push themselves beyond their performance boundaries (physically yes, obviously. i mean mentally) and so every stage has a little checklist of skz-specific personality traits that round out in the bigger picture to the same general feel. this kind of strategy works great for music shows and for general promotion because it’s super marketable, but in this particular setting, where we spend an extended amount of time with all the groups, it doesn’t facilitate the same amount of growth that letting those of personas go would.

ikon

at ease - really clear cumulation of their performance, group colour, and design elements over the entire show.

classy savage - well designed and decorated with an interesting concept, but has a few flaws that keep it from being their best work.

inception - again, very well designed; the set is so inventive and features a lot of carefully blocked movement, plus the colour palette is tight and used effectively, it just doesn’t reach the same scale as the latter two stages.

love scenario/killing me - it’s the first stage and it clearly suffers from a bit of underd evelopment as they were getting used to the format of the show. it’s still an interesting and well performed stage with the start of elements that we can see them develop further in the next rounds.

ikon had the most lackadaisical attitude toward the whole show, which i think was the best way to approach it, but also they didn’t really push much beyond their boundaries as performers. i’m not faulting them for not wanting to, they’re a very well established group and honestly don’t really need improve on anything. they did however, do a really great job of improving on their design quality and intergration after the first round, which is the one thing that this program definitely facilitates for. they’re also the only group where their finale stage was demonstrably their best stage, so they really did nail that slow improvement progression. they got what they wanted out of the show, which was new friends and a chance to make some fun stages that they wouldn’t have otherwise been able to. like i think i’ve said in every other review, there’s not that much to say about them as a whole because they just put their noses to the grindstone and did the work while maintaining a chill and fun demeanour, and those efforts paid off even if they didn’t end up ranking very high.

sf9

the stealer - great integration of theme into narrative and design, small scale concept with big impact.

believer - smart use of camera work and choreography in conjunction with the design elements. although not very narrative focused, it’s a clear and thoughtful elaboration on their intro stage that’s very well executed.

move - a risky choice that pays off fairly well for them, even if it doesn’t capture all the depth that it could have.

jealous - it’s their first stage of the competition and the first time they had worked on something of this scale before, so it only makes sense that it’s the weakest of their run. despite that, it shows a strong understanding of an unusual concept and it still holds up.

sf9 were the clear underdogs of everyone and the rankings pretty clearly reflected that. but as a group they really put in the work to improve their skills and i think they showed the most dramatic improvement of everyone, especially between the first and second rounds. they repeatedly made comments about how they were focused on creating good stages and it paid off. their stages were all conceptually and visually interesting without relying on much external lore or overly dense themes, even if some of them were more effective than others. they had a lot of strong emphasis on costume in particular and they were very well styled. their finale stage was a very clear synthesis of all of the experience and knowledge they gained over the course of the show and it wraps a neat aesthetic and thematic bow on their journey. they absolutely did not deserve last place; they were the ones hardest hit by the fan voting system and i hope that the group doesn’t internalize the official outcome too much, because they did a lot of good work that they should be proud of and deserves a higher due than it was given.

ateez

rhythm ta - simple concept with a clear narrative that uses a lot of visual referencing as exposition without being cluttered and too reliant on the source material. impeccable use of limited design elements to create atmosphere and it’s a strong reinvention of the song.

wonderland - an absolute banger of a first stage that does all the same things as rhythm ta just to a slightly less polished scale.

ode to joy - both stylistically and tonally a departure, this stage relies a lot on group lore but also has a very clear message that was surprising for its maturity and temerity.

the real - purposefully pulled back in scale and ambition as a pointed critique of the competition as a whole. looser in design aesthetic synthesis but has more freedom for the members to show more dynamism in the group’s abilities and colour.

the youngest of the six groups, i don’t think anyone was expecting ateez to come out swinging in the way that they did. oh, we were all expecting them to put up a fight, but i know that i wasn’t expecting much beyond the capabilities of what we’d seen from skz and tbz, since they all share the dubious honour of being similar aesthetic performance based fourth gen groups. but oh baby did they prove us all wrong. the fact that they have incredible performance abilities and stage presence is what carried them half of the way, but they also proved to have a top notch creative team working behind them that knew how to visually craft a great performance. wonderland and rhythm ta are two of the smartest designed stages, and i’d put rhythm ta as the best designed stage, because it does so much in such a small amount of time. this ranking was tough because all of their stages intentionally prove a point and i dont think there are any that are demonstrably weaker. wonderland and rhythm ta served to prove that they had the capacity to keep up with their seniors, and that they were ambitious and hungry and had a solid team foundation. both stages ranked them first in non-fan judging and once they saw how the fan judging skews the final results, they smartly and ambitiously made a choice in the round BEFORE the finale to make a stage that rebuffs the laurels of the competition show they were at the pinnacle of, specifically for their fans. there is so much care and thought put into the ode to joy stage that it feels wrong to rank it as their third best, especially when it also contains one of the greatest 40 seconds of acting i’ve ever seen on a kpop stage. just the dichotomy of the stage’s melancholy feel with the choice of song is so compelling, and in its context as a part of the whole now the show is over.... i’m out of words. the brain on the person who came up with this, i would LOVE to talk to them. and having the real as a followup stage? where they have the freedom to have fun and be stylistically themselves while thumbing their noses at the show? a perfect follow up and rounding out of the expression of their abilities.

btob

back door - perfect. simple concept and simple narrative extremely well executed. excellent attention to detail and atmosphere.

show and prove - perfect reflection of their journey on the show as a whole.

blue moon - same as back door, just with a slightly larger scale.

missing you - only last because it doesn’t have the same strength of narrative and design concept as the other three stages. it’s still a better stage than 80% of the stages on the show.

we all know this, but btob are the real kings. all of their stages were phenomenal and they all hit my personal top ten, so this ranking is more of a ‘which stage was the best of the best.’ they did an incredible job of playing to their strengths and they knew exactly what they needed to do in order to craft the best performance. this was actually very difficult for me to decide because they never fucking missed. watching missing you for the first time in like two months smacked me right upside the head because that stage is beautiful. the intro in the forest with changsub and eunkwang is fucking gorgeous; the lighting and atmospherics are so effective and the trees do an incredible job of obscuring the stage architecture. and their costumes. this stage screams elegance in a way that no other stage managed to capture and this was the first round. and i’m putting last on this list, which should be telling about the quality of their work. and honestly it only goes up from here. they took that one maybe valid expert critique that they got of utilizing more narrative and they RAN with it. i put back door as first because it juuuuust inches out blue moon and show and prove for smart camera work, but honestly all three of these stages could take top spot, they’re of equal rank.

btob came into this show at a pretty distinct disadvantage: they’re old, and there’s only four of them. and as we know, thanks to rtk and the fourth gen groups, this show has a reputation for big acrobatic blowout spectacles, which is just not something they can do. but they also had a distinct advantage: they’re old and there’s only four of them. they very smartly foresaw that they wouldn’t be able to compete with the fourth gen groups in athletic ability, so they specifically chose to highlight the areas they were the strongest in, which you can see right from the start. their intro stage specifically highlights their vocals, and even in minhyuk’s dance solo the design is music show themed, as a gentle reminder that they know how to work a stage. and as the show progressed they started to solidify that assumption. they used narrative extremely well to give their stages an element of emotional investment that kept the audience engaged without banking on individual idols’ popularity to keep them afloat, and spent their time on the show being gracious and generous competitors, intent on being as watchable offstage as they were on. and it worked. by the time the finale rolled around, we knew who these men were and we had seen them be individuals, so they were able to cast off the need to play to narrative and to character and instead they were able to loop back around to that very first stage; simple, clean, emphasis on vocals, with a very important addition of uniformity. the current trend in kpop costuming is to have group members dressed similarly, but not exactly the same, partially in order to be able to everyone apart, but also because the ‘sameness’ of the boy band model has fallen by the wayside. btob took all their previous stages where they had clearly been individuals and as the culmination of their journey they chose to look exactly the same, to clearly send a message that they are a singular unit and they are proud of that. and they absolutely stuck the landing. this was a perfect run for btob, they should be really fucking proud of the work they did.

[splicejunction]

Please tell me about shatterstar's Childhood

oh my god anon okay I’m assuming in context of what I’ve recently posted you want like... my version of events rather than what’s canon but just in case I hope you know that there’s basically zero canon material that actually describes his childhood/young adulthood beyond “I was a warrior born” or whatever the fuck. if you want to know about that idk go on the fucken... marvel wiki page or something

also--I hate that I have to put this out here and I doubt anyone would actually do this but just in case--I have spent like 1 million hours thinking about this because I have brain disorders and it is very close to my heart so please do not A) use this in fics, etc without letting me know/getting my permission in advance or B) reblog this post

anyways. this is a can of worms so I’m going to do a cheeky lil

first we have to get something out of the way: I hate the “shatterstar’s his own grandpa” paradox. I am sorry if this angers people but it makes me mad so I ignore it. the reason it bothers me is because it means alison blaire essentially married her grandson, which is A) weird and B) bad from a genetics perspective.

in my version of canon ‘star IS the biological child of longshot and dazzler but longshot wasn’t cloned using ‘star’s DNA because..... oh god... another whole separate post can be made about this but... in my head, on mojoworld the way genetic engineering works is not really the same as it is here. here genetic engineering generally means taking an existing genome and inserting or deleting genes. this is how they make, for example, animals that glow, or confer pesticide resistance to plants.

but on mojoworld I think the way they genetically engineer is more like... the way we mechanically engineer. like the entire organism is built from the ground up. there’s a master genetic blueprint which is essentially the “minimal genome” required for a functioning humanoid. this was created by study of Earth humans by arize and the other genetic engineers. they can then go in and customize by adding elements to the genome that code for the signals/building blocks that control things like height, strength, hair color, eye color, having hollow bones etc. so in my head longshot was sort of... designed with ‘star as the inspiration, but not directly cloned. that wouldn’t even make sense anyways because A) different hair color and B) LONGSHOT HAS 3 FINGERS ON EACH HAND and shatterstar has 4!! thats NOT HOW CLONES WOULD WORK!!!!

(side note, the concept of a minimal functional genome is a real thing in biology! some scientists have taken a bacterium that already has a small genome and reduced it to the minimum size required for viability. here is a wikipedia article on it and here is the original paper (DOI: 10.1126/science.286.5447.2165) which I can explain in more detail because I took a class on synthetic biology which this technically falls under and I had to read this paper very closely).

fuck I’ve written 4 paragraphs and not even talked about his childhood yet. I am so sorry. anyways. so the way I think they raise the gladiators on mojoworld is they create them in batches of 5 to 10 identical copies of a certain “model”, place each copy in a different “class” with a set of 2-3 mentors/teachers, and train them to fight until they are 13 or 14. until this time the only names they have are the names that identify the “model”--like for shatterstar that would be gaveedra-seven where the model identifier is “gaveedra” and he is (in the lore that I have come up with) the 7th of 8 total.

the reason they create multiples and put them in different classes is each mentor is going to have a slightly different style of teaching which is going to work better for some and worse for others, so it allows them to have more mass production while increasing the chances of creating a truly great champion. it’s classic nature versus nurture--the genetic engineers create your nature, but you don’t end up exactly the same as others of your model. maybe you get an edge, maybe you don’t.

another thing that happens is different mentors believe in different ways of raising the kids in their care. shatterstar specifically was raised in a class where there was absolutely zero emotional development at all and no attachments allowed beyond fighting alliances. that’s not the case in all classes, and it also had the effect of making him somewhat of an outsider even within the other gladiators as he got older.

at 13 or 14--and yes I realize this is very fucked up but dude its fucking mojoworld idk what you expected--they start participating in fights. the first ones aren’t to the death and they’re as teams and they’re not usually televised they’re more like high school sports games that are attended by scouts (here, they’re “sponsors”--I think that’s a canonical term but I honestly can’t remember) and if you get sponsored you leave your class and join a new “team” that’s really just a bunch of people who all have the same sponsorship. this is where things can get interesting because they’ve all been raised with slightly different fighting styles but more importantly, slightly different degrees of Personhood.

also at this point I should mention that by this time, there are usually only 2, maybe 3 of each model left. either they died or were recognized as not having talent so they were sent to eventually fulfill other roles in the network. in ‘star’s case there was just him and gaveedra-five. once you get to the stage where you’re sponsored and you’re actually fighting to the death one of the first people you’ll fight is any remaining members of your model group.

by the time you’re the only one left of your group, you’re also eligible to earn a stage name. this usually happens if you have a particularly epic fight with a lot of viewers, you win and the commentators will typically say something like “Let’s give this crowd a real name to cheer!” and they’ll have a few candidate names and they’ll kind of just pick one. AUGH I actually have this scene written out in story form but its too long so I think I’ll save it.... :) 

after you get a name you also get a cool outfit and usually some kind of mark or tattoo that serves as a brand. this brings me to another important point--shatterstar inherited the X-gene from alison and therefore he IS a mutant. his mutation is the swords vibration thing and the glowing eye. the star mark is a tattoo and teleportation is benjamin russell’s mutation (how he fits into all this is... for another post). basically after he got his name the costuming department guys were like “hey your eye glows, you look like the Legendary Warrior of Old, Longshot, we’re gonna pattern your look after him” so they gave him the star tattoo and the outfit that’s literally inverse colors of longshot’s.

also this brings me to another aside: you’re probably wondering “if he’s the biological kid of longshot and alison how are there 8 gaveedras?” when the genetic engineers got a hold on him as a baby they were like Sick! free baby! free genetic material! thats our job done for us! so they cloned him (in the traditional sense) and made 7 copies. this was also to kind of conceal his identity as technically being from outside mojoworld, which would make him stick out and thus be a target. they DID edit out the x-gene in the other gaveedra models though. this wasn’t a problem for ‘star because his mutation didn’t manifest until he was already sponsored.

I think that’s .... pretty much it for macroscopic lore on what it was like to be a kid gladiator on mojoworld. now let me give you some Tidbits of his life specifically:

like I said he was raised in a particularly cold and ruthless class. the mentors that raised him are like well-known by everyone to produce some of the best warriors but also there’s discourse on mojoworld because some people say perfectly emotionless killing machines aren’t as fun to watch. when he was sponsored there were 4-5 others in the same sponsorship and they were like Theres Something Wrong With You LOL

they speak earth languages on mojoworld because they’re imitating the broadcasts they (the spineless ones) used to hear from earth. however, most of the lower-class as well as almost all arena fighters and other television personalities speak cadre or other languages which are native to the planet. the stage names are all vaguely in english, but the gladiators don’t really understand them at first.

shatterstar got his name before he got the glowing eye, and when he learned what stars are, and saw his eye as a little star, he was like wow :) this is Me :) which is why that name is so important to him. it’s also one of the first things that wholly belonged to him.

(you can’t see stars on mojoworld because of light pollution and also because it’s a pocket dimension and there just aren’t that many stars to see)

I hate to bring up the s**ley miniseries but I do think it would be interesting to have him have a sort of ... mentor/first friend, similar to the concept of gringrave but they were NOT in a relationship. it was more like... another kid who was a year or so older than him got a soft spot for him and helped him not be so clueless. she didn’t make as much progress as xforce did, obviously. but they were.... something like friends.

unfortunately she was used by spiral to get shatterstar to murder the first rebel guy who tried to get him out of there. then she got switched sponsors (this can happen) and he had to kill her, and he was like well I will simply never develop any kind of attachment to anyone ever again.

he almost didn’t make it out of the first training session with his sponsorship group (this is semi-canon--there’s a reference when he’s teaching terry to swordfight to almost not surviving the first time he was in a gladiator class or whatever it was).

the closest he ever came to losing was the day he got the name. that’s why the crowds loved it so much.

the double-bladed sword was a gimmick weapon but when he got his mutation they realized it works way better if there’s resonance between two parallel blades so they redesigned it as an actual weapon.

(forgot this but I feel like I should include it) at 17 he escaped the arenas and joined the cadre alliance. two years later he came to earth and joined xforce.

I think that’s going to have to be it for now because it’s literally almost midnight and I have work tomorrow and I did NOT intend to stay up this late but I did. thank you for this opportunity anon :) feel free to ask me any other questions and also I realize a lot of this probably makes no fucking sense and that’s because I am not a writer or anything I’m just a biochemist with brain problems that cause me to obsess over stupid shit

[busghost]

Fu Hua’s very long lore

She’s more than 50,000 years old, what did you expect?

Also I cried rereading the manga for this so you better appreciate it.

VERY LONG POST

Sources

https://manga.honkaiimpact3.com/book/1018/3

Fu Hua origin story

https://manga.honkaiimpact3.com/book/1012/1

Story to make you cry, please read it. It’s so good.

https://manga.honkaiimpact3.com/book/1020

Fu Hua makes a school.

https://manga.honkaiimpact3.com/book/1011

Fu Hua kicking Schicksal’s collective ass.

https://manga.honkaiimpact3.com/book/1005

The Second Eruption Manga because it’s connected to literally everything in the story. No I’m not exaggerating. Please read it, it’s so good.

https://manga.honkaiimpact3.com/book/1010

Fu Hua the secret agent.

I will be spoiling parts of all of the above.

Previous Era of Civilization

Fu Hua’s story starts 50,000 years ago in her home city of Sapphire, a Honkai eruption had occurred and she had hidden from the beasts and was one of the few survivors. She was found by Himeko, the leader of Squadron V in MOTH, and she offered to teach Fu Hua how to fight the Honkai. A year later Himeko was corrupted by the Honkai and became the 7th Herrscher, the Herrscher of Flame and was killed by Kevin Kaslana. Fu Hua was the only survivor of Squadron V after their leader became a Herrscher and was mistrusted by other members of MOTH, calling her the “Firewytch’s Little Bird”, because she and Himeko were close.

Later Fu Hua was assigned with a group of other MOTH soldiers to take back a mine in Australia. They were going to be given 10th Divine Key weapons as they had begun being mass produced, and told that it was a field trial for the Divine Keys. They were given an injection before the mission and sent off.

(note: there are multiple 10th Divine Keys because the 10th Herrscher took over many bodies, thus there are multiple Herrscher cores to weapons)

When they arrived they had no problems killing smaller Honkai beasts but then the massive Emperor class Honkai beast Gensha appeared and killed everyone, the Divine Keys being wielded by regular humans had no effect on such a strong Honkai beast.

When Fu Hua confronted Ganesha her Divine Key shattered and she was thrown against a building but unlike the other soldiers the metamorph ICHOR which they had injected into the soldiers before the mission took hold and Fu Hua became a MANTIS soldier, adding Honkai genes to her human DNA. Her shattered 10th Divine Key also changed form from a Xuanyuan Sword to the Grips of Taixuan.

DR. MEI also gave Fu Hua the 8th Divine Key, Fenghuang Down; it creates illusions/ dreams that Fu Hua can trap her targets in. She is also seen using it to power up normal attacks, or perform attacks that are impossible, such as cutting out a man’s tongue when she’s tied up and he tries to assault her. She also put herself/a copy of herself in somebody else’s mind using Fenghuang Down.

After this we know she fought the Honkai as a MANTIS like Kevin Kaslana, the previous era Sakura or Su did. She also took part in the final battle against the  14th Herrscher, the Herrscher of the End, on the Moon. After the previous era’s final defeat at the hands of the Herrscher of the End, Fu Hua and the remaining Humans went underground and into cryostasis to wait for the 4th Divine Key to heal the damage Honkai had done to the Earth.

Current Era of Civilization

Sometime around when human civilization reappeared was when the survivors from the Previous Era reemerged from cryostasis. When exactly isn’t shown but we are shown panels in the manga of Su and Kevin in Ancient Egypt and Rome/Greece.

Fu Hua, Fuxi, and Nuwa are in charge of aiding human civilization around China and they’ve set up base in Shenzhou. They were in charge of Project EMBER, a project meant to speed up the development of human civilization. Fuxi and Nuwa were also entrusted with a 10th Divine Key and tasked with giving it to a person of this era who could wield it, they picked a young woman with a stigmata Ji Xuanyuan. Fuxi and Nuwa also created the Phoenix image for Fu Hua to have to make her a legend

Fuxi and Nuwa weren’t MANTIS soldiers unlike Fu Hua so they would age and die. They didn’t want Fu Hua to become lonely when they were gone so they make the ELF Book of Fuxi to keep her company.

Unfortuntely because the Honkai grows with civilization Project EMBER sped up the growth of the Honkai and gave birth to the Judgement class Honkai beast Chiyou. Nuwa and Fuxi died to stop it and Ji Xuanyuan was trapped inside the beast. Project EMBER was cancelled and Fu Hua became the Immortal Celestial, Phoenix, Protector of Shenzhou to protect China because that’s what she promised she’d do.

Fu Hua also starts a school to teach people how to combat the Honkai. It was Book of Fuxi’s final request.

In the late 1400s Schicksal has solidified its control over Europe and wants more, so they decide to head east. Schicksal and the Ming Empire fight in the Eurasian steppe from 1470-1475 but then Fu Hua shows up and defeats Schicksal’s army single-handed. She also defeats Kallen Kaslana in single combat and call her out for using the Oath of Judah against humans.

Now we get to the visual novel. It’s not translated but I’ll give a brief summary of what I know from hearsay. Fu Hua is betrayed by her students and killed in an extremely gory description that includes organs outside of the body and exposed brains. Luckily a few cells are left alive, so she can heal back from that, due to being a MANTIS soldier. She sets out looking for answers as to why she was betrayed. She also meets Otto Apocalypse, who is wandering the world after Kallen’s death. I don’t know what happens beyond that.

Mihoyo please translate your shit.

Anyway, Fu Hua continues protecting civilization in Shenzhou. She also adopts and trains Cheng Lixue sometime in the 1990s but then also abandons her.

the Second Honkai War

(again seriously, read the Second Eruption Manga)

The Second Honkai War is where we see how terrifyingly powerful Fu Hua is.

When Otto mobilizes all of Schicksal to defeat Sirin, because she had gained 6 Herrscher cores and the situation had gotten really out of hand. He also calls upon his old friend Fu Hua, because Sirin has the Gem of Serenity, the core of the Herrscher of Death and Otto believes he needs the Herrscher of Death to revive Kallen.

Otto, Cheng Lixue, and Fu Hua personally confront Sirin on top of Babylon labs where they confront the Herrscher of the Void directly. Fu Hua immediately traps her in a dream world and fights her in the dream world and kills her there, making her think she’s dead. Then Otto fucks everything up by letting Sirin get in touch with God and she free’s Sirin from Fu Hua’s dream, so Fu Hua creates an attack so powerful Sirin that God has to shield her from the blow. Sirin had to be saved by deus ex machina.

Luckily Fu Hua’s punch did sever Sirin’s connection to God. Unfortunately, she burnt up so much of the 8th Divine Key she lost her memories. Sirin also left the dream world with control over some of the powers of the 8th Divine Key.

When she exits the dream world she doesn’t remember who Cheng Lixue is and Cheng Lixue sacrifices herself to let Otto escape with the unconscious Fu Hua. 

By the time the 2nd Honkai War is over, Fu Hua wakes up and runs away from Schicksal but she has nowhere else to go. She has lost a great deal of her power and is dying as well, so she has to rely on Schicksal to defend Shenzhou because her promise to do so is all she really remembers. She basically has to become Otto’s personal lackey in order to ensure her home’s safety.

In 2014, Kiana and the gang are at St. Freya and Fu Hua takes Kiana on a mission with her under the guise of it being easy. A Schicksal scientist has defected and taken the Gem of Serenity with him to neutral Singapore to escape to Anti-Entropy territory. Fu Hua has to get it back. Fu Hua kills a pervy clone of the 1st Herrscher and Kiana gets to the Gem first. Kiana is possessed by the Herrscher of the Void because the the Gem of Serenity was returned to her. (Kiana is Sirin, want that explained? Ask me or go read the 2nd Eruption Manga). Fu Hua beats her up and gets the Gem back, saving Kiana. The whole purpose of Fu Hua’s mission was actually to make sure that the Herrscher could get the Gem of Serenity.

Stuff That Happens in Game (spoilers for Chapter 4 onwards until the end of the post)

After Chapter 4 in the game Fu Hua uses the 8th Divine Key to go into Bronya’s mind to help her put her mind back together after Bronya destroys the chip in her brain to stop Cocolia from being able to mind control her.

Chapters 5 and 6 are both illusions created by the Herrscher of the Void using the small part 8th Divine Key she stole from Fu Hua in the Second Honkai War. When the Herrscher of the Void begins to awaken within Kiana at the end of Chapter 6, Fu Hua kidnaps Kiana takes her Schicksal HQ. Fu Hua fights for Otto in the beginning and captures Himeko. She uses the 8th Divine Key to heal Himeko after their fight then goes to save her friends, then Otto kills her for betraying him.

BUT all those people she’s used the 8th Divine Key on still have a copy of her in their heads. So Himeko is guided around Schicksal HQ by Fu Hua and given the means to save Kiana from the Herrscher of the Void. Bronya is saved from Grey Serpent by the Fu Hua in her head. Kiana has the Fu Hua in her head throughout ARC City until Fu Hua fights Kevin to let Kiana escape. And now Kevin has that Fu Hua as a feather.

Where does that leave us now?

At least one copy of Fu Hua still exists in feather form. Kevin says he’ll wake her up when it’s all over, in reference to defeating the Honkai.

The Fu Hua in Bronya’s head doesn’t seem to be explicitly gone.

If you’re in the “Himeko’s not dead” crowd then she’d still be there but,, Himeko.

And if it’s possible for her body to come back from near-death again then that’s a possibility but she was extremely weak when she died compared to when she healed the last time.

Anyway, Phoenix is the Hottest Thing There Is.