#also THE LAST ONE??? is LOCKED BEHIND A DIFFERENT QUEST???

[unfortunatelyilikebnha]

Guess who just checked all 76 aranara locations in one sitting 🥰 <- do not do this

[wisteria-lodge]

Since you’ve talked about Molly and Draco, can you talk about Snape as well? When you said that there was a disconnect with Snape’s character I honestly wasn’t sure if you meant the audience was supposed to like him more or less than they actually do.

This is a complicated one, because Book 1-3 Snape and Book 5-7 Snape are written so differently that I actually want to talk about them as two separate characters. 

Book 1-3 Snape… kind of sucks. Maybe he sucks in a way you find funny (which I completely get. A lot of comedy - especially British comedy - revolves around finding the humor in really *mean* people. Snape is *written* to be funny in a dry, acerbic, Roald Dahl kind of way.) But maybe Snape sucks in a way that’s not fun for you, he’s just upsetting and cruel. Either way, he’s petty, unfair, a bully, completely unreasonable, and doesn’t really appear to have any redeeming qualities. Snape protects Harry in Book 1 only because James Potter saved his life and, according to Dumbledore:  

“Professor Snape couldn’t bear being in your father’s debt. . . . I do believe he worked so hard to protect you this year because he felt that would make him and your father even. Then he could go back to hating your father’s memory in peace. . . .” 

Later on, Snape’s motivation will become “Protect Harry because you couldn’t protect Lily.” But there’s no hint of that here.

I actually think it’s very likely that ‘Snape was in love with Lily’ is a plotline added during Book 4, because 1-3 Snape’s motivation is so completely focused on JAMES. He hates Harry because he looks like James, he hates James because (according to Lupin) he’s “jealous, I think, of James’s talent on the Quidditch field.” Within the context of the series it’s easy to say that Lupin is lying, and with good reason… but in the context of the first three books, I think that’s just meant to be true? Snape, as we know, is a stealth quidditch hooligan the way McGonagall is. Also… James’ characterization shifts around. He’s not a bully in the first three books, he’s Head Boy… and that Head Boy thing doesn’t quite gel with what we hear from Sirius later: 

“No one would have made me a prefect, I spent too much time in detention with James. Lupin was the good boy, he got the badge.”

(I know JKR plans things out in advance, but she absolutely does change things on the fly. Arthur Weasley not getting killed by Nagini is an easy example that we definitely know about. And come on - the entire last book is a Deathly Hallows fetch-quest. Was there really no way to slip in a reference to Beedle the Bard - or a super-powerful semi-mythical wand - anywhere in the first six books?) 

So, in books 1-3, there's no hint that Snape is a potion prodigy, particularly powerful, or even particularly clever. He wrote a logic puzzle and “knows an awful lot about the Dark Arts.” But that’s it. “Potion Master” isn’t an advanced rank, it’s just the posh British boarding school way of saying “teacher.” (Like headmaster = head teacher.) Early Snape is also a lot more *emotional* than he is later on, when his ability to “Master yourself!... control your anger, discipline your mind!” becomes extremely plot relevant. Like, can you picture 5-7 Snape (or Alan Rickman, who plays a distinctly later-books Snape) doing any of this? 

Snape was beside himself. “OUT WITH IT, POTTER!” he bellowed. “WHAT DID YOU DO?”  “Professor Snape!” shrieked Madam Pomfrey. “Control yourself!”  “See here, Snape, be reasonable,” said Fudge. “This door’s been locked, we just saw —”  “THEY HELPED HIM ESCAPE, I KNOW IT!” Snape howled, pointing at Harry and Hermione. His face was twisted; spit was flying from his mouth.  “Calm down, man!” Fudge barked. “You’re talking nonsense!”  “YOU DON’T KNOW POTTER!” shrieked Snape. “HE DID IT, I KNOW HE DID IT —”

In Movie 3, Snape gets a cool protective moment where he shoves the kids behind him during the werewolf attack. In Book 3, Snape is unconscious during the entire werewolf attack because Harry, Ron and Hermione simultaneously decide he’s too dangerous, and too much of a liability to keep around. Here are are some bangers from Book 3 Snape: 

- “Don’t ask me to fathom the way a werewolf’s mind works.”   - “KEEP QUIET, YOU STUPID GIRL!” Snape shouted, looking suddenly quite deranged. “DON’T TALK ABOUT WHAT YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND!” - “Up to the castle?... I don’t think we need to go that far. All I have to do is call the dementors once we get out of the Willow. They’ll be very pleased to see you, Black . . . pleased enough to give you a little Kiss, I daresay. . . .”  - “I’ll drag the werewolf. Perhaps the dementors will have a Kiss for him too —”

If you sort of squint you can maybe say - okay, maybe this is a PTSD response. Like I’m writing a Snape POV fic right now, you can make it work. But it’s not work the books do for you, and it’s not the characterization choice they make in the films. 

BUT. Snape goes through a little bit of a revamp/retcon in Book 4. It’s totally deliberate - he’s Book 1-3 Snape at the beginning, then he basically vanishes from the narrative… the reader kind of forgets about him…  until it comes up during Karkaroff’s trial that Dumbledore ABSOLUTELY trusts him, even though he was a Death Eater. So now when Snape turns up at the climax - he’s a figure of intrigue, and it makes sense that he’s one of the two people Dumbledore brings with him to deal with Barty. Honestly, it’s a pretty cool magic trick. We buy it when - instead of hissing and spitting and hopping around like he does when he confronts Fudge at the end of Book 3 - Book 4 Snape deals with Fudge like this: 

Snape strode forward… pulling up the left sleeve of his robes as he went. He stuck out his forearm and showed it to Fudge, who recoiled.  “There,” said Snape harshly. “There. The Dark Mark. It is not as clear as it was an hour or so ago, when it burned black, but you can still see it. (...) This Mark has been growing clearer all year. Karkaroff’s too. Why do you think Karkaroff fled tonight? We both felt the Mark burn. We both knew he had returned. Karkaroff fears the Dark Lord’s vengeance.”

Calm, collected, focused. This is a character who you’re supposed to take seriously, a character who you are supposed to respect. 

I think it’s very interesting that after Book 4, we don’t see Snape *bully* the students during class again. He’s strict, and he’s a hard grader, and Harry still thinks he’s unfair, but like… the narrative framing is on his side now. 

“Tell me, Potter,” said Snape softly, “can you read?”  Draco Malfoy laughed.  “Yes, I can,” said Harry, his fingers clenched tightly around his wand.  “Read the third line of the instructions for me, Potter.”  Harry squinted at the blackboard(… ) His heart sank. He had not added syrup of hellebore, but had proceeded straight to the fourth line of the instructions after allowing his potion to simmer for seven minutes.  “Did you do everything on the third line, Potter?” “No,” said Harry very quietly.  “I beg your pardon?” “No,” said Harry, more loudly. “I forgot the hellebore...”  “I know you did, Potter, which means that this mess is utterly worthless. Evanesco.” The contents of Harry’s potion vanished; he was left standing foolishly beside an empty cauldron. “Those of you who have managed to read the instructions, fill one flagon with a sample of your potion, label it clearly with your name, and bring it up to my desk for testing.” (...)  “That was really unfair,” said Hermione consolingly, sitting down next to Harry  (...) “Yeah, well,” said Harry, glowering at his plate, “since when has Snape ever been fair to me?”

Like he isn’t nice, but he also isn’t asking Harry questions he can’t possibly know the answers to, threatening to kill someone’s pet, or calling Hermione ugly. He didn’t even take away house points. And - during the next lesson, we are told that the approach Snape took with Harry actually worked?

Determined not to give Snape an excuse to fail him this lesson, Harry read and reread every line of the instructions on the blackboard at least three times before acting on them. His Strengthening Solution was not precisely the clear turquoise shade of Hermione’s but it was at least blue rather than pink, like Neville’s, and he delivered a flask of it to Snape’s desk at the end of the lesson with a feeling of mingled defiance and relief. 

I want to do one more close read, on a excerpt from Book 5: 

Harry realized how much Professor McGonagall cared about beating Slytherin when she abstained from giving them homework in the week leading up to the match. (...)  Nobody could quite believe their ears until she looked directly at Harry and Ron and said grimly, “I’ve become accustomed to seeing the Quidditch Cup in my study, boys, and I really don’t want to have to hand it over to Professor Snape, so use the extra time to practice, won’t you?” Snape was no less obviously partisan: He had booked the Quidditch pitch for Slytherin practice so often that the Gryffindors had difficulty getting on it to play. He was also turning a deaf ear to the many reports of Slytherin attempts to hex Gryffindor players in the corridors. When Alicia Spinnet turned up in the hospital wing with her eyebrows growing so thick and fast that they obscured her vision and obstructed her mouth, Snape insisted that she must have attempted a Hair-Thickening Charm on herself and refused to listen to the fourteen eyewitnesses who insisted that they had seen the Slytherin Keeper, Miles Bletchley, hit her from behind with a jinx.

This has a very similar structure to the sequence when Snape refuses to punish Draco for enlarging Hermione’s teeth. Slytherins and Gryffindors having an altercation, Gryffindor girl gets caught in the crossfire. BUT a few key things have been changed. One - the section is told in second-hand narration, which makes it less emotional than the teeth-scene. Two - the section begins with comparing Snape to McGonagall: she’s being biased/helping out her students too, so it’s only fair if he does it as well. Three - his insult isn’t “Your face has always looked like that,” it’s “You must have messed up a spell,” which is a lot less personal, and a lot less mean. (If anything, Snape is subtly insulting her for casting a cosmetic charm/being too girly… and being a girly-girl is an inherently suspect characteristic in JKR’s world.) Everything about this passage is set up to create a “Snape the Bully” moment… that kind of excuses Snape. 

So, what do we have? There are the people that think Book 1-3 Snape just went too far, and you can soften the narrative framing around him, and you can add in as many tragic backstories as you want, and it doesn’t really matter. THAT is definitely not what JKR wants you to think. She wants to bring you along for the ride, and (as you can tell from the framing) she's started to like Snape a lot.

HOWEVER. I do not think that the fan who likes 5-7 Alan Rickman Snape is… quite seeing the same thing she is. I get the sense that in the text, Snape’s tragic backstory is not meant to *explain* his bad behavior so much as it is meant to *excuse* it. He stays mean and bad-tempered… but he’s allowed to be, both because he is always acting in service to a Good Cause, and because he was abused at home, bullied at school, etc. A big part of why I think JKR likes writing Snape so much (and why she’s so protective of him) is because she finds something cathartic in letting a character be nasty… but for it to be allowed because they’ve suffered, and also because they're in the right. Sadly I think this describes a lot of her current online interactions. 

JKR also loves the idea of *pining.* (It is crazy how long the main characters’ pining/longing/will-they-won’t-they thing in the Cormoran Strike books has lasted.) It’s a very safe kind of romance, and (again, sadly) you can tell from her writing that romance is not generally something that feels safe to her. Snape is sometimes characterized by those who dislike the character as an incel-type who wants to possess Lily, and I just don’t think that’s in the text. If anything it’s the other way around. Snape has some unconsummated, medieval courtly love thing going on, where he has decided to live his life in Lily’s service. 

I wrote about why I think Draco Malfoy (unintentionally) appeals to fans. With Snape…  I actually think a lot of his current (unintentional) appeal comes from the way a softer Snape reframes the narrative into something more complex, and especially the way it reframes Dumbledore. Manipulative/Morally Grey Dumbledore is a *very* popular fan interpretation, and the way you get that is with a sympathetic Severus Snape. 

“You disgust me,” said Dumbledore, and Harry had never heard so much contempt in his voice. Snape seemed to shrink a little. (...)  “Hide them all, then,” he croaked. “Keep her — them — safe. Please.”  “And what will you give me in return, Severus?”  “In — in return?” Snape gaped at Dumbledore, and Harry expected him to protest, but after a long moment he said, “Anything.”

The implications here are really far reaching. Because to me, the main question when it comes to Snape is - why does he STAY at Hogwarts? He clearly hates it, why doesn’t he just leave? If you’re talking about 1-3 Snape, it's because he’s eternally holding out for the Defense Against the Dark Arts job, and he’s just kind of a twisted miserable guy who would probably be equally miserable everywhere. 

But books 5-7 add the context that he’s brilliant, he’s brave, he’s principled, he’s got a sense of humor. He seems close with the Malfoys. He has *options.* So now the (unintended?) implication is… he doesn’t leave because Dumbledore won’t let him. The fact that he keeps applying for the DADA job becomes dark and borderline suicidal when we learn it’s cursed, and that Snape knows it’s cursed. If he takes it, he’ll leave (or die) at the end of the year. That means, every year, he’s tacitly asking Dumbledore “Can I leave?” And Dumbledore is answering “No.” 

That’s such an interesting, juicy character dynamic. Snape is being kept miserable on purpose because… he’s easier to control that way? And if that’s true… then oh boy is it sinister that Dumbledore left Harry with the Dursleys. He knew he was raising Harry “like a pig for slaughter” (as Snape puts it.) And if Harry doesn’t have a support system, if he’s miserable, if Dumbledore can swoop in as his savior… then doesn’t that make him so much easier to control? 

[thebaronsilver]

First of the bat, let me say this as a disclaimer. I love the og Percy Jackson series. Secondly, my fav character is Nico and then the Percy from the og series.

Do you know why I make this distinction? Because, Heroes of Olympus ruined Percy's basic characteristics.

Just think, this is the percy who was bullied in almost every school he attended (except, maybe, Goode). Even, camp half blood,till he came back from the first quest. This is the guy with so strong a sense of loyalty that he was willing to get into trouble with the teachers for Grover when they studied together, was willingly an outcast because he would rather be friends with the one guy everyone picked on and thus be bullied himself. He was pretty excited to have a brother once he got over the whole Cyclops thing, too. This is the same guy who spent all his free time looking for a runaway kid who said he hated him. Maybe it was out of misplaced guilt. Maybe it was due to the fact this guy big brothered everyone he could get away with. (Atleast, I felt like that.)

While we're on that issue. Was Nico right to blame Percy for Bianca's death? Absolutely, not. But he was also a grieving ten year old who just lost his only family (even though she had, in a way, already left him behind. But that's an entirely different rant on the Hunters as an institutions. Bianca was also a child, remember.). And considering that Nico changed his tune once he found the truth out and even helped Percy and the camp willingly afterwards, I like to think he more than made up for that mistake.

There's even a part where Percy refuses to burden Nico with the prophesy and claims it for himself. Considering that till then he was trying not to even think about it, I believe we can easily claim that Nico was in some ways important to Percy. Maybe not in the same way his Mom, Annabeth Or Grover was to him, but still an important person.

Then we have in the last Olympian, Percy using Nico as an example why Children of Hades shouldn't be treated as Pariahs. Because if not for him and the reinforcements his powers brought (not even counting the three whole deities he brought along) the casualties would have been higher. (It was Hades who locked Percy up. He even confirms that Nico hadn't had a clue. Nico in turn broke him out and got himself in trouble. Then in a turn of events, Percy starts to blame Nico for something that wasn't in his control. A reversal of roles so to speak. I had thought that it had been momentary anger on Percy's part, but apparently considering all the references to how Nico betrayed him in the HoO, it wasn't. He'd pushed it aside momentarily, it seems.)

Percy was not to blame for what happened to Nico in the original series. Life isn't fair and it just happened to be extra unfair to Nico. Even then Percy went out of his way to look after the kid, to make sure he had a safe space.

This is the Percy who I liked. The Son of Neptune only emphasised this. Even without his memories, he took Hazel and to a lesser extent Frank under his wings. He actually recognised Nico in a vague way. Not just Annabeth (which is something else I have beef with. What about his mother? Why didn't he remember Sally till a lot later and even then he didn't let her know he was safe till a lot later?)

Then comes the Mark of Athena. He apparently told so many horror stories to the 7 that there was a debate on whether or not they should save a 13 year old demigod, the brother to one of them, from a preventable death. This wasn't like the Titan war were demigods could be the enemy. Then why was there even a debate? It's like all that loyalty disappeared. This is the guy that was once bullied at every school he's attended. Doesn't he know the impact of telling tales when people aren't there to defend themselves? To tell the whole story? Then House of Hades. Every single person in that ship thought that Nico was spooky, creepy whatever and all that poor kid was doing was exist. He made himself scarce, barely spoke unless necessary and even then they were like ew, creepy. It's like Percy's personal loyalty became loyalty to just Annabeth. Fuck whatever happens to anyone else. It upsets me.

The later books ruined Percy as a character. And I will stand by this.

[pianokantzart]

My Theory on Pachacamac and The Iblis Trigger

There is talk about how much they changed Pachacamac from a warmongering, power hungry tribal leader, to a goofy grandpa figure, but I think the truth of Pachacamac's nature might be somewhere between the two interpretations. Despite his friendliness, you can't forget he did lead a clan that wiped out the owls with a singleminded focus on capturing Sonic and reclaiming The Master Emerald. Pachacamac, now a ghost, has visited Knuckles to tell him he needs to expand his tribe. There are no other echidnas left, so he asks the sole survivor to take on an apprentice. "Show him our customs, teach him our traditions, and soon our tribe will grow once again."

There is no acceptance or acknowledgement of the fact that the clan's current situation is the result of a bloody feud and the destruction of an entire race besides their own. There is also, unsettlingly, no acknowledgement of Tails, Sonic, or The Wachowskis as members of Knuckles' clan.

While there are questionable elements to Pachacamac's approach, his motivations are at least understandable. Knuckles is a minority– the last of his tribe and the only surviving member of his species, so of course his old chief wants to see their traditions and culture preserved.

Things only get really weird when Pachacamac takes hold of Wade– Knuckles' apprentice and the soon-to-be new addition to their clan–and rewrites history. Rather than the tale of a lone owl that the echidnas hunted down in a quest for power, the story is instead of an entire flock of owls that were the aggressors, killing off Knuckles' tribe and burning down his village for no reason other than for the sake of the slaughter.

Similarly, Knuckles isn't described as a lost child left behind, but a fellow warrior who battled alongside his father until the bitter end.

So, knowing that Pachacamac's version of events is wrought with lies leads to one very serious question: What is the true story of Knuckles' battle with Iblis? If there's one thing we know about The Echidna Clan, it's that they are fixated on raw power. They're a warrior-focused society where the best fighter gets the highest honor and the most privileges. They were the ones who crafted The Master Emerald from the seven chaos emeralds. They were the ones who tracked down Sonic when he was a child with the intention of obtaining his power, before Long Claw wiped them out in her final struggle.

And who else do we know that was accidentally unleashed in a reckless pursuit of power?

Iblis, the raw power of the sun god Solaris. Iblis, who was sealed away within a child using the power of the chaos emeralds.

Now, there's no doubt that "The Flames of Disaster" in the SCU are very different from "The Flames of Disaster" in Sonic 06. In the movie universe the flames are merely a type of wieldable power rather than the name of an apocalyptic event. However... what better way to rewrite the fact that the echidna tribe nearly caused the end of the world and locked an immortal fire demon within an echidna child, than by pretending that The Flames of Disaster is just an inherent ability Knuckles unlocked through an epic battle?

What if "The Flames of Disaster" wasn't a power he obtained through a magnificent fight, but a power he survived after it was thrusted upon him by his elders? ... What if one of the many, many reasons reasons his father didn't let him join the fight was out of fear of what would happen if he cried?

[artiststarme]

Don't Call Me Stupid

Can I make you cry four times in one day @pyrohonk? I hope you guys like it and please leave your thoughts in the comments!

Now with a Part 2!

~*~*~*~

Steve was used to being the dumb one. He was the kid in class that would ask stupid questions that the other kids and sometimes even the teacher would laugh at. He never quite understood what teachers were saying in class or what the words written on the board were supposed to mean with their squiggly letters that jumped around. Eventually he learned not to raise his hand at all. Better to be confused than embarrassed, right?

Nancy, when they were dating, would always call him an idiot. He brushed it off at the time but looking back, it made him wonder. If he was a little bit smarter, a little more astute, would things have gone differently? Would Nancy have sought comfort in him instead of running off to Jonathan? Would he have noticed Barb’s disappearance from his yard that started all of this in the first place? He had to wonder but even that wouldn’t change anything. 

His stupidity was also a highlight point for his parents to focus on. He once was the popular jock, an airhead but one that was popular and good at sports. Now, he was just a deadbeat that barely graduated high school and certainly couldn’t get into college. He was a loser working at a dead-end job that was going nowhere in life. Ah, what pride he brought to his parents now. He could only grieve the life he used to lead every time he saw his parents staring at him in disdain. At least he had the Party… right?

It was a well known fact throughout the Party that Steve was a little slow. His brain worked at a different pace than the rest of them, a concept woefully apparent to everyone. His brain was focused on the music underlying the Russian code and the Black Widows underneath the floorboards. He was the last to connect the dots and truly only helped the Party by taking hits to the head. They only kept him around to take the hits after all. 

Even Robin, his best friend in the world, his platonic soulmate with a capital P, called him a dingus on a near hourly basis. Sure, it was affectionate now but it started as a derogatory term to poke fun at his intelligence, or lack thereof. He was a fool in her eyes, affectionate or not. Even still, he was just the dumbass that slept around with half of Hawkins, a sassy soundboard for her to bounce lesbian crushes off of. 

He was used to being called stupid but it still hurt every time. 

So in the first fight he and Eddie have as a couple, it really hits a sore spot when Eddie hisses, “what are you, stupid?”

All of the fight drained out of Steve in an instant leaving a broken, empty shell in its place. His anger melted away to reveal the hurt hidden underneath. “You should go.”

“What? No, we’re talking this through,” Eddie shook his head, giving him a look of confusion. 

“I probably won’t understand anyways since I’m so stupid. So you should go, save your breath. Whatever you think is probably right anyways.” With that, Steve walks up the stairs to his bedroom and locks the door behind him. He pulls his old Walkman over his ears and lets the sad tones of Queen’s All Dead, All Dead wash over him. 

He was sick of being treated like trash by everyone he talked to. Everyone that was supposed to love him; his parents, Nancy, Robin, Eddie, the kids. They all thought he was a dumbass. He’d tried so hard to be better, to be smarter, to be more useful to everyone else. But in his quest, he lost everything that he once was. He lost his charisma, he lost his old friends, and his hobbies to become this loser who still no one liked. 

So, he ignored his boyfriend’s knocks on his door, turned up his tunes, and planned his move away from Hawkins. If he wasn’t appreciated here, maybe he would be anywhere else.

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[pausegame]

Lucanis is so cute 😭🥺💜✨🐦‍⬛ Emmrich is as well 🥺💜✨☠️

Some spoilers for Lucanis's romance under cut I have to gush and talk about him and Emmrich a little. They form a full necrosis team with my Rook which is great against Antaam encounters (and for a few bosses in the Crossroads behind locked doors), so I've gotten a good handful of their banter.

Also random thoughts and some comparisons from others a wee bit, since I'm not done.

Romanced Lucanis with my Crow because it felt right in my soul, and got to know that Emmrich ends up seeing Strife if not romanced himself 🥺💜 There's a brief cutscene between Lucanis and Emmrich discussing what would be a suitable date which Rook walks in on and is able to recommend.

Later there's follow-up banter between the two where Emmrich says Strife does indeed like knives as gifts (Lucanis had recommended knives as gifts prior), which Lucanis says he'll recommend his blacksmith. In a follow-up Emmrich asks who he gave a knife to as a gift, and Lucanis said another Crow a long time ago, and that he was never good at flirting like his cousin. When Emmrich asks why that didn't turn out as well as he assumed it would (since you think it would, right?) Lucanis reveals that he and the team had already met the Crow in question, and can glean his personality and why he wouldn't be into it, implying it was likely Viago.

Another banter has Emmrich expressing concern that he and Strife arr very different and don't have too much in common, to which Lucanis says the two like to be around each other and both like to discover things and poke them (in Emmrich's words then, a shared passion for discovery), which is more than can be said of Illario's string of partners. When Emmrich asks about Lucanis's dating history, he reveals Rook would be the only one, and he doesn't know what they see in him, but he's happy, and likes being around them.

I think I'm near the end of the game but so far his romance has been incredibly pure and friendly 🥺💜 There's only been one instance where they almost kiss, and nothing more. I could make the argument that Rook hangs out more with Davrin casually than Lucanis lol. You recruit Davrin after Lucanis but aside from taking him on missions and killing Antaam his bond progression is a lot slower/spaced out in segments different to the story. Davrin is a good comparison point since a lot of the middle of the story has to do with the Wardens, so building a bond with him goes incredibly fast and in a pretty steady order.

The titles of Lucanis's relationship phases is super cute though: Flirting with Danger, Personal Demon, and finally Rook's Talon.

I will kind of nitpick at BioWare's animations for general cutscenes though because the last personal mini quest/hangout with Lucanis I got, I probably would've preferred if both he and Rook reached across the table and held hands, grazed fingers, or for ease of factoring in race choice and animation differences, their pinkie or index reaches out to brush the other person's briefly, or if visually their coffee cups were touching but I'm very Repressed Victorian like that. Although IMO I think slight touches would be pretty big for Lucanis so those would be pretty meaningful for him to have someone to hold on to. Also Pride & Prejudice (2005) and period drama hand holding has me by the jugular so they would work really well in a fantasy setting.

I did hit flirt options with everyone else and instigated opening up for romance with everyone but Taash and Harding bc I wanted to see how that played out (it's very cute) and out of Emmrich, Bellara, Neve, Lucanis and Davrin, Bellara's is the only one that isn't interrupted before a kiss can happen (they don't kiss though, it's just a conversation). Emmrich's doesn't have a kiss at that point but there is an interruption. Lucanis, Neve, and Davrin all lean in for a kiss but Neve and Davrin are interrupted, while Lucanis pulls away himself to clear his head.

That initial almost kiss with Lucanis so far is the most suave he has been lol he's really earnest and sincere 🥺💜 which is very different from the stage Zevran set, not that Zevran isn't those things, but Zevran fits the Antivan Romantic vibe whereas Lucanis feels like an introvert. His story factors a lot into it, of course. He's very thoughtful and maybe a little distant, measured. Flirt options with him feel subdued, and I'd say he speaks with his eyes and the looks he sends, which are all beautifully animated.

I do wish that a romanced Lucanis is factored into the story of Treviso, esp if Rook is also a Crow but I can guess they wanted it to be easier for whatever faction for the story. It would have been nice though. I haven't gotten a whiff of any ambient dialogue about them being a thing, and I think it should be, considering who Lucanis is and how well known Rook becomes throughout the course of the story.

My Veilguard vacation is almost over so I'll be going the rest of the game at a normal human pace with a day job but it's been a lot of fun, and I def have to go draw a ton of meaningful glances and finger brushing between Rook and Lucanis once I'm done the full game 🐦‍⬛💜🐦‍⬛

[an-apowell]

Mohg enters the tower and focuses on Ranni, limp and nestled amongst the crystals where Radahn thrown her. Ranni with a harsh tone: I quoth it ere and I shall repeat mine words. I shall not help on thy quest. Mohg, shrugging: Sure, Doll. Ranni as Mohg scoops her up: Do not speak to me that. Put me down. Mohg with Ranni tucked in one of his arms collected her hat with the other and started for the tower's stairs: Ranni, right? Radahn spoke a lot about you. Nothing good, I should mention, however... I did pick up some things he didn't quite want to say but wanted to. For my own curiosity, enlighten me. Mohg sets Ranni down on a table on the second landing of the tower, away from the commotion. Ranni: I’d grant thou a nasty look yet you’ve already got one. Mohg's chest shook with a chuckle, but he tried to stay serious, dusting off her hat: You're the one behind the night of black knives, yes? Ranni, almost annoyed: Indeed, I marshal't the night through fearsome rite. Now, thou bring everyone so much joy when thou leave the room. Mohg, locking eyes with her: Why did you do it? Ranni: To cast away my flesh- Mohg: No, I mean why Godwyn? Why kill him? Ranni, confused: Why doth it matter? Mohg: Enlightenment... Oh, right. Also, hi Lord Mohg, Lord of Blood, and descendent of the Golden Lineage. The last part ain't my favorite thing to say. Ranni didn't expect this. A member of the Golden Lineage, let alone an Omen, at her door: You jest. Mohg: I wish I was, so... enlighten me. Ranni watched Mohg for a second or two: 'i one word. "Opportunity." Mohg, shrugging: In many, he was you, but not. A soul that is equal to or more exchanged for your body. An empyrean for an empyrean. Don't want to go after the related twins, kill one the other will surely want revenge- Ranni: And thou do not? Mohg: I don't care, honestly, but I liked your answer; "Opportunity." Mohg places Ranni's hat back on her head and fusses with it a bit to get it right: One opportunity can change the course of a battle or change the course of your life. However, sometimes I wish that he was still around so I can throw him into a few choice walls. With a tap of her brim, Mohg turns and starts for the steps down: But in this day and age, wishes don't come true. Only actions make a difference. Ranni closes her eyes: Wait. Thy situation doth intrigue me and I am curious myself what thou would doth. I shall not say to Radahn, yet I shall say to thou what I wot.

[omartinyosef]

THE THREE WATERFALLS ULTIMATE THEORY

So. Okay. Let's get this shit done.

The waterfall as a symbol can be interpreted in many different ways, depending on cultural, historical, and personal context. Here are a few common interpretations:

Nature: Waterfalls are often seen as symbols of nature's raw power and beauty, representing the majesty and grandeur of the natural world.

Change: A waterfall symbolizes change, as it is a constantly moving, evolving entity. The flowing water can represent the passage of time, or the journey of life.

Cleanliness: The waterfall's cleansing properties can symbolize purification and renewal, often used in religious or spiritual contexts.

Abundance: Waterfalls are often associated with abundance, fertility, and prosperity, representing a source of sustenance and life.

Adventure: Waterfalls can symbolize adventure and excitement, representing a journey into the unknown and a quest for discovery.

Continuity: The waterfall also represents continuity and the flow of life – how life flows, including its highs and lows. 

So. Mike said ''three waterfalls''. Giving the word waterfall the last meaning, it symbolizs that life keeps going. But using the meaning of change, the thing changes (haha humor de cuñado).

Three waterfalls. Three ''changes''. Okay. What could this mean? Of course something that changes the whole series. Something that screams revolution 'cuz it's the end of the season and all that stuff.

Also: ''Waterfall change management is a sequential and linear approach to managing changes in a project or system.''

This could mean that, through the whole season, we are gonna see three important changes/plot twists, but happening slowly? And the three waterfalls Mike said could be the final product of those changes. Of course Mike and Will are gonna have romantic interaction in season 5. And shut up you milkvans 'cause it's undeniable. Like, really. It's confirmed Will's in love with Mike, so it's gonna be a important part of the season. And if we think about byler happening, we have one change.

Another change that could happen is El and Mike's relationship. 'Cause if they break up we will have a change that affects the whole series. And with that we have two changes. Now third, which i dont have any idea of what it could be. Let me know in your comments. And if we think about the video games, surprise!! Often a video game has a secret hiding within a waterfal. So, this is gonna be like 3 secrets developing on season 5.

Like, could this be a pararell with 'Fantastic beasts: The secrets of Dumbledore?'', cause there's 3 secrets along the film. And the first revealed secret (that we all knew about) Is that dumbledore and Grindelwald we in love. AND we know that will's in love with Mike. So DING DING DING!!! First secret. Also, it's clear that One/Henry/ Vecna is hidding something about Will. Cause like, really, look at this

This is NOT a demogorgon and It used telekinesis to open the shed's door will locked. And manipulated the lightning. Bro. Fr. So we will find out why Vecna took Will and not anyone else. And DING DING DING!!! Second secret revealed. The third secret could be that this little guy:

LITERALLY SCREAMS:

(I use this flag cuz idk if you think mike's bi or gay)

So this three waterfalls have 3 secrets behind them and through the season we will see our dear characters face it and solving their messed up shit?

Maybe.

Good Lord i dont even know how i did this

[berriethewizard]

let me lose on losing dogs - Hyrule Warriors fic

Sprout (oot/mm link) did not return from the latest battle, and Link heads out to find him. What he finds, instead, is something else. aka, obligatory Fierce Deity angst fic. Wordcount: 4102

(for more detailed description, or preferred reading location, ao3 link here)

----

Captain Link Bennett, Observation Log, Date: 02/xx/1692

Sailor dropped Sprout off at our tent today. He was carried off the battlefield, awake but exhausted. Once I got him tucked in, Sailor then pulled me aside and detailed what I had missed in hushed tones – I’ve never seen him more serious. 

The Fierce Deity, Proxy managed to weasel out of Sprout. Sailor described him being possessed by it, the spirit seemingly locked inside that mask he carries. A powerful thing, decimating all that was in its path, the battlefield cleared within moments – the soldiers I asked confirmed what Sailor saw. The soldiers that weren’t caught up in the violence, that is. He also said the spirit seemed… reluctant to return Sprout to normal, afterward.  

Sprout seemed the same as ever once he was up again. Physically healthy, happily listening to Sailor and Midna talk around the campfire and eat his soup. But the kid is an expert at hiding what he wants nobody to see, and I know it hurts him. Nothing with that much power comes without cost. Nothing. 

He’s asleep in my bed right now, because neither of us would have anything different. Sailor is curled up in his own bedroll, snoring loudly. I suppose it’s time for me to crawl into the bed and get my own sleep, and see if he is willing to tell me more in the morning. Sailor said if he’d tell anyone, it’d be me. I really hope so. 

~

Couldn’t sleep. Tried to investigate the mask, because there was something about it keeping me up. It felt like flesh in my hands, for a split second. I will be asking Sprout about this in the morning. 

Goodnight – if I can manage it.

----

Sprout is missing. 

Link steps over the ruins of the latest battle. He had led the remaining weary soldiers of his platoon back to camp, sending each to their tents to recuperate. A few from the other groups had greeted them as the last to return. And then Ravio had loitered by his side, once the rest had passed to return to duties, and anxiously asked, “Sprout isn’t with you?” 

He steps over the body of something, a lump covered in the flag of the nation of Hyrule, and doesn't have the stomach to check if it was an ally. Doesn’t have the stomach to check if the meagre dignity of the tarp covering their corpse is a cruel symbol of anything, or a sign of their hollow victory. 

A lot of people died today. Good people. Honourable people. And, goddesses above, he hopes his boy isn’t among them. 

There was a part of Link that didn’t want to get close to those that were pulled through from the other eras. A group he knew would be leaving him, so why bother? Why set his heart up to be broken? But then he met them, more of them than those he met in their own domains. Those across the timeline that Lana deemed ‘useful’, their stories far behind his and yet affecting him profoundly – he couldn’t turn away. At first, it was in awe – the sailor, two heroic quests under his belt and many more smaller adventures in between, only sixteen years old. Ravio, someone who insisted he wasn’t brave, yet not only stepped up at every chance to aid them in other ways, but also did his best when caught up in the battle anyway. The tinkerer, and his mastery over a machine Link has never fathomed before in his life, seamlessly integrating his knowledge into that of the Gorons in their company, almost always guaranteeing their victory.

And Sprout. Brave, young Sprout. His Sprout.

When he had first met Sprout, something in him switched. Beyond the urge to rip shreds into Lana for willingly bringing a child into this horrific war, regardless of who that child was. (Which he did, for the record, in front of every one of his superiors. He still doesn’t know if they saw it as a conviction of values or an unwillingness to face his own fate in the matter.) For the first time since the valley: he was going to make it. Just to look after these people. Ravio and the tinkerer will have the resources they need to make what they want. Sailor will tell his stories and Link will learn the songs that come along with them. Sprout will get to be a kid. War be damned, destiny be damned, they will get to live their lives during, and after this. He will see it through (regardless of his broken heart at the end of it all).

Link steps over discarded weapons, limbs of friend and foe, sundered barricades and bomb craters. All the while, his eyes are trained to pick up a bright green among the dull of the land – a tunic way too small to be present in such a place, his own a mockery of it, dressed up for war. He skirts around a still smouldering pile of wood and ash in his path; the sky is clouded, but the rain has yet to dampen the carnage. Sprout wasn’t in his group – as much as it pains him to be unable to protect him, strategy dictates separating those with unique abilities to assist on different fronts – and he is crossing over into territory he didn’t fight in. It looks like everything else: ruined. 

But he knows something happened here. The soldiers retreated too early, joining his own ranks and those of Zelda and Impa’s – nothing on their lips but a frightened: “Something helpful arrived, but it can’t tell who’s the enemy.” When nothing followed them, neither monster nor this mysterious something, they wrote it off as a random portal-related phenomenon to be investigated after the dust had settled. But Sprout has not returned. And as Link walks through the ruins of the battlefield, he has a sinking, gut-churning suspicion as to why. 

“There’s some deal, or sick game, the spirit has with Sprout,” Sailor had murmured, tone severe, “It kept its claws in him for too long – like it didn’t want to give up the fight.”

Rounding the corner past a hill has him coming upon a massacre. 

Monsters’ bodies are slow to fade into smoke, sometimes. Especially when there are so many in such a small area. But the littering of monster corpses across the battlefield does not disguise the sheer amount of Hylian bodies. Nor does it distract from the oppressive presence of the figure standing in the middle of it. 

It stands over seven feet tall. Its armour shines under an invisible sun, gleaming brighter than should be possible – like it's not quite on this plane of existence. The large helix sword is idly resting in one hand; it weighs nothing in the warrior’s grip. Even with its back turned to him, Link feels as though its eyes are on him, weighing down upon his shoulders, a condemnation. A judgement.

And then it turns to meet his gaze, and that sick mockery of his kid’s face is staring back at him.

Link knew, of course, the resemblance. The shape of the hair, a cool white in place of soft blonde. The point of the nose, grown to fit a larger face. The same mouth and eyes, blankly staring instead of crinkling with a smile. And he knows the legends – he knows Sprout has seen his own adult face, forced to grow up too fast, and then back again without any say in his own autonomy. That’s precisely why it feels so wrong to have this… spirit match him in such a way. His visage twisted and into one used as a weapon, a cruel mirror of everything Sprout was forced to become under destiny.

Under the weight of its stare, Link’s voice falters. “W-where is he?” This is not Sprout. The spirit has taken him away, locked him up in a prison of his own body, breaking it to suit its needs.

The Deity just watches. Observing – Link feels like he’s being stripped back under its scrutiny, bare and vulnerable even in all his layers. His very soul is being witnessed, in this moment, ripped out of his chest and held in the balance; to be saved or shattered. He fears for the version of it Sprout holds.

He tries to ask again, voice small and meek and falling away from him. “...Where’s my son?” 

The Fierce Deity takes a step towards him. Adrenaline rushes through Link’s system, all-enveloping, immediately forcing him to take a step back. It cocks its head at the action. Takes another step. He desperately tries to resist the urge to flee, but he steps back again. A third step forward – Link forces his legs to still.

“Give- give him back!” His voice cracks, not used to raising it, Proxi woefully absent to do it in his stead (but he wouldn’t want her to see this spirit corrupt someone she is so fond of anyway). It stops then, still watching him, Link frozen against its gaze. It looks like it’s going to say something, and he waits with his breath held.

“Hero… you care for this vessel?” Its voice is in multiple tones, deep baritones clashing and echoing against a melody, almost surrounding him despite the single source. Once again, like it is not grounded to the earth. But it is not just the way it sounds, but the words itself that give him pause. 

Vessel… Sprout is a conduit to this spirit. It says it so impersonally, like his personhood doesn’t matter, only worthy as a tool. It’s sickeningly similar to everything else in their joint experience. Vessel of destiny. Holder of the triforce. Hero, not by choice, but by burden of prophecy. Someone coming along, pulling them into a war, because they will be useful. And questioning if, why, he cares for Sprout? How could he not? This bright, brave young boy, too much hurt in his past and too much ahead of him, once again treated like a tool before a child in this war – it is his responsibility to, not just because it is his fault that this is all happening in the first place, but because he wants it to be. Link lies awake each night, Sprout curled up against him in the bed, and hopes he feels a fraction of the love he’s trying to pour into him. He knows it won’t make up for everything else, but someone has to give it. He deserves it more than anyone.

The terror still grips his throat, but anger curls up against it; the longer it keeps using Sprout, the more it builds. 

“I-I do. And I want him back.” He isn’t above fighting. He isn’t above begging. He’ll do anything to ensure his kid’s safety, whether this spirit is that of a god’s or not. 

“This vessel wears my mask willingly.” The same stare, the same lack of emotion. The same disregard for Sprout as a person and his circumstances. Of course he does it ‘willingly’ – in the same way someone ‘willingly’ cuts their hand off to escape binds in captivity. He looks at the bodies strewn about the battlefield. Nobody chooses this. 

“And he should be allowed to take it off willingly.” Link stares back into the eyes of the Fierce Deity. As he tries to find even the smallest glimmer of Sprout within them, a tiny crumb of an inclination that there’s some resistance, it takes another step forward.

Then it rushes him.

Link doesn't have time to react. It moves fast, faster than possible, faster than any mortal could – all he can do is throw himself to the side in hopes of dodging the attack. It’s fruitless, but instead of a blade meeting his body, his arm is grabbed and squeezed. The Fierce Deity holds him in place and leans in, their faces inches apart, pure terror striking through Link’s veins as the overwhelming power of its presence bears down on him. 

Link stares into its face. The face that is Sprout’s but also so very not in the same breath, a face that is wrong and marked, a face he shouldn’t be seeing for many more years. (And isn’t that a thought? Getting to watch Sprout grow up? A fruitless fantasy, only possible in this one twisted moment.) Holds his breath, heart pounding in his chest, unable to do anything but stand held and wait for the spirit’s next move. 

It squeezes down harder on his arm, almost to breaking and definitely to bruising, like its next words are urgent. And they are. 

“Will you look after this vessel?” Its voice is faded and wispy. Instead of the harmonies of its power before, it's now a hush, a tremor in the land, fuzzy and distant. Like it's being pulled away somewhere. Like it’s losing its grip. 

“Y-yes, of course…?” Link stammers out, perplexed. 

“Good.” Suddenly, light pours out from the Fierce Deity’s eyes, forcing Link to close his own against it. Then, the grip on his arm slackens and disappears entirely – and Sprout’s small body is falling to the ground. 

Link reaches out to catch him immediately, body hitting his arms and sending him to his knees. Whether it’s just because of his weight, or that the oppressive force of the Fierce Deity is no longer present and his body is faltering as a result of the relief, he doesn’t know. He is shaking as he pulls Sprout closer to his chest.

He’s out cold, but breathing evenly. A collection of small cuts and bruises litter the skin Link can see, no doubt more underneath his tunic. There’s a slight stain of red in his bangs, and when Link brings a shaking hand up to push them back, he can see a half-congealed cut across his forehead. And that the roots of the front of his hair are white.

He glances down at where the mask now rests on the ground by his knees, and swallows a shaking, hollow breath.

Nothing without a cost.

Link pulls Sprout impossibly closer, trying so very desperately not to lose himself entirely in this moment. Waves of grief overtake him for a boy that still lives in his arms. Breathing evenly, simply asleep, protected by a spirit from the horrors around him when it became too much. But the cost… the cost of all of this. He shouldn’t even be here. Link is kneeling on a battlefield of his own creation, holding a child who shouldn’t even understand how to hold a sword. The twisting of fate sinks into his stomach like a knife – when he was Sprout’s age, he dreamed of being a hero.  A foolish one, he of course now knows, but at least he got to have that childhood of fairy tales before it was all ripped away. 

It’s been a mantra, in his head, this whole time. The little voice in his mind that sounds like himself as a child. It isn’t fair! it cries. A voice that mirrors Sailor’s after a bad nightmare, shaking and bitter. Midna’s raging through a tent stacked with crates, infuriated, curses throughout. Ravio’s after a harrowing day helping chase supplies to and from the infirmary, scared and exhausted. It isn’t fair! He’s never heard Sprout say it, and that quite possibly hurts him more than every inconsolable night holding him tight in their bed. Does he even know what is and isn’t fair, when so much of his life has been this? Does he know? How much better he could have it, if the world loved him enough?

The first raindrops fall in tandem with Link’s tears as he curls around Sprout’s unconscious body. He knows he should get up and start moving – it will do neither of them any good to stay shivering on the battlefield in the rain, and Sprout still needs medical care. But his legs are numb, unwilling to follow his commands, and the rest of him just wants to hold Sprout for a moment. Ignore the death and pain around him, and just… hold his son close to his chest. 

He knows his love isn’t enough, either, but he holds him anyway.

An hour later, soaked to the bone and finally stumbling back into camp, Sailor and Proxi are the ones that lead them to their tent. Link lost himself, in the chill of the weather, and he sits numbly on the floor watching Sailor wrap the cuts and scrapes on Sprout’s little body while Proxi flits about his head and frets. He doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t have to – Sailor took one look at the boy in his arms and his face turned to stone. On the walk back, the entire front of Sprout’s hair had turned white. 

When they’re both dry and tucked into bed, Sailor sinks to the floor cross-armed to lean against it. Link feels bad, how often it seems that Sailor is the one looking after him, even though he’s the older one. In many of the same ways he sees Sprout as his son, he sees Sailor as a little brother. Also more experienced beyond his age, also burdened in the same way he is, but keeping it all hidden behind a carefree and mischievous air. It’s only in moments such as this that Link faces how truly wise he is to all of this.

“Do you want me to take it? The mask. We can stop him from using it again – I’m pretty good at hiding things.” 

Link stares up at the tent ceiling. Hesitates. “Will you look after this vessel?” The Fierce Deity’s words echo in his mind. Was it self-preservation, that the spirit asked that of him? Was it the simple need to keep the tool that allows it freedom in working order? Or was there something more? Is there truly just a mutually beneficial deal here – Sprout winning any battle, and the Fierce Deity revelling in it – or is there something else fighting in his kid’s corner, however unorthodox?

The traitorous part of his mind is refusing to let go of how clearly powerful the mask is. The strategy of using it, this maybe-god trapped in a mask, as one of their strongest weapons against the darkness yet. Maybe if the burden was no longer on such a small body…

“We don’t have to hide it away. As long as Sprout is not the one using it—”

“Swapping the burden onto yourself won’t erase its weight.” 

Link’s thoughts halt in their tracks. Sailor doesn’t look back at him, silence hanging heavy in the tent, almost letting the words sink in. Then he groans, throwing his head back onto the bed. 

“Look at this, you got me talkin’ like the old boat, this is bullshit. I’m supposed to be the fun one, here,” he glances up at Link – staring back at him wide-eyed – and when it becomes apparent he doesn’t know what to say, Sailor sighs. “He doesn’t want you hurt just as much as you don’t want him hurt, you know that right? You’re not the exception to the rule here just because it’s your quest. We care about you, I care about both of you – and if I have to chuck that mask into the Great Sea just to stop it from bein’ used, I will.” 

He reaches out and gently clasps Link’s shoulder, squeezing it. Link still doesn’t say anything. His brain struggles to catch up with the conversation. It… doesn’t work like that, normally. It is his job to take on the burden. From the very moment he wrapped the scarf around his neck, it was his to carry.

But this is Sailor’s third time doing something like this, and a part of him does recognise that what Sailor is doing right now is exactly what he does for Sprout. Tries to take a little off his shoulders, soothe the worries and give him a carefree moment when he can. He doesn’t quite know how to feel about it. 

Sailor takes his silence for refusal to agree, and sighs again, before standing. “We’ll talk more about this later, when Sprout is awake again. For now, it’s time you took a good nap with the lad, alright?” 

Link takes it for the out it is and nods. Sailor reaches over and ruffles his hair, and he can’t help but scrunch his face up and huff. “Yknow, you’re supposed to be the younger brother, here,” Link jokes, trying to break the tension from the deep conversation, brief as it was. 

“What? No way! I’m the older brother back home, and that is not changing just because you happen to be older than me. I’m infinitely smarter and more cleverer than you, anyway.”

Link raises an eyebrow. “‘More cleverer,’ huh?” Sailor just crosses his arms again. 

“Whatever. I’m going to go get some food. Rest well, little bro.” 

Sailor leaves the tent and Link settles back into the pillow properly, taking a deep breath. Sprout snuffles faintly in his sleep, curling closer against him, and he turns onto his side so he can press him directly against his chest. Hold him, safe and warm.

Sailor mentioned back home. He tries not to think about it, most days. About how when the war ends, he’ll have to send everyone off back to their own eras. It hurts too much to imagine saying goodbye.

The grief returns tenfold now the dust has truly settled – Link pulls Sprout even closer to him. What is he going to do, when he has to say goodbye to Sprout? When he has to send his son back through that portal, never to see him again? He can feel the hole in his chest already. This war, there is no part of this that is fair to any of them. But…

No, Link doesn’t have an excuse. Just a small, selfish dream to watch his kid grow up while he’s there to love him through it. To watch him come into adult features naturally over time – the soft blonde hair, maybe grown out and tied back into a ponytail, to match Sailor’s braid. The point of his nose, perhaps in an awkward phase where it grows before the rest of his face grows to match it. Watch through the days as Sprout smiles and laughs and grins, wrinkles forming at the edges of his eyes, instead of the indentations of a frown. 

Link can’t love him enough to replace the horrors of the world around him. But if he had a way to keep protecting him from some of it, take the burden and the loneliness off his shoulders, he’d do it in a heartbeat. 

He gets an idea.

“Hey, Proxi?” She flutters awake from her place on the pillow, paying attention. “Why do you follow me around? Do you have a… mission?”

The fairy hums, thinking for a moment. “It’s so I can help you! Give you a voice when you don’t have it during this war. I do also just like you a lot, though.” Link knows she also likes Sprout a lot, too.

“And, when the war is over? Is your mission over?”

“I suppose you could see it like that – unless you don’t want it to be? Why? Got a new one for me or something?”

“I do.” He looks down at Sprout. He mentioned, once, how he had a fairy of his own. The past tense of the conversation clearly upset him, and Link didn’t push for more. Link takes a deep breath, choking up at the mere concept of talking about this out loud. “Would you go with him, when the war ends? I can’t… I can’t look after him, when he goes back home. But you can go anywhere you want, right?” Tears water in his eyes again. A lump in his throat. “I don’t want him to be alone ever again. Please make it your mission to look after him, and protect him, when I no longer can.”

He sniffs, and Proxi comes to settle herself against his cheek. “Oh, Link… I will do my very best.” 

Link curls around Sprout, pushing his face into the top of his head – the white hair appearing against his eyes even as they’re closed – and tries to silence the sentence repeating over and over and over in his mind. 

It isn’t fucking fair…

He falls asleep like that, weight piled onto his shoulders, a hole of grief slowly cracking open in his chest. 

[il-predestinato]

Elle, you are actually writing a Hogwarts AU???? 🙈🙈🙈 When is it set timeline wise? What year are they in? Houses I think I know, but the rest???

Hi Pi! Oooh, I mostly have notes on this one and not much written! Except for this little snippet (probably a cut scene rather than part of the fic). I'll share another super short snippet and then some rambling answers to your questions: 😁

Before Max could blink the sleepiness out of his eyes, he was already soberly aware that he was - most unfortunately - alone in bed. After a disgruntled rub across his eyelids, he was able to crack open enough of a slit to glare at the empty pillow beside his own. A head-shaped indent stared back at him mockingly. A torn piece of parchment sat neatly at the centre of the indent.

He snatched it up and frowned at Charles’ offending penmanship:

‘Had to take care of a secret Slytherin thing something’ followed by a creepy scribble of a smiling niffler (or perhaps a Dementor - Max couldn’t be certain, no matter how long he squinted at the poorly drawn lines; no one would ever accuse Charles of possessing artistic talent).

‘Meet in the Prefect's bathroom at 0800!’

“Maybe I won’t,” grumbled Max as he crumpled up the piece of paper. Of course you will, he can almost hear Charles’ self-assured, scoffing rebuttal.

He grabbed his wand from under his pillow and casted a silent “Incendio.” The Silencing Charm that Charles cast around Max’s four poster bed from the previous evening had likely worn off by now. He couldn’t help the smile that formed on his face as he watched as small embers transformed the parchment into ash. While Charles may be uniquely gifted at wandless magic, Max still had him beat in nonverbal spells - much to the chagrin of his Slytherin rival (sometimes friend always thorn in the side occasional bedmate).

-

Some notes:

Timeline wise: 2013-ish because they are 15 (fifth years)

Both are still born in 1997 (kind of cool that canonically both would be born at the height of the second wizarding war)

Max is a Gryffindor and Charles is a Slytherin

Story is a long-ish one shot. Title is "Unforgivable"

My base storyline is borrowed from a quest in the Hogwarts Legacy game (minor spoiler alert):

Charles has a sick family member at St. Mungo's who is suffering from a blood curse and is basically beyond all magical help. There is a secret Slytherin spell book hidden in the Scriptorium (think Chamber of Secrets, but a different room) rumoured to lead to a spell/artifact that cures dark curses, so Charles wants to retrieve it. Max is ... not a fan of this idea, because Slytherin was a pretty dark wizard and all around bad guy, so nothing good can possibly come out of this. But it's Charles so of course he chooses to help and goes down to the Scriptorium with him. There are a few tests (e.g. puzzles, speaking Parseltongue, etc.), each unlocking a set of gates, but you can't turn back because the gates lock behind you as well. At the last gate, there are a bunch of creepy skeletons (because people died here after getting stuck) and tortured faces on the gate/the world "Crucio" engraved on the floor. Max and Charles figure out that in order to pass the final test and not starve/die down there, they must successfully cast Crucio. And that's really the climax of the story. Who is going to cast it on who? Also, as Bellatrix explained in the books, you must have intent and truly want to cause pain and suffering to succeed in casting it... In the Hogwarts Legacy game, three characters are involved in the story: Sebastian Sallow, Ominis Gaunt, and Y/N [aka. player character] (yes, don't worry, I'm laughing at myself for using this term given my well known 'love' for uh... imagines 🤢). Ominis refuses to cast Crucio. It comes down between Y/N vs. Sebastian. In my fic, Charles would be loosely based on Sebastian, and Max is a combo of Ominis and Y/N (sorry, I can't keep a straight face whenever I type this.) Let's just say I have an entirely DIFFERENT idea as to how this plays out between Max and Charles (can anyone guess?) compared to the game.

Other super random details from my notes:

Charles and Max have a fierce quidditch rivalry (yes, there was an inchident with a puddle, because the puddle is a universal constant, a fixed point in time and space if you will).

Both are Chasers (but they do like challenging each other to one-on-one seeker games).

Max made the Gryffindor team in his first year (just like the Boy Who Lived) which irks Charles (who made the Slytherin team in his second year).

Charles' Slytherin teammates include George (beater), Lando (chaser), and their new seeker (Oscar).

Max's teammates include Carlos (chaser, Head Boy) and used to include Lewis (chaser, graduated).

Max really likes the grass flavour of Bertie Bott's every flavour beans and one time, Charles bought like - 200 boxes of every flavour beans and spent all night picking out all the grass flavoured ones to put into one box to gift to Max.

Charles is better at wandless magic - raw and uncontrolled power - but Max is better at nonverbal magic - precision and controlled power.

Charles is great at Charms and [hilariously] Divination (umm... he IS called 'il predestinato'), Max is great at Transfiguration and Potions. Both are excellent at Arithmancy (math nerds) and DADA.

Max's wand is vine, 12 ¾ inches, phoenix feather, reasonably supple. Charles's wand is yew, 12 ½ inches, dragon heartstring, fairly stiff. And yes, I spent like 30 minutes reading up on wandlore until I was happy with the choices. 🤣

[anacat195]

Some additional snapshots of my time with Palia so far.

- Hodari mentioning how Najuma’s mother had a fiery temper/hair. Me (a redhead): So what I’m hearing is you like redheads….

- A pro tip: you do not always need other people for flow trees. It’s polite to call them out, but sometimes it’s a super small tree and with the iron axe you can outpace the healing yourself. It will only give like 2-3 flow wood though.

- The devs mentioned a few times that you do not have to engage with all of the mechanics if you don’t want to and there are built in ways to work around requirements. I personally feel this is misleading because there is a main story quest that requires you to turn in rare fish/bugs/etc. And there are several skills you have to level up to be able to get those things. I am just now at the point where I can grow the bait needed to get those last rare fish. And at least from what I’ve seen on the requests you can only request items that you’ve already obtained once.

- Speaking of requests there is a quest that asks you to fulfill five player requests. Since so many people are joining and we’re all hitting these early quests, I try to use my request slots for easy things other players can give to meet that quest requirement. Just a thing to consider in the spirit of community playing.

- I love Kenyatta and Nai’o’s little fling they got going on. It’s cute. I had considered doing all of the romances just to see all the storylines, but I kind of don’t want to break them up. Maybe I’ll leave them alone until I’m in the mood to cause some drama.

- The furniture building is the most frustrating part for me so far. Chair is pictured with a cute cushion. Build it. No cushion. Bookcase is pictured filled with books and has little drawers on the bottom. Build it. No books, no drawers. 🤬 I’m losing my mind. I feel like I’m wasting resources building things because they don’t look like the picture.

- I do also sometimes find hunting frustrating but that’s because I like to set up my shot slowly more like a sniper and most people are running all over the map treating it like an fps game and spooking all the sernuks. I just try to move to the less traveled areas when that happens; it’s just a difference in play style. Though there was one person doing that who I swear followed me all over the Kilima map once.

- I am once again asking for romanceable Hodari. Let me open this man up to the terrifying vulnerability of loving someone again. It would even make in-game sense to lock it behind max friendship. I’d be fine with it! Hell, lock it behind max friendship with his daughter too. That’s how much I want it. (I also would not turn up my nose at an opportunity to romance Sifuu. I love a buff lady.)

[wxndswept]

I'm realizing that every second Archon character quest (Zhongli, Ei and Nahida) involve the introduction of a weekly boss.

And Venti only has one part to his quest.

Also, if you're not counting the Wolf(while he does function slightly differently than the others, I guess why would you not count him) every region has two weekly bosses. The boss from the climax of their respective story(Dvalin, Tartaglia, Signora, Scara, the whale) and the boss that is directly related to the Archon(Azhdaha, the Shogun, Apep's guardian)

The Knave doesn't really fit there so there will probably be something later down the line more closely related to Neuvi or Furina. Or nothing given what happens in the main story. You can also say that Dvalin fits both categories by being both the antagonist and Barbatos' close friend, though he shouldn't, given that there's a lot that hasn't been touched on in the game, so hopefully the next thing will be that long-awaited Mondstadt expansion that has a lot to do with Venti.

Or just Mondstadt in general, nothing important has happened in like two years. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the last big thing there was the fake Albedo fiasco, and that was locked behind an event.

Edit: OH also, Venti, Zhongli, Ei, and Furina have lighter-hearted first parts to their quests that kind of show how they are in the current world, but their part 2 dives deeper into their backstory which is interesting. Nadhia is just kinda dark all around tho. Ei still needs a buffer quest but I like her part 1 and will die on that hill "waifued" my ass

[sportingoat]

Tight Race for Top 4 Heats Up in the Premier League

The English Premier League is living up to its reputation for drama this season, with a fierce battle raging for the coveted Champions League spots.  As of April 7th, 2024, the top six teams are separated by just a handful of points, making the remaining fixtures crucial in determining who qualifies for Europe's elite competition.

Currently, the race for the top four is a six-horse race.  At the forefront are the surprising high-flyers, Aston Villa. Under the guidance of Unai Emery, they've defied expectations and sit just one point behind the current leaders, Liverpool.  Arsenal, who finished outside the top four last season, are back in the hunt, occupying third place with a two-point cushion over the reigning champions, Manchester City.

Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United are also in contention, albeit slightly further adrift.  Spurs, with a squad brimming with attacking talent, are just five points behind Arsenal, while United, despite their inconsistencies, remain within striking distance, six points off the top four.

This congested fight for Champions League qualification adds a layer of excitement to the remaining matches.  Every fixture holds immense weight, with dropped points potentially derailing a team's European ambitions.

Here's a closer look at some key contenders:

Aston Villa:  Their attacking prowess, spearheaded by Ollie Watkins and Philippe Coutinho, has been a major factor in their success.  However, their lack of experience in such a high-pressure race could be a potential hurdle.

Arsenal:  The young Gunners, led by the impressive Bukayo Saka, are playing with a swagger and a hunger.  Maintaining their consistency will be vital in their quest for a return to the Champions League.

Tottenham Hotspur:  Harry Kane and Son Heung-min remain a lethal attacking duo, and the arrival of Dejan Kulusevski has added further depth to their squad.  Their performance in crucial head-to-head clashes will determine their fate.

Manchester City:  Despite their struggles this season, Pep Guardiola's tactical genius should never be underestimated.  They possess the experience and squad depth to stage a late surge.

Beyond the Top Four:

The battle for Europa League and Conference League qualification is also heating up.  Teams like West Ham, Newcastle, and Brighton are locked in a tight race for these coveted European spots.

The Bottom Half:

At the other end of the table, the relegation battle is surprisingly open.  With several teams hovering just above the drop zone, the remaining fixtures will be crucial for their survival hopes.

Unpredictable Finish Looms:

With the top-four race so tightly contested, injuries, suspensions, and crucial fixtures will play a defining role.  The next few weeks promise to be a thrilling ride for fans of English football, with every point potentially making the difference between Champions League glory and European disappointment.

[miloscat]

[Review] Avatar: The Last Airbender: Quest for Balance (PS5)

This show deserves better than this cheap and sloppy tie-in.

Peru-based studio Bamtang are the latest to be granted the Avatar licence, after making some decent kart racers for Nickelodeon. Quest for Balance is the result, and although it’s functional this revival game struggles to live up to the predominately Australian-made tie-in games that were contemporary with the show (and movie).

My expectations were quite high for this given the advances in technology since 2006-2010. But there are always other factors at play in game development, like budget, time, and the experience of the dev team, that are potentially lacking here. What I'm saying is the game feels cheap, from the bland level design to the simple combat to the abundance of rough edges.

Quest for Balance covers all three books of the original show... more or less. The six levels in each try to hit the major points while some episodes and events are skipped over; if you're lucky these will be summarised with a cutscene. But even the significant stuff is dealt with perfunctorily. I did like the side quests in the more hublike levels, with named NPCs and items to find that expand on the world a little bit, although it doesn’t amount to much.

The core gameplay isn’t too different from child/family games we have known such as the Traveller’s Tales Lego games. You explore a level, break objects and interact with interactables, get into fights, and solve some puzzles. Locking the fights into little battle arenas reminded me of the first two Avatar DS games, while the puzzles (maybe the strongest part of the game) recalled the third DS game. I still think I liked those better though.

These gameplay elements are often sectioned off, and the levels are mostly a flat and uninteresting sequence of rooms. There’s an inventory which I barely touched, and an upgrade system that incentivises finding goodies by improving your combat powers. I did get through most combat by just mashing with the most effective characters (Sokka and Toph as far as I could tell) but there is some depth when you’re not just getting stunlocked. Like most of the game it’s just let down by a pervasive clunkiness.

Co-op is available… most of the time. A fatal flaw is not letting a second player participate when the story requires a solo character’s involvement, as well as being unbalanced. That is, when the maximum three-character party is present, player 1 can swap between two of them while player two is locked to only one. These choices hamper its viability as a multiplayer experience (also, my spouse just thought the game in general was subpar and so left me to it).

I’d like to circle back to the cutscenes, as they represent the ramshackle feel of how the game is put together. A mere handful are in 3D, using the game models with some decent animation, which despite being prerendered can chug heavily when a lot of stuff is happening. Some are in 2D, going for a motion comic look but with distressing animated png warping. This includes a cute framing story where Iroh, Bumi, and Pakku are recounting the tale to a Ba Sing Se playwright. Others are brief in-engine dialogue scenes where the characters stand motionless. Or you might just have one of the aforementioned three recounters summarising exposition over a paragraph of text. Even with these various methods of varying levels of effort, they will at times neglect to properly set up the next gameplay portion. It’s frankly a mess.

I also have to mention the voice acting, which ranges from decent soundalike performances (eg. Katara or Toph) to… “an attempt was made”. As far as I can tell from a quick search of Behind the Voice Actors, the only VA that returned was Dee Bradley Baker for creature noises, and even his mastery in the field is undermined when you play one of the dull Appa autoscrolling segments and notice that they appear to have forgotten to apply any pitching down or treatment to his voice?? It sounds bizarre and unfinished. I do have to give the game credit for casting a higher proportion of actors of Asian descent though which is nice to see.

Let it be known that I 100%d Quest for Balance… minus some trophies like the one for completing boss battles hitless. In this janky combat engine and with the bosses as boring as they are, I couldn’t face it. But the game is just competent enough and revisiting stages is streamlined such that I didn’t mind going back for the side stuff, which is my favourite aspect anyway. On the whole though I can’t really recommend this game except to superfans; the old tie-ins are frankly of a higher standard and by virtue of having dedicated instalments for each season, do a better job covering the material on top of having more depth and variety. Plus the first one has an original story! This could have been a triumphant revisit of a beloved story, but it ended up a cheap cash-grab. Oh well.

[muraenide]

4. which muse of yours is your all time favorite? if you stopped writing them: why?

10. what genre do you most enjoy, whether in roleplay, or fiction as a whole? (fantasy, period, superhero, etc.)

QUESTIONS FOR MUNS. // @ramshacklestar

4. which muse of yours is your all time favorite? if you stopped writing them: why?

I have a group of muses who are my all-time favorites. 1st main blorbo: Mukuro Rokudo from KHR The first main antagonist of the first season of the series, but eventually joins the main character's team. Reasons why he did so is... a bit complicated, but he is possibly my first muse and the muse that resembles Jade the most. I still love him but the fandom fell out of popularity and there were hardly any rp blogs for the fandom. I've never actually left the fandom. The fandom itself died for a while, so I simply moved on to other fandoms.

2nd main blorbo: Narsus from Arslan Senki Arslan Senki is so far my favourite fandom in terms of rp experience and content quality. It's possibly the fandom where I met most of my current friends, especially @oftwilight, @madakoka, and @corruptiongifted, and a lot of us are in different fandoms now but we still talk from time to time. Narsus is a rebellious aristocrat in ancient Persia who joined the prince in his main quest to retake his kingdom. Sybil (@oftwilight) played a great Daryun and our muses often fought and squabbled like an old married couple bc that's also their canon dynamic. The fandom had a total of 10+/- people, and we were all friends due to how small it was so everyone knew everyone. I stopped writing Narsus because I fell out of the fandom when the last light novel dropped and it was... bad. We understand that the author got tired of the series and wanted to end it quickly, but it's still a lovely series regardless and I tend to revisit it from time to time.

3rd main blorbo: Sion Astal from Denyuuden Sion is a young puppet king with a split personality and shares his present body with a demon. The light novel is written by the same creator as Owari no Seraph, but the anime covers very little of the main storyline. The interesting parts are locked behind the light novel, but Sion is probably one of the more complex muses I've written. If the main trio were to be compared with Castlevania, Sion would be the Alucard among the group. The fandom had a total of 3 rpers including me, it was funny how dead it was. I left it when the other two rpers stopped being active, but I still enjoy the fandom regardless.

4th main blorbo: Diluc Ragnvindr from Gen//shin Impact I don't remember why I love Diluc but it started on discord when a friend (Cass) dragged me into Gen//shin and loved the grape man. I got very invested in his lore in Gen///pact to the point that I would read both the CN and EN versions, have a folder for all its screenshots since we can't replay events, and even dug out possibilities of the Ragnvindr Family Tree members all the way to the first Ragnvindr Knight. I stopped writing him due to how unbearable the fandom became once people started joining and it became big. I will refrain from going into detail about this though! But Gen//pact is still a great franchise. As someone who knows quite a bit about Middle-Eastern and East-Asian mythology, Gen//pact really portrayed some aspects of the old myths that I've never seen show up in any type of media before, which is really refreshing and honestly eye-opening.

10. what genre do you most enjoy, whether in roleplay, or fiction as a whole? (fantasy, period, superhero, etc.)

I like mysteries and crimes, horror, cosmological science, fringe science, high fantasy, medieval fantasy, anything historical, supernatural, steampunk, and cyberpunk as a set up for my threads. As for themes, I'm mostly an angst and romance writer. I'm a bit picky with romance though, because I do enjoy romance as a subgenre in my fiction/rp, but never a main theme. In the sense that they start off normally and eventually develop a romantic interest in the other. If romance is the only thing my muse has in common with the other muse, I wouldn't find it as enjoyable, and eventually get bored of it.

[s-essha]

OPEN 01 : PHANTOM PAIN.

Damn,  it was that late already? ———   gold hues peeked their way from the monitor's blue light,  pretending to ignore the quest plastered across the screen.   He accepted it,  naturally;   there was every ounce of confidence in him that it would take five-minutes tops,  and maybe that’s what made it lack appeal so severely.   An endless loop of redundancy until a fated release to deliver salvation from impending boredom.   It was so boringly un-funny that it became hard to imagine he’d ever make it out alive from the same-old same-old.   This was the bed he made,  senselessly plundering through main story without a second thought,  and now he’d have to sleep in it.   Not that it made the itching restlessness any less noticeable.

No matter where eyes land,  it’s difficult to ignore the elephant in the room;   no new releases means less content to stuff minds with.   There’s a vapid difference between casually playing games to kill time and immersing yourself in all it has to offer to drown out everyone if not everything.   Not even a decent DLC graces the presence of latest gaming,  like,  how is that even possible?!   With a market as new and diverse and advancing day-by-day…   With that news,  not even the sweetest of DIY candy kits can lift moods for the collective group,  but Idia especially.

An idle stretch states his ultimate point;   maybe it was time for bed,  or at least to rest the few muscles he had used.   In activities pause,  the soreness bit hard enough that a  ( previously )  quiet presence of tender muscle was slowly reaching the point of insufferable.   Frustrating,  but to be expected,  much to any nerd's dismay.   Maybe he had been craving a break all along.   Arms locked behind his head,  exhaling shakily before rising from his chair with a pop that shakes ——   breaking down at 20 years old?!   Just what was his health stat last left at?!   It was hard to determine whether or not that came from his spine or his hip,  dubiously lucid,  bending palms-down over the desk to at least shut off the computer and pick back up where he left off later.   No way he had the brainpower to sit through an extra hour of grinding,  no matter the difficulty LVL.

Whirring shuts to silence.   THAT leaves only two light sources left;   the one from his hair,  and the one from his phone,  preemptively tucked into his hand,  and it’s duty as a light source being taken lukewarmly serious before an unceremonious flop onto his bed, offering no effort made to attempt crawling beneath the duvet. A duvet not even made for the day because re-making it every day was way too impractical.   Clothed enough that the dorm’s sterile chill hardly registered,  so unless he really wanted the extra boost in warmth,  that was also pointless,  yet dwelling on that of all things seemed more draining than previous attempts at entertaining himself.

      “Crimson-shiiiii............”

A groan so distressed anyone would think he was asked to repeat the year.   Clicking open his phone aids his pouting.   Even Crimson was busy!   Crimson!   His online comrade,  his number one virtual confidant!   Placing blame there though wasn’t the idea;   with a family like Crimson’s,  work would definitely be cut out for him too.   Ortho alone was a handful.   A welcomed handful,  though. Idia was left to assume the same about the other's family. Fingers scroll shiftless through messages,  none received since midday yet craving a response, lazy or not, and lips tug into a grin while skimming back through older messages,  shiftless scrolling taking him back far enough to re-live the messages from the moment. Memo to Idia; when they return, they've got raids planned and scheduled.

Focusing on the suggestion rather than drowning in sulk eased the gloom,  anyway.   Not that sitting in pitch-black save for an ever-dimming amalgamation of flamed light presented itself as an 'happy place' of any kind,  but it was better than turning on the lights to uncloak the fruits of his ( to be honest, dysfunctional ) labor.