#also that isn’t even to MENTION hp but that feels in a class of its own absolute ruin to me

[ct-hardcase]

so with practically every fandom I found myself in for the last 5 years having some gross element behind it, does the dash want to do a book club so we can all collectively find new media

[utilitycaster]

Level Up: Bells Hells Level 12

As always: are there errors or major omissions? Let me know! Your preferred feat or spell isn’t listed? That’s because it’s not my preferred feat or spell, and you should make your own post for your own preferences! Additionally, because level-ups are no longer done at the end of sessions but are rather their own separate videos, I now include speculation for the next level(s) since there’s often very little time to speculate on the current level.

Chetney: He could take another rogue level, as Fearne has, but I think leveling in blood hunter is by far the wiser choice, though Travis does have the rare carte blanche for being good at mechanics award I just made up. Anyway, rogue would give him cunning action, but blood hunter is a big one: hemocraft die goes up to d8, unarmed strike bonus goes up to +2, and he not only gains another use of hybrid transformation per rest but also can now regenerate a small number of hit points at the start of each turn while injured, which will improve his already impressive tanking prowess. Looking forward: I think he should stick to the single rogue level, honestly, and keep leveling in blood hunter. 12 is an ASI level, so: ASI to strength, int, or con, all key stats, would be best in my opinion. He could even out his wisdom score, but also he's rarely been badly afflicted with bloodlust and this party does not lack for wisdom but does need all the int, str, and stacks of HP it can get.

Laudna: You've already seen my thoughts on sorlock before (if you haven't, basically: I think it's not as strong as people think) so this is a bit tough to optimize. Anyway, warlock 4 is a very narratively valid choice if Marisha wanted to level in order to indicate the impact returning to Delilah has had. It would grant her an ASI/feat, another spell, and another cantrip. Personally, I am once again asking Bells Hells to get some intelligence; as a warlock base Laudna's WIS save is already pretty solid, though a DEX bonus wouldn't hurt her either. I don't actually have a ton of feats in mind since she came in with a bunch of feats. Meanwhile, if she continues in sorcerer, level 9 is something of a milestone level and grants access to 5th level spells (and a new known spell) in addition to the usual sorcery point increase. Ultimately this is a tough choice - I think sorcerer is the superior choice mechanically, but warlock might make more sense in-story. Looking forward: really dependent on which path she takes, honestly, but if she does level in warlock I think she should level in sorcerer next. [Note from JUST NOW: she's taking sorcerer; place your level 5 spell bets now]

FCG: It's an ASI level for the non-multiclassers of the group, and: Wisdom. Up wisdom. I don't care if it's a +1 feat or a +2 ASI, either are valid, but increase wisdom. Last time I mentioned skill expert and observant as options; skill expert is I think the better choice since Orym has observant covered. Looking forward: it's a quiet but powerful time for clerics; level 13 grants seventh level spells and pals, all of them are bangers. Plane Shift and Resurrection are the famous ones, but Fire Storm? Divine Word? Etherealness? Symbol? Not a dud in the bunch.

Fearne: She took rogue last time so I do hope she takes a druid level, because cauterizing flames seems thematically appropriate with the shard and with embracing her power -both its healing and harmful sides - and also it's a fantastic ability. If she does take rogue, I feel like thief is the subclass that makes most sense because in combat, she's going to be relying on druid powers, and thief provides some great out-of-combat utility (and is generally an underrated rogue class). Looking forward: I do like the idea of thief Fearne, but also, level 11 is when she gets Transport via Plants, which is pretty key. Level 11 has a bunch of other great druid spells, as fans of Keyleth during the Briarwoods arc would know: Heal and Heroes' Feast both overlap with FCG's abilities but it doesn't hurt to have access to both; giving Fearne Conjure Fey is particularly funny; Sunbeam rules and she's done great things with Daylight; and Bells Hells is already learning the value of Wind Walk.

Imogen: ASI level and I say even out your stats: + 1 each to INT and WIS. She has a lot of feats already and the only one that I think makes sense to take now is War Caster, but right now she does not have a great wisdom save bonus and again, even a +1 to INT wouldn't hurt (plus she is, iirc, proficient in investigation, making her better at it than anyone but Chetney, so another point in that won't hurt in this part). Looking forward: I am assuming she's going to keep leveling in sorcerer and if things happen re: Predathos or Kord it will be represented by a subclass change rather than a class change or multiclass, but watch this space. Anyway, level 13 is time for seventh level spells, and my vote is for teleport since FCG can cover Plane Shift, but I must admit I do love Prismatic Spray.

Orym: it's another ASI and he gets a zillion of them! My boring ASI-loving ass says +1 to INT and CON. He could also take Sentinel although the big three generals can all probably teleport so I don't know if it's that useful, but Mage Slayer probably would be. Looking forward: At level 13 he gets a second use of indomitable, which is great but there's not a ton to say about it. At level 14 he gets another ASI and he should take whichever of the recs I have up here he doesn't take at level 12.

Ashton: An ASI to them too. I feel the move is to max out strength at this point. The CON loss sucked but their CON was already very good; focus on hitting a little harder. Sentinel and Mage Slayer are also valid options for them, though I'd go for the ASI and let Orym, he of the zillion ASI levels, take those. Looking forward: Brutal critical comes at L13, and a path feature at L14; as their subclass is homebrew I have no idea what that feature might be, but I'm excited.

[violetlunette]

BNHA’s Failure of Story Build-up

Okay, so I struggled to figure out how to start this, so this took a while, but I’m here now. So! Let’s talk about “build-up” and how the Main story of BNHA failed to do that.

*BNHA Spoilers

*BNHA Critical

*Ranty opinions

*Long Post

So, what does build-up mean in the context of a story? Basically it’s the material needed for plot points and character development to pay off and impact the readers most effectively. The build-up is important to build tension and emotions otherwise, scenes fall flat and makes the readers confused rather than invested. Without build up, plot twists and emotional scenes don’t work as the writer failed to set things up.

For instance, In the Lord of the Rings, Boromir’s betrayal hits hard for many because the story did its job of setting up the event. We know that Boromir wants to save Gondor and his people and believes the ring will allow him to do so. Every time he mentions Gondor, we hear the desperation in his voice and his heartbreak. However, we also see him training Merry and Pippin and then playing with them. We see how he empathized with the hobbits' heartbreak when Gandalf died, demanding Aragon give them a chance to grieve. So when the betrayal came and he tried to steal the ring, it broke our hearts. And then there’s his death!

BNHA doesn’t have a lot of moments like that because it rarely does any build-up. It just introduced characters out of the blue, then acts like they were a big deal when they just were. it was more, hello, goodbye, oh, I’m dead now. And the publishers seem to realize this as they tend to send all the build up to side materials like Vigilantes and Team Up Missions, which is a huge writing failure that I’ll get to later.

Here, I will focus on three plot points and why they failed to hit the mark.

I did a poll—albeit, a poorly made one as I had no idea what I was doing--a while ago asking five questions;

1: Did you feel that Class 1-A had the second family vibe, particularly with Izuku?

2: What were you thinking when Izuku left UA?

3: How did you feel when Class 1-A came to bring Izuku back?

4: How did you feel about Midnight’s death? (And did you read only the main manga, or the sides as well?)

5: What were your thoughts about Kurogiri’s reveal?

The first three are connected as it’s focused on Class 1-A’s bond.

First off, I don’t think anyone was sad when Izuku left U.A. as the manga didn’t develop the school very well. We saw very few classes and didn’t get to know the teachers, or anything to connect us there, so when Izuku left we didn’t feel the devastation.

(I’d show a comparison of giving life to a school, but the only one I can think of is in HP, but I know the pain is still too painful for people for me to do that.)

But you know what, that doesn’t matter. What does matter is the bond between class 1-a and the lack thereof.

The story tries to play up that everyone in class 1-A and their teachers have a special bond with one another, but it’s just not there. Why? Because despite being drawn together, we don’t see them interacting and connecting. Don’t get me wrong, they’re nice to one another, and there are some sweet moments, like Ochako being considerate of Tsuyu’s sensitivity to the cold. They get along, but showing characters just being nice to each other isn’t enough. We need to see them talk and connect.

Look at Hizashi and Aizawa’s relationship; they have less than 30 scenes where they actually interact with each other together in the entire manga, yet they have one of the strongest relationships in the entire series. (No, seriously; surprised me too, but it really is just around 30. Go back and see. Oh, and keep in mind I said INTERACTING, not just sitting together or being in the same area.) So, why do they work to the point where they are one of the most popular couples in fandom? Simple. It’s not quantity, it’s quality. In every scene they’re together Mic acts, and Aizawa responds. There’s a back and forth between them. Even when Mic ignores him, Aizawa is responding to that action. It’s simple, but it creates a bond.

Class 1-a doesn’t do that, at least not as much, and not with everybody. The majority of them especially don’t react to Izuku. There’s a comment or a line, but that’s it.

That being said Izuku does has a connection with half the class; his best friends, Tenya and Ochako, his rival Todoroki, his childhood bully and maybe friend Bakagou, and Yuga, who attempted to reach out to his dorm neighbor. Adding to that there are a few Izuku is friendly with such as Tsuyu, Mineta, Tomoyoki, and Eijiro, but that’s it. Izuku is never shown to even have a conversation with Toru, Rikido, Mezo, Mina, or anyone outside the ones above.

Izuku has a connection to a few characters but not his whole class. And I wasn’t the only one who felt that way;

Now some of you may be wondering, why does this matter? Simple. The story says it matters.

When Izuku leaves UA, it’s supposed to be heartbreaking. The audience is supposed to feel sad when Izuku goes off on his own and leaves his class behind, but they didn’t. Instead, they were excited!

Everyone was happy that Izuku left school and was going “vigilante.” True, some felt bad that Izuku was leaving a few people behind (Inko, Tenya, Ochako, Shoto, and Bakgou) but overall, no one cared that Izuku was leaving his classmates.

When Izuku leaves UA and leaves letters explaining the truth, they didn’t feel sad. Most were wondering, “Wait, why is Izuku telling them about OFA?”

This is another moment that was played as a big deal, but it wasn’t. Aside from when Bakagou threw a fit about Izuku “lying to him” there was never any scene that showed that Izuku felt bad for keeping his secret from anyone. Plus, there was nothing to gain or lose from relieving the secret. For all the emotional weight there, Izuku might as well have revealed his favorite color, or that he slept with an All Might plushy.

Then later in the manga, when Class A came to bring Izuku back and theses are the results;

It varied, but only 3 out of 20 wanted Izuku back. The majority either didn’t care or was annoyed. This was supposed to be a big emotional moment where our hearts are breaking and yearning, “yes! Please take him home!” and yet, most of use were the opposite.

The manga plays all this as a big emotional battle, but except for a few people, no one felt the emotion. At least not the ones the manga wanted readers to feel. They didn’t want him to go back to U.A. They wanted to see more of Izuku’s solo adventures. And why? Because the manga neglected to build the relationships needed for that to pay off. (The relationships needed to especially be strong here, as it was battling against the concept of “vigilante Izuku.”)

Contrast this to when Izuku left All Might;

Izuku and All Might’s relationship is the most in-depth and developed relationship in the entire manga (FIGHT ME), and why? Because the story took time to develop it. We saw them interacting, we saw them learn and grow from each other, we saw them connect, and we saw how much they came to love each other as father and son. So when Izuku left to keep All Might safe, when we saw the bento box be rejected and fall, our hearts broke. And the angst part of us aside, most of the readers wanted All Might and Izuku to reunite and be together. We didn’t feel that way for Izuku and Class 1-A. If it was just Tenya, Ochako, Shoto, Bakagou, and maybe Aizawa, that would be a different story. Those relationships were built over the story (though they kinda drifted in recent chapters).

The next part where BNHA fails with its build-up is with Midnight’s death. When I asked about Midnight’s death, the results varied, but the gist was that people were more upset about how Midnight’s death was handled than her actual death.

Not one person out of twenty who only read the main manga was sad that Midnight died. Why? Because Midnight was just a side character you saw once in a while if you just read the main. To anyone who read just the main manga, what do you know about Midnight? Okay, we know she’s fully embraced her sexual liberty and that she dotes over youth, but what else? Did you know that outside of her hero persona she is a woman who dotes on cute things and adores children like puppies? Did you know that because of her costume in high school, a law was made stating that heroes had to cover a certain amount of skin? Did you know that she was one of Aizawa and Hizashi’s best friends? Did you know that she’s been raising a cat that Aizawa gave her to take care of? Did you know that she texts Aizawa daily with pictures of said cat and that those pictures are one of the few things to make him genuinely smile? Did you know that, despite popular belief, it was MIDNIGHT who got Aizawa into teaching at U.A.? No. If you read just the main manga and weren’t spoiled by Tumblr or fanfics, you didn’t even know any of that. Hell, you were probably just confused why Hizashi and Aizawa were so broken over her death. And why? Because all the information I mentioned was in a side series, along with a good portion of Midnight’s character. In BNHA vigilantes Midnight plays a huge role and interacts with several characters. It’s where we learn about her—and sadly, there’s little to no payoff. The payoff is in BNHA where her death fails to make an impact. We don’t see her making a connection with anybody in the main series, so when we see Mina and the others crying over her, the hit meant to be delivered isn’t there. The audience is meant to fill in the blanks as to why Mina was sad when we never saw her have any one-on-one time with Midnight. Obviously, Midnight is the first dead body of someone they know, but what else? Of all the people who died at the hospital raid, Midnight’s death should have affected people the most as she was the one around since the beginning and had a connection to the main characters. But it didn’t. Do you know who’s death did affect the audience more? Twice, one of the villains. People felt worse for Twice’s death than Midnight’s. Why? One; we saw it happen. Two; we got to know Twice as a person. Three; the drama was built up. We saw Twice opening up and reaching out to Hawks who we knew was a spy. We saw their friendship blossom, and when Hawks killed him, it was heart-wrenching. Plus, it’s an important story point as well as an important shift in Hawk’s character arc. Twice’s death had meaning—Midnight’s didn’t. Midnight died happened off-screen and again, everything that would connect readers to her was in side materials. Her death didn’t matter in the story. Midnight died just because someone the readers were familiar with needed to die. And, yes the argument could be made that her death was personal to the kids, but not really. Any teacher could have been killed and it would have had the same effect. The manga failed with the build-up, emotionally and for the story thus it failed Midnight’s death and failed her character.

Speaking of death, let’s move on to Kurogiri. Now, this one wasn’t a poll, however, they wrote in their answers and most people seemed to like the twist.

But here’s the thing; where’s the build-up in the main story? No really, think about it. We know that Aizawa and Hizashi lost a friend in the past, but there was nothing to hint that Kurogiri was their lost friend or even related. Hell, in the main manga we’re not even told what Oboro’s quirk was, so there was no way to hint that these two were the same person. Except maybe the hair.

But okay. Let’s say that the hair was enough build-up, plot-wise. What emotionally? How did the emotions hit?

Well, to anyone who just read the main manga the emotional turmoil came from Aizawa and Hizashi’s reactions, not the fact that Kurogiri was Oboro. Why? Because—and say it with me—the emotional buildup was in the side materials. And here, there’s no excuse for it, at all. The back story could have been put in Chapter 253 when Aizawa and Hizashi were driving to Tartarus. It would fit naturally as Oboro had hinted at and it makes sense that Aizawa would be thinking about his past with Cloud boy as they were going to see “him.” It wouldn’t have slowed the story because A) Aizawa is a well-loved character people want to know more about. B) IT’S AN IMPORTANT PART OF THE STORY. It tells us about Aizawa’s character, showed us who Oboro is, and helps introduced what the nomus are. Again, no reason why it’s not in the main manga.

The only reason the reveal was so emotional was that we saw how it tore up Aizawa and Hizashi, to who the audience had a connection. That’s the only reason this worked. (That and anime fans know how to predict certain tropes. For instance, a girl is bathing and a guy wants to shower. What happens next? Every anime fan knows.)

There are other things that the manga failed to build up for the emotional impact as well such as Eri being important enough for Aizawa to think of in the middle of a fight when losing his leg, Eri restoring Mirio’s quirk and more. And let's not even get started on Edgeshot in the latest chapter where--no. No, I need more time. Too much stupidity, I just--gfhgfh.

In conclusion, if there are any writers please understand two things;

1: Anything that plays a major role in the story, plot or character-wise, needs to be properly built up.

2: If a reader has to go outside of the series they’re reading to understand important plot points or to get the emotional impact you desire, then you failed as a writer. A story automatically fails if you have to depend on supplementary details to get the whole story. Supplementary materials are supposed to add to a story, not fill in your plot holes, or make up for the leg work that was supposed to be in the main story.

Thank you for your time and especially thanks to those who took the poll.

[swtki]

Surprise Pregnancy - Marvel

Summary: Head cannons for how the MCU boys would react to an unplanned pregnancy.

Warnings: mentions of sex, mostly fluff, all characters are pro choice, swearing, slight angst, mentions of cigarettes, mention of breeding kink.

A/N: this is gonna be like the one I did for the HP boys.

Steve Rogers

Okay lets be honest I think that man wears a condom AND pulls out bc he will take NO RISKS.

Until after you’re married, of course.

Then its a sometimes condom sometimes morning after pill type beat.

Its not that he doesn’t want a kid, he just wants to wait until someone isn’t trying to kill him every day.

Steve, who usually has pink cheeks and relaxed eyes, went cold and clammy when you mentioned a late period.

Home tests weren’t really around for him, so he’s used to hearing about cycles and the science of that.

Man gets out a full calendar to get to the bottom of this.

“Okay so if you got your last one here, and then the next one here, your cycle will last about 29 days. Meaning you should have gotten it here but its now two weeks past that point-“

He probably has one of the girls take you to the doctor to get a test.

But he is happy asf when he gets your call.

honestly Steve is from a generation where they gave a kid a Marlboro and called it childcare.

Within 9 months he has tried to give you: Coffee, deli meat, the cheese you can’t eat, sushi, any type of soda to ever walk this fucking planet (plus Thor trying to give you soda from those bougie planets) 

He will not buy a book. Don’t even try to ask him.

Although the apartment is small, its much better than the tower.

Steve is waiting outside during delivery. Support from the hall!

He want’s to name your kid after his dead relative with an old persons name 💀

“We are not naming our child Edna.”

“Is Ashley much better??”

The way this man is so incapable of holding a child in a way that doesn’t make you feel like he’s gonna drop it.

Lowkey afraid of babies tbh

Parenting styles clash of course.

“No I didn’t plug the ‘ wall socket protectors ‘ in. Back in my day-“

Bucky prob the Godfather.

Overall: Fun dad.

Bucky Barnes

He has a breeding kink but like….forgets that breeding produces a human.

Tbh I don’t think Bucky wants kids

Like they aren’t in the plan.

He wants to be the cool uncle.

Also his kids would physically be older than him at some point and thats kinda weird.

Anyways, he’s pretty shocked when you pop up with not one, but four positive tests.

man literally got up and went to another room, he couldn’t deal

ceo of needing to sleep on it

ceo of leaving his gf alone

He comes back all business

“Do you…y’know…want a….y’know?”

Man would pull it out himself if you asked him to I know that bionic arm could come in handy 👀

after many many many hours of talking, you decide the study should be the new nursery.

Oh boy is redecoration a fun time

“I love you, Bucky, but we cannot have world war II memorabilia in our baby’s nursery.”

not too happy about hanging it up in the living room bc he kinda wants to keep his age private yet he will not say “these were my great grandfathers”

Probably carried around a sack of flour so he could learn how to hold a baby

RIP the first two sacks, they were dropped.

refuses to go to classes

will let you hold his metal arm in delivery tho

Steve’s the Godfather ofc

Bucky kind of treats the baby like another adult but…weaker.

He’s so weird around the baby

He adores it tho

Like falls asleep with them on his chest

slightly scary though because he can toss and turn so its good until panic sets in.

over all: fun but chaotic dad.



Loki Laufeyson

Honestly I can’t imagine Loki stays in the courting stage very long.

He’s probably married you, bedded you, and moved you in all within seven months.

And three months after that you’re pregnant with his (first) child.

He of course has wanted this practically since day 1

So when you show him the test sticks he was like 😃 what

then you had to explain what a midguardian pregnancy test was

he was ecstatic lol

Nursery done in a day

Theres gold.

Like

decorative gold

in a babies room.

He extra like that ig

He refuses to let you do anything. Need to stand up? He’s helping you do so.

Need water? conjured that bitch

the way he will not hesitate

He was in the room during delivery, his hand being crushed by yours

Agreeing on a modern name, still with roots to Nordic culture.

Loki wants more almost immediately

He keeps an eye on his baby all the time

and lets you sleep while he casts himself in the nursery to take care of the crying child.

He’s scared for Thor.

Like he knows Thor and your kid might get into some bullshit and he doesn’t want that.

uncle tingz

overall: Protective af

Thor Oddinson

Oh this is a wild ride, strap in.

Bro I know I said Bucky had a breeding kink but didn’t actually want a kid then?

Ok well Thor has a breeding kink and he means it.

You’re both prepared for a kid, so if it happens so be it.

He literally opened a window and screamed “A NEW HEIR IS FORMING!” when he found out.

Weirdo.

Still you weren’t exactly sure the two of you should be parents.

For one, the dining room was covered in smashed mugs.

But he loved you and you loved him, so you decided to keep it.

Complete opposite of Loki

Even when you’re struggling to get out of bed bc you’re so big hes like 👁👁 what

Anyways, he does help when he can.

He wants the kid to be a kid, like a normal non-king kid.

So the nursery is pretty modest.

Many earth tones, a lot of traditional norse decor.

He named the baby after his Mother, Frigga

The kingdom was so happy at the new addition to the royal home.

He prob started teaching her to fight as soon as she could walk.

He’s a very protective father

Loki and Frigga prank the hell out of him, teaching her magic and spells.

Overall: Proud parent

Peter Parker

Out of all of them this was probably the most unplanned.

You two are only starting your first year of university, still living in separate dorms.

Your period is like three weeks late.

You’re hoping its just stress.

Then the nausea kicks in.

So you do what any person in denial would do, you go to the campus clinic for an antibiotic or antiviral.

“Are you aware you’re with child?” bruh moment

Not sure what to do, you avoid your boyfriend for a whole week.

He corners you like “🥺 what happen”

so you break down and start rambling

“IwenttotheclinicandtheytoldmeI’mpregnantand nowIhavetodecideifIwanttokeepitornotandifyouleaveIdon’tknowwhatI’lldo.”

hes just like 😅 oh god

Hes supportive, even saying he’ll go to the ab*rtion clinic with you if that’s what you choose.

He doesn’t want anything to hurt you, so he takes over your course work for the time being.

Over the next two weeks you reach a conclusion; You’d like to keep it.

Peter is supportive of course, he always wanted to be a dad some day.

May is kinda disappointed ngl

But she is also supportive, even agreeing to lend a hand so you two can stay in school.

Luckily, you live in a time where parenting and school are able to be done at the same time.

You urge Peter to stay in normal classes so he can stay on track for his masters

You switch to an online program, spending more time at home.

Btw you moved into May’s for a bit

Because although she’d never been pregnant herself, she could take care of you.

Peter really did come over every weekend.

sort of off topic but if the spider bite changed his DNA, would his kid have powers?

Anyways, he was there during delivery and he fell in love with your kid as soon as they were born.

He decided to transfer to NYU so he could stay close

Shitty apartment down the hall from May = new home

overall: king shit

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[grailfinders]

Fate and Phantasms #150: Merlin

Today on Fate and Phantasms we’re finishing the last build in Observer on Timeless Temple, the man who broke the meta, Merlin! I’ll be honest, I really wasn’t expecting we’d make it this far. Anyway, you’re a Divination Wizard, because no shit. You’re a wizard, you can see the future, you kinda cheat at life, everything else just falls into place. You’re also a Fighter, because you also keep a shortsword stashed in your staff in case of emergencies.

Check out his build breakdown below the cut, or his character sheet over here!

Next up: A dimension-hopping bisexual. That’s not a phrase I ever thought I’d say, but I’m glad I did.

Race and Background

Merlin’s half Incubus, giving him immense magical power. Thankfully we can match that lineage one for one with the Abyssal Tiefling, an old UA that gives you +2 Intelligence, +1 Charisma, Darkvision, Abyssal Fortitude for half your level (rounded down, minimum 1) in extra HP, and Abyssal Arcana. That last one’s a bit complicated, so give us a second. 

Each long rest, you randomly get one of six cantrips by rolling a d6 (aside from the one you just had, you have to re-roll if that happens). You can get Dancing Lights, True Strike, Light, Message, Spare the Dying, or Prestidigitation. You can cast that cantrip like you would any other cantrip at your disposal, although awkwardly enough they never mention what ability score you would use to cast it. (I would assume Charisma, but feel free to argue with your DM.) After you finish another long rest, replace the old cantrip with a new one.

Being stranded on the other side of the world makes you the premier Hermit, giving you proficiency with Arcana and Religion. 

Ability Scores

You know literally everything, so make your Intelligence as high as possible. You also don’t have much difficulty avoiding the consequences of your actions, so it’s safe to say your Dexterity is pretty good too. You managed to catfish a not insignificant portion of the human race during the Goetia Crisis, so your Charisma is up there as well. Your Constitution isn’t as strong, you’re pretty much unkillable but I’ll be damned if Quetz didn’t try. Your Wisdom is rather low- you thought betraying the second sun was a good idea- but we’re dumping Strength. You are wizard, no big surprise.

Class Levels

1. First level wizards get proficiency in Intelligence and Wisdom saves, as well as History (you were there for quite a bit of it) and Insight (you watch people long enough eventually you notice patterns).

You also learn how to cast Spells using your Intelligence. Like all wizards you get an obscene number of spells, so we’ll just mention the ones that are very important to the character here, though the character sheet has a full list.

Mage Armor, of course is super important for any wizard, as is your caster balls (Magic Missile). I’d also grab Charm Person to make the whole Magi Marie thing a bit easier. You can also get Find Familiar, if you really want Cath Palug that badly.

Lastly, you get an Arcane Recovery, letting you regain spell slots with a total level equal to half your level rounded up on a short rest once per long rest. Not having slots sucks, don’t do that.

2. Second level wizards learn a specialty, and Divination basically lets you cheat at everything thanks to your Portents. At the end of a long rest, you roll two 20s and save those results.  At any time before your next long rest, you can use one of those results to replace an attack, save, or ability roll you can see, once per turn. If you roll high, give it to Artoria. If you roll low, still give it to Artoria, it’ll be funny.

You also become a Divination Savant, making it cheaper and easier to copy divination spells.

3. Third level wizards get second level spells, but your Abyssal Arcana also grows stronger, giving you a random first level spell each long rest as well. You cast these spells as if you were using a second level spell slot once per long rest. They are Burning Hands, Charm Person, Magic Missile, Cure Wounds, Tasha’s Hideous Laughter, and Thunderwave. You’re a Grand Caster candidate, so it’s not like there’s a reason you couldn’t cast any of those.

We’re also spending your spells this level to enhance party members, with Enhance Ability and Magic Weapon helping out in and out of combat.

4. I know we just got cure wounds last level, but that’s a one in six chance of using it once per long rest. I’d hardly call that meta breaking. We’ll fix that by using your first Ability Score Improvement to grab the Magic Initiate feat, giving you the spells Light, Minor Illusion, and Cure Wounds more consistently (the last one is still once per long rest though).

5. Fifth level Abyssal Tieflings get one last boost to their Abyssal Arcana, giving them one of six second level spells each long rest. You could get Alter Self, Darkness, Invisibility, Levitate, Mirror Image, or Spider Climb. 

You also learn Dispel Magic to break through Tiamat’s Chaos Tide.

6. Sixth level divination wizards have Expert Divination, recharging lower level spell slots after expending another spell slot on a divination spell. The recharged slot also has to be 5th level or lower, but that’s hardly an issue right now. Very useful for someone who’s technically in another plane most of the time.

You also learn Major Image, for stronger illusory power, and Haste to make a chosen warrior more of a hero.

7. We’re now going to bounce over to Fighter real quick, you’re surprisingly quick to pull a sword on someone if you feel like it. The Dueling fighting style adds 2 to your weapon damage with one handed weapons, and Second Wind lets you spend a bonus action to heal yourself. 

8. Second level fighters get an Action Surge, letting you add an extra action to your turn once per short rest. 

9. For your fourth level spells, Hallucinatory Terrain will give your allies a glimpse of Avalon (healing and NP charge not included).

10. Use this ASI to bump up your Intelligence, and learn Charm Monster to keep Cath Palug from smacking you upside the head for the eight billionth time.

11. With fifth level spells you can finally insert yourself into others’ dreams thanks to the spell Dream. It takes a minute to cast, but afterwards you can enter a trance to hop into a target’s dreams. You can shape the dream to your liking, or just watch the fireworks. You can also turn into a nightmare to deal psychic damage and prevent any benefits from that sleep if the target fails a wisdom save.

12. Tenth level divination wizards can use The Third Eye to gain one special kind of sight each short rest as an action. You can choose form Darkvision, sight into the Ethereal Plane, the ability to Read any Language, or the ability to see invisible objects and creatures. 

13. Sixth level spells like Mental Prison make things a lot harder for your enemies, charming one target creature if it fails an intelligence save. If it succeeds, it only takes some psychic damage. If it fails, it takes the damage and it becomes surrounded by an illusionary prison, so it can’t move, see, or hear anything beyond its space. If it’s forcibly moved out, or is attacked/attacks through the illusion, it takes even more psychic damage and the spell ends.

14. If you’re going with the standard array, you’ve probably noticed by now that your intelligence is currently odd. Thankfully we can fix that and make your DM’s life so much harder all at once thanks to the feat Keen Mind, which we’re picking up with this level’s ASI. Your Intelligence goes up by one, you have a great sense of direction and timing, and you have eidetic memory of the last month.

15. Seventh level spells like Mirage Arcane are another bump in power, letting you warp the landscape in a square mile around you. You can even add your fancy looking tower to the illusion now! Still not a lot of healing though.

16. Your last divination goody is the feature Greater Portent, letting your roll three d20s per day instead of two. Yeah, portent’s just kinda busted.

17. Eighth level spells like Illusory Dragon are a massive upgrade, almost as powerful as you usually are. This lets you make a dragon illusion that takes up space, is tangible, and can really breathe fire. I’m not entirely sure how this is an illusion, if I’m being honest.

18. Use this ASI to bump up your Dexterity for less dying and more stabbing. You also learn the spell Demiplane, to create your own Avalon! As long as you don’t mind your Avalon being a 30′ cube room and nothing else. Still, it’s hard to beat that level of security.

19. Seventeenth level wizards get ninth level spells. Seriously, just grab as many as you can. Merlin’s a grand caster, literally nothing is beyond his reach, certainly not anything a D&D character could do.

20. Eighteenth level wizards gain Spell Mastery over a first and second level spell, letting you cast them at their lowest level like cantrips. Silent Image and Magic Weapon are both good for support, I’d pick those. It’s not a huge issue if you change your mind later, too- you can change spells after 8 hours of study. You also learn True Polymorph. Artoria’s gotta father a child somehow.

Pros:

With your maxed out intelligence, plus ways to confuse your enemies and buff your allies, you make for a pretty good support caster. I doubt that comes as a surprise.

Divination wizards are kinda busted? Three portents per long rest can seriously reshape a campaign if you’re smart with them.

Wish is also kinda busted? You know how a lot of builds I mention not getting to ninth level spells as a con? Now you get to find out why.

Cons:

You’re squishy, which also isn’t too surprising. With an AC of 16 and HP barely scratching past one hundred, You probably won’t want to actually use your sword that often.

Despite healing being the big draw of your FGO counterpart, we didn’t really get that much in this build. You get one to two uses of Cure Wounds per day, plus your second wind. Not exactly meta defining.

Most illusions and buff spells use concentration, so good luck holding onto those with a con save of +1. It also means you have to pick and choose what you’re doing at any one time.

[fatesdeepdive]

Entry 53: Home Sweet Abusive Home

I unlocked the Conquest version of My Castle at the end of the last chapter. It’s basically the same; there are different building styles, Lilith attacks instead of heals, the shops sell Nohrian weapons instead of Hoshidan ones, etc. I’m going to be ignoring castle stuff this time and instead analyzing classes.

Class Profile - Nohr Prince/Princess

Corrin and Kana’s default class, wields swords and dragon stones. Balanced with good HP and Strength. The class’s first skill, Nobility, boosts EXP gained. The other skill, Dragon Fang, gives a skill stat determined chance to do a special attack that does 1.5 damage. Dragon Fang also has unique animations that have Corrin attacking with dragon arms. Design wise, the black and white stripes are nice but a bit busy. The cape is nice, but the random slits over the princess version’s thighs are dumb.

Class Profile - Hoshido Noble

Nohr Prince/Princess’s promotion in Birthright and an optional promotion in Revelation. Stat wise, it has better Strength, Skill, and Defense than its Nohrian counterpart, as well as the ability to use staves. It’s first ability, Dragon Ward, gives nearby allies a luck based chance to half damage taken. This fits with its more supportive role. On the other hand, its second ability Hoshidan Unity gives a 10% boost to the activation rate of all skills. Design wise, it’s a silver and gold version of Corrin’s normal design with a few details that make it look more Hoshidan. It’s a great design, assuming you ignore the fact that the female version isn’t wearing pants.

Class Profile - Nohr Noble

The Conquest version of Hoshido Noble. Has slightly better Speed, Magic, and Resistance, as well as the ability to use tomes. Its first skill, Draconic Hex, lowers the stats of enemies after combat. The other skill, Nohrian Trust, is really interesting, allowing Corrin to use the battle skills of supporting allies. I love the black coloring with hints of magenta and the tattered cape, but I have to groan at the cleavage and continued lack of pants for female units. Also something I noticed: Nohr Nobles have a shield on their left shoulder, while Hoshidans have a shield on their right shoulder. It’s a nice little detail.

Also, you know how I stole Rinkah and Sakura’s weapons? The damn game gave them back!

Conquest Chapter 7: A Dragon’s Decree

Moron and his Nohrian siblings return to Castle Krakenburg. Garon praises Xander for invading Hoshido. Xander brings up Moron, who Garon apparently can’t see from ten feet away, and Garon is shocked that Moron isn’t dead. Garon yells at Moron for coming home and accuses him of being a spy. Xander insists Moron is loyal and brings up the fight with Ryoma. Iago believes this to be a ruse, which makes sense. He did that shit in Birthright.

Moron asks about the exploding sword. Garon very convincingly pretends to know nothing. Garon uses the fact that Moron is suspicious of the repeated attempts on his life as evidence that Moron is a traitor and orders Xander to execute him. So glad we came back.

Camilla and Elise beg for mercy and Xander refuses to kill his brother. Iago says that makes Xander a traitor, too. Moron says he’ll kill himself to protect Xander. Garon, overjoyed at the idea of suicide, decides to leave it up to Anankos, the dragon god who was mentioned like once in Birthright. Anankos whispers to Garon to spare Moron, if he passes a test. Moron must suppress a rebellion in the ice tribe to prove his loyalty, without any help from his siblings or the Nohrian military. Something about Moron going off alone to enemy territory to prove his loyalty feels oddly familiar...hope this isn’t secretly a ploy to kill Moron again.

Xander says that taking out an entire army singlehandedly is impossible. Moron agrees to the mission. After Moron leaves, Garon monologues about how Moron is going to lose all hope and wish for death. Real glad we chose to side with Nohr, this truly was the right decision.

Xander, hearing Garon say evil shit out loud, does not decide to stop working for Garon. He says he knows what he has to do, but spoiler alert, it isn’t overthrow his evil father.

Moron goes through the woods of the Forlorn, where you fight Leo in Birthright, with only Lilith accompanying him. Faceless show up and attack, surrounding Moron. Felicia shows up and takes one out with a dagger. Moron points out that he had to destroy Felicia’s friends and family without help, but shrugs it off because they aren’t technically at the Ice Village yet.

This battle is actually pretty good, taking on a ton of enemies with only two units. At the start of turn three, Silas and Elise show up to rescue Corrin. At the start of turn four, Elise’s retainers Arthur and Effie join them. Arthur mentions that he’s late because a bird stole his map and Effie’s late because her armor made her sink into the swamp. Elise mentions that Xander planned out this rescue behind Garon’s back.

Arthur

Arthur is Talitu's rude Wind Mage son...wait, wrong Arthur. Arthur is a Monk who...okay, once more time. Arthur is Elise’s unlucky but heroic Fighter retainer. I love Arthur as a character, this boisterous, cheesy, superhero fighting for justice. His design has this massive lantern jaw and he wears a superhero costume with a cape. His personal skill, Misfortune, makes critical hits more likely on both him and his enemies. This is fitting for the running gag of him being supernaturally unlucky, something reflected in gameplay by him having an abysmal luck stat.

Effie

Elise’s other retainer, a Knight. She seems to be a protective warrior. Honestly, I didn’t pick up too much about her personality because I was distracted by her utterly monstrous strength star. Effie is buff. Her personal skill, Puissance, pairs well with this by boosting her damage if she’s far stronger than an enemy. Personally, I’m not too fond of Effie’s design. Her face feels to girly and looks like she’s wearing make-up, which doesn’t match her personality. The big shoulder pads look weird and the boob plate is eye-roll inducing. At least it’s better than her Heroes design, which is atrocious.

After battle, Felicia volunteers to lead us to her village. The camera pans over to reveal Iago was responsible for the faceless attack. Because he’s an evil asshole who I hate.

Also I grabbed Mozu between chapters.

Support: Corrin/Elise

C: Corrin stumbles upon Elise practicing punching in a field. Elise insists she's just picking flowers because she's sweet. Eventually, Elise admits that she's training so she won't be a burden to the army.

B: Corrin trains Elise to grow stronger. Elise struggles to do push-ups.

A: Elise sobs about being pathetic. Corrin insists that war isn't about fighting, it's about having a pure desire for peace. The amount of people Corrin kills contradicts this.

S: Corrin gives Elise flowers to propose to her. I vomit.

Review: Setting aside the incestuous pedophilia that ends this one, not bad. I think Elise works more than Sakura because at least she’s entertaining when complaining about being a burden.

Support: Arthur/Felicia

C: Felicia tells Arthur she's a bad maid because she's incompetent and clumsy. Arthur relates.

B: Arthur explains that the best way to deal with problems is to be carefree. As he walks, he almost slips on a banana peel (despite the army not storing bananas) and is swarmed by mosquitos (which don't exist in this region).

A: Arthur tells a story of a time he tried to save a drowning person, hit his head, and almost drowned. The person he tried to save was helped by someone else. Arthur explains that he and Felicia shouldn't worry about mishaps.

S: Arthur asks Felicia to meet with him so he can propose. They fall in a pit, Setsuna style, and Felicia accidentally freezes Arthur's fingers so he can't get the ring out of his pocket.

Review: Paring up these absolute messes of people is hilarious.

Support: Mozu/Silas

C: Mozu asks Silas if she should just leave the army and go back home (to the corpse filled ruins of her village I guess) because she isn't very strong. Silas volunteers to train her to be stronger.

B: Mozu says Silas shouldn't waste time training her. Silas tells her her "I'm too weak to be good" mindset is holding her back and that her wasting her potential is a sin against her murdered parents. Goddamn.

A: Mozu, believing she has potential, improves. Silas says he wasn't talented as a kid and only became a good knight because he never gave up. Mozu promises to cook for him.

S: Silas proposes so he can have pie every day. Mozu fantasizes about killing people with S-Rank pair up bonuses.

Review: Not bad, but needed a certain spark to be great. Silas telling Mozu that attitude is everything is interesting, but it kinda falls off towards the end.

Support: Effie/Jakob

C: Jakob bakes a cake for Corrin. Effie eats it. Jakob tries to physically stop her but she shrugs off everything he throws at her.

B: Effie works out by lifting water barrels and tells Jakob that she needs to be strong so she can protect her friends, even if it costs her her own life. Jakob says he doesn't want her to die for him because he'd have to spend the rest of his life feeling guilty. Ugh!

A: Effie says that she can't not protect him because they're friends. Jakob says that's fine, just don't die in the process.

S: Jakob bakes a cake with protein powder instead of flour to propose to Effie. Effie says she isn't going to marry him for his baking skills, but for his good heart.

Review: Pretty good. Effie is amusing throughout this Support and the discussion of dying for friends is nice.

[dracothedeatheatingcupcake-ao3]

Danganronpa IshiMondo Hogwarts AU idea

Hi all! So, the other night I was lying in bed, thinking about IshiMondo (as one does), when I got this random idea. It just kind of was a random musing at first, but the more I thought of it, the more invested I got. What was this idea, you ask? Well, those of you who read the title of this post will already know. 

IshiMondo at Hogwarts. And... that’s about it, ha. 

The idea quickly went from a “ha, cool idea” to an “I must have this.” And I would like to say that-- while I know Harry Potter has its flaws (and J.K. Rowling can bite me)-- I still adore the series, while also acknowledging the flaws and downfalls. 

I did write a one shot fic of IshiMondo at Hogwarts, but this post isn’t about that. This is just about my headcanons of what house each student would be in, their blood purity, their prefect status, as well as how it would work having the Danganronpa characters be in Hogwarts. If you feel excited about the fic, don’t worry, it is completed with 25k words. I wrote frantically the last day and a half to complete it, ha. I had no plot in mind when I started, just wanted a IshiMondo Hogwarts story, but I got a pretty solid plot idea after writing for a little bit, so I hope y’all like it. 

I don’t know when I’ll be posting it, just because I have a bit of a backlog of fics to post, oof. Probably sometime next week, after some more editing. 

Anyway, if you are interested in the Hogwarts AU idea, feel free to read on to the rest of the post. It’s a little rambling, so apologies about that. But I’m just super psyched on this idea, ha. And I always focus on useless details when I think about thing, oof. 

(I will add a read more here, just to not have an insanely long post clog your dash if y’all don’t care, ha.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Anyway. The first thing I thought about was which house each student would be in. And this... was surprisingly easy, really. Some of the characters I was a bit stuck on, but was still able to put them in a house and feel good with it, even if for some I’m like “ehhh, they asked the hat to be in that house, lol”. 

One small issue I found for fitting the Danganronpa characters into Hogwarts was the fact that the 88th class only had 16 students, which would be ridiculously small for a Hogwarts year. I explain this one away by saying the war just made their year smaller, since I wouldn’t want to add any students to their year, really. If you go by their canon birth years, 1993 (other than Hiro, ha, though in this AU he’s the same age as the rest), they’d have been about 4 or 5 during the war in 1998, so it would make some sense for their year to be smaller. Also... if you’re wondering why 16 Japanese students ended up in a British school... shhhh. That’s the biggest hand wave in all Hogwarts crossover AU’s. 

Anyway, here’s the houses I put them in. I wanted 4 per house, since there are an even 16 students in Danganronpa, so 4 per house makes sense. I also initially wanted to have 2 girls and 2 boys, when possible, but it didn’t work out for most of the houses. Ah well. 

The students houses, as well as “blood purity” and prefect status, since my fic takes place in fifth year:

Hufflepuff: 

Makoto (half-blood) 

Taka (pureblood) (prefect, duh) 

Sayaka (half-blood)

Hifumi (half-blood, muggle mother) 

~XoxoxoxoxoxoX~

Gryffindor:

Mondo (muggle born)  (prefect)

Sakura (half-blood) 

Leon (half-blood) 

Hina (half-blood) 

~XoxoxoxoxoxoX~ 

Slytherin:

Junko (pureblood)

Mukuro (pureblood)

Byakuya (half-blood- pureblood father, half-blood mother) 

Celeste (half blood- pureblood mother, half-blood father) (prefect)

~XoxoxoxoxoxoX~ 

Ravenclaw:

Kyoko (half-blood) (prefect)

Hiro (muggle born) 

Toko (half-blood)

Chihiro (muggle born) 

~~~~~

Houses defense:  

I honestly feel that these houses are pretty representative of the characters, for the most part. But here is some evidence, which yes, I did put thought into, ha. Please go with the assumption for the houses that the hat also takes into account what qualities the students personally value, even a bit more than what qualities they may or may not possess. This is just how I personally view the hat working in HP, because otherwise... well, it doesn’t make much sense, since everyone has at least some quality of each house. 

Taka, I firmly believe, is absolutely a Hufflepuff, duh. Not only does he value hard work above literally all else, but he is fiercely loyal and does his best to be kind, even if he doesn’t always succeed. More than that, while he is intelligent, he absolutely does not value intelligence, since he hates geniuses, which eliminates Ravenclaw. He is ambitious, but he is the legit opposite of cunning or sly, ha, so Slytherin is out. And while he is brave, he is not at all reckless, nor do I think he values bravery much, so no to Gryffindor. Thus, Hufflepuff through and through. 

I also feel confident with Mondo’s placement. He’s totally a Gryffindor, oof. He’s so hotheaded and reckless in canon, always running headfirst into things without thinking it through first. And with his thing against being weak, he tends to make up for it by being recklessly brave, not to mention how he’d have to at least fake bravery with his position as a biker gang leader. He doesn’t really fit in the other houses either, since he’s not super ambitious, he doesn’t really value intelligence (I like to imagine that he is intelligent, but he wouldn’t value it, which I personally view as being important in Hogwarts houses), and while he is loyal, he doesn’t value hard work or kindness, really. Thus, Gryffindor. 

I think I got Slytherin house pretty spot on, ha. Junko is totally a Slytherin, given how she... literally created an entire killing game and deceived her entire class. If that’s not ambitious and cunning, I don’t know what is... I don’t know much about Mukuro, but I imagine she’d want to be with her sister if nothing else. Byakuya and Celeste are total Slytherins, given their ambition and drive for success. 

Ravenclaw I was a bit confident about too, other than Hiro. But Kyoko definitely has big Ravenclaw vibes, with her inquisitive and sleuthing nature. She seems to be one to value intelligence, too. Chihiro is an intelligent character, who also values intelligence, so that also fits. Same with Toko, though I suppose she could possibly go with Slytherin... but I don’t view her as very ambitious, honestly, when you take away Genocide Jack/Jill, which I usually try to do (people with DID are not serial killers, thank you very much). Now, Hiro... this was one I was a bit stuck on. I contemplated putting him in Hufflepuff, since he has the whole, you know... stoner vibe, ha. But I think Ravenclaw does fit him. While he doesn’t have good grades and isn’t portrayed as being very intelligent, he is a talented clairvoyant in canon, and if he were in a world with divination, I firmly believe he’d be an excellent divination expert, which is a form of intelligence. He also has big Trelawney vibes, who is a Ravenclaw, ha. 

The rest of Gryffindor I wasn’t super sold on, but I feel they fit. Sakura is certainly brave, even if she’s not super reckless. I think, though, that she’d want to be in Gryffindor and would ask the hat to put her there. Since she doesn’t have any strong ties to any other house (she is ambitious and loyal, but she’s not either thing above everything else), I think the hat would respect her wish. Leon I honestly wasn’t sure on, since I don’t know too much about him as a character, but I wanted him and Mondo in the same house, so... yeah. Plus, he has the whole rebel vibe, ha. Hina I almost had in Hufflepuff, but that would have messed up the 4 per house thing, so I changed her to Gryffindor. I do think it fits, though I don’t know too much about Hina, since I never finished playing the game and don’t know her later game character much. Early on, she seems to be one to be willing to fight for what she believes in, though, so Gryffindor would prolly fit. 

Hufflepuff was also a bit of a struggle for me, but I think Makoto definitely fits. He’s very friendly and kind, as well as loyal, so I think Hufflepuff fits him well. Now, Sayaka and Hifumi... eh, I felt it fits a little, since neither really strikes me as having many qualities of the other houses, but I was not super sold on either. Sayaka is ambitious and can be cunning, but she just... doesn’t really strike me as a Slytherin, and I also don’t think she’d want to be placed there. Hufflepuff is more of a cutesy house (I say as a proud Hufflepuff, so don’t @ me), so I do think she’d like the house more. And with not having many qualities of the other houses other than Slytherin, I think the hat would also respect her wishes. Now, Hifumi... I had considered him for Ravenclaw (switching him and Hiro), but I just didn’t think that fit all too well. He doesn’t really have qualities of any of the houses, in my opinion, which then instantly would put him in Hufflepuff, since Hufflepuff is more than willing to take any student. Which I personally view as a good thing, ha, so please don’t think I’m putting down Hufflepuff. 

~~~~~

Blood purity: 

Now, the whole blood purity thing I didn’t put too much thought into other than who I think would be bigger with ‘muggle’ things than others, like Chihiro. Hiro I had be muggle born just ‘cause, though, ha. Most I had as half-blood, just because it seemed a good middle of the road thing. Junko and Mukuro are pureblood since Junko seems like she’d be a snob about it, while Byakuya and Celeste just have a single pureblood parent mostly because of a throw-away line in the fic I wrote, ha. I didn’t feel it mattered too much with all of the rest of the class other than Taka and Mondo, though, since blood-purity is kind of a meh thing. 

However, with Mondo and Taka, I did put some thought into their blood purity.

Taka I had as a pureblood since I think it makes sense, given his cluelessness with popular culture in canon. This can translate well to him just not knowing muggle things. Also, I thought that having his grandfather be a Death Eater would also work out, as that would give him a very good reason to dislike the man and also gives him a big reason why he doesn’t want to be like him. It makes more sense than his grandfather being Minister of Magic and having a scandal, since during the time Taka was a child in this AU, Fudge was Minister of Magic, and then the other dudes whose names I forgot. 

Mondo, though, I think would work best as a muggle born, especially considering his brother’s biker gang. I like to imagine that Daiya still has the gang in this AU and that Mondo would be at least an honorary member, so having Daiya be muggle worked out well. Plus, it would add to the IshiMondo dynamic, giving Mondo the ability to teach Taka about the muggle world, kind of like I have him teach Taka about popular culture and all that in my other IshiMondo fics.

~~~~~

Prefect defense: 

Before going into the individual characters, I wanted to mention that I chose to have only one prefect per house mostly due to how few students are in the year. If there was one boy and one girl per house like in canon Harry Potter, that would be half the year as a prefect, which... makes no sense, ha. I was originally gonna have that before realizing that it made no sense. So, one per house in their year. That’s still a lot proportionally, but imagine the anger if one house had a prefect but another didn’t, so... yeah. While I like the idea that all of the class gets along well, there would still be some inter-house rivalry to consider. 

Anyway... I’m sure most people who saw my list and saw that I made Mondo a prefect would be like “... wait, what?” and think I just had that as an IshiMondo thing. And while, yes, that is part of it, it’s not all of it. Given his position as Biker Gang Leader in canon, I do think that he would do well with responsibility, even despite his disinclination for rules and his quick temper, and all that. And considering that someone like James Potter was somehow made Head Boy, I know that the character being a perfect rule follower isn’t necessarily what gets them the badges. While Sakura would probably make a good prefect, I don’t think she’d want to be one, which is another thing to take into consideration. 

I don’t think I have to explain why Taka is a prefect, ha. 

Now, as for Kyoko and Celeste... with Kyoko, I felt she was the only one of the Ravenclaws I have that would actually be decent as a prefect. I mean... Toko and Chi are too timid, while Hiro is, well... Hiro. And as for Celeste... I actually originally had Byakuya as the Slytherin prefect, given how he’s definitely one who’d want the prestige of the title, but then I realized that there would be 3 boy prefects and only one girl. I think, given how each year in HP had one girl and one boy per house, that there would be an even girl/boy ratio with the prefects, even with the limited number of prefects in their year. Plus, Celeste seems like she’d do as good (or bad, ha) of a job as Byakuya. 

~~~~~

And that’s about the extent of my musing on this all, ha. Honestly, I like the idea, and while I’m sure there are other Hogwarts/Danganronpa crossovers, I don’t think there are any IshiMondo ones. On AO3, at least. I know I didn’t have to sort all of the characters and put this much thought into it, since the fic I wrote was primarily focused on IshiMondo, but honestly? I do like the idea. And maybe, if other people like the idea too, I can write other Danganronpa/Hogwarts crossover fics, though I think it would mostly focus on IshiMondo, since I like Taka and Mondo best. 

For those who stuck around this long, I’ll go briefly over the fic I wrote, if y’all are curious. Like I said, my main desire when writing was that I just wanted an IshiMondo Hogwarts story and that was my primary motivation. I set the story in fifth year, since I wanted to talk about Taka being a recent prefect. As writing, though, I had the idea of making Taka struggle to produce a patronus, given his canon problem with letting himself loosen up. Also, I always headcanon Taka as having had a pretty bleak childhood, which primarily comes from the fact that the creators said when they were coming up with his backstory, they had to stop since it got dark quick, oof. Going along with this, I then figured it would be cute to have Mondo help Taka with it, which brings the two closer. I didn’t want them to be friends or “brothers,” though, so it was kind of a mini “enemies to lovers” thing. 

I didn’t want them to be totally at odds, though, so I also came up with a reason for them to go from enemies to kind of uneasy acquaintances before the fic took place. The reason I gave was that, in the end of their fourth year a few months before the fic started, they had faced a boggart in their defense against the dark arts class and Taka’s was his death eater grandfather, who told him he would never be good and that he was nothing more than a death eater like him, which made Taka cry. Mondo was like... oh shoot... and helped him out, saying that he was actually good, duh. Taka was freaked out by this, since he was like... wait, aren’t we enemies??? And also, you’re a trouble maker, why do I like you??? So he suppressed everything to prevent his fragile world view from crumbling. But Mondo was like... dude... I think I like Taka now, and maybe always did, wtf... which lead to Mondo cleaning up his act over the summer break, and then helping with the patronus in their fifth year. 

Anyway! That was a bad explanation of the fic, but I really like it and I hope y’all do too, when I post it, ha. I mostly just need more Hogwarts IshiMondo in my life, tbh. 

Sorry for the insanely long and rambling post! Hope someone got something out of it, ha. See y’all later! 

[fedonciadale]

hey could you please elaborate more on the difference between classism and racism in wizarding society? aren't muggles technically a different race?

Hi there!

This is a very interesting question! And I have quite a lot of things to say about that. I put my thoughts under the cut.

You know in a way -isms often are not so easily distinguished, because they tend to merge. A black woman might be discriminated against for being a woman or for being black or for both (misogynoir).

The problem is that scientifically ‘race’ doesn’t truly exist, but it is nevertheless a very powerful social construct. It is used to ‘other’ other human beings mostly with a malevolent purpose - as is obvious in the racism that came with colonialism. Race is attached to certain attributes, mostly pertaining to looks like skin colour, eye shape etc. but there is also the whole baggage of ‘characteristics’ attributed to race, attributes like ‘backward, primitive, angry’ you name it.

In classism the ‘othering’ is attached to attributes of a certain class. This can be financial standing, but can also be some kind of ‘class culture’. In English society this is very obvious. You have the culture of the upper class, aristocrats who have a certain way to talk, who have loads of money etc. You have working class who talk a ‘sociolect’ - a dialect of their class.

Now, classism derives some of its ideas from common concepts of nobility that go way back into the Middle Ages (and beyond) and actually ‘pure blood’ and ‘pure lineage’ is a very important idea connected to the idea of nobility, the idea that some people are better than others because of the family they were born into. Occasionally that is even connected to bodily features: pale skin (where you can clearly see the veins, hence blue-blooded), even blond hair. In the French Revolution when nobles were hanged sometimes people would be hanged for having blond hair.

Now, I think you get why racism and classism easily merge. It is about the idea that some people are better than others because of their birth, be it into a noble and rich family or the white race. It’s no accident that racism uses expressions from classism (the noble race). And obviously racism adopted some of the idea of classism (exchange purity of family lineage with purity of the race, it’s pretty easy). 

So, why do I think that the whole pureblood ideology in HP is more classism than racism, even though it obviously hints at fascist ideas and even though Voldemort is clearly modeled after a certain dictator? (Just as an aside fascism is more than just racism)

Well, for once I must admit that classism is what I immediately thought when I first read the books. This is probably because I come from a continental background and I stayed a year in Britain and sort of got a feeling for the classism of English/British brand. So at the time I read the first book of HP I had an idea about classism in its British form (from an outsider’s perspective) and sorting the wizards disdain for muggles into this particular category was my immediate conclusion. I did not read the distinction between wizards and muggles as a distinction about race but about class.

And you can argue that there are a lot of things that point towards this interpretation. In the first book the whole blood purity ideology isn’t even mentioned. Harry meets Draco Malfoy who is the typical aristocratic, spoiled prat (including his pale look) and he asks Harry immediately if he has the right parents  (’our people’). He looks down on the Weasleys because they have no money, not because they are blood traitors. We learn about that only later (and actually the Weasleys aren’t even blood traitors, because they are purebloods, impoverished nobility so to say, and Irish to boot, therefore a sort of inferior nobility - you know red hair and all that).

And most of the things wizards say about muggles points towards dirty ‘working class’, even the condescending things Arthur Weasley says (ah these cute muggles, aren’t they clever, trying to work around the fact that they can’t have it as easy as we wizards!)

And since JKR is rather classist herself, Harry is obviously the good aristocrat: wizarding parents and rich, but with his heart at the right place. We know that he will always look after the beings he is responsible for. Dumbledore and Harry earn the loyalty of the servants (you know the faithful butler type) because they are nice to them, not because they fight for their rights.

It is in the second book that the ‘mudblood’ slur becomes an issue. And the fact that Hermione does not know what it means, shows that it is not something that is thrown around in her hearing often. During the books we learn about the ‘oldest families’, the family trees of the ‘purebloods’ (such a thing of nobility), their wealth, their manors, their grounds, their servants (house elves). To me that practically screams English aristocracy. It is also interesting that skin colour is not mentioned as a reason for treating someone differently. Dean Thomas is looked down upon as a muggleborn, and Hermione in the books is at least light skinned and is still harassed about her origin.

So, this is why I always read ‘pureblood’ as ‘of noble blood’/’blue-blooded’ and ‘mudblood’ as ‘dirty peasant’ or ‘social upstart of dubious origin’.  And the Weasleys are lower then purebloods because they have suffered social descent. (And you actually have to wonder why the purebloods even bother about getting the upper hand, because if you look at the wizarding society, they already have it, but then privileged people somehow often think their privileges are not there or in danger).

Now, since all -isms merge, you could read it as racially coded, but then you have to wonder why the racial distinctions of our world seemingly do not trouble the wizarding society (JKR obviously uses racist ideas in her depiction of non-white students at Hogwarts, but that is not by intention and it does not affect how these people are treated).

Another of the reason why I read it as classism, is also present in the second book. It is in the second book that the elves are introduced and I think that  racism in HP is directed against elves, goblins and other magical beings. The elves talk about themselves in the third person and call the wizards ‘master, mistress’. You even have Kreacher as an elf who internalized all the ideas about how elves are destined to serve their masters. Dumbledore talks about these beings as ‘magical brethren’ and yet they are depicted as the suppressed and servant races at the Ministry. So, I actually think that the parallel to racism in HP is the oppression of the elves and the discrimination against other magical beings. And let’s not get started on how the goblins are modeled after antisemitic stereotypes.

In the third book werewolves are introduced and there you have ableism - why the fuck is wolfsbane not given out by the ministry? I don’t remember exactly when squibs are introduced, but it is quite clear that they are discriminated against as well, another form of ableism. We see how squibs are ridiculed. The Dumbledores are suspected of trying to hide the squib status of their daughter and the Weasleys try to forget about their accountant cousin.

So, JKR actually describes a parallel society to ours that has it all: classism, racism, ableism (not so much sexism if I remember correctly). And it is actually described differentiated. Some hold extremist beliefs, some only look down on the less privileged a little, and some actually try to do something about it.

But what really bugs me is that in the end it is just Voldemort who is defeated and all the other problems are still there. And we are supposed to be happy about this because our heroes are now part of the upper class wizarding society. They have become privileged, rich, figures of respect. So there is no need to change anything, is there?

That Is why I want Hermione not to become Minister and join the establishment. That is why I want her to become an activist, write a book about the harmful pureblood beliefs, about the many things that could be better, fight for elves rights, campaign for free wolfsbane potion and all that.

That is why I wrote a whole fic to sort the elves issue, why I made Astoria Greengrass write a book about harmful pureblood curses and spells and why I had Draco disinherited. Lol.

Thanks for the ask!

[sincerelyravens]

WIP Wednesday

based on this image

However, despite the sadness Jana felt whenever she thought of Beauxbatons and her wishes that she had never left her friends, there was something equally as thrilling and magical about being at Hogwarts. Whenever she had first seen the castle, leaning out over the side of a carriage drawn by threstrals, Jana had been amazed at the beauty that it held and how a feeling of warmth seemed to rush through her all at once—like she was home.

The castle itself had a large number of floors and secret passageways and moving staircases that Jana thought it was a travesty that no one had bothered to craft a map. The hallways were not just occupied by students and teachers; there were also ghosts, who liked to walk through the walls unannounced and figures in portraits that sometimes liked to abandon their frame. There was even a large dining room with four large tables for each of the Houses (Slytherins, Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws, and Gryffindors—like Jana), a thousand or more floating candles, and an enchanted ceiling that showed the sky.

Outside the walls of the castle, there was the dark and looming Forbidden Forest where it was, as the title suggests, forbidden to go into without the presence of a professor. In the middle of the castle grounds, there was a massive lake where a colony of merpeople resided beneath the water’s surface as well as a giant squid who frequently surfaced to see the students. There was also a large willow tree that had a habit of swinging its limb at annoying birds or ruffling its leaves in annoyance. Closer to the castle, there was a cluster of greenhouses—filled with plants of all natures and levels of deadliness—and a decent-sized Quidditch pitch with stands towering high above the ground.

Over the summer, Jana had been brought to the school by the Headmistress and sorted into her house before the Head of the Gryffindor House, Neville Longbottom, gave her a quick tour. While Professor Longbottom had made extra sure to hit important places around the castle, such as the Gryffindor Common Room and dorms and the outside Greenhouses, little could’ve been done to help her overcome the massive learning curve. She, like the first years, was still struggling to learn the castle and its intricate hallways—and the trickster doors.

(discussion below the cut)

This week, I’ve decided to start a new “tradition” on my blog on Wednesdays by posting a section of my WIP. Recently, my writing has been rather slow and spontaneous (judging by me creating the idea and then posting ‘punch and tell’ in the same day) and it’s been incredibly frustrating to me. However, I’m hoping to get back to writing more frequently. 

In addition, I’ve been working on what I want to highlight as my “WIP”: my Hogwarts AU. I know I’ve been saying it for months, but it finally seems to be coming to fruition. Finally. The plans are all set—the background characters, the changes, the plots. However, still, I find myself stuck and second-guessing myself and doing this story because well, it’s not a sobbe story (and, let’s be real here, that’s what everyone wants to see). 

While this fic is a step back towards HP—my OG fandom and where I got my writing start as well as my favorite childhood world to disappear to—it’s also my first fic where I won’t be writing Sobbe and Robbe or Sander as the main POV character. So, while it takes a step into my comfort zone (into HP, where i know an embarrassing amount of minuscule trivia and random headcanons), it’s also a step outside of that because I’m starting a new pov with a character that I haven’t really written a lot of before: Jana.

Her book of Hogwarts AU—originally: the magic of betrayal; now: the curse of betrayal (or as I refer to it tcob)—depicts the story of season 1... with some minor changes. Of course, there’s the obvious such as magical classes and spells and flying broomsticks and ghost. But there are some also minor plot changes that I feel would be beneficial to focusing on Jana’s story—as well as taking out some that I just don’t really like as much—and inclusion of a plot that will hopefully focus more on Jana’s difficulty with school in the first half of season 1 (later in the season, she’s shown to be studying physics with Yasmina, but I always wished that they’d focus a little more on school). 

(I’ve also included magical technology since texts/social media are such a prominent part of every-day life and there’s no way Muggleborn students can disappear off the face of the earth completely for 9 months of the year without people getting suspicious. I’m sorry.)

In addition, it also includes characters introduced later in the series—from the beginning. Milan has become the assistant to Madam Pomfrey, who is getting close to retiring, and Noor Bauwens and Aaron Jacobs are already included with their canonical friends from season 3. Sander Driesen—everyone’s personal fav—has also been included since the beginning, with one of my favorite non-canonical friendships to tie him into the season 1 storyline. I’ve also included some of my favorite OCs to enrich the background (and mostly because I’m too attached to them)—such as Valentin and Sophie from Safe, Jonathon from Jij Verliest, and Celeste (who now has the last name, Maes) from just friends. 

As I mentioned, I’m rather nervous about this fic and I’m going to come right out and say it: it isn’t a sobbe fic. In the first book, Jana’s, I do not have it planned for them to even have an interaction—though currently both of them will have separate interactions with Jana. I know that hits/comments/kudos do not matter, but I’m also internally terrified that no one is going to read it or care for it. I’m writing for me, this is true, but I also love hearing that people are enjoying what I’m writing and regardless of any internal motivation that I feel, comments and kudos and asks fuel my motivation a lot more than people realize. 

So, I apologize that this fic has been taking a long time—especially since I’ve been slowly working on the idea for about a year now—and I hope that I’m able to get it out to you soon. I hope you are looking forward to this story as much as I am.

[themoomoorn]

Random Thot #46,853

I had a health exam for my upcoming new job and put my two weeks in for my current one, so I’m rewarding my neurodivergent ass-brain with this.  Sit tight and enjoy.

46,853: I’m half-convinced that Edelgard is like the Soul Series’ Alexandra sisters and daughter when it comes to her combat ability - or rather, lack thereof.  Unlike Claude, Dimitri, and Byleth, who all explicitly received combat training as children, Edelgard likely did not.  The tools given to her are what likely allow for her to fight at all - heck, they may even do a bit of the fighting for her.  How else can a noodle-armed womanlet like her wear all that armor and heft that axe?  

(Also, how the eff does this dress make clanking armor sounds when she walks in the game despite this dress having like no armor whatsoever)

To begin with, we have in-game factoids of her stat caps being the second highest in the game (390 when combined, with Cyril only beating her by 5 points due to his Aptitude skill), and she even has a magic cap that’s not only on-par with other magically-inclined units (72), but it’s actually better than some of them (Dorothea and Linhardt, who are both dedicated mage types, have caps of 61 and 66, respectively, while Manuela, who tends to get placed in Faith Magic-aligned classes despite being a hybrid unit, has a piddling cap 48).  She even has a quirky but feasible spell list for both magic types (Fire/Bolganone/Luna Lambda/Hades Omega for Reason, and Heal/Nosferatu/Recover/Seraphim for Faith, which is one of her banes, mind you).  I imagine this is the work of the experiments that gave her her version of the Crest of Flames - after all, the 2020 DREAM interview noted that the Hresvelg children were given a more “refined” version of the experiments the Ordelias had.  The refinement isn’t just reflected in-game with caps and magic too; Edelgard is also more robust in terms of health, whereas Lysithea is prone to bouts of weakness and illness.  In-game, she has poor Luck and Strength, and the single lowest HP cap of all the playable units at 48.  And while this one is admittedly conjecture, Edelgard doesn’t hint that her lifespan was drastically cut, as she gets to live a long life in all of her endings.  Even in her Crest-heavy ending with Hanneman or her healthcare-related ending with Manuela don’t mention that she had one or both of her Crests taken out.  Lysithea, on the other hand, is extensively motivated by the fact that she doesn’t have many years left, and it’s only in two endings (Lorenz, Balthus) where she’s able to live fairly long without removing her Crests; The rest either have her dying young or being able to live long only after her Crests are taken out.

Now what of her combat abilities?  Let’s turn to the source of where this silly thot came from.

For the uninitiated, Sophitia Alexandra, a fighter who’s been in the Soul Franchise since its very first game, did not grow up as a dedicated combatant like the other fighters - she was an ordinary baker living in Athens during the late 16th Century when Greece was part of the Ottoman Empire.  When she was bathing in a lake one day, she received a message from Hephaestus himself in that she has a divine destiny to destroy the cursed blade Soul Edge, and he gifts her with a divinely crafted short sword and shield in order to fulfill her mission.  While she does gain training in Athenian combat styles, a lot of her power and capabilities are tied to her weapon set, which are named the Omega Sword and Elk Shield.  Her younger sister Cassandra would follow suit in SoulCalibur II, actually going out of her way to steal the same holy armaments Sophitia used in Soul Edge and SoulCalibur I before getting her own specially empowered set.

(Sophitia Alexandra)

And Pyrrha, Sophitia’s daughter in SoulCalibur V, takes it to new heights.  Per a data book, the timid, mistreated Pyrrha has absolutely no combat experience, not even in self-defense.  While Sophitia and Cassandra were able to train themselves into formidable soldiers outside of their divine weapons’ influences, this is not true for Pyrrha.  If it were not for the sword and shield Pyrrha wielded (which is the same exact set Sophitia wielded before her passing), her clumsy attacks and timid guard stances would amount to ineffectual, useless flailing.  

(Info about Pyrrha’s fighting style from the SCV data book)

Back to the Egg.  Now it’s made abundantly clear that while Dimitri’s Jean Valjean-levels of raw strength heavily stem from his Crest, he’s also from the land where, in lieu of milk and honey, there’s extreme sports jock training in heavy armor in the dead of night with boulders for weights and weapon mastery.  Dimitri loves to train, and it’s a big aspect of his character.  The tritagonist of his route is also one of his combat trainers, and he’s done that job for three generations’ worth of Faerghus royalty, with his ending hinting that he keeps doing it for one more.  I imagine that even without the Crest of Blaiddyd, Dimitri would still be extremely strong and formidable, he’d just have to actually exert himself a little when saving some poor soul from a runaway cart.

(Just in case the savior imagery wasn’t clear enough with Dimitri, he even did lift a cart the way eventual saint Jean Valjean did in the book/musical)

Claude is far more in favor of covert combat, and his own Crest is more defensive than offensive, but he’s no slouch either, having had a renowned war general serve as his combat instructor since childhood.  He’s from a kingdom that, much like Faerghus, values the way of the warrior and prides itself on the strength of its people.  His hidden talent, tying to wyvern mastery, is in friggin axes, and he’s also shown to be adept enough with a sword at various points.  Plus there’s the fact that he was abused and mistreated by his Almyran family, complete with his father plopping him on a horse and making the horse ride off with him backwards with no safety net as a form of punishment - Claude tells Hilda that there was a “trick” in how he survived that.  As any horse jockey can attest to, you need raw muscle in every part of your body in order to really ride one, and I imagine that’s doubly true for your local albino wyvern that’s decked out in Ottoman visual puns.  Plus learning how to be crafty and protecting oneself more covertly undoubtedly contributed to his combat abilities too.

(I mean you’d have to be shredded if you can pull off the Parthian shot on a fucking flying dragon.  61 Strength cap my ass.)

Byleth, as we know, grew up as a mercenary to the point of detriment.  There’s no need to go into extensive detail as to how Jeralt sacrificed almost everything else in exchange for contributing to Byleth’s combat abilities without being abusive and cruel, but even if you took away Byleth’s self-insert aspects, they’d likely bear a passing resemblance to Rei Ayanami in terms of behavior and attitude - An intended vessel/Avatar for a divine being from one end; Conditioned for little more than combat from another end.  Kind of a gloomy picture before she starts to express herself better and actually bond with other people meaningfully.  

(At least she’s cute as a button.  Kinda like Rei.)

But where does that leave Edelgard?  It’s a big question mark.  There’s no mention of her growing up with any kind of combat training, unlike the other three.  Heck, if tea time, Crimson Flower, and Heroes quotes are anything to go by, Edelgard grew up living a carefree lifestyle prior to the Insurrection.  She got to stuff her face with sweets and play with teddy bears and both dote and be doted on by her siblings.  Being child number 9 in her current generation, combat training and political studies likely weren’t major priorities for her, and since it’s speculated that Ionius favored her mother, she was likely lavished and spoiled by him.  After all, he expresses grief for her specifically when she inherits the throne from him, not the rest of her siblings.    

(Even the official merchandise notes how childish Edelgard is)

(This is all after she literally kickstarts her war, by the way).

While there’s varying degrees of elaborate flair that the Lords all wield their weapons with, Edelgard’s regular strikes with an axe feel far less rigid and more informal, and she’ll spin around her axe like it’s some kind of prop.  Her default battle stance isn’t even remotely protective and quite impractical; Dimitri’s stance with a lance is both of these things, while Claude’s arrow-twirling is a real-life exercise that’s done to keep the wrist flexible.  While she does refine her axe skills come Part II, she’ll still do things like throw her massive shield ten feet in the air for a critical hit.

(Seriously what even is this why is your hand out like that)

There’s even some proof of this: In her study request for axes and heavy armor, Edelgard will even acknowledge that the only reason she can likely keep up and wear heavy armor at all is because of her Crests.  And unlike Dimitri and Claude, who can get lesson plans for their respective Hidden Talents once they’re mastered (Horse riding for Dimitri, axes for Claude), Edelgard doesn’t get a lesson plan for Reason Magic, which is her Hidden Talent, so she likely didn’t get any kind of formal education surrounding magic either.  

(She has a similar quote in Heroes that’s even more explicit about this.)

The closest hint we get in Edelgard maybe having a hint of training as a child is in her Supports with Ferdinand, and even then, there’s no clear cut hint noting that his failures in beating her were combat-based.  She’s able to one-hit KO him in their B Support, but it’s locked to Part II and at this point she’s been both riding on the power highs of her Crests along with actually taking combat seriously.  She even says that their difference in skill level isn’t that great.

(Should’ve used Swift Strikes, Ferdie)

What’s more, in addition to all of those enhancements, she not only spends a lot of Part I in a custom set of armor that only archaic technology from the Agarthans can make, but they also made her a custom Relic that’s tailor-made to her specifications.  The other Relics as well as the Sacred Weapons, being over a thousand years old, still require their wielders to train in order to wield them properly, and in the case of the Relics, their potential cannot be fully tapped into unless the wielder’s Crest matches the Relic they’re wielding.  There’s also that particular safety issue, per what happens with Sylvain’s brother Miklan.  But this is not the case with Aymr, which is brand new, has a mismatched Crest that doesn’t negatively affect Edelgard, and requires the Agarthan tech-compatible Agarthium to fix, not the Umbral Steel that’s used to fix both the Heroes’ Relics and other Crest Stone weapons like the Vajra-Mushti.  The Aymr’s specific Combat Art even emulates the oft-broken Galeforce skill from Awakening and Fates.  It feels like that Aymr in particular is the Edelgard what Hephaestus’ swords and shields are to the Alexandra family.  

Now I don’t really think that an Edelgard who’d be stripped of her Crest of Flames, the Amyr, or her special Flame Emperor armor, would be as hapless as Pyrrha would be without her mother’s sword and shield.  I imagine she likely started to do some kind of formal combat training once the experiments were done with, not just to kickstart her dreams of imperial conquest, but also to protect herself anyway after everything that happened; She’s also the only Hresvelg heiress of her generation left.  There’s also her natural Minor Crest of Seiros to consider.  But if you stripped all that away from her, then her ability to fight probably would come off as useless flailing to the other three more experienced combatants.  

All those cakes and that lack of muscle would at least catch up to her, anyway.

[noddytheornithopod]

Today on Danganronpa S... one of my faves. :3

Shuichi

Seriously, what is it with me and detectives in murder games?

We start with the squad™ (Shuichi, Kaito and Maki)! Kaito claims getting ripped is the hot new thing in school because of them, to which Maki says lots of students already work out. Shuichi points out that it’s apparently not just athletes though, students you wouldn’t expect are getting in the fun too. Shuichi’s examples of non-athletes include Chihiro and “Junko” (obviously unaware of any secret identities or personal motives they may have). Tenko also apparently is teaching Monomi Neo-Aikido, lol. Kaito once again insists that they’re trend setters, but Maki insists they can’t take all the credit, with Shuichi adding they’re not really trying to advertise themselves. Kaito doesn’t seem to get it, saying hard work will be emulated, and saying he’d know because he’s watching “you twerps” (is that really the best word to call your best friends? lol). Maki isn’t into his insistence, Shuichi says it’s nice people are trying regardless of whether there’s any influence though. Maki just wants him to stop slacking (guess he still does that here :v), even as Kaito goes on talking like an inspirational quote. Shuichi can’t help but admit the sky is great though.

Swimsuit time! Now with... protag meetup? Yeah, Makoto and Hajime are here. Shuichi is suggesting an inter-class volleyball tournament after the game with his class went well. Hajime points out he isn’t actually part of their classes, but Shuichi basically says he gets along with everyone as if he were so he obviously can still be there. Makoto had similar reasoning. Hajime likes the idea and says he probably wouldn’t even play with any other class. Makoto wonders about the kids though, to which Shuichi says the kids playing against high schoolers might be an issue, lol. Hajime does say leaving them out might be problematic though, and Makoto even brings up how they hate adults, even calling Komaru their enemy. :v They could just refuse, but Shuichi suggests they can at least try, Maki might even know how to speak to them. Hajime suggests others the kids seem to tolerate like Gonta, and... apparently Kazuichi, according to Hajime? There’s got to be a story there for sure. Makoto admits it feels weird looking after kids, Shuichi shares a similar sentiment, not ever having to mentor anyone. Hajime is amazed at the surprises this seems to be bringing.

Korekiyo time! They’re curious about the ruins. Kiyo mentions excavating them would require archaeology, so he’s not so useful here. Kiyo says that if he could, he’d go to the real Jabberwock island because it would work for his skillset far better than a virtual world with no people or culture to explore. Shuichi encourages him, and Kiyo is enthused at the interest shown, even saying he’d enjoy doing work with him someday, but he’s also aware traveling might be overwhelming. Shuichi thinks he’s reading into things, to which he then says he was only joking, lol. He’s still fascinated to see what could be there, though. Shuichi agrees it feels empty without people and he’d also be curious to see the real island and its people. Kiyo then asks for real if Shuichi would like to go see the island with him, and he says yes, even saying he’ll ask around to see if others might be interested. Shuichi then wonders about how expensive it might be though, lol.

Taka time! Taka catches Shuichi reading his log of detective jobs since enrolling in HP. Taka likes he’s keeping a log on paper, Shuichi says he usually uses a computer at his uncle’s though. He’s using paper to help hone his talent, basically. Taka also seems to admire Shuichi somewhat, saying he doesn’t even overly rely on his talent but still completes the smallest requests. Shuichi’s pretty humble, saying he’s just doing his job. Taka likes the modesty, wishing others (citing Miu and Leon) were more like him. Shuichi doesn’t think he deserves the praise, but can’t help but appreciate it (dude’s all flustered hehe). Taka then goes on to critique, saying watching him he sees a thin line between modesty and timidity. Taka elaborates by saying since working with Kaito and Maki, he’s looking at people in the eye more, but he still slouches sometimes (that’s a bit neurotypical of you, Taka :v). Shuichi panics and tries to reset himself. Shuichi wonders why he’s being scolded, to which Taka says... he’s kidding. Shuichi really finds it hard to tell. Taka while softer is serious about his recommendation though, and believes hard workers like Shuichi should live life with confidence. Taka then leaves so Shuichi continues working, and he wonders to himself if that’s Taka’s way of complimenting him. This was pretty interesting to see, actually. Also damn, major Autistic vibes from this cutscene, arguably from both (even if I’m much more of a Shuichi lol).

Shuichi looks for unusual job requests. First up, Hiroko! First up, she calls him gumshoe. Uh... what’s that supposed to mean? *searches* Colloquial for detective... I don’t know how that works but okay. :P Apparently Hiroko wants him to look into his son, saying he’s a bit too wholesome, lol. Shuichi doesn’t seem sure at the description (same lol). She then goes on to explain, saying she’s worried about him causing trouble for others, namely all his scam and pyramid scheme bullshit. :v Shuichi seems like he wants to tell her that’s what he IS doing, but then she just says she worries about him even as he’s a grown man. :P Shuichi’s awkward, saying he’ll just see what he can do. Shuichi is then thinking about what to tell Hiroko. She seems to really not know how deep he’s in, huh?

Sayaka asks Shuichi to look into the comments made on her work’s social media, calling them prophetic? Eg when she posted about a band member’s surprise party, someone commented this member would end up in the top 3 charts... and it did? Even weirder, this seems to keep happening? Even as they’re all positive outcomes... yeah. Naturally, Sayaka and her friends are curious, and now so is Shuichi. She states revealing the fan’s personal info or making direct contact is unnecessary though. She just wants his deductions, and Shuichi seems on board. Lastly, Sayaka clarifies she already spoke to Yasuhiro, and it’s not him (which naturally Shuichi’s mind jumped to). :P

Tenko wants his help? Even she can’t believe herself when she mentions that Kyoko would be good for her. The only reason it’s not a shame to her is because he apparently does Neo-Aikido. She also thinks it would be cruel to make this request to a decent girl? Shuichi is kinda confused yet curious, Tenko’s request is to investigate... “the degenerate male consciousness”. Tenko clarifies by saying she doesn’t want to know their thoughts, but if other guys would be interested in Neo-Aikido. Shuichi wonders if this is for a detective, to which Tenko calls him a coward. :v Shuichi understands what she seeks though, and will do his best.

Kirumi scene, huh. Things seem standard, with greeting and Kirumi offering to get him juice and stuff... until Shuichi stops himself, not wanting to rely on her as a maid. He seems to feel bad for her, telling her she doesn’t need to serve everyone’s needs all the time. Kirumi wonders why she’d do that, to which Shuichi says this is special time before graduation so she should use time for herself. Kirumi insists he doesn’t need to worry, and says she’s using her talents to seek new possibilities, and that’s why she serves everyone. Shuichi is intrigued, and she says doing new tasks to potentially discover new things, and says it’s like she’s borrowing others’ strength for her assignment. She says he can still rely on her, to which Shuichi apologises, feeling like he was being nosy about things he shouldn’t. Kirumi insists it’s fine though, appreciating his compassion. She then gets him the juice (which I guess she was doing this whole time?) and then goes on to make his breakfast. Shuichi is grateful but feels like being served by her is really extravagant, and hopes he doesn’t slack off.

Impostor time! They’re curious about whether Shuichi has gotten any fraud cases, to which he says not even his firm in general has gotten any. Impostor sees that he probably doesn’t intend to specialise here, though Shuichi elaborates he doesn’t intend to specialise in anything, he just wants to take anything that comes his way. Impostor then offers to collaborate with Shuichi with his knowledge of fraud and impostors, if he requires said services. Shuichi can see it would be helpful, but he isn’t sure. Impostor assumes he has issues regarding the ethics of this, though Shuichi simply says he needs time to think about it. He elaborates saying he can’t make the decision himself because he’s still in the care of his uncle’s detective firm, but if he became independent, he would gladly work with Impostor. Impostor is impressed, saying they’re glad they answered with no contempt. Shuichi wonders why he’d hold any, and also says he heard what it took to master Impostor’s talent, and considers him trustworthy. Impostor then says they’ll await when he’s free.

For the festival, Shuichi is going to sell charms. First option for advice on how to do it, Korekiyo. He says he can’t make them special if an amateur makes them, but Kiyo disagrees. He says even giving someone a charm in itself could give it properties, and Shuichi takes on the advice.

Another option is Ibuki, who takes Shuichi seeing her as him wanting to make them really flashy. She’s down, but she does find the detective and charm selling combo odd, which funnily enough is why Shuichi is going for it.

Another option is Celeste. Shuichi seeks her also for design sensibilities, and Celeste says in exchange she’d like him to buy one of the things she’s selling at the festival in turn.

Bonfire! “This feels like one of those times you’re supposed to go around and reminisce with everyone.” Yeah, I feel this, lol. First, talking to Hajime about accepting all kinds of jobs. Shuichi found it busy, but in a pleasant way. Hajime wishes he hired him, but Shuichi is still open. Hajime says he’d like Shuichi to investigate Hope’s Peak. Shuichi wonders what’s up, and Hajime says after talking with Taka they both came to the conclusion something is wrong, especially with the Reserve Course. Hajime says he doesn’t want to ruin HP’s reputation, but simply for things to improve. Shuichi says he understands why he might not want to hire Kyoko for that (dad trauma :( ), leaving it to him. Hajime does say he doesn’t have anything to pay him with, but Shuichi is willing to anyway, saying it impacts him as much as anyone else’s. Instead of payment, Shuichi mentions he’s down for Hajime to help him investigate, saying there’s only so much he can do on his own. Hajime hopes they find something that can improve HP.

Shuichi figures Kaito is hyped about what’s to come... he sure is. Apparently people wish he had a college degree, but a Hope’s Peak diploma will definitely suffice. Shuichi is amazed at how much weight the HP name holds, and even says that future students could also become Ultimate Astronauts. Kaito naturally likes the idea of inspiring more to follow in his footsteps.

Oh, Tsumugi, huh? Apparently Shuichi still promised her to cosplay as Kanata (I forget the context but it was in the V3 free times with her). Shuichi’s nervous, but he’s still down, with Tsumugi even saying it’s natural to feel that way. She even suggests maybe doing a photoshoot at home to get used to things. She also says cosplay can help shy people get out of their shell, almost like the costume is armour. She’s not too concerned though, even mentioning the hat he wore, but she’s there giving him advice he appreciates, even saying he’s excited.

Final scene lineup of... Leon (lol English VA connection), Sonia and Chiaki? They never cease to surprise me, lol. Chiaki is talking about how Shuichi took lots of jobs he normally wouldn’t take. Apparently Mikan was going to commission a puzzle too? Shuichi says he only knew she got him to find her pen. Sonia says Mikan was delighted by how earnest he was, and she heard lots of nice things about him. Shuichi took lots of jobs even if it wasn’t things he knew much on, but everyone came at once so he just took them all without much thought. Leon calls him an “upstanding boy scout” and thinks he’s more a jack of all trades (Leon, why :v or are you jealous he got more attention than you lmao). Shuichi recognised the absurdity, but still got stuff out of it. Sonia then recounts Shuichi, Kaito and Maki going to Novoselic, and mentioned Shuichi found the culprit from chatting with servants. Chiaki and Leon are impressed, the latter saying he’s like a TV detective. Shuichi insists they just got lucky, but Leon still thinks it’s weird how he got all these strange cases. Shuichi says he usually did things like background checks and investigating affairs. Leon thinks that’s boring, that he should go after bigger things and show off his skills. Shuichi says he would if it came up, but he can’t ignore smaller cases, knowing how he can make people’s days keeps him going. :) Leon doesn’t quite get it, but he says he’s one to talk, bringing up hating being told to stick to baseball. Chiaki mentions everyone handles their talents differently, with Sonia adding that those differences made learning alongside everyone valuable. Shuichi then mentions how he was selected as an Ultimate by chance, finding it uncomfortable at first, but also that he doesn’t regret spending the past three years with everyone.

no new exclusive saimatsu scenes 0/10... I’m kidding don’t worry, I liked seeing Shuichi find a version of his talent he was comfortable in, knowing he didn’t enjoy being a detective that much. Some nice interactions to be found here.

[maskydoolovesmasseffect]

Mass Effect Tag

Wellio, I’ve been tagged by @berryshiara. Passing this on to @grummel83

Gunna answer my questions now. Y’all feel free to tell me what you think of these answers. ​

I’m a fan since: 2008. I was just out of high school and still not over KoTOR. I was fresh in the army and got to talking to some other dude fresh to the army about video games. He asked me if I played Mass Effect. I said no. By the next day I just about totally forgot about him, then he suddenly appeared out of nowhere sat in front of me in the chow hall and pulled a copy of ME1 for Xbox 360 out his pocket like he was a magician doing a magic trick (ACU pockets are huge.)

Anyway turns out that guy was a romance option and I must have picked the right dialogue options. I’m still with him, too.

Favorite game of the series:

Mass Effect 2. It seemed like that’s the one where choices mattered most and you really got to know your squaddies. Also MAJOR gameplay improvements over the first game. And that game gave me the most freedom to do basically whatever I wanted and wasnt afraid to give me consequences for it.

MShep or FShep:

FShep. Nothing against MShep, but for me the real Shep is FShep. Can’t beat Jennifer Hale’s voice. 

Earthborn, Colonist, or Spacer:

Colonist. I like having the background of knowing just how dangerous the galaxy can be and how the Alliance can’t be everywhere at once so sometimes you need to manage your best on your own.

Biotics or Tech:

Both.

Paragon or Renegade:

Paragon, mostly. I tried being renegade but some of the actions are just so pointlessly dickish, or even outright unhinged in a way that would make it impossible to believe the Alliance would ever promote Shepard as an officer or even keep her in the Alliance at all, especially in the first game.

That said, there are times where a renegade action is more expedient and practical than a paragon one, like in 2 when you stab a dude in the back to prevent him from repairing an enemy gunship, so even with a paragon playthrough, my Shepard will have no issues taking that opportunity. She’s already seconds away from betraying all those guys anyway.  

Paragon in treatment of others, renegade in combat pragmatism.

Favorite Class:

I play as infiltrator and vanguard.

Infiltrator is great for using a sniping and opening loot, and then for going invisible, and if I remember right AI hacking too. That’s cool and I wish there were more genuine opportunities for stealth.

Nowadays I play as Vanguard in my playthroughs mainly just so my Shepard can be canonically biotic for story reasons. From 2 on when looting no longer needs a special skill and I get to charge around the map. I don’t really care much about using biotics (that’s what the squadies are for) but the movement is super useful (when Shepard actually does the thing instead of just standing out in the open soaking up bullets until the ability decides to actually work.)

Favorite Companion:

Garrus. I like to set him up in sniper positions. When he actually STAYS where I put him instead of running straight up to enemies to try to snipe them at point blank, he’s great.

Also his quips in 2 on are pretty entertaining.

Least Favorite Companion:

Garrus, Oh my god. Go back to the sniper position where I put you. Leave tanking to krogan; you do not have the HP for this.

Also Kaidan in ME1. He can not shoot to save his life - literally.  

My Squad Selection:

For all ME1 playthroughs after my first one, Ashley and Kaidan, just of their comments and because... well... I only have so much time with them.

Apart from that I mainly just pick my team based on who’s likely to have the most interesting commentary on whatever the mission happens to be, squad balance be damned. 

Favorite In-Game Romance:

Garrus X Shepard is my favorite love story. They are just so adorable together and always supportive even when they disagree.

But my cannon romance is Kaidan X Shepard for the drama and angst.

Favorite NPC:

In ME1 there’s this random Turian on Noveria who randomly has like a New York accent and I absolutely adore him. He plays basically no part in the story other than some minor information but he’s just so pleasant to speak to.

“If you need anything, I’ll be here.”

Favorite Antagonist:

Morinth, the Ardat-Yakshi daughter of Samara. Yes, she’s a murderous vampire who will absolutely kill you given the chance... but like, it’s a medical condition. And I really can’t help but feel for ardat-yakshi in general when their only options are to spend their whole lives on the run from justicars out to execute them, or waste their entire 1000 year lifespan imprisoned in a monetary unable to experience the world at all. Yeah, Morinth is evil, but Ardat-Yakshi don’t exactly have a good deal.

Favorite Loyalty Mission:

Grunt’s loyalty mission is the best. I get to help my baby boy, reunite with Wrex, enjoy krogan society being fleshed out, have a kickass battle against a thresher maw, and get a breeding request. It’s nice to have a quest that isn’t about family drama and genuinely gets a happy end.

Favorite Mission:

Despite Citadel DLC requiring everyone to have a deathgrip on an idiot ball, and also basically gloss over some really dark stuff, the whole clone storyline with the whole crew is an absolute ride all the way though, with lots of interesting and unique scenarios, a ton of replay-value, and funny party banter that feels like it came straight out of a Marvel movie.

Favorite DLC:

Again, Citadel DLC. Not only did it come with the story above, it also had all those interactions with past and present crewmates, including a memorial for Thane (finally!), a cool apartment to hang out in, a party, an arcade, and an awesome battle arena. It really added a TON. Also, it’s nice to see Bioware figure out that DLC needs characters - I’m remembering back in the DLC to ME 1 the party never had a single thing to say, no matter what was going on. The fun and wacky Citadel DLC is a far cry from the serious and somewhat dark space opera Mass Effect started as, but as the final DLC capping off the end of the series, it gets to do a silly victory lap (and get the taste of the ending out of our mouths.)

Control, Synthesis, Or Destroy:

No.

Favorite Weapon:

Sniper rifles, whatever I have that’s fast and has high damage output. Also that one pistol that shoots tiny energy grenades. Pew pew.

Yeah I wasn’t really big into the weapons so much. I’m here to get my story on. 

Favorite Place:

The presidium on the Citadel. It bothered me a lot when I couldn’t explore it in the second game. I know it would have been terribly impractical, but as the presidium is just a huge ring, it would have been cool to be able to explore the whole thing, going past all the little park areas, shops, monuments and so on until you loop aaaaall the way back around to where you started. Like, how cool would it be if the ring had a running track? Maybe C-sec  academy trainees would be spotted jogging together along it in formation. And can you imagine grabbing a coffee (I was going to make up a space-related name for Starbucks but it’s already STARbucks...) and taking a nice stroll along the water before finding a nice bench to alien-watch from? Other locations in the game are like great places to explore and do gameplay stuff, but the presidium seems like a nice place to just be.

Favorite Quote:

"Stand in the ashes of a trillion dead souls and ask the ghosts if honor matters. The silence is your answer." - Javik.

This is such a fucking raw damn line. It makes me think a lot about Cerberus. When ME3 wasn’t out yet, I thought maybe the plan was Shepard would at some point choose a side, Alliance for paragons and Cerberus for renegades. It would have been so cool to have morality not merely be good vs evil, but idealism vs that ruthless calculus Garrus mentioned. How fucking raw would it be if Cerberus wasn’t just generically evil for no reason and suddenly indoctrinated but really were embodying that ruthless calculus, determined to defeat the reapers at any and all cost. Maybe Cerberus actions’ were more likely to do terrible things for the sake of ultimate victory, doing whatever it took, whereas the Alliance would be less willing to make the terrible choices and ultimately be less likely to succeed.

Now obviously, that’s not what happened, as it would have required Bioware to basically make two entirely separate games. But that line from Javik makes me think of that concept, and a universe where like Dragon Age party members can approve or disapprove of actions not merely as good or evil but along the lines of their personal values. I think Javik would sit at victory at all cost.

Also that one mission in 2 where some random NPC catches Shepard sneaking around and is all like ‘what are you doing here?’ and Shepard is like ‘What am I doing here? What are you doing here? Get out here before it blows!’ and the guy’s freaking out like WTF and she says ‘RUN!’ then laughs to herself as he flees from an imaginary bomb. Shep you troll. 

The thing I like the least about the entire franchise:

The misogyny and objectification that crept its way in, epically from the second game on. Really didn’t like those ass-shot camera angles, or female characters being slut-shamed in-universe for the clothes the designers made them wear. Yikes. 

But the biggest yikes for me in that regard is actually the reveal in 3 that the prothians guided asari development. That was fine and all, but the part that bothered me was the characters commenting “ooooh, so that’s why asari are so advanced,” as it was ever any kind of mystery before that exact moment. For one thing, asari aren’t really shown as being more advanced than anyone else, apart from having discovered the citadel first, and for second, why wouldn’t asari be advanced? All the way from ME1 it’s established that 1: Asari live for a really long time, and 2: can instant transmit information directly from brain to brain. That means they have long lifetime in which to accumulate knowledge and experience, and also can easily spread and preserve that knowledge without even the need for books. That ALONE should put them ahead. And even with all that, they only barely beat the salarians to discovering the Citadel first. But no one asks for an explanation for why salarians, who live only a few decades and can’t do mental data-transfer, are so advanced. No, only the success of the all-women race needs explaining. It was just one moment but it still bugs me. 

Also the general loss of realism after the second game. First game everyone gets armor, including full-face helmets automatically on in environments that need it. After that, people can apparently just wander the battlefield half-naked and even somehow survive in a total vacuum if they just put a plastic cup (that isn’t even connected to anything) over their mouth and nose. In the first game they at least made up some reasonable-sounding science fiction explanation for things, but after that it’s like F-it everything is just space magic now. 

Oh, and those repetitive unlocking stuff minigames. I use a mod to just skip those. 

[wisteria-lodge]

Character Analysis - Sorting Sherlock Holmes (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

a quick note on why I’m moving away from the HP terminology

So @sortinghatchats is brilliant. Absolutely my favorite character (and person!) analysis system. Instead of one house, you get two - a PRIMARY (your motivation, why you do things), and a SECONDARY (your toolbox, how you get things done.) A very stripped down refresher --

IDEALIST PRIMARY Lion/Gryffindor - I do what I feel is right. (MORAL) Bird/Ravenclaw - I do what I decide is correct. (LOGICAL) LOYALIST PRIMARY Badger/Hufflepuff - I do what helps my community (PEOPLE MATTER) Snake/Slytherin - I do what helps me/my inner circle (MY PEOPLE MATTER)

IMPROVISATIONAL SECONDARY Lion/Gryffindor- Charge! React! Smash the system! Snake/Slytherin- Transform, adapt, find the loophole. BUILT SECONDARY Bird/Ravenclaw - Plan, make tools, gather information. Badger/Hufflepuff - Community-build, caretake, call in favors.

Now let’s talk Sherlock Holmes!!!

***

Mycroft Holmes has a terrifying Bird secondary. He knows everything. He sees everything. He holds all the information in his head, all the time, and can tell you exactly how it connects. “Spymaster Mycroft” didn’t become proper fanon until 1970: in the books he’s more like a human computer, or a Mentat from Dune. This man is incapable of improvising. He hates casual conversation, hates changing his routine, just wants to sit and process and plan. He is the cartoon version of a Bird secondary.  

Mycroft is so insanely ‘big picture’ that he barely notices specific individuals. He’s off in in the corner thinking about currency regulation and the situation in Siam. In “The Greek Interpreter” he hears about a woman who might be starving to death… and sort of vaguely puts it on his to-do list. Sherlock ends up handling it.

You could make a case for either a Bird or Lion primary. But I’m going with Lion. Mycroft values instinct like Lions do (”All my instincts are against this explanation.”) And Sherlock describes him as someone who “would rather be considered wrong than take the trouble to prove himself right.” This is teasing, but it’s a joke about a Lion who just sort of feels the answer, not a Bird who needs a reason to be correct. Mycroft’s Cause, the one we see him respond to emotionally, is the smooth functioning of his world. He has a little pocket carved out for his brother, but if he had to choose between the country that he embodies and Sherlock Holmes’ well-being, it’d be England every time.

Knowing that Mycroft has that much power but doesn’t care about individual people makes Sherlock... uncomfortable. It takes him a while to even mention his brother to Watson. And then he lies about how important Mycroft’s job is. Thematically, this where Moriarty comes in. James Moriarty – the older genius hiding deep in the establishment, running a criminal empire from behind a tenured professorship, never getting his hands dirty – is Dark Mycroft. Because Sherlock is pretty sure his brother is one of the good guys. He’s pretty sure Mycroft isn’t going to break bad and go full-on ‘ends justify the means’ supervillain.

But… like… he could.

Sherlock Holmes is also defined by his Bird secondary. His deductions, data, knowledge of crime – it’s his loudest trait. But it’s a model. He tells us it’s a model. This “habit of observation and inference which I formed into a system” is something he built – and honestly, he probably built it for Mycroft. The Holmes brothers don’t do conversations, they have deduction games. Sherlock never wins, but at least he plays on Mycroft’s level.

(Everything about Sherlock Holmes makes more sense when you think about Mycroft. Like the “brain-attic” metaphor. How did Sherlock get this idea that there’s some fast-approaching limit to the actual pieces of information he can fit in his head at once? Because he knows someone with far, far greater processing power).

Underneath this logical Bird secondary model, Sherlock Holmes has something that looks a lot more Snake He’s moody and mercurial. He improvises on the violin to help himself think. He loves acting. He loves disguises. He crushes on Irene Adler because their Snake secondaries have so much fun playing together. And when it’s important, Holmes goes full-on Snake. Need to get Watson away from Moriarty? Better forge a letter sending him on a fake errand.

And as far as primaries go...  he’s a Badger. Sherlock Holmes cares about people. Oh wow does he care about people. If he doesn’t protect his client, it’s not a win – even if he solved the case with some brilliant bit of detection. He despises blackmailers, because they destroy lives in a cold, impersonal way. (At least murderers care.) He doesn’t mean to upset people with his deductions, and apologizes when he gets too coldly Bird: “Pray accept my apologies. Viewing the matter as an abstract problem, I had a forgotten how personal and painful a thing it might be to you.” When Watson talks about the “depth of loyalty and love which lay behind that cold mask,” Holmes is thirty seconds away from going vigilante killer because somebody hurt John Watson.

But the feeling isn’t just Watson-centric. Holmes doesn’t require Watson at his side the way a Snake would, because as long as he knows Watson is safe and happy, he is content. Holmes need-bases. It’s important that he works for people who need him. He generally dislikes working for the rich or upper-class (Soviet Russian Sherlock Holmes was totally a thing, they didn’t have to change much). He also has a *real* problem with overworking himself, which is very much a Badger primary and not Snake primary thing to do

He even community-builds. His Baker Street Irregulars, his connections over at Scotland yard, his tribe of interesting contacts and informants. Holmes values community. To him, community = safe. He loves London, but isolated rural areas makes him nervous:

“[in London] there is no lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of a drunkard’s blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among the neighbors, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever so close that a word of complaint can set it going... But look at these lonely houses, each in its own fields… think of the deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser.”

And don’t get me wrong. Holmes loves his double Bird armor. It makes him feel powerful, and hides the fact that he cares so damn much. He likes to pretend he doesn’t: to care is to be weak, ineffective, and untrustworthy. (Mycroft is probably to blame for this bit of thinking too.) But Sherlock Holmes is still able to take off his Bird. He takes it off around Watson. 

Dr. John Watson is a bright charging Lion secondary who is completely incapable of telling a lie. He’s ex-military. He’s Holmes’ muscle/backup. He’s got a gambling problem. And the thing about Holmes and Watson’s dynamic is that while Holmes calls the shots about 90% percent of the time, when it’s important – Watson goes full unstoppable-force Lion. And Holmes just buckles.

“Well, I don’t like it ; but I suppose it must be,” said I. “When do we start?” “You are not coming.” “Then you are not going,” said I. “I give you my word of honor – and I never broke it in my life – that I will take a cab straight to the police station and give you away unless you let me share this adventure with you” “You can’t help me.” “How do you know that? You can’t tell what may happen. Anyway, my resolution is taken.” Holmes had looked annoyed, but his brow cleared, and he clapped me on the shoulder. “Well, well, my dear fellow, be it so.”

Watson’s absolutely a Lion Primary too. First going into medicine, then joining the army even when that’s not the best career move? At the beginning of A Study in Scarlet, Watson is in terrible shape. Can’t sleep. Can’t stand loud noises. He’s “spending such money as I had considerably more freely than I ought.” But it’s not so much the PTSD as it is the the lack of purpose that’s getting to him. He talks a lot about his “meaningless existence” and how how “objectiveless was my life.” That’s a hurting, burned Lion, without a Cause.

And then Sherlock Holmes stumbles in. Overnight Watson’s life has meaning. He is going to help Holmes bring criminals to justice. He is going to make sure Holmes gets the recognition he deserves. And he’s going to get him clean. (ACD gets massive kudos for being against recreational cocaine and morphine use). The things Watson loves about Holmes, things like his “high sense of professional honor” – those are things that get under the skin of a Lion Primary. This is a guy with pictures of abolitionist preachers framed on his wall. John Watson’s not subtle. 

“You don’t mind breaking the law?” [said Holmes] “Not in the least.” “Nor running a chance of arrest?” “Not in a good cause.” “Oh, the cause is excellent!” “Then I am your man.”

And of course, Holmes got lucky in Watson too. Holmes is a Loyalist primary who distrusts other Loyalist primaries – you can’t really blame him, he comes across so many repulsive ones in his day job. (Interestingly, the handful of times Holmes absolutely misreads a motive – “Yellow Face,” “Missing Three-Quarter,” “Scandal in Bohemia” – it’s because he’s going up against a Loyalist primary who is using their powers for good.) 

But Watson is a trustworthy, dependable, predicable, honorable, Idealist who can  look like a Loyalist because his Cause is so focused on one person. So Holmes can be secure in his doctor’s devotion while also getting to lean on the instincts of someone just unflinchingly moral.

tl;dr

Mycroft Holmes – Lion Bird. An extremely big picture Lion whose Cause involves keeping England together. He’s the light-side counterpart of Professor Moriarty.

Sherlock Holmes – Badger Snake. Builds a loud Double Bird model, partly for pleasure, partly have a relationship with his brother, and partly because dealing with so many low-life Loyalist primaries makes him distrust those instincts in himself.

Dr. John Watson - Double Lion. When we meet him he’s pretty burned, due to his twin Causes of Queen and Country not really working out. Luckily, he meets Sherlock Holmes, and finds a new Cause in him.

[princesssarcastia]

we’re tunneling under rock bottom, lads.

alrighty then.  ladies, gentlemen, and those of you who know better: here it is.  just laying bear the incredible shame which is my current descent back into hp.  I’ve been reading lots of fic, and now i’m having a lot of thoughts about it.  putting them under a readmore because I’m morally opposed to even accidentally subjecting people to this if they don’t want to see it.   in the immortal words of groucho marx, these are my principles thoughts, and if you don’t like them....well, i have others.

ugh. oh god. here we go.

i’m frankly disgusted with the way james potter is frequently cast as this HIMYM-Ted-Mosby-like character, who meets a woman—no, doesn’t even meet her.  just sees her.  and decides this is the woman he’ll marry, and then continues to pursue her even though she makes it clear she’s not interested...FOR YEARS...sort of casts himself as a wounded, sympathetic party...and then eventually succeeds!!  which is some Narrative Bullshit, because it implies that’s a way to get someone to go out with you, Which It Isn’t.  like, I don’t think this interpretation even has any canon grounding, but that’s beside the point because canon is a roast and I am carving off only the bits I want to eat for consumption.

the mindset i’m using to justify this to myself is that.  look.  tmi hour with princesssarcastia.  these books actually do mean a lot to me.  they were the books that made me like to read!  they opened a whole world for me; not just the world of HP but countless others, some better written, some much much worse.  it was like they flipped a switch in my head and suddenly i had this glorious form of escapism that had been in front of me all along but that I could now take advantage of.  I would literally not be the same person I am today if I hadn’t read them.  i know everyone says that but I really do mean it.  hell yes I should, and WILL, be more critical of the source material and the fan material now, compared to when I first read them.  I should not only be more critical, but I should also openly criticize it and its author, JK Rowling.  But it’s like with lovecraft, okay; he was shit and JRK is shit, but they laid out the bare bones of something more spectacular than their tiny, bigoted minds could fully flesh out.  so now, fleshing it out is our job, especially so we can rub it in their racist, transphobic, antisemetic faces that we’re way better at it than they ever were.

still hate snape!  really, really do.  he’s a bigot and a bully and he never changed, and the fact that he was poor and his father abused him doesn’t change that or make him redeemable somehow.  It makes him more interesting, sure!  More fleshed out, more three dimensional.  But as a person he still sucks.  He was Neville’s boggart!  And not in the way that McGonagall was Hermione’s boggart; not like some face or representation of a more abstract fear.  It was Literally just snape that Neville feared more than anything else in the world, and I will not abide that.  Snape is bad for the same reason Umbridge is bad: your teachers are supposed to be people you can trust, they are people entrusted with your welfare, they are supposed to broaden your horizons and introduce you to the world around you in increasingly complex but ALWAYS, ALWAYS KIND ways.  Snape does not do that.  And I always thought the idea of him still loving Lily decades after he inadvertently sent Voldemort on the path to murdering her, and spending those decades doing something he hated and making the children in his care as miserable as he was, was much more sad than it was romantic.  That’s not a romance, that’s a tragedy that he walked into with his eyes wide open, and karmically deserved.

The best fics are the ones that understand that Ron Weasley was harry’s first friend, that he was kind, and that his jealousy and temper didn’t make him any less those things.  Ron Weasley is a ride-or-die bitch with, frankly, more emotional intelligence than hermione had sometimes, and I respect the hell out of him.

There really must have been more to the wizarding world than Harry ever sees, and that makes it fertile ground for fandom to grow its own ideas in.  For instance, to fight a war against all the death eaters, their families, the bigoted ministry employees, and the snatchers, there simply MUST have been more order of the phoenix members than were named, the first time ‘round and the second.

When you think about it, the concept of the Order of the Phoenix is actually fascinating. because on the one hand, it’s kind of a private paramilitary group?  It’s basically a militia populated by some government employees, INCLUDING cops, and schoolteachers, and healers, and sometimes your neighbors.  That’s sort of a scary thought in the abstract, though it does literally happen in the U.S. allll the time.  But on the other hand, it’s a group of people dedicated to taking direct action against rising fascism in their government and society.  punch nazis 1995, amirite?

Very excited because today, for the first time, I read a harry potter fic where someone (hermione, of course) mentions human rights. [dead men have no tails, by DuskGlass] and it’s very offhand, narratively; there’s not deep exploration of it.  But it leads to some wider questions I’ve been musing over...

...which is, even though the wizarding world is separate from the muggle world, how does that work out historically?  specifically when it comes to shitty stuff, though there are certainly nicer areas of this to explore if you’d like to.  For instance, How involved were british wizards in colonial efforts?  Did british, french, and dutch colonists in the americas participate in the genocide against native people there?  In the atlantic slave trade?  How involved was the british wizarding world in colonizing India?  And, were native american wizards and indian wizards involved in that conflict?  I mean, i can’t imagine they weren’t.  And if they weren’t, and the european forces still succeeded anyway, they the european wizarding world would have to have been involved in that, right?  when exactly did wizarding and muggle society start splitting far enough apart that muggle wars were not wizarding affairs?  Are there wizards in every country on the planet?  Is there the same level of disengagement in every other country as there is in Great Britain? These are questions i’m sure Hermione must have gotten answered for herself at some point.  I’d like to know the answers as well.

In retrospect, a lot of Hogwarts classes seem centered around defense and offense; in training people in combat, even if that’s not explicitly what they call it.  not in any fudge/umbridge esque “they’re training the kids in combat to take over the government!!!!” way, but in a “this world is actually very, very dangerous, from creatures to rogue magical objects or rogue magical people who mean you harm.”  That’s a fascinating mindset to have; it’s a fascinating paradigm to shift to, I imagine, especially for muggleborns.  Sort of prudent in canon, given the whole Voldemort thing, but it makes you wonder if the wizarding world then just always has some kind of asshole trying to take it over and kill a bunch of people along the way.

I’ll probably have more thoughts at some point, but that’s it for now.  feel free to discuss these, or any other, harry potter thoughts with me further.  I gotta get my enrichment somehow.

[grailfinders]

Fate and Phantasms #52: Vlad III

It’s only a week until October begins, so this build is frustratingly close to being well timed. Anyway, today on Fate and Phantasms we’re building the Son of the Dragon, Count Dracula! Kind of. Vlad III is an Undead Warlock/Shadow Sorcerer, who’s all about cribbing as much as he can from Bram Stoker, whether he wants to or not.

Check out the level-by-level breakdown below the cut, or the build summary over here!

Race and Background

The noble Vlad III Dracula wasn’t a Vampire, but you are, so you get +1 to Wisdom and +2 Charisma. You also have 60′ of Darkvision, Vampiric Resistance to necrotic damage, and the ability to suck the blood from willing, restrained, or grappled (by you) creatures with your Bloodthirst. This deals 1 piercing damage and 1d6 necrotic damage, healing you and reducing the target’s max HP by the amount of necrotic damage it deals. Drinking blood this way also gives you a Feast of Blood, giving you advantage on Strength and Dexterity saves and an extra 10′ of movement for a minute. Feasts stack, so feel free to go on a blood sugar high for big bursts of speed.

I called you noble in the last paragraph, and I meant that both in personality and literally. Nobles have proficiency in History and Persuasion. Honestly all servants should have History as a proficiency, and vampires can warp the minds of those under their thrall.

Stats

Strength is going to be your highest stat: shoving chunks of metal through people takes some elbow grease. After that is Dexterity, you’re so fast on your feet it’s like you’re flying. Third is going to be Charisma; it’s not just how charming you are but how spooky you can be, and you are very very spooky. Fourth is Intelligence: your madness enhancement doesn’t affect you that badly; at least not in terms of your smarts. Your Constitution’s a bit low, but you can always get that from other people. Finally, dump Wisdom. You agreed to show up as Dracula, so you’re clearly not in your right mind.

Class Levels

1. Warlock 1: Today we’re answering the question on everyone’s mind: can you be your own patron? The answer is yes! Kinda. Taking your power from The Undead Count Dracula, you gain Pact Magic using your charisma to cast and a Form of Dread. You also get proficiency in Wisdom and Charisma Saves, and two warlock skills. I’d think vampire lore would fall under Arcana, and you’re pretty scary, so grab Intimidation too.

As a bonus action, you can use Form of Dread to transform into a monster for 1 minute, gaining 1d10 plus your Warlock level in temporary HP. Once per turn when you make a damage roll from an attack, you can force it to make a wisdom save or be frightened of you until the end of your next turn. You’re also immune to the frightened condition while transformed. You can use this a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus per long rest. Basically, this is your version of rage, except it doesn’t prevent you from casting spells.

Speaking of, grab the cantrips Chill Touch for some spectral hands gripping at your fores, and Eldritch Blast for some ranged spears. For first level spells, False Life will make you even tougher, thanks to your increased HP, and Arms of Hadar will give you a short-range spear burst.

For weapons, the Spear is an obvious choice for the impaler.

2. Sorcerer 1: Have I mentioned you’re a vampire? That also qualifies you for the Shadow Sorcerer class! First level sorcerers get more Spells that also use your charisma to cast. This time multiclassing spells is easy: Your warlock levels have their slots, and your sorcerer levels have theirs. You can also cast warlock spells with sorcerer slots or vice-versa. Shadow sorcerers also get Eyes of the Dark, enhancing your darkvision to 120′ feet, and Strength of the Grave, meaning you might not die when you die, as long as you aren’t taking radiant or critical damage. Y’know, like from the sun or a stake to the heart. This only works once per long rest though, so don’t go counting on it.

For your spells, Mage Hand will let you caddy around some extra spears in case yours get “lost”, Message will let you telepathically communicate with your thralls, and Control Flames will give you an extra bit of dramatic flair. Also, grab True Strike. Your favorite targets for impalement are pretty small, so some advantage wouldn’t hurt. 

For first level spells, Charm Person is a gimme for a vampire, and you should also   grab Sleep. Drinking blood? Best done on a sleeping person. Waiting for them to fall asleep? Dumb. Make their dreams happen literally so you can make your dreams happen figuratively. 

3. Sorcerer 2: Second level sorcerers become a Font of Magic, giving you sorcery points equal to your sorcerer level, and the ability to burn spell slots for more points and vice versa.

For your spell, Ice Knife broadens the range of materials you can stab people with. To be fair, you could always flavor your eldritch blast as just “whatever’s nearby at the time”, but having spells with different types of damage is good for you. Diversify.

4. Sorcerer 3: Third level shadow sorcerers get another part of their Eyes of the Dark to kick in at this level. You know the spell Darkness without it taking up a spot on your list, and if you cast it with three sorcery points, you can also see through it.

You also get two kinds of Metamagic, letting you customize your spells the way you want. Extended Spell doubles the duration of a spell, up to 24 hours, and Distant Spell doubles the range of a spell if it has one greater than touch or lets you cast touch spells from 30 feet away.

For your spell, grab Shadow Blade. It does psychic damage, but so do all impalings if you do them right.

5. Warlock 2: Second level warlocks get Eldritch Invocations, letting you customize your you the way you want. Armor of Shadows lets you cast Mage Armor at will on yourself. You’re pretty squishy, and that fancy outfit you’ve got on isn’t going to offer much protection. You also get a second invocation at this level, but just grab what you want, we’ll switch it next level anyway.

For your spell, grab Cause Fear. Fear: you cause it. It’s really that simple.

6. Warlock 3: Third level warlocks get their pact boon: the Pact of the Blade lets you summon a magical weapon to your hand as an action for even fancier stabbing. You can also turn a magical weapon into your pact weapon if you want as part of a 1 hour ritual. So swap out that other invocation now for Improved Pact Weapon, adding 1 to your attack and damage rolls with your pact weapon, and letting you use it as a spellcasting focus.

For your spell, grab Hold Person. This lets you grab hold of a person using magic, restraining them for the duration if they fail their wisdom saving throws. Vampires typically go for more of a hypnosis angle, but the effect’s the same so I wouldn’t sweat the details.

7. Warlock 4: You’re finally grabbing your first ASI at seventh level. Planeshift Ixalan gave us the vampire race, but it also gave a vampire-specific feat. Vampiric Exultation lets you spend an action to partially transform into mist, giving you a flying speed of 30′ that lasts for 10 minutes. You can use this once per short rest.

To further sell this new mist-based form of travel, grab Misty Step as your spell for this level. Now you can totally transform yourself into mist and teleport 30′ away. For your new cantrip, grab Frostbite for even more of the grave’s chill.

8. Sorcerer 4: Fourth level sorcerers also get an ASI. The Piercer feat increases your strength by 1 to get rid of that pesky odd number, and you can reroll one piercing damage die per turn. Scoring a critical piercing hit also adds one more die to the damage roll.

For your spells this level, Friends is Charm Person but less taxing on the slots, and Knock lets you invite yourself into people’s homes! It’s also really loud, so if anything it’s probably better as a distraction while you move towards the real way you’re sneaking in somewhere.

9. Sorcerer 5: Fifth level sorcerers get third level spells. Haste adds 2 to a target’s AC, gives it advantage on dexterity saves, doubles its speed, and gets an additional action on each of its turns. After the spell ends, the target can’t move or take actions for a turn, so get out of the limelight before that happens.

10. Sorcerer 6: Sixth level shadow sorcerers can summon a Hound of Ill Omen, a medium sized direwolf that counts as a monstrosity instead of a beast. You also summon it with half your sorcerer level in temporary HP.  For three sorcery points, you get a hound that will chase down one creature who was within 120′ of you when it was summoned. It can pass through objects as difficult terrain, taking damage if it stops inside something. It can only move towards the target though, and only use its action to attack the target. If the hound is within 5′ of the target, they have disadvantage on all saving throws caused by your spells. The hound sticks around for 5 minutes, or until it or its target is at 0 hp. According to Stoker, you can turn into a wolf, so this is a nice compromise that won’t get fur on your suit.

Erupting Earth lets you make spears launch out of the ground in a 20′ cube, forcing dexterity saves for any creatures caught inside, and turning the whole area into difficult terrain, requiring one minute per square to clear away. Don’t let the bludgeoning damage fool you, these are totally spears.

11. Warlock 5: Fifth level warlocks also get third level spells. Gaseous Form lets you make your form gaseous, with a flying speed of 10′. You also get advantage on strength, dexterity, and constitution saves. There’s a lot of overlap between this and the exultation, but if you need to get through a wall, there’s no substitute.

You also get a new Invocation at fifth level. Thirsting Blade gives your pact weapon the Extra Attack feature, letting you make two weapon attacks in a single attack action.

12. Warlock 6: Sixth level Undead warlocks become Grave Touched. You don’t need to eat, drink, or breathe, and can replace an attack’s damage type with necrotic damage. If you’re in your Form of Dread, you can add an extra damage die when dealing necrotic damage as well.

To complete the effect of the Legend of Dracula, we’re also grabbing Animate Dead for some undead minions.

13. Warlock 7: Seventh level warlocks get fourth level spells. Shadow of Moil lets you wrap yourself in, well, shadows, dropping the light within 10′ of you by one level (dim to darkness, bright to dim). You get resistance to that pesky radiant damage, and taking hits from something within 10′ of you causes shadow spears to shoot out of your body, dealing 2d8 necrotic damage to whatever hit you.

You also get another Invocation at this level. You can use Gaze of the Two Minds to see through another humanoid’s senses for a turn, but you can use your action on each turn to maintain the connection. Not everyone has proficiency in a disguise kit, and now you don’t need to try.

14. Warlock 8: Use your next ASI to round out your Wisdom and Charisma for better saves against other spells and worse saves against yours. We’re also grabbing a spell from the Undead spell list, Greater Invisibility. Getting caught is for mortals, don’t do it.

15. Warlock 9. Ninth level warlocks get 5th level spells. Negative Energy Flood forces a ton of bad juju into a creature based on their constitution save. If it kills them, they pop back up as a zombie that isn’t really under your control, but will go around biting people anyway.

You also get another Invocation! The Unearthed Arcana Superior Pact Weapon adds gives your pact weapon a +2 to attacks and damage that doesn’t stack with the improved pact weapon. Hold on to IPW for now anyway, we’ll have something to replace it with a little later.

16. Warlock 10: Tenth level undead warlocks become a Mortal Husk. You resist necrotic damage now, which you already could, but you’re totally immune in your Form of Dread. Also, when you hit 0 HP, you can make your body explode. This deals 2d10 plus your warlock level in necrotic damage to creatures within 30′, and you show up again at 1 hp where you died. You keep all your stuff, and gain one level of exhaustion. After you revive this way, you can’t do so again for 1d4 long rests.

For your cantrip at this level, grab Infestation. Technically Dracula can control rats, but fleas are the biggest we can do on short notice.

17. Sorcerer 7: Seventh level sorcerers get fourth level spells. Blight lets you suck the life out of a creature within range, dealing 8d8 necrotic damage on a failed constitution save. It’s also weirdly effective on plants for some reason.

18. Sorcerer 8: Use your ASI to increase your Constitution for some more health and better concentration saves. 

19. Warlock 11: Eleventh level warlocks get a Mystic Arcanum, a sixth level spell they can use once per long rest. Create Undead lets you make fancier undead minions, Ghouls. 

20. Warlock 12: Your final level gives you one last ASI, which will boost your Charisma for higher spell saves. Also, at this level you can replace that Improved Pact Weapon that’s just sitting around with Lifedrinker, adding necrotic damage to your pact weapon’s attacks equal to your charisma modifier.

Pros:

The combination of sorcerer points and warlock spell slots is really powerful. Use your sorcerer slots as normal, then right before a short rest you can turn your warlock slots into points, and get a lot of spells back for almost free.

You have multiple ways to defy death, and plenty of way to pad your life total as well, making you a bit tougher to kill than your HP total would suggest.

Your distant spells and minions helps you keep a combat presence over a wide area without having to put in all the legwork or opening yourself up for attack. If you’re willing to spend only one short rest a day on just zombie upkeep, you’ll be able to make 15 zombies a day, or maintain control of 24, for absolutely no cost. Add to that the occasional wight and Hound of Ill Omen, and you’ve got a veritable undead horde on your hands. Even if your enemies wade through your zombie army, you can just fly away from them and their dumb whip. Sorry, wrong Dracula.

Cons:

Your health total and AC aren’t great, especially for someone who’s waving around a melee weapon. If you do get cornered, it could be a short fight, especially against paladins. Your low constitution also means low concentration, so keep your distance if you’re charming someone.

Your low wisdom score can be an issue when up again magic users. Fortunately, you being charmed won’t directly affect your minions, so you’ve got a way to break free.

Mixing spellcasting classes means you don’t get ninth level spells. An army of the undead doesn’t mean much to someone who can just wish you were never born.

Next up: He’s so fluffy, everyone’s gonna die!

[incarnateirony]

I think the issue with death as a happy ending (to a story, I should point out - death can be many things in many places, but I’m specifically talking about it in fiction) is that it’s usually written so badly that it doesn’t feel like a happy ending and it just feels like shit. There’s a very limited number of fictional works that I’ve seen actually manage it well - though in saying that, I have a very limited range, and I don’t really enjoy new things because (reasons). The ones I do recall, it’s because they were just that good and bittersweet is exactly the way I would describe them as a happy ending.

Firebringer was a novel I read when I was 12 or 13, and I still recall it. It was about a deer and it was his entire life - birth to death - and it was a happy ending. I cried through the last few chapters. Then I reread it and cried some more. It was good.

There’s also a fic I want to mention, because it’s on the topic. It’s called The white whale. and it’s by an author named orange_crushed. The entire premise of the fic is that Dean (and Sam, but it’s a destiel fic) is already dead. He died years ago. The title itself should say a lot, and the fic itself is about finding peace. It’s brilliant and beautiful, and I love it.

My perspective on death is a bit. Odd, maybe? I grew up somewhere between Christian (mum and dad and church, a mix of Baptist and Anglican) and animist (local indigenous spirituality), and while bit of both inform my interpretation, I’m very nearly atheist.

I don’t really believe in an afterlife, or rebirth, or anything like that. I believe that this is it. We get one shot at being who we want to be and acting as we choose with what we’re given. (“And isn’t it so wonderful, that we were alive at the same time?”)

I first heard the Freedom From vs Freedom To argument when reading the handmaid’s tale in my English class at school. It wasn’t even presented as an argument, everyone just seemed to agree that freedom to is better. I believe that, too. But freedom from has structure. It’s not “peaceful” and it can’t be when it is enforced, but it is informed by rules, and there it has expectations and is reliable (where reliable means we know what the consequences are, even if they’re awful). Freedom to is anarchy (which I have come to appreciate more). But neither freedom is peace.

There’s a quote I really love, and I can never recall it properly and it goes something like this: “War is an ugly thing, but it is not the ugliest. The decayed and degraded state of moral feeling which thinks nothing is worth war is much worse. A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing more important than his own personal fucking safety, is [the worst thing]” clearly I don’t recall it very well. It’s from an old bit of hp fanfic, of all things, a very violent and disgusting version of civil war - as war is. It was the beginning of why I’m not a pacifist.

I dunno. I guess I really feel like peace - true, genuine peace - can’t be done. It’s certainly worth striving for, worth trying, but peace is either isolation and loneliness or death. Peace is knowing you’ve done everything you can, that it was enough, and being able to let it go.

Any way I think I had a point somewhere in this, maybe something about being unable to put down a fight while you’re living, maybe something about how death can be kind, maybe something about how good writing can make sad things happy, maybe that bittersweet is still sweet. Idk.

Feel free to reply to this mess of ideas or not - or pick and choose what you want to reply to, if you’d like to reply to specific parts. I mostly just wanted to share (I can do discussion, but idk if I’m still gunna have any focus later to do so, or if I’ll even see a response) some thoughts and you’re usually the only person I see on my dash with this sort of ~vague philosophy things~.

Woah when did anons get to let someone submit something so long.

Either way, a few points on this.

1. a thoughtful piece, this is a philosophy piece I will gladly entertain. However, if we are entertaining philosophy we must

2. acknowledge this is a nihilistic piece contingent on your personal world views, that while valid, and I will not take any effort to undermine on a personal belief system level

3. do not have much to do with (dependent on fringe atheism or, perhaps, agnosticism) a piece that is far from secular and atheistic while also

4. relying on the idea that “I really feel like peace - true, genuine peace - can’t be done. It’s certainly worth striving for, worth trying, but peace is either isolation and loneliness or death.”, which is itself the very nihilistic idea imparted by Chuck’s matrix but, whether you believe it in the real world, is the active target of subversion within this fantasy world, (eg, a heaven revolution where the doors are opened just like they were in hell.)

5. Finally, presumptuous that it would not be ‘well written’ and predesignating a potential discontent with the delivery that would sour it, especially with the previous points.

That said, while I’m not going to argue directly with your real life belief system -- even if they clearly disagree with my own -- I do remind you--falling back to your point that you do not believe in an afterlife: we know this fictional story does not hold this belief, ergo using that as a judgment for how it would deliver the concept of eternity is itself already wounding oneself to receiving the moral of the canon. One can not suddenly expect SPN to become a secular show just because a viewer has secular and atheistic beliefs. It is inherently asecular, theistic, and gnostic in its bones and the story will thus tell itself within that structure, which then begs if one is willing to suspend a personal belief system for a fictional canon setting they are digesting the story of.

Similarly-and-so, this is contingent on believing that the heroes’ journey will end with them maintaining the current status quo, rather than making a world where--in this fictional world in which an afterlife exists--death does not itself mean loneliness, but rather reunion.

If we can suspend our beliefs in some shows with fighting dragons or farting lightning bolts (after all, nonnie references HP fanfic), I would hope people could suspend them in regards to a moral telling of found family and the sovereignty of man in a divine and moral play.

If one were to demand SPN have entirely atheistic storytelling, the only real way to handle an ending would be to have one of the characters wake up from a 15 year coma where none of it was real and it was all a dream or something to that affect which--lol, we’re not doing, I promise. I’m sorry, but we’re not.  We’re not taking the “none of it mattered because none of it happened” angle. We’re not going to a world where angels and the afterlife don’t exist, we’re not going to collapse it where suddenly death IS the true end and life sucks and then you die, it’s just not going to happen.

So the point then is an active choice on the part of the viewer: is this suddenly the line you draw after watching a theistic show for 15 years, doubling down that this specific theistic point is the one thing we can’t accept (despite it existing in the past already), or do we continue to watch a theistic show and interpret its theistic points as the story is trying to depict? And if it’s the “drawing the sudden line,” that is, quite frankly, a personal choice to have spontaneous discontent with a critical part of a canon story’s telling at a very sudden drawn line in the sand. 

The point to exit would have been pilot 1.01 if we were going to have fundamental problems with spirits and an afterlife as crucial elements of a story. And if not then, 4.01 with angels. And if not then-- you see where this goes on. There were multiple exit ramps if the idea of an afterlife, which became more and more directly explored, was going to be an issue in reception of or enjoyment of a text. So now we’re 15 years later, and we can’t expect the highway to reroute just because we didn’t take the other 100 ramps.

SPN will tell the full spread of its moral and divine play within the full spread of its moral and divine sandbox, which someone has--to reach the ending--accepted for fifteen years at this point. If one has a fundamental problem with the entire premise of the show, it is not an obligation to any writer to cater to someone who intrinsically disagrees with the entire structure of the body of work to fulfill something within a completely different paradigm. It’s not.

Am I lucky in that it matches my beliefs? Maybe. Also cursed. Very very cursed. Because it’s led to being Through The Looking Glass for two years to the point there’s a segment of fandom that treats me as a magic 8 ball--and sometimes rightfully so, not to sound like I’m tooting my own horn or whatever. It just knows I get the structure in play to a fault. But cursed knowledge aside -- and trust me, it’s cursed as FUCK most of the time -- in the end, even when I watch shows that don’t match my personal theology, I don’t sit here and suddenly expect them to do so. There’s plenty of shows I completely suspend my beliefs in to enjoy within the sandbox they were designed in the constraints of so I find it very weird to project a discontent with a body of fictional canon presenting ideas within its own rule set based on personal beliefs in a real life lens. I mean, I don’t believe dragons exist, but if I watch the Dragon Prince for many seasons, I can’t suddenly expect the ending to have nothing to do with Dragons?

I mean, the show is literally called Supernatural. It's right there in the name. There are going to be supernatural elements about the show. My banner image is literally a reborn soul floating down the aisle. This isn't gonna suddenly be irrelevant at the end.