#also the twilight elements are very much still coming through

[bookwyrminspiration]

also ana's mom is like "men arent actually that complicated. they are stupid, and only speak literally. take him at his word and be thankful he can read. they are also so emotional." kind of iconic

ana's mom is so wild like what is up with her. like the "often-recited warning: never trust a man who can dance". ??? I'd understand if it was in reference to metaphorical dancing, but ana remembers it...when they are literally dancing. on the dance floor. it may be intended to imply that his physical dancing carries over into metaphorical, but it just comes off so odd. what did dancing men ever do to you, ana's mom?

I'm almost halfway through the book (p. 233 out of like 510 or something). and I don't know what to do with myself. should I power through and read the entire trilogy back to back? or should I take a break to read something nice in-between? what do I say to my dad if he asks what I've been reading recently. if I said fifty shades of grey he'd support my ability to make decisions for myself but also judge me a little. like a "you can do whatever you want but why would you want that. you can do better" and he's right!! I can do better! and yet here I am...

[project-sekai-facts]

do u think prsk writing is good?

it's inconsistent. sometimes it's pretty good, sometimes it's not so good. this is something i would like to go way more indepth on but i don't think i'll have the time for a while, but i'll outline a few things here.

honestly early events are much stronger than some more recent ones. partially this is preference on my part due to preferring more character driven stuff which most early events were, but also in general the writing was much higher quality.

most year one events had a very strong sense of flow between them that has been lost over time. while events usually revolved around one character's issues, they would introduce aspects of the other characters and their issues which would be focused on later. if you read wonder halloween you'll notice there's foreshadowing for emu's arc across smile of dreamer and wonder magical showtime. this is partially because of the fact the events were so early on. we weren't as familiar with the characters as we are now and we were also new to the plots. you can also see how much more cohesive stories were back then as well because of there being way more mixed events marked as key story, like twilight parade and sakura for ln and picnic for n25. while most events still pick up from where the previous left off the sense of flow for most units just isn't felt as strongly as it was going through, say, l/n arc 1.

it also in some ways feels like the writers had a much stronger vision for early events than they do now, though distribution meta may come into play a bit. first arcs were the ones planned from the getgo. this is what they had already planned ahead for by launch. pretty much everything past year 1 was written after the game launched. we know they have a clear end, and it's evident they also had a clear start. we're currently filling in the middle and some events really feel like there's a slight lack of vision for the middle. vbs is a good aversion what with rad weekend having happened (aside from arata and souma's arcs lmfao), but other units and characters feel shafted.

to add to that last point as well as distribution meta. tsukasa5 is arguably one of the hardest hit. what seems to have happened is that they needed a second wxs event to focus on daigo's troupe, and tsukasa is the character who is most fitting for that troupe's speciality. unfortunately in order to come up with the actual plot, they had to retcon elements of tsukasa's character. tsukasa5 overall is probably one of the worst written of the recent events. it's really rough and doesn't make sense in some parts. it truly just exists bc they needed a wxs event with daigo and a wxs event in that slot.

kanade is another character who got hit hard. while she had the white day event in 2024, she was heavily shafted in terms of n25's story due to the focus being on mizuki and ena for half the year. mafuyu and ena's events were also very focused on them as individuals, leading to kanade getting like no character development for a year.

for non-2024 examples the 2nd arc enders were a mixed bag. step by step is very clearly a shoe-in because they needed to pad for time. retie functions perfectly well as an arc ender and reads like one in a few places, especially near the end. while minori had some good moments in this event it honestly feels like a mixed event. hell look at the banner card. shizuku and airi are also only in this event for a few lines of dialogue it's really rough.

oyf is incredibly rushed and tries to wrap up way too many loose ends from lutf. it feels like this arc was cut short, and you can really feel it in arc 3 when all the loose ends that still existed after oyf get their proper conclusion. side characters barring kotaro excluded, tatsuya and gurney flap had the shittest resolutions ever (tatsuya is also. barely a character lol). kohane had some good moments here, but other than that it was a really weak event.

same can be said for ohe they really needed more time and it's painfully obvious considering how much foreshadowing they did with rui only for... him to get one chapter in an emu event. there's some other things that really make this feel like it was meant to be rui or be two events one rui one emu, like the travelling troupe show. remember when rui wrote that show about his life and wxs rewrote it to show him he had a place with them. clpl doesn't. obviously it's always been important to all of them but it's significance to rui specifically has always been highlighted for obvious reasons. hell it was even mentioned in wxs first live like a couple weeks before this event dropped. while again this has good emu moments and good wxs moments it's painfully obvious at points that this was either a rui focus at one point or they combined two events. i wonder if part of the reason for that is because they realised that rui graduates at the end of the next arc so "wxs disbandment arc 2" (tentative name) will probably be more centered around him, especially with asahi's return looming over the story, and they didn't wanna make it seem like they did the same character arc with him twice.

sayonara persona and starry song are fine.

clpl really fucked themselves over with wles and the event schedule lol.

another issue with the writing from a technical standpoint is that recent events have really obnoxious exposition. listen i know we all make fun of people who only read chapter 1 and 8 of an event but did you know that actually works. you can sometimes even just read chapter 8. there's this need to constantly remind the player of stuff that happened earlier on in the event, sometimes in gratuitous detail, and i can understand why this might be necessary for the really long events like lutf or curtain call, but most events since 3rd anni have been under 1hr 30, in most cases just over an hour. the player can retain significant events that happened in the previous chapter. we don't need it constantly explained and it can actually make the audience less engaged if you constantly treat them like they don't understand what's going on. even for a game aimed at the tween/teen demographic you don't need to handhold them through the story. while yes younger audiences won't have the same literacy as an adult you should also trust that they can follow the basic story and read into basic subtext (honestly prsk is usually fine with subtext this is just an example).

"outline a few things" my ass this is pretty much everything i wanted to say. i do games writing next year and i think we cover VNs so maybe i can provide more insight then if the blog isn't dead.

(obligatory i'm not saying you can't like the events i outlined here i'm just saying that from an objective standpoint they're not the best. doesn't mean you can't find enjoyment in them. like whatever you want i'm not here to dictate your opinions)

[zarvasace]

Hello! This is the first time I have ever interacted with you and if it’s ok I would like to ask a question about your space au:) I’m just curious as to how some of the game mechanics would work in your fics. Stuff like mipha’s grace or the wind waker, basically the abilities that the links have

Hello!! Nice to meet you! Of course it's okay to ask questions, I love talking about stories. XD

And this is an excellent question. It isn't something I've considered TOO heavily before, especially for the examples you provided, but it's really fascinating to think about! Nothing is "canon" until I write it in a story but here are some thoughts...

Hyrule's abilities have been discussed a bit—they're not too unusual for his people and planet, though it is unusual to have multiple like he does.

Twilight's have been mentioned. He has used darkness to travel, essentially turning into a shadowy wolf to do it, which is a product of his half-Twili heritage.

Four is an android, and thus anything out of the ordinary that he does can be explained that way.

Sky is mostly Hylian, which is unusual, but he is also from many generations ago. He doesn't have many traits or internal abilities that people wouldn't be familiar with. Wars is the same, though his Hylian genes are sort of more "distilled" and thus a bit more uncanny. Neither of them have odd magical abilities that come as a result of anything other than items or friends (so they think.)

Legend is Sheikah, which in this AU have malleable appearances, and he's trained to take that to the limit, which explains his transformations. Other magic he does, i.e. the LBW painting thing, the LttP medallions, and whatever else, are mostly explained through clever use of technology, sometimes combined with his natural talents.

Wind is half-Zora and partially aquatic. I haven't quite decided how his wind waker abilities translate in this AU, but I think the chances of it being technology are pretty high. The "Great Sea" is a grouping of small planets (or asteroids? I don't remember off the top of my head) so I think it would make sense for his Wind Waker baton to either somehow control the weather on a few of them, or perhaps atmosphere between them, or even just his ship itself. Or maybe it is a kind of magic he was granted! That would be cool too! They're all fun options.

As for Wild and Time's abilities and magic... Well, Deities sure are mysterious, aren't they? ;)

Okay just kidding. Those elemental/combat abilities absolutely have to do with their heritage of Deity. Remember how Deities change to look like the people they grow up around? Their inherent abilities do something similar. Wild trained early on in a lot of high-risk, him-against-a-lot combat, so his blessings manifested as what the champion abilities are in BotW. He associates them with the champions because they resemble real abilities the champions had (coincidence?) Time didn't have examples quite as strong, and he didn't grow up as militant, so his blessings manifest with more blunt power on the elemental side. They're still refining and shifting, but they'll always be rather devastating.

...👀

And Sun's Deity blessings manifest very much out of a desire to keep herself and the people she loves safe. She is quite powerful, and can actually handle some time manipulation. How else do you think Skyloft station escaped the Calamity so cleanly? (Her Deity heritage remains a secret.)

[floppyponysart]

Mane 6 redesigns - mlpfim fanart

I made these a good while ago and thought hard about them but no-one cared at the time coz it wasn't a trend but now it is for some reason so I guess I'm gonna try reposting lol -v-'

get ready coz there is a long description of my inspirations and more details about these redesigns coming below. get ready for crazy amount of text

Twilight

This is basically my concept for "what if twilight was like an actual nerd?".

i gave her freckles/acne and glasses coz they are typical nerdy things. i think they look super cute on her tho ^w^. i got rid of her highlights in her hair coz (even tho it is probably meant to be natural in the show) nerds dont have time for adding highlights to their hair. her hair is also shorter to make it look more like the kind of practical hair cut girl nerds often have. she is wearing her comfy clothes coz she wants to be cozy when studying and doesnt care how she looks. she is wearing her favourite nerdy fluffy socks with her fav star constellations on them (i only know the big dipper lol -v-'). she is also wearing her comfy grey plain hoodie. for some reason every nerd seems to have a plain grey hoodie. it has spare pens in the pockets to.

she has a different cutiemark here which is basically my concept for what her cutiemark might have been if she wasn't the fated leader of the elements of harmony. it represents her studious personality and her love of stars. I also gave her a big backpack stuffed full of supplies. i can attest to the fact that studious students never have enough equipment and our bags look like this XD. it is an old but sturdy bag which has even been patched up but still going. there is a pink ruler sticking out coz everyone seemed to have those pink rulers when i was at school lol.

Every badge on this bag actually is meant to have a specific subject although its hard to see so small. now i will go through each one. Top left green one with dark blue what looks like an animal is a picture of an Ursa Minor. Brown one top right is a man holding a bow ancient etching on a cave wall picture. Big blue one is obviously more star constellations. Bottom right is a fire so hot the flame is blue. Right middle one is a skull. Middle brown and green one is an abandoned church structure. Bottom middle blue one is the Milky Way. Bottom left is a nerdy funny quote. Middle green one I actually don’t remember what it was meant to be anymore. I’m gonna day it is a rare plant tho coz that makes sense I think it was something like that. It might have also been an old weapon artefact as I remember that being one of my ideas at the time. Brown middle left was a catapult shooting a melon.

Applejack

This one is simpler than the last one. I already really like applejacks design and I had less ideas but I still like this. First things first, I think it would be more fitting if Applejack was a different species of pony. Here I have her as more of a wild pony which is hairier. I have her hair as rougher and shorter coz a farmer realistically would definitely not have long hair as it would get in the way of work. That has always been something that annoys me. Her hair in the show does look very nice but it just makes no sense. I didn’t change her cutiemark much coz her cutiemark from Pony Life is almost perfect. I just changed the shape of the leaf a little bit. I did add a speckled spot on her thigh around it tho. This is reminiscent of another species of horse and I think it adds a little more detail to make her look nice. It also matches her freckles on her face.

Speaking of her freckles, I added more all over her face and ears coz anyone with freckles will know it doesn’t usually stay in one pretty place on the cheeks. I think she looks cuter this way to be honest. She has cheeks which are a little chubby which makes her look younger than she actually is. Some people have a baby face for a longer time than most and idk but I felt this fit. She looks super cute and I love it. She has a hole in one ear which makes her look a little more imperfect and it shows her tough side. It’s a scar left from her tough working days in the past. Finally, I changed her hat. Yes I know. Probably people are going to hate me for this and I do like the hat but I always felt it was a little too stereotypical. So I gave her another hat which is often used in farming; a sunhat. I think this looks nice on her as well.

Fluttershy

Yes I made a lot of changes here. I started off just wanting to draw her with braids and flowers and longer legs like her childhood self but then I thought she looked more like a deer. Tbh I prefer her as a deer coz it makes more sense. Deers are very skittish and timid so it makes perfect sense for Fluttershy. I like the little tail puff to coz it’s just so cute. Several people have drawn Fluttershy with flowers in her hair and she has even done it in the show. It makes perfect sense to me for her to have lovely flowers, seeds, twigs and saplings in her hair all the time if she is in nature all the time.

Braids make more sense to me for Fluttershy coz long hair not tied up is going to get in the way and braids take a long time but is relaxing to do. I can imagine Fluttershy just slowly and calmly enjoying making her braids in the morning. I also changed her cutiemark to an animal paw. I have always thought this would make more sense for her cutiemark although I do like the butterflies to don’t get me wrong. I have tried 2 different sets of colours here but really I had many different ideas for different combinations of these colours. What colours would you use? Which of these do you prefer? Let me know Btw she does have wings still but it’s hard to see them behind the braids.

Pinkie

It’s alpaca Pinkie! yeah I just thought it would be more fitting for her to be another animal considering I already did it for Fluttershy. Pinkie is the weird one so it makes sense if she is also a completely different species and not a very common one. Plus alpacas are friendly, like to bounce and fluffy so it’s perfect in my eyes.

She has a buck tooth coz that makes her seem more cute and imperfect which fits her personality. She has very puffy hair coz I kinda hate how Pinkie has those nonsensical curls at the ends when her hair is supposed to be super curly and puffy. Curly puffy hair just doesn’t work that way.

She has confetti stuck in her hair coz I mean puffy hair is hard to clean and she has parties all the time so it makes sense. she also has colourful spots which match the colours of the balloons in her cutiemark. A spotty colourful pattern just makes sense for bubbly party Pinkie.

I actually decided to make her a unicorn to but you can’t see her horn coz she is so fluffy. I mean she is constantly doing weird and magical things so why isn’t she a unicorn?! It also makes sense people would think she is strange coz they can’t see her horn.

Last but not least, I like her cutiemark in the show but why does it have to be 3 separate balloons when balloons are often together anyway? So I grouped them together to make one big cutiemark instead and I think it looks better. What do you think?

Rainbow

I couldn’t do much with this one coz rainbow dash is already perfect. I tried some ideas here tho and I still like the results. It’s good in its own way.

I basically focused on the sporty side of rainbow dash here as you can probably tell. I made her thicker with strong cheek bones like an actual sporty person. I also gave her sweatbands coz of course she should be wearing those if she is doing sports all the time.

I gave her shorter hair coz they get in the way when doing sports and gave her the hair she has in pony life coz it just looks better sorry not sorry.

Anyone else always bothered by the fact her hair has half of it one o half of the colours and the other half the other half of the colours? Originally her hair had red, orange and yellow on top of her head and green, blue and purple on the hair on the back of her head. I just always felt that was weird so I made her tail and head have all the colours instead.

I also thought it was always a missed opportunity with the wings to not have them rainbow feathers like this. I mean why not?! It’s perfect!

I am really happy with her new cutiemark. I kept the rainbow and lightning bolt but made it have a football in instead. She’s into football in equestrian girls so this made sense to me and I love how the design came out. What do you think?

Last but not least I even designed an accessory for her. Of course it’s not fashionable or anything. It’s just a water bottle she carries around with her to make sure she stays hydrated when exercising. Hydration is important!

Rarity

At first I had no idea how to redesign rarity coz she is already pretty dang perfectly designed for her personality. But then I had the idea of making her older and more experienced with life kinda like a fashionista which has had kids or a cougar.

So here she is. She is no longer a unicorn but an earth pony instead. I never thought she needed magic tbh. She still wants to look pretty but her fashion sense is not great and she instead is just wearing bits and bobs of things she likes which don’t go together.

Her hair is shorter as she has less time to clean and maintain it and she wants to show off her accessories more anyway. She had a handbag which is a mixture between nice looking and big so it’s practical to use.

She has purple lipstick (just in case you can’t tell coz it is kinda hard to see). I also tried giving her a different eye colour which I think still looks nice on her and is more fitting of this version of her design.

I also gave her a different cutiemark. I do like her cutiemark but it doesn’t really relate to her love of fashion much and didn’t seem fitting to my design so I made this one for her. It’s a heart which represents her generosity and it wears a hat and and an earring which represents her love of fashion. What do you think? I love this cutiemark design personally.

The accessories are pretty self explanatory but just in case (coz I’m bad at drawing objects -v-') I’m gonna explain some of them. There is a pearl necklace with a nice big green gem. There is a gold bracelet with small red gems in it.

She is wearing earrings which are supposed to be green and blue opals. It was hard to get them to look like opals do with different colours merged together but I think I ended up with a pretty good result. It’s more green and murky than I intended tho. It also was difficult coz of how small it is. Any tips for how to make something look like that?

[marietheran-archived]

LotR reread - book 2, chapter 1 - Many Meetings

That awakening scene and Gandalf's grumbling are iconic.

"You have talked long in your sleep, Frodo, and it has not been hard for me to read your mind and memory" - more potential mind-reading. Yes, Frodo was talking, but the phrasing implies more than that.

Honestly Frodo is rather unperturbed for someone who keeps getting told "oh, and by the way, I read your mind"

Frodo's disbelief that Gandalf could ever be held captive :))

Frodo having thought all the "Big People" stupid before meeting Aragorn. He doesn't seem to have considered Gandalf as one of them, though.

"Fortune or fate have helped you" - something for the Mysterious Allusions Counter?? Let's leave it at 3.5.

That the Shire could withstand Sauron until all else might be conquered, almost as much as Rivendell, according to Gandalf!

"To what he will come in the end not even Elrond can foretell." - Proof that Elrond has foresight? Or just referring to his knowledge of healing?

"He may become like a glass filled with a clear light for eyes to see that can" - beautiful phrasing; what does it mean?

Some of the elves are "as merry as children"! -> me @ Peter Jackson

"We are sitting in a fortress. Outside it is getting dark." "Gandalf has been saying many cheerful things like that."

"On his brow sat wisdom, and in his hand was strength"

Elrond is "ageless, neither old nor young"... "venerable he seemed as a king crowned with many winters [Elros! 🥲💔], and yet hale as a tried warrior in the fullness of his strength." Hmm, half-elven heritage seems to show.

His hair "dark as the shadows of twilight" - compare: Lúthien ("dark as shadow was her hair"); Arwen being both a carbon copy of her illustrious foremother and like her father in female form.

"Mighty among both Elves and Men"

Arwen also has this "young and not" quality. Both she and her father are said to have the light of stars in their eyes.

Hmmm... Grey rainment with no ornament save a silver girdle + headdress. Not Noldorin fashion, I believe.

Bilbo definitely knows about Arwen and seems to tease Aragorn. Not sure if it counts as an allusion, being semi-overt... counter at 1.5

When I was 13 I decided to learn the Eärendil poem by heart and got halfway through - later I learned the rest of it through music settings.

Hmm... I doubt Bilbo should be taken as an expert on Eärendil's journey, but it does seem the Mariner almost crashed himself on the Helcaraxë (From gnashing of the Narrow Ice) where shadow lies on frozen hills.../He turned in haste, and roving still, etc.). And then there's the mysterious "Night of Naught"; I'm not sure if it was mentioned in the Silm.

O'er leagues unlit and foundered shores/ that drowned before the Days began *:･ﾟ✧*

He came into the timeless halls/ where shining fall the countless years ✧*:･ ...Brings to mind elements of Galadriel's song later on...

The Silmaril as lantern light/ and banner bright with living flame/ to gleam thereon by Elbereth/ herself was set, who thither came (!!)

And over Middle-earth he passed/ and heard at last the weeping sore/ of women and of elven-maids/ in Elder Days, in years of yore... haunting...

But, yes, Bilbo dies have cheek in reciting that in the house of Elrond

Aragorn very overtly talking to Arwen, cleaned-up and all. The scene is specifically drawn attention to; I hesitate to add this to my AragornxArwen allusion counter because it's not even an allusion! Mmm... 1.75

"I'll take a walk, I think, and look at the stars of Elbereth in the garden" -- oh, Bilbo, you're getting very Elvish

[sir-adamus]

So what do you like most about the Broken Sky series? Is it very much like Avatar? Is there more to be read?

tough to say what i like most, i'm very much someone who enjoys things for the sum of their parts - i suppose the part that stands out most is the dynamic cast of interesting and rounded characters; there's fun and interesting relationships within the group and that's been fun. i got my hands on some of the physical copies of the books (which are sadly out of print now, so hard to find), and in those books there are anime-style illustrations of the characters (both major and secondary) introduced in each part (if there were any) and i find that really charming

it's not terribly much like Avatar - i mean if you break it down to its bare essentials, it is about element-wielding protagonists' journeys to defeating an evil conqueror who wants to subjugate the world (and his daughter is also a major villain), but that's honestly so bare bones that it could apply to a lot of things and it's really not similar at all

as for is there more to read - the series started and concluded going from 1999 and 2001, the ebooks i'm reading are digitised versions of a trilogy that was released years after that original publication that collected the nine original books into three acts (which was apparently Chris Wooding's original plan for them before it was decided to serialising the series). i'm still on the first book, Act 1: The Twilight War, coming up to the end of it soon i think. Act 2 i believe is titled Communion and Act 3 is The Citadel. and these are sizeable books, there's a lot to get through so i'm looking forward to that

i've been fairly ill this week so i haven't had much motivation to continue reading but i want to get back to it soon

[stormyoceans]

oh please please please please talk more about the puentalay kisses bc i am, also, severely insane about them

(the feeling! the physicality! the comfort!! god those are all such great kisses. also hoping for sea to grab onto jimmy too oh yes tho am not sure if the hesitancy before was just him or him portraying talay, we'll see??)

that could be!!!! as a viewer it’s pretty hard to establish if the physicality in a kiss is fully determined by the actor’s performance or if it’s partly due to directing choices, so it’s definitely possible for that hesitancy to be more about talay rather than sea himself, especially since talay isn’t as comfortable with physical touch as puen is, at least at the beginning, while sea himself seems like a very affectionate guy, at least now. i personally feel like both factors may be at play here, which is why im really curious to see how their kisses in last twilight are going to be, since in the mock trailer day is the one to initiate it  

AND SINCE IM INSUFFERABLE HERE IS MY PERSONAL ANALYSIS OF THE PUENTALAY KISSES BASED ON AN ASSIGNEMENT I DID FOR MY HISTORY OF FILM CLASS BACK IN UNIVERSITY 10 YEARS AGO

okay so, obviously im far from being an expert, but what i learned while doing my research is that there are 5 elements that directors and acting coaches usually take into account when it comes to kisses. those elements are:

prelude: it’s everything that leads up to the kiss itself, from the story up until that moment, to the emotions of the characters, to the tone of the scene;

look: eye contact is essential when it comes to acting, and even more so when there’s a kissing scene. we love consent, but the truth is that a lot of times the invitation for a kiss is made through the eyes and the emotions you can express through them (needless to say, jimmy is INSANE at this);

breath: it's whether the characters just dive in or if there's some lingering before or after the kiss;

rhythm: it's about the length, the pace, and the technique of the kiss;

surrender: this is what i usually call the physicality of a kiss, because it’s basically the way the bodies respond to each other.

a good director can play with all these elements to give a specific feeling and match the scene itself. that being said, let's start with the kiss where all these elements can't be applied sfjksgfj

the drunk kiss in episode 2. drunk kisses are hard to judge because you are actually supposed to mess up all the things that make a good kiss. if a character is wasted they're hardly gonna be able to communicate emotions through their eyes or have a nice rhythm. in this case there's also not much of a prelude since they've just met, but that's kinda the point: the purpose is to surprise both puen and the audience. i still find it an interesting kiss because of what it tells us about the characters (talay is more open and affectionate when drunk, puen is perplexed but doesn't get angry or push talay away) and i think the fact that it stayed with them for YEARS says a lot about the instant connection they felt between them. i also really appreciate that we get a quick peck first and then a second slightly more purposeful kiss, lips puckered and fully touching.

(hiding the rest under the cut to preserve some kind of dignity)

the greenhouse kiss in episode 4. HERE'S WHERE IM GONNA START LEAVING ANY SEMBLANCE OF SANITY AND COHERENCY BEHIND. im usually not the biggest fan of one-sided/sudden kisses, but this one.... THIS ONE!!!!!! the entire episode is a perfect build up to this moment, engaging the viewers since the very beginning ("so, they will fall in love?" "i guess they will") and raising the (emotional) stakes with each step leading towards it ("why don't we fall in love with each other?", "i talked about the one im hitting on", "feelings aren't something you can toy with"): the second talay steps into the greenhouse and puen comes into view, you can actually FEEL it in the air, that something's gonna happen. then puen grabs talay's arm to stop him from leaving AND THE LOOKS HE THROWS AT TALAY!!!!!! THE WAY HIS EYES SOFTEN WHEN TALAY ASKS HIM "ARE YOU MESSING WITH ME AGAIN?" AND HE ANSWERS "NO"!!!!!!! his intentions are written all over them, so when puen grabs talay's neck and kisses him you're expecting it and yet it still manages to take your breath away. sudden kisses are pretty much the only type where it's kinda acceptable to have a frozen physicality (so arms down the side, body standing still) because it makes sense for the surprise to be freezing the character in place, and while that it's also what happens here, i really like how they were able to somehow still make it feel 'physical': jimmy goes in so strong sea stumbles/has to readjust his position a little, the hold jimmy has on sea's neck is gentle but firm and establishes connection, their lips are fully pressed together, jimmy's nose is almost squished against sea's cheek, and for a sudden kiss their bodies are standing surprisingly close to each other.

the greyllery kiss in episode 8. when i tell you i start FROTHING AT THE MOUTH every time i see just how perfectly they constructed and directed this kiss to parallel the one in the greenhouse…. from puen's adoring look to the way he pulls talay in by grabbing the back of his neck to the camera angles, every detail is built to make the viewers recall the end of episode 4 and give us a visual representation of how much their relationship has grown since then. obviously the mutuality of it is the biggest difference in itself, but there’s also a subtle shift in the physicality to match that: puen gets to wrap both of his arms around talay now, and talay finally reaches back too. this is one of the cases where i do wish sea could have been a bit more confident in grabbing jimmy back, but at the same time i think the hesitancy makes sense for talay as a character, so it's not a detail that pulls you out of the moment and everything else is just PERFECT. the prelude to the kiss in particular is incredible, not only because of the confession itself, which would deserve its own analysis even just for how it happens when the lights are out, highlighting the fact that they love each other for who they are, no matter which body they're inhabiting, but also because the tension gets progressively built up beat by beat until you find yourself on the edge of your sit holding your breath just waiting for it to happen: i said i like you, beat, i like you even though i don't know what you look like, beat, even though i don't know who you are, beat, i like you too, beat, i like everything about you, beat, puen dropping his bag, beat, and when puen takes an audible breath in before stepping forward, that's when you can finally release your own. this is also the first kiss where we can judge the rhythm, and i personally think that jimmy and sea have a very good sense of it in all of their kisses. it's kinda hard to explain why, but it's in the way they can pace the kiss, and mirror each other's intensity, and switch the side their head turns while doing it. last thing im gonna say (because this is already getting way too long ;;;;) is that letting the sounds of the kiss be heard under the background music sure was. A CHOICE.

the bucket hat kiss in episode 9. [RATTLES THE BARS OF HER CAGE] DOCTOR JIMMY THE THINGS YOU DO WITH YOUR EYES!!!!!!!!! in this case the kiss itself is pretty short so it can't be judged on more technical aspects, however it does not leave the viewers wanting for more, because the emotions behind it already say everything we need to know. the adoration the longing the want the reverence the wonder the love.... it's all written in the way puen looks at talay. the camera focuses way more on puen here because the revelation of who talay is is, quite literally, life changing for him, but the lingering on talay's eyes after they part and the two of them remaining close to each other as if they can't bring themselves to move on tell us how this kiss functions as a seal for the many promises made between them: of going back together, of finding each other again, of their mutual feelings. also i can't really figure out if this is a jimmy thing or a conscious directing choice, but when it comes to physicality i LOVE how puen always has his hand or his arm around talay's neck. it's such a protective and possessive gesture which is meant to send a clear message, not to other people, but to the universe: this is the man i love, it says, and im not gonna let you take him away from me.

the bathtub kiss in episode 10. i feel so normal about this kiss it's honestly insane how normal and hinged and sane and fine i feel about it. like not to be petty but i have no idea HOW can anyone watch this and then really say that jimmysea can't kiss, especially considering it hits EVERY SINGLE POINT of what a good kiss should be like. the simple intimacy of taking a bath together, the shared joy of their success, and the teasing of the reward are all perfect set ups for this kiss, and as always jimmy has the insane ability to broadcast puen's intentions through his eyes in a way few other actors can, however what makes this kiss really stand out compared to the rest are the breath and the physicality of it. when it comes to kissing talay, puen is always diving into it like a starving man, and this time is no different, but unlike all the other times there is a pause in the kiss and you can actually see how much it costs them to separate: they both look like they're getting out of a trance, breaths mingling together as puen keeps his eyes closed for a little longer to pull himself together and talay blindly chases his lips for more, confused by the sudden interruption. this temporary pause doesn't break the actual rhythm of the kiss, nor it pulls the viewers out of the moment, because it's clear that they're both still very much into it. i will never stop praising jimmy and sea for being able to portray just how overwhelmed the characters are here, both from the kiss and the feelings they have for each other, and it also shows in the way they almost sound choked up as they thank each other. the kiss picking up from where they left it is the only natural continuation to all these emotions bubbling to the surface, emotions that are way too big to put into words, so they rely on their bodies to try to convey them. and speaking of bodies, this kiss is the perfect example of why physicality is also called 'surrender', you just need to look at the openness and vulnerability of talay's neck in that position, but even when sea shifts a little into a more comfortable one you can see how their body fit together and melt into each other perfectly. honestly the only thing that could have possibly made this kiss better was to have jimmy hold sea's face for a bit longer instead of moving his arm on the side of the bathtub, but frankly im just nitpicking here (monica aren't you forgetting something, one may ask. and to that i say YEAH YEAH THE TONGUE SLIP WE'VE ALL SEEN IT. NO I REFUSE TO COMMENT ON IT BYE)

the riverbank kiss in episode 10. as much as i love this whole scene, this kiss in particular is sadly not my favorite one, mostly because i think the editing and the camera angles did a bit of a disservice to it. i really like how it starts: all puentalay kisses have very strong preludes because they always serve a purpose to the story, they're never gratuitous (in this case it's meant to be a confirmation of puen's words and an omen of what's to come), and jimmysea can both convey so much with their eyes that you can actually feel how they're pulling each other (and the viewers) in to the kiss by the looks they share. it's when the camera moves from their faces to go above and then behind them that i feel like it ends up taking you out of the moment they worked so hard to build, because it completely blocks the view of the kiss in a very jarring way, and when it gets in front of them again talay's arm is suddenly reaching up to puen, which it wasn't in the previous frame. it's such a pity because i LOVE that connection, it's the kind of physicality that can turn a good kiss to a great one, so i do wish we could have gotten more continuity and a more direct view.

the reunion kiss in episode 11. it may come as a surprise, but i actually don’t have a lot to say about this kiss, mainly because i believe any technical analysis becomes pointless in the face of the journey that led them to this moment. this is their first kiss after being reunited, and if this were any other show, i feel like it would have made a big deal out of this also being their first kiss in their real bodies, but the love between puen and talay has never been about physical appearance, and we're reminded of that once again. this kiss is the meeting of two souls who have missed each other and find comfort in being together again, and i don't think it's a coincidence that this is the one time they are fully facing each other, with puen mirroring talay's crosslegged position on the bed. “from this moment on, it’s me and you,” talay is gonna say in the next episode, “talay and puen,” and i think this kiss perfectly represent these words. i guess i do wish, once again, that sea were holding jimmy back in some way, even just by grabbing his arm, but like with the greyllery kiss i think it does work character-wise, because while this is a comforting moment for both of them, talay is the one who needs more reassurance, who needs to know that puen isn’t gonna leave him, and all the gestures puen does (the forehead kiss, the handholding, the protective hold he has on talay while they kiss) are his way to prove to talay, other than with words, that this isn’t a dream: it’s real, they’re both real, and now that they’re finally home and together, he’s never gonna let anything separate them again.

the boyfriends kiss in episode 12. what's better than a kiss in the same place the universe separated you as a way to seal the deal on your new-found and hard-fought boyfriend status? NOTHING THAT'S WHAT. i do think, however, that this kiss kinda leaves you wanting for more. it's not a short deep one like the bucket hat kiss, but it's also not a full make out session like many of the others, and since they don't have the time to build a nice rhythm it feels like the kiss ends before it even gets a chance to start. this is also one of the times where i wish sea were touching jimmy back in some way, or that his body were lining more towards him, because physicality wise it makes him seem a bit less engaged in the moment. despite these details im still pretty fond of this kiss, mostly because the utter adoration in both puen's and talay's eyes before it makes up for A LOT in my book. also it's not really related to the kiss itself but i love the dark/light contrast in their clothes.

the foggy glasses kiss in episode 12. GAME CHANGING LIFE ALTERING MIND BLOWING. A CULTURAL RESET. we've all read about kisses that leave a character breathless, lightheaded and weak at the knees, maybe even got to experience some ourselves in our life, and i honestly can't think about any other kiss in television history that was able to perfectly represent that feeling more than this one. from talay's dazed expression, to his foggy glasses, to his messy hair because of puen's fingers running through it, you can actually believe this kiss affected him to such an extent. and how could it not affect him when the rhythm and physicality of it are INSANE???? the way puen is holding talay's head with BOTH OF HIS HANDS to keep talay in place barely gives talay any time to take breath and they're so close and entangled in each other that you can barely tell where one starts and the other ends. i love the wider camera shots of this kiss because, as i mentioned before, you once again get to see why physicality is defined as surrender: it looks like their bodies are almost melting into each other. it's not even their longest kiss, but the tension and the intensity are off the charts in every part of it. the single-minded purpose with which puen approaches talay at the beginning, eyes firmly on talay's face, never wandering from it, already lets you know just how wild this kiss is about to be, and you can't expect anything less from it after getting to see talay confessing to puen for the third time in five episodes. i also find it very telling that both the show and the our skyy episodes end on such great kisses, they feel like the testament of their love and the proof of how far they've come.

the beach kiss in our skyy. ONE KISS TO RULE THEM ALL ONE KISS TO REMEMBER THEM ONE KISS TO HONOR THEM ALL AND IN FRONT OF THE OCEAN BIND THEM. so anyway bad jokes (and quotes) aside, this kiss does feel like a sum of all their previews ones, maybe because there are elements in it that tend to remind the viewers of a lot of them: the drunk kiss being used as a set up for it, the framing of puen's face at the beginning being the same as the greenhouse and the greyllery ones, puen's smile before pulling talay into it being a little nudge to the bathtub kiss, their position almost mirroring the boyfriends one...... not to mention that it's hard to look at the ocean and not be reminded of other important moments in their journey, like the two of them promising to find each other again in their universe on the secret island and talay having to wait for the tide to retreat to go back to puen. the ocean of is also the place where talay drowned and everything began, so it only makes sense for their story to end in front of it too. the cycle closes with a recollection of the past and a promise for the future, the kiss itself, the mouthed "i love you" and the forehead touch letting us know that no matter what's gonna happen, they will always love each other like the very first day. much like with the reunion one, i think any technical aspect of this kiss becomes of very little importance when you're faced with the whole entire everything of their history together being contained in it, but let me just say, what a difference sea's arm casually draped over jimmy's legs makes!!!!! compared to the boyfriends kiss, you can see how the extra physical connection makes both of them look fully invested in the kiss and makes the viewers feel more involved in it too. as always the rhythm of the kiss is really good, and this time sea is the one who really shines when it comes to the look, because he's just radiating adoration love and pure unadulterated joy everywhere. not that jimmy isn't giving insane levels of emotions too, but im gonna end this mess with something deeply controversial: i know the fandom likes their long hair, but jimmy's bangs end up covering his eyes way too much and that is A CRIME.

[agentnico]

The Boy and the Heron (2023) Review

Robert Pattinson, is that you??

Plot: Mahito, a young 12-year-old boy, struggles to settle in a new town after his mother's death. However, when a talking heron informs Mahito that his mother is still alive, he enters an abandoned tower in search of her, which takes him to another world.

Seriously though, we need to discuss Robert Pattinson in this movie. He voices the titular heron, and this is Pattinson’s first ever foray into voice acting… and it is a true masterclass. He gives an unrecognisable performance using a raspy, zany voice, and one that you could easily mistake for the other voice actors in the movie like Mark Hamill and Willem Dafoe, to whom such vocal chords come much more naturally. Honestly, you have never heard Pattinson like this before, with the closest sounding performance in his filmography being in the 2020 crime drama The Devil All the Time as the high-pitched preacher, but even then you could mentally connect the voice to the actor. I must give Pattinson all the props in the world - for someone who started out as a sparkling teen-vamp in the Twilight films, he’s really worked hard to break himself out of the shadows of that series and consistently defy expectations and be an acting force to be reckoned with. Now his turn in The Boy and the Heron only justifies this even more, and more importantly should be a signal to other animation studios to give this guy more voice acting roles, as he’s great with those evidently. Like seriously, you can’t even begin to fathom Pattinson’s grows in this film - its something else.

Right, let’s talk about the actual film now! The Boy and the Heron sees the return of the legendary Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki who most know through his projects with animation company Studio Ghibli. The guy’s a legend in the realm of anime, so me and my fiancée were excited to go see it, so we had a full date night planned - we travelled quite the way to get to the cinema that was showing this movie, as the film so far has had a very limited release here in the UK, and we enjoyed a fine meal at the local pub, and yours truly had the pleasure of accompanying the meal with a couple of pints as one should. We then go to buy the tickets and whaddayaknow they have all sold out. Yep, all that travelling and effort to see a film and yet it was not meant to be. Nonetheless, I instead made my way there again today, this time pre-ordering the seat a day in advance as that was a lesson learned. Oh yes, when it comes to a Hayao Miyazaki animation, I am one dedicated son of a bee to see that! Thank heavens I pre-booked that time, as the screening I was in was packed, and as I was in the lobby I overheard other customers trying to purchase tickets for The Boy and the Heron and being turned out. Look, Studio Ghibli has its fan-base, so it’s not surprising so many people want to go see it. It’s surprising though that cinemas aren’t providing enough screens to show it though, but that is a separate distribution matter in itself.

The Boy and the Heron plays out a little like a montage of Best Of, revisiting themes and devices familiar from Miyazaki’s previous films and tying them together with elements that have a clear autobiographical resonance for the director. From the various magical and absurd creatures to the stunning animation to the piano-heavy score by frequent Miyazaki collaborator Joe Hisaishi, it’s all the usual Ghibli goodness you know and love. Speaking of the score, the lush orchestral Hisaishi soundtrack is shimmering and exultant, that is filled with innocent beauty, yet also managing to embrace the darker aspects of the narrative. The animation as stated is superb, but I do mean it looks incredible. From the very opening sequence where Mahito is running through the burning streets of Tokyo to find his mother, the dizzying effect of the flames and the people around running in panic and being engulfed in the horrible disaster - that sequence is both beautiful from an artistic standpoint but also frightening as it reminds us of all the damage the Second World War brought to innocent people. But the rest of the film also brims with the spectacular hand-drawn animation Ghibli artists are know for, and I always loved how they managed to balance the whimsical fun elements with the more scarier ones. Speaking of which, after seeing this movie you’re going to have a very different opinion on parakeets. You have been warned.

Now in terms of the negative… the characterisation. A huge part of Ghibli movies in general, and especially those directed by Miyazaki, is that as a rule they are always driven by its characters, with their journeys at the forefront. World building and the narrative always took second place. Major examples of this are Howl’s Moving Castle, Laputa: Castle in the Sky and Spirited Away, where you had these absolutely crazy fantasy-driven landscapes, yet at the same time the stories were laid back with simplicity and effective means and rules. However with The Boy and the Heron the world building is so convoluted and confusing at times that it seems Miyazaki put all his efforts into fleshing out this narrative instead of giving more time to the main character, who supposedly undergoes a deep emotional journey. However because we are busy being distracted with all the craziness of the world, the journey of the character’s growth is near non-existent, and as such the finale seems very abrupt and unfitting, with the story choices feeling undeserved and unnatural.

The Boy and the Heron is a beautiful animation from an auteur who’s delivered so many greats previously to which this one doesn’t come close to, but even Miyazaki’s mid-level film is most directors’ best. The lack of character building and interpersonal relationship is a heavy hindrance, but aside from that this is an engaging original story featuring a superb music score, great vocals (especially from Pattinson) and also nostalgia that reminds us how great Studio Ghibli truly is. Again, it’s not Miyazaki’s best, but it’s easily one of the best animations in the last few years, and will also make you want to avoid parakeets for good. Don’t make their cute little look fool you - they are sinister little bastards.

Overall score: 7/10

[sshbpodcast]

The Worst Season of All of Star Trek?

by Ames

What’s the worst season of all of Trek? Season 3 of TOS? Season 2 of Picard? All of The Animated Series? Well your hosts at A Star to Steer Her By have a contender. We just finished our watchthrough of season 3 of Enterprise, and if we were mostly unimpressed by the first two seasons, we downright abhorred this one. For a season that’s ultimately one great big 9/11 allegory, it forgets what sci-fi in general – and Star Trek in particular – is meant to do with topical politics: use your imaginative medium to make people ask the Big Questions™.

This season doesn’t do that. 

Instead of pushing themes like what is moral and right during a time of terrorism and war, Enterprise spends most of the time letting Archer unapologetically commit war crimes with the underlying current of “it may not be nice, but it’s necessary.” Well, is it? It’s not until very late in the season that he even feels bad about all the people he manipulates, tortures, or kills. Among some truly, truly cynical episodes, there are still some diamonds, but we’ll let our Tops and Bottoms Lists make those arguments. So dive into the Delphic Expanse with us as we high- and lowlight this season below and listen to our scathing arguments on this week’s podcast episode (blast over to 38:19). America! Fuck Yeah!

[images © CBS/Paramount]

Top Three Episodes

That’s not to say the season is not 100% trash. There’s actually some good stuff in here – in fact, some of the best episodes of Enterprise we’ve seen so far, sprinkled throughout some otherwise drek concepts.

“The Shipment”: Ames One shining light in the early episodes comes in the one-off character Gralik Durr. He’s a Xindi-Arboreal who reminds Archer, as bluntly as he can, that not all Xindi should be considered responsible for the atrocities that are being committed by the Council, which is just what we needed to hear amongst a lot of episodes of Archer racially profiling people for things they have no control over. Thank you, Gralik.

“Proving Ground”: Caitlin You just can’t go wrong with a Shran episode. Jeffrey Combs was the breath of fresh air we pined for in a handful of bleak, exhausting, morally repulsive episodes we’d been saddled with. Is it contrived? Yes. Is there any good reason for Shran to be in the Delphic Expanse? Absolutely not. But what a freaking delight to watch Shran pretend to represent an Andorian Mining Consortium. Full marks; no notes.

“Azati Prime”: Jake It finally feels like something is happening in this season-long plot at about episode 18, when some consequential actions transpire. That’s three-quarters of the way through the season, mind you, but who’s counting? (I am.) We reach the Xindi weapon, Archer gets captured trying to kamikaze the thing, and there’s some really great ship battle. It’s also the first time Archer shows remorse for all the harm he’s caused.

“The Council”: Chris The homestretch of the season has picked up the pace in this whole Xindi War arc, and thank goodness. So much time was spent spinning its wheels that it felt like a success to have so much plot development in the last couple of episodes of the season. And finally (FINALLY), Archer switches this mission to one of diplomacy and collaboration instead of rage and torture. It feels like Star Trek for the first time in a while.

“Countdown”: Chris Same deal here as in “The Council.” We’re close to the end, so things are speeding to the resolution. Plot elements are getting tied up, the Xindi Council is way more fleshed out by now, and every decision has consequences for a change. Dolim and the other Reptilians also up the stakes by taking matters into their own hands, solidifying the realness of the threat of the weapon that was nebulous up to this point.

“Twilight”: Ames, Caitlin, Jake We get a good amount of agreement for this genuinely impressive, well-written, well-acted episode that deviates a little from the Xindi plot while also fitting into the season perfectly. The idea of the interspatial parasites causing Archer to lose his short-term memory is a great sci-fi concept, and the resolution is so clever that we’re fully onboard for a full reset ending that, in less skilled hands, would seem convenient.

“Similitude”: Ames, Caitlin, Chris, Jake But the episode that gets the vote of all of your SSHB hosts is a new twist on the “Tuvix” dilemma. Connor Trineer absolutely goes all out as his duplicate, Sim, and we feel devastated at the end when the inevitable occurs. Archer and Phlox are, frankly, monsters to do this to a person; there’s no debate on that. But what we walk away with is a heart-wrenching acting showcase for all the different Trip iterations we meet.

—

Bottom Three Episodes

And now, what we’re all here for: shitting on all the bad things from this morally reprehensible season. From all the war crimes, to the racial profiling, to the missed opportunities and even more recycled shots, this season just plain has so many low points.

“Doctor’s Orders”: Jake Like how “E²” is just DS9’s “Children of Time” but with Enterprise paint (and not as good), this episode is just Voyager’s “One” but with Enterprise paint (and also not as good). If you’re going to entirely rehash a story your franchise has already done, at least change it up a little. Watching Phlox and T’Pol wander around while everyone else is put under just makes you think, “Dang, Jeri Ryan did this way better.”

“Chosen Realm”: Caitlin Every so often, Star Trek tries to make a point about religion and faith as compared to the science and logic of its main characters, and this is one of those times it bungles it. Like with Voyager’s “Sacred Ground,” this one doesn’t quite make the argument it thinks it’s making. And then it manages to somehow make a joke of all of it by having the religious factions be at war over something purely trivial. Blah.

“Rajiin”: Caitlin We could have called a mile away that Rajiin was up to no good and saving her was going to be a mistake. And it’s not like we were really missing watching T’Pol getting sexually assaulted all the time like in “Fusion” – we really didn’t need yet another oversexed scene of her getting pawed at by some villain or other. Everything was just predictable, boring, and repetitive.

“Carpenter Street”: Jake As if we haven’t had enough mind-boggling time travel from the Temporal Cold War arc, Daniels has to drop by and stir up shit again. There’s just something dissatisfying about the Detroit plot. The Reptilians’ need for all the blood types is just contrived. Bringing T’Pol of all people is just begging for Vulcan shenanigans. The whole thing should be Daniels’s problem and he refuses to do jack about it!

“North Star”: Ames As an episode that’s “Spectre of the Gun” meets “The Paradise Syndrome,” this one probably belonged in The Original Series. A Cowboys-and-Indians story feels entirely out of place in the current era of Trek, and that’s all the more bolstered by the fact that we’re in the middle of the Xindi arc and take a week off to dress up in spurs and ride horseys. The anti-racist message also seems just too easy, especially considering how racist Archer is being the rest of this season.

“Damage”: Chris Archer makes a lot of deplorable decisions this season. From ordering the Sim clone made in “Similitude,” to memory-wiping Degra in “Strategem,” to torturing that Osaarian pirate from “Anomaly,” to treating the first Xindi we meet in “The Xindi” like trash, he’s a bad captain. But stealing from the Illyrians might take the cake because these people were innocent and Archer acts like it was necessary. Oh, and making T’Pol a junkie was a weird writing choice.

“Hatchery”: Ames, Caitlin, Chris For once Archer is in the right in this episode! Purely incidentally, he’s advocating for treating the Xindi-Insectoid babies like people and not letting them die, and the rest of the crew mutinies because he’s not committing enough war crimes. But the episode undoes what could have been a moral lesson by having Archer’s mind be compromised, and it makes me throw things because they were this close, people!

“Harbinger”: Ames, Chris, Jake When the constant sexualizing of T’Pol is actually the highlight of your episode, you know you’ve done fucked up. First, we’ve got Reed being a Big Baby™ about Major Hayes being insubordinate – something that comes entirely out of left field. But even worse than that is Archer finding a being in some anomaly and deciding to torture him. We’ve never even met his kind before and his first impulse is to treat him like the enemy with absolutely no proof. God, I hate this season.

—

Purportedly season four actually starts to pick up, so what do you all think? Was this the lowest of the low? Is it all [relatively] uphill from here? Find out as we continue to watch through Enterprise on SoundCloud (or wherever you podcast). Let us know your least favorite season of Trek overall over on Facebook and Twitter, and maybe commit a couple fewer war crimes than Archer. Just a couple.

[knight-of-the-thorn]

1, 4, and 10 for the Commander love interest asks!

@mystery-salad

Sorry this took a bit I got stuck in wvw did you know experience boosters help with reward track gain I didn't

1. Who are they and what's their dynamic with the commander?

Arceidai's romantic interest is Theitia. Theitia had the same wyld hunt as Arc, and the two of them fought the shadow of the dragon in the dream together. They both trained under Caithe at first, they were best friends and practically inseparable, but Arc didn't necessarily pay as much heed to the dangers of their hunt as Theitia did. Where Arc cared about it a great deal, Theitia was hesitant. She was scared. So she ran. Faolain found her, took her in as an apprentice and pitted her against Arc as a way to get under Caithe's skin. The two had a really intense rivalry for a while, but it was honestly more like a game to them. Until Arc left to become the commander. Fortunately two of them would reunite once again. Unfortunately this was because Theitia was turned into a Mordrem and was hunting them down through Auric basin. They took her back to the silverwastes and the two begain the long journey of trying to trust each other again.

No one knows Arc like Tia, and no one knows Tia like Arc. The two of them are incredibly codependent and have, on multiple occasions, threatened to/actually proceeded to tear apart the world in order to get the other back. As they have been more open about the fact that they're in love the shit that they have pulled to make sure they are never seperated has got increasingly more insane. There's two Arceidais now because Theitia refused to let them die. There's an alternate timeline where Arc held an entire elder dragon in their brain and tried to sacrifice their live so she could live and never have to be under someone elses control.

Also an important part of their relationship is the constant monologuing.

4. What was their initial opinion of the commander? Has that changed at all?

Theitia has known Arceidai her entire life, and when they were young she took the fact that they would always be around, and that she'd always be their first priority. They would always be following her around like a lost puppy, and she got very used to that. She thought that they were entertaining, when they weren't being gloomy and serious or desperate to impress Caithe. There was a bit of a competitive element to their friendship sometimes, especially after she joined the nightmare court, and she did think that she was smarter than them, but that they were smarter than most of the other people around them, if niave and airheaded. When they left for the priory it completely threw her for a loop. Until that point, the idea that thet would do that was completely unthinkable and she hadn't really realized how much they meant to her. She definitely tried to underplay how much that hurt, and how much she wanted them back.

Both of them have grown up quite a lot. She definitely sees them in a way that she never did before. She has lost them too many times to take them for granted anymore, and while she still thinks they can be an idiot sometimes, she also views them as more of an equal and a partner.

10. Are there any events in the story that happen differently because of/to/involving them?

Oh boy, a couple ones! Knight of the thorn is the main one! Because if Arc had taken caladbolg it would gave fucking destroyed them, she took it in their stead. Of course there's the auric basin portion of the story where Arc is not only being hunted by every mordrem in the area but one very specific mordrem. Theitia acts as one of Faolain’s champions in Twilight Arbor at which point she realises that she joined a cult. She also did fully cremate their body after Balthazar killed them so Joko could not get them under any circumstance so they took much longer to come back to life than normal.

Around the middle of season 3, Arc and Tia almost kidnapped Aurene and ran away to start a new life. They didn't, but they got pretty far into planning it before deciding against this.

[exrocist]

tag game: 3 books, 3 movies, and 3 songs

that changed your life or you just love.

Tagged by @zhabk4, thank youuu U__U <333 I don't usually do these (though it always makes me happy to get tagged!) but I was like. nnrrghhh must talk about Earthsea. soo.

(lots of rambling below the cut little bit embarrassed!!!!)

Books:

The Farthest Shore by Ursula K. Le Guin ; Nothing I say about this book (this series!) can do it justice honestly everyone on the Earth should read Earthsea. like really really read it patiently and intensely and with a savor because you will never encounter reality so closely and clearly ever again. everything about it is real to me but this book particularly struck me just because. well. lebannen. a force undeniable. I didn't know I was capable of loving so deeply and profoundly until I knew him. he is the best. I love you Lebannen 💥💥💥 I love everything about these books honestly. immense grace aside that shit also inspired perhaps the most intense and creatively demanding period of my life & broke down a lot of the mental partitions that I had constructed around what my hands are capable of. And I am still really bobbing through the wake of even now. Hopefully more marvelous things to come. There is much more strength to be drawn from this place yet if I can stomach it. sighs.

Death with Interruptions by José Saramago ; My words are failing me here but like. Saramago's voice and style have become real fixtures for me. I need to read a Saramago at least once every few months or my life loses its musicality. This is where I started with him so it gets to be on the list but Cain is also a great one for many many many more reasons that would be toooo much talking. for me to post.

I feel like by law I have to put Plato's Republic here which like. honestly not the most philosophically valuable work or even my drug of choice these days but was a thirteen year old's first inquest into the field that would become his only scholastic passion. so ! (He didn't even know he would have to read it seven times during his undergrad 😭) but if we want another novel to put here maybe We Need to Talk about Kevin by Lionel Shriver (mostly because of one sequence but also Shriver's great at writing in the voice of wry & cerebral women whose sentimentality is kind of shielded by their overt insight it gives them real internal lushness).

Honorable mention also to Isaac Asimov's I, Robot and subsequent novels of Asimov's future chronology which are currently fucking me up beyond measure. My recommendation here is read I, Robot (Or The Complete Robot!) and maaaybe Caves of Steel (tightly written marvel with only forgivable weaknesses of unprobed psychologies) and then stop. Just don't keep going okay. I've also had um Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore still swimming around in my mind despite having finished it a good while ago.

Movies:

Uhhh I don't w.atch. errr. Movies I can think of that I've watched just at all of my own volition: Raw (2016). good experience but didn't move me hugely taboo-pushing which is awesome conceptually but not in the right ways for me idk. not a bad movie at all though definitely some kind of stupid elements at play as well.

Uhhhhhhhhh.

?????????

Songs

Spent Gladiator 2 - The Mountain Goats ; I know I know I'm sorry I'm so trite and pedestrian but like. song with a non-negligible influence on me NOT killing myself <3

Wait List - All Get Out ; song with a non-negligible influence on me actively killisdukydhkuhldfhuik

I/m Not Here [missing face] - The Twilight Sad ; idk is this even a song I could live without. could I have the strength to do anything if not for this five minute dronefest. they need to start creating standardized ritual/ecstatic behaviors for the tracks off this album.

Honorable mentions: San Fermin's The Woods (if you were to ask me about artists they would most definitely be very much up there... Mr. Ludwig-Leone's artistry has been cradling me for a very long time), Say Yes to Everything by We Cut Corners (best band ever ever ever!!!), Topography by Civilian, Dump Your Dreams by A.S. Fanning (i love music).

I did badly at this but I think I made up for not having any movies by talking so much elsewhere. ermmm.

Only tagging @twilitfossil (Jesse Pinkman voice) do it bitchhhhhh also @ataliaf but only if you want to n__n <3333

[d3l3t3d-deactivated]

so my mlp reading the subtext as text headcanon is that prior to twilight moving to ponyville, rarity and applejack were acquaintances/casual friends who ran in very different social circles but knew each other in the way that every gay person living in a small town knows all the other gay people living in that small town even if they have nothing in common. twilight moves to town, they become friends and elements of harmony etc etc. in the season 1/2 era, they now exist in the same circle of friends and enjoy each other’s company, but feel like it would be kind of weird to hang out 1 on 1. think of the disastrous sleepover with twilight, they are just too different. around the time twilight gets her wings, they start to occasionally hang out just each other and grow fond of each other. along the way, they realize that the awkwardness of hanging out one on one before was partially a matter of having very different interests and priorities, but also partially having feelings for each other both parties keep to themselves, as there’s no way she feels that way, right? this quiet, mutual pining goes on for a while as just an undercurrent of their relationship that is expressed through bickering. everyone except for fluttershy is entirely oblivious to it. in season 4 when the events of Simple Ways occur and AJ basically point blank tells trenderhoof she’s gay, and rarity stops clamoring for attention from this celebrity she’s idolized to put applejack’s feelings first, they have a heart to heart and realize they both feel the same about one another. throughout season 5 they are in a happy relationship, helping each other out on the farm and with fashion, and catching many off guard as a happy couple proving that opposites attract. end of season 5 through the midway of season 6, cracks begin to show in their relationship, applejack priorities chores on the farm above all else and doesn’t make time for rarity. (season 6 episode 10) rarity dreams of being a big city pony, and making it as a famous fashionista, and applejack never seems to fit quite right into this dream. (season 5 episode 16) they put down one another’s interests and passions as a way to express the hurt they both feel as the other pulls away. at this point, they rarely go on actual dates anymore, but when they do go out, they find themselves third-wheeled by rainbow dash. dash is kind of oblivious to the slow disintegration of her friends relationship, and is just happy to spend time with them both, rarity loves rainbow dash dearly as a friend and enjoys her company, and applejack starts to feel the same way for rainbow dash the way she once did for rarity, and feels horrible for it. she brings these feelings to rarity because she doesn’t feel right keeping them inside, and rarity suggests that the three of them continue to all go out together, but as dates, rather than rainbow being the third wheel, and hopes that the three of them dating all together might help her and AJ’s relationship, because she still very much loves applejack, and sees how much rainbow dash means to her, and wants to see her happy. for a brief moment in time, the three of them all date, but it feels uneven and off. rainbow and applejack spend a lot more time together, and things are cold and hollow between applejack and rarity, and rainbow is still a dear friend of rarities, but when it comes to romantics she can barely stand how impatient and dismissive of her interests rainbow is. After the successful opening of her boutique in manehattan, rarity realizes that she finds a lot more joy and satisfaction in her work than in her relationship with the two ponies. she realizes deciding to add rainbow dash into her life in the way that she did was just staving off the inevitable, and when she sees the two ponies together, she knows that their love lies with each other, and not with her. though it hurts, rarity decides to break up with applejack and rainbow dash, but it’s on good terms, and despite their history they all remain great friends.

applejack tells rarity in private she understands that it might hurt to see her and rainbow dash happy together, and tells her she cares about her enough that she’d be willing to put some distance between herself and rainbow for a while to let the wound heal. rarity tells her she would never ask that of her, and that it makes her happy to see two ponies she loves find joy within one another. Rarity, now focused on her goals as a fashion designer, continues to work hard on her craft, traveling equestria and becoming unparalleled in her field. she has a lot of short, passionate, flings with ponies she meets in her travels, but never stays in one place long enough to fall in love the way she did with AJ. that’s fine with her, as this is all she’s ever wanted.

despite their strange beginnings, rainbow dash and applejack find themselves in a strong and steady relationship built on honesty and loyalty. they compete playfully, but always watch out for one another and never take it too far. Rainbow holds a lot of respect for AJ’s work on the farm, and AJ is deeply proud of rainbow’s work with the wonderbolts. though rainbow travels sometimes with the wonderbolts, she’s never gone too far or for too long, and always returns home to the farm. they marry under the pear and apple trees that AJ’s parents were married under, and live happily ever after. their good friend rarity always stops by for tea when she’s passing through ponyville.

[dribs-and-drabbles]

I've seen this post several times since last night, and I know it's more of a crack post and doesn't require a long answer...but I keep thinking about it and have things I want to say. I agree that some element of Day/Mhok and Night/Porjai's relationships (because we all agree the latter is gonna happen) is going to cause some conflict, but I think it will be more about the class divide than the caretaker or pregnancy elements.

But even before I get into that, I wonder about the mom's absence - five months have passed since ep 5 (? the one where Porjai reveals she's pregnant) and whilst we've seen Night a few times we've hardly seen their mother (I might be wrong, I'm going off patchy memory since I can't easily scroll and check just now). This might not mean anything but it feels like it indicates that she's just not around much and therefore might have less of a leg to stand on when it comes to being judgemental about her sons' choice of partners.

We also still don't know what happened to the father - we know she's a 'single mom'...but through what circumstances? We also know she's defensive over what people might think of the father not being around (from the way she bristled at Mhok's rather innocent questioning of it), so I guess this could make her either more judgemental or go the other way and be more sympathetic.

But going back to the class thing, I think @snidgetwrites' suggestion that she might think that Mhok and Porjai are trying to scam the two brothers sort of tracks. She's already brought up Mhok's 'criminal' past so it's not going to be a stretch for her to make that connection again. So rather than freak out individually, I think she might see them both as equal threats.

Having said all that, and looking at this show through very used Bad Buddy lenses, I think the main conflict coming is going to be to do with Night and Day's relationship. Like with BB, where the seeds of the parents' conflict were sewn right from the start, Last Twilight has done the same for Day and Night. And just like how we were so eager to know why Dissaya and Ming hated each other, we all desperately want to know why Day and Night have animosity. The difference here being it seems one-sided...although their mother appears to 'side' with Day (from the hints we have gotten with the photos and how she treats Day as the 'golden boy').

I am SO curious about Night. Who is he? How old? What does he do? What are his passions, hopes, dreams, interests? Why doesn't he seem to resent Day and the attention Day has seemingly received more of in their upbringing? I had been wondering if Day has been a bit of an unreliable narrator when it comes to Night, but it could also be that Night is also unreliable. Maybe he did do something bad and doesn't feel guilty over it, or maybe he feels pity like August did and feels appeased that Day is now looking happy. Or maybe it was all accidental and just wants his baby brother back.

My desire for happy endings wants it to be a huge and horrible misunderstanding on Day's part and that Mhok, Porjai, and the mom will help Day and Night reconcile. But again, we know that Aof tends to go for bittersweet endings where not all the loose ends are tied nicely and happily. There'll be some kind of resolution, a common ground, but all parties won't necessarily be holding hands and smiling by the end.

I've rambled a lot on your post op - I didn't realise I needed to get all these thoughts out - but what I love about Aof's work is that he'll usually take us where we think we're going but then divert us off at the last minute...and whatever happens I'm happy to go along on that ride.

So what do we think will cause Day and Night’s mom to freak out the most: Day dating his ex-con caretaker or Night dating a woman 5 months pregnant with another man’s child?

[haywire-cebus]

Linked Universe Soul Eater AU

i coouuullld work on the long linked universe fic i have been slowly chipping away at

but instead ive decided to type of the lu soul eater au ive had cooking in my brain since i first got covid. it is the nature of all humankind (me) to have soul eater au/headcanons for all things i like. lu is no different. please feel free to talk to me about this im obsessed with it

sky: he is a meister. at first, it was him a sun against the world (meaning, in class at dwma). sun is a shield weapon, and while that made fighting-styles need to get creative, they always managed. however, during an adventure, they find a student named fi, a sword-weapon, and she joins them as sky’s sword. so now he’s like a full, cool knight. during that adventure, however, Something Happens, and the kishin Demise they were fighting traps fi in her sword form. it’s horribly tragic, and sky and sun can feel her getting quieter and quieter as time goes on. they don’t know how to stop it, and its scary. they also team up with groose, whose two weapons (his friends in the game) are gun/cannons. i just feel like groose deserves a gun.

four: he is one guy, a meister. (i was tempted to make him his split brothers pretending to be twins and not four of them, and theyre all weapons tho) but really, its four. he went on his first adventure with a much older weapon (the minish cap enzlo) as a mentor, but at the end enzlo basically said ‘its time for me to retire.’ four then moved to death city to figure himself out, and immediately got wrapped up in a witch’s plan, vaati, who wanted to figure out what makes meister and weapon souls tick. he kidnapped four and broke his soul into pieces. at first, four thought it was only four pieces, but eventually realized vaati ripped a piece of him out and infused it with some black blood, and poof! out comes shadow, a weapon. (kinda like crona, but separate body). the soul fuck-up also, temporarily, split four into four people (because. idk. magic. and soul eater bc. let me have this ok.) and while at the end, four fused back into himself, shadow stayed separate, though he can hop into four’s shadow at will. four then goes back to death academy, and tries to hide shadow as best he can. the deku tree finds out, of course, but lets him keep it a secret. they pretend like all that happened was he got turned into a weapon, and so shadow hides because theyre all scared of people hating him for being the pure essence of black blood (when the chain finds out, its obviously all sympathy and love and a little “holy shit thats awesome”)

shadow mostly turns into a scythe, because thats what vaati wanted in a weapon (he took the term “death scythe” too literally), but he can sometimes turn into a glaive/staff that holds pseudo-elemental attacks, and him and four are working on him holding that form more bc hit makes him more comfortable. four also cant split anymore, but the four pieces of himself are still separate. sometimes they work together smoothly, but sometimes its a cacophony of noise and yelling and migraines.

also due to his... i hesitate to call it adventure. but due to everything four is very good at reading souls. he figures out twilight and midna’s whole deal right away, and pieces together warrior’s fairly quickly. he can tell legend and wild have more forms than they send to show off, and can read hryule’s soul better than hryule can for himself (and learns things about hyrule that he doesnt even know about himself.) but four is a good kid and keeps this all to himself (and yet, still doesnt tell the others about himself. bc hes scared of them being freaked out)

time: he and his wife, malon, are a badass duo, honestly. malon is a death scythe, though her real form is a huge, sickass claymore. they live on campus, and spend most of their time tending to the garden and outdoor parts of campus. they occasionally go on missions, but try not to because they went through enough as youth (taking on a full-fledged kishinn(majora and the fierce deity stuff) and absorbing part of its soul into your body to stop it will make you a little tired of fighting, and that was only their second adventure). time, however, cant stop himself from bonding with and wanting to protect all these new students, and it doesnt help the hero worship a lot of them have towards him.

as for times past, he was dropped off on the academy’s doorstep as a baby, and raised by the deku tree himself. when he was old enough to begin classes, he was a little... out of touch with people his own age because of this, and some folks were pretty mean to him. and then he met malon, and had the biggest case of puppy love/crush possible (but he couldnt figure out his own feelings). they teamed up for a while, got far in their schooling, saved the world. the normal stuff a student does there. that first adventure took it out of him though, so he just kinda... disappeared for a while without telling anyone. malon got pissed, of course, but not fully at him, more at... the world for not being better about helping everyone after these horrible adventures. she goes after him, finds him fighting a kishin by himself, no weapon, mostly a soul-battle, and helps him finish the fight. he’s now missing an eye, has half a kishin in him, and she expects him to be even more broody and awkward, but hes just so happy to see her. (he doesnt confess then, though). they go back together, take a little time to rest and heal, graduate, malon becomes a death scythe, and only then does time confess. malon gives him a “i was waiting for you to be ready :)” and theyre very, very happy. or, as happy as you can be in this world.

legend: he is a weapon, and he can transform into tons of different weapons, like wild, but while wild’s are more... traditional weapons, legends can turn into a sword, a shield, and the most random weapons one can conceive of (meaning, the cooler more flashy ones you see in soul eater, and also his massive amounts of tools in lu). this poor kid has gone on so many missions, mostly entirely by himself, as his own mesiter, basically. he fought with ravio for a while, when they met, because they were soul-compatible, but ravio quickly decided being a meister wasn’t for him. they still room together in death city (also may rename this deku city if i rename the school to deku weapon and meister academy. even if it is funny to have the happy big tree’s city named death city). legend was on his own for a while in school, until he met hyrule

hyrule: he is a meister. he never found a weapon he was compatible with, and instead carried around just a regular sword while scraping through his classes (other students were like, is this allowed??? but death (the deku tree, bc i think its funny to make the deku tree death in this au) was like ‘lmao he’s managing to complete all the missions we send him on, so why not.’) hyrule and legend are eventually on a mission together, and in a jam, hyrule is like ‘please let me try to fight with you’ and legend is like ‘fucking fine. you burn your hands bc i’m not compatible with anyone, thats not my problem.’ and then it works and they kick fucking ass together, tho hyrule struggles to use legend in any form other than sword, and legend hates being in sword-form (bc past trauma he refuses to talk about until it messes with their compatibility. they have a little character arc and hyrule trains using legend in other forms and legend is more comfortable in sword form. and yes the trauma is marin-related. when he partnered with ravio, he never went into sword form)

hyrule is also good at soul resonance and attacks and stuff (like maka and stein). he just has no real training on it bc where he grew up, all the weapons stuff and soul stuff was seen as taboo, so even as he’s actively learning about it all in his classes and knows his kind of abilities are seen as cool and useful, he doesnt want to tell people. (legend eventually finds out and helps him find someone to teach him about it. that someone is time. hyrule quickly becomes super good at it all)

twilight: while not a witch, he is the child of a witch and a human. he was abandoned in a village as a baby, and they raised him communally as their own (though, of course, rusl takes him in the most) he doesnt have any magical powers, but when a witch (zant) came to his village and cursed everyone, he managed to survive by just being cursed into his wolf-form. he had never trained to use a weapon, but quickly meets midna (zant’s half-sister. shes technically a witch, but shes also a weapon. shes a very very weak witch in terms of magic.) on his journey. what follows his basically what youd expect, but he never loses midna companionship in this au. the two of them go to death city and enroll in classes and begin training. only time and the deku tree/death know about his wolf form, which he keeps hidden due to the prejudice again witches in the school. when he first meets wild, who has no memories and is so confused with the world, he just got back from a mission. he immediately latches onto him and helps him figure things out.

also midna turns into these cool as gauntlet/gloves things. with them, twi can hookshot (launch one and the fist goes out and retracts), punch so so good, and charge up for Shadow Blast things for ranged attacks.

warriors: He is actually a weapon, though he hides this from literally everyone. before he came to death academy (which im considering renaming Deku Academy, bc the deku tree is death in this au), he was guilted into being the weapon for a girl named cia. her sister always suspected something was off, but lana never spoke up bc her sister was always there when she tried. eventually, he learned that cia was helping a kishin and was going to try to feed him human souls so they could be powerful (and together) forever, and he got the FUCK outta there. he told himself he would never turn into a weapon again, and he met athena (his zelda. i like that name better for her bc shes literally the goddess of wisdom and warfare), a rapier weapon who could also turn into a bow. (yes i like when the weapons turn into things. its cool also also lets me keep more sword imagery while still giving the boys different weapon options) he teams up with her and they fight, and no one suspects wars is also a weapon bc of how good he is at disguising his soul (he’s only good with his own tho, he can’t read others for shit).

wind: a meister. he grew up in a coastal town, training with some older weapon and meister duos but never really focusing too much on it, until a bird-witch kidnaps his sister. he teams up with his childhood friend, tetra, to get her back. tetra doesnt know shes a weapon at this point (i dont remember if thats how that works in soul eater but shh my au my rules) until she discovers that during the mission. she can turn into a hammer, which functions (obviously) like a hammer, but also as a hookshot (the top flings off, turns sharp, and then retracts), or the sides of the head of the hammer open and suck/blow wind very powerfully (like the gust jar). they get his sister back and wind and terta are like “that was fucking awesome wanna do that forever?” and then they go to death city to go to school.

wild: he is a weapon, like tsubaki, and can turn into basically any weapon he chooses. his zelda, flora, is his meister. they first met when wild first showed that ability to his parents, and wilds family brought him to flora’s father so she could be his meister. this is the past, because i want it to be. so flora’s dad is rich and pays his family for him to be flora’s weapon. wilds family isnt malicious about it, theyre just struggling to get by. they technically give wild a choice in it and ask him if he’s okay, but wild is young and knows this is how he can help his family, so he doesnt really see “no” as an option. he figures he can rise up in station here (tho this is only 100 years before everything else, so the world isnt too “social classes are you stay where you were born unless you become a knight and we still have noblemen and stuff,” but it’s still there. its actually fading, which is why flora’s dad is so intent on her being a good and powerful meister, and why he’s picking a weapon from a lower social class at all (its also bc wilds ability is rare)).

so wild is raised side by side with flora, who hates him like in canon (meaning she doesn’t hate him, just hates how easy it is for him to access his different forms and he he goes along with his lot in life. she just wants to go to school and be her own person, but her dad wants her to be a world-famous meister). hes still not treated super well (he’s not floras equal in the eyes of her father), but he can go visit his family on their days off from training and stuff. eventually, they go on a mission to stop a well-known kishin. flora is extremely good at soul stuff, and basically locks him in place when he mortally wounds wild. wild is taken away by their battle companion impa and her meister, to Death Academy (where they had gone to study occasionally, but still mostly stayed with flora’s father and his private tutors), where he is put into stasis and sleeps for a hundred years. flora and the kishin, known as Calamity, are locked away as the soul-battle rages in in their minds. one hundred years later, wild wakes up with no memories but a voice calling out to his soul. he trains, on his own, because no meister can hold onto him, and goes out on his own to get flora back. he fights by himself with only parts of his body transformed, gets flora, and takes her back to the school, where the two of them rest. now they get to acclimatize to life 100 years in the future. flora struggles because she should be sad- her dad is long gone, wild doesnt fully remember her, everything is different, but at least she can study like she always wanted to.

she still wields wild like a badass, though wild tends to take missions on his own without telling her so they pass the fighting-oriented classed while flora focuses on her studies. she notices only half the time (not for a want of trying tho, wild is just really sneaky)

as of now, i dont have any real... plot with these. just everyones backstories and stuff. but i love the idea of the deku tree making time and malon take all these students on a field trip, which quickly spirals into a whole adventure.

[panlight]

Ok, so we know the vampires can't grow their hair back, so if they cut it they either have to stay that way or go shorter. But, since their hair, presumably, is at least somewhat as strong as they are, couldn't they in theory bleach and dye their hair as much as they wanted? That seems like a good way to get away with being alive so long, changing hair can make people look very different.

So, SM had this to say on the Twilight Lexicon, re: if vampires shower:

They do wash the dust and rain out of their hair, too.  And Rosalie particularly spends a lot of time doing hers.  (Hair is dead cells–the vampire transformation doesn’t affect it.  If you’ve got split ends, sorry!  Not getting better.  Ha ha).

Which, I mean . . . what. How. Why. All vampires would be basically bald after a certain point because hair, even if it didn't naturally shed, would break or be pulled out over time if it's just human hair. And then not grow back because vampires don't change. I don't . . . I don't think she thought this through at all?

So there's got to be some element of vampire indestructibility to hair, right? Otherwise Rosalie's luscious blonde locks are basically impossible. Even if the hair was just like, super strongly rooted to the vampire-diamond-skin-scalp, it could still break as easily as human hair if nothing else was changed about it--every time she used a hair tie, or it got caught on a branch, or who knows what else.

For vampire hair to still be around after a few decades, let alone centuries, it needs to be stronger. Maybe it doesn't fix split ends or change length, color or texture (but it does in the movie--you can see Bella's hair spring back to life in her transformation sequence), it has to be more durable somehow.

And if that's the case then yeah I don't see any reason they couldn't experiment with styles and coloring as long as they don't cut it. The question would be if human methods of hair dyeing/styling would work on vampire hair, or if they would need to come up with their own methods, because obviously it's designed for human hair (even within the realms of human hair different hair types need different products and methods). If, say, vampire hair is coated with an impenetrable shell, that would change things. Or if the hair oils are now venom-based that would affect how different products worked, etc.

But again I don't think SM thought of any of this and her comment was more to joke about Rosalie's alleged vanity (again).

I hope they do have ways of changing up their styles even if they can't cut it. As you said, it would be a great way to change their appearance for secrecy and blending in sake, but also it is probably just nice for them to be able to change SOME part of their appearance occasionally and feel a little less trapped and stagnant.

[howtofightwrite]

What would be the best TTRPG system for realistic combat (and recovery) for a modern secret agent campaign without fantasy/sci-fi elements.

Best is a very loaded term here. That will depend on the exact kind of story you're trying to tell, and the experience of your group, and how much work you're willing to do.

The best, out of the box, fit is probably Spycraft, or Spycraft 2.0. Both editions do include rules for gadgets and volcano dwelling mad scientists, but the core material is modern spy fiction, with a lot of flexibility for anything from gritty post-cold war espionage to borderline superheroes.

Worth knowing that basically of the premade campaign settings for Spycraft will fail your conditions. World on Fire might be compatible with what you're looking for, but that feels like complying with the specific text of your request while ignoring its spirit. Shadowforce: Archer is more solidly in the range of a James Bond remix. It is an interesting setting, but not what you're looking for.

Part of the reason I think it's a strong choice is because it uses a modified version of the D20 system. Which is to say, 3rd Edition D&D. If you know how to play D&D, Spycraft is going to be very familiar. The 2.0 Edition does mix things up a little bit, but it should still be in pretty comfortable territory. (If 2.0 is still too “uncomfortable,” there is a splat to adapt the D20 Modern classes into Spycraft, so that it will play even more like D&D than it already does.)

For the most part, Spycraft is careful to provide the player with non-fantastic elements first and then dropping in fantastic elements as options for the players or GM. Remember, if you are running a campaign, you have final authority to say, “no, that doesn't fit.” Just because there's rules for a laser watch in the book, if you say it doesn't exist in the setting, then the player can't take it. (This is also an important lesson when it comes to player munchkining. If you see them breaking the game and conspiring to create the floating paragon badger of doom, you can say no.)

GURPS had a spy focused splatbook, GURPS Espionage, released in the early 90s. The downside here is it is third edition GURPS, and a lot has changed since it originally released. Finally, GURPS is not the most inviting system for new players. I know a lot of people swear by it, and I'm usually the first to recommend digging through their splats for ideas and insight, but actually creating characters is a bit more daunting.

Now, like I said, Best is a bit of a loaded term, so I'm going to give you mine, and then explain why I'm wrong.

I think the best baseline to start from for a modern spy setting is Project: Twilight. Ironically, it's not a full RPG, it was a splatbook for Werewolf: The Apocalypse. What it did provide was rules for rolling government agents in White Wolf's Storyteller system.

Now, I am a fan of White Wolf's Storyteller system, even if it does require mountains of D10s. It's fairly simple. Combat is abstract, letting the players and GM assemble a story out of whatever chaos ensues. It's functional, and flexible system. It's also simple enough that you can usually fake things on your feet and come close to how the rules were supposed to work.

A big part of why I still list it as one of the best roleplaying systems is because it really leaves the table open for roleplay and improvisation. It's probably not going to be a night moving minis around, and that can either be a benefit or a weakness.

So, I said it's the best, here's why I'm wrong: First, there is no universal rule system for the game. Every World of Darkness core book had minor rule tweaks unique to the monsters within. The easiest one to find and use as baseline rules for Project: Twilight, would probably be Hunter: The Reckoning (the deviations from normal rules don't, actually, matter for Project: Twilight characters.) (Incidentally, it is really hard for players to hide their intent to munchkin in this rule system. Because of how simple the action resolution system is, and because munchkin involves boosting dice pools, you can see that on their character sheet.)

The lack of a unified rules document is a bigger issue than I'm making it sound like. The reason I'm calling this the best, and then saying I'm wrong, is because I have internalized understanding of the rules that's advanced enough that I can start heavily tweaking it to get what I want, (incidentally, that tweaking is a large part of why I pointed to Project: Twilight as the starting point. I already know what I'm going to do to it, I mostly want that splat for a couple of Backgrounds (a kind of stat in this system)  unique to that book (or, nearly unique, most of them show up again in Strike Force Zero, but that's less applicable to your goals.)

Second This clearly fails the no fantasy element. It's a splat book about government funded monster hunters. Except, it's really easy to strip out fantasy elements from (most) RPGs. (I can think of a few like Suzerain or Fireborn that simply don't make sense if you try to remove the fantastic elements, but in the vast majority of cases, you can easily remove elements from a game's world.)

It's a splatbook for a setting you're not using, so you're going to need to create a new setting almost from scratch. This isn't as big of an issue as it sounds originally, but it does mean more work for you.

So, is Project: Twilight the best for you? Probably not. It would be my first choice, but that choice is based on having over 20 years of experience with the system. I do think it's a very good, and very flexible system, but it would require you to learn, and teach, the system.

I think Spycraft gives you everything you need out of the box. I find D20 to be a far more restrictive roleplaying experience, but that doesn't mean it's wrong for you. Also, because it's D20, there is a lot of material out there if you have difficulty figuring something out.

You may also want to at least take a look at Blades in the Dark. At first glance, it's a fantasy setting, so not what you're looking for in your world, it's also about thieves, not spies. However, the game has a few interesting ideas, including flashbacks and a general play structure that might be a very good fit for the kind of stories you're trying to tell.

The best game will be the one that fits your story and group. Ultimately, that might not be a single game, but rather an amalgamation of ideas from multiple sources mixed together with whatever rule system you're all comfortable with.

-Starke

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