#and the players wouldn't be as important because their own abilities wouldn't be anything special for a long time

[red-dragon-archfiend]

I don't have enough time or experienced with enough classes to write a detailed multiclassing guide, but for D&D players, especially new players, wondering if they should multiclass, the simple answer is "probably not". Multiclassing is, in general, bad. The game was not balanced with it in mind, and it's very easy to muck up your character if you don't know what you're doing. I'm not just talking from an optimization perspective, either; it's difficult to justify it narratively in a way that doesn't cheapen the significance of what class levels represent. You don't become a Bard by practicing the lute for a week. You can't become a Wizard without years of study. If you plan to multiclass, my advice would be to find some way of tying it narratively into your primary class somehow; an Eldritch Knight becoming a Wizard is sensible, because they already have an understanding of how to work arcane magic, they just need to spend some time focusing on that over improving their martial abilities to learn enough to start filling out a spellbook. Of course, that still takes a long time, but the Eldritch Knight's previous experiences mean they already know how to cast multiple spells already. If you want to multiclass for story reasons, ask yourself two questions: Is multiclassing really the best way to convey this change in my character, and, if so, do they have the adequate time, experiences, and resources to practice the skills necessary (physical training, study, spiritual attunement, etc.) to even START being that class? The reason I put so much weight into class levels is because the Player's Handbook itself makes a point to clarify what sets a member of each class apart from others who seem similar on the surface; not every soldier in a given army is a Fighter, chances are most of them aren't. And Paladins are even rarer! To achieve even one class level is a strong indication of skill and effort, and I as your DM would expect you to consider how your character achieves levels in a second class. My campaign features a Fighter/Warlock multiclass, and her patron is both the supplier of her occult magic, and her instructor, personally training her in her dreams, so she can level up in either class and it'll make sense. My favorite combination, Paladin/Sorcerer, can be explained by latent powers emerging in response to their experiences and the holy power they channel within themselves, perhaps a gift from their deity or the result of them or their ancestor slaying a creature like a dragon or vampire whose blood imbued the Paladin's bloodline with arcane magic. Maybe a Monk/Cleric comes from a monastery that reveres a specific deity, and that Monk caught their deity's attention, choosing the Monk for a holy mission. If multiclassing is part of your character's backstory or projected future, having a plan for it is key to making them still feel like a cohesive, singular character.

[thommi-tomate]

Interview with Thomas (January 9, 2011)

By: Andreas Burkert for Süddeutsche Zeitung

Mr. Müller, where is the Golden Shoe for the best World Cup shooter?

At home, in my games room, where the dartboard and Play Station are. Everything that has now accumulated is on the windowsill. Before it gets dusty in the boxes, I'd rather put it outside.

The reason for your award, Germany's World Cup performance in South Africa, was part of every annual review. Did you watch it when this Müller suddenly walks through the picture?

Of course I've also seen Müller in a few previews. But I don't necessarily have to watch the whole thing. The year went really well and I'm always reminded of that, even if I forget about it; I can't avoid it anymore. But it's over now. I can't buy anything for it anymore. Now I have to prove myself again.

What came up in your personal review of 2010 on New Year's Eve?

It was the World Cup. But there wasn't just one moment for me, there were so many great moments.

You only made your debut for the national team just under ten months ago, in Munich against Argentina.

Yes, that was special. When I heard the national anthem, I thought: Now I've made it, now I'm really where I want to be - (A German tourist of an older age approaches the table and wants an autograph. Müller asks for her understanding that he can't now, but will be happy to do so later) - Well, since the World Cup, even those who don't know much about soccer recognize you.

Just older ladies?

Nah, nah, all the age-group are already there.

Does at least your grandma, who you greeted on TV after the round of 16 against England, have some peace now?

In the meantime, yes. The problem was that my parents, my grandma and the people here in Pähl didn't have a media manager like we did at Bayern or the DFB. But I was back home over the Christmas period and everything was nice and quiet.

People who know you well say: Müller, he doesn't take off, not even now, he doesn't drive a Ferrari yet. Don't you have a quirk? And how do you reward yourself after a year like that?

I once asked myself the same question. We have a great sponsor, so I don't need a new car. But I do sometimes walk past watch stores, but then I see that they are sometimes really expensive. Then I'd rather not, it's not worth it to me. I'm also not a bird of paradise who dyes her hair. My wife rides, which has now become important for us. Apart from that, I really do have everything. I'd have to make my own problems if I wanted to have any.

Do you ride yourself?

I tried it out a year and a half ago. Well, I didn't fall off directly, but I felt sorry for the horse afterwards. The risk is too big for me and the horse.

2011 has started for you with the loss of a title: You no longer have the thinnest legs.

You mean because of Luiz Gustavo? Well, we haven't measured his thighs yet, but it's possible. People always joke about my legs, I know they always have. But don't worry, my mother has already noticed that they don't break much. They were never a problem for me, in fact I think they helped me, even when I was younger. Because if you don't just have your body to fight back with, you also have to use your brain to run certain routes to avoid direct duels.

Is that how this urge came about? Müller goes up top, to where the ball suddenly appears?

Certain things are certainly trained automatisms. But often it's a certain instinct, a feeling for the spaces. I'm glad to have this ability.

In any case, it's difficult to compare your style with another player. Do you perhaps know one?

No, I am somehow unique. There are dribblers who are pretty similar, strikers too, but what am I actually?

Yes, what is Müller?

Hm. Well, what am I? A Raumdeuter (space interpreter) ? Yes, I'm a Raumdeuter. That would be a good title, wouldn't it?

In any case. Because, if I may say so, you do score goals, but particularly beautiful ones are rare. But you are there.

That's true, I'm not known for scoring beautiful goals. But the important thing is when it's in. I've often been accused of being lucky, but if it happens five times in a row at the World Cup, there must be another reason for it

Your former amateur coach Hermann Gerland once said: "Müller can play like shit for 90 minutes - but then he scores a goal.

The statement is correct. I consciously take risks in my game, I often try things on the direct route towards goal that are perhaps great in terms of the idea, but difficult to execute. Mistakes happen, but you have to say to yourself: no more, next time I'll try again. Reviews sometimes say: He tried a lot but didn't succeed. Yes, then it just didn't work out. I try a lot, and there are a lot of rejects. I know that, and that's why I don't drive myself crazy.

Did you get the impression after the World Cup that your opponents adjusted better to your unconventional style?

Not really. The first half of the season was a bit different, I mainly played on the right or left. It just didn't go well for the team overall, no individual player was able to break away from the trend, not even me.

Your roles change frequently. Where would you have Müller play?

I would put Müller behind the front line, which is the position at Bayern that is closer to the opponent's goal and therefore more dangerous. I can penetrate the gaps better from there. You have to be more tactically disciplined on the right and left, and the number seven position in the national team is a different right than at Bayern, because the DFB always swap sides with Mesut Özil. I need a bit of freedom to be able to play on the left or right. That's why I see myself behind the front ten. But I'm versatile and also like to play other roles.

Van Gaal said last season: "Müller always plays for me". Has this confidence made your rise possible?

He didn't even need to make that statement. Because I always had the feeling that he was counting on me.

How did you notice that, his confidence? A year ago it was said that some players were afraid of van Gaal.

Oh, I like talking like him too. He wants to create a certain amount of friction, which is why he prefers his way of talking. I really like his direct manner, we're similar in that respect

You, but also other players, were unusually outspoken in your support of the coach during the critical fall weeks. Out of gratitude?

No, there was no agreement between us, but I think everyone deliberately supported the coach. You could have asked each player individually, independently of each other, and everyone would have told you how convinced they were of him and his philosophy. Of course, in a squad of 25, there is dissatisfaction from players who don't play. But even colleagues like Hamit Altintop or even Martin Demichelis have spoken positively about the coach. And when you see what's happening here in Doha at the training camp, how they're stepping on the gas: This team really enjoys working with this coach.

Were you not worried when President Hoeneß was sharply critical and things were tight with the headstrong coach?

Not really, and after the contract extension I had the feeling that the club management was counting on him. We were all very happy about that, and the coach was also pleased that he had the support of the whole team. That's why there was never any talk of a rift between players and coach.

Then you would actually have to persuade van Gaal to stay as long as you and the others who have now signed such long-term contracts.

I think if push comes to shove, you might be able to do something about it. However, the pressure here in Munich is certainly exhausting and I don't think you can be Bayern coach for ten years without damaging your health.

At 21, you are part of the Lahm/Schweinsteiger generation, which is gradually replacing the Ballack generation. What are the differences?

Football-wise, that's certainly a level. But I think even Michael Ballack experienced different times as a young player when it was more difficult to integrate into teams. There are now many young coaches who bring in their philosophy, with a flatter hierarchy. That perhaps makes it easier for us young players today.

At 21, you've already achieved a lot. What else is there to come?

I want to bite down hard, at a very high level. In ten years' time, I want to say that I've always played at the very top for a decade and my body has endured it, and fortunately so has my head. That's my main goal.

[howtofightwrite]

So, uh, I know that this place is mostly for writing, but making your own TTRPG system kinda qualifies as writing, doesn't it?

Either way - here's a fighting-related question that came up during my process making it. Is fear an important aspect of combat? Small-scale combat, to be specific, not the kind where you see a thousand of knights fight another thousand of knights.

Would wounds (or even hits that are strong enough to be felt through armour) inflict noticeable stress to a well-trained soldier? Would it be bad enough to, potentially, make them panic, even if they aren't in any actual danger yet? Or would that mostly be a problem with inexperienced fighters, and training/combat experience could make someone relatively desensitized to that sort of thing?

It's probably worded weirdly, I know, but, in general, what I'm trying to ask here is - should one consider stress/fear as a thing that might change the tides mid-combat, even if cowardice (or anything similar) isn't a major character trait for neither of the combatants?

This one isn't really writing, it's a game design question, and fully answering it is going to require digging a lot deeper into what you're trying to do with the game. It is entirely reasonable for your character to still suffer some lesser injuries from hits their armor absorbed, and for you to have a secondary mental stat that gauges your character's mental ability to keep functional. Warhammer's Morale and the Storyteller system's Willpower stats come to mind as examples of this. Also Call of Cthulhu's Sanity stat, though that's a little more involved.

So in game design, you need to decide how you want combat to feel. And, this can be anything from gritty realism to a fun power fantasy. In fact, the genre of your game will heavily determine how you want your systems to shape your experience.

I can't remember if Warhammer tabletop does this, or if I'm conflating it with Gladius and Dawn of War, but, in Warhammer your units actually have a separate morale hitpool. Obviously, for a lot of armies in Warhammer, keeping your units fighting against horrific, unknowable abominations is a major theme, so a main system (and a part of every unit stat card) is how much stress they can take before they have a complete nervous breakdown, and start running in the opposite direction. In fact, in tabletop, the game actually has multiple systems evaluating whether your own units will actually follow their orders at all. The difficulty of commanding troops against impossible threats is a central theme of the systemic narrative Warhammer is trying to create, so it gets multiple top level systems.

Compare that to D&D, where there are no top level systems regarding the mental state of your characters. They signed up to fight unknowable abominations, and magpie their way through the world, so when they encounter something genuinely unnerving, that gets special rules on that monster. It's not part of the power fantasy of D&D (most of the time.) So when it does show up, it just gets attached as an addendum to an existing rule system or as a special rule for one creature.

So, what does your game system want?

If you want a small scale, sword & sorcery brawler, you probably don't need to model their mental state, or how afraid they are. You really need to know if their morale is high, and when it is high, you can probably handle that with simple conditional buffs. In fact, this is probably a system where you wouldn't even want to model a low mental state, unless things are truly dire, or supernaturally oppressed. (Again, with special rule cases for that, because it's not going to come up very often.)

This probably should have been a few paragraphs earlier, but just looking at an RPG's character sheet can often tell you a lot about what the designer intended for their game. The things your players are going to have to interact with regularly need dedicated systems. Stuff that comes up rarely, shouldn't get dedicated systems. (And, this is a very real issue with a lot of RPGs, where there are a lot of different systems to keep track of, that could have been scrubbed out and set aside as flavor or special rules. Including with D&D.)

If your primary focus is a kind of horror RPG, then you need those extra systems. You're going to be dealing with them constantly. You might want an attribute called Resolve (or whatever) to specifically model how well a character handles dealing with horrific situations, or seeing their friends ripped to shreds. You might also have a separate tracked HP pool (similar to how Darkest Dungeon handles it) specifically focused on their ability to manage psychological strain.

If you're going for that, psychological damage can be a lot more deciduous in a tabletop environment, because you cannot armor yourself against that. Characters might be able to have some psychological resistance through strenuous mental conditioning, but again, as the game designer, you control exactly how much a player can stack up, so you can balance around the absolute maximum damage that a player could mitigate, while also keeping in mind how much the raw damage would do to a defenseless character.

You could have a rule system where characters can pretty reliably soak off most of the physical damage, but suffer serious attrition due to psychological (or, even magical) damage that they couldn't mitigate.

How armor works in your game is a similar situation, where the rules need to follow the kind of experience you're trying to create. However, unlike dealing with psychological strain, armor rules also need to consider how easy they are to implement at the table. A lot of CRPGs use % based armor mitigation, and that's great, if you have a computer that can crunch those numbers for you. If you're at the table and rolling 3d8, it's going to be a lot more awkward to figure out what 43% mitigation will do to your resulting values. So, it's a lot easier to simply say that armor subtracts X from incoming hits. Like, “Armor 2 means that each incoming attack does two less damage.” This starts to run into a balance problem. In theory, a character with sufficient armor might be able to mitigate all incoming damage (and you will have players who stack defense with this specific goal in mind. You can't escape that.)

This leads to one of my favorite solutions for this. I think it was J.E. Sawyer's Fallout 3 that never happened, but the idea is that if you're taking damage from hits, and your armor is absorbing that, it goes into a second, less severe, damage category. To use the example of White Wolf's Storyteller system, you convert lethal damage into bashing. It can still kill your characters, but it reduces the overall effect of that damage in the moment, makes it a lot easier to recover from, but also doesn't let them just walk in and soak all the damage without issue. So, for example, your character has Armor 4, an enemy swings on them for 8 lethal damage, and 4 points of damage are converted to bashing. (When their lethal + bashing damage reaches their HP pool then they're downed or knocked out), but they're not in danger of dying unless they take more lethal damage, or are suffering from some ongoing damage effect (like bleeding.)

Another, more lethal option I really liked from a D20 system (so, basically 3.5e D&D), was Star Wars's vitality system. The Wizards of the Coast Star Wars RPG had two HP pools. One was the normal hit dice per level based on class from D&D called Vitality (if you ever wondered why your HP in KotOR was called Vitality, this is why.) The second pool was Wounds. This was equal to your Constitution score. So, if you had CON 12, you could take 12 wound points. If you ran out of Vitality, damage would apply directly to your wound pool, and if you ran out of wound points, you were dead. Just, dead. No downed state, no stabilizing, you were toast. And, here's the thing that I might be misremembering, but if you critically hit someone, instead of multiplying your damage, your damage bypassed their vitality and went directly to wounds. This meant you had a fairly normal D&D rule set that could turn lethal with very little warning. Still a concept from game design that I like to keep in mind, because it creates a very dangerous feel in combat. Because of how the flavor was written, Vitality damage didn't even necessarily mean your character was being directly harmed. Taking damage from vitality might mean your character narrowly escaped getting hit by a blaster bolt, or that they effectively parried an incoming lightsaber attack. It still had the effect of wearing characters down over time without automatically meaning that they were suffering absolutely implausible amounts of injuries (though it could, also mean that your character had suffered minor cuts and scrapes or that their armor had taken a few hits for them.)

Something that gives the player a bit more control over their own durability would be to give items HP pools of their own. This isn't a normal item deterioration ruleset, but rather you're giving their armor a fixed amount of HP, that it can absorb in their place. So, to refresh that example above, if your character has Armor 4, and they're hit for 8 damage, instead of taking 4 bashing, they might choose to have that damage dealt directly to their armor. (And, this is a case where the decision to how to deal with that damage could be in the player's hands if you wanted. It gives them some proactive agency while taking damage, which is rare in TTRPGs.) You could even use this for a blowthrough rule, where if a character takes more damage in a single hit than their armor's remaining HP, the armor is destroyed and offers no protection from that attack. This, again, plays more into horror, as their armor will be wearing down over time, and if they're not performing regular maintenance to try to keep it working, could potentially fail them in combat. (It also creates a very cathartic moment for players to sheer through an enemy's armor, dropping them on the spot.)

All of this can and really should be, tuned for your systems and numbers. I have biases on exactly how granular I like my TTRPGs, but that doesn't mean you're tied to those values, and some people really do like the triple digit HP pools of high level characters in D&D and Pathfinder. I'm not going to say you're wrong for that, because I don't think you are, but obviously, something like Armor 4 means something very different if you have an average HP of 8-12, versus, if you have an average HP pool ~72.

So, when balancing combat to create the experience you want, you need to keep track of average combatant HP, average attack damage, and the mitigation options characters can use. At this point, you then need to decide how you want these to relate to one another. All of these values are relative to each other. From a gameplay perspective, there's no difference between a game where characters have 10hp, and each hit connects for 1 damage, vs a game where players have 40k HP, and each hit connects for 8k. It's the same game, the only thing that's changed is the amount of numbers you have to scribble onto the page while tracking damage. If you think your characters are too resistant to incoming damage, you can increase the amount of damage attacks do, or limit the amount of mitigation they have access to. Limiting mitigation can take the form of simply reducing how much damage resistance they can get, or it can function by adding additional considerations to their mitigation (as mentioned above.) (Granted, the Vitality system is a bit of a nuclear option, because that will change your combat to be exceedingly threatening, without becoming instantly lethal. Which, might be what you want.)

You have a lot of freedom for how you shape your players' experiences, and with a bit of creativity you can provide a unique combat experience for your players.

-Starke

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[andrewwtca]

a Soriku Endgame, Actually essay on Light and Darkness

Also available to read on Archive of our Own.

Kingdom Hearts, with Sora and Riku in particular, has been on my mind as of late. It’s always been on my mind, to be honest, ever since I first got into the series. It’s grabbed my hand and hasn’t let go, especially with all the new lore. And yet, I’ve been struggling to make peace with myself. 

On one hand, I don't want to get my hopes up, thinking that Sora and Riku would ever become something 'more' or that what I’m seeing is anything other than in-depth speculation. I've had my heart broken before and this series means too much to me for me to foolishly dive in like this. 

On the other hand, I can't ignore what the story is telling me, as a literary analysis enthusiast and as a diehard fan. There have been parallels established, setups finally going through, and Nomura has said before that “this series is not intended to be child-focused, and so the complexity of the story is purposely made prominent.” I can’t keep turning a blind eye, knowing everything I know, thinking everything I think. If I did, I feel like I would be doing a disservice to both my experiences with the series and my experiences as a person. 

So yeah—Soriku Endgame, Actually. Today, I’m arguing its canonicality because of the balance of Light and Darkness (or lack thereof) throughout the series. Please enjoy my messy and impassioned essay!

a sky of falling stars

The Children of Destiny is a new concept introduced to us in the finale of Dark Road. To summarize, they are people with the ability to feel what others feel, connect, and become one with them—empaths with Light. 

It appears that the Children of Destiny are all descendants of Ephemer, characterized by silvery hair. There's Ephemer, there's Baldr, there's Xehanort—and, oh yeah, there's Riku. 

Upon the release of the finale, a lot of people—myself included—quickly jumped to the conclusion that Sora is a Child of Destiny, which isn't all that wrong. If we're going by what the games have given us, Sora is very special. What other character has housed five different hearts inside his own? What other character had an entire arc in Birth by Sleep talking about how he felt the pain in someone else’s heart?

But Nomura has insisted since the beginning that Sora is an ordinary boy, that he wasn't born with anything special, explaining that he “had the premise that a heart like Sora’s exists within all the players. Sora is ‘ordinary’, therefore everyone is ‘ordinary.” (Before anyone argues Nomura is just going through a retcon, I doubt he would go through with one to this extent, given how he has had the ending to the Dark Seeker Saga in mind for years.)

Riku, on the other hand, has not been given this kind of treatment at all. He's always been painted as a golden child, better than Sora at everything, being the original bearer of the Keyblade. For crying out loud, he had a light in Birth By Sleep that was seen from space, not Sora. If you factor in bloodlines, it wouldn't be too far off to theorize that Riku is a descendent of Ephemer's line. Riku isn't who most look at first, but all signs lead to him being a Child of Destiny. 

But that doesn't explain Sora at all. He may not have been born special like Riku, but he's special somehow. After all, Nomura did finish his ‘Sora isn't special’ line with, “I figure even if you’re ‘ordinary’, for something important, everyone can exhibit a special power just like Sora.” Aqua even calls out that Sora is the one who can set things right, the boy who can touch others’ hearts. 

And that is where the necklace theory comes in.

Sora has always been associated with royalty, sitting on a throne in box art or having crowns plastered around him—or on him. From his debut, Sora has had a crown necklace that has never been explained. Despite wearing it in every outfit, it's never been addressed how it came to be.

It’s after Aqua and Terra came, judging by the BBS cutscenes of him and Riku. But it’s before KH1, as that's when his journey began. That’s a huge timeframe, from being a kid to deciding to leave the islands, but it's easy to pinpoint a time when considering something the games still never fully fleshed out: the meteor shower. 

In Chain of Memories, Sora and Riku fight over this memory they supposedly both had of Namine one night during a meteor shower. One of them promised they would keep her safe, and it's all cute until we remember that Namine wasn't actually in these memories. And Namine can't make any new memories—she can only rearrange old ones. 

Sora and Riku both share this memory. And the way they fought over this memory gave it the utmost importance. It becomes obvious at this point that the both of them witnessed a meteor shower, and given what we know about their dynamic (and that's a lot), it would make sense to assume it was Riku promising Sora to keep him safe—almost like a charm.

The necklace theory has been around for years, but it’s only after the Dark Road finale that it was expanded upon (or perhaps it’s just me and maybe three others who think this, but I don’t mind one bit.) It isn't just Riku promising to keep Sora safe. In giving Sora a necklace, a crown, Riku has metaphorically crowned Sora. He has brought Sora up to his status as a Child of Destiny, putting all his love into a charm that he hopes can keep Sora safe. 

There’s a flaw in my logic though, trust me, I know. I just said that this meteor shower didn’t happen until after BBS, and yet it’s during the game that Sora feels the pain of others, it’s during the game that Aqua says that Sora is going to be the one to set things right. But I still stand firm in my belief. Riku has always been painted as the golden child, the Child of Destiny, but his love for Sora runs deeper than his love for anything else. 

Riku’s light is the one that brought Terra and Aqua to Destiny Island but Riku’s light shines for Sora; sort of like step one to Sora’s crowning. Riku’s light rubbed off on Sora, ever since they were kids—after all, a Child of Destiny’s power is to connect hearts. Why not connect his own with another? Why not share his light?

Further, in BBS, Sora can feel Ven’s pain and take care of his heart, but he isn’t fully aware of this nor is he able to really do anything about this. It isn’t until KH1 that Sora ever exhibits a power of truly connecting to another’s heart when Sora entered the darkness swallowing Riku and touched Riku’s heart’s light to obtain his Keyblade, explained by Nomura himself. And it isn’t until KH3 that Sora finds the power to wake up Ven’s heart.

Regardless of whether or not I’m right about this, it means Nomura isn't technically wrong about Sora being normal. Sora, no matter what, doesn’t have some divine birthright, but he still has the makings of someone who can bring peace to the world—all thanks to Riku.

This helps set the tone of their relationship, of the depth of Sora and Riku’s bond. It also moves the storyline forward to how they will be the ones to instigate change—but I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s first talk about who once were and who they could’ve been.

in another life

Kingdom Hearts is pretty on the nose on parallels between Xehanort/Eraqus and Riku/Sora. Besides personality, Xehanort and Riku are both Childs of Destiny who give in to the darkness and Eraqus and Sora are endless sources of light. But the parallels don't exist to make us empathize with Xehanort/Eraqus: they're to tell us a cautionary tale of what our protagonists could've been. 

So it begs the question, what actually separated Sora and Riku from becoming like Eraqus and Xehanort? Let’s start with Riku.

To recap, Xehanort was a student in Scala ad Caelum alongside Eraqus, who watched all his classmates die. He learned from Baldr about their roles as Children of Destiny and in his grief, became obsessed with wiping the world clean. He wanted a Keyblade War to create a fresh start, void of Light and Darkness, so that the world could try again. 

Riku seemed to have been walking the same road as Xehanort. He stopped fearing Darkness and started dancing on the line between it and Light. Riku was angry at the world and angry at his friends, and perhaps in another life, he may too have wanted to wipe the world clean. 

But every time I compare him and Xehanort, I can't help but think that a cautionary tale isn't what Xehanort/Eraqus is. Because I can't help but think that it just could never have happened to Riku, and it's for two main reasons: 

1) Hope.

Riku has hope in the world. When we look at all the other Children of Light, they all had a Darkness that took them down (although in Ephemer's case, it was a literal Darkness that killed him). Baldr lost himself in grief. Xehanort lost himself in rage. But not Riku. 

When Xehanort saw that the world couldn't be fixed (to how he believed it should be), Riku did not even see a world that needed fixing. Riku saw the world in all of its complicated glory. For instance, Riku is one of the first characters to acknowledge the feelings of Nobodies; their pain, and their love. He doesn't see them as an extension of Darkness or Light. They simply are. 

Riku believes in redemption. It's been his entire character arc, after all, to redeem himself and walk the Road to Dawn, a term coined way back in CoM. Ever since then, Riku has been closely associated with the sunrise—night turning into day. Darkness becomes Light. Redemption. This symbolism is shown in box art, said in interviews, even his Keyblade is called the Way to Dawn. 

The fact that Riku was even able to think of the Road to Dawn proves that he's nothing like Xehanort. Xehanort believes that there is no redemption because the world needs to be wiped clean. But Riku believes that there is a road he can walk, a road he can take to salvation because the world is not good or bad, but made for people to live and learn. But how? How was he able to walk that road? He has hope, but how was he able to use it? And that's the second reason. 

2) Sora. Riku has Sora. 

It may feel a bit obvious to say, but it's true: the fact that Riku is Riku; Sora is Sora; and their relationship is the way it is, is the key to why they would never have fallen to the same fate. We don't know the full extent of Xehanort and Eraqus's relationship, but it's safe to assume it wasn't as kind or loving as Riku and Sora's ever were. The two would play as kids, promise to keep each other safe, tell secrets—the two became princes of destiny together, destined to fight their way home.

I can't see Xehanort and Eraqus as anything more than students in a fucked up situation. Because when things got bad for Xehanort, he didn't think of Eraqus as his guiding light. He only thought of what he lost. There’s even a line in Dark Road of Xehanort hearing Eraqus crying in the other room, yet he never comforts him, never approaches him. They suffered alone, too afraid or perhaps too blind to reach for one another.

When things got bad for Riku, he saw Sora. He saw how Sora loved Kairi and sacrificed himself for her, and he saw that Sora was forgiving towards him. The reason why Riku and Sora didn't end up like Xehanort and Eraqus is that they simply aren't them. Their bond is deeper and their love is stronger, and Riku’s hope is simply stronger than Xehanort’s ever was.

It’s important to emphasize that this truly is a feat that only Riku (and Sora, one day) could’ve accomplished. It's natural to us that Riku, one of the series' protagonists, was able to do this. It's easy to shrug off the balance he managed to strike between his Light and Darkness, but for so many actually in the series, it's an incomprehensible thought. Mickey even stated in CoM, that Riku introduced Light and Darkness in a way nobody has ever seen before. To understand how this affects Sora and Riku’s relationship, it’s important to understand the way things currently are.

the light we pass down

Light and Darkness are the very core of this series. Light represents the connections you make with others, while Darkness represents the lack thereof—those with Darkness in their hearts are those who walk alone, while those with Light are those with many friends around them. Darkness is selfishness, and Light is selflessness. 

Darkness is usually framed as an inherently evil source in many stories, but it's something that cannot be extinguished. Light needs to be there to balance it. 

But Kingdom Hearts seems to be going down the path less taken—yes, Darkness isn't 'good', and it isn't desirable to isolate yourself from the rest of the world. But the series is asking the question many like to ignore: when does Light become Darkness? 

In nearly every game, you can trace one character fed into the illusion that Light is good, everything else is bad, and the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. MoM to his pupils in Union X; Odin to Baldr in Dark Road; Eraqus to his children in BBS; Yen Sid to Mickey in forbidding him to speak of Aqua; Donald and Goofy to Sora in telling him that their ship runs on happy smiles. It is generational trauma. 

A cycle of hypocrisy has been forced on not only the 'defenders of Light' but 'agents of Darkness.' Xehanort doesn't care who he hurts as long as he can get his own idea of balance in the world, believing his judgment to be supreme to others—despite his initial thoughts in Dark Road, that unless someone's heart is pure Light, how can one know for sure what is right and wrong? To which Eraqus responded that they as Keyblade Wielders held the supreme judgment towards morality. 

Again and again, this cycle of defending what they believe is good and Light repeats, hurting themselves and hurting others, and even Sora is not free of this hypocrisy. While he doesn't go out of his way to hurt others the way Xehanort has, he is capable of hurting others: Riku was hurt by Sora in KH1 when he was silent when Kairi suggested leaving him behind or when he shrugged off Riku going missing in Traverse Town. In CoM, when the idea of him ‘abandoning’ people was presented, he acted out harshly and completely rejected the idea (this is all another parallel to Eraqus!)

He even denies the idea that Riku has hurt others. Despite Riku acting out of his own free will, the reason he feels the need to atone and walk the path to redemption, Sora believes that the Darkness was forced on Riku by others.

Sora has been carved into the same mindset as so many others, the idea heavily tackled in Dark Road, that Darkness is only brought upon by others, and that it needs to be expunged. Sora is a firm believer that the Darkness is something to be eradicated, such as with his encounter with Vanitas in KH3. When Vanitas states that he is simply Darkness, Ven is quick to understand and even accept. Sora, on the other hand, rejects this and insists that it isn’t okay. 

Even our series’ protagonist is unable to shake himself from this self-righteous, black-or-white thinking. Riku is the only character in the series who has formed an actual balance in himself, with all other characters having to pick one side. Lea, Xion, and Roxas leave the Darkness of Organization XIII and become Keyblade Wielders. Terra embraces his Light, Aqua leaves the Realm of Darkness, and Ven is literally separated into a being of Light and Darkness (although not out of his own volition).

The series is not framing any of these things as negative—there’s nothing wrong with embracing Light. However, these characters are falling into the same cycle that the generations before have; they will once again be faced with a Darkness too deep to defeat and ignore. It must be talked to, reckoned with, and faced with open arms. Riku has been the only one able to return the hug and walk away.

We’ve explored what makes Riku’s character arc so significant and what Sora’s flaws are, and it’s time to dive into the murky waters of the future.

when does the sun become the night?

Sora. Oh, Sora. I love you, Sora. Now let me tear you and your smile apart. 

The parallels between Xehanort and Riku are very on the nose and easy to distinguish; meanwhile, Eraqus and Sora are a bit more challenging. 

In BBS, Eraqus is the Master of Aqua, Terra, and Ventus. He forms a bond between them, as one would expect, mentoring and looking out for their well-being. The Light in his heart is strong due to his connections with them, alongside being a Keyblade wielder. Although not perfect (feeding into Terra's insecurities about his Darkness, cough), he does care for them. But when the world falls to Darkness, Eraqus doesn't hesitate to be selfless, to give up his connections, the Light in his heart, to kill them to save a greater good. As long as someone somewhere can benefit from his actions, he isn't harming.

But is that selfless? Is sacrificing for a 'greater good' truly selfless? Is there a line between the needs of the many and the needs of the few? Or is there a certain ‘darkness’ that comes with these acts? Disregarding yourself, disregarding others, selfless yet selfish; it's not the right thing to do, and the series doesn't hesitate to frame it as that. What Eraqus did was wrong. He hurt others, even if he refused to acknowledge it.

And yet, no one seems to make any noise toward Sora. 

Sora is a Guardian of Light. He is the cheerful protagonist who makes everyone smile and feel better. Ever since the first game, when Donald and Goofy (although not with ill intent) told him that the Gummi Ship runs on happy faces, he's been under the precedent that his emotions do not matter in the greater scheme of things. In the long run, what matters is that others are safe, the people he cares about. 

Once again, like how Xehanort and Riku deviated in terms of having hope, this is where Eraqus and Sora begin to deviate from their parallels. While both are selfless to the point of ‘darkness,’ they show it in dramatically different ways. Eraqus is willing to hurt the people he cares about (and by extension, himself) to serve this 'greater good', but Sora is only willing to actively hurt himself. 

I feel the need to remind everyone that this is a teenager we're talking about. If we weren't in a franchise partially owned by Disney, I feel like more people would be willing to call this what it is: suicidal. This is not Light.

We've already seen ways that this harms Sora outside the narrative and the whole getting sent to Quadratum thing in his Rage form. Sora transforms into a drive form that’s oddly reminiscent of his time as a Heartless and can unleash powerful attacks that lower his HP (hmm). Furthermore, this form only appears when his HP is low (double hmm) and stated by Nomura, “based on him going into a rampage state, controlled by feelings of anger (triple hmm).”

Back inside the narrative, the climax of KH3 was Sora believing that he's worthless without his friends, genuinely worthless, and unable to fight at all. This is the very definition of a Light gone too far when remembering that Light is the connections you form with others. With too much Light, Sora lost himself. He couldn't find himself past who he was for others.

In the section prior that broke down generational trauma as it appears in Kingdom Hearts, I mentioned that Sora does not only end up hurting himself but passively hurting others around him, most notably Riku. Sora is unable to understand that Darkness is not the absence of all good but rather the shadow that simply follows you around. Sora cannot understand that Darkness is not something to be shunned, to never talk about. (This could also be tied back to his Rage form—while he does not actively channel his anger to hurt, that is what happens; only to never be acknowledged by him.)

(Off-topic, but I find it funny that Sora, who is so keen on the idea that Darkness is Not Good, was only ever to have a proper conversation with Riku in the Realm of Darkness. It’s very telling to their characters.)

Kingdom Hearts is setting up a narrative that Light and Darkness cannot exist in excess. That Light doesn't exist to balance out the Darkness, to stop it from becoming too strong—you need Darkness to exist as well. 

Sora has gotten this far along the story and still hasn't managed to learn this, because it’s just not something you can learn (or unlearn, rather) on your own. Because this kind of thinking isn’t undone with hours of contemplation; in a fitting Kingdom Hearts fashion, it’s connections that lead to the revelation.

the roads we walk

Xehanort and Eraqus fall out with each other. They stop talking and sever the connection with each other. That was a core reason things got as out of hand as they did for each other; they weren't keeping each other in check. Xehanort's Darkness left him blind and unable to see that there was Light after all, and Eraqus's Light blinded him and left him stumbling with a Keyblade for a 'greater purpose.' Their hearts fell too far to one end of the balance, leaving the scales unbalanced.

Riku and Sora do not have that. They have a connection like nothing seen in this series before—Riku had literally raised Sora to become a Child of Destiny alongside him. The Light of their hearts is just so awe-strikingly bright. 

Sora, however, has lost himself in all his light. He is stuck in the same bright room that Eraqus was, stumbling around with his Keyblade. But where Eraqus was forever lost, Sora can be found: because where Riku had Sora to guide him to the Light, Sora will have Riku to guide him through the Darkness. 

Riku spends the majority of his character simply proving that he is capable of redemption. It takes him the ending of a game to realize the errors in his ways and another game to figure out the solution he must fight for, and these weren't revelations he finds on his own—he found the first with Sora and the second (in CoM) with Mickey and Namine.

For Sora to even have the revelation that he cannot keep shutting out the Darkness in him unless he wants more pain for himself and others, he needs someone to help show him that is an option. And who else but Riku, who is living proof that existence isn’t just black-or-white, Light or Darkness?

Riku is Sora's foil. A foil is a character who either has pronounced differences between themselves and the protagonist or is so alike that a contrast appears. Riku is the ladder, similar enough to Sora that one can begin to make assumptions about where the story is heading. Their similarities aren't hard to find: they both hail from Destiny Islands, they both have a love for adventure, they both were assumed to walk a path of Light for the rest of their lives, and they both care deeply for each other. The contrast begins in KH1 when Riku begins his fall to Darkness while Sora remains firm in his standing.

Riku’s arc ended with acceptance; he needed to accept the Darkness and the Light inside him to find peace. It’s only natural that his foil, struggling with the same imbalance, would go through a similar arc but still different enough to be his own.

It isn't just the story telling us this. Riku has always been associated with imagery of dawn, the breaking of Darkness into Light, and Kairi is always associated with imagery of dusk, the breaking of Light into Darkness (which is a conversation all on its own). Sora, on the other hand, is associated with a large blue sky (his name, after all, does mean sky.) It's not hinting towards a journey of any kind—not a redemption like for Riku.

He is the daylight. He is the Light in everyone's lives. But ‘Sora’ doesn't mean the day sky. It simply means sky. Sky, at day or night—and I don't mind if you call me reaching at this point, but it feels like it's calling out to the fact that Sora needs to accept that he is both Light and Darkness, the way the sky is both day and night. 

Nomura has even stated in an interview before when asked about the two different versions of the Dream Drop Distance illustrations that he “wanted its composition and look to remind [the player] of the title’s catch copy, ‘Darkness becomes light, light falls into darkness.’” The parallel structure of the tagline serves to mirror the parallel structure of Sora and Riku’s paths, Sora’s road to night and Riku’s road to dawn.

But I digress. Exhaustively, it’s very apparent that Sora is heading toward a climax, a Darkness he cannot ignore. His breakdown in KH3 was left unspoken, unresolved, and his disappearance only contributes to the fact that he’s heading toward another breaking point, where the cheerful protagonist can no longer remain cheerful. But like in KH3, something is going to be the same: Riku.

At his lowest point, it was Riku who was next to him, telling Sora that he believed in him. It was Riku who carried on when Sora couldn’t. Riku is going to be key in Sora's journey to night. Riku was able to find his Road to Dawn by remembering Sora. He was able to walk by remembering his love, his passion, his everything, and it was because of Sora that Riku found balance. He found the Light within himself, and he learned to accept that the Darkness would always be a part of him, the way it is for others. 

Sora's arc will be spun into motion because of Riku. The next installments of Kingdom Hearts are setting up that Riku's dreams are the key to finding Sora, implying perhaps that it may be Sora and Riku all alone in a world. Whatever the case, Riku is going to be by Sora's side, as that is where they are at their best, to face Sora’s worst.

And it's fitting. Riku had to go from Darkness, defined as a lack of connections, to a balance with Light, having connections. He went from his isolation, wearing a blindfold and not being able to face anyone, to being the charming Riku we all love, fighting alongside the Keyblade wielders. His journey would have him open up, so he would be joined by memories, ghosts, not by people until he began to embrace others.

Sora will be going from Light to a balance with Darkness. He'd be going from connections to a lack (though not in the same extremes that Riku did), in a sense. Understandably, he can’t do it alone, make such a drastic change; he'd need someone.

This change, this balance, this emphasis on connections, it’s guiding us to what the narrative has been trying to tell us all along.

we can be the darkness, and the light, and the sunsets and sunrises too

When asked about the theme of KH3 and the entire series, Nomura answered, “It’s in the title: hearts. The consistent theme across the whole series is ‘What is a heart?’”

Kingdom Hearts is going to be doing something unprecedented in not only a lot of media but in its world itself. While the idea of Light and Darkness existing within characters is not new, the characters aren't exactly behind that idea. Most of the Keyblade Wielders and Guardians of Light cherish the Light above all else—while all the primary villains worship the Darkness. They fight for a balance but don't fully grasp that within (nearly) all of them lies both entities. 

Riku seems to be more accepted in the world, as he did join the Light in the end. But what Sora would do is... just absolutely bonkers. He will be embracing a Darkness in him, the same kind that Terra and so many others were taught to push out. Sora will be... well, a teenager. Happy and angsty and all the things teens are.

This is where Kingdom Hearts has the chance to seal the deal, to fully welcome this balance of Light and Darkness: a relationship between Riku and Sora. 

For all Guardians of Light, there is a generational trauma hanging over their heads and haunting them, and Sora will need to accept his Darkness to combat it, but the story can't end there. The games have been building up the idea that Sora will be the one to bring change to the world, that Sora will be the one to end this cycle. He won’t just accept his Darkness but lead a new age. He will be the one to show that there's a different way (or really, only one other way) to move forward:

Love. 

Unconditional love. Not love depending on whether they fit the wielders' definitions of Light and Darkness, not love depending on the amount of Light in someone's heart, not love clouded by hypocrisy. Just pure love, forever forgiving and growing.

So who better for Sora’s love than Riku?

Let’s get all the arguments for Kairi out of the way first. Some may say that Kairi could still fulfill this role of spreading love in the next games, but that’s only if her role in the story is completely revamped. She represents friends growing apart as they grow older yet remaining close. While Sora and Riku represent a balance between Light and Darkness, Kairi represents holding a Light close to your heart, even when it's so far away; fitting for her story of being ripped apart from her home.

The games keep pushing the friends' growing apart narrative rather than pulling from it, having Kairi remain with Aqua to train while Riku goes after Sora. There is little space for Kairi to suddenly walk a road to dusk that leads to romance. Especially because it’s Sora and Riku who are the Children of Destiny, they are the ones who will connect to other hearts and bring change, not Kairi. Her lesson would be for herself, not for the world to see. 

A relationship between Kairi and Sora would just be backtracking on this message. Sora needs to accept his Darkness, but joining forces with a Princess of Light does not challenge any norms, it does not provide a new answer. It makes sense because the core of Kingdom Hearts isn’t a Prince and Princess of Light—it’s two boys who saw the night sky fall one day, two boys who grew up together, two boys destined for something greater who write their own paths anyway. It’s Sora and Riku. Nomura himself has stated that “Sora and Riku represent the theme of the Kingdom Hearts series, which is the ‘light and dark sides of the heart,’” the essence of this essay. 

Carrying on, some may stop me here and say that their love doesn't need to be romantic for a point to be made. But I argue that there is no other way.

Romantic love in stories often serves as the culmination of the story’s themes. In Leigh Bardugo's books, her romances serve to show the importance of love and healing. In the Shadow & Bone trilogy, Alina has the options between the Darkling, representing power, Nikolai, representing nationalism, and Mal, representing love. Just love. Not one befitting of a Saint, someone to change the world, but that’s not who Alina wanted to be; she just wanted a happy ending. Shockingly, she picks Mal. In Six of Crows, Kaz and Inej's romance, both traumatized teenagers, serves to show that you can heal and you can love. They're both scared of people, scared of intimacy and yet they still love with all their scars on display.

In Revolutionary Girl Utena, the romance between Utena and Anthy reaches its climax at the end of the show, displaying the vulnerability of both girls and the rawness of their feelings. But most importantly, it drives home the message: that the power to bring revolution is not the power of a prince or a witch. The power to change the world is love. The only way to change the world to be suitable to live in is through love. The power, a revolution, brought by love.

Romance is a revolution. It’s often saved for the last act of stories because of how it acts as a thread between all of the themes. In Kingdom Hearts, the theme needing weaving is balance: balance between yourself and others, balance between selflessness and selfishness, balance between Light and Darkness. Sora and Riku getting together would be Yin and Yang—a boy who had to accept his Darkness and a boy who had to fight for his Light. They complement each other and fill where the other lacks. 

Likewise, a relationship between them stresses the importance of connections. Tai Yasue, co-director of the series, has stated that “the theme of the KH series is ‘connections of the heart,’” and the narrative will take advantage of any opportunity to let that theme shine. Previously, many defenders of Light would sacrifice their connections with others for a greater good. But Sora and Riku choosing to love each other, choosing to love the Light and Darkness in each other instead of trying to chase away their Darkness, is showing that love is their other option. 

Sora getting with Kairi challenges nothing. It tells the others that Light must be with Light, that good must be with good. Even their grand attack in Re:Mind is two giant angel wings where they proclaim, “Light!” Sora and Riku, however, show that Light does not mean good. It shows that people can do bad things, and it doesn't make them bad, because people are not black and white. Like two kingdoms forever at war with each other, finally coming together and realizing that the other side is human and that you can't simply demonize them.

Sora and Kairi say there is nothing wrong with the world. To carry on. Sora and Riku say that there isn’t anything wrong with the world; it’s the people looking the wrong way. There is nothing wrong with what’s around us. Nothing wrong, nothing right. “Nothing is whole, and nothing is broken.” It’s simply being: being Darkness, being Light, being both, being neither.

It has to be Sora and Riku. It's always had to be them. Riku brought Sora up to the status of a Child of Destiny, and their journeys were led by each other, their character development taught by one another, and their acceptance will come from (an eventual) conversation between the two about their pain and hurt and Darkness, it’s all always been leading here. To this moment in time where they show the world all the hurt they hold and how they carry on with.

All of that, and loving each other? 

They are crossing the line, as Hikaru Utada sings in Don't Think Twice. They are going to be crossing every line established in Kingdom Hearts, and this is their power. Their revolution. Their predetermined yet self-made destiny. The payoff for years and years of searching and yearning and pining and chasing is a love that brings revolution, and oh...isn't that just romantic? 

That is the answer to “What is a heart?” The heart is the love you have, despite it all. The heart is the connections you make, despite it all. The heart is your Darkness and your Light and your experiences and your fights, despite it all. The heart is Sora and Riku, despite it all.

grant us the power to bring the world revolution

A lot of this analysis really depends on whether or not you believe Sora and Riku are in love with one another, I realize. You may agree with me that it seems fitting that their coming together as a pair would catalyze all the themes in Kingdom Hearts, but you disagree that it means they'd ever be a pairing. Which, I'd like to thank you for at least hearing me out. 

The queerness of their relationship means there will always be naysayers to them getting together, there will always be people claiming that I'm reaching. I do not care if you see them as brothers or ‘just’ really good friends. I see a love story. I see a love story and a love story saying to love, above all else. Do not judge others for you don't know what is wrong or right, for you are biased, for you are flawed, for you are human. Love others for that is the heart's will. Love.

I see that their getting together would be a testament to that love. To that forgiveness, to those flaws we have. It would be an acceptance of Riku's pain and Darkness that he mysteriously doesn't want to acknowledge, it would be an acceptance of Sora's pain that he's been bottling up ever since the beginning of his journey, and it would be an acceptance to the Light they both share. It would be the balance that so many generations have looked for and couldn't find because they did not practice acceptance, only judgment. 

Sora and Riku getting together is acceptance and it's proof that love is the answer to a generational trauma that has been around ever since the beginning of time. So yeah: Soriku Endgame, Actually. 

Thank you so much for reading! I’m a really big fan of stories about light and darkness and the balance between them, stories about love, and just Kingdom Hearts in general. I didn’t want to keep these thoughts in the back of my head and I’m glad I wrote them all out, even if it’s messy (and a shocking 6k words long...) Kingdom Hearts is a bit messy, after all.

If you're interested in more about Sora and Riku's relationship or just literary analysis of KH in general, please check out Constructing Kingdoms on YouTube, as it helped give me the words to write a lot of this essay. Further, if you're in total denial that there is any queer text in Kingdom Hearts, please check out this amazing video essay on Riku being gay. 

That's all I have. Please feel free to share if you have any disagreements or if any parts really spoke to you, or if you have anything to add, or anything really. These two live rent-free in my mind, and I don't mind talking about them or about how they're just so perfect to change the world.

Thank you. Spread love (and the Soriku agenda.)

[chocfrog-enjoyer]

💚 (For ask game:))

Ty for the ask anon ^^

Gosh it’s a hard question because I love so many characters and they all have some horrible misinterpretations.

But for this I think I’ll go with Ron, as I rlly love this boy

Alright so let’s first get over some things ppl like to say about Ron or write Ron as being like ( all of these are horrible and just bashing ):

- Ron being abusive towards his partner and friends

- Ron written as very unattractive, being fat and nasty

- Ron written as a cheater

- Ron written as dumb, unintelligent, illogical

- Ron being shunned back from the trio and replaced by another character ( Neville/Luna/Ginny ) bc they are better friends

I hate all of those takes, Ron doesn’t deserve this treatment by the fandom TwT

So let’s establish some facts now

Ron’s magical abilities are on the same level as Harry’s with the only exception being Defense against the dark arts.

However he does have his own abilities that he’s good at. Ron’s an outstanding chess player, he wins with almost everyone, even with Hermione which really frustrates her

He’s a pretty good keeper (unfortunately, due to stage fright, it is difficult for him to show his best side when playing in front of a large audience)

Ron could drive a car at the age of 12. This is an extremely amazing achievement considering that even adults often have trouble operating the vehicle, and Ron was able to fly it all the way to Hogwarts. This means that within a dozen or so hours, Ron drove a car and flew from England, London to Scotland, without using a map and only following the tracks he saw beneath him. It is also important to remember that the car had additional functions as Arthur Wesley magically improved the vehicle, meaning it was even more complicated to operate than a standard car.

Now here's something you may not have noticed, although it's partly just me looking deeper but a lot of things points to Ron having some future-predicting power within him. Why do I think so? Especially since no one, not even Ron himself, seemed to think so?

The answer, of course, lies in the books. Just look at those quotes :>

1. Ron predicted Harry's getting unexpected cash and more

In the third book: Prisoner of Azkaban, during the first lesson - making predictions with tea leaves - Ron was examining the leaves in his friend's cup.

"(...) "There's a blob a bit like a bowler hat," he said. "Maybe you're going to work for the Ministry of Magic…” He turned the teacup the other way up.

"But this way it looks more like an acorn... What's that?" He scanned his copy of Unfogging the Future. “A windfall, unexpected gold.” (…)

- H.P. and the Prisoner of Azkaban

As we know, Harry became an Auror after the end of the Wizarding War. So, as expected, he works for the Ministry. But what's the deal with cash? A Well, for example, unexpected gold for Harry was the prize for winning the Triwizard Tournament - 1,000 galleons, which amounts to about 5,000. GPB or 28,000. PLN. That’s a lot right?

Another unexpected influx of money was Harry receiving Sirius's estate after his death. Because how could he expect that his godfather would end his life?

2. He predicted that Voldemort killed Moaning Myrtle

“I wish I knew why someone did try to chuck it,' said Harry. 'I wouldn't mind knowing how Riddle got an award for special services to Hogwarts, either.'

'Could've been anything,' said Ron. 'Maybe he got thirty O.W.Ls or saved a teacher from the giant squid. Maybe he murdered Myrtle, that would've done everyone a favour..?”

- H.P. and the Chamber of Secrets

3.He also predicted their argument during GOF and along with Harry most of what would happen in the book

“(…) Why don't you get stabbed in the back by someone you thought was a friend?"

"Yeah... cool.." said Harry, scribbling it down, "because Venus is in the twelfth house."

- H.P. and the Goblet of Fire

Ron was very brave.

Despite his fear of spiders, went with Harry into the forbidden forest, that most of the school avoided, following a spider trail. We know well that this situation ended with a meeting with Aragog, but despite his obvious fear, Ron waited for Harry to finish asking Aragog questions.

He also went with Harry straight to the Chamber of Secrets, knowing full well that the Basilisk was there. One of the most dangerous creatures in the entire wizarding world.

He overcame his fears in order to help his friend.

Ron was very loyal. Yes, they had arguments, but all of the trio had, Hermione abandoned the boys a few times too, but that’s how life works, friends sometimes argue and don’t agree with each other but what makes them a good friend is that they apologize and always come back. Harry appreciated him very much for this, after all, Ron was the person Harry missed the most and whom he had to save during the 2nd task of the Triwizard Tournament.

Ron also has an absolutely amazing sense of humor, here are some of the funniest things he said that I quoted:

GOF

OOTP

All in all, I love Ron, he’s an amazing character and I hate how much he’s mischaracterized and brushed aside or bashed he is.

[dare-to-dm]

Hello!

Firstly, I like your blog very much. You give very useful advice and talk about lots of cool things that I wouldn't have otherwise considered :)

One of those things is how much the difficulty of different classes varies. I'm going to be DM-ing for the first time soon and I was wondering if you could elaborate a bit? I want to avoid my players making characters that are too complicated and it being hard for them and me to keep track of, especially since it's a pretty big group and we're pretty much all novices. What do you think I should steer clear of?

I and a few of the players have played a session together before and I watch quite a lot of actual play shows but some of the players aren't familiar with gameplay at all. I'm unsure whether I should encourage them all to read the basic rules first because I think it could be a bit overwhelming and potentially off-putting having to read so much. Will it be okay if I just explain the important bits before we get going and deal with anything else when we get to it?

I'm also a bit nervous about keeping the campaign engaging for everyone and getting the pacing right. Do you have any tips for that or for anything else in general?

Thank you!

I'm going to go ahead and assume you're playing 5th Edition D&D since that's what most people are starting on these days. But my advice should be pretty much true for any version of D&D/Pathfinder.

The spellcasters are the most complicated classes to play. I would put druids, wizards, sorcerers, and clerics as the most complex classes. They all have an extensive list of spells to choose from, and each spell is special and unique.

With that being said, I wouldn't forbid players from playing those classes. Rather, I would discourage those who are less inclined to do bookkeeping/preparation from playing those classes. If you have a friend who already makes spreadsheets for fun, there's no reason they can't handle playing a wizard. They're just going to need a reference handy during the game. Either their own copy of the book, or just using their smartphone to google the spells.

I will say that you should discourage more than one player from playing the same class, if you can. The game is more fun when everyone has their particular niche.

As the DM, I would encourage you to skim the entire player's handbook. A deep reading isn't necessary. It's a reference manual, so it will be useful for you to know how it's laid out so you can find things when you need them.

As for everyone else, they should definitely read the section on whatever class they're playing. But beyond that, I think your instinct is correct. For most players, learning the game at the table through play is more intuitive than by attempting to read the whole book. If you think you understand the action economy pretty well, that's the most important thing to start out with.

I wouldn't be too worried about pacing and such for an entire campaign just yet. For now, try to focus on running a really solid session. A good session of D&D will involve giving the players a chance to use their interesting abilities (most of which pertain to combat). But it should also give them opportunities to act in character and make decisions. I have a guideline for a tutorial session here if you're interested. Once you feel confident about how your individual sessions are going, you can extrapolate out to a larger framework. But really, you don't want to plan too far ahead anyway because you never really know what your players are going to do.

As long as you and your players are enthusiastic about this, you're probably all going to have a great time. Thanks for the question, and good luck!

[digi-tama-in-your-pocket]

I think if I were to design my own ideal virtual pet I'd want it to be like a cross between tamagotchi, digimon, animal crossing, and pokemon.

I think the core of Tamagotchi and Digimon is what's most important to me about virtual pets. Feeding, playing with, cleaning up, keeping alive/healthy, and watching them grow and change into exciting new forms. When you take out feeding and minigames it loses a lot of appeal, which is why the vital bracelet and digivices don't do a lot for me.

Digimon has a bit of edge to it with more fierce designs and battling, but it really has not advanced much since it debuted. It's thoroughly stuck in the 90's. Yeah there was the vital Bracelet but again, that's hardly a virtual pet. Tamagotchi on the other hand has a lot of features. Multiple minigames to play, the ability to get new backgrounds, accessories, items, currency, travelling, online multiplayer, NPC encounters, shops, there's so much to it, it's kind of ridiculous. I genuinely hope the next Digimon device is a color screen that's a significant leap up from the Digimon X and Pendulum Z. I digress though.

Tamagotchi was very appealing to me or it's diverse line up of critters when it started. I feel like some of the diversity got lost along the way and everything ended up looking like a Sanrio knock off, even the "Bad care" adults who were supposed to look kinda ugly and mean ( but still kinda cute ) ...Digimon has the opposite end of the spectrum where almost nothing at the end of the evolution charts is cute, and in fact, most of them are not even monster like and tend to be humanoid, or they look mechanical.

That's where Pokemon comes in because I'd love an art style influenced heavily by early pokemon, which I find strikes the perfect balance between cute and cool, with some designs leaning one way more than the other. Hell, the thing that drew me to pokemon in the first place is the language they used in one of the articles. "Raising your monster friend" "watch them grow and change" it led me to believe Pokemon was going to be a virtual pet in video game form. This wasn't the case, it wouldn't be until gen 6 that they added anything that resembled v-pet mechanics and even that was completely optional. But I still enjoyed Pokemon, at least in it's earlier years and it had a strong influence on my art style and creature design... also from pokemon, the ability to keep several pets at once, including storage, a small competitive single player campaign with a story, and maybe even the ability to trade. As for Animal crossing... just decorating your little guy's enclosure with furniture, and chatting or doing small errands for npcs, and having daily tasks to do, special events. I guess Tamagotchi is currently doing a lot of this, sans the errands, but I think they could take it further. I still want there to be a cute and cozy factor here, Digimon kind of lacks in this department I feel.

I imagine this would have to be a very advance device, it sounds like a larger Gameboy Advance game to me, and idk how big the rom size is for the most advanced virtual pets are right now but I can't imagine they're the size of MOTHER 3.

I'd still want it to be pixels. I'm not ready for handheld virtual pets to shift to 3D. I think that might kill some of the appeal tbh.

[dansantcaparet]

Aerith, the Non-Optional Girl...

By FF_Goddess/Shiva of www.cloudandaerith.com

If you are interested in why I believe that Cloud's love for Aerith during the events of FFVII is not optional, then keep reading... Otherwise, thanks for stopping by! I hope this article gave you a clear view of why Cloud and Aerith fans believe they are the intended pairing of FFVII. :-)

Regardless of what choices you make during FFVII, it does not change these facts:

1. Cloud was attracted to Aerith from the beginning, admiring her radiant eyes and saying that her smile "was a good purchase".

* Cloud never admits any such thing about Tifa. In fact, he never makes any remarks on her appearance... ever.

2. Cloud and Aerith's meeting in the church was reproduced with Zack and Aerith in Crisis Core, giving Cloud and Aerith a direct parallel to Aerith's first romance as well as giving them a straightforward link to another canon couple in the same universe.

3. Cloud and Aerith meeting one another was described as "destiny" in multiple official sources.

4. Cloud agreed to become Aerith's bodyguard without asking for money. Instead, he accepts a date with her as payment.

* Cloud had just recently refused to fulfill his promise to Tifa, told her that her cause with Avalanche didn't mean anything to him, and also refused to help Avalanche further without being paid (and even more money than what he had received for his last mission with them).

5. Cloud smiles and laughs with Aerith. It is the **only** time during FFVII that he does either of these things.

* Tifa was not able to get Cloud to smile or laugh **at all** during the course of FFVII.

6. When Cloud is at Aerith's house, he remembers his mother telling him that the perfect girlfriend for him was someone older. As we all know, Aerith is one year older than Cloud.

* Tifa is one year younger than Cloud, which suggests that Cloud's mother would not have considered her an ideal match for her son.

7. Cloud and Aerith have a date in the park where they discuss Aerith's romantic past.

* Cloud never asks Tifa about her ex-boyfriends. In fact, he doesn't seem to care who she's been with.

8. Tifa is immediately jealous of Aerith and the bond she has formed so quickly with Cloud. The only reason for Tifa to be jealous is if she sees romantic interest between the two of them.

9. Cloud continually expresses concern for Aerith's safety whilst ignoring the fact that Tifa is in the same amount of danger. Cloud is also supportive when Aerith is frightened.

*By comparison, we have Cloud rudely demanding "Why'd you come along anyway?" when Tifa becomes scared before they jump from the train. The way he treats these two women is like night and day.

10. When Aerith is kidnapped, Cloud states he needs to rescue her "by all means!"

* Cloud ignores Tifa, who is drowning in her own guilt after the plate falls, and heads out to rescue Aerith with or without her.

11. Cloud braves Shinra HQ, a massive skyscraper crawling with his enemies, the most difficult quest he has faced so far, in order to rescue Aerith.

* Cloud is reluctant to rescue Tifa from Corneo because it means he will have to dress in drag.

12. Barret notices the change in Cloud when they are entering Shinra HQ, remarking that "there are times when even you fight for other people". This was said in response to Cloud's stony resolve to rescue Aerith, regardless of the risks involved.

* Barret knows that Cloud previously refused to fight for either he or Tifa without compensation.

13. Cloud mentions being Aerith's bodyguard right in front of Tifa. This is the deal he had made with Aerith, the deal where he is her protector in exchange for a date. If Cloud is bringing up his deal with Aerith, then that means he fully intends on collecting on that date with Aerith.

* Cloud never plans on any dates with just he and Tifa... ever.

14. When Tifa hears of Cloud's plans for a date with Aerith, she remarks rather harshly, "EXCUSE me." This was confirmed as a jealous outburst from Tifa when she saw them "developing their world together" and noticed the obvious "special bond" Aerith had with Cloud that was different than Tifa's bond with Cloud. Aerith's "special bond" with Cloud is clearly a romantic one or Tifa wouldn't be getting jealous.

* Aerith is **never** jealous of Tifa's bond with Cloud, which implies that she doesn't see anything romantic going on between the two of them. And, considering Aerith's ability to see inside the hearts and minds of others, this is a pretty profound statement.

15. Aerith's CG render is tied to her dream of riding the airship with Cloud. Cloud's CG render is of him just before he busts into Shinra HQ to rescue Aerith.

* Tifa's CG render is tied to her promise with Cloud.

16. When Aerith is feeling alone at Cosmo Canyon, Cloud tells her he is there for her and he wants to help.

17. Cloud and Aerith have a **second** date at the Gold Saucer. This is the default date for FFVII and is the only one being taken into consideration regarding the storyline. It is also the one date that makes sense as it is the **only** promised date within the game.

* Cloud doesn't date Tifa unless the player chooses to have him do so. In order to get the date with Tifa, the player has to play the game in a way that isn't considered "normal".

18. Cloud shows concern for Aerith when she cries over Tseng at the Temple of the Ancients.

* The night before the battle, when they are sitting under the Highwind, Tifa starts crying. And what does Cloud do? He looks away.

19. Cait Sith makes a prediction about "the affinity between Cloud and Aerith" which states that they are perfect for one another. He also predicts that they are destined to be married. Cloud makes no objections to this prediction, even if Tifa is present. Cait Sith remarks "Poor Tifa" regardless of whether Tifa is present or not.

20. It was confirmed that, despite the fact that Aerith dies, she and Cloud still have hope for a future together. Therefore, Cait Sith's prediction of Cloud and Aerith's "great future" stands firm.

21. Aerith is able to communicate with Cloud in his dreams due to her ability to speak directly to his heart. This implies a profound bond like that of soul mates.

22. Cloud tries to run after Aerith in his dream even before Sephiroth appeared and began to threaten her. This suggests that Cloud desperately did not want Aerith to leave.

23. Cloud and Aerith's lines together just before Aerith leaves are strikingly similar to those spoken in the play, Loveless, between a woman and her lover.

Cloud also first met Aerith under a sign for Loveless.

24. Cloud feels Aerith's presence in his **soul** and can hear her voice from distances so great that he could not possibly hear it with his physical senses.

This reinforces the idea that they are indeed soul mates.

* This kind of thing never occurs between Cloud and Tifa.

25. Sephiroth forces Cloud to beat Aerith and then attempts to make Cloud kill Aerith. This implies that Sephiroth knows Aerith is Cloud's weakness and being forced to harm her will cause Cloud the greatest amount of suffering.

26. When Sephiroth attempts to make Cloud kill Aerith, Cloud is able to resist Sephiroth's will. This is the **only** time in the game Cloud is able to overcome Sephiroth's mind control once he is under the evil maniac's influence.

27. When Aerith dies, Cloud holds her close and pours his heart and soul out in front of Sephiroth and everyone. He abandons his pursuit of Sephiroth and his quest to save the Planet, saying that none of it means anything to him anymore. And why? Because Aerith is gone.

* When Tifa lay dying in the Nibelheim Reactor, Cloud set her aside and went after Sephiroth. It was Tifa's teacher, Zangan, who considered her life more important than pursuing Sephiroth and it was Zangan who saved her life.

28. It was confirmed in Maiden of the Planet that Aerith's death broke Cloud's heart and he was consumed with grief over her death, blame toward himself, and hatred toward Sephiroth.

* When Cloud thought Tifa was dying, he said he was "really sad". o_0 Seriously?

29. Maiden of the Planet confirms that Aerith can hear the cries of Cloud's breaking heart. This ties her to his heart and soul once more.

30. In Maiden of the Planet, Aerith is surprised over Cloud's reaction to her death. She didn't realize how much she meant to him, which suggests that his feelings for her were not platonic in nature. After all, she knew they were friends before her death.

31. The game developers confirmed that, rather than the cliché of having a man die for the woman he loves, they decided to flip things and have a woman die for the man she loves. They also stated that they wanted to achieve an emotional impact on the player caused by seeing Cloud's pain ("feeling dazed at the gravity of the loss" caused by losing "someone you loved very much").

32. Cloud's companions come to offer him their condolences after Aerith's death. This suggests that they understand the depth of Cloud's feelings for Aerith.

33. Cloud alone is the one to put Aerith to rest at the spring. This indicates just how special Aerith was to Cloud.

34. After her death, Aerith can see that Cloud's heart is falling apart "from the sadness of losing her". Cloud is also being consumed by the "anger and hate he had for her being taken from him". And so we know Cloud considers Aerith's loss very personal: he "lost her" and she was "taken from him".

This suggest that Cloud considers Aerith an irreplaceable part of his life.

35. Even though Aerith was gone, Cloud continued to speak about her and remember her with fondness.

36. In the Lifestream, it is Aerith who guides Tifa into "Cloud's closed heart". What we can take away from this is that Aerith has access to Cloud's heart, even when it is closed to all others. Yet again Aerith is associated with Cloud's heart, just more proof that she is his soul mate.

37. Cloud promises Aerith that he will complete her mission and save the Planet she loved so well.

38. Cloud states that he is fighting to save the Planet and that one of the things he is fighting for is "a very personal memory". Since we know Cloud had promised Aerith that he would complete her mission to save the Planet, then naturally the personal element associated to his desire to save the Planet is Aerith.

39. Cloud also states that one of the reasons he is fighting is to free Aerith from Sephiroth's control: "Although she should've returned to the planet by now, something stopped her and now she's stuck...... We've got to set her free."

40. After Cloud defeats Sephiroth and is surrounded by Lifestream, he reaches toward the light with longing. Aerith reaches for him in return, both of them yearning to be reunited. In this scene, Cloud's actions clearly show that he wants to be with Aerith.

41. Earlier, Cloud told the Planet that he had come to show it everyone's wishes, including his and Aerith's. He then demanded an answer from the Planet.

While dangling from a ledge, he tells Tifa that the Planet had given him an answer to his wish: "The planet's answer... The Promised Land... I think I can find her there." If the Planet's answer to Cloud's question is that he can find Aerith in his Promised Land, then logically the question Cloud had asked of it previously was "How can I be with Aerith again? Where can I find her?" This shows two things: 1.) Cloud desperately wants to be with Aerith again, regardless of whether she is alive or dead. 2.) Cloud's Promised Land, the place where Cloud will find what makes him most happy, is associated with Aerith. And this is hardly a surprise since we already know she was the **only** person in the game who ever made him smile or laugh.

42. Cloud mentions his desire to be reunited with Aerith in his Promised Land right in front of Tifa, which makes it very clear that these two are not an item, regardless of what optional choices the player has made.

43. The lowest affection rating for Aerith in the game is 24. However, it is possible to completely eradicate all romantic interest in Tifa during the game, driving her affection rating all the way to zero.

So, there you go. These 43 facts remain regardless of what optional choices you make during the game, regardless of what optional scenes you get

(*COUGH*Highwind Scene*COUGH*), and regardless of which girl the **player** personally prefers. No matter what, Cloud is attracted to Aerith, protects her as his bodyguard, and goes on at least one date with her. No matter what, Tifa is jealous of the budding relationship between Cloud and Aerith. No matter what, Cloud and Aerith are confirmed to have a "special bond" and are predicted to be married. No matter what, Cloud is devastated over Aerith's death and one of the reasons he fights is for her. No matter what, Cloud is longing to be with Aerith at the end, reaching for her hand and asking the Planet how he can be with her again. No matter what, it is Aerith that Cloud wants to meet in his Promised Land. And, no matter what, it is impossible to use the affection rating system to eradicate all of the romantic affection between Cloud and Aerith.

Also, regardless of what optional choices you make, Cloud still makes his affection for Aerith clear right in front of Tifa. He calls himself her bodyguard in front of Tifa, bringing up a deal in which the result is Cloud dating Aerith. Cloud also doesn't object when Cait Sith offers to be the preacher at he and Aerith's wedding (even when Tifa is standing right there).

Cloud and Tifa fans like to assert that the High Affection version of the Highwind Scene is canon, even though they don't have any proof of this. They even go so far as to suggest Cloud and Tifa had sex under the Highwind, which is equally as absurd. And, yet, right after Cloud rescues Tifa from falling and they are clinging to the side of the Northern Crater, he says, right in front of her, that it is Aerith that he wants to see again in his Promised Land. And this is **after** he and Tifa supposedly confessed romantic feelings for one another (High Affection version of the Highwind Scene) and, according to rabid CloTis, had sex. If that is the case, then Cloud just used Tifa for sex, played her feelings, and dropped her like a rock.

Because it isn't Tifa that Cloud wants to be with in the place of supreme bliss (his Promised Land), it's a completely different woman (Aerith).

Also, Cloud demanded an answer from the Planet, remember? This is after he showed the Planet his wishes. His answer was that he could be with Aerith again if he could find the/his Promised Land. And so the wish he expressed to the Planet was quite obviously how he could be reunited with Aerith. This scene **also** took place after the supposed confession of love and alleged sex on pointy rocks under the Highwind. **IF** Cloud confessed romantic feelings for Tifa under the Highwind, then why would he be seeking a reunion with her confirmed "love rival"? **IF** Cloud confessed romantic feelings for Tifa under the Highwind, then why wasn't Tifa the one he states he wants to be with? Why wasn't his wish about her? And why doesn't he care about how she is feeling when he ignores her and says he wants to be with Aerith?

These scenes only make sense if you take the Low Affection version of the Highwind Scene into account. If Cloud and Tifa only shared feelings of a platonic nature, then they are only friends. And Cloud doesn't come off like a cold-hearted jerk who could care less about Tifa's breaking heart. If they are only friends, then it makes perfect sense why Cloud would be seeking a reunion with Aerith again instead of wanting to be with Tifa.

In my opinion, the Low Affection version of the Highwind Scene is the one being followed throughout the rest of the game as well as the Compilation (during which Cloud and Tifa are not portrayed as being in any romantic relationship and there has been **zero** progression toward a romantic relationship between them). Not only that, but the two Highwind Scenes are merely there for replay value and nothing more. While the **player** can choose for Cloud to show romantic interest in Tifa, it doesn't change the fact that he loves Aerith. In other words, Cloud's love for Tifa is **optional**.

Cloud's love for Aerith is **not optional**.

A good example is FFX, where Tidus can show romantic interest in Rikku or Lulu. Between Rikku and Lulu, it is Lulu that seems more inclined to show interest in Tidus, but it doesn't mean that either of them were intended to be Tidus's love interest. Regardless of any optional scenes or dialogues, regardless of affections levels, Tidus still loves Yuna and they are the intended pairing. The scenes with Rikku and Lulu were simply thrown in for replay value. They don't actually mean anything in the end. It is much the same between Cloud and Tifa.

Though Cloud can date Tifa, Yuffie, or Barret instead of Aerith, it doesn't change the fact that Cloud and Aerith love one another and are the intended pairing of FFVII. And, although Cloud has an optional scene with Tifa that may or may not show affection between them under the Highwind, it doesn't change the fact that Cloud and Aerith are the intended pairing of FFVII and Cloud loves Aerith regardless of any affection and/or optional scenes he might feel/share with Tifa (or anyone else).

An interesting note: Yuna is the default character for cut scenes when there is a tie, much like Aerith is the default character for the date scene at Gold Saucer, even if there is a tie between she and Tifa (or anyone else). Coincidence? I think not...

The bottom line? Cloud loves Aerith. The **player** can choose for Cloud to **also** love Tifa, but you cannot eradicate the love between Cloud and Aerith. He can love **both** Aerith and Tifa (optionally). Or he can love just Aerith. He cannot love just Tifa. This was the original intent when the game was created, regardless of the current fan-pandering stance that Square-ENIX has now taken.

One final thought in regard to Square-ENIX's fan-pandering... Throughout the Compilation and all spin-off games in which Cloud, Aerith, and Tifa appear, Cloud x Aerith gets actual solid proof while Cloud x Tifa gets fluff that seems to satisfy the fans, but doesn't actually have any true meaning to it. Want proof of that? Just read through my site... ;-)

[yzkhr]

take me laser tagging and then push me into a corner and kiss me. then shoot me and walk away.

-

Today was almost the perfect definition of a relaxing day for Tokyo University's criminology student Kudo Shinichi. The weather was nice, with some of the sun's warm rays making it's way through the gaps of their window in the living room. The place was quiet, free of any random advices from his father and constant doting of his mother.

With him laying comfortably on the soft couch with his hand holding his favorite mystery novel and a cup of steaming hot coffee on the near table, today was just a nice day to chill.

Not until his girlfriend came in ruined it all.

Stomping her feet rather aggressively, Mouri Ran made her way towards her boyfriend whose obvious comfort in his position made her already bad mood turn worse.

He felt her presence but decided to pay no heed to it, not wanting to peel his eyes of the most exciting part. However, ignoring her was proven impossible as she literally flopped her body down on top of him, startling his composure.

"Ran" he reprimanded. However, looking at her innocent—still with a hint of annoynce—face, Shinichi decided to just let her be. Besides, having Ran close to him was never a bad thing.

Then she just had to insert her head in the crook of his neck, making his previous calm heartbeat faster. He tried to focus on the book, but the warm inhaling and exhaling on his neck wasn't making it any easier.

But, the last straw of his ability to be comprehensive was gone when Ran started kissing the side of his neck lightly.

Feeling his entire body slightly tremor, he tried to say something—anything— but his thoughts were cut off when she slightly sucked a sensitive spot. He couldn't help but let out a grunt.

The so called precious book in Shinichi's hand was now gone, as he was grabbing on to something more important. Feeling his hands around her waist, Kudo Shinichi's little tease finally spoke.

"Shinichi?" she asked, deliberately whispering into his ear.

"Hmm?"

He tried to gather his thoughts but they were all blocked out by pleasure.

"You love me right?"

It was a weird question, seeing how utterly submissive he is right now to her but he answered nonetheless, although with half of a mind.

"yah."

"You'll do anything for me?"

On any normal day, he would have been frightened at such a question but today wasn't a normal day. Specially if his girlfriend is already slightly nibbling at his left ear.

"yah.."

"Then, you'll go laser tagging with me?"

At this point, his mind was already somewhere else. Without even thinking about it as he's focusing on her kisses and nibbles instead of words, Shinichi instinctively answered.

"yahh.."

One second she was on top of him—making him lose his focus and ability to understand a thing except for the fact that she was kissing him—the next Ran was already on her way to her room, skipping lightly.

After a few milliseconds, Shinichi's brain catches up, finally getting the purpose of Ran's unusual and sudden actions a while ago. He hastily stood up and started making his way towards her and knocked three desperate times.

"Ran!" he protested, not wanting to leave his safe haven(that was completely destroyed) but Ran only answered in a muffled voice through the walls of their room.

"You said yes!" she even spoke in a sing-song manner which implied that she was already almost done dressing up and backing out would be unacceptable.

Kudo Shinichi ruffled his hair in frustration, the events just a few minutes earlier repeating in his head.

"She got me." he whispered, defeated.

-

It was a good thing joypolis was not far away from their house so they can get in the laser tag place easier and get out of there faster as well.

As they got into the vest room after the short briefing of the game, Shinichi was still very contemplative if wasting time at a game of laser tag more worth it than finishing his mystery novel back at home but seeing Ran's bright smile as she's wearing her vest similar to a child definitely made Shinichi lean on laser tagging.

As everyone—except Shinichi— get ready to enter the gaming arena, Ran pulled him out of his inner thoughts by slightly elbowing him at the side.

"Why do you look so bored Shinichi? Come on, it'll be fun." she chided, as if forgetting she dragged him out of the house.

"Sorry but my definition of fun today would be finishing my mystery book at home."

His girlfriend only raised an eyebrow and grinned at his remark.

"But that's boring. Laser tagging is so much more fun!"

He gave up, knowing clearly their definition of fun differ too much from one another.

But, maybe Ran could be right. Maybe Laser Tagging could be entertaining and not boring. Not to brag or anything but, Shinichi was pretty sure he can beat everyone with his eyes closed so he just hoped the game wouldn't be over in just a few minutes.

-

He lied. They were losing.

It wasn't even because his team was bad, it was because the other group were just a lot stronger. What frustrated him even more was the fact that it was only a single person that made the other team stronger. Of course, it was none other than his karate champion girlfriend.

Half of him was proud, this being the proof of her speed and good reflexes but the other half was annoyed, knowing he was losing and he can't do anything about it.

It was almost impossible to caught a Mouri Ran off guard. Before they can even get close to her, she would already feel their presence and turn around to shoot them. They also can't go face to face. There was nothing left except to--

Well, Shinichi was pretty sure he was going to get his ass kicked if wouldn't work, but it was worth the try.

-

Ran was confident. They were winning by a landslide. It was fairly easy compared to her battles with Kasumi-senpai. Her enemies were quick to spot and with her quick reflexes, she can shoot them in no time. She was sure that nothing would get in the way of their team to win.

If only she didn't get so cocky.

Ran was about to turn around a corner to try and find her targets when a cold hand yanked her to the opposite direction instead.

Having no time to react, she found herself being pushed into a close corner, her back making contact to the frigid wall. Since it was dark, with only a few placed neon lights in their area, she couldn't see the culprit. The stranger's hands were now on both side of her shoulders, successful at pining her. Despite the situation, she did take note how gentle they were, making sure that she didn't get hurt from the push.

Finally finding her voice and composure, Ran attempted to scold whoever the person was only to lost them again, this time, through a kiss.

For a second, she didn't know how to react. Involuntarily, her clenched fist was on their way to her kisser's face, only for Ran to stop it halfway, tasting a familiar minty taste from her mouth.

'Shinichi' Ran immediately thought.

Still having a little bit of her sanity left, she tried to break away—weakly, being distracted at how nice the kissing was—but to absolutely no avail.

In fact, he only leaned in harder, pushing his tongue inside her mouth, this time, making her totally blank.

The rational part of her was practically screaming, telling her how wrong and embarrassing the scene was but all the irrational part wanted was to pull him even closer and deepen the kiss more than ever. So she did.

Ran wrapped her armed left hand and empty right hand around her boyfriend, coaxing him closer.

At that moment, all that mattered was his lips on hers and their body making contact with each other as they push and pull.

When Ran wanted to go laser tagging, she meant it with every sense of the word. But perhaps, stuff like this would happened and it wouldn't be so bad. In fact, she might even prefer it than shooting beams at light vests.

Not being contented with just her lips, Shinichi went for her neck, and sucked it lightly, the same spot she did his earlier that day.

She definitely preferred this.

-

This wasn't the plan.

He was just suppposed to kiss her lightly and distract her for a short period of time so why is he still there, pining her against the wall, desperately kissing each other like there's no tomorrow?

An eternity pass but neither one wanted to pull away. He should've been running out of ari by now. But for him, kissing Ran had never been so tiring. In fact, Shinichi could do it all day if he was permitted to. The odd sweet taste that only she have—not that he kissed any other girl before— he wanted to name it.

The two of them completely forgot about the ongoing game, with them playing a more exciting and pleasurable game on their own.

Fortunately—or unfortunately—a tiny bit of Shinichi came back to it's senses by hearing a faint shooting sound, bringing him to his current task at hand.

Knowing that if he stayed longer kissing her, he'd just be sucked in again so he move to her neck, sucking it, with both the intent of distracting her and something else.

Seeing Ran completely dazed, he slowly held his gun up to her stomach while still kissing her, albeit less aggressive for fear he'll lose himself and never stop.(which doesn't sound so bad.)

With one last smack, he pulled the trigger.

-

The loud sound effect of a shooting beam broke Ran out her trance with her slightly nodding her head off. She was breathing hard, still trying to catch air from the activity.

Seconds passed as the post-kiss effect was finally gone, that's only when she noticed one of her lights were off. The previous sound of a shooting beam came back to her.

She looked up to see Shinichi grinning, slightly waving his gun off. In that moment, everything clicked.

Ran's face warped from the state confusion to anger almost instantly. Shinichi took that as a sign to get away.

"Shinichi!" Before she could even begin to run after him, he was already gone. Advantage of a spccer player with strong legs.

Having the kissing scene played out in her mind, she sighed with mixed in feelings in them.

"He got me."

-

I'm new to writing kissing scenes so please bear with me :))

[wendell-or-something]

I haven't really said anything about Stranger Things on tumblr yet, but this has me itching to share meta that I typed up the other day so I'm just gonna pop it down here...

okay so this is mostly to do with Eddie, but it's been bugging me for a while. I don't really agree with his character arc. like, on paper we're supposed to believe that Eddie's whole thing is about courage vs. cowardice... but to me, his story actually ended up being a lot more about acceptance vs. alienation. and especially considering how his persecution aligns with characters like Will, or like El in her new school... I think that is a much stronger theme.

from his opening scene, Eddie doesn't really display cowardice as a character trait. in the lunchroom, he's fine with talking a big game and provoking everyone around him, especially sports guys and cheerleaders (this will even backfire on him later). in terms of courange/cowardice, this could be an indication of hubris... like he talks a big game but can't back it up? but that's about all you could extrapolate, and I'd say the tone is kind of wrong for that. it feels more like he's being harmlessly weird, and kind of laughing at anyone who manages to get offended anyway, because it's ridiculous.

in terms of acceptance/alienation, there's a lot more to unpack. he alienates himself from the rest of the social ecosystem in the luchroom, but you get the sense that he isn't the one who threw the first stone, and you can feel Jason's animosity building, even before he has a reason to do anything. there's a rift of judgement there, but Eddie rejecting them back is a declaration of his intent to remain who he is. the way the popular kids socially pressure each other to conform is something he's immune to, because he just doesn't care.

meanwhile, Chrissy is going through some really difficult shit, and she doesn't feel like she can talk to anyone about it. and it's not just because she can't explain the hallucinations... it's because these problems are something that could get her ostracized if she looks too weird, broken, or flawed because of them. straight laced people like Jason are intimidating to talk to, but human disaster Eddie Munson provides acceptance, even as she pursues drugs to try and deal with the visions.

and at the same time, Mike and Dustin are dealing with the Lucas situation. that's it's own can of worms, where the boys each feel alienated by the other's allegiances shifting, but what's important here is that Lucas has to mask himself as a normie in order to find a tenuous acceptance from the basketball team, but Mike and Dustin get to have fun the way they always have when they go play DnD with Eddie. and that's not to say that Eddie isn't pushing them either! Eddie definitely has his priorities locked on the DnD game, and screw Lucas's aspirations when it comes to basketball... why would Eddie feel sympathy for someone prioritizing a normie interest anyway? but he's still willing to reach across the isle when it comes to Chrissy, so you get the sense that he knows when it's important to drop the bullshit and just help someone who needs it.

there's also a bit that you can read into Eddie based on his ties to DnD in general. DnD is a game that is played cooperatively, and the players all have to pick areas of specialization to benefit the team. literally, it takes all types, and diversity is a tactical benefit. Eddie is deeply familiar with these concepts... he knows about party balance. and so, it is incredibly weird to me that mr. counterculture himself, the guy who knows about this kind of team building and specialized skillsets, would be beating himself up all season for not being a standard run of the mill fighter. and even more so because that wouldn't actually solve the initial problem that got him into this mess.

like, when we see Chrissy's death, Eddie supposedly "runs away" at the sight of danger, but I wouldn't consider this to be a test of his courage or fighting ability. what on earth was he supposed to do?? and especially after he has it explained to him what's going on, it's especially clear that there was nothing that he had the ability to do, in that moment, to save her. heck, he even stayed to try and wake her until she started floating, and witnessed her whole death, gruesome as it was. that's not cowardly!

however, what does become clear more and more as the season goes on, is that Eddie's alienation from broader normal culture, is really what's kicking his ass. if Eddie had learned the art of "go along to get along" or laid low or been more agreeable... maybe the town wouldn't be so quick to hate him. he ran because he knew they'd blame him, and honestly, he wasn't wrong to anticipate that. but the "go along to get along" sentiment just kind of sucks on the face of it. Eddie is himself, in part, because he can't be anyone else. this is just who he is, the whole and honest truth, and he shouldn't feel obligated to exist any differently. but he literally can't live like this. not in this community.

even in the moments where Eddie expresses that he's sick of running away, I took his words to mean that he's sick of being kicked out and persecuted... he's sick of having reasons to run. he's sick of people hating everything he likes, and assuming the worst of him, and deciding he's a bad person when they don't even know him. and it's just really unfortunate that when Chrissy, someone normal by all accounts, tried to reach out to him, she ended up dead. because beneath the surface, she was messed up too.

but that's Eddie's double edged sword in action. he is alienated because he's seen as a weirdo, loud and proud. and this makes him a target for some, and a beacon for others. if someone feels like they might be too weird to survive another day in this deeply normal town, he's exactly who they'd go to. that's why Chrissy died in his living room. she was always going to die... nobody knew enough at that point to save her. but she died with him, with a friend, because she didn't feel like she had to run away from him. she ran to him in her final moments, because she knew he was safe.

that is the theme of Eddie's character. he doesn't fight... and that's what makes him feel safe. and he especially represents safety to the people who feel rejected by the rest of the world. I'd actually call it an act of courage for him to paint a target on his own back, just so all the little weird kids and nerds can see that he's there, and know where to go. they aren't alone, and this is the guy who makes sure they know that. and when the world rejects him too, he finds himself with a support system of all the weirdos he ever took under his wing. they stick with him, and they save him.

right up until he has to distract some demobats, and he dies alone in the hell dimension. so like, I dunno, maybe I'm just talking out my ass.

but the really unfortunate thing that this does, in the context of the acceptance vs. alienation theme, is it lets alienation win. Eddie dies, which is a very clean and convenient thing for the town of Hawkins Indiana. and the little gang of weirdos he left behind has to keep living in the community that rejected him. and they have to keep trying to save Hawkins, even though this whole town just showed it's true colors... the town was the villain, at least in some part. the town was willing to hunt the entire rest of the hellfire club, purely based on their association with Eddie. a guy like Eddie literally couldn't survive here, all these kids loved that guy, and now they have to save this town. and you can see other characters mirroring this in other parts of the plot as well... as I mentioned at the top, what does this say about Eleven, as a victim of intense bullying, or Will, as someone who anticipates his own rejection and preemptively decides not to try and have what he wants? this is such a bleak thing to do thematically, like, why are we treating Eddie's death as though he triumphantly redeemed himself of a character flaw by doing this?? it's actually the exact opposite. he was innocent, and he died because there was no safe place for him in Hawkins.

You’re not a freak. Yeah, I am.