#anyway what to name zidane?

[triumphantbass]

Dawntrail Retrospective

Okay, it's been two weeks since Dawntrail launched, a bit over a week since I've cleared it and have had time to think things over, wanted to do a big dump of my thoughts, a non-scored review of it all.

Full spoilers after the break.

So, I want to give this all a nuanced look; I know this has been a polarizing expansion; I did very much enjoy my time while still having some qualms, and I'll try to highlight both sides of that here.

Overall, while it would be low in my expansion rankings, that's not to say it's bad. Just as I probably bump Heavensward up a bit in my rankings because it did so much with so little (in terms of budget, gameplay tools available, story to build on, cast, etc.), Dawntrail takes a hit because I know what they're capable of these days.

But a 10 year saga is a tough act to follow, and I know if this was my first FFXIV experience (it might be a lot of people's one day, if the 'second saga starting point' for new players they mentioned ever gets implemented), I'd be going 'oh wow'.

Anyways, before I pick things apart, I'd like to highlight what really worked for me.

Sphene was my problematic fave. I know Artificial Intelligence tropes can be overdone, but I have a fondness for them because when done right, an AI is clearly authored by someone. Just like a biography, even an autobiography, paints the subject in a certain way, an AI really reflects the creators' biases.

Just as the soul technology was shown as a mechanical version of the aetherial sea, Sphene really felt like a sort of digital primal for Alexandria, the people's desires latched on to her, sort of a vtuber Zodiark.

I loved the development that her compassionate personality (taken from the OG Sphene) was distinctly incompatible with her unsustainable primary directive, protecting and preserving Alexandria's way of life (the directive from the people)

And I appreciated that part of the thesis statement of her character is "a Garnet who never traveled with Zidane would become a tool of Alexandria, her kindness taken advantage of as a figurehead''. Which makes it nice when Wuk Lamat breaks through during The Interphos to appeal to her.

She can feel like a bit of a rehash of Hades and Metion, but I do enjoy the contrast of her valuing life too much to Metion not valuing it enough; it's important to know how to live in spite of despair, but it's also important to accept that even memory is not forever.

Also while I'm here I have to say I absolutely respect the zone change of Living Memory from stunningly beautiful to hauntingly somber. I hope that change is not reverted in patches, as it's absolutely the starkest environment change in the game.

I like the idea of casting aside nostalgia to care for the living, and I thought this zone was a welcome surprise from the "Golden City" imagery a South and Central American expansion invokes.

(PS, massive Simulated Twilight Town vibes)

And I thought Cachuia was well done in this zone; I was a bit antsy earlier with how they made her into just a drone, but I liked the resolution between her and Erenvelle

But one thing I want to stress as I sing the praises of the last zone and change, is that neither half of this expansion works without the other, because unlike other split expansions (SB having the Gyr Albania and Yanxia halves, EW having Islabard then the Ancients), it felt clear in why it had both halves, and that was for the contrast of the same theme, Namely, the ideas of culture, tradition, and history, and how they affect the living.

When Wuk Lamat is giving her speech during her ceremony, she notes one of the societies taught her "they believe death is not the end, and we live on so long as we are remembered", which Sphene says almost verbatim of her people later, menacingly polite as that same belief is twisted.

There are some roots of this conflict in the first half too, with Koana's disinterest in culture and tradition, before realizing progress and culture weren't incompatible.

While Alexandria instead takes it to a logical, Black Mirror extreme, discarding culture and history, literally forgetting anyone who passes (while assuring themselves anyone who is lost still lives on) and living purely in the present moment; death itself removed from the public circle.

I don't think the Alexandria half, the modern, present-focused society works without first setting up a region with a rich culture and history.

In the first few regions, you see how those who walked before led those who walked after, while in Heritage Found... you see a heritage lost. On both sides of the divider there are abandoned buildings; a sidequest in the graveyard has the keeper note that memorials have fallen out of favor due to regulators, Alexandria had a perfect record of history (data, people, all stored in the cloud), but didn't use it; specifically keeping it away to prevent painful memories from affecting the present. While Yok Tural had an imperfect history (a lot in legends, retold/inconsistent oral history), but that history distinctly affected their day to day; even the painful memories, the tragedies, all played a part in shaping the present.

Even though it could make the pacing clunky at times, I did like that Wuk Lamat's basic setup of "learn about these people and understand why they make the choices they do" extended to Solution Nine and even Living Memory.

Garool Jaja was also a very good character, loved his performance, do kinda wish his solo duty where he confides the true nature of the contest was the very start of the expansion; I feel like it would have set the tone for this being the "The WoL is a mentor arc" better.

Also to wrap up the good side: every single dungeon and trial was ace. Dungeons finally hit a good level of difficulty for normal content, and were well designed and very pretty. Vanguard and Everkeep in particular were delights, as was the postgame dungeon Tender Valley.

------------------------------------------------------------------

And on to my more mixed feelings.

Wuk Lamat- I don't hate her, but I don't like her that much either. I tried to keep an open mind for the full MSQ, but ultimately she's not a character I really vibed with; I do get the shonen protag/Naruto appeal, but it's really not for me. She's been described as 'Lyse 2.0', and while I admit I have similar feelings about Lyse, I do think Wuk Lamat has a more natural progression. Lyse started Stormblood feeling like a 20 something on a mission trip, while Wuk Lamat feels like a reasonable candidate who just needs a little encouragement.

I don't mind too much our WoL taking a mentor role and taking a backseat, while downplaying their powers; but what I struggled most with was fatigue. Wuk Lamat was always there, like the memes of "Talk to Wuk Lamat" say. Like Shadowbringers was the expansion where Graha was the main character, and a lot of the time he was away doing city stuff or being mysterious. Wuk Lamat would have benefited from more time to breathe, especially in the back half of the game. She should still be there in the back half for sure, for the expansion to work she needs to be a player in all this, but I'll admit I sighed when I got to Solution Nine thinking I'd explore by myself (probably bumping into her at one of the locations) but instead needed to escort her. As I noted earlier, I don't mind the Interphos interruption (though I did appreciate the chance for the WoL to be at full strength) because Wuk Lamat appealing to Sphene's humanity fit the expansion themes well.

Succession- I'm happy this didn't go into my worst fear: a retread of the Azim Steppe where we actively interfere in another nation's politics by being their champion; but it left a bit to be desired. Notably, while I knew the Scion Civil War was a bit of a misdirect, it felt kinda pointless? Like Thancred and Urianger are here helping an alumni from their university out as he applies for the same job, but they're totally chill with you. And honestly there are no stakes to him getting the job, he's the only other qualified candidate to the point where you hire him later yourself.

I didn't want any longstanding inter-scion conflict, but for a character as frequently duplicitous as Urianger and driven as Thancred it just felt like a waste.

Also, GJJ clearly told the WoL that the keystones didn't determine the victor; he would pick a successor that was worthy- I kinda wish they just stuck to that. Having the "good' rulers and "bad" rulers paired together for the cooking challenge felt like a bit of a cop-out, , plus needing to win back a stolen keystone, etc. just felt like missed opportunities.

Zarool Ja and Bakool Jaja - I get what they were going for in the end with each of these: ZJ being the "impossible son of an impossible son, the weight of expectations causing him to shun those around him, and that loneliness twisting him", BJJ being desperate to help his people, feeling the major survivors guilt of his own life costing so many others.

but neither of their narrative arcs are smooth, and in the first half, especially during the trial, they seem to be doing comically evil Wacky Races Dick Dastardly behavior with no regards for a continuous arc. BJJ releasing Valigarmanda was the icing on the cake for me. He could have done this in a reasonable way, weakening the seal in an attempt to sabotage the trial, then feeling guilt over what he did in desperation, but no he walked up to the gate keepers like 'no I'm evil, I'm gonna destroy that now' any hints of ZJ sympathy come like, during his trial and from the Wandering Minstrel, who even notes most will see him as a one dimensional tyrant

I also think they could have distinguished both more from just being warmongers; in the same way that Wuk Lamat and Koana are somewhat aligned but have different visions, personally it would have made more sense to me if BJJ had a different brand of conservatism; putting a stronger emphasis on defense and isolationism rather than world conquest. It would fit his background better too, as someone who wanted to protect his homeland

--------------------------------------------------------------------

My most negative thoughts are really just pacing. I would like to not have so many quests just running around talking to people, not learning much of note. I know there are only so many things you can do (stand in purple cloud and kill 3 enemies isn't great either), but at this point I'd honestly just take a shorter MSQ if it meant better story pacing.

I know the first half is meant to be like an abbreviated ARR, and I don't mind it being low stakes, just wish it had a bit more polish.

I will also say I felt a lot more limited in my dialog at times? Like I don't need every box to have "I'll kill your god if I have to, maybe even if I don't", but there felt like a lot of instances where you had two ways to say the same sentiment. I like it when the game lets you have opinions, even if the opinions are objectively bad (you can straight up tell Noah the Allagans were visionaries) A lot of that pacing was more actual story content than the quests though; the first three zones could feel like extended allied society quests (solid enough ones), which wasn't bad for a 'fresh start', but Shalooni is where things felt off. I liked the vibes but frankly the quests left barely any impressions at all.

(loved the trolley dig though)

------------------------------------------------------------------

Overall, like I said, I enjoyed my time. While it may not be a favorite expansion, it sets a good baseline for another ten years, and I hope they can refine it in the patch series and beyond.

There's a lot more I could probably say, I realized I didn't have a chance to touch on Erenvelle (very glad he tagged along) and Krile; but I feel I'll have more thoughts on both of their plotlines after the patch series.

P.S. though I rolled my eyes at some of the running jokes I genuinely got a chuckle out of Wuk Evu always freaking out then snapping back to polite with "well I won't overthink it then" and similar. Felt very Chocobo Racing GP.

P.P.S. Wood-carved owl nouliths are the best idea. A+ weapon.

[whumpdoyoumean]

Whumptober #12

A/N: This is a little fix-it thing (of the "make it whumpier" variety) for the season 6 finale of FBI, so spoilers for that. But really, that show needs to stop putting OA in the most perilous situations imaginable and then have him walk away without a scratch.

xxx just a little more

"OA?" Scola calls. He can see his fellow agent's still form a little ways off, and he keeps an eye on him as he checks Bashir. OA had been close to the blast--too close--and while it's possible that he's just been temporarily stunned, Scola knows the chances of that are slim to none. Still, though, he watches for any signs of movement, and he hopes. "Omar!" he yells again. "OA!"

When he's sure that Bashir is dead, and the weapon secure, Scola starts toward OA.

"Hey! You g--" The question dies in his throat as he reaches OA's side, and he freezes in his tracks.

There are burns on the left side of OA's neck, reaching all the way up to his jaw and behind his ear, which has a thin line of blood trickling from it. There's more blood from a cut over his right eyebrow, and a piece of shrapnel has embedded itself in the inside of his bicep. Scola stares for a horrified moment before shaking himself from his stupor, quickly setting his and Bashir's weapons down and kneeling in the dirt. He presses two fingers against the uninjured side of OA's neck while his other hand reaches for his earpiece.

"This is Agent Scola. We've got an agent down, in the woods northwest of the building." OA's pulse beneath his fingertips is erratic, and he still hasn't responded to Scola's presence. "I need a medic here now."

"We've got medical on the way, Agent Scola. But there are a lot of injured civilians here, I'm not sure--"

"Look," Scola interrupts. "Agent Zidan is in bad shape." Because I let him use himself as bait.He pushes the thought down, and the feelings of guilt that accompany it. "As soon as they get here, you send someone our way, understand? In the meantime, get someone here with a first-aid kit."

He doesn't hear the reply, his full attention already back on OA. He knows enough not to pull the shrapnel out, but he wants to get a look at that arm. He pulls out his utility knife and cuts away the sleeve of OA's puffer jacket.

"Oh, damn it," he says quietly.

The sleeve of OA's shirt under the jacket is soaked through with blood, and even as he watches he can see the dark spot spreading. The concern he's been feeling sharpens. If the shrapnel hit the brachial artery, then OA's situation just got more urgent than it already was.

"Okay, Omar, I'm gonna do my best to help you until the professionals get here." He doesn't know if OA can hear him, but he says it anyway. "You just hang on."

"Agent Scola!" someone calls, and Scola waves an arm.

"Over here!"

The man jogs over, a large bag slung over his shoulder. His eyes widen as he sees OA.

"Oh, god," he says, stopping next to Scola, wide-eyed.

"I need the tourniquet," Scola says. The man doesn't move and Scola turns to look at him. "Now!"

"Right," the guy says, blinking. "Right, sorry." He drops the bag and kneels next to it. He's moving quickly now, which Scola appreciates, and holds up the tourniquet a second later. "Here."

Scola takes it, wrapping the band around OA's arm, a few inches above the shrapnel. "What's your name?"

"Cameron."

"K, Cameron, I need you to move over here." He points to the ground beyond OA's head. "You're going to hold his head. If he wakes up, you need to keep him as still as you can."

"Got it."

Scola nods at him, then starts twisting the windlass rod. OA remains unresponsive at first, but as the tourniquet gets tighter his face twitches into a frown and he lets out a groan.

"You with me, OA?" Scola says, glancing up at him. He continues to tighten, and OA's head twitches against Cameron's hand. Scola knows his instinct is probably to try and twist away from the pain. "I know it hurts, but you've gotta try and keep still, man."

OA doesn't respond, but his eyes squeeze shut tighter and he lets out a strangled cry.

"Just a little more," Scola says, wincing as he forces himself to keep going. "You're doing great."

"Is it supposed to hurt like that?" Cameron's voice is a little shaky, and when Scola looks up at him his face is pale.

"A correctly applied tourniquet is going to hurt, yes," Scola says. "But it's better than bleeding to death."

He finishes tightening the tourniquet, then secures the rod in place so it won't unwind. OA is trembling now. Scola doesn't know if it's from shock or pain, or if he's been burned badly enough that it's causing him to lose body heat. There's a lot he doesn't know, and if he thinks about it too much it'll drive him crazy. So he focuses on what he does know, which is that tactical first aid kits have thermal blankets. He digs through the bag until he finds one, then opens it up, draping the shiny Mylar over OA.

"What now?" Cameron says.

"We wait for EMS to get here. Monitor his breathing, keep him from moving if he starts to wake up again..." He puts a hand on OA's shoulder. "Hang in there."

xxx

"How is he?" Maggie says, breathless from running through the parking lot. Scola doesn't look at her. He can't bring himself to.

"They're taking him for scans now to rule out spinal injury. He'll need surgery to remove the shrapnel from his arm, and they're worried about his lungs. But hey, the burns probably won't need skin grafts, so at least there's that."

"God," Maggie breathes. She takes a deep breath, then turns to Scola. "What about you, are you okay?"

Scola feels a surge of guilt, and it forces its way out of him as a bitter laugh. "I'm not the one who almost died today, Maggie. I'm not the one who might need to be put on a ventilator, or the one who's going to have a long, painful recovery." He shakes his head. "I shouldn't have let him run out into Bashir's line of fire like that."

"Hey," Maggie says firmly. "He didn't just do that to protect you. He did it for all of those people. He knew what he was doing. It was his choice."

"Yeah, but..."

"But what? It should be you lying there instead of him?"

"Yes!"

Maggie scoffs. "How is that any better, Scola?"

He...doesn't actually have an answer to that. He shrugs. "It just is."

"It isn't. You're right, he has a hell of a recovery ahead of him, and he's going to need all the support he can get. You can't give him that support if you're too busy drowning in guilt."

Scola bristles at that. She's right, though, and he knows it. He sighs, finally looking at Maggie for the first time.

"I'll work on it."

"Good. Now why don't we go find someplace to sit? You look like you could use a break."

Scola nods, suddenly hit by a wave of fatigue. "Yeah. That's not a bad idea. Thanks, Maggie."

xxx

[imclimbingthestairsoforthanc]

High Tide - Erestor x Reader (Pt. 2)

Preparations for the upcoming festivities (that you are dreading more and more) begin, and a project of your own is pushed back, to your dismay. Just when everything goes horribly wrong for you, an encounter with Erestor suggests things might not be as bad as they seem.

Taglist: @batsyforyou @asianbutnotjapanese

Anadune zidan… allabik

Anadune zaran

Anadune zadan allabik.

“You were closer on the first transcription.” 

You heard Elrohir’s rich voice before you saw him sit next to you on the bench.

Anadune zaran hikallaba.

You watched with your nose scrunched and your eyebrows furrowed as Elrohir scribbled out ‘the house of Numenor felled her’ to replace it with ‘Numenor the beloved, she fell.’

“It’s gotten better,” he said, “You shouldn’t be so hard on yourself.”

“I am not,” you replied, “Your sister is. She is a surprisingly good tutor, expectant albeit. I had not known her to know the language so well.”

“Suppose she learned it from that Numenorean lover?”

You scoffed. “Suppose he speaks Adûnaic?”

Elrohir shook his head. “‘Course not. The man isn’t even Numenorean.”

“His name is Aragorn,” you said. You fought the urge to push back against Elrohir’s subtle hostility for the man that had wooed his sister, but you know it would do no good. “What are you up to, anyways? Scarce that you find your way here.” You motioned to your surroundings in the library.

“The seamstress sent me–I came to let you know that the seamstress has a dress made for you,” he said, “It’s one she thinks you’ll like for the ball.”

“I had to tell this to Elladan,” you said, “The cofferdams will have just been taken down on the thirteenth of August. I need to be at the bridge that day.”

Elrohir pressed his lips into a thin line, You didn’t miss the shift in his gaze.

You cut your eyes. “What have you done?”

“Don’t look at me like that,” said Elrohir, “I haven’t done anything. You didn’t already know?”

“Know what?”

“Father ordered that the construction of the bridge be put off until next summer.”

Your bare feet made no sound against the stone pathway in Imladris. Several residents greeted you on your way to the gardens, but out of urgency (that really wasn’t necessary, but you had become quite temperamental regarding the upcoming ball and tended to dramatize the details) you paid them no mind. The tears pooling up in your eyes spilled over as soon as you found coverage behind a hydrangea bush. 

Frustration reared its ugly head at Elladan and Elrohir, and everyone else who pestered you about marriage. You were frustrated at Elrond for overriding your wishes just to please the kings and lords of the other lands. With a twinge of curiosity of what your gown would look like (and maybe what would happen at the ball with a certain resident of Imladris, but you would never admit that), more than frustration welled up at you own father–but he wasn’t here to take his rightful blame, so you would have to settle for Elrond and his house.

You hated that they had you so worked up at this time of day–you wanted nothing more than to… practice. Putting yourself in a place that was out of your comfort zone was a bad idea when you were already so vexed. But, then again, you were out far outside of your comfort zone before, with no preparation. So, with the breathing techniques that Elrond had taught you when you first came to him in your youth, you took five deep breaths and let out all the anger and frustration that was simmering in your gut and took a step toward the water.

You were pleased with yourself when the touch of the water on your toes didn’t phase you at all, but you quickly set it aside to focus on moving deeper. Your eyes watched where you skin met the surface of the water just to make sure that you were the one moving, not the water. Slowly, you made your way out farther. When you decided you were out far enough and the water touched your knee, the farthest out you had ever been, you let out a pleased sigh.

“I didn’t expect to see you here.” you nearly jumped at the voice.

You turned to see Erestor sitting on the bench with an empty wine glass in his hand and a bottle next to him. “How long have you been sitting there?”

“Long enough to have another glass of wine,” he replied, “Elrond has run me ragged the past few days.”

“I could say the same,” you said. A scowl made its way to your face. 

Erestor turned his head, “What’s he done to you?”

“It’s just everything about this ball,” you said, “It’s quite frustrating.”

Your eyes followed him as he stood and laid his outer robe over the back of the bench. Then, with disbelief, you watched him shed his shoes and step foot in the water, soiling his trousers and shirt. Was this real? Erestor waded deeper into the water until it touched the middle of his chest. You thought you heard his voice over your disbelief and shook your head. 

“What is it about this ball that has you so worked up anyway?” said Erestor.

You watched his inky black hair float around him in the water. “I do not know.”

Your eyes drifted back up to his silvery ones that had cut themselves in your direction. You should have known–his second glass of pinot blanc may have rid him of his usual stoic and serious demeanor, but it did not veil your lies from his keen gray eyes that seemed closer than they did when he first waded out into the water.

“Everything,” you said, “Lord Elrond says it’s nothing I have to worry about–that it’s just to satisfy the people and that once it is over with I will not hear from any of these men again and I can go on about my life, but that cannot be farther from the truth. In reality, I will arrive at this ball dressed to the nines and converse with many a bachelor and I will have to pretend to enjoy their company. Then, by the end of the night, or week if I am lucky, everyone around me will be eager to know which one of them I will have chosen.”

“Chosen?”

“To marry.”

“Ahh,” said Erestor over the ripple of the water between the two of you, “Tell me again why you are so repulsed at the mention of marriage?”

“You know why.”

Erestor felt your hand press down onto his underneath the surface of the water. He did not waver. “I know what you have told me.”

“That’s that, then,” you said, “Isn’t it?”

Erestor watched as your eyes cut and shifted downwards. He knew you had told him you were repulsed at the idea of marriage, but he also knew that you were the one wading out closer to him, coming further and further out into the water with each splash and ripple.

“I think maybe it’s the same reason you were so upset with Elrond for pushing back construction of the bridge, and why you have only just now, after seventy-five years, accepted Arwen’s offer of Adunaic Tutoring.” 

You cut your eyes and squeezed his hand a little tighter than you’d meant to. “Why is that?”

“You want to be in control.”

You let out a dry laugh, “I suppose I do–as is normal, unless you find yourself indulging in strange fantasies or fetishes. But what’s that got to do with it?”

Erestor wrinkled his nose. “I think you have trouble giving up all control–or at least some of it. It’s a heavy burden, you know.”

“One that some are not meant to bear.” 

“Maybe not,” Erestor said, “But some would. And I know you wouldn’t mind sharing it, anyways.”

“I am perfectly capable of ‘carrying the burden’ on my own, thank you.” 

“I can prove it,” he said, “here and now.”

You almost laughed at the boyish smirk that the chief counselor of the house of Elrond boasted. “I’m sure you could,” you said with sarcasm laced in your voice.

“Can you touch the bottom?”

Your eyes widened and your heart quickened. Your toes curled in search of the foothold on your mother’s dresser, but it was not to be found. Just as your chin teased the surface of the water, a strong arm found purchase around your waist–where the jewelry box on the top shelf would have been.

“Erestor,” you whimpered.

“I’ve got you.” You had not remembered his voice to be so velvet like. You had never been out so far in the water that it reached above your knees, and in a matter of minutes you found yourself unable to touch the bottom. You weren’t sure when you had migrated so far out into the water–so much closer to him–but you found yourself partly relieved and partly disappointed when he took one step closer so that the balls of your feet could brush the stoney soil on the bottom of the pool. You did not let go of him still. The bottom of the pool meant two things: security and familiarity found in the solid ground under your feet, and, the closer to the shore you got, the disappointment of having Erestor’s arm removed from your waist.

Erestor’s eyes did not tear from yours as he took another step. His hold on you loosened but did not give. His voice was low and gentle. “Do you want to learn to swim?”

[alister312]

The Origins of "DeLorne": An Update, A New Mystery, and Fandom History

So I've had this little thing among my pinned posts for a while, but basically, I've been curious where "DeLorne" (Christophe's almost universally agreed upon last name in the fandom) comes from. Previously, the earliest instance I'd found was on a dA art post in 2006, but I've since done more research and uncovered incredible pieces of fandom history, as well as a mystery! It's a pretty long story, but if you're interested in South Park fandom history at all (especially pertaining to Gregory and Christophe), I think you'll find it all fascinating. Let me rope you into the journey I've found myself on.

While I've been curious about "DeLorne" for a while, this particular phase of my research initiated from another pet project of mine— that being to read and archive all Gregstophe fics on FFN should the site go down someday. The oldest Gregstophe fic you can find just using filters was published in August 2005 and is called There's Always Tomorrow by Bagatelle. While this is the only Gregstophe fic on their FFN account, I've come to learn through sources I'll mention later that Bagatelle was a prolific Gregstophe author.

Anyway, the important thing to know for now is that I thought There's Always Tomorrow might actually be the true originator of "DeLorne" for a bit, as it uses it for Christophe's last name.

The author's intro of the first chapter cites two fics as inspiration for their own: Fierte Dedans (supposedly by KyleBroflovskiFan) and Parable of a Boy Named Gregory (supposedly by someone named either Oyaji or Zidane 2003). They also refer to Qindarka, aka the author of the famous Creek fic Aisle 10, as "my love" which is just an extra fun piece of fandom history to me.

With these other fics serving as a reference to There's Always Tomorrow, I figured they might also have "DeLorne". I went looking and discovered Fierte Dedans, which turned out to have been published in May 2005 by Saboteuse (their deviantArt name was KyleBroflovskiFan which is likely why they were called as such earlier). It's an unfinished fic, only getting two chapters and one sect of the love quadrangle(?) in (the fic was set to be a Gregstophe/Tophlovski/Style fic). In the first chapter, however, during a role call scene, it used "DeLorne" as Christophe's last name.

This was very exciting— I'd found a new origin point!

The author hadn't uploaded a fic since early 2014, but I decided "fuck it" and sent them a PM on FFN, asking if they were the first to use "DeLorne" or if they'd gotten it from somewhere. Miraculously, I got a message back!

So, not an origin, but at least it was a definitive answer! It also raised a new question, that being about Gregory's old fanon last name "Thorne". The aforementioned fic There's Always Tomorrow also uses "Thorne" as Gregory's last name and mentioned taking it directly from one of their inspirations— Parable of a Boy Named Gregory. I mentioned this to Saboteuse, who said that fic was definitely what they associate "Thorne" with but they weren't sure if it was the originator or simply popularized it.

Naturally, I had to find what I could about this Parable fic. Google was mostly a dead end though, only giving me its shoutout in There's Always Tomorrow and a mention of it in the Tropedia article on Celebrity Paradox. I learned it was a Pip/Gregory fic, that it was "of epic length", and there was a plot point involving a North Korean invasion. Put a pin in Parable, we'll circle back around to it.

Back on the trail of the origins of "DeLorne", thanks to @/stankvle's help, there seemed to be a new potential origin point:

February 2005 was now the earliest Christophe had been given the last name "DeLorne". This made me curious and I searched "christophe delorne" on deviantArt. This sketch was the earliest published thing in the search results, but I decided to check out other works and came to a fic from Jan 2006 called Brimstone by BassistArtistLoser. In the description, I found this:

This to me seemed to imply that "Twitch" could've been the first to use the name and everyone else copied them. I had to find Twitch.

Among the comments was a user named "twitchablewiz", who I assumed to be the same Twitch. Their deviantArt was mostly empty, seemingly wiped clean, save for a few posts including a poll asking what their final fic they published to FFN should be. I went searching and found one of those fics mentioned in the poll. I didn't care about that fic; instead I was more interested in another fic on their profile: a Tophlovski fic from December 2005. I had hoped to find "DeLorne" there, concrete evidence that they indeed used that last name.

Sadly, this fic with almost completely gutted because it was a smut fic and FFN was apparently cracking down on those back then. Twitch claimed they would reupload the fic on "FOSFF dot net" aka Freedom of Speech Fan Fiction Archive but apparently that entire site was wiped clean in 2013.

The interesting takeaway, however, was this bit:

There was another mention of Oyaji, the supposed author of Parable of a Boy Named Gregory, aka the possible origin of "Thorne"! I had tried searching "Oyaji" and "Zidane 2003" before to no avail, but now I had a new name to try. With this, I was able to find Oyaji's deviantArt. In scrolling through their past posts, I discovered this:

So here we have it: the reason why Parable was impossible to find before was because Oyaji intended on publishing it! This fic that might be the origin of "Thorne", Gregory's old fanon last name, might have been turned into a real novel. Oyaji says nothing in any of their other posts about whether or not they were actually able to publish. What they did provide though, as you can see, is their email.

So I emailed them, asking about Parable— if it got published, if I could read the original, if it truly was the origin of "Thorne". And, since Gregory and Christophe have been intrinsically linked to one another since their inception in 1999, I also asked if Oyaji might know anything about the origin of "DeLorne". I had hoped that I could get a response like I had when I messaged Saboteuse but, sadly... it seems that email account has been deleted.

As of March 12th, 2023, this is where the story ends. I feel like I'm so close to solving this fandom mystery, but there's still so many questions remaining. Is me-ladie the one who originated "DeLorne" as Christophe's last name, or was it Twitchy, or was it someone else entirely? Is there even an origin at all, or was it just collectively agreed upon by all the Christophe fans back in the early 2000s as Saboteuse supposes? Does "Thorne" come from Parable of a Boy Named Gregory, and did it actually get reworked and published as an original novel? Does anyone out there have a copy, or is it lost to time forever? I still don't know, and may never, but I wanted to get what I have thus far out there.

In looking for the origins "DeLorne", I came across this: the very first fic to tag Christophe on FFN.

It was published in October 2003, less than five years after Bigger, Longer, and Uncut premiered. It's mindblowing to me that people were loving Christophe and writing about him all the way back then! And yet... this is only the idea of history, since the author gutted the fic. I appreciate it remaining up in a way, though I wish there was a way to find and read this honestly historic fic.

So much of fandom history is forever lost to time as the web and vibe of the fandom evolves, especially something as little as popular fanon last names of one-off characters from South Park. Even if some of it isn't relevant anymore ("Thorne" hasn't been popular for Gregory in years), to let it be lost or pretend current fandom is all that matters feels sad to me. Even if what we have now might be better, I think it's important to appreciate or at least take the time to really understand where what we have came from.

[lazybunny2024]

It's been few weeks or months that i have been obsessed witha idea about a mdzs x svsss crossover where after sj death in svsss he reborn as female wwx twin sister.

Sj kinda remember his past life but slowly means that he remembers that he shouldn't be this small and this isn't his world but couldn't put his finger on it.

Anyway he got reborn as a female and was quite happy cuz of his past life so *she* was more happy here but not as chaotic as wwx.

Her name is wei xing/wei wuyan( i saw it in a video on YouTube so hope i didn't offend you)

Wcz choose her name since his other daughter name already chosen by his lovely evil wife( baby seriously a-se) so he named her xing as in prosper,and wuyan i don't know what it means but thought it would suit her.

She was really happy cuz not only she didn't have that cursed name and actually has a real birth name not a number but a real name with a loving family she was really happy so much that she couldn't believe it

This peace ended with that faithful nighthunt after getting kicked out of inn wwy went to seach for them with wwx and find their corpses wwx Burst in to tears and keep promising to be a good girl and listen to them wwy tried hard not to but was unsuccessful cuz wei couple were the first adult who treat him kindly in his both lives not with pity not with underhand motivation nor were they expecting anything in return,they gave her a life she always wanted a name with them she understood the meaning of love and family so he cried, cried like child he was they cried for a few hours then begin to bury their parents and since wwy could read and write from her past life she manege to write their names so they could visit them.

After that wwy and wwx to always protect each other and stayed side by side in everything. Wwy might be smart but wwx was sturdier than her sister so they have to be in tune with each other to survive.it wasn't that hard wwx might be a child but she learn really quickly and unlikely yqy ,wwx trusted wwy this made wwy to be both proud and emotional since she never had someone like that in her past life so she became even more overprotective of wwx . And since wwx wasn't alone she didn't have that much fear from dogs but they still made her uncomfortable and made her flinch her sister was always there to protect and teach her and she protect here in her own way .

She knew her sister was little too smart for her age but she didn't find anything wrong if anything it made her happy that if anything happens to her her sister is smart enough to protect herself so to not be a burden she listened to her all time except maybe sometime when she scolded her for sharing her food with other beggars but she couldn't help it she was kind like that and always smiled that made wwy soft and so hard to be mad at.

After few years jfm found them wwy distrust him cuz he kept reminding her of yqy but for her sister she would do anything so she didn't put much of a fight.

After reaching lotus pier and meeting madam yu who was so angry and utter thousands of insult about their parents wwy couldn't take it anymore and spit as much venom at her so much that made jfm to lose his balance wwx tried to shut her up cuz she was afraid that the madam would hurt her and yes almost did by brandishing zidan on her if jfm hadn't stop her . After lots of arguing and fighting neither parties apologized .

After jfm finding out aboout wwx condition aboout dogs he sended them away. jc was angry so he lash out and wwy lash out in return but not only that she bring up her parents, about what a failure of couple they are and with everything like money and status they still aren't happy and how his mom jealous of a dead woman who had nothing but was always happy unlike her.

Jc brust to tears after hearing this jyl chose that moment to come and said what was wwy said was out of line and should apologize but wwy said your mother hadn't spare a though about us losing our parents and still speak ill of in front of us she just returning the favor in kind to see how does it feel hear your parents get badmouth and you could do nothing about it .

Well this as much i could think.i would be really happy if someone could make a fic out of this or something close.

[nsfwhiphop]

Incoming Text for @AkhenatonIAM : I forgive you but don't do it again, okay?

Hey @AkhenatonIAM !

I got the message, and I promise I will not sue you because it could destroy your life, and I don’t want that.

You can also tell Vincent, Mouloud, and Zidane that I will not sue them, even though I have proof.

The problem is I don’t want to destroy your lives; it’s the opposite. You are the ones trying to destroy mine because of your envy. You have to put your envious behaviors in check, or this will destroy your lives. Envy is a sin, so make sure you control it.

You can be white supremacists; I don’t judge. A lot of people are racist on this earth, and you have the right to be racist. Just don’t be all up in my business. You do you, and I’ll do me. Simple as that.

I never talk shit about you on my blogs, but you guys are obsessed with me and make a daily sport out of hating me in all your conversations. That is sad and only proves that you suffer from envy.

Learn to give props where props are due. I’m worthy of respect, and if you don’t respect me, fine. I don’t need your respect anyway. You are racist; I never expect a racist to show me respect.

I’m on the verge of seizing power in an oil-rich nation, and you guys are here talking about rap music and football, and acting in movies. Do you see where I’m going with this? I’m not an entertainer; I’m a military leader, a political leader, and I have no time for entertainers who hate on me.

Long story short, just keep my name out of your mouth, and we will be fine. Stop being so obsessed with me and my blogs. Just go do something else and find another occupation in your lives.

You never see me, I never sit with you, I never acknowledge you, but you are obsessed with my blogs. You stalk my page every single day of your lives, and that is what is fueling your envy. You need to detox and stop visiting my blogs. I know my blog parties are dope as fuck, but still, don’t visit my pages and go back to your boring lives.

Tell the Algerian terrorists to stop talking and start shooting or shut the fuck up.

You know that I’m ready for anything, so don’t push me.

Okay, this chat is over. This is the last time I give you clout on my page.

I will tell my lawyer, Kim Kardashian, to cancel the lawsuit. We are good now.

I forgive y’all, but don’t do this again. I never hate on you, but you hate on me 24/7. That should prove to you who has a sick envious heart. You guys have a sick envious heart, and you should stop hating on me.

The end of this conversation.

Angelo.

P.S.:

Also, you love to mock the fact that I still live in the ghetto.

I’m a billionaire living in the ghetto, so I don’t pay any taxes. Let that sink in. I don’t pay a cent in taxes. Fuck all y’all broke-ass haters.

White supremacists will never insult my honor in their white-owned media companies. You have to prove that I’m a billionaire first, and then, and only then, are you allowed to throw dirt on my name.

Remember that I can do a lot of damage to my enemies. I have money, and money is power. Don’t make me spend money to hurt my enemies. I don’t want to hurt you, so don’t push me, okay?

The end.

Here is a video for you, do you remember this scene?

Angelo is like Leslie Chow:

[lunarsilkscreen]

Redesigning the mechanics of FFIX

Final Fantasy 9 is a return to form for SquareEnix. Leaving behind all the sci-fi additions and returning to an era of SteamPunk. This is before SteamPunk was a standalone concept. So it's not so heavy handed.

Noting the flaws they had with the Materia system in FF7, and not wanting every character to be caster; equipment now has levels that allow you to learn abilities from them.

Each piece of equipment having unique abilities for characters to learn.

Each of the main characters has a concept that closely aligns with a classical class concept; Zidane is a thief, Garnet a White Mage, Steiner a Knight, Vivi a black mage, Eiko a Summoner, Freya the dragoon, Quina the Blue Mage, and Amaranth a Monk.

This gets muddy when Vivi and Steiner form Team Dark Knight, giving Steiner the ability to en-element his attacks with Vivi's black magic at the cost of his own MP, and Garnet actually being a much stronger summoner than Eiko despite being the White Mage.

I think that this "Team-up" mechanic that Steiner and Vivi showcase early on, and subsequently forgotten should have had a more central role in this game's mechanics.

This would allow combo and team attacks that are very flavorful and visually interesting. It would also make the Alexander summoning seem more interesting because despite Garnet and Eiko teaming up to summon him the first time, Garnet just Solo summons him afterwards.

Combining Amaranth and Zidane to create a long range attack (throw back to Mario RPG with Bowser/Mario) would also have been an interesting way to use Amaranth's throw skill (which is limited to tossing coins at your Witcher, and junk items you were gonna sell anyway.)

FF9 is also the game that introduces the "Trance" ability. Unlike the previous iterations by having a set time period where your characters attack power is upgraded and your main character abilities temporarily upgrade.

I say "Introduced" because it's not the first time we've seen something like this, but it's the first time it's mechanically significant. An earlier version was given to [Ryder/Rydia/Lidia?] after living with moogles for a bit.

*I'm not gonna Google her name.*

And Trance an ability that one of the main antagonists figures out how to use perpetually. With the party having to fight him while he's doing so.

OThere's also Auctions, the return of the Chocobo Forest (with hot and cold mini-game,) several sprawling kingdoms to explore, the Library of Alexandria having been spirited away by Leviathan and who makes the books all soggy, and ultimately facing off against Garland and the original 4 fiends of the original game before flying off to the red moon. (Planet 9, possibly cocoon)

I'm stopping to consider the equipment/ability linkage added in order to increase the difficulty for speed runners (and the subsequently addition of Excalibur2 specifically as a reward for to speed runners)

In retrospect it's a neat little ability used to replace the Materia system we saw in FF7, as this game seems to predate man-made materia, while still having a proto-materia included with certain items.

And these "Decorations" seem to be what gives the characters their extra abilities. Basically, still referencing the slot system, while taking it away as a core mechanic.

In hindsight it limits the user to wear equipment for a certain duration while simultaneously forcing them to grind if they wish to keep the ability.

Seeing as the latest FF games have started going away from the old paradigm of grind, and feeling more *Milestone* unless you're a try hard player, this system *probably* should be updated. But to what? I'm unsure.

Maybe it should just be a list of equipment and you can equip any of a handful at a time as long as you have the AP to do so? Then you can both limit the amount per player team AND avoid needing to grind it out.

Regardless; I just really like the *team* mechanic and wish it was expanded more.

[baekhvuns]

Am I Y/N now? 😭 Idk if I should feel honoured or worried

We definitely should know less about each other it's aimed at Harry and lots of others who overshare lmao. Uhmmm, but would Meghan be with someone bigoted and racist in the first place? Let's hope not. Calm down, mate. We get it, she changed you alright

Heeeey I was about 6 or 7 years old when that accident happend and my grandma was next to us chatting with a friend 😭 there's another story with me and that friend, always me who had to fight for her life tho. So we had impromptu football goals at our playground, basically just 4 tall stakes. But they were placed in an inconvenient place, so my friend and I decided to move them... we were 7-8. I was holding the bottom, but my friend accidentally let go of the stake so it crushed my finger and it started bleeding 😭 gross but the nail came off 💀

SM I'M AT YOUR DOOR WTF LEE SOOMAN OPEN UP BITCH. They're gonna ruin SuperM now?! Seriously the backlash will be strong so wtf. And why didn't he come back with WayV then?

I saw bits and pieces of LSF at GDA and some of it was live, like No Celestial! They did well overall, they're fun to watch

Me getting mesmerised by Hwa's vocals unknowingly, sounds about right 🥰 his vocals is really flexible, I love it

Yeah unfortunately idols/trainees parents are also to blame, they're greedy or don't care enough. My friend's sister wanted to become a trainee at 12 and their parents were on board, cause they knew nothing about kpop, but my friend and the rest of the family was like??? That's not happening

Yeosang is joining NCT didn't you know?

Yes his name is Baek Dohwa when I saw it I wheezed and then someone called him Hwa once and I??? Yes it's the eyes, the black haired guy Eunhyuk has Tae's eyes and fluffy hair.

Wet shirt 👀 I think that's the other guy, or maybe I'm forgetting something, but things are escalating there too

But listen this and this. And

I once heard a remix of The Boys and I am the best and ascended 😵 can't find it now, but goddddd I think that person also mixed 4Minute's Crazy and f(x)'s Electric Shock

Why are these men exposed?! They need this

They're probably having fan calls in their car like 💀 I just saw a video from yesterday from a person who's already had over 15 fan calls already tell Hwa "see you tomorrow" seriously and I thought me winning 4 calls last year was too much 🤡

Sometimes I have a thing for Rob, sometimes I don't, Damiano is cool and hot, young Keanu, so beautiful 🥰 I suddenly don't know any white men, pls 😬 I'll have to think harder. Probably some British white actors........ I had a Tom Hardy phase when I was 17-18

The collabs for that show are so random, but if they somehow come true I'll be levitating. Suga and Taeyeon?! I'm sorry, but HOW

I'm stealing that choker wtf Park Seonghwa hand it over! What a neck it's definitely necking ☺

Devastation...

Uhm anyways. I'm looking disrespectfully

Ahhhh finally the first episode is out! (Seonghwa coded) - DV 💖

hi hello!!

Am I Y/N now? 😭 Idk if I should feel honoured or worried /// We definitely should know less about each other it's aimed at Harry and lots of others who overshare lmao. Uhmmm, but would Meghan be with someone bigoted and racist in the first place? Let's hope not. Calm down, mate. We get it, she changed you alright!

bestie first off what did we wake up too, bale and lloris retirement, zidane disrespected, barca back, mourinho brazil, busquets with alnassr, martinez porto’s coach ????

ur the yn! the one who’s always HURT 🔫 u best believe that the pairing with this yn would carry all sorts of bandages in case <33 yEAAAHH i keep seeing his # on twt and theres somethings he’s said that are on point but and time i click it i just never wanna see anyTHING again, the contradictions, getting diana’s spirit to come????? the hair loss reactions 😭😭😭 let’s hope tf not but he is royalty, 2 sides to every story i guess! the palace clearly isn’t in the position to say anything so we only know harry’s side! i doubt they’d say anything too, tho i think that’s good bc once ur in front of the camera its hard to get away from it fbfb i wish the obsession with them is gone atp but this is so funny 😭😭

Heeeey I was about 6 or 7 years old when that accident happend and my grandma was next to us chatting with a friend 😭 there's another story with me and that friend, always me who had to fight for her life tho. So we had impromptu football goals at our playground, basically just 4 tall stakes. But they were placed in an inconvenient place, so my friend and I decided to move them... we were 7-8. I was holding the bottom, but my friend accidentally let go of the stake so it crushed my finger and it started bleeding 😭 gross but the nail came off 💀

i am sorry but what the fuck

anon, u need a supervisor 24/7 i AM DBWKDHWK tell us more

SM I'M AT YOUR DOOR WTF LEE SOOMAN OPEN UP BITCH. They're gonna ruin SuperM now?! Seriously the backlash will be strong so wtf. And why didn't he come back with WayV then?

NO SRS IM SORRY BUT what did he contribute, bro has 3 lines in a song 😭😭😭 the backlash will be crazy but a lot of ppl are begging for his return,,, makes me wonder if anything about his scandal was even true with the way twt’s acting! him not being in it would only save his face tbh 😭😭

I saw bits and pieces of LSF at GDA and some of it was live, like No Celestial! They did well overall, they're fun to watch //// Me getting mesmerised by Hwa's vocals unknowingly, sounds about right 🥰 his vocals is really flexible, I love it

tbh lsf’s performance make me forget about the fact theres even lipsync or not going on BC THEIR PERFORMANCES EAT EVERY TIME!!!!! theres this hunger to perform on stage and it SHOWS,, need them to have a concert bc im ready to anti ti ti fragile, wait have u seen this lsf performance?? this is better than any group out there tbh <3 his vocals are so flexible, he fits in every vocal range!

Yeah unfortunately idols/trainees parents are also to blame, they're greedy or don't care enough. My friend's sister wanted to become a trainee at 12 and their parents were on board, cause they knew nothing about kpop, but my friend and the rest of the family was like??? That's not happening //// Yeosang is joining NCT didn't you know?

ayo???? AS THE FAMILY SHOULD!! no bc i see like those singing shows whenever it’s on and it’s like catered to younger contestants (7-17 type) and during auditions they be sending 3yo’s???? they haven’t even started talking and they sent them out for singing 😭😭😭😭 YEOSANG IS THE NEW NCT HOLLYWOOD MEMBER??? iM SO SURPRISED! MORE PROMOS FOR HIM! AND TEASERS LIKE THIS

Yes his name is Baek Dohwa when I saw it I wheezed and then someone called him Hwa once and I??? Yes it's the eyes, the black haired guy Eunhyuk has Tae's eyes and fluffy hair. ///// Wet shirt 👀 I think that's the other guy, or maybe I'm forgetting something, but things are escalating there too

But listen this and this. And

i was about to answer the above paragraph and my finger slipped to the atrocity u linked there. the way i froze, anon. what IS GOING ON WHAT ARE U DOING ! ON A MONDAY !!!! UR SENDING THIS AND EXPECT ME TO NOT SCREAM BC THAT IS LITERALLY PARK SEONGGWA DVWNDHWKDHWK IM DBQKHDWKHDWKHDKW

wet shirt. seongjun. and u never told me tHIS WAS HAPPENING IN THE WEBTOON FOR FREE

I once heard a remix of The Boys and I am the best and ascended 😵 can't find it now, but goddddd I think that person also mixed 4Minute's Crazy and f(x)'s Electric Shock

ARE U TALKING ABOUT THIS

omg did u hear all the the boys remix’s 😮‍💨🤲🏻 the t r x sends a nostalgia 🤌🏻🤌🏻 CRAZY AND ELECTRIC SHOCK??? do u rmr this remix and the twiceblackvelvet remix that broke everyone WAIT HOLDON HAVE U WATCHED THOSE MULTIFANDOM EDITS this one 🤚🏻 what an era tbh

Why are these men exposed?! They need this

They're probably having fan calls in their car like 💀 I just saw a video from yesterday from a person who's already had over 15 fan calls already tell Hwa "see you tomorrow" seriously and I thought me winning 4 calls last year was too much 🤡

YEAH COVER THEM UP !!!!! COVER THEM UP RN 🔫🔫🔫 at least we get moments like this 😭😭 bro is tIRED,, 😭😭😭 i wish they’d do this once in a while, i want hwa to do this so bad

Sometimes I have a thing for Rob, sometimes I don't, Damiano is cool and hot, young Keanu, so beautiful 🥰 I suddenly don't know any white men, pls 😬 I'll have to think harder. Probably some British white actors........ I had a Tom Hardy phase when I was 17-18

i watched harry potter again and mr pattinson had me BY THE NECK !!!! damiano is so very attractive, he sometimes looks like princess diana 😭😭😭 i would’ve thought that tom hiddleston would have been in ur list for sure BUT TOM HARDY?? THATS A NEW 👀👀 i would add the chat noir from miraculous ladybug too tbh <3

The collabs for that show are so random, but if they somehow come true I'll be levitating. Suga and Taeyeon?! I'm sorry, but HOW

no ur right, it’s so random,, but pairing taeyeon and suga would probably be a another iu and suga type of music tbh fbwnfh

I'm stealing that choker wtf Park Seonghwa hand it over! What a neck it's definitely necking ☺ /// Devastation... /// Uhm anyways. I'm looking disrespectfully /// Ahhhh finally the first episode is out! (Seonghwa coded) - DV 💖

HE IS SO PRETTY IN THAT NECKLACE bro is so fine, the blond, the blue outfit and the sparkly necklace 😩😩😩 my new religion

this man is crazy and i would like every inch of him and this is the same guy

STOP THE FIRST EP LOOKS SO GOOD STOP IT SHKWFHWKHDKW

i also want to say what us wRONG WITH AUSTRALIA????? I WAS SENT A VIDEO OF A SNAKE, BLACK SKINNY SNAKE IN MY FAMILYS HOUSE AND THEYRE NOT EVEN PANICKING????? FHWKHDKW HOW IS UR FRIEND LIVING THERE????????????£|€\¥|!£]

anon, what the hell

[magicmalcolm]

Honestly this FMV still looks REALLY GOOD even by today’s standards, I’m not entirely sure what magic they pulled for this on the PSOne.

[lermisv4]

The Kingdom Hearts Iceberg meme - DECONSTRUCTED

So whenever I have way too much time in my hands (or I’m too bored to do stuff I seriously ought to be doing) I google “[insert fandom here] iceberg” and then compile on a list all the entries from all the icebergs I can find on said fandom with the thought that I may make the ultimate iceberg one day.

That never happens.

So anyway, I decided “screw it!” and now I present you the full, NUMBERED list of all the Kingdom Hearts Iceberg meme entries I could find plus some, in no particular order to speak of! I don’t actually know what maybe 30-40% of them are, and there may be duplicates or I may have grossly misunderstood some stuff, but that’s fine! I don’t care! Let’s GET TO IT.

EDIT: I added more

Black Box

Elevator Pitch

Robed Ansem

Cactuar

XIII

Lady and the Trump fountain

FF figures

Following Dalmation

Kurt Ziza

Tidus in Traverse Town

"Master Synthesist?"

"This place is kinda different"

Elemental connections

Agrabah peddler

Prophetic cave paintings

Volcanic crater

Sora's weight

"Paintings are great"

Nobodies and Heartless in DDD

OG Hollow Bastion in KH2

V-Cast games

"You've seen me before?"

Tarzan rights

CAT

Einhander ships

"This place looks familiar"

Hidden Seifer fight

International censorship

Cover art locations

Mickey was the protagonist

Donald was the protagonist

Warrior's Journey

Disney Castle in KH1

Handwritten notes

Mickey's letter to Rabbit

Jungle Book in BBS

Who Am I?

Dog Street

Crumbling Island

Sora's original design

Kairi's panties

Nomura was drunk when he came up with Re:Coded

Verum Rex is FF Versus XIII

Luxord is the Verum Rex version of Cor Leonis

Luxord's real name is Lodur and he's connected to Dark Road

Pinocchio in 358/2 Days

Fragmented Keys

Woody and Buzz summons in KH1 and KH2

Deep Jungle in CoM

Treasure Planet in DDD

Bahamut Summons

Zidane is Sora

Sora has to play the Reapers' Game

Arrendelle got censored

Sora created Naminé

Nomura planned Sora's fate from the beginning

Xehanort = Another / No Heart

Xehanort and Riku are related

"All in Sora's head" theory

Everyone is Sora, everybody else is Xehanort

Kingdom Hearts is Light

Secret Bosses

7 Wonders

Got Norted

Edge of Ultima

Mrs. Pots and Chip in Deep Jungle

Detective Shield

Mickey Boss assist

Donald Healing

Detection Saber

Staff of Detection

SquareSoft

7

Another Side, Another Story

Traverse Town scale

Vincent Valentine

Duplicate bedrooms in Twilight Town

Agrabah NPCs

Xigbar's crosshair and crossbow

Donald freezing himself

PS4 port glitches

Rikku in KH1

Atlantica Mushroom

Mickey's shirt

Xemnas forms

Dabbing

Chest details

Atlantica combat in KH2

Hydra's green blood

Luxord's dollar bills

Xemnas anagram

Pride Lands in KH1

2001 trailer

Alternate cutscenes

Early Donald and Goofy outfits

Hidden rooms

E3 2004

Two Kairi glitch

Riku on the Big Ben

Eraqus = Square

Big Ben doors

Commit it to memory

Nomura and cats

April Fools

Nomura signature in KH2

Cavern of Remembrance skip

Marluxia was a woman

Terra's Keyblade covers Aqua's back

Keyblade in Disney Infinity

Axel on fire

Der Freischütz

Keyblade letters/symbols

Pushing buttons/flipping switches

Monsters INC and Fantasia in KH2

Aerosmith in DDD files

KH fragmented keys

Nomura fried chicken

Disney's secret headquarters

Madoca Magica in DDD files

Red Trinity in Halloween Town

Laguna in BBS Mirage Arena

Aqua is a magical girl

Larxene reading Marquis de Sade

Mushroom Kingdom Hearts

The Bouncer concepts reused for KH

KH Demo Disc

BBS on the PS2

Kingdom Hearts cartoon

The Simpsons game

Eyes to Eyes

Jane's panties

KH end credit misspellings

Sora's mom

Sanctuary reversed

Reincarnation theory

It's Disney Land

The assassination of Strelitzia

Sora's dinner

Phoenix Games' Peter Pan

Something Dark

Cheat codes

Somebodies

Lost source code

Logo predicts protagonist

Destati is cursed

Goofy is god

BHK

From sitting to walking

Lingering Will

Xemnas in KH1

Young Xehanort in BBS

Beta logo

Adult Roxas in 358/2 Days promo art

Dissidia NT in Toy Box

Sora's outfit inspired by Mickey

"We have to save Sora!"

Unused Keyblades

Revenge value

DM skip

KH was inspired by Mario 64

Final Form Firaga

Immune Keyholes

GBA Organization XIII voice actors

Halloween Town mob skip

Labyrinth of ice is Elsa's palace

KH3 Out of Bounds

"There can't be two Keyblade Masters"

Italian Xehanort

Edgar Rice Burroughs family dispute

Out of character Axel dialogue in CoM

The 13th floors bells in CoM GBA

Stitch's spaceship in KH2

Glide is canon

Dissidia was a KH game

Sora mascot in Disneyland

KH3 Anti-piracy message

End of the World true location

The Chasers

jb_62a.bcd

GBA CoM cutscene assets in KH2

Dive to the Heart is a world

KH1 beta trailer assets in KH2

How Beast got into Hollow Bastion in KH1

Mysterious Voice identity

Yen Sid = Disney

Joe Williams

Bon Jovi

Many-Worlds interpretation

Nomura had it all planned from the beginning

Human identity of every Heartless and Nobody

World Order transformation process

KH1 plot was a scrapped Walt Disney movie

"The story is really confusing"

Yoko Shimomura is underappreciated

Press X to win

Terra-Xehanort is the strongest character in the story

Critical Mode runs

Final Hallway before Data Org in KH2FM

KH is Nomura's fanfic

"Floaty" combat

Frozen World in KH3 feels rushed due to movie changes

"Okay I believe you"

Sora forgot he went to Deep Jungle

Organization XIII members have corresponding enemy types

Tokyo team vs Osaka team games

"You don't look like half the hero the others were."

"Roxas that's a stick."

1st release Japanese versions of the games

KH1 has the best level design

Demyx is the Master of Masters

Jack Sparrow can wield a Keyblade

"Riku's a sexy guy."

Critical Mode Level 1 runs

Xemnas in the Chamber of Repose is talking to Aqua in 0.2

Organization XIII members are based on Final Fantasy job classes

KH2FM vs KH3 Remind discussion for best KH gameplay

Cosmology of the KH universe

Sora bequeathed a Keyblade by Xehanort

Do Max and PJ exist in the KH universe?

Sora in Scala Ad Caelum Library in KH3 private showcase

Master of Masters standing on top of the Square Enix building

Vibes of the Secret Endings vs the actual games they come from

Worlds and new looks

"The World of Fiction"

All crossover fanfictions of other franchises are technically canon

Donald is canonically the most powerful Square Enix mage

Human experimentation

BBS novel

Vanitas novel section

Kairi's accidental bequeathing

The gathering

Aqua is BBS's main character

Multiplayer Mirage Arena

KH2FM Secret Ending

KH1 reference in Land of Departure

Aqua's hair is darker in 2.5 remix

Enemy color swaps in Final Mix versions

Dismiss and Keyblade Graveyard Horizons made for 2.5

"Episode Zero"

Wayfinder Trio's themes based off "Fate of the Unknown"

KH1 and KH2 Keyblades in Keyblade Graveyard

Kingdom Key D in BBS

Ventus is the reason Sora is upbeat

Beta Ventus used Roxas' face mold

Aqua bakes cakes

BBS Volume 2

Ventus in 358/2 Days

Xehanort's Guardian Heartless is Terra

Added cape scene in BBSFM

Aqua fails

High resolution PS2 Aqua model

Full-sized Ventus in Castle of Dreams

Command Board invented by Nomura when he was in elementary school

BBS and Star Wars comparisons

Designs of the Unversed are based off different emotions

Beta Aqua design with uncovered back

Aqua and Terra are Sora and Kairi grown up

Fates of the Wayfinder Trio are bad versions of the fates of the KH1 Destiny Trio

Aqua absent from Jump Festa 2008 trailer

Sora is reincarnated Ventus

Aqua is Sora's mom

Xion/Aqua hairstyle connection

Terra is Sora's dad

Terra in KH1

Marluxia can sense Ventus in Sora

Xemnas is Terra's Nobody

Roxas dies

Sora was originally BBS's main character

Xemnas can hear Aqua's voice

Sora was originally the chosen one

Destiny Island boulder breaks through glitch

Sora is the most important character in all of Square and Disney

Master of Masters is evil

The Traverse Town lady was a prostitute

Selphie's panties

Twilight Thorn is the Nobody of a Darkside

Chernabog was working with Ansem

Monsters INC doors open to other worlds

Frollo was considered for the New Organization XIII

Gargoyles world was proposed

Xigbar being Luxu was foreshadowed

The KH mangas

The Unchained Masters are time travelers

KH ads rarely played

Neverland and Deep Jungle have different versions of Europe

Disney Town IS Toon Town (the MMO)

Sora Xehanort clone theory

Timeline cross theory

Ansem was right

Tidus from Destiny Islands is different from the Tidus Aaron remembers

Kingdom Hearts is a door to the Fourth Wall

Kairi is Subject X

Basic Nobodies have feelings too

Time does not exist in KH

Yozora is Noctis's Nobody

Ragnarok Parallels

Pluto knows more than he lets on

Kairi's grandmother knew Master Xehanort

Master of Masters is adult Sora

Sora's mom has a major role in the story

The Master of Masters was foreshadowed in KH1

Terra is Eraqus' son

Ansem is still in Riku's heart

KH is Meta-Fiction

Aqua's feet will bring Sora back

FF games have their own worlds

Disney sci ops operation / Capitalism Supposition

Organization XIII members hidden among swarms of Rapid Thrusters

VA's are carefully chosen

The worlds are canon to the movies

The Master of Masters is Nomura

Sora is an allusion to communism

Mickey Mouse side game turned into Fragmentary Passage

Yozora IS Zack Martin / The Mosby Heartless Theorem

The Sceptre and the Kingdom is canon

Mickey dictator connotations

Xehanort VA death curse

World's appearance change in the world space depending on where you plan to land

Secret Reports

Nomura interviews

BradyGames strategy guides

OOB glitches in KH3

Mysterious Tower removed from KH3

Disney's Secret Labs commercials

Concert-exclusive lore

Clothes designs stolen by Hot Topic

Behemoths and Wyverns in 1K Heartless fight

Riku fight in Hollow Bastion was originally planned for End of the World

DDD demo files left in BBSFM

Source code leftovers in KH1

Scrapped Disney Channel animated series

Homecoming "jump glitch"

HDD installation menu

Playing as Donald and Goofy in KH1

PS1 versions

"El Cetro y El Reino"

BBS Great Maw

2.5 PS3 Drive loads

Fragmented Keys was real

TOMY Trading Card Game

Type C Save Points

KHIII PS2 Beta

358/2 Days altered color palette for NTSC-U and PAL

Re:Chain of Memories debug menu

How Rinzler remembered Sora

Mass graves underneath Heartless Manufactory

"That's right, Sora. Your body, your soul, your whole existence… they're all going to disappear!"

Hunter X lag reduction strats

Re:CoM PS4 door warp

Mysterious Figure pre-nerf

Command deck KH3 build

Nothingness really is eternal

There's no real distinction between fiction and reality

Super Smash Bros Ultimate is canon

KHIII is canon to Toy Story

The Nameless Star is Stella Nox Fleuret

The giant reaper Nobody that Marluxia summons in CoM is Strelitzia

Demyx Time

Subject X is Skuld or Ava

Leon's presence is connected to the FFVIII "Squal is dead" theory

Versus XIII was planned to be connected to KH from the get-go

Lea (and Isa) bequeathed by Skuld

Cloud is a Nobody and his Heartless is Sephiroth

Nomura seriously considered making Verum Rex for real

Inclusion of Sora in Smash was delayed because of Nomura, not Disney

Riku’s new hairdo in KH3 was the result of a glitch

Leon in front of the Dalmatians’ house

Different Riku in Monstro cutscenes if you skip Monstro for Hollow Bastion

Eraqus is descended from Brain

The white hat guy from the Missing Link trailer is Luxord

Sora was a Heartless for the entirety of CoM and 358/2 Days

Double sided Keyblade concept in KH2

FF characters were in KH1 because Nomura didn’t want to create OCs for minor roles

Sea Salt ice cream actually exists

KH4 Amnesia theory

Aoyama apartment

Foretellers lived in Twilight Town

The Wild Card

Zack killed by Sephiroth

Mirrored BBS map

Xemnas style based on Aqua

FFX timeline placement

Quadratum planned from the beginning

Brain horse jokes

Yozora is a Heartless

If i missed anything feel free to inform me. I’d be GLAD to add it.

[finalorangefanta]

Final Fantasy IX Party Members in Order of How Much I Adore Them (Most to Least)

Blank - Idc that he is merely a "guest" party member I just want to know what straight male producer at Square green-lit a zombie leather-brief-clad twink for this game. I wish I had the swag that Blank has. In addition to wearing the least clothes, he's also the sassiest one of the Tantalus Gay Polycule(TM), and therefore the most gay. Also claims to be lady's man but offers no evidence of this. (And apparently he was cool enough to be the only guest party member to be included in this concept art)

Beatrix - Also a guest party member, but an extremely rewarding one to finally play as after she kicks your ass so many times. The general of the all-female army of Alexandria serves so much cunt. Her sword is called Save the Queen which is arguably the most memorable and definitely cuntiest name of a minor weapon in any Final Fantasy game, my feelings about Her Majesty Lizzy aside. And her headgear is nonsensical except that it is hot

Freya Claybourne - Moving into the main playable characters, let me first acknowledge that dragoons are probably the hottest job in Final Fantasy, and Freya is one of the coolest. Freya is furry fodder as an anthropomorphic rat "Burmecian", but somehow maintains more poise and elegance than any other main cast member. Her musical theme alone could draw out some tears. Her devotion to Burmecia even after its destruction makes me almost think chivalry could be a good thing sometime, somewhere.

Vivi Ornitier - Pause: why does Vivi have a last name when no other black mage does? Regardless, everybody loves Vivi. How could you not? The odd black mage design from early Final Fantasy games becomes quite cute when characterized as a lost little boy that was created using arcane magic to take over the world. Vivi's character arc is perhaps most touching of all, moving from confusion to sadness to hope.

Garnet "Dagger" Til Alexandros XVII - In a kingdom dedicated to protecting a secret crystal, naming 17 princesses "Garnet" seems like a bad idea. Anyway, she's your typical tomboy deuteragonist found in oh so many JRPGs but Dagger might be a little better than others because she's not manic-pixie-dream-girling anybody (unlike, say, Rinoa from FFVIII); she doesn't change Zidane much and he doesn't really change her. Dagger grows wiser from exposure to the world and not from her monkey boyfriend. The plot is bigger than them both.

Zidane Tribal - Zidane is not the most remembered protagonist in Final Fantasy, definitely less remembered than Cloud or Squall from VII and VIII, but I think that's why he's one of my favorites. He's not as moody. In fact he's a relatively static character whose main change is being more serious by the end. He crushes hard on Dagger, but by the climax his involvement is more connected to Kuja, which I find more compelling, even if that also follows a well-established pattern in FF games.

Quina Quen - Quina, to me, is a strange experiment in gender fuckery that is mostly successful despite being used as comic relief; they do let Quina an Vivi get "married" without anyone treating it as an insane concept, and Quina has his own pronouns that everyone uses. S/he (maybe we can just use "they" now?) is simple, and simple is good. Cook food, catch frogs. Would that we could all be more like our genderqueer kuing Quina.

Adelbert Steiner - This is easily the best first name/surname combo in FFIX. If you do not love Steiner by the end of the game, you are without a soul. He's annoying at the premise, but by the end he is our collective babygirl. He tries so damn hard, and he is a certified lad with strong lawful-good allegiances that grow a little more chaotic over time.

Amarant Coral - Ah, the edgelord. If it wasn't going to be Zidane, someone had to be it. Amarant's look is not my favorite character design, but his arc is heartwarming. Unfortunately, we don't know enough about his past for it to be fully rewarding.

Eiko Carol - (Not related to Amarant of the very similar last name.) Eiko is a sweet but sassy little girl with magic powers and a tragic backstory, much like Rydia and Relm from earlier games. But this time she has a horn and a tiny moogle companion named Mog, and Mog is the best thing about Eiko.

Cid Fabool IX - I like Cid because he was a bug. As a human and a guest party member, he's not quite as cool. He's a bit of an adulterer, but he learns his lesson so I guess he's fine? Still, one of the more fun Cids in the series.

Cinna and Marcus - The last two guest party members. Marcus's love for his "bro" Blank is the only reason I remember him. (It could've been gayer but go off ig.) I'm not sure why I remember Cinna exists. He's comic relief, I think? Kind of frightening with his soulless eyes, honestly.

[thebookreader12345]

Difference of Opinion - Chapter One

Synopsis: The Intelligence Unit just wanted a nice vacation. What they didn't expect was to be pulled into an active investigation by Agent L/N, who works at the BAU

Note: This chapter is soley based on the Intelligence Unit and has no mention of the BAU and/or Y/N (the reader). Next chapter they will come into play, and the back-plot to the story is a Spencer Reid x reader. Enjoy!

Chapter Two     Chapter Three     Chapter Four     Chapter Five

Jay Halstead's POV

"Can you believe Voight is giving us all of next week off?" Adam asked.

"I know. I'm shocked. Voight is notorious for never giving his unit a day off," I say and finish up the rest of my beer.

"Hey," Kim interjected. "Don't question it, okay? Just be glad we're getting time off. I'm ready to relax."

"And I've got just the thing," Hailey spoke and set down a few more beers on the table. "I just got a call from OA Zidan, my partner when I was away in New York, and he said him and his unit were supposed to take a trip down to D.C., but they had a last minute case they had to stay back for. I guess the trip was already paid for and the Bureau doesn't want to deal with cancelling everything, so they're trying to find people to take it. OA said he'd gladly give us the trip if you all want to go."

"Hell yeah I want to go," Kevin commented. "I can't remember the last time I've been out of Chicago that wasn't related to work."

"I'm down," I confess and grab a fresh beer from the end of the table.

Hailey looked to the end of the table. "Kim? Adam?"

"Are you kidding? Of course I'm in," Adam exclaimed.

"If it'll give me a break from work, then sure. Lets do it," Kim responded.

"Great. I will call OA back and tell him that we will gladly take the trip off his hands," Hailey declared and pulled her cell phone out of her back pocket. She then stepped away from the table and made her way towards the exit of Molly's to briefly get away from the loud noise, her phone raised up to her ear.

"Maybe Hailey being sent off to New York wasn't such a bad idea," Adam input. "Because if she hadn't gone, she wouldn't have met Agent Zidan, and we'd never be going on this trip."

"Well, you weren't the one missing a partner," I counter jokingly. "But yeah, I'm glad to be taking a trip, especially with all of you. And we all know we need this."

"I'll say," Kim muttered and took another sip of beer. A minute or two later, Hailey re-entered the bar and returned to our table just as she was putting her phone away.

"All right. OA said he'd transfer everything over to our names tomorrow morning, and then we should be all set. The flight is on Sunday at 7 P.M. We should land around 9, get set up in the hotel, and then we've got from Monday through Thursday to do whatever we want," Hailey claimed.

"I'll drink to that," Kevin chimed in and raised his beer bottle towards us all. I shook my head, a small smile playing at my lips, but lifted my bottle anyways along with the rest of the team. "To Hailey's amazing connection with the FBI, and an amazing trip to D.C.!"

"To D.C.!" we all repeated and clinked bottles.

Sunday 7 P.M.

"Flight 236 to Washington D.C. is now boarding," a woman announced over the speakers in the airport.

I got up from my seat and stretched my arms over my head as the rest of my team followed suit, and together, we got in line to board the plane. I fumbled in my pocket for my plane ticket as the line inched forward, and when I got to the front of the line, the woman standing behind her small podium scanned my ticket and allowed me to board the plane. I then hitched my backpack higher onto my shoulder as I followed after Hailey down the hallway towards the plane. Hailey walked down the aisle of the plane, and once she stopped at the first open row, she stepped aside to let me through first.

I frowned, but made my way to the seat furthest from the aisle. "I thought you wanted the window seat?"

Hailey shrugged. "It doesn't really matter to me. Besides, I'm smaller, so I figured I'd take the middle seat instead of forcing you and whoever takes the aisle seat to sit shoulder to shoulder the whole flight."

"Who knew you could be so nice," I joke as she slid into the seat next to me, allowing Kevin, Kim, and Adam to take up the row across the aisle.

It wasn't long before the plane took off and we were flying east across the country. Almost immediately, I pulled my earbuds out from the bag at my feet and plugged them into my phone so that I could start listening to music. I noticed that Hailey had her eyes closed and was trying to take a short nap, and across the aisle, Kim had a book open in front of her while Adam and Kevin were getting a movie started up on a tablet. My lips twitched upwards slightly at the sight of my team all participating in their own form of relaxation. And with that, I played my music, leaned my head against the window, and watched the plane climb higher and higher in altitude.

90 Minutes Later

"Hailey, look out the window," I instruct my partner, who was sitting next to me. Hailey turned towards me and braced her arm on the arm rest separating us, which in turn supported all of her body weight, and leaned over me to get a view of what was outside. I could smell a hint of spearmint on her breath as she glanced out the window, my mind recalling that she had just recently started chewing on a piece of gum.

"Wow," Hailey breathed out as our plane turned to give us a good look at the capitol building. Even in the dark, with all of the lights, the building emitted a soft yellow light which paired perfectly with the night sky. Just then, Hailey let out a small yawn, and I glanced at her with my eyebrows raised.

"Tired?" I question.

Hailey nodded. "I may have procrastinated a bit and didn't pack until this afternoon. So I'm exhausted. I didn't get to relax much today. I'm ready to get some sleep."

"Me too," I agree and shove my earbuds back into my backpack as I noticed the plane near the airport runway.

Within the next hour, we had gathered our bags from the baggage station and separated into two taxis to get to the hotel, where we checked in and headed to our rooms. We decided against all having our own room, figuring it would be better to spend some time with the other members of the team, so we took two rooms; Adam, Kevin, and I in one and Kim and Hailey in the other. Us boys bid the girls goodnight before entering our room, which was right next door to theirs, and I immediately ditched my backpack and suitcase by the door. I was ready to change and just go to bed for the night. Adam and Kevin had the same idea as me, and in minutes, all three of us were climbing into bed.

"All right, no passing the line," Adam told me as he laid out a few pillows to separate the two of us. There were only two beds in the room, and since Kevin was bigger than both Adam and I combined, we let him have his own bed.

"Dude, if anyone is gonna pass the line, it'll be you. I don't move much in my sleep," I claim and set my phone down on the bedside table.

"Uh-huh," Adam hummed and pulled the blanket over himself. "Goodnight."

"Night," Kevin and I replied back in sync.

Monday 10 A.M.

"We come bearing gifts," Kim chirped as her and Hailey entered our hotel room.

I groaned and buried my head deeper into my pillow. "Who gave them a key to our room?"

"Sorry," Adam murmured apologetically from his spot inches away from me. That's when Hailey opened the curtains allowing the brightness of the outside to get in, and I cringed at the light.

"Shut the blinds," Kevin grumbled from the other bed.

"Dude, it's ten o'clock," Kim said.

I sighed and sat up, rubbing my eyes. "Why are you guys so chipper this early?"

"Cause we've already had our coffee," Hailey responded. "We brought you guys some too."

"And you and Adam looked adorable sharing a bed," Kim added.

"Oh shut up," I mumble and stand up, stretching my arms.

"So, Kim and I were talking, and we were thinking about going to see the capitol building today. What do you guys think?" Hailey asked.

"Fine with me," Adam spoke from where he was still lying in bed.

"We'll give you guys 20 minutes to get ready. Coffee's on the table," Kim called out as her and Hailey left our hotel room.

"It's like I'm living with Vinessa and Jordan all over again," Kevin shared and sat up, grabbing his phone from the bedside table.

"Tell me about it. I can't remember the last time someone barged into my room to wake me up," I admit.

"Yeah, well, I'd prefer to not experience the wrath of Hailey and Kim, so I'm gonna start getting ready," Adam declared and climbed out of bed.

2 P.M.

"I'm starving," Kim commented as we walked down the street. "I wonder what kind of pizza they have here."

"Trust me. You don't want it. New York's pizza is too thin," Hailey acknowledged, "And I'm guessing D.C.'s will be the same."

"Well then what should we get?" Kevin questioned.

As my friends and I stopped in front of an alley to decide what we wanted for lunch, my eyes wandered down the empty lane next to us. At first, I didn't notice anything too suspicious, but I soon caught sight of a polished shoe sticking out from behind a dumpster. Adam and Kevin continued bickering about whether to get Italian or burgers, but I ignored them and took a step into the vacated alley. I slowly inched towards the shoe, and it wasn't until I had reached my destination that my friends noticed I wasn't standing next to them.

"Jay!" Hailey shouted from the entrance from the alleyway. "What is it?"

"I think I just ruined our vacation," I confess from where I was standing.

Kim frowned. "What are you talking about, Jay?" I waved them all over to me, and when my friends joined me, they all saw what I had been staring at.

Adam cursed under his breath. "I swear, even when we're not at work, we somehow manage to stumble upon something work-related. We're like crime finders or something."

"I'm gonna call 911," I claim and dig my phone out of my back pocket. Dialing the three digits, I held the phone up to my ear and waited for a dispatcher to respond.

"911," a friendly female voice greeted. "What's your emergency?"

"Hi. Yeah, my friends and I just found a dead body," I state.

.....................................................

I'm kind of on a roll right now and I've got so many ideas of what's going to happen next so I might keep writing for now. A second chapter might be up sooner than you think!

While this first chapter was very focused on the Intelligence Unit and has no mention of the BAU, the second will start off in the reader's POV and the BAU will be added to the plot. Enjoy!

----------------------------

Tag List:

@prettypyschoinpink @securityfriendly-jay @scarletsoldierrr @lorenakaspersen @virtualreader @carnationworld​ @caitsymichelle13​

[vro0m]

vro0m’s rewatch - 8/288

2007 French GP

(You know the usual disclaimer by now : those are just my thoughts throughout the race. Don’t have expectations. But I make GIFs !)

So this time Massa is pole. Lewis is 2nd on the grid. There’s been rain during the weekend. The forecast for the race is unclear. Omg there’s accordion in the build up intro music because France™.

Ouuuuh and apparently there’s serious drama at Ferrari with, direct citation, “allegations of espionage and sabotage”? Can’t wait to hear about that.

Alonso is P5 (?) as he had gearbox problems. The journalists also say they were at a barbecue with Lewis the night before and he was very calm and confident. What a weird info.

Lewis’ media presence is growing at a crazy pace. It seems a bit overwhelming to him though very cool. He talks about Pharrell being there at the US GP and meeting Kanye and Beyonce. He’s all star-struck. Adorable.

Oh and Kubica is back after his big crash and placed 4th during quali which is a career best! Good for him!

Ah and here comes the ferrari drama, are you ready? The Italian police are investigating the senior race engineer of Ferrari, Nigel Stepney. Rumours and allegations (you have to imagine the dramatic piano music halfway between sad and thriller soundtrack in the background while you read this). Stepney announced he wanted to leave and now he’s charged with sabotage! They “found something not proper in [their] factory” says Luca Colajanni, director of communications. They asked the police to investigate and enough evidence turned up to bring Nigel to court + internal disciplinary procedure against him and someone else whose name I didn’t quite catch. There’s talk of a tampered fuel rig ahead of the Monaco GP, something about white powder around the rig and the fuel tank. But these are probably false rumours as they don’t appear in the official court documents. It seems unlikely the FIA wouldn’t have noticed such a thing if it was true. So people think this sabotage thing is made-up. Stepney is now in Asia on unapproved leave (?), still a Ferrari employee and he denies everything. Massa says he’s suprised because Stepney always did a good job. Raikkonen in true Raikkonen fashion says he doesn’t wanna get involved. Jean Todt says he can’t comment because of the legal case and gets rather pissed off when the journalist insists. What a weird story.

Omg Zinedine Zidane is there ! Hilarious. Somehow totally forgot he had a accent marseillais even though he’s litterally from Marseille. Also ew young Horner with mid-long hair.

Anyway, here’s the grid :

All of a sudden they are pouring grip sand or whatever it’s called on the track because there’s oil ? And now formation lap. Someone’s car is being pushed off the grid.

And they’re racing !

Ahhh Lewis immediately lost a place to Raikkonen. Also a car spun and was stuck backwards in the middle of the track. Alonso had a bad start ? Trulli is already retiring his car. He had contact with Liuzzi who’s supposedly also out? Actually, there was A LOT of contact in that first corner.

Alonso had an opportunity to overtake Heidfeld but then went wide and lost the place immediately. Sorry not sorry but overall during these last 8 races he’s not doing a very good job.

Lap 12. Actually Alonso started 10th and is now 7th so my bad but still. He’s making a lot of weird mistakes quite often.

Ah someone is pitting. It’s Lewis. Lap 16. And now Alonso too. So early? He’s right behind Rosberg. Massa pits 2 laps later. He gets out 2nd behind Raikkonen. Rosberg also pits. Alonso is 9th. Lewis is 4th. Everybody is pitting.

Lap 26. It’s Massa, Raikkonen, Lewis in the front.

Alonso did the same thing again : he overtook Heidfeld and then couldn’t slow down enough to make the turn and lost the place.

Oh wow! Albers left the pits too quickly, there’s been a miscommunication. He threw a mechanic to the ground and tore the fuel thing off. It’s dragging behind his car and he’s now stopped in the grass right out of the pit lane. Smoke coming out the back of his car. (We later heard that the mechanics were okay, some were a bit bruised.)

Lewis is now faster than the Ferraris by .5 seconds per lap. Is he gonna catch up? We’re halfway through the race. But he pits! He gets out side by side with Kubica! He’s forced to concede to him.

But a few corners later, he overtakes him down the inside! Beautiful!

So smooth! Now there’s only clear track in front of him, but we learn he hasn’t used the soft tyres yet! What a weird mistake. He’ll have to pit again at some point. In the meantime, it’s Alonso in the pitlane.

Lap 43, Massa pits, then Raikkonen on lap 46. He’s leading in front of his teammate. Hamilton is third but he still has to pit for the soft tyres!

And here it comes, with 19 laps to go. He gets back out and he’s still third!!! He lost a lot of time on the Ferraris but not the podium. Amazing.

And Speed is in the gravel trap. DNF.

5 laps to go and Lewis is not really trying anymore. He can’t catch up to the Ferraris who are now 30 seconds ahead, and Kubica is 10 seconds behind him. Nothing is going to change anymore.

And it’s the end of the race !

That’s 8 races - 8 podiums for Lewis! Raikkonen wins the race. Kubica is 4th which is pretty amazing.

Very funny seeing Roselyne Bachelot there to give Kimi his trophy. Of course at the time she was Minister for Health and Sport so it makes sense but at the same time it doesn’t. Can’t explain it better than that.

Lewis still leads the WDC by 14 points.

Now the disgusting neon yellow drink in the interview room is orange. Kind of better?

Lewis says he had a bad start, did his best to stay close but after a while you lose downforce and it becomes impossible to catch up.

[artisticflutter]

AU August - Day Thirty-One: Free Day!

Thanks to @createandconstruct, I used another site to decide what my final AU would be. I might write up others just because I like AUs and post them occasionally, but this is the official end to AU August for now! Enjoy and see ya for Inktober!

Series: Final Fantasy IX Rating: T Genre: Adventure, Suspense Pairing(s): Zidane and Dagger (not together atm) Summary: For perhaps the first time since they met, Dagger begins to wonder who her protector Zidane is. Warning: Part of the Angel of Death AU. A bit of violence and threats involved. This is after Day 12 but waaaay before Day 30.

It had been a mistake to return with her mother - she realized that when the man, Kuja, approached her in her mother’s chambers and cast a spell on her. When she’d awakened, the castle was far behind. Steiner was at her side with a young Black Mage named Vivi, and she could see Zidane’s blonde hair standing out against the night at a distance.

He’d rescued her.

After her decisions in Burmecia - already seeing the horrible deeds her mother’s soldiers carried out - he’d come back. He needn’t have done so, but she was grateful all the same. He said they were heading to Lindblum, but didn’t say any more. She supposed it was fine - she wanted to go see Cid about this development, but it seemed like Zidane had his own ulterior motives.

Why?

And what were they?

She hadn’t thought about it too much in her haste to leave Alexandria, and then she’d become so focused on trying to stop her mother on her own; she only now recalled Zidane had not been with her when she’d spoken to her mother in Burmecia. Kuja had seemed rather angry before he cast his spell over her, too. Had they perhaps encountered each other?

They decided to rest a little longer. It wasn’t until their campfire was long dead that she decided to get up and approach him. He hadn’t moved from this spot, not even to check on her, but there was a tension around. She wished she knew what had occurred between Alexandria and their current location, but she doubted anyone would tell her. For now, she would focus on one and hope he might tell her something - anything that might reveal more of his reason.

“Zidane?”

His head tipped up, but he didn’t look back. Still, for some reason, she imagined him grinning. “Good evening, Dagger! Feeling better?”

“Yes, I am.” She decided to take a chance and sit down beside him. “Thank you for rescuing me… thank you for taking me to Burmecia, even though you were right. We shouldn’t have gone there.”

“If I didn’t, I had this feeling you might attempt to go there anyway,” Zidane chirped and she felt her face heat. It wasn’t a wrong assumption to make at all. “Still, to go with your mother after seeing Burmecia… why would you do that?”

“... I don’t know. Maybe part of me thought if we were at the castle, we could talk it out, but you’re right. I should have been able to talk to her there.” She lowered her head and sighed. “I wish I knew why she was doing this. I know father was killed in the last war with Burmecia, but we’re at peace. This was… there were families, Zidane. Innocent men, women, and children dead in the streets among soldiers...”

“It’s declaring war, Dagger,” he answered, staring into the woods. “And victor can favor the one who strikes first. That’s all I know though; why your mother’s doing this? I can’t tell you.”

“I know… As much as I wish you could give me an answer, you wouldn’t know anymore than I do.”

She said that, but she wasn’t entirely sure if she believed his words.

“... Zidane, why are you helping me?”

“Why?”

His head turned and she caught his cerulean eyes with a raised brow. “You’ve never asked until now. Something up?”

“Mmm… You could say that.” She pressed a finger to her cheek. “In Lindblum, it’s… I feel like I’m ignorant to the situation as a whole. What my mother’s doing, what Kuja’s plans are… even Uncle Cid was abreast of the situation. I only knew that mother had changed and that I needed to leave to try returning her to normal, but she’s already committed atrocities against another Kingdom.”

“It’s not your fault, Dagger. You don’t have the same methods they do to know what’s going on,” Zidane replied, shaking his head. “Your Uncle mentioned having airship fleets monitoring Alexandria and your mother has her soldiers. You were stuck in the castle until we met.”

“I know, but…”

“No buts. You’re trying now.” He turned his head back to the forest surrounding them. “So, for that, I’ll just tell ya. I’ve been given orders to protect you.”

Her eyes widened and she stared at him. “What? By who?”

“Ah, that part I can’t tell you,” he said, grinning. Something about it felt off - no, not off, but… dangerous? “Just know that we’re not gonna have any repeat performances. If Kuja lays a hand on you again, I’ll cut it off.”

Her insides felt cold, but Zidane just continued to grin. It was like he hadn’t just threatened to dismember someone.

But he had.

Nothing was wrong with it, but everything was.

[freckledtothegawds]

Ok, let me talk just about FF bestie, cause is one of my love. In Final Fantasy has one of my first crushes of life, I loved and wanted to marry Vincent Valentine since I was kid and this is no joke. I love and have great affection for FF7. But another ultimate crush I have is Bartz from FF5. When I saw the story of dissidia NT I just thought that Bartz should marry Cloud and then we would make a lovely triangle, because I'm one of those. In FF9 there's Vivi that I really love a lot, he made me think a lot about life. (I hate Zidane) And even in FF9 there is Kuja who is my favorite villain of all the franchises. In addition I have to declare my LOVE for Shantotto FF11, for me she is perfect in everything. I really like FF World too, I think it's very well written. I like the plot of FF0, but I haven't played it yet, I'm without money to buy. Well, I played a lot of opera omnia, so I end up liking specific characters from some franchises and not the game itself, despite having played almost all of them with the exception of FF13 and FF8 and FF0 that I talked about up there. But my favorite is FFX I even have 2 cats that I give the names Yunie and Tidus for my love for this game. Anyway, this is getting bigger and bigger... But what is your favorite FF bestie?

Omg I'm terrible and missed this bestie!

I love that you have so much love for the franchise - I'm much the same. There are still a few titles I've yet to play earlier in the series. My favorite is FFIX! I think Beatrix is one of the best characters in the whole series and I wish she joined the party. I also agree that Kuja is the best villain - we love drag culture in our video games!

FFX is right behind - I love that you have kitties named after Tidus and Yuna!

As for FF crushes - I have so many! Though my top ones are probably Zell, Seifer, Balthier, Zack, Snow, Gladio, and Ignis haha. So many pretty men 😍

[playbucky]

Chose Me.

You spent a summer training with the FBI, meeting OA when you were in the classes and you formed a close bond. You decided to take different paths, he stayed with the FBI whilst you went back home to Chicago and joined the intelligence unit alongside your best friend Jay. Now the FBI is being called in to help you work on a case, and now you have to chose between OA or Jay. Characters – Reader x Jay, OA, Maggie, Hank, Kevin, Erin. Word Count – 1148. A/N – I’ll be posting two version of this, the beginning will be the same but form then on it will change. Version 1. Also everyone that is tagged commented on my post from earlier.

‘OA?’ You asked when you saw the tall man, sitting in a seat that looked far too small for him. When he spotted you he stood up and fixed his jacket. ‘Y/N.’ He said smiling, you walked over and he pulled you in for a hug. ‘What are you doing here?’ You asked him. ‘We’ve been sent over to help the intelligence unit out with a case.’ OA said, a lot of the officers were walking past and glancing at him before doing a double take. ‘We?’ You asked, your brows furrowing. ‘Yeah, Maggie and I.’ He said, your stood taller and you smiled. ‘Maggie’s here?’ You asked, looking around. ‘Yeah, she’s just out in the car.’ He said, pointing behind him to the main doors. ‘Trudy?’ She looked up at you, and you gave her a small smile. ‘Brought you lunch and I’ll take Agent Zidan and Bell up.’ You said, she looked shocked that you knew their names but nodded anyway, thanking you as you handed the food over. ‘Of course.’ She said, handed the book over and you signed it before OA left and got Maggie.

When the three of you had made it upstairs, you handed everyone their food as you walked past their desks, ignoring the looks they were giving the two following behind you. Chapping on Hanks door he opened it, you told him who they were, handed him the food before allowing them to enter his office. ‘Guys, I want you to meet OA Zidan and Maggie Bell.’ Hank said, they gave the team a nod of the head. ‘They’ll be helping us with this case for the upcoming days so make them fell at home.’ He said, everyone mumbled their answer. ‘Y/N?’ Hank called out, you looked up. ‘Yeah?’ You answered. ‘Do you think you could handle the pair of them?’ Hank asked you, you tilted your head to the side and looked at the pair before nodding. ‘Done it before sir, can do it again.’ You told him, he smiled and nodded. ‘Before?’ Kevin asked, you looked at him and nodded. ‘Yeah, the summer I was at the FBI headquarters I was paired with them.’ You said, motioning to the pair of them.

‘You’re jealous.’ Erin said as she arrived at Jay’s desk. ‘Am not.’ He replied roughly. ‘Are too.’ She said, he placed the pen down and looked up at her. ‘Why don’t you ask her out?’ Erin suggested. ‘She has the hots for Agent Zidan.’ He said, wobbling his head slightly. ‘Anyone would have the hots for him.’ Erin stated, Jay gave her a glare before looking back at the paperwork. ‘You should give it a go, or at least ask her for beers.’ She said, Jay sighed before shrugging his shoulders, she huffed and walked away.

‘Is everything okay?’ You asked Jay who had stiffened up. ‘Yeah.’ He grunted out. ‘Y/N!’ It was OA, you turned and looked at him and gave him a small smile and wave, before turning back to Jay who was glaring at the beer bottle. ‘Is it okay if we sit with you?’ OA asked as he motioned to Maggie, you looked at Jay who nodded before downing the last of his bottle. ‘Yeah, I was jut finishing up got an early day tomorrow.’ He said, you looked at him shocked before he stood up and started walking away, the pair sliding onto the seats. ‘I’ll be right back.’ You told them, quickly getting out your seat and followed Jay through the bar that was slowly getting crowded. ‘Jay.’ You called out, but he ignored you. ‘Jay.’ You said louder this time that you were outside, he still didn’t stop and it got on your nerve. ‘Answer me.’ You snapped. Jay froze and you watched as his shoulders tensed up, you wrapped your hands around you as the cold air attacked your skin, making goosebumps rise. He turned around and he looked at you with his jaw set. ‘What was that all about?’ You questioned. ‘Nothing.’ He said. ‘Nothing?’ You asked, he nodded. ‘You’re acting like a kid.’ You said, rubbing your hands up and down your arms. He looked at you before letting out a sigh and relaxing. ‘You haven’t saw them in a while, letting you have some time together.’ He replied. ‘Go back inside, you’ll catch a cold.’ He said, jutting his chin towards the Molly’s. ‘Where are you going?’ You asked him. ‘Probably back to the precinct, got some paperwork to do.’ He said, you slouched slightly before nodding. ‘Okay, be careful.’ You said, he nodded and sent you a smile that you returned before you turned and headed back inside. ‘Wanna tell me why lover boy was moping around outside?’ She asked, you looked at her confused. ‘Lover boy?’ ‘He didn’t tell you anything?’ She asked you, you shook your head getting more confused by the conversation as it went on.

‘How come I’ve got to hear it from Erin?’ You asked shutting the break room door, he looked at you confused, it was close to midnight. ‘Hear what?’ He asked, rubbing his eyes as he continued to pour the cup of coffee. ‘That the beer that you bought for me was meant to be a date.’ You said, leaning against the counter as his hand jerked slightly. ‘But then when OA and Maggie appeared you gave up, because you think I have a thing for OA.’ You continued, repeating what you had been told half an hour ago. ‘I don’t know who’s told you that but-‘ ‘But? It’s not true right? Well I’m pretty sure Erin was telling the truth.’ You said. ‘And if it was the truth I would quiet gladly accept another date, where I know it is one but if not I’ll be leaving.’ You finished, opening the door and you were about to take a step out. ‘Tomorrow night at seven, there’s a new restaurant opening up.’ He called out, you lowered your head and smiled before putting on your best neutral look. ‘Is Jay Halstead asking me on a date?’ You joked around, he rolled his eyes before nodding. ‘If you’ll accept it.’ He said, you smiled widely and nodded. ‘I’ll be waiting.’ You said, he smiled widely and you noticed the red tinge to his cheeks and ears before you stepped out. ‘Get home safe.’ You told him, he nodded before looking at the coffee before pouring it down the sink. ‘Wait, how are you gonna get home?’ He asked, you turned to him and shrugged. ‘Walk it, had too many drinks to drive.’ You said, he shook his head. ‘No you’re not, I’ll give you a life home.’ He said, you opened your mouth to reject it but he was quickly out and pulling on his jacket before waking beside you as you went down the stairs.

Tags: @detectiveinchicago​ @panaitbeatrice​ @nerdextraordinaire7​ @halsteadsway​ @captain-shannon-becker​ @jay-haisteads​ @formulahockey @itsdesiree86​ @a-dorky-book-keeper​ @castellandiangelo​ @katiej98 @spencerzschau​ @sej1983 (if you want tagged in OA’ s one, let me know please!)