#are all too similar. I'll have more chance for adventures once I'm past this part of January. (Always always the busiest time of year for

[siena-sevenwits]

Goodness of Today:

I had my first Latin class that I felt confident going into.

My sister and I are going to try to plan for me to come stay with her and the family some time next month, since it did not work out in December.

Wrote up the rules for a poster contest for the middle schoolers - I hope a few of them are interested! We're going to do a photo poster as usual for the Shakespeare play (I have a high school girl who's a whiz at graphic editing, who's enjoyed doing it the past couple of years.) But I'm hoping to use art for the Narnia play, and I'd like to see what the kids can come up with.

It felt good to get to reconciliation and do a little adoration afterward.

My bee stung foot is not as itchy and swollen today! I suppose the only reason it's still irritated is because it's on my foot and I put my weight on it all day.

I've never used sriracha sauce for anything because I didn't intuitively know how to use it. Today was one of the very infrequent occasions I made ramen (with tons of lovely veggies and sesame seeds), and decided I'd see was up with all these people who put sauce in their ramen. I decided I liked it. The sauce tasted a bit weak though, and I am not sure if my spice tolerance is high (it's certainly higher than some people's) or if it was just a cheap bottle.

Poor Nightblood!

Read about Amarantha and Antavia - very cool to see the former having grown a little and incorporated more empathy into the way she approaches people. And cool to see Antavia in action in a scene.

[askknuckles]

Ask Knuckles!

Hmph. I'm still unsure about opening this thing.

I'm Knuckles the Echidna, the last surviving member of the Knuckles Clan and the sole guardian of the Master Emerald on Angel Island.

There's not much to say about me. Unless the world is in danger, I don't leave my island. But I suppose this part of my personality is what has attracted many to know more about me, especially as my adventures outside of my island place me with a public figure such as Sonic.

Many have come to my island. They've all been found, and immediately thrown off. Angel Island is a place of worship, meant to be preserved and kept safe by my clan- and as the last remaining member, very few outside of myself are allowed to stay more than mere minutes on my island.

But my friends, as I find myself begrudgingly calling them, have informed me that opening a blog where people can ask me questions will keep them from seeking out my island. In the hopes this will keep curious people away from me and the Master Emerald, I'm opening this blog with assistance from some guy from the Restoration that Tails instructed to assist.

I'm only doing this on my terms though, so listen up:

Whatever questions you ask, I'm gonna answer my way. That means I might answer simply or go into detail. Depends on how I feel about the question.

You ARE allowed to ask about Angel Island and the Master Emerald. But don't expect specific coordinates or anything. I know that bat-girl is probably reading this right now...

You might see some other people I've been known to hang out with asking questions or replying to my answers, and sometimes I reply back. I guess you can say it's me "being friendly," but I know in some cases (Sonic) if I don't reply the person (Sonic) will find a way to annoy me directly (SONIC)

Ask me about dating, ask me about girls and guys and whatever, but don't ask about anything private about my body or anything weird, or you'll get a sucker punch right in the stomach.

Anyway, I'll be here with the Master Emerald when you all are ready to ask something.

I hope I don't regret this...

Please read below for other important stuff from the guy who "moderates" my answers, whatever that means.

This Knuckles is a mix of games and comics canon, primarily the former. Events in the comics, past present and future, can and will be referenced. Game events will be openly discussed, so SPOILERS!!!

Knux is standoffish and headstrong, but he's always open to chat and is mostly friendly if you're friendly to him. However, on the flip side, he gets flustered very easily- if your question makes him too perturbed, he might not give you a straight answer. Sometimes he may answer in a way that might come off as rude; that doesn’t reflect the opinions of myself, the writer.

Questions are accepted, but not all questions will be answered! This may be because it didn't go through or, in the off chance that a lot of people submit questions, it may be unseen. Feel free to send in a question once or twice if you feel it didn't come through, but no promises that it may be answered. Sorry!

SEGA may have removed the ages of characters, but Knuckles is still technically 16! Because of which, questions and readers of this blog must be suitable for people under eighteen. Questions on romance, sexuality and similar topics will be answered if they're not explicitly NSFW. Please don't send really lewd questions, they will be deleted.

Ask away!

[ren-c-leyn]

Happy STS, Ren^^ First I would like to ask for writing update on your projects, esp Dark princess wip, your dnd campaign, Forgotten gods and Shackles. :D

Second I would like to know what scene from the currently published Shackles of time chapters was the most meaningful to you?

@writingonesdreams

Happy STS to you too, Dreams ^^ I hope you're having a good one.

I'll be answering in reverse order, hope you don't mind @writingonesdreams ^^ The second answer was just the shorter and more coherent one, as my updates are a bunch of incoherent screaming at the moment lol.

Here is your read more, as is tradition.

The most meaningful to me is a toss up among the 15 chapters that are up.

Something about The Time Keeper's office scene in chapter 4 is still sticking with me, and it's gotten even more meaningful as I've continued writing the story. The symbols of the long career that was torn away, the stories behind those objects of adventurers taken with people who are no longer with them, the beautiful impression mixed with the unspoken sadness. Then there was the mask. I believe that line was 'it was not the only thing to be broken that day, just the symbol of it all.' That, that slaps way, way harder now that I've written The Guild Masters' Meeting arc. It hit hard when I wrote it the first time, but rereading it after that arc hard felt like past me kicked current me in the gut. It was a perfect, unintended set up. Like I knew the history of it when I wrote it, but I didn't know what the future would hold and it just... yeah. Yeah that scene makes me feel proud and happy and sad all at once. It resonates with me in the way that holding the stuffed unicorn my late grandmother gave me when I was a kid does now. That sense of loss and comfort all in one.

The contender is from the end of part 2 of The Guild Masters' Meeting arc, when Wyndulin is talking to his old friend, Myria. And it hits similar notes, but is much heavier on the melancholic tone as these two legends both show just how closely they mirror each other and Wyndulin is slowly coming to the conclusion that he's watching the end. The end of a legend, the end of an era, perhaps the end of everything, and Myria is not the same as she was then. She's older, more fragile, exhausted, but she still won't stop. Won't step down. He admires her and grieves her in the same breath, just as she appreciates and is frustrated with him and The Time Keeper. It's... it's hard to explain, but if you want to understand I recommend reading it when you get the chance. And when you finish with that scene, go back and reread that scene from chapter 4. But I recommend doing it on a day when you can handle some heavy angst ^^'

Your weekly updates:

There's no new updates on Forgotten Gods or The Dark Princess of Aconitum this week. I paused the rewrite in favor of working on The Shackles of Time's anniversary event since it's taking most of my creativity, and I'm letting the magic system for dark princess stew for awhile in the back of my mind. Sometimes I come up with better ways to handle things or see drawbacks that I hadn't originally expected when I give a concept some time to marinate.

I think the next thing I'm going to consider one Dark Princess while I'm finishing up solidifying the magic system is how the assassination of the elf prince was done. I've already gotten the political ramifications of it done and out of the way, as well as whose behind it, but I never did decide how he was killed ^^' a bit of an oversight on my part, I suppose, but there's a lot of things I'm juggling. So, I'm playing around with a few ideas. Some practical, some inspired by history, and some that are totally over the top and dramatic.

I may get really ambitious and actually name the characters, as not even the MC has a proper name yet ^^;

In my DnD campaign I've finished setting up the big bad's goals and what they need to do to achieve them. These things will be happening in the background, and the players have the potential to mess up those plans, speed them up, or ignore them. I'll be keeping track as the game progresses. It turned into a big undertaking. I need to finish designing some things for it, but for the most part that end of things is solidified.

I've also started marking down important locations on the world map and drawing kingdom/country boarders as well as the migration paths of the floating islands. (Yes, I have yet another world with floating islands lol)

I've also written down 10 moral quandaries for the players to answer in character to go along with their alignments as a sort of guidelines for how their characters would react. Among them is a version of the Trolley problem, so I'm looking forward to seeing how they respond to those. Though, I admit I nearly gave myself an existential crisis while looking up example moral quandaries to base the questions off of. Some of them were... yeah. Tough calls, to say the least, tough calls.

We also set up some homebrew and table rules. I also finished my 20+ god pantheon (which took forever but I survived) for the world and the players have picked their patron gods, which is great since since two of the three characters are going into levels of cleric, and you kinda need a patron god for cleric. So, we're inching closer to being able to play. I have everyone's backstories and am thinking of fun and evil ways I can bring them into play throughout the game.

Unfortunately, everyone's work schedules have changed, again, so our session 0 and character building sessions are going to be postponed and the game is getting pushed back. But it just gives me more time to fiddle with things in the world, look up more Dming tips, name things. Naming things is so hard, and scheduling people for a dnd game is even harder >.<

As far as The Shackles of Time goes, I have enough chapters banked up to get through October, even with the posted chapters doubling to 4 for that month, I just need to finish rewriting and scheduling them :D I'm not quite finished with the Stormy Road ahead arc, but I am getting there. It'll probably make up all of October and probably November's 2 posts. There's also a chance it'll continue into December. It's much longer than I originally planned for, but a lot of heavy stuff came to light and demanded my attention lol. I've also thought up a good starting point for the next mini arc, right down to the character introductions, so once I get there it should be smooth sailing.

Also, my rough drafts document is over 60,000 words long, which means the published versions are probably somewhere around 70,000 words long, if not longer. There's a full book worth of content available to be read, and I can. not. believe. it. I can't! This is so wild that I am shocked and dazed. The impulse project I spent exactly 3 days planning ahead of time has not only survived a year, but thrived! :D I'm so proud of The Shackles of Time and myself. My adorable, little adventure trio and all of their weird friends makes my heart happy and the words flow <3 Though my favorite chapter is still chapter 4, I think The Guild Masters' Meeting is my favorite arc. So much sad Wyndulin and a group of badasses sitting in dead silence out of shock and terror, I love it <3

Speaking of, I am currently working on more content for the big Anniversary event. My housemates and my writing partner have all demanded I keep them updated with my progress, they love the bonus content that much, so I am confident that I'm doing something right with the cool stuff I'm cooking up here >:D Progress is slow, as I expected, since these are very involved... and also I recently got Stardew Valley and have a hard time putting it down. That game is scary addicting, but so much fun.

I think that's about it? Nothing else is jumping to mind. If you have more specific questions about any of it, ask any time. You know how I like to ramble ;p

Thanks for stopping in, I hope you have a lovely day/evening.

[themadchemist]

So I finally got the courage to post about her. I tried to stay away from the actual game story since I don't remember much about ARR and Heavensward despite playing them and I only watched Stormblood and Shadowbringers. I might play the free trial soon so I can refresh my knowledge of the first 2 expansions but I don't think I can play the others so if I get anything wrong main story and lore wise just let me know.

These are just general stuff and headcanons but it might contain SPOILERS FOR 5.x

Name: Arciela Ausbasch

Age: 27

Nameday: 22nd sun of the second umbral moon

Height: 170cm

Profession: Apothecary and healer

Canon class: WHM/BLM (it's the classic FF sage but there's no sage in FFXIV)

Sub classes: SCH/Alchemist/Botanist/Culinarian

Headcanons: again they're just general stuff and they contain SPOILERS FOR 5.x (I'm on my phone so idk how to put the under a cut)

Arciela/WoL:

She sat out on her adventure because she wanted to explore the world and learn more; to expand her horizontals horizons as a healer and apothecary and if becoming the Warrior of Light and saving the world was the way to do it then she would embrace her new role and duties in order to achieve her goals (she's also reckless and would never say no to an adventure even if there was a chance that she might die in the process)

Self proclaimed culinarian. After everything is over, she dreams of opening her own restaurant and bakery.

Relationship with her allies:

Thancred and Estinien are her closest friends and drinking buddies

Papalymo was like a big brother to her (he reminded her of her own brother) and helped her learn new black magic spells and perfect the ones she already knew.

Urianger and Y'shtola are her "nerd friends" as Thancred dubbed them. She still has trouble understanding certain things that Urianger says.

Ryne and the twins are like little siblings to her and she enjoys spending time with them and teaching them things. She taught Ryne how to make Thancred's favorite foods and desserts and she goes swimming with Alisaie (I can't think of anything she might do with Alphinaud except for being nerds together).

She's very close with Aymeric, especially after the dinner (and a certain culinary adventure that prompted Arciela to work on creating the best honey cake the lord commander will ever taste.)

She became good friends with Cirina after spending an entire day trying new recipehs recipes and making the mol taste test them for her (iirc Cirina liked food, right?)

X'rhun Tia is like a father/cool uncle to her and they're super close. He's also her favorite job/class teacher. She appreciats his patience when he was teaching her red magic. While she didn't struggle in the casting part, she did struggle with the fencing part, especially since it was completely different from the dark knight style that she learned from her father (I'm working on her father and I have this idea that he was once an Ishgardian dark knight but I'll wait until I either play or watch Heavensward to decide if I want to go with it or not)

Other good friends of hers are: Kan-E-Senna (who helped her with her white magic), Haurchefant (who was like a brother to her. His death still haunts her) and the Fortemps in general, G'raha Tia (he's adorable and she has a very hard time containing the urge to touch his ears and tail. She's doing a good job so far), Moren (she spent most of her time in the Crystarium in the library with him), Cid, Hilda and Unukalhai.

Triggers for remembering her past life in Amaurot:

The deaths of Lahabrea, Emet Selch and Elidibus and meeting Hythlodaeus.

Lahabrea's death caused her to vaguely remember her time in Akadaemia Anyder and her work as an alchemist but she dismissed the memories as dreams and didn't think much of it since it was similar to her work as an apothecary. She didn't remember him but she felt that they were connected somehow.

Meeting Hythlodaeus for first time triggered memories of Amaurot in general but she also dismissed them as an effect of being there and talking to him.

The death of Emet Selch caused the first bang of memories for she remembered her time and true relationship with him. The memories and the new knowledge brought about hesitation and uncertainty, doubts and immense guilt.

Meeting Hythlodaeus the second time in 5.3 and collecting "stars" triggered memories of her time as Azem and the final days. His presence somehow made it easier to handle the new memories.

She didn't remember Elidibus prior to fighting him in the Seat of Sacrifice, but she remembered enough to know that they were once connected and thus she found the resolve to kill him and end his suffering, for both his sake and the sake of the world.

It was only when he regained his memories that hers started to come back more clearly to her.

The hope that her friends are now resting in peace, free of Zodiark's tempering was the only thing that kept her from crumbling under the weight of her memories and guilt.

Amaurotian Arciela/Anais/Azem/The Alchemist:

Just general stuff to explain certain things from above:

Before becoming Azem she was a professor in Akadaemia Anyder and an accomplished scholar in the field of pharmacy (potions and herbal medicine; or this is what I think is their equivalent of pharmacy at least).

A friend of Emet Selch, Lahabrea, Hythlodaeus and Elidibus. (I ship her with both Lahabrea and Emet Selch so nothing's official until I decide on one of them or create multiple time lines).

Childhood friends with Lahabrea. They've known each other for so long, attended the academy and became professors together. They're probably the only ones who actually listen to and show interest in each other's rambles (just let them be nerds together)

She's also a self proclaimed culinarian, which made her delve into the field of botany and create certain herbs and trees including cocoa trees which lead to her creating chocolate.

During their days as students, Anais would wake Lahabrea up in the middle of the night or drag him away from whatever he was doing to accompany her to the kitchen so she would try to make the new recipe she came up with. He'd complain the entire time she's cooking but at least she could count on him to give her his honest opinion. After tasting the new recipe, he'd either complain some more, insult her ability to cook and just leave if he doesn't like it or he'd ask for seconds... And thirds...

Her favorite pass time is annoying and pranking Lahabrea and Emet Selch. Sometimes, she would team up with Hythlodaeus and they're an absolute menace together.

Lahabrea's reactions are the best because he never sees anything coming since he's always too engrossed in some book to pay attention to anything else and thus, he's always startled, surprised and falls for all of her pranks. And he's ALWAYS extremely pissed off afterwards and they'll be subjected to one of his famous rants and lectures. Hythlodaeus suffers. Anais has known him long enough to get used to them and thus they have no effect on her (and one would think that he's known her long enough to learn to not let his guard down around her when she's bored). It's always worth it though.

Emet Selch's reactions are the second best, because whether the prank works or not, he'll complain about it because he's dramatic. He gets his revenge by pranking them later.

Much like Arciela, Anais took the chance of becoming Azem and traveling the world to gain more knowledge on her field of studies.

Class: SCH